Diamond Resorts review: contract release/cancellation 21

Your comments are sincerely appreciated! I have had the same problems with getting dates/locations I wanted and fees have gone up significantly each year. I would appreciate knowing: Did you contact the Loss Mitigation Department by phone or by email or letter? Did you file the Mutual Release & Termination of Vacation Owner Agreement or did you have an attorney do this for you? Was the cost of $250 per contract for the 'transfer fee' a fee that you paid to Diamond or another party. Thank you for sharing your experience. Hope to have a reply from you soon.

I am interested too. We bought our timeshare in 2000 when it was owned by Embassy, and we were happy. Then Sunterra purchased and really had no problems. Now with DRI who forced us to convert to points by claiming we would be shut out of reservations if we stayed on weeks (ie, we would only be able to exchange thru RCI). Well, now that we are on points, we can NEVER book at our resort. I just tried. Paid my maitenance fees early and everything. 12 months out and still no availability? I SMELL A RAT! I am so frustrated. When we were on weeks, we could call 6 weeks out and get a room, and we are in Hawaii! Now we can't ever seem to go there. It has been 2 years and we have been shut out of our home resort. If I just wanted the points I would have gone to Myrtle Beach or Florida where they are cheap. Our maitenance fees also doubled when DRI took over. I want out too. Please explain the process you went thru. Mainly, the questions madasheckinmo posted above and what the contact info is for their Loss mitigation Dept.
Thank you sooo much for posting.

I need to get the hell out of this as soon as possible. We fell in the same trap 2 yrs ago. I can take it anymore. I spent hours and hours every time I tried to book a resort. You will never get you want. But they are available to rent. This whole thing is POS. I am feeling extremely frustrated, stupid and dumb falling into this kind of trap. Jesus! This is really hard earned money! I should have saved for Kids education. Any please help us getting out of this, by providing the information needed., especially what is it I should be aware of while talking to the loss mitigation dept.

It really sucks that American consumers first get screwed over by unscrupulous TS comapanies and Sales scammers, then you have to pay some other scqammer to get out of the scam you got yourself into. (generally these secondary scams are run by the sales scammers that lost their jobs or quit the TS sales scams and most of them have no problem scamming the sames folks all over again.

It takes a real special person to be able to sleep at night and go to work everyday knowing you are creating misary in the lives you touch daily...

Good luck with these smo's

CVO

walk away from your computers, friends on fubar are not friends. Would they drop everythig to help you with something? real friends would and you physically interact.

Well this is a 'turn-up' for the books.
It appears that many members of the British DRI Protesters group - http://drip.enjin.com - have emailed Stephen Cloobeck regarding the exhorbitant maintenance fees and their inability to pay. Cloobeck has emailed them back to tell them that " I will revoke your membership. You will be able to reinstate at any time in the future. My apologies for your stress. My offices will send out the paperwork. Wish you would contacted me sooner".
It makes me wonder if this has all come about because the protesters group has pushed the BBC into featuring Diamond Resorts on its programme 'Rip Off Britain' in November ?

I would suggest that it has everything to do with that! Cloobeck and Duffy are finally beginning to realise that they cannot bully and threaten everyone into submission! This is their pathetic attempt to circumvent the Rip Off Britain programme and they are trying to find a way to shut the DRIP site down and make them go away!

I purchased my original timeshare from ILX in Sedona, Az. The maintenance fees were $700 per year. They were bought out by Diamond Resort International and low and behold--$1600 per year maintenance fees. We had tried to sell the timeshare several times while it was ILX and found it was worthless! Now it is even more worthless. When DRI took over ILX, I called and tried to give them back the timeshare. They said no! I asked to speak to several levels of supervisors, all of whom said they had no buyback or deed back programs. I called and tried to deed back the timeshare twice. After reading the posts above, I just called DRI's Loss Mitigation Department and spoke to Ann. She told me that DRI ended the mutual deed back and release program 5 weeks ago. When I complained that I had twice called to try to deed back my timeshare, she basically told me I was lying because they had no record of my calls! Now the only way to lose the timeshare is to not pay the maintenance fees. I told her what they are doing must be illegal, and she told me it is not. Bottom line, the management can do whatever they please. Where is the US Attorney General on this issue? This is fraud. I wish an attorney would start a class action lawsuit. If so, I'm in.

