| There is certainly no shortage of complaints about timeshare companies. But what’s REALLY frustrating is the way some timeshare companies just don’t seem to care… …about the intimidation tactics … …the broken promises … …or the financial hardships caused by timeshares. That’s how Monique and Jason from Athold, Idaho seem to feel. Their story is also on file with the Florida Attorney General, among the 2,170 pages of complaints about Diamond Resorts. Monique wrote, “There were several enticing selling points at the initial purchase. It was explained that…it could be a deductible business expense that our employees would benefit from as well. Our vacations would be cheaper and all around better and that it would be no problem to sell for more than we were paying if we ever wanted or could rent it out for profit or to help pay fees.” “One year into owning there became constant pressure sales from Diamond employees for us to upgrade. We were being prompted with more points, more vacation time, easier booking, VIP status, the works. It honestly sounded great at the time so we took the upgrade.” “Come to find out, the main reasons we paid more money to upgrade, the very benefits these employees told us we would be gaining, were nowhere in sight.” Monique and Jason tried to bring their issues to Diamond, but the response they received from a Diamond agent “barely acknowledged any of our complaints and basically stated they were not valid.” “She made us feel like our feelings didn’t matter and we were out of luck”. Monique had had enough. She wrote back. “My question to them was this, ‘How can you morally and ethically sell someone a lie through a high sales presentation, tell us we are stupid for not investing, and then enforce on them a debt with your lies and destroy ones credit rating, continue to steal from hard working people and ruin a family’s income, stealing even all of a person’s retirement through lies with virtually having bought a cloud.” Good points, Monique!! “If the Timeshare we purchased was of so great a value and would only increase in value over time as we were told, why would you not want it back or we could sell it for the inflated value it should of increased by like you said we could?” “Why does it not have any market value like you said it would?” “They could not answer these questions…only continued to ask for more money and threaten collection.” “Our voices are not heard by them.” “It is their common practice to lie, cheat, and steal.” Wow. Sounds like Diamond needs to do a better job of listening to their customers…at the very least. Maybe we should remind Mark Wang of that. He’s the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, which purchased Diamond Resorts in 2021. Mark’s email is mark.wang@hgv.com The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Jason Gamel is the President and CEO of ARDA. Let’s let him know that overly creative financing is a bad look for the industry. You can email him at jgamel@arda.org. Or… if you’ve heard the “good investment” sales pitch from another timeshare company, and want to let their top brass know, here is a list ARDA published of its VIPs across all its member companies. Maybe you can find your timeshare company executive and tell them about the consequences of deceitful sales practices. And if your timeshare company won’t keep its promises, you can always let us know at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
