Welcome once again to Friday’s Letter from America, the article we had planned for today by Mike Finn, has been postponed until Tuesday, the reason, some very important breaking news from the US. Inside Timeshare received the press release yesterday 26 October at 5.53pm, It was then sent to Irene Parker our US branch who prepared it for publication today.
As usual we start with Europe, Inside Timeshare has again been receiving many comments from readers regarding the Mark Rowe enterprise ABC Lawyers, all have been the same.
The timeshare owner has attended a meeting at one of their offices, enticed with the prospect of ending their timeshare and claiming compensation. Sounds good, but then comes the crunch, the “salesperson” starts to pitch the Rowe product “Jive Hippo”. Does this sound familiar. Well it should, after all sellmytimeshare.tv (another Rowe company) enticed people to their meetings with the promise of selling their timeshare, but then were pitched into the “Monster Credits” product.
It also appears that the “Jive Hippo” product is required in order to “Relinquish” then “claim compensation”. Once the contracts are signed, the client is also told there is no “cooling off period” as it does not come under timeshare regulations, there is no right to cancel and the full cost must be paid.
On Thursday we published the breaking news on a Norwegian client of Canarian Legal Alliance receiving a massive payout, involving Anfi, since then there has been more news coming in.
At the High Court in Tenerife, the judge ordered that Regency Resorts returns over £13,000 plus legal interest to another client. The contract was also declared null and void.
The same court in Tenerife has also awarded a client over £53,000 plus legal interest against Silverpoint, with again the contract declared null & void.
In one of the lower courts in Tenerife, the Court of First Instance number 5, declared another Silverpoint contract null & void, as it did not conform to the law which requires specific information to be included. In this case it did not contain information regarding a specific date or apartment. The client will be receiving over £44,000 plus legal interest and the return of legal fees.
So it has been all go in the courts on Tenerife, now on with our Letter from America.
Breaking News from America!
Finally a Timeshare Exit Strategy with Promise!
October 27
Introduction by Irene Parker
Anything to help beleaguered timeshare members who no longer want or need their timeshare, spells relief for perpetual timeshare members.
With the launch of TARS TIMESHARE ADVISORY AND RESOLUTION SERVICES LLC new “limited term deeded” program, consumers enjoy all the “pros” of traditional timeshare, and none of the “cons”, plus even more benefits, according to TARS President and General Counsel, Martin M. Kandel. “Our program allows legacy owners to safely trade-in their existing traditional timeshare and purchase a limited 5 year term timeshare at their Resort”, Kandel said.
I spoke with TARS Chairman Dennis DiTinno. “Our program is geared toward smaller, deeded fixed week owners, but we hope the brand name resorts will take note and will consider similar exit plans that do not place undue burden on their members or the HOAs.”
Timeshare developers and Attorneys General have focused on shutting down fraudulent resale, transfer and listing scams, rather than attacking the root of the problem. A reasonable exit plan nullifies the ability for such entities to prosper. This multi-page single-spaced Department of Justice reports illustrates the depth of the problem.
https://search.justice.gov/search?affiliate=justice&query=timeshare+report
“Not only can a five year exit plan such as our put such unscrupulous entities out of business, it will ease the burden of debt collection for HOAs,” Mr. DiTinno further explained. “When we presented our exit program at the TBMA Timeshare Board Member Association in Las Vegas last weekend, we were pleased that those in attendance listened and appeared to like what they heard,” he added.
Inside Timeshare has received complaints from 176 readers who describe sometimes catastrophic financial distress unable to be released from their timeshare contract.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TIMESHARE ADVISORY AND RESOLUTION SERVICES LLC EXPANDS SERVICES FOR LEGACY RESORTS AND OWNERS
Timeshare Advisory and Resolution Services LLC (“TARS”) a company dedicated to promoting the interests and rights of long-time timeshare owners, homeowner associations, and consumers contemplating the purchase of timeshare, has announced the launch of unique programs designed to ease the transition of long time owners, out of their “perpetual” timeshare and also attract new consumers, seeking the benefits of timeshare ownership without the burden of increasing maintenance fees or the hassles of resale.
The program also intends to assist legacy resorts in planning for either continued use as a timeshare property or for an alternative use pursuant to an organized repurposing plan. In addition, TARS announced the acquisition of a significant interest in the company by Liberté Management Group of the Pinellas Islands, Inc. TARS will be operated as a subsidiary of Liberté and will be jointly headquartered in Treasure Island, Florida.
