| Lori Kelso’s protest signs caught our eye. Lori joined a few die-hard souls last week … in the rain… to make a point about deceptive timeshare sales practices during Westgate’s Annual Owners Meeting. “I don’t like to speak up about anything,” she told the Orlando Sentinel. “What they did was so wrong, I just had to do something.” Lori bought a unit from Westgate in 2010 and a second one in 2012. She tried to sell them after paying off the mortgages, but Westgate denied her. “…she had been unaware of a hidden contract document that allowed them to deny sales without giving a reason.” That allowed Westage to deny existing timeshare owners to sell their timeshare to anyone else without a reason. And of course, a reason isn’t clearly defined. Wait… what? A hidden contract?? Lori explains on a Facebook page called Westgate Timeshare Hostages: “Westgate is known for placing the CD containing the Public Offering Statement in a hidden pocket…The POS is a document that legally must be provided and should be read prior to the end of the rescission period. It details important information that the sale agent may have “embellished” such as existing or planned amenities, the number of units, terms of the product offering, financial matters, owners association, managing entity, and other important information. When I was attempting to deedback the WG employee I was speaking with stated- you should know that it was mentioned in the POS. I had no clue what that was. I began researching and found out WG is known for hiding the CD in a secret pocket. I check our folio and guess what I found hidden in a pocket!” The news report notes Lori’s complaint has similar elements to a lawsuit Westgate lost in 2015 in Tennessee where it did admit in “that it had failed to provide an updated version of it [the Public Offering Statement].” Lori said the Orlando protest was “to prevent consumers from falling for the sales pitch [and] to wake up the regulating agencies that seem to be turning a blind eye.” Thank you, Lori! Are you a Westgate owner who has had trouble locating the Public Offering Statement related to your timeshare? David Siegel is the CEO at Westgate. You should let him know this is a problem… You can email him at david_siegel@wgresorts.com. The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Jason Gamel is the President and CEO of ARDA. Maybe he should hear how these sales tactics impact the lives of real people, not just the bottom line of timeshare companies. Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org. Or… here is a list ARDA published of its VIPs across all its member companies. Maybe you can find your timeshare company executive and share your story with them too! Tell us your timeshare horror story, too. Send it to us at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
