| We’ll admit it. A lot of times here at Timeshare Facts we are the bearers of bad news. There are just so many examples of timeshare owners who have been mistreated, manipulated and lied to by their timeshare companies. So, when we came across the case of John and Beverly Smith v. Bluegreen Vacations, we wanted to share the good news. But first… …we still have some bad news. John and Beverly Smith are senior citizens who live in Tennessee. As the lawsuit explains, after initially purchasing a Bluegreen timeshare, they were coerced by hard-charging Bluegreen sales representatives to upgrade. “Over the years and in different states, [Bluegreen’s] sales processes were nearly identical: a sales representative(s) applied high pressure sales techniques and verbal misrepresentations for hours; then another agent of [Bluegreen] would pressure the [Smiths] into signing a stack of legal documents very quickly, without reading them or consulting outside counsel.” Upgrading their timeshare cost the Smiths more money (of course) but even worse: “They also discovered that the rooms were always fully booked, and they could never get a reservation which is something that was not readily apparent right away, but only after repeatedly trying to book a room for vacations.” So far…so bad. But here’s the good news: two of the Smith’s timeshare purchases were made in their home state of Tennessee. As it turns out, Tennessee has a Timeshare Act. The Timeshare Act lists 13 specific things timeshare sales agents are prohibited by law from doing, including: misrepresenting rental programsmaking an offer that purports to be limited to a specific day when it actually is notpromoting claims concerning the investment merit or profit of a timeshare (unless previously approved by state regulators). And guess what? “[Bluegreen representatives] also violated nearly every single section above by stating: “That the purchase was an investment that would increase in value and could be easily sold at a profit; the truth was that the timeshares/points are an illiquid asset with no aftermarket value, making it impossible for the [Smiths] to resell.” “That the [the Smiths] could rent out their timeshare/points to earn income or pay their maintenance fees; the truth was that since it is extremely difficult to get reservations at all, renting it out is not an option.” “That the offer being made to the [Smiths] was available for that day only; on information and belief, [Bluegreen] made substantially the same offer to other customers on subsequent days.” “That the more points they bought the more places [the Smiths] could go.” After so many obvious violations, there’s only one conclusion the Smiths could draw. “The [Smiths] came to the realization that their entire relationship with [Bluegreen] was a fraud, built on [Bluegreen’s] pattern of misrepresentations, false promises, and failures to uphold their end of the bargain.” As you can tell, the Smiths had a very strong case against Bluegreen. VERY strong. So strong, in fact, that Bluegreen chose to settle. That indeed is the good news. But if Bluegreen doesn’t change its practices, guaranteed there will be other bad news. Bluegreen’s president and CEO is Alan Levan. Let’s email Alan at alan.levan@bluegreenvacations.com and tell him Bluegreen should be following the law before it gets sued, not because it gets sued. Bluegreen is also bad news for Jason Gamel. He’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA). This case does not reflect well on the industry he represents. Let’s email Jason at jgamel@arda.org and see what ARDA is doing to enourage its members to follow the law! Hoping for some good news from the leaders of your timeshare company? Use this list of timeshare VIPs published by ARDA to find out what they have to say. Is your timeshare experience a good news/bad news story or a bad news/good news one? Share it with us at info@timesharefacts.com PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
