Manhattan Club Lawsuit

From reading the most recent posts, I sense that there are quite a few newcomers to the various "Manhattan Club" complaint sites. I really got an education when I found the RedWeek site over a year ago, and reviewed all the pages of postings, which now number over 100 plus pages of postings. That's literally thousands of complaints. I've been following the RedWeek site since then, and the majority of owners have the same complaint; for years, despite paying our fees, we have been routinely cheated out of the use of our timeshare while the Eichner family and a small circle of TMC insiders have enriched themselves at our expense. The icing on the cake for me and my wife, and what finally convinced us to stop paying TMC, was when we read the NY Attorney General's July, 2015 court filing, which itemizes a remarkable list of allegations of civil and criminal conduct on the part of The Manhattan Club. This includes the charge that for years, Eichner has been personally skimming 4-6 million dollars a year from TMC through a shell management company that had no employees and provided no services to the operation of the timeshare property. In reading through the filing, I got sick as I learned how badly we have been cheated and how unscrupulous and devious the principals at TMC were as they perpetrated their fraud against us, in our case, for over 10 years. The enormity of the fraud and the magnitude of the numbers is staggering... at least 14,00 owners, 250 rooms, 52 weeks a year ( in some cases they actually sold more than 52 weeks!) at $2500-$4000 annual maintenance payments each.

If you haven't already read this court filing, it is a MUST read for any Manhattan Club owner. Here is the link to that 2015 AG court filing: You may have to paste it into your browser.

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=arMAhc2Z8epneiTXUbb_PLUS_yQ==&system=prod

By simply withholding two years' maintenance payments, I'm nearly $5,000 ahead. Knowing what we now know, I'm amazed that anyone would voluntarily continue to send these crooks money. Revoke your credit card authorization, stop sending checks, stop funding the people who are screwing all of us.

Bob Biello

It sounds like you just stopped paying your fees, is this correct? What repercussions, if any, were there? Did TMC report to a credit bureau, did they file a lien against your personal property? Can they file a lien against your primary residence? I want to stop paying but I'm worried about doing it. I don't care if stopping payment to TMC increases the fees for everyone who does pay. I think we should ALL stop paying these ridiculous fees!!

Bob Biello.... Did you send in your complaints to the AG. Or to the judge?

Bob,

Can you share that link the way it opens up right away? My English is not good enough to give directions.. Hope someone knows here and advice how to do that.. I have had problems to get those links opened. Thank you. I'm just one who follows your case.

Sarip2, send me your email address and I'll forward the link so that it opens when you click on it. rbiello2@gmail.com

Bob Biello

beckyf76,

We own 2 weeks, one purchased outright, and the other financed thru TMC finance arm, O. Park Central. We stopped paying on the mortgage as well as maintenance on both weeks. TMC did post a negative comment on our credit for not paying the loan, but I was successful in forcing Transunion to remove the negative comment by proving to them that they were posting negative comments based on reports that were submitted by a company that was itself under criminal investigation by the NY Attorney General for fraud. It was a fight to get the comment removed and I did file a complaint against the credit agency with the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That seemed to do it.

Ultimately, after this whole legal mess gets sorted out, the only recourse TMC will have is to take back our weeks. What are they going to do, sue thousands of us individually for a few thousand dollars each? Will never happen.

Anyway, knowing what we now know about the fraudulent, criminal activity of TMC, why would you consider continuing to send these crooks money?

Bob Biello rbiello2@gmail.com

I wonder how many of you realize that the Manhattan Club seems to be continuing to sell timeshare units, based in Pennsylvania. I just found that out when our family was instructed, by phone, to send our annual payment to an address in Philadelphia, unless we wanted to pay 16% interest fees. Do we also have a way to contact the AG in Pennsylvania and proceed to stop Eichner through that means?

Also, as a (family) owner and as an attorney, I don't see how any owners will ever be made whole for the overpayment of fees, through any litigation, unless there is an ability to clawback the $6 million annual fees stolen by Eichner.

It seems to me that the only possible legal way to proceed is through this analysis (And as I am not a NYS attorney and have not beein in contact with the investigation, this may not be the right answer) - Option - the owners can consider the contracts void by reason of fraudulent misrepresentation, and a fraudulent conveyance makes an unenforceable obligation to honor the terms of the contract. In addition, the Manhattan Club has violated both the intent and the execution of the contract by making use of the ownership interest almost impossible, so there will probably be an eventual answer that will void the contracts, with little compensation, if any, for the owners' financial losses. Just like other professional scam artists, the government has the ability to shut them down in a particular endeavor, but not to reimburse the victims for their losses, unless there is a pool of money that can be 'refunded' to the owners, and I doubt that Eichner's funds are accessible to US law enforcement by now. Has anyone gone to an attorney and gotten an answer to any of these questions?

Meanwhile, I wonder who has this information - in the past few months, there have been several companies offering to effectuate a sale of the timeshare ownership, if the owner PAYS THEM to transfer the deed. That doesn't make sense if the deed is flawed to begin with. Has anyone explored that angle? The broker who contacted us most recently claims to have transferred ownership and represented dozens of MC owners. Any feedback?

Best, MB

I sent to everyone!

Monica, please contact me so I can follow up your post. jeff@redweek.com. I am the original author of articles on Manhattan Club issues.

Next New York Attorney General vs The Manhattan Club Court hearing Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 9:30am in Judge Raker's Court Room 71 Thomas Street, Part 15, New York, New York 10013 per Janice in the NY Atty's General Office

It is important as many TMC owners as possible attend these hearings.

