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Re: Bel Air Vacation Club (by Lester W.):

I am summarizing my back and forth with Bel Air through the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website. I hope that the BBB will eventually post this complaint on their website, but I figure I would post this message here for greater visibility.

My complaint to the BBB: Bel Air Vacation Club is requiring us to pay two maintenance fees, but the contract limits us to only pay one maintenance fee. Our contract with Bel Air Vacation Club (clause #9) states that we pay only one maintenance fee per year. After paying an $837 maintenance fee for 2019, they are requiring us to pay $1225.50 which they call a "special assessment" for the maintenance of the resort. This is a breach of contract. I sent Bel Air an email October 5 stating that this is a breach of contract. Bel Air did not contact us back. I just called Bel Air (December 12, 2019) and they insist that we pay the special assessment. I explained that I would seek outside support to resolve the issue, they said fine.

Bel Air Vacation Club Response: We are not in any default in your contract, you please need to read the Rules and Regulations, I am attaching a copy of them in this response, as well you are able to view them at any time in our members web site page at www.belairownerscircle.com or www.belairvallarta.com . All member have to pay the special assessment that was billed in June of 2019, this is a secound time this is billed the first time being June of the year 2010. This is in additional to the regular maintenance fees, its an Extraordinary Fee ( Special Assessment Fee) . We have provided to you letters , you have seen the major renovations that was done to the property of Los Cabos and Nuevo Vallarta. Please let me know if you have further questions that I can gladly help you with.

kind regards,

My Response to Bel Air: Sorry, Bel Air is attempting to modify our contract "after the fact" without our consent or approval. If Bel Air wishes to modify our contract, it should sit down with us and propose the desired changes and maybe we can come to some agreement.

The payment of maintenance fees is clearly laid out and limited in our contract. Our contract limits our paymnent of maintenance fees to one maintenance fee per Primary week, of which we own one. We already paid a maintenance fee for the year - Bel Air cannot charge us a second maintenance fee, even if it renames it a "special assessment."

Under our contract, maintenance fees cover the maintenance of the resort, and shall be based on the internal expenses of the resort. Thus, if the maintenance costs and all other internal expenses are already covered by the maintenance fees, what expenses are being covered by the special assessment? External expenses??

Under Bel Air's modified By Laws which attempts to impose a special assessment on us, it states that such fees would only be applied after members receive a detailed report outlining how the funds will be used. WE did not receive this report. Notwithstanding the breach in contract caused by the imposition of the special assessment, please attach this detailed report for how the special assessment funds will be used.

Also, our contract states that the Internal By Laws pertain to how we "use the services," there is no reference to special assessments in our contract, and the wording that the By Laws solely pertains to use of the services which therefore excludes Bel Air's ability to add maintenance fees in the By Laws.

Again, the special assessment that Bel Air is charging us is not allowed under our contract.

Bel Air Vacation Club Response: Dear Members: Once again we apologize that you feel you are not be charged for a special assesment Fee. Again all members have to pay. We have provided to you information into this regards. Per your request please find attached the Special Assessment Detailed Report (Bel Air did provide a "detailed" report, which is not a detailed report). we are not modifiying your contract only the rules and regulations which per contract we have the right to amend without a prior consent from members. This was modified in 2010 adding the special assessment rule.

Please let me know if you have any further question that we can help you with.

regards,

My Rebuttal to Bel Air which I sent prior to seeing the "detailed" report: (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Again, Bel Air cannot add maintenance fees to the rules and regulations. The contract specifically limits maintenance fees to one payment per room owned by the timeshare owners, and we own one week, thus we need to pay one maintenance fee per year. We paid that already. By adding a second maintenance fee, termed a "special assessment", Bel Air has breached our contract. If this was legal, Bel Air could charge us as much as they want for the maintenance and other expenses of the resort, which is what they are trying trying to do, but it is not allowed under the contract.

Also, our contract states in the Internal By-Laws that the rules and regulations pertain to how we "use the services," there is no reference to special assessments or maintenance fees in our contract, and the wording that the By-Laws solely pertains to use of the services which therefore excludes Bel Air's ability to add maintenance fees in the By-Laws.

I would also point out that Bel Air has not met its obligations maintaining the resort. We stayed for one week at the Xpu Ha resort during August of 2017. The balcony of our room, and for all the rooms of the resort (switching rooms was not an option), were condemned and off limits. In fact, the sliding glass doors to the balcony were screwed shut and unusable.

Our inability to use the patio sliding door to our room was compounded by the lack of air conditioning for our room. We complained multiple times that the air conditioning did not work. The front desk made repeated commitments to send out a repairman. After about 5 or 6 complaints over a couple of days, finally a resort staff person came to our room and looked at the system, made some grunting sounds, left and never came back. The air conditioning unit was never repaired and never worked the entire week that we were there, and this was during the very hot summer. Since the air conditioning did not work and the balcony door was screwed shut, the two maintenance issues combined made our room ever more hot and unbearable.

When we returned from our trip, we called the Bel Air reservation office and complained that our Xpu Ha room was not adequately maintained and that we did not receive the value we paid for and what we expected when we paid our maintenance fee. The reservations office essentially ignored our complaint.

Reviewing recent online comments by people who have stayed at the Bel Air resort, many people are reporting negative stories about staying at the resort. Considering this failure by Bel Air to meet its commitment to us as timeshare owners, it is shocking that Bel Aire would then try to extract a second maintenance fee from us.

