Diamond Resorts reduces owner benefits again!

I spoke to "Joanne" in "Owner Enhancement". We have been deeded owners since 1998. She told me failure to pay all fees by the January 31, 2012 deadline will result in Foreclosure.

Please contact if interested in a case againts Diamond Resorts.. on the island of St Maarten we need to be altogether. pamelzoe@yahoo.com

My husband and I are deeded owners since 2003 and are outraged, to say the least, about this additional assessment, which seems more like extortion. The mortgage is paid, but we are weighing our options now. We own 2 weeks, every year, and have a reservation to return this spring 2012, which I understand will not be honored unless we pay the first installment, even though we already paid the regular 2012 maintenance fees last spring. We just received the letter yesterday, and we spent a couple of hours on the phone with different people after we read their correspondence. We, too, can't in all good conscience, see how they can get away with this. When Diamond first took over the property, they sent an extremely rude and aggressive representative to Poipu to talk to the owners. We met with him, and he pressured us to pay a fee and join the "point system". We told him we didn't want to do this because we had no interest in trading because we come back to Kauai every year. When we flatly refused, he got noticeably angry with us for not succumbing. He kept asking us, "Why, why, why" we didn't want to. Then, I told him because, "Simply, we don't want to throw our ownership into the pot." With that, he left. From that moment on, we knew that something wasn't quite right with this new ownership. Our Water Intrusion fee totals $11,786.64, with $3,545.99 as the initial payment due on January 1. We would unwillingly pay this initial installment (only to be able to keep our spring vacation intact ), but what is the guarantee that we will not be extorted and tapped for more money at their whim. I was searching the web trying to find owners names or board members names, and I came across this site and your discussions. My husband and I will work along with any other members if there is anything we can do to stop this. The more I read, the more I believe a class action suit is our only hope. Is there an owner who is a lawyer?

I went into DiamondResorts.com and was reading some of the past board minutes& letter from the Pres. 3 0f the board members are employed by Diamond as some of us know. When they talk about the water intrusion they talk about repairing the bldgs closest to the ocean with the others taking several years. Im afraid this is just the start of many assessments and since they will be building at $300,000+ per unit you can bet your maintenance fee will increase proportionately. Im a deeded 2 week owner with another 5000points in the Hawaiian Collection which I use for getaways. At 70 years old it seems beyond my comprehension how they expect people to pay these outlandish assessments. I understand there are 300 weeks already in forclosure. This was in the Kauai Newspaper. I will be ready to support any action against this mis- management. Once enough people are aware of what their doing maybe we can do something. Everyone is not getting their invoice mailed to them it only shows up on their account on the Diamond web-site.

When I spoke to "Joanne" is this week at Owner Enhancement, she referred me to the 1800 number that we normally call to make our reservations. As I've said in previous posts, I paid our $1315 - 2012 Maintenance Fee and the $264 Club Dues in advance back in May of this year. I paid early hoping to make 2012 reservations as soon as was allowable. Now with this assessment and the maintenance fees increasing from $1315 to over $2600 we can no longer afford this timeshare. I called the 1800 number Joanne referred me to and told them I wanted to cancel my 2012 Club dues and wanted a refund. They said they would email me the form. I received the email today. Now, here's the joke. The form is so confusing and convoluted you can barely understand what they are saying. There are two portions to it. One is a "Cancellation of Membership", the other portion is "Cancellation of Assignment". The bottom line is when you cancel the 'assignment' you are forfeiting whatever reservations you have made for 2012. "Cancellation of Membership" simply cancels the Club. HOWEVER, they will NOT refund the $264 cost. Oh, and on top of all of this, they want the form notarized. But the point is, why cancel if you can't get a refund? And how is this legal? Our $1315 will never be seen by us again, either.

They say this is a five year project, but when was the last time anything completed on time and within budget? I think the assessments and rising prices will continue til God knows when.

Let me ask if you are a deed owner or points? My understanding is if you own a deed DRI will sue the deed owner for the yearly fees. If you own points (which we do) they may possibly do a termination of vacation ownership agreement for a transfer fee of $250 per contract. My husband and I will pursue this alternative in late November as we have some lose ends to settle before DRI can possibly hurt our credit. Our agreement is paid in full from the get-go and we have been paying the yearly maintence fee which continue to go up....last year it was $3200 now they are charging us over $7000.00 (more than our calif. property taxes) something is wrong with this picture. Lord help us all!

