| Imagine you’re flying from Seattle to Miami… a flight that takes almost six hours. Now imagine that the guy next to you just won’t shut up… …AND that he’s trying to sell you a timeshare! Trapped! That’s how Orestes and Teresa from Mobile, Alabama felt after their experience with Bluegreen. We found their story in the complaint they filed with the Florida Attorney General’s office, just one of thousands from around the country the office has received. “In 2016, we were first solicited by Bluegreen agents via telephone, telling us we had won a free vacation. In order to collect our ‘winnings,’ we were told we must attend a brief one (1) hour presentation.” “[W]e agreed to travel to Orlando from our home in Alabama to attend the presentation. The ‘presentation,’ that had been promised to be ‘brief’ ultimately turned out to be nothing short of an aggressive, six (6) hour timeshare sales pitch involving multiple Bluegreen sales representatives.” SIX HOURS! Multiple agents! Well, one would hope that after six hours, the guys from Bluegreen must have covered everything. “Bluegreen agents…told us that the timeshare would be a ‘great investment’ and that it was worth what we would be paying because we could rent out the timeshare in the future.” “We were even told that we could easily sell the timeshare in the future and make a profit.” “We were further promised that we could reserve a vacation anywhere, anytime…” And yet…after six hours so much was left unsaid! “[T]hey never told us that the contract would be for the duration of our lives and that upon death, our children would inherit our timeshare and timeshare obligations.” “[W]e were not even told that we would be responsible for maintenance fees. “Bluegreen agents failed to inform us of our right to have an attorney review the closing documents prior to signing…” “Bluegreen agents never disclosed the cancellation period during the presentation.” How could all of that been left out? “While over six (6) hours were spent on the sales pitch, less than fifteen (15) minutes were spent on reviewing the closing documents with us.” Fifteen minutes! That’s about the amount of time it takes your Seattle to Miami plane to taxi to the terminal. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, Orestes and Teresa were never able to become frequent flyers with Bluegreen. “We have incurred a tremendous liability to Bluegreen and have received nothing of what they bargained for. Since the date of purchase, we have found it impossible to use our timeshare, being told at each attempt that there is no availability.” “We feel as though we were tricked and trapped by a well-planned scheme by Bluegreen agents.” Clearly there was nothing smooth about the landing here for Orestes and Teresa. You know who should be experiencing a little turbulence about this? Bluegreen’s president and CEO is Alan Levan. We can send Alan an email alan.levan@bluegreenvacations.com to tell him Bluegreen’s pre-purchase announcements should include ALL the consumer protections required by law. Jason Gamel is right there on the timeshare flight deck with Alan. He’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents the timeshare industry in Washington. His email is jgamel@arda.org He should probably know that Bluegreen owners need someone who will treat them like first-class customers. How’s the trip with your timeshare company been? Use this list of timeshare VIPs published by ARDA to let its leaders know. Had a particularly bumpy timeshare journey? Tell us about it at info@timesharefacts.com PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
