| We thought we had seen all the games that timeshare companies have up their sleeves. You know, the games that prevent owners from exercising their legal right to cancel a contract. It’s called the rescission period…and in Florida it lasts 10 days – by law. In the 4,256 pages of complaints against Westgate on file in the Florida Attorney General’s office we’ve found cases where sales agents never mentioned a rescission period… …or, even worse, denied that there even was one… …or, promised it’s longer than 10 days so when the customer tries to cancel, it’s too late. And then…we came across the email from Roger and Fran, in Mississauga, Ontario and their tale of the extraordinary lengths Westgate agents went through to move the goal posts on their rescission period. They sent them on a cruise! Roger and Fran were staying at the Westgate Lakes and Spa resort in Florida prior to a seven-day Caribbean cruise. Two days before the cruise ship sailed, they were lured into a Westgate sales presentation where they met the agents Richard and Wael. “We told them that we could not afford to entertain any more debt and that we had very recently purchased a Westgate Cruise and Travel package and were making monthly payments.” “They immediately told us that we don’t need it, that they were offering us an overall better travel package at a very good price.” “They would arrange to cancel the WGCT package on our behalf. They also promised to reinstate some WGCTcertificates that had lapsed when we could not travel during Fran’s parents’ illness and subsequent deaths.” “It was on this basis that we entered into the sales agreement.” So, Richard and Wael would cancel the old travel package during the cruise, and Roger and Fran would upgrade to the new, more expensive one. Hmmmm. “When we asked about a cooling off period, Richard told us that he does not hold his clients to a 10-day cooling off period.” Now there’s a red flag! “The day after we returned from the cruise, we called to see if the WGCT package was cancelled and discovered that it was not.” Nine days into the rescission period, they found Richard and Wael broke their promise, while the clock was ticking. “We then called the notary public, Michelle, to cancel, could not reach her directly and left her a voicemail message telling her that we wanted to cancel. She never returned any of our calls.” Westgate ran out the clock! Now Roger and Fran were stuck with TWO Westgate travel timeshares. “We were subsequently told that we could not cancel and that Richard had no authority to grant an extension to the cooling off period. We have other financing issues arising from this transaction e.g. paying down an extra $1,000 plus only to find out that our monthly payments increased by over 50%.” “They are treating us as liars, that our allegations are verbal and that there is ‘no clear and concise supporting documentation.’” That’s way out of bounds! And so is Westgate CEO David Siegel. Let’s email him at david_siegel@wgresorts.com and tell him to stop playing games with customers’ rights. Maybe Jason Gamel could referee. He’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Let’s email Jason at jgamel@arda.org and tell him to call offsides on Westgate. Think your timeshare company isn’t playing by the rules? Use this list of ARDA VIPs to protest. Have you been unfairly penalized by your timeshare company? Blow the whistle on them by sharing your story with us at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