Irene Smalls

I would like to attend the meeting on May 31, but will be out of town. Is there anyway that I can get information about the content of this meeting? Marion Amory

I discovered today that TMC autocharged my Discover Card $3,327 after I specifically spoke to them a month ago to NOT USE THIS CARD. I have contacted Discover and I'm disputing this. It's 3:00pm here in California so I was unable to reach anyone at the TMC. Tomorrow I plan on letting TMC know that I am disputing this. Do you think it's wise to let them know or just let my credit card company deal with them. I'd be happy to correspond with you via email if you have any additional words of wisdom for me? I'm extremely nervous over this as I have never had one bad comment on my credit report. I would like to correspond with you via email so I can understand exactly what you did. I own my Penthouse share outright so I will be walking away from an investment of $60K which sickens me however I can't continue to pay these excessive fees every year with no hope in sight that we will get resolution. My email address is rlfitzma@uci.edu. I really appreciate your time and hearing about your experience with this issue.

http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-announces-court-order-barring-sales-manhattan-club-timeshare-hotel

Your credit card company will ask you if you contacted TMC first and asked them to remove the charge. If they dont, then your credit card company will intervene. I hope you have some reference about instructing them not to charge the card. Tell Discover that TMC is under criminal investigation. .that you have instructed them to no longer charge your card and then you would like the charge reversed. After this I would close down that card and have Discover issue you a new card with a new number

Becky, I posted a link below from the NYAG ..stating, among many other things, that TMC has been prevented from foreclosing on owners for non payment. My husband and I stopped paying our fees 2 years ago...and no blemish on our credit

Thank you for helping me to feel better about not paying these fees. I wrote an email this morning to TMC which I have included for all to read if they so choose.

I am writing to you to inform you that I have contacted my Discover card to dispute the annual charges in the amount of $3,322.93 that were auto-charged to my account on May 6, 2016. On February 8,2016 the annual fees were auto-charged to my account. I immediately contacted TMC finance department that very day and instructed them to remove those charges from my Discover card as the charge was clearly 3 months prior to the due date. Additionally, during that conversation I specifically instructed TMC to NOT charge my Discover card as I wasn’t sure that was the card I wanted to use. On February 12th the charge was credited on my Discover card as requested. However, my most recent statement shows a charge for TMC although I had verbally instructed TMC to call me for new credit card information. I received no such call. This card is not a viable card at this time.

This email will serve as formal notice that my Discover card information should be purged from your files. TMC is not authorized to charge anything against my Discover card, ever. Additionally, my last experience at the TMC was less than desirable and I have decided to stop paying the excessive annual fees that I’m now being charged. Again, this email will serve as formal notice. It is clear that the management of TMC has clearly gone in a very negative direction which I suspect is result of the NYAG lawsuit against TMC. In the March 3, 2016 letter informing owners of the rate increase for 2017 is was clearly stated that “Owners are faced with the choice of maintaining Transient Revenue and reducing Timeshare Charges or lowering or eliminating Transient Revenue in order to have more nights available and consequently pay higher Timeshare Charges.” When I initially purchased my TMC suite I was never told that first, the rooms would be rented out to the general public, and second that the annual rates would go up to compensate for the delinquent owners who did not pay their fees. I was led to believe that only “owners” would have the “exclusive” rights to stay in TMC. I had no idea that these “owner” suites were being rented out and, as I’ve come to learn, at a much lower rate than an owner could rent it for. As one of the owners who has paid the fees every year, I feel exploited and taken advantage of because TMC has lied to me and misrepresented how “ownership in TMC worked”. The maintenance of TMC has gone down considerably which I suspect is a result of the many layoffs or, as the March 3rd letter stated that “the Manager” assisted by the Timeshare Association personnel “thoroughly reviewed the Association’s staffing, open positions, existing and proposed operating programs and functions, and made numerous alterations to the foregoing which have produced/will produce material reductions in operating expenses in 2017”. Again, when I purchased my Penthouse, not mortgaged but paid for in cash, I was never informed that my annual fees could go up as a result of delinquent owners. Why should I be punished for other delinquent owners. I do not feel responsible, nor should I, for subsidizing other people’s vacation expenses.

As I see this issue, you can voluntarily remove this charge from my Discover card, or Discover will handle this issue themselves. I feel extremely taken advantage and I am sickened that I invested $57,000 in TMC. For $3233 a year I can stay at a luxury hotel for the same daily rate, or even lower, than what I get with TMC.

Hi beckyf76 -- My word of advice has to do with disputing a credit card charge based on a successful experience I had over 2 years ago: 1) establish contact ASAP with your credit card company (CCC) -- the best window to dispute a charge is within the first 30 days of the charge, or 30-60 days, maximum. 2) call your CCC and ask for their procedures for disputing claims, then follow their protocols to the letter. 3) Start a timeline and also take brief notes along the way. 4) Pester your CCC periodically for a status update. Depending on your CCC fraud department's sophistication, your dispute could get lost in a maize of paperwork or emails. My Amex card is better than other card because they're highly computerized. 5) If your CCC tries to deny your claim, fight them tooth and nail! It's your money, not theirs, so they're ultimately not going to care as much as you will. I simultaneously waged war with the company that charged me (my claim was $1,500 for a telephone authorization I gave on a cold-call -- dumb me!). Remember, your CCC wants to satisfy vendors who subscribe to their card, so they don't have your best interests at heart. When I wouldn't give in to my CCC's initial decision to deny my dispute in favor of the vendor, I persuaded the CCC to grant my dispute and "put the ball in the vendor's court" to dispute the grant. The vendor fought the decision. I was sent their response and provided a rebuttal argument, with more "evidence". Next thing I heard, my CCC "ruled" in my favor and I received a credit back on my card. This all took about 5 months! Good luck with your CCC.

.

Hello -

Does anyone have any experience renouncing or abandoning this timeshare?

Thank you!

Is the hearing still on for May 31?