Diamond Resorts reduces owner benefits again!

I'd be open to this. Someone should start a list of people being willing and able and we should get a movement going here. I'd agree we are out to the tune of 40K and if you count the thousands we've been putting in each year for rising maintenance fees and the water intrusion it sky-rockets.

The water intrusion problem at Poipu is important to everyone in the sense that what DRI did there shows what DRI would do anywhere. However, the problems with DRI are broad and pervasive and this discussion should not be narrowed to the problems at Poipu exclusively.

When he lawsuit was announced COPP took credit for its filing, at least you made us all feel that way... If COPP was not a part of the lawsuit, WHO THEN DID FILE IT..???? I have followed these issues closely and it was my understanding that Mr. Paulsen and the group he was President of "COPP" was the entity that filed the Lawsuit...

I put the responsibility squarely on your group, when Richard and his group began this organization it was for the sole purpose of ousting DRI....

The founders of CDOPP tell me that you are NOT and never were a part of the organization. You were NOT a founder of the group. COPP found the attorneys. The attorneys chose the class representatives. From that point on, COPP was no longer involved. The COPP officers expressed frustration at having been "locked-out" as the attorneys were only at liberty to discuss the case with the class reps, the plaintiffs. IT IS MY SUSPICION THAT YOU ARE A DRI EMPLOYEE OR AFFILIATE TRYING TO AGITATE PRIOR TO THE BOARD ELECTION TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT DRI MAINTAINS CONTROL OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. I suggest that EVERYONE disregard anything which Michaeld414 may say here or anywhere else!

davidl712 wrote:

The founders of CDOPP tell me that you are NOT and never were a part of the organization. You were NOT a founder of the group. COPP found the attorneys. The attorneys chose the class representatives. From that point on, COPP was no longer involved. The COPP officers expressed frustration at having been "locked-out" as the attorneys were only at liberty to discuss the case with the class reps, the plaintiffs. IT IS MY SUSPICION THAT YOU ARE A DRI EMPLOYEE OR AFFILIATE TRYING TO AGITATE PRIOR TO THE BOARD ELECTION TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT DRI MAINTAINS CONTROL OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. I suggest that EVERYONE disregard anything which Michaeld414 may say here or anywhere else!

I must say that this is an interesting turn of events since Michaeld414 has been quick to accuse others DRI employees.

However, I don't think he is. He has been quite emphatic, if not fanatical, in his prior posts on DRI. I believe he is a very uninformed and disgruntled former owner with nothing better to do but complain.

I write this as a happy but reasonable DRI points owner and not a DRI employee.

So Much bull... When Richard began this group, we were already looking for ways to make DRI responsible to its members... I began a group of Points members before Richard began his group, and every one who contacted me who were 'Deeded Owners' I forwarded their contacts to Richard... I was present at the first meeting held at The Point at Poipu with Richard's group... So say what you will, the deal was a mess and your group let its members down...

To just suggest that I have anything to do with DRI is laughable and shows you have little understanding of how corrupt I think DRI is... I love DRI so much that I gave them $ 57,000 just because they are so nice...!!! I find it hard to believe that you are a real person, certainly not a serious concerned person...

When you say uninformed, do you think DRI was honest with you in knowing what it was that you purchased, and did they answer all of your questions... Did anything that DRI said proved to be false..? Yes I am pissed at DRI, I pushed hard to get our money refunded, they outright lied to us on material information that would have changed our decision to purchase. That is a fraud...!!!! My continuing purpose here is to inform any potential buyer to beware, that what they represent is clearly their intent to take your money, and they care less if you are a satisfied member... If its such a good deal why is the sales staff so HIGH PRESSURE, if it was a good deal it would sell itself...

Michaeld,

This weekend I went to inquire about an RV. Now that was high pressure. I had done some reading about RV's prior to going and spoken with several people about them. I found that the salesman mentioned all of the pluses but none of the big minuses. He tried his darndest to get me to buy, but i did not.

Here the difference between me buying a timeshare and buying a RV. When I buy the RV, it's a done deal. I cannot return it. There is no cooling off period.

When one buys a timeshare, you have 7 days to review all information and then make a decision to return it or not. You I would suggest that you take your settlement or whatever you received from DRI and move on. If you had a legitimate concern or were frauded, then take the paperwork that you were provided that DRI frauded you on to a lawyer and sue them. Since you are so sure that fraud occurred, you know you would get your money back over time in legal fees. After a while, at least in my opinion, your posts become so old and so annoying.

charless: you fail to note a more significant difference between buying a timeshare and buying an RV.

With an RV you may (depending on the state you live in) or may not have a cooling off period, but if you buy an RV and later decide you don't want it you can sell it for a significant percentage of what you paid for it. If you don't want to use it for a few years you can decline to register the vehicle until you want to use it again, with no impact on your credit rating.

With a timeshare you can't give it away. If you don't want to use it in any given year you still have to pay the maintenance fee or the developer will send your account to collections and ruin your credit rating.

charless345 wrote:

Michaeld,

This weekend I went to inquire about an RV. Now that was high pressure. I had done some reading about RV's prior to going and spoken with several people about them. I found that the salesman mentioned all of the pluses but none of the big minuses. He tried his darndest to get me to buy, but i did not.

Here the difference between me buying a timeshare and buying a RV. When I buy the RV, it's a done deal. I cannot return it. There is no cooling off period.

When one buys a timeshare, you have 7 days to review all information and then make a decision to return it or not. You I would suggest that you take your settlement or whatever you received from DRI and move on. If you had a legitimate concern or were frauded, then take the paperwork that you were provided that DRI frauded you on to a lawyer and sue them. Since you are so sure that fraud occurred, you know you would get your money back over time in legal fees. After a while, at least in my opinion, your posts become so old and so annoying.

