You just went on the vacation of a lifetime at the resort of your dreams. A presentable sales agent acknowledges you. You listen to his sales pitch and decide to purchase that lovely timeshare. In the back of your mind, you are thinking about all the wonderful vacations you anticipate taking each year.
Then the unthinkable happens. You or a family member becomes ill. An employer terminates your position. There is an economic downturn. You go ahead and call that exceptional timeshare sales manager about terminating your contract. The sales manager explains that the contract cannot be terminated. You cannot sell your points and relinquish the title to your property. It may be possible that you are the victim of a timeshare fraud.
Elder Abuse
Every year, unscrupulous resorts use their purposeful sales managers to convince their own clients into signing more demanding lucrative contracts. Resort sales managers view elders as very financially viable. Often, they are enlisted into resort timeshares they don’t need.
One such sales manager advised an elderly gentleman, aged eighty-eight, into purchasing a $250,000 timeshare while on vacation. The elderly gentleman had the onset of dementia. He contacted his resort owners to cancel the contract. The property refused. The elderly gentleman went ahead and paid for the timeshare with his credit card. Within a year of the elderly gentleman purchasing the property, his family had to commit him to nursing home.
The family contacted the resort owners about possibly selling the unit. The unit could not be sold. It was purchased using points. The family decided to retain an attorney. The attorney was able to review the validity of the contract and have the funds returned to the credit card issuer. Elder abuse is prevalent among resort properties.
Call Center Fraud
“Reservation Sales” specialty agents sat in lighted room. Each person in their own cubicle. They called timeshare owners several times a day from all over the nation. Each agent pretended to represent all the timeshare resorts like the Wyndham, the Marriot, and the Disney Vacation Club. The owners of the company obtained the calling list from title companies and craigslist.
The agents would leave several voice messages each day. Once a person answered the phone, the agent would invite him to beautiful dinner at the Red Lobster for two people. Sometimes, there would be a nice buffet dinner at the local Marriot Hotel.
Once the timeshare owner attended the dinner, he was convinced that the sales agent could sell his unwanted unit. There was also a timeshare bank. With the timeshare bank, a timeshare owner could switch out his unit say in California for one in Hawaii at a different resort.
Many of these pretenses were false. The company ended up going out of business. One company pretended to have buyers for condominium units, but the timeshare owner had to pay a title fee to have access to the buyer. There never was a buyer. The consumer just lost his money.
In these situations, it is best to contact Resort Legal Team. Consumer fraud is rampant. You will want to have your contract reviewed. As necessary, you would want to determine if you can rent and sale out your unit with the points you have purchased. Attorney generals in several states have also established a victim’s compensation fund.