Now we need to get the US folks together in one accord and occupy DRI. Lets get some press on this side of the pond to cover this scam (good luck with most networks covering this as it has too many political ramifications) It will need to be some Glen Beck or FOX network this is a big black eye fo the CORPORATION for TRAVEL PPROMOTION. One of Obahma"s pet projects.

Dufster hope you took my advice and packed a bag for your trip. i'm sure your slice of the pie is enough to get you through. Let's be honest that is all you really were looking for anyway, right?

THE BIG PAYOFF / Ripoff is more like it in my humble opinion of course...

CVO

About 10 minutes ago, I called the Diamond Resort International Loss Mitigation department (although, while I waited on the phone, it said it was the 'Collections Department'. I too asked for a deedback, as we have paid off our morgage, have paid our maintenance fees for this year, and haven't booked anything for this year. The woman on the other line also said that 'they are not doing deedbacks at this time'. I asked what our options were because we've tried to sell to a 3rd party and we simply cannot afford the maintenance fees this year. She told me that I had no options. I am absolutely livid. I refuse to have this bad choice on our part put a giant ding on our hard-earned good credit. What do I do?

EMB,

Just keep making lots of noise both online and in letters to FTC, Attorney General Nevada and where you own your Timeshare, The BBB (mostly useless to complain since you can "buy a A+" rating, but still complain anyway), and any place else you can think of that will continue to keep Diamond Resorts International Complaints at the forefront of other consumers and hopefully the media will finally pick up on the fact that Diamond Resorts International uses unfair business practices to continue to FLEECE it's membership and resort owners. Currently there is a class action lawsuit for which owners at Poipu in Kauai are automatically joined be they owners or Club members. If you do not own in Kauai then it is a waiting game. But do not sit idle make some noise.

This is of course only my opinion of what can be done, for what ever it might be worth...

Concerned Vacation Owner

CVO
Progress Always

EVERYONE! Write the President, your U.S. Congresspeople, and the Attorney General’s Office! LIFETIME CONTRACTS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED!

Sign my petition at https://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-u-s-congress-u-s-attorney-general-allow-timeshare-owners-to-get-out-of-their-lifetime-contracts#

We FINALLY got to our timeshare in hawaii and got screwed again! they told us about a new Diamond Sampler program and of course you pay for it, but we were told that we could use this anywhere we wanted to. Then they rush you thru the contract signing so fast you don't know what you're signing! We were told we could still use our Interval International to go to Mexico and that was a lie. I've been told I can't get out of the Diamond Sampler b/c it's not a timeshare. What can I do?

I contacted Diamond Resorts International by their website feedback process and informed them that at my age (75) I was releasing my points and wanted to pursue other vacation options. A week later a lady from their loss mitigation department called me and said since I had paid up points and had paid up maintenance fees, they would accept my release of points if I still desired to do so. I said yes and she said that the release documents could either be mailed to me or emailed to me. I would then have to sign the documents in front of a Notary and return them to DRI. The process would take up to 60 days, and I would have to pay the $250 release fee, to which I agreed. Over the past 30 years I have had very good experiences with DRI, particularly enjoying two week vacations in St. Maarten. I am a retired military person not associated with DRI other than having been a member.