Let's put the in-fighting behind us as nothing good can be achieved as a product of it.

Are any of our members who are interested in a fraud actions against DRI attorneys or spouses of attorneys??? This would save us some money--even paralegals have some basic knowledge of legal practices.

There are also some public interest law firms in Hawaii (Legal Aid) that deal with real estate issues and mindboggling swindling related to housing issues. We can pursue that with enough interest.

When you buy an RV as you stated, you can sell it if you are not satisfied... You cannot sell a DRI timeshare, no one will buy it...

So you think we are talking about the same thing time shares and RV's.... I hope you people out there are reading this nonsense... sounds like a DRI salesperson

For the record, RV's are also very difficult to resell. I have read about that many a time from owners. Thus, my analogy of comparing timeshares to RV's. They are both difficult to resell.

charless345 wrote:

Michaeld,

This weekend I went to inquire about an RV. Now that was high pressure. I had done some reading about RV's prior to going and spoken with several people about them. I found that the salesman mentioned all of the pluses but none of the big minuses. He tried his darndest to get me to buy, but i did not.

Here the difference between me buying a timeshare and buying a RV. When I buy the RV, it's a done deal. I cannot return it. There is no cooling off period.

When one buys a timeshare, you have 7 days to review all information and then make a decision to return it or not. You I would suggest that you take your settlement or whatever you received from DRI and move on. If you had a legitimate concern or were frauded, then take the paperwork that you were provided that DRI frauded you on to a lawyer and sue them. Since you are so sure that fraud occurred, you know you would get your money back over time in legal fees. After a while, at least in my opinion, your posts become so old and so annoying.

I don't know where you get a cooling off period when purchasing a timeshare. When I bought at Los Abrigados from ILX I had none. That's in Arizona. Then DRI came in and took over. My maintenance fees have risen 42%. I went to an "update" with Diamond Resorts and they almost convinced me that giving them more money for more points would be better. At the signing of the papers I was told there was NO COOLING OFF PERIOD. At that point I walked.

"I don't know where you get a cooling off period when purchasing a timeshare. When I bought at Los Abrigados from ILX I had none. That's in Arizona. Then DRI came in and took over. My maintenance fees have risen 42%. I went to an "update" with Diamond Resorts and they almost convinced me that giving them more money for more points would be better. At the signing of the papers I was told there was NO COOLING OFF PERIOD. At that point I walked."

Here is a state-by-state list of rescission periods from RCI. According to this AZ's period is 7 days. http://rcivip.com/timeshare-rescission-period-in-us/ Here's another from ARDA. http://www.arda.org/uploadedFiles/ARDA/Government_Affairs/Government_Affairs_Call_Out_Boxes/RescissionPeriodsNov2010.pdf

The cooling off period may only apply to real estate transactions, such as the purchase of deeded timeshares. Advise you check to see if this is the case. One reason most resort developers have gone to points or club systems is that people buying into them have less legal standing to cause a hassle for them. For intance, if the deeded timeshare owners, excluding DRI, owned a majority of the property at Los Abrigados and if by some miracle these owners could get together and elect a DRI-hostile majority to the board of directors of the Sedona Vacation Club HOA, they could THEORETICALY oust DRI from management of the property. Not likely, but possible in theory.

Hello Peter!

Yes, let's get our names together and find a public interest law firm that may help us ripped-off owners and former owners.

Hawaii has legal aid societies that may help with big, greedy corporations.

It's DRI everywhere - corrupt and apparently protected by courts in some places (http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/als-morning-meeting/83935/thursday-edition-how-journalists-unsealed-secret-court-cases/), and they feel very bold to break laws that are set up to protect consumers. One case in point here is that they DIDN'T EVEN HAVE a public report for their properties in CA until 2010! And, when they produced that public report in small claims court (sending a lawyer, which also isn't allowed by law for small claims) I filed my "Right of Rescission", and they still refused to return monies. It didn't matter to them that even teh CA Dept of Real Estate advocated for them to follow this law.

Please note that this was after the laws they broke in the AZ Public Report, not reporting bankruptcies, and lawsuits as required to the consumer that was asked to buy.

But, I believe the truth does win, in the long run. It will.

tracil45 wrote:

Hello Peter!

Yes, let's get our names together and find a public interest law firm that may help us ripped-off owners and former owners.

Hawaii has legal aid societies that may help with big, greedy corporations.

I would like to surrender my Diamond Resort contract too. Anymore information or pointers? Thanks

I just joined with DRI this January as they assured me that my Monarch Timeshare would no longer exist since DRI was taking Monarch over. Turns out to be lie #1. I recceived my maintenance statement immediately--double Monarch fees. In regards to maintenance fees I can no longer pay quarterly. Yeserday, I spent 1hour and 10 minutes to no avail requesting that maintenance fees be paid quarterly . When I contact them they just stonewall. I quoted Cloobeck's committment philosophy sheet given to me by the misrepresentor at the presentation that enticed me to upgrade-- "The Meaning of Yes " in which he states "it doesn"t make a difference what the customer askes: the answer is still yes". I was told that doesn't mean EVERYTHING! Monarch is still a viable entity. I just want to go back to my former status quo. I am a 77 year old retired teacher and can not absorb the $23,000 plus $3200/year maintenance fees plus I already gave them $2300. Had I known this about fees I would not have given in to all their falseness. And to add insult to injury I have not been able to book a reservation where I always could. What is happening with classaction suits against this underhandedncompany?