| Think of all the planning that goes into a wedding. Deciding who to invite… …finding the perfect location… …choosing food, music, maybe even caterers and a band… … sitting through a mandatory five-hour presentation from your timeshare company TWO DAYS before the event. WAIT…WHAT? That’s not supposed to happen… …unless, of course, your timeshare company is Diamond Resorts! For soon-to-be newlyweds Christopher and Jennifer from East Aurora, New York, the presentation was just the beginning of a fractured fairytale…a tale anyone can read in the 2,170 page of complaints against Diamond Resorts collected by the Florida Attorney General’s office. As their lawyer explained, Christopher and Jennifer had purchased 3,000 Diamond Resorts points after attending their first sales presentation in Orlando, Florida. Then, two years later, and “Two days before their Las Vegas wedding ceremony, they were required to attend a Diamond Owner Update presentation. In this mandatory sales presentation, our clients were told that their 3,000 Diamond Resort Points were not enough to access the full range of what Diamond had to offer.” Stop right there. “It is absurd to think that our clients, two days before the most important moments of their lives, were compelled to attend a timeshare sales presentation.” Absolutely! “During this sales pitch, our clients realized a very serious issue with regards to your company’s timeshare strategy: every year your company keeps raising the amount of points it costs to go to your resorts, and owners must keep purchasing more points if they wanted to be able to continue to use their timeshares.” “After five long hours of high-intensity sales pitching, our clients grew weary from the pressure and signed the closing documents.” Despite Diamond’s time consuming and high-pressure tactics, Christopher and Jennifer did make it to the church on time…but they are NOT living happily ever after. A few months after the wedding, Christopher lost his job. He found a new one – but took a 50% pay cut. “As a consequence, our clients had to sell their house, as they could not afford to pay the mortgage.” “Our clients have worked diligently over many years of financial difficulties to fully pay off both the original timeshare and the upgrade. Our clients attempted to ask for assistance in paying their maintenance fees during their financial hardship, but your company refused to cooperate.” Apparently, there’s no such thing as a honeymoon period at Diamond. “As soon as one becomes late on the maintenance fees, your company adds on thousands of dollars in late fees to them every year, making it difficult or impossible to afford.” “A fee to ARDA, a political lobbying organization, is also automatically added to every maintenance fee bill our clients have received.” The WHOLE timeshare industry is profiting from Christopher and Jennifer’s grim story! Let’s let Jason Gamel know that’s not right. He’s the President and CEO of ARDA, the American Resort Development Association, which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. His email is jgamel@arda.org. You might also want to contact your own timeshare company’s leaders about this. You can find their contact information in this list of ARDA VIPs. And don’t forget about Mark Wang. He’s the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, which purchased Diamond Resortsin 2021. Let’s email him at mark.wang@hgv.com and see if he’s willing to provide a happier ending to Christopher and Jennifer’s tale of woe. Timeshares preventing you from living happily ever after? Contact us at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media Twitter Facebook Instagram |