Is there anyone that has bought into Diamond Resorts International that is an Attorney that can help all of us to a class action suit against DRI????

Please, I just got a bill for $2000 in fees for my every other week at poipu and its my off week. Please folks call this week for the Board of Directors to do something. Please register complaints with the authorities in HI and with the BBB on this outrageous fees and the lack of buy back opportunities.

Laurieb214....To answer your question, we are deeded owners. You are right about DRI suing deeded owners. They told me the only way out was to let it go to foreclosure.

Jamief32~I'm going to contact an attorney in Sacramento tomorrow. I'll keep you posted with the options we may have regarding this situation.

Laurie...We contacted two lawyers, both in FL. I got both their names off of the ads associated with this website. One wanted $1800, the other $3500 to get us out. Will be interested to hear what a CA lawyer has to say. Both said stay clear of 'Consumer Advocate' groups or other groups asking for up front dollars. Both lawyers, however, wanted half of their fee as a retainer. Both felt confident they would be successful (of course). However, both have been doing timeshare stuff for quite a few years. They both told me people started getting really irate 5-6 years ago when properties started pressuring folks to give up their deeds and buy into the point system. We always resisted and as a result were, for the most part, treated like second class citizens.

We too own a deeded week at the Poipu property. The invoices and letters regarding the water issue must be hitting the mail at different times. We just got ours and we are EXTREMELY concerned. It's pretty outrageous. Perhaps as owners begin to get their notifications, there can be a larger group to file some sort of class action suit. We have enjoyed using our unit and would like to continue to do so--however, not at these rates. You'd think that with all that money and the description of the work involved, they were building a brand-new resort.

If anybody on this forum has any ideas on how we can get organized, I would be very much interested nchisen@att.net.

Tammy... I think KBCowners.com is still active taking names and emails. Poipuowners.org is the original site that has more than 500 registered users. The website has been silent lately and I need to call one of the guys that is in charge of that group and see if they are still maintaining the website. DRI refuses to give out the ownership list. There is a clause in our paperwork that basically gives them the right to refuse the list for any reason. They stick with the line that they are protecting the owner's privacy....more like keeping us from getting in touch with each other.

To Laurieb214;

If you are a points owner then you don't have to pay any transfer fee to terminate your membership. Collections stated that they do not take action against members with points. If you are paid up, simply do not pay your 2012 maintenance fees. It will not affect your credit. Talk to supervisor in Collections Dept.

Sherik43-

Thank you for the information. I have placed two calls into voicemail with DRI and have yet to hear back. I will keep all informed of our progress.

eck after I wrote the truth on www.canyoutrustthem.com search Diamond resorts... Pamela

I have a lawyer here on St Maarten who won the cases for me against Stephen Cloobeck. emadurolawsxm@hotmail.com I want to also but I have to find $1500 for the next case. Stephen Cloobeck sued me for slander after the truth I wrote on www.canyoutrustthem.com search Diamond resorts International the judge here threw out his case saying I wrote the truth... Pamela contact me pamelzoe@yahoo.com I need $1500 to start the case here against them

Everybody... put your complaints on www.canyoutrustthem.com search Diamond resorts International... I know Cloobeck, Brennan and Patrick Duffy read that site. they sued me for slander. they lost. They appealed in the Court of Appeals on St Maarten... the LOST again... my lawyer said there are so many cases against them here..... contact him as well emadurolawsxm@hotmail.com

pamela

laurieb214:

look at your statement policy regarding payment, included is what they call their ABC policy (Assessment Billing Collection policy). It describes what will happen if you don't pay maint. fees. It is outlined according to the month of jan., feb., then march. After feb., you will not hear from them again. I went over the last 4 points that DRI will go through in March with a supervisor and was told by Collections that they basically cannot and will not pursue legal means for point owners. But they will not put that in writing and assured me that our phone call was sufficient for documentation. I heard it from four different individuals but Collections Dept. is the source of any legal and collection activity.

I asked about a Mutual Termination Agreement a member in May filed and they said that they stopped doing that in July, 2011 but that it had not been a policy, simply something they instated at will.

I never leave messages for DRI, Joanne was the only one who ever returned my calls. Call Collections and go through the ABC policy point by point so as to have it on their phone records. Tape it yourself for your ow records! I didn't but I wrote every detail down.

I am unable to open the portion of my fees for next yr on the website that must relate to this. Is anyone else having this problem? I haven't received any letters but see that my total fees have doubled. Is this supposedly a special assessment or is it a permanent maintenance fee increase?