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We acquired a timeshare week at Hot Springs Village in a resale handled by a title company. No mention was made to us about the Escapes Travel Club membership dues, which, we are told by Festiva's representatives, are mandatory annual fees even though our timeshare week use and maintenance fee accrues only in biennial odd years. Basically, what Escapes did was tack on a new fee of $169 X 2 ($338 for the use period) to our $550 maintenance fee, superseding our deeded week. It is my understanding that the Attorneys General of various states have filed lawsuits against Festiva and other entities for fraud-related activities of all sorts, but have not been able to ascertain whether this issue has been addressed. We have tried to sort it out through RCI, to which we belong by virtue of other timeshares, but were told the Escapes membership is a "dedicated account," and they are unable to resolve the issue without approval of Escapes/Festiva. Of course, Festiva won't agree but can furnish no proof that our prior weeks-owner of our particular week ever agreed to this ECT exchange fee.