Arizona settlement releases time-share owners from contracts with Diamond Resorts

he deadline for Diamond Resorts time-share holders to file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General's Office in order to be released from their agreement as part of a consumer-fraud settlement is coming up next week.
The $800,000 settlement between the Diamond Resorts Corp. and the Arizona Attorney General's Office was reached earlier this year after hundreds of customers accused the corporation of using "deceptive sales practices" during time-share sales presentations, according to Mia Garcia, Attorney General's Office spokeswoman.
Some of the alleged deceptions are related to the amount maintenance fees could increase annually, consumers' ability to resell time-shares to the public, the existence of Diamond buy-back programs, consumers' ability to rent our their time-shares for a profit, and discounts on other travel needs, Garcia said in a statement.
Consumers must file complaints with the office by May 23 in order to be considered for the Relinquishment Remedy Program, which permits qualifying consumers to return their time-shares to Diamond Resorts without any further obligation.
In order to qualify for the program:   

• Consumers must have purchased Diamond memberships between Jan. 1, 2011, and Jan. 23, 2017.
• Consumers must have either made their purchase in Arizona or have been living in Arizona at the time of the purchase.
• Complaints must include a detailed description of any misrepresentations, false or deceptive statements, and/or false promises that Diamond's employees made during the sales presentation.

Along with taking back time-shares, the settlement requires Diamond to change its business practices and requires the corporation to make specific disclosures during sales presentations.
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Garcia said this is the first time Diamond Resorts has been investigated for consumer fraud and that the office has received more than 500 complaints so far regarding the matter.
In a statement, Attorney General Mark Brnovich gave the following tips for consumers attending a time-share presentation:

• If offered a free gift or tickets, know that most time-share offers require a person to attend a lengthy sales presentation to receive them.
• Remember that time-share companies can't require you to attend a presentation lasting longer than two hours in order for you to receive your free gift. 
• Leave if the presentation is too high pressure.
• Read any contract before you sign it and have an attorney review it, making sure to include any promises made to you by the salesperson in the contract.
• Find out your ability to cancel the contract or the right to cancel.

Those who qualify for the relinquishment program can file a complaint online or by calling the Attorney General's Office at 602-542-5763 in Phoenix, 520-628-6504 in Tucson or 1-800-352-8431 outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas.

Tenn. AG sues timeshare club Festiva

January 9, 2014 9:59 AM
By BRYAN COHEN

Cooper

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Legal Newsline) – Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper announced a lawsuit on Tuesday against multiple entities operating a timeshare and membership vacation club that allegedly used deceptive techniques to market the operation’s products.

The lawsuit against the entities operating Festiva alleges the operators used fraudulent and deceptive telemarketing and direct mail tactics to lure Tennesseans into attending high-pressure sales presentations to buy vacation memberships. Festiva allegedly misled consumers into believing they won or were selected for a valuable prize, but the company failed to disclose multiple requirements, including the lengthy sales presentation.

In December, the states of Louisiana and Maine also filed suit against Festiva.

“If you are tempted by a travel or vacation company that uses high pressure sales, it’s probably best to take your time and do your homework before you pay thousands of dollars and commit to paying maintenance fees and special assessments,” Cooper said.

Festiva also allegedly used confusing terms and conditions to make membership to the vacation club difficult to use and to sell more products, made it almost impossible to book a vacation at Festiva resorts and surprised consumers with bills for increasing maintenance fees and special assessments.

The lawsuit, which was filed under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act and the Federal Telemarketing Act, named multiple associated businesses, affiliates and principal operators as defendants in the lawsuit.

The defendants include Escapes! Inc., Escapes Travel Choices LLC, Etourandtravel Inc., Festiva Development Group LLC, d/b/a Festiva Adventure Club, Festiva Real Estate Holdings LLC, formerly known as Festiva Resorts LLC, Festiva Resorts Adventure Club Members Association Inc., Human Capital Solutions LLC, formerly known as Festiva Resort Services LLC, Resort Travel & Xchange LLC, also known as RTX, formerly known as Festiva Travel & Xchange LLC, also known as FTX, Patton Hospitality Management LLC, formerly known as Festiva Management Group LLC, Zealandia Capital Inc., formerly known as SETI Marketing Inc., Zealandia Holding Company Inc., formerly known as Festiva Hospitality Group. Inc., Donald Clayton, Herbert Patrick and Richard Hartnett.

Wyndham time shares pitch more, sell more

By Sara K. Clarke and Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel

July 29, 2013

The world's largest time-share developer reported an increase in sales for the second quarter, driven by a higher volume of guests going on tours to hear sales pitches.
Wyndham Worldwide Corp., the parent company of Orlando-based Wyndham Vacation Ownership, said its time-share operation had revenue of $630 million for the three months that ended June 30. That figure was up 11 percent compared with the same period a year earlier.
Partly driving the increase was Wyndham's acquisition of Shell Vacations Club, an early pioneer in the time-share business.
Wyndham said its time-share sales were up 5 percent from a year ago, driven by a 10.8 percent increase in "tour flow," or the number of people sitting through its sales pitches. But the company's marketing efforts were less effective, as the "volume per guest" — or the amount of revenue generated per tour —- decreased by 4.4 percent.

Couple sued for scamming 30,000 timeshare owners

SEATTLE (AP) - An Olympia couple is being sued by the state of Washington for scamming 30,000 timeshare owners.

The civil lawsuit announced by Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Thursday is part of a national crackdown coordinated by the Federal Trade Commission.

The attorney general's office says Jonathan and Christine Gibbs fooled elderly consumers into paying them thousands of dollars to transfer ownership of their vacation timeshares to shell corporations.

Ferguson describes the scam as a large, complicated scheme that harmed about 30,000 consumers nationwide, including 1,500 people in Washington state. He says the couple collected more than $70 million while operating as 25 different companies.

It took Washington investigators 18 months to investigate and shut down the scam.

The Federal Trade Commission is announcing more than 80 civil lawsuits in 27 states.

Florida Passes Timeshare Law To Protect Consumers

Timeshare scams have been an ongoing problem and have reached the point that they are the largest consumer complaint made in many regions of the country. To help combat this growing problem, Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a new timeshare law (the Timeshare Resale Accountability Act) giving consumers better protection against these scams which goes into effective on July 1, 2012.
The problem is that due to the current economic conditions, timeshare owners are finding it extremely difficult to sell their timeshare. Many of them find themselves in a situation where they can't get out of their timeshare even though they no longer want it. This has made them easy prey from scam artists who mislead them into thinking that they have someone who wants to buy their timeshare.
Once the timeshare owner bites, the scam artist then requests thousands of dollars in upfront fees for such things as title or closing costs. Once paid, the supposed buyer never materializes and the scam artists claim that they were merely offering advertising services for the upfront money paid.
While the new law provides a number of new consumer protections, the four main points are as follows:
1. Timeshare resale advertisers can't claim there's someone interested in the owner's timeshare without providing the purchaser's name and address.
2. Timeshare resale advertisers must provide a written contract for agreement of services that must be signed by the timeshare owner before it can collect any fees or engage in any resale advertising activities.
3. Timeshare owners have seven days to cancel any signed contract with a timeshare resale advertiser. If a timeshare owner cancels a contract, the timeshare resale advertiser has 20 to provide a full refund to the timeshare owner.
4. Any timeshare resale advertiser which violates the law's provisions can be hit with a penalty which may not exceed $15,000 per violation under the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Political notebook: Bondi touts timeshare law reforms

Timeshare Resale Accountability Act, which protects timeshare owners from timeshare resale fraud in Florida.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/jun/23/political-announcements-collier-lee-counties-fla/