Posted by admin | Posted in Timeshare | Posted on 22-11-2009
Timeshare sales have consistently decreased over the years due to the economic situation, however the number of fraud cases involving the timeshare industry only continue to grow.
Many timeshare owners are no stranger to the pushy telemarketers who convince timeshare owners that a good ad on a website will get the property sold! The end to this story is only all too familiar for many deceived timeshare owners.
Although many timeshare listing and advertising companies have been shut down over the years, many of them have only come back with a smoother and more convincing pitch. It used to be that owners would pay $300 to $500 for a listing on a website. It was called an advertisement fee. The pitch was, “how will people know if your timeshare is for sale, if you don’t have it listed on a site that gets lots of traffic from brokers and interested buyers?” However, as this pitch became increasingly familiar to timeshare owners, these companies were getting less business.
The new and improved pitch sounds more like, “We already have a buyer waiting to buy your timeshare, and we can get the title work started for $1200.” When desperate-to- sell timeshare owners hear a promising pitch for the first time in months they gladly release their credit card information. However once owners receive the contract, it is once again an agreement to simply market the timeshare for sale.
Senior investigator, Sash Velez from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Tallahassee described the situation as an epidemic. She also warned timeshare owners not to deal with companies over the phone and to work with them directly. Velez commented that for those who don’t follow these warnings, “You are really at risk of being taken.”
According to the Florida State Attorney General’s Office, the complaints made on timeshare resale companies reached 7,325 since January of 2007 with its peak of 629 this September. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services have also received a staggering 3,345 complaints on this industry.
Shutting down timeshare resale companies has been proven to be difficult because of their tendency to pick up and move as soon as suspicions arise. Velez stated that many of these companies are renting out from buildings with low vacancy rates and have in some cases even paid property managers to allow them to use their address as a business mail drop.
For owners who have handed over credit card information to timeshare resale companies and lost a few hundred dollars in the process, should also be aware that personal information could end up in the wrong hands. Velez stated that telemarketers often hire felons who are unable to find jobs elsewhere, and that there have been reports of credit cards being used for other unapproved purchases.
Premier Timeshare Solutions had almost 300 complaints filed against them last year alone. Between operating in West Palm Beach and yet having a business address in Palm Beach Gardens and also not returning customer phone calls, victims felt reason for suspicion.
By the time many owners realize that they have been scammed, credit card companies will say that it is too late to reverse or dispute the charge.
Hicks Inc. is another company that is under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and has been fined $17,500 by officials from agriculture and consumer services. It appears that among other issues, Hicks Inc. did not return customer phone calls.
The Attorney General has also required that two timeshare resale companies named Timeshare Travels Inc. and World Timeshare Inc. pay a total of $190,483 in consumer restitution. They are accused of leading consumers to believe that their timeshare properties were being marketed aggressively when all that had been done was a simple listing on a web site.
There are so many complaints on different companies’ everyday that investigators have no possible way of looking into all of them. The best way to put an end to this trend is for consumers to stop paying them and only doing business with companies who will deal with you face to face and provide a contract that guarantees a solution.
About the Author:
Safe Hands Transfers puts a lot of effort into making sure that owners are well informed before they make the decision to do business. Traveling around the country to meet with owners face to face is not easy, but in an industry where there is so much uncertainty and deception, it is of great importance to Safe Hands Transfers to be able to shake the hands of an owner and tell them they no longer own their timeshare and will never pay another maintenance fee.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Timeshare Listing Companies under Close Investigation