“What we experienced meets the FBI’s definition of white-collar crime” at Diamond Resorts.
The difference between a broken promise and a lie is a pretty bright line.
In the business world, if you aren’t able to do what you promised, you might get sued…
…but if you promise something just to take someone’s money…that might be a crime.
Kevin and Brenda, two Air Force veterans from Freeport, Florida, think they know which side of the line Diamond Resorts is on.
We found their story in the 2,170 pages of complaints about Diamond on file with the Florida Attorney General’s office.
When Kevin and Brenda first purchased a Diamond timeshare in Florida, “we enjoyed our Liki Tiki timeshare when we used it. Problem was, we rarely used it, so we always had points left over.”
So, they told an agent at a Diamond presentation in Orlando, “our biggest complaint…was the rising maintenance fees, which are over $700 a year for points we rarely ever used.”
The agent had a solution: buy more points.
No surprise there.
“He told us that with 3000 more points, we would become Platinum Members because we would then be over 5000 points (because we already owned 2250 points bought at Liki Tiki).”
“As Platinum members, we would be able to sell back unused points at a rate of $.50 per points. This money could then be used to pay on our maintenance fees, or whatever we wanted to do with it.”
“He said, ‘With 3000 more points, your fees would likely double, but think about it, if you sell back all 5000 of your points for 50 cents a point, that is $2500. You’ll be able to pay all of your fees with that and still have some left over.’”
Even better, “he went on to tell us that if we were not happy come January 2018, DRI will buy back our points...Also, Diamond points are going to be easier to use because…travel sites are going to start using them like currency. All the major travel sites will have an option to pay for their services using Diamond points instead of something like a credit card.”
Kevin and Brenda thought that was a pretty good deal. Who wouldn’t?
“Yeah, we fell for it. We fell hard. We spent $14,100 on an additional 3000 points.”
But then they got their next Diamond statement.
“Our first surprise came about a month later when the additional points showed up in our account. To our surprise, we were not Platinum members.”
“We did not have one account with 5250 points. Instead, we now had two accounts. The original bought at Liki Tiki with 2250 points and the additional 3000 points became a second account.”
“The accounts cannot be merged…You cannot combine the points even to use on the same vacation.”
It turned out, “There is no program to buy back points at 50 cents a point…There is no travel site that takes Diamond points as currency.”
The only close to honest thing the agent told them, Kevin and Brenda say, “was that our Maintenance fees would double. They actually more than doubled.”
Kevin and Brenda did some research and, “it turns out that what we experienced meets the FBI’ s definition of white-collar crime, Financial Institution Fraud, defined as ‘deceit, concealment, violation of trust and bait and switch.’”
If you had an experience where you think Diamond crossed a line, you should let Mark Wang know. He’s the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, which purchased Diamond Resorts in 2021. Mark Wang’s email is mark.wang@hgv.com
And you might want to contact the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Jason Gamel is the President and CEO of ARDA. It would be interesting to see if he thinks Diamond crossed a line here, too. You can ask him at jgamel@arda.org.
Or…if you have a similar concern to share with your timeshare company, here is a list ARDA published of its VIPs across all its member companies. Maybe you can find your timeshare company executive and let them know.
Want to share your story with Timeshare Facts? Contact us at info@timesharefacts.com.
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