Original Message:
'Tis the season (Jingle shills, Jingle shills, B.S. all the way...) (by KC):
kelley14: While your above description of these upfront fee parasites as "slime" may very well be completely accurate and entirely appropriate, I regret to inform you that this matter is neither a criminal matter nor a federal offense. Accordingly, you will unfortunately receive no meaningful assistance or involvement of any kind from any state or federal authority. The practices of these upfront fee parasites are deceptive, unethical and despicable --- but unfortunately NOT illegal.
Upfront fee parasites like these have been around for many years, although the names change as they go back into their little holes in the ground only to emerge again later with a new name (Villa Trader, at least to my knowledge, is a relatively new name on the upfront fee parasite landscape). Outfits like this will continue to exist, appealing to the greed of owners by citing (never in writing) grossly inflated "selling" prices and mythical, non-existent "buyers", until such time as protective legislation (which currently does not exist) is adopted at the federal level to control or curtail their deceptive practices.
Remember, these parasites simply identify their fee as being for ill defined (...rarely in writing) "marketing and advertising services". If you VOLUNTARILY CHOOSE to pay them an exorbitant fee for these alleged "services" (it's usually just a lame web site ad), with nothing at all in writing, VOLUNTARILY CHOOSING to give them your credit card number and authorization over the phone, you are not a victim; you are instead, unfortunately, a willing VOLUNTEER.
The time to scrutinize and question the practices (and non-existent "sales" results) of these upfront fee parasites, by seeking information on Internet timeshare sites, is BEFORE voluntarily choosing to give these parasites your authorization to take your money via a direct credit card charge. Once you make the CHOICE to pay them, the consequences (i.e., no results whatsoever) will inevitably follow. It's almost like making a voluntary "contribution" --- except that it's certainly not for a charitable purpose and is not tax deductible...