Posts

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Hilton Says It Did Not Robocall Millions Of People

Hilton Grand Vacations is urging a court of appeal to drop a lawsuit alleging the Timeshare giant bombarded consumers with unwanted Robocalls.

Melanie Glasser brought the dispute to court and argued that Hilton Grand Vacations was a ‘classic telemarketer’ and alleged that Hilton made 15.9 million timeshare marketing calls during a six month period. She states that her suit is exactly the type of problem that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was created for.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was adopted into U.S law in an effort to address the growing number of telephone marketing calls. The TCPA restricts … Read more

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Orange Lake Resorts In Court

A federal judge in Florida has dismissed timeshare resort Orange Lake Country Club’s law suit, claiming a law firm encouraged timeshare owners to break their contracts.

In 2017, a law firm based in Seattle told the court Orange Lake Resorts were suing them in retaliation to the firms representation of consumers who want to end their timeshare agreements. Orange Lake was attempting to stop the firm and its attorneys from helping clients with concerns about their agreements.

In January this year, the Judge denied another lawyers bid to escape the lawsuit claiming he participated in a conspiracy with the timeshare… Read more

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Australian Timeshare Industry Could Face Huge Shakeup

The Australian government is looking into whether timeshare companies should be allowed to continue paying sales agents’ commissions on their sales.

The government want to review the quality of advice given to consumers during timeshare presentations. They also want to eliminate bad practice in the timeshare industry, including lengthy, poor value contracts, high pressure sales tactics which end in consumers taking out unaffordable loans.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority receives over 170 complaints a year from timeshare owners. They say complaints are centred around the mis-selling of timeshare, where sales staff have failed to disclose cooling off rights, failure to … Read more

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Wyndham Opens New Resort

Wyndham Destinations, has announced they are to develop a new resort in Utah, U.S. They are also expanding their existing property in Arizona.

The new resort in Utah and the expansion in Arizona are under the WorldMark by Wyndham brand. WorldMark operates over 90 resorts across a range of destinations.

The new resort in Utah will be completed in 2020 and will feature more than 150 suites, with one, two and three bedroom layouts. The resort is located near to two of America’s famous national parks, Canyonland National Park and Arches National Park. The resort will also feature WorldMark Presidential … Read more

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Disney’s Riviera Resort Open For Reservations

Disney’s Riviera Resort is now accepting guest reservations for stays beginning in December 2019. The new resort is the 15th Disney Vacation property. Disney’s Riviera Resort is said to be inspired by Walt and Lillian Disney’s travels throughout Europe and the Mediterranean coastline.

Terri Schultz, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Disney Vacation Club said in a statement: “ Walt fell in love with European art, architecture, food and stories, and his extended tours of the region continue to influence Disney storytelling and theming. We look forward to welcoming our members and guests later this year to this … Read more

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Timeshare Trial May Hold Key To Solve Murder Case

The partner of serial Timeshare fraudster John “Goldfinger” Palmer is facing trial in Spain this week, in a case which police say could hold the key to his murder. Christina Ketley and Richard Cashman are accused of selling non-existent timeshares on Palmer’s orders, whilst he was behind bars serving 8 years for fraud.

In June 2018, Ms Ketley offered a £100,000 reward for information leading to the prosecution of those responsible for the murder of John Palmer. Ms Ketley said: “It haunts us every day to think that whoever was responsible was clearly watching John, stalking him like an animal … Read more

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Marriott Vacations in court again

In the ongoing case of Marriott V Ritz-Carlton Club members, a federal judge partly granted a sanctions motion.

Owners filed the motion earlier in the year, claiming Marriott was acting unreasonably, and in bad faith, by hiding essential documents from the court. Marriott Vacationssaid they had simply made a mistake by failing to hand over key evidence in the class action, claiming it caused the owners’ property values to plummet.

In a partial win for the timeshare owners, the judge ordered Marriott Vacations to pay reasonable attorney fees to more than 200 owners, finding that the company withheld an affiliation … Read more

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South Africa Timeshare industry set for major overhaul

The regulatory body which overseas timeshares in South Africa say that they are preparing a major overhaul, after receiving thousands of complaints from unhappy consumers. The National Consumer Commission, which regulates consumer and business interaction, launched an inquiry in May 2017 to better understand the consumer impact of the timeshare and vacation ownership industry. Hearings were conducted over the course of six months and a panel of experts approved the recommendations, to correct structural and behavioural issues in the industry.

During the hearings, the panel heard a number of concerns raised by consumers, including the accumulation of points from vacation … Read more

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Timeshare Company Could Face Prosecution

A timeshare travel company based in Cape Town, could face prosecution for multiple charges, including tricking customers into signing up for a membership.

Vacation Hub International, a membership based travel and lifestyle company, is being investigated by South Africa’s National Consumer Commission. The NCC is the primary regulator of consumer business in South Africa, and helps regulate business practices. After investigating the company, NCC referred the case to its prosecutors. They allege that the vacation company misrepresented themselves in order to trick people into signing up to their services. They used unfair tactics to prevent customers from cancelling their memberships … Read more

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Sold a timeshare, but it’s impossible to use.

A family from Missouri spent over $10,000 on a timeshare, they say, they have never been able to use. The timeshare was sold to them as a one week every year in their favourite location with Westgate Resorts. The sales rep told them that using their resort would be incredibly easy and so they decided to sign up, thinking they were getting a great deal for $10,000.

This was over 5 years ago and, every year, they have paid their maintenance fees, which have now reached nearly $900 a year. Despite this, the family have never been able … Read more

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