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Re: Getting rid of a time share. (by Orville M.):

jayjay wrote:

cynthiap28 wrote:

My sister paid Timeshare relief to take her timeshare, they charged her 1700. If she had called the timeshare directly and told them her financil problem they would have taken it back (she owned it) and she would not have had to pay any one.

Are you sure the resort would have taken her timeshare back? Most resorts have heard all the excuses in the world (whether legitimate or not) and will not take a deed back.

I'm in the process of a "Deed in Lieu of" transfer back to the T/S company. For $294 attorney fees I can deed it back in exchange for forgiveness of ("in lieu of") over $3000 in past MFs (the mortgage was paid years ago).

The owner is Sunterra but I bought it from my in-laws years ago before Sunterra bought in so I may be grandfathered with rights such that Sunterra may not be making the same offer to later purchasers there. My guess is that Sunterra is trying to get these older deeds off the books so they can sell new ones with fewer consumer protections. At the least, they must want that week cleared to sell as a rental.

The ony reason I'm here is because I was researching a mailing from Timeshare Relief Inc. and I'm glad I did. The alarm bells went off after viewing the bogus "interview" video on their website. They were extremely careful not to describe exactly how they would provide their "relief" or mention that you would be the one who pays. It was non-stop self-praise and how happy they were to be able to help so many people - all doled out with every sofball question from the "interview host". I now understand that when their mailer to attend a presentation says "our representatives will be making offers on Timeshares on the following dates" they don't mean offering to buy your unit - which is what every sane person reading their mailer would assume - but making offers on how much they will charge you in order to have you deed it over to them.

An earlier defender of Timeshares Relief here said they're a business providing a service, what's wrong with making a profit for a service? I smell a rat there, too. This is a classic communications ploy. Make a reasonble, unchallengable general statement and infer that it also applies to the specific example at hand. But:

1. If the "relief" service engages in some of the same deceptive practices as the original T/S sellers then they are just as guilty. 2. They are in the same league as "businesses" who "deserve to make a fair profit" for providing "legitimate services" at massively inflated fees - for services that you can get for free or nominal costs from the original sources. Such as charging to track down lost funds held in your name by state treasuries when all you have to do is go to the state website and search. In other words, a massively overpriced rip-off.

For $3,500, at the current rate of my unit's annual maint. fees I can list my unit to sell (or give away) on e-Bay and Craig's List and other sites for at least 7 years before hitting the break-even point. In my case, that actually would be more like 13 years because I'm also shedding a $3,000+ debt in lieu of. YMMV but do the math first and ask your T/S company about a deed in lieu of, people.

I saved one part until last because I want it clear that I'm not making any accusations whatsoever, simply an "observation of fact" as our TRI defender did, except that I'm clearly noting that it may or may not apply here and I don't pretend to know or imply the answer.

Con men long have known that the best potential suckers are those who already have fallen for the same basic type of con. That's why they sell their vicim lists to each other. If you bought the crappy, overpriced basement waterproofings job, you're probably an easy sell for the crappy overpriced siding job - or even for an oh, so sympathetic pitch that "We feel your pain but we'll do your basement waterproofing right this time!".

Whether intentional or not, targeting timeshare victims with an overpriced "relief plan" using borderline-ethical pitches kind of smacks of the same "repeat business" marketing tactic, doesn't it?

"If you were dumb enough to buy the timeshare..."