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Original Message:

Re: Get out of Westgate Resorts (by Irene P.):

Lori Please contact me to join our efforts to affect change at the federal and state level. One person alone can do very little. Since 2016 we have amassed an army of volunteers. My personal Facebook address is Facebook/irene.parker.7923. Below are a few notes I learned about the agencies you mentioned. I wrote an article on Linked-in called Senior Defaults. Westgate is one of the founders of ARDA's Coalition for Responsible Exit, but a couple both diagnosed with cancer were denied because their week was in Branson. They called Legacy, were transferred around and a supervisor said, "We don't have an exit program and that's not our website." A Resort Trades article listed them as a founder. Another senior, a female pipe fitter, scheduled for her fourth surgery, lost wages, denied because her unit was a one BR. That's responsible?

I have been collecting resorts with no responsible exit, the most recent Tahiti Soleil Management, despite the owner age 80, in Stage 5 kidney failure. At the Tallahassee legislative workshop I attended, ARDA-ROC Chairman testified, “most of the developers I know and certainly most of the timeshare managers I know, and I managed timeshare properties for thirty years… every single resort had a dissolution policy, every single (one). There was a way to get out. You had to come to your management company, and based on what the board of directors instructed us (the management company) to do in the terms if they had to pay a fee or if they had to be current, whatever those situations were, we did not have a one that did not have a dissolution policy and a hardship policy….” In Forbes he was quoted, "The answer is judicial foreclosure, ruin their credit."

(BBB you can file a complaint or a review not both. A complaint you can log in and file rebuttals. BBB will attempt to mediate. Know that a terrible company can have a A Rating because they only rate how efficiently the company responds to complaints. One company leaves you a message - time sensitive! You can never reach them but they get a gold star for responding promptly to BBB "We reached out but were unable to connect with the member." It only takes a minute to say "No" so another gold star for efficiency)

Better Business Bureau (Start a review and File a complaint) https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/ocoee/profile/timeshare-companies/central-florida-investments-inc-0733-101774

(I have had 1000 word emails back and forth with the supervisor of DBPR. They operate like the FBI in that they regulate licenses but do little for the victim. It's important to file with the FL AG even though they ignore all but a handful of complaints. At the same legislative workshop I attended in 2019, these figures were presented: "At the Florida HB 435 workshop held in Tallahassee March 12, Victoria Butler, from the Florida Attorney General’s Department of Consumer Protection, reported a figure of about 1,500 timeshare complaints in 2017 and 1,600 in 2018, with about 50% involving senior citizens. She said the majority of complaints were in regard to the initial sales presentation. There have been 700 complaints filed so far in 2019. Ms. Butler stated that the Florida timeshare division engaged only 42 complaints, the majority concerning resale." A better organization is Seniors Vs Crime, a Special Project of the OAG. I was briefly the manager of the Florida Duval County Office until Diamond Resorts demanded I step down accusing me of being biased against timeshare. We have owned timeshares since 1984 and loved them until we had a horrific experience in 2015. I've been writing ever since.)

Florida Attorney General (Westgate is headquartered in FL) http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Citizen_Services

(The FTC just listed Timeshare Sales as #7 on their Top Ten Scam list followed by Timeshare Resales at #10. All you will get back is a Top Ten Tips for Timeshares, but that doesn't mean they are not listening. I just submitted a proposed changes report like: When the closing session is recorded, the device should not be turned off and back on when the sales agent re-explains a lie.) Section 5 is about unfair and deceptive practices, like telling the consumer it's not a sales session, I couldn't sell you anything if I wanted to, then proceeds to sell points.) An article by one of our volunteers: https://tarda.org/f/ftc-stats-explain-why-we-need-john-collick-in-congress

Federal Trade Commission https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/

(They are a more pro-consumer AG, having settled with one developer for $3 million)

Tennessee Attorney General (for Westgate of the Smoky Mnts) https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/working-for-tennessee/consumer/file-a-complaint.html

(FBI - You file with IC3.gov and you can call the field office but they are kind of busy right now. I spoke with a US Attorney who promised he would speak to the head of their FBI office. The problem with the FBI is the same as DBPR. They go after bad guys, but do little for the victim. The good thing about the FBI you can link complaints by having others give them the phone number and name they used when they filed their complaint. One member actually met with her FBI agent. Also, if you get updated information, you can start a new complaint and check the box that says you are filing an update. Another US attorney told me the problem is jurisdiction as state AGs regulate TS. Still good to file. You get no response because they don't work like. I've spent hours on the phone with them.

FBI (If enough complaints are filed they will investigate) https://tips.fbi.gov/contact

(Don't get me started on ARDA ROC. ARDA ROC spent over $1 million in 2010 to oppose greater timeshare truth and lending disclosures. They opposed allowing the timeshare buyer 24 hours to think about signing a perpetual contract often with no secondary market, passed a law in Florida in 2015 making it more difficult to be released from a contract due to "non-material errors" and how ambiguous is that? They were fined in the past for not calling donations voluntary. I was quoted in 2021 $7 more than my maintenance fees. I asked to have it removed. It was charged anyway. The board of directors consists of multi-millionaire executives and a few timeshare billionaires. Our volunteers have sent them about 500 complaints. They don't mediate disputes but they have a Code of Ethics that is not worth the paper it's printed on, in my opinion.)

ARDA-ROC (American Resort Development Association–Owners Coalition click on Submit a ticket at the top) https://consumer.arda-roc.org/support/home