With the launch of TARS new “limited term/unlimited fun” program, consumers enjoy all the “pros” of traditional timeshare, and none of the “cons”, according to TARS President and General Counsel, Martin M. Kandel. “Our program allows legacy owners to safely trade-in their existing traditional timeshare and purchase a limited 5-year term deeded timeshare at their resort”, Kandel said. “Legacy owners will continue to be able to enjoy their resort and unit every year of the term, or rent or exchange it as they do in a traditional timeshare. However, they will no longer be billed any maintenance fees during the entire term, which terminates by going back to the resort with no further obligation. There are no worries about resales or fraudulent transfer and exit companies, and the HOA’s have a systematic and controllable, and scalable means to make certain all of their intervals are paying intervals”, Kandel concluded.
Dennis F. DiTinno, CEO and President of the Liberte’ Management Group of Companies, will serve as Chairman of TARS and oversee the close interaction between TARS and Liberte’. “As a manager of legacy resorts, I have been committed to working toward a robust resale market to benefit older resorts and their owners, particularly those resorts fighting to remain financially stable and relevant. TARS will help these sold-out resorts find new owners to enjoy their products and services. I am excited to join with Marty and devising innovative ways to fight for and protect the resort associations and owners upon whom the timeshare industry was originally built”, DiTinno said. “I sincerely believe that what we are doing is to provide ‘out of box solutions… in a box’”, DiTinno added.
In conjunction with select strategic partners, TARS will provide an á la carte menu of products and enhanced services designed exclusively for the legacy market segment. TARS will target self-managed resorts, management companies (in those instances where such a company has been previously retained by the HOA), and individuals for whom timeshare has become a burden.
TARS business objective will be to provide new ways to address old problems by enhancing TARS’ original consumer-centric mission (www.tarserv.com) to provide legacy resorts with a means to maintain their resorts for a decade or more in order to plan for robust continuation or an orderly repurposing of the resort and its timeshare program. Along the way, TARS may more readily assist individual legacy timeshare owners in parting with their timeshare as a part of the overall HOA program.
DiTinno established Liberté Management and related entities in 1987 to address a burgeoning demand for professional, turnkey resort property management along the Florida Gulf Coast, Liberté Management provides a comprehensive array of personalized services for a wide variety of vacation properties. Services include rentals, sales and resale services for timeshares, resort condominiums and hotels.
Clients range from large developers and community associations to individual owners who expect an unparalleled level of quality and commitment. DiTinno served with distinction in Viet Nam as a member of the United States Marine Corps.
Kandel attended University of Baltimore School of Law and Rutgers University and is a member of the State Bar of Maryland. He is a former Maryland Assistant Attorney General and Counsel to that state’s Real Estate Commission and Commissioner of Consumer Credit, and is the primary author of the first Maryland Timeshare Act. Since 1984, Kandel has served as counsel to timeshare developers, lenders, builders, and a variety of other industry related clients, as well as individual consumers and consumer groups. He has also operated timeshare development and sales and marketing entities in the US, Australia, and Europe, and has served on the Board of Directors of ARDA and ATHOC.
It’s nice to be on the same side of the fence for once! Imagine a world with no Timeshare Wars with members pitted against developers like North Korea and America. There’s no reason we can’t all get along by releasing timeshare members who feel like they are being held hostage by their vacation plan. Charles Thomas and I would like nothing better than to publish articles about people and places doing things right. Thank you to Marty and Dennis for their olive branch, offering a bridge between greed and need.
Inside Timeshare will publish a monthly resale recycle report to examine how this revolutionary plan is working out. We hope to interview timeshare owners and HOAs taking advantage of this opportunity. I’ll call my favorite timeshare people, Port Elsewhere in the Missouri Ozarks and Maui Hill at Maui Lea to hear what they think.
So that’s it for this week, two breaking news stories from both sides of the Great Lake, our apologies to Mike Finn for not publishing his article, I’m sure he will understand. We will however be publishing that on Tuesday.
Once again, if you need any information on any company that has contacted you or you are considering dealing with, but are not sure where to look, Inside Timeshare will point you in the right direction.
It’s Friday, the weekend is once again upon us, have a good one and we will be back on Monday.
The post Friday’s Letter from America appeared first on Inside Timeshare.