One more issue which we believe is very relevant is that we compared our current maintenance fee to the hotel rates the resort charges for a similar sized room and we found that our maintenance fee was higher than a hotel rate at the same Bel Air resort. The whole purpose for the timeshare contract was to pay a large sum up front which would allow us to experience much lower weekly rates than that of non-timeshare owners. Our maintenance fees are already too high to begin with. So, rather than heaping a second maintenance fee on its timeshare owners, the resort should increase the rental rate for the hotel owners which would improve the parity between the maintenance fees and the hotel rates. By asking its timeshare owners to pay an additional maintenance fee, Bel Air is simply gouging its timeshare members to raise revenue. They should go to a bank to get a loan to make these improvements, not gouge its owners.

My Response to Bel Air after Seeing the "Detailed" Report: Thank you for posting at least something about the special assessment. First, why was this not sent out earlier??? Second, the document lumps maintenance fees in with the special assessment. The bogus clause which allows for charging owners an illegal special assessment states that the special report would be created specifically for the special assessment, which is not the case here because they are both lumped in together. The report documenting the need for the special assessment needs to document the expenses solely for the special assessment. This lumping together of these items, along with the nature of items listed, supports my argument that the special assessment is nothing more than a second maintenance fee, which is illegal under our contract.

Next, I look at the list of items listed, which I attached below, and I don't see any unforeseen expenses in this list. How is any of this unforeseen???? I would consider damage due to a hurricane unforeseen. How is removing and replacing a floor unforeseen? How is replacing curtains unforeseen? As the floor or curtains wear, you plan on replacing them as the maintenance money comes in. Finally, for this report, I would expect a breakdown of all the "unforeseen expenses" and a justification why each on the list is unforeseen, a summary of the cost for each item only for the timeshare side of course (how do we know that hotel side expenses are not included in this list), and then those costs divided by the number of owners and their room types on the list. How did you arrive at my $1200 special assessment cost? When the rules and regulations say detailed, I expect a detailed report of why I am being charged that much. Given that none of these expenses are unforeseen, the point is moot, don't you think?

Nuevo Vallarta 1.Furtiniture was replaced, sofa, dining tables, beds, night stand, coffee tables. 2. kitchen utensils 3. floor was removed and replaced 4. bathroom mirrors, 5. bathroom faucets 6. curtains 7. wooded rails on terrace doors 8.Construction of new pool 9.Improved /expanded kids club 10.New gym equipment 11.New beach chairs 12.New beach umbrellas 13.New pool chairs 14. New TV's (still need to complete all units) Los Cabos 1.Furtiniture was replaced, sofa, dining tables, beds, night stand, coffee tables. (still working on will complete by 2020) 2. kitchen utensils (still working on will complete by 2020) 3. floor was removed and replaced (still working on will complete by 2020) 4. bathroom mirrors, (replaced in some units) 5. bathroom faucets 6. curtains (still working on will complete by 2020) 7. wooded rails on terrace doors (still working on will complete by 2020) 8.Construction of new pool 9.New kids club (there was no kids club before) 10.New gym (there was no gym before) 11.New beach chairs 12.New beach umbrellas 13.New pool chairs 14. New Spa (there was no spa before) 15. new restaurants (more variety of menu)

Dear Member: We have provided all information from our side that legally we do need to provide, this is a lodging rights membership contract and not a deeded property into which we don't need to provide a Financial Report or how was the amount was established. Once again we are not operating ilegally and all we are doing is legit y no default in the contract. All members have to pay the special assessment which may be assest every 9 to 10 years. The last time this was billed was in June 2010 by Playa Del Sol. we are sorry that you are not agreement with, as one of our members mentioned we are not the only ones that bill a special assessment.

Please let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with. we Will be more then glad to help you.

My Message to the BBB: Bel Air cannot respond in any way shape or form on the breach of contract issues. But even if I ignore the breach of contract issues, they cannot respond to the other problems of how they are doing this. They believe they found a way to gouge the timeshare owners for money by adding a "special assessment" clause to the rules and regulations, which is not where maintenance fees belong. Note that our contract does not have maintenance fees or special assessments in the rules and regulations. How to pay for them, yes, the fees for them, no.

We paid $17000 when we signed up for this timeshare. If we divide that amount over the 15 years that we have been a member, it amounts to $1100 per year, or $1100 per one week stay at the resort. Adding the maintenance fee to that results in almost $2000 per year, or one week stay at the resort, which is $280 per night for a one week stay at their resort. Now they want to add another $1200 to that??? I don't think so.

If the resort was a well kept resort with great service, we might be willing to pay the special assessment. But the last time we stayed at their resort, it was broken down and the staff lied to us over and over again. We have not stayed at their other resort locations in quite a while, but we have read online reviews that the timeshare owners are placed at the back of the resort, the food and service is terrible and the rooms are in need of repair. Even if the special assessment fixed the things that are broken and worn out, it will not fix the services.

This resort was rated a gold crown resort and we could trade it on San Francisco exchange. However, San Francisco Exchange does not trade this resort anymore, and the timeshare owners are treated like crap, like their very own piggy bank. I find it interesting that they will not create a detailed report to the timeshare owners, and I suspect that the timeshare owners are being gouged to fund improvements to the hotel part of the resort.

We are not going to pay the special assessment, nor the next maintenance fee, unless if Bel Air is willing to honor the contract. The resort has declined too far, and we will probably end up walking away from this. I also sent a complaint to Profeco so we shall see where that goes (probably no where).