My wife and I purchased a timeshare with Diamond Resorts. On our first visit at Grande Villas Resort we fairly happy with the place but the room was not much better than a moderately priced hotel room. Definitely felt like I paid too much. Unfortunately I got laid off after our trip. After my unemployment I ran into issues with being late on a payment. I was only a few days late and so I asked if they could work sometime out with me in my current situation. They didnt want to hear it, were pretty rude and just kept telling me I signed the contract now I have to deal with it. I asked them for many ways to work out lower payments while attempting to keep it. There people kept being rude and never seemed to care that with me not working for a year I was only a few days late on payments seeking to make some type of arrangement. They said all sorts of insulting statements making it sound like I was a dead beat and didn't care about my bills. It wasn't until this massive rude lack of customer service did I realize how poor this company is. Here I am wanting to make payments and they didn't care. We tried to everything we knew to do to cancel. I found some stories about timeshare cancellation online and decided to do some research of my own. I came across Finn law group and Aaronson law group and gave them a call to tell them my situation and see what they could do. Aaronson seemed to have a better plan to get my timeshare cancelled. We hired them and it didnt take but a few months and they had got my timeshare rescinded! Definitely saved me some money. Im not exactly sure of other ways to get out of timeshares effectively but a lawyer worked for us! Hopefully this helps someone in need!

What is the email address for the Loss and Mitigation department? How do I get this form?

Check out your timeshare state statutes (where you purchased). A lot of states have 'some' protections for consumers, but you have to dig for it. Nevada, where I purchased my Diamond Resort TS, has the following that can apply to probably 100% of buyers. Number 1 clearly states that if your sale's agent failed to misrepresent or disclose any info. from you, the buyer, they broke the law. For instance, were you told that your timeshare was an financial investment or that you could always sell? Those are blatant lies and misrepresentations. The value of your timeshare depreciates at least 50% the minute you leave the room after you sign your contract and less than 1% of timeshares are successfully sold. Not to mention, an argument can be made that you were under duress during the sales pitch. Most folks are required to give a deposit prior to a sale's pitch and complain that they are held captive for hours, just trying to get their deposit back.
Here are some of NV's statute language:

NRS 119A.710  Unfair methods of competition; deceptive or unfair acts.  It is unlawful to engage in unfair methods of competition or deceptive or unfair acts in the offer to sell or sale of a time share including, without limitation:

1.  Misrepresenting or failing to disclose any material fact concerning a time share.

2.  Including in an agreement for the purchase of a time share provisions purporting to waive any right or benefit provided for purchasers under this chapter.

3.  Receiving from a prospective purchaser any money or other valuable consideration before the purchaser has received a statement of public offering.

4.  Misrepresenting the amount of time or period of time the unit will be available to a purchaser.

5.  Misrepresenting the location or locations of the unit.

6.  Misrepresenting the size, nature, extent, qualities or characteristics of the unit.

7.  Misrepresenting the nature or extent of any services incident to the unit.

8.  Misrepresenting the conditions under which a purchaser may exchange occupancy rights to a unit in one location for occupancy rights to a unit in another location.

9.  Failing to disclose initially that any promised entertainment, food or other inducements are being offered to solicit the sale of a time share.

10.  Conducting or participating in, without prior approval by the Division, any type of lottery or contest, or offering prizes or gifts to induce or encourage a person to visit a project, attend a meeting at which a time share will be discussed, attend a presentation or purchase a time share.

11.  Failing to disclose initially to a prospective purchaser any agreement between the project broker or sales agent and the developer that results in a sharing of sales proceeds in excess of a minimum sales price for a time share.

12.  Any act or practice considered an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice under NRS 207.170, 207.171 or 598.0915 to 598.0925, inclusive, or chapter 598A or 599A of NRS.

(Added to NRS by 1985, 1134; A 1989, 650; 1991, 98; 2001, 2516)

At this point I've filed a complaint with the Arizona AG, filed an IC3 w/ the FBI White Collar Crime division, written an article that's been published in Timeshare Weekly, written an email to ARDA's president citing the violations of their code of ethics demonstrated by DRI toward us. So far I've received no release from our contract.
I plan on continuing to fight this though. I will not back down, nor will I give up!

Etotheron, I am from California and those are the step that I am planning to take. As a matter of fact, I have made contact with a consumer advocacy group and emailed ARDA last week. I am planning to file an IC3 as well. DRI does not seem to give a damn though. maybe if the FBI started paying attention, we may have a chance. I am considering an attorney but not sure if I should just default the loan balance and take the hit on my credit. Let me know how your fight go.