Ever wonder why so many unethical people are drawn to sales positions with timeshare companies?
It can’t just be a coincidence.
Sure, there are commissions and incentives that reward aggressive – and deceptive – sales tactics.
But why is it so hard to find anyone who behaves ethically?
We just may have found the answer in this lawsuit filed against Diamond Resorts International by one of its former regional sales directors.
“Quan Nguyen was an employee of Diamond and its predecessor company for eighteen years, rising through the ranks to become of the company’s two regional directors of sales.”
Well, Mr. Nguyen sounds like just the guy to know what’s really going on.
The lawsuit recounts that there were “divisions within Diamond between officers and employees who wanted to reform and those who wanted to maintain the high level of revenue and commissions that the personnel had been enjoying.”
So, it appears there were some ethical people at Diamond, once upon a time.
“Amidst tensions created by the reform efforts, Mr. Nguyen began a renewed effort to enforce policies that Diamond had developed to avoid ostensible violations of 16 CFR 310.3-4 and common law prohibitions against fraud.”
Just to be clear, 16 CFR 310.3-4 is a federal regulation prohibiting deceptive telemarketing practices.
Why would asking colleagues to follow the law be so controversial?
After all, Diamond is a member of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and ARDA’s Code of Ethics clearly states: “All Members shall conduct their activities honestly and fairly in compliance with applicable laws, and with professionalism, integrity, dignity and propriety.”
Mr. Nguyen was just asking his coworkers to comply with ARDA’s Code of Ethics and, oh yeah, FEDERAL LAW.
We’re sure all of Mr. Nguyen’s colleagues had his back on this one.
“Mr. Nguyen made enemies when he reprimanded Diamond’s highest-volume sales representative for making calls on unrecorded lines.”
Okay, well, maybe not all his colleagues.
But, surely, Mr. Nguyen’s superiors would back him up.
“The reprimanded representative was also one of the top performers in the company, which earned him institutional support from a Diamond officer senior to Mr. Nguyen, including but not limited to Vern Toland.”
“The employee complained to Toland, who first demoted Quan and then terminated him for his rigorous enforcement of federal and state restrictions on telemarketing.”
(Sigh). So, apparently not.
And there it is, in a nutshell: Not only is unethical behavior rewarded at Diamond; ethical behavior is actually punished!
How ironic.
Because Diamond Resorts was purchased by Hilton Grand Vacations in 2021. Gordon Gurnik, the chief operating officer of Hilton Grand Vacations, is the chair of ARDA’s board of directors. He’s the guy who approves all the appointments to ARDA’s Ethics Committee!
And Mark Wang, the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations is a member of ARDA’s board of directors, so we’d say the chances of ARDA punishing Diamond for its unethical treatment of Mr. Nguyen seem pretty slim.
Still, let’s email Mark and Gordon at mark.wang@hgv.com and gordon.gurnik@hgv.com and ask whether they’ve stopped punishing ethical employees – if they have any left.
Jason Gamel, ARDA’s CEO and President, is actually a member of the Ethics Committee. Let’s contact him at jgamel@arda.org to see whose side he’s on – the guy who stood up for ethics or Diamond?
What’s your timeshare company doing to reward ethical behavior? Use this list of ARDA VIPs to contact your company’s leaders and find out.
Can’t find any ethical people left at your timeshare company? Tell us about it at info@timesharefacts.com
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