Who doesn’t like a birthday surprise?
 
Well…maybe Mark, for one.  He’s a Capital Vacations owner.
 
It’s not his fault. 
 
We think you’ll forgive Mark for going a little sour on birthdays after you hear how Capital Vacations surprised him on his – and not in a good way.
 
We found his sad story among the many, many complaints against Capital Vacations on file with the Better Business Bureau and, not surprisingly, there’s little in it to celebrate.
 
“It was my birthday getaway. But first things first. We had a required meeting with what is now Capital Vacations that started at 9:30 am, and they would not let me leave until a big problem with my paperwork was corrected.”
 
Like we said – not a good birthday surprise.
 
But Mark’s big day was about to get worse.
 
“They kept me, my wife, and two grandchildren, ages 8 and 4, in more or less lockdown from 9:30 AM until 12:45 PM!”
 
“I told them that I was sick and not well. They said that we would need to remain until all corrections were made.” 
 
Quite the birthday present from Capital Vacations. 
 
Unfortunately, the “corrected” contract was the gift that just kept on giving.
 
“Needless to say, my birthday vacation, which my wife had worked for, began to fall apart. We went home the next day.” 
 
“I realized that the paperwork I signed while being sick amounted to a sizable increase in points, which increased the maintenance fees over my comfort zone. As it turns out, there was nothing wrong with my paperwork, and the salesmen lied to me in order to get me to upgrade so that they could take more money from me.”
 
So, less of a correction and more of a…shall we say, deception?
 
Happy Birthday, from Capital Vacations!
 
“How is this legal?”
 
That’s not the only good question. Because it also certainly sounds unethical!  
 
In fact, the Code of Ethics for the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) is pretty clear: “Verbal representations should be consistent with information contained in sales documents, contracts and written disclosures.”
 
But Mark shouldn’t hold his breath waiting for a resolution. All the members of ARDA’s Ethics Committee come from the timeshare companies they are supposed to be policing. You can bet there will be no surprises when it comes to ethics enforcement there.
 
The same goes for ARDA’s Resort Owners Coalition, which claims to represent the interests of timeshare owners. Sadly, for Mark, Travis Bary, the co-president of Capital Vacations, and Ken McKelvey, an executive consultant to Capital Vacations, are both on its board of directors. 
 
Still, let’s email them anyway to see if they think it’s fair that Capital Vacations can have their cake and eat it too when it comes to complaints from Capital Vacations owners like Mark. Travis’s email is tbary@capitalvacations.com and Ken’s is klm@capitalvacations.com.
 
We wonder if Jason Gamel, the President and CEO of ARDA, could grant Mark a better birthday wish. After all, Jason is also a member of ARDA’s Ethics Committee. Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org to ask.
 
Tired of surprises from your timeshare company? Use the contact information in this list of ARDA VIPs to let your company’s leaders know they’re not appreciated.
 
Can’t find anything to celebrate about your timeshare? Tell us why at info@timesharefacts.com. 
 
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