| One thing you can be certain of at a Diamond Resorts sales pitch: nothing is left to chance. And the sales agents hold all the cards! Don’t just take our word for it. There is now a lawsuit by a former Diamond insider that confirms what many Diamond owners suspected all along. You remember we told you about Gina Mori. She’s the former Diamond Quality Assurance Representative who is suing the company for wrongful termination after she was fired for reporting too many unethical sales tactics to her superiors. Her lawsuit gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how Diamond sales agents ruthlessly target customers, using private data that only Diamond would know. “Current owners were targeted and sent an invitation to a purported ‘Owner Update Meeting’ to ostensibly learn more about the investment they had already made. In actuality, these were high pressure sales presentations presided over by commissioned salespersons.” Ok, that much we did know. But here’s the BIG reveal: “Worse, prior to the meetings, DIAMOND would provide the salespersons with intimate knowledge about each attendee, including their credit worthiness and ‘points owned’ information, so that salespersons could target certainowners in these meetings for additional sales. “Salespersons were told to target the meeting attendees to purchase more points, certain upgrades, and additional DIAMOND products.” So, when Gina heard from a 76-year-old customer identified only as “MK” in the lawsuit, she knew everything that MK recounted had happened on purpose – not by chance. “MK told MORI that he was sold 3,000 points as a ‘special program for older people who cannot take vacations due to disabilities or old age.’ MK reported that the salesperson told him he could cancel his membership after 24 months and recover his ‘equity’ as a lump sum cash payment from DIAMOND.’” “MK then wrote ‘we now understand there is no such program.’” “MK also reported he was sold a sampler ‘equity’ program that would let him ‘use points to pay for maintenance fees, air flights, and hotels. We found that none of this is true.’” Gina was appalled – and concerned. She immediately forwarded MK’s email to her superiors, “…and stated that she felt the salesperson’s tactics ‘could fall under ‘elder abuse’.” “MORI also stated that it was her expectation that when she returned to work…none of the ‘dishonest, unethical, misleading, and contrary to law tactics will be used.’” FAT CHANCE! Just over a month later, Diamond furloughed Gina…but kept the unscrupulous sales agents she flagged on the job. A few months after that, Diamond fired her! According to Gina’s lawsuit, elder abuse is a sure thing at Diamond – and so is firing the people who report it. You know whose been holding his cards close to the vest during all this? Mark Wang, the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, which purchased Diamond Resorts in 2021. He’s fighting Gina’s lawsuit tooth and nail. Let’s email Mark at mark.wang@hgv.com and tell him it’s time to fold and give Gina and our seniors the respect they deserve. Diamond’s treatment of seniors also is risky business for the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Jason Gamel, is the President and CEO of ARDA. Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org and ask what ARDA is doing to prevent the type of elder abuse Diamond brings to the table every day. Has your timeshare company been targeting you for upgrades? You can figure out who to contact about it by using the contact information in this list of ARDA VIPs. And if your timeshare company stacked the deck to cheat you out of your money, share your story with us at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
