In this week’s Tuesday Slot with Irene, we welcome another new contributor, Alicja Tandecka from Poland, with comments from Irene Parker. This story is one with a happy ending, so Inside Timeshare is pleased to share this with you. But first we have a quick look at Europe.
On the legal side, it now looks like we have two courts where the judges have decided to dispense with full trials and issue judgements at the pre-trial stage. Usually the pre-trial is a general review of the case and the judge will then decide to set a date for a full trial.
The Courts of First Instance No 1 & 4, of San Bartelomé de Tirajana in Maspalomas have now in several cases decided that a full hearing is no longer necessary. Their reasoning behind this is very simple, it is a matter of contracts, they are in breach of the timeshare laws 42/98 & 4/12 along with the rulings from the Supreme Court. In these cases the judge has decided to rule and issue his sentence, the last one was issued within three days of the hearing.
This is obviously good news for clients, as it will speed up the legal process no end.
Another lawyer known to these pages has now started to publish the results of his cases, Javier Correa, who at one time worked with Miguel Rodriguez Ceballos of Canarian Legal Alliance. With the news that Javier is now publishing his results does go to prove that what timeshare companies such as Anfi, along with David Cox of TESS stating that these are all fictitious cases is not true. They are a matter of public record, Inside Timeshare even published links to the official website where these case files can be accessed.
News has just been received on the EZE Group case, Dominic O’Reilly and Stephanie O’Reilly his daughter, are to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday 30 April 2018 for sentencing. This will be good news for all those EZE Group clients who have been taken in by this company. One question which we will ask, is how will Birmingham City Football Club deal with this, after all EZE Group are linked to them and also have a stand named after them?
As we were about to publish , we went to check some details on the EZE Group website, the account has been suspended and cannot be accessed.
More news on this next week.
Now for our Tuesday Slot.
Alicja Tandecka’s Trip to America turns into a Polo Towers
Diamond Resorts Issue Resolved!
The Federal Trade Commission’s Report on Complaints
April 24, 2018
By Alicja Tandecka
My visit to America from my home in Poland to attend an Arbonne conference turned into a travel dilemma after I signed a contract to purchase a Sampler product from Diamond Resorts. I signed a contract to buy 20,000 Diamond Sampler points for $4,000.
Two hours after I signed the contract, I decided I had made a mistake, so I went back to cancel. I was alarmed to read that this Sampler product has no cancellation period, even though I had found on the internet Nevada has a seven day cancellation period. I feel this is a very unfair business practice.
As a foreigner in a foreign country, I did not know where to turn. I reached out to Inside Timeshare and the Diamond Member Sponsored Advocacy Facebook for help. I will be eternally grateful to have found them and their pro bono help in all this will not be forgotten. This is what restores my faith in humanity.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/
As you can see, we were having a great time in America until I realized I had made a mistake buying something I really did not understand.
https://www.facebook.com/alicjatandecka
Irene Parker from Inside Timeshare directed me to the Diamond Resorts Consumer Advocacy department. I told her about the high pressure sales presentation I attended. Irene explained that Diamond has introduced a program called CLARITY that promises no high pressure and that I should explain to that department what happened.
When I went back two hours after I signed the contract to cancel, the office was closed. The next morning I went back again and was asked to write down the reasons why I wanted to cancel so the agent could send this to Diamond corporate. The agent I spoke with assured me I would be refunded, but I was worried.
Irene explained that Timeshare Advocacy Group
advocates have helped 404 timeshare members because reports indicate there is no enforcement of timeshare regulations in Nevada and a few other states. She suggested I submit an article to Inside Timeshare about my experience. She sent my article to Diamond Resorts for comment to see if someone might reach out to help me end this ordeal. Someone did so my trip to America ends with many new Facebook friends and a timeshare issue resolved!
Comments from Irene
The Federal Trade Commission released complaint statistics and timeshare made the highest dollar amount. The amount of $1,700 seems low as timeshare member reports from members reaching out to Inside Timeshare include members losing money in amounts ranging from $25,000 to $400,000 or more.
The most common comments:
I’m so embarrassed! I feel so stupid! We haven’t told our kids!
Excerpts from the FTC report:
The Federal Trade Commission has released statistics on complaints and other problems reported in 2017. Some came directly from consumers, while others originated with law enforcement agencies and other organizations, including the Better Business Bureau.
The FTC received 2.7 million reports in 2017, a slight decrease from 2016. However, the amount of money people reported losing to fraud increased 7.5 percent to $905 million. The true numbers are much higher since many people don’t report being defrauded because they’re embarrassed, afraid, or don’t know where to turn for help.
Abusive or fraudulent debt collection calls were the top source of complaints in 2017, representing 23 percent of all reports. Identity theft, led by credit card fraud, and impostor scams rounded out the top three.
For the first time, the FTC broke out the numbers by the age of the person filing the report and the results mirror what the BBB has found in analyses of complaints it receives. Younger people reported losing money to fraud more often than seniors, but seniors suffered a greater dollar loss.
The median loss from all types of fraud was $429. Travel, vacation, and timeshare frauds were the most costly with people losing a median amount of $1,710. The FTC also broke out fraud losses for members of the military and found their median fraud loss to be 44 percent higher than the general population.
Florida had the highest per capita rate of reports to the FTC, at 993 per 100,000 population. Tennessee came in 10th at 649 per 100,000 and Mississippi was 27th at 514. North Dakota had the lowest ratio at 277 per 100,000 population.
Inside Timeshare will walk with Alicja until her issue is resolved or foreclosed. We’re checking into whether defaulting on $4,000 will have any great effect on her credit report in Poland or create any problems coming to America in the future.
More helping hands:
https://www.facebook.com/timeshareadvocategroup/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/180578055325962/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/465692163568779/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1639958046252175/
Thank you Alicja for your contribution, Inside Timeshare and all the team who work with Irene are very pleased to have been of help, we are glad that your trip has ended with a host of new friends and we wish you luck for the future.
If you have any comments, questions or concerns about this or any article published, or need help to decide what to do and who you can trust, then use our contact form and Inside Timeshare will get back to you.
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