Diamond Resorts reduces owner benefits again!

File complaints with your State's Bureau of Real Estate and the Better Business Bureau. Don't know if it will help yet, but that's what I'm doing.

Check with your state's licensing bureau. DRI's Club license, which allows them to do business in California, has been forfeited! Also call your state's real estate bureau. They can advise you on how to file a complaint for the fraudulent practices DRI is shoving down our throats.

PLEASE go to the ABC News website at this URL:

http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=20/20

and request that 20/20 investigate DRI. Be sure to make reference to the whitewash/propaganda piece CBS did with Undercover Boss on Cloobeck.

Maybe if enough people write to them they may buy into the idea, if for no other reason than to embarrass CBS News.

susani67 Also, why are the properties in Sedona, where we own, being rented out on Hotels.com?

I believe DRI is wholesaling out their owned inventory, as they do with many or all of the properties they are involved in.

They actually advertise these resorts at cheap prices if you will sit through a high pressure sales pitch... Less than half or cheaper than your maintenance dues per day... When for the same period you cannot get reservations, because they have so many new suckers to sell their air too... Then again its only how I see it, but the deals are published in many places..

How do we find out and prove that DRI is using "our" properties as hotels? I have a call in to Hotels.com corporate headquarters and was promised they would check it out and get back to me. There would have to be some organization of owners signing their time over - right? Seems like that would be very complicated as DRI ignores deeded interests and assigns worthless points.

I just checked out what is being posted about Hotels.com and now I feel totally ripped off. So after paying something like $21,000 to buy the timeshare, anyone can use my room for a week, at less than what it costs me in the annual maintenance. Doesn't that mean the use by non-owners increases the rate of depreciation of the assets of the property...which then gets passed onto me with increased maintenance costs? The last time I stayed at Los Abrigados, my 2- bedroom unit was shabby...nothing like the beautifully upgraded model shown during the sales presentation. I wonder who gets to stay in those rooms?

Anyone who will subject themselves to a sale blitz, they get the new rooms you pay to upgrade and they get the choice reservations, that they tell you are unavailable.. YES you are being screwed

I just randomly pulled up 5 of DRI's resorts - AZ, CA, CO, FL & HI, off of DRI's Club web site. ALL OF THEM are available on Hotels.com. We all need to look up our "timeshares" and see if they are really hotels!! And check the prices compared to your fees. Good point about us having to foot the bill for wear & tear from HOTEL GUESTS! And again, for those of you who live in California, their Club's license has been forfeited and they cannot do business in our state.

Everybody gets a different story. They seem to be making it up as they go along.

charless345 wrote:

Before you get on these message boards, please make sure that you are accurate. DRI cannot take your week and turn it into points on their whim. Either you did not have a week in the first place and had points, or you had points from the beginning or some other configuration. However, if you had a week, then your week is still there and it cannot be taken from you if you have been paying your maintenance fees and met all other obligations.

If there is something more please share with us the specifics, but what you have written does not sound right.

rpimentel wrote:

Diamond without authority now reducing my weeks to points which give me less time that previously. Also will not longer allow me to trade into Interval International. Anyone else facing this problem please contact me. I intend to file a lawsuit.

Uh - yeah that's exactly what they DO!! I cannot get them to change me back to my deeded week even though I have provided the paperwork proving I'm a deeded owner. That's only 1 of the many rip-offs inflicted on us. We have to file complaints with government agencies that handle Real Estate issues and Consumer Protection issues. But, I suspect I'll have to have to hire an attorney to get out from under them. Have no idea why there isn't a class action already filed.

alans273 wrote:

most of these owners were sold timeshares on FALSE promises, that is, it would enable the owner to go to other resorts on our planet by exchanging the weeks that they own with others. the problem is that because of the recession the sales of timeshares is now ZERO therefore DRI has no choice but to increase maintenance charges

The sales are zero because it's become common knowledge that timeshares are, for the most part, bad investments sold with false promises.

susani67 wrote:

alans273 wrote:

most of these owners were sold timeshares on FALSE promises, that is, it would enable the owner to go to other resorts on our planet by exchanging the weeks that they own with others. the problem is that because of the recession the sales of timeshares is now ZERO therefore DRI has no choice but to increase maintenance charges

The sales are zero because it's become common knowledge that timeshares are, for the most part, bad investments sold with false promises.

Couple of things. I stayed at Los Abrigados shortly after DRI took it over. I noted that the property had potential. They had very nice grounds. I had a two bedroom that was very, very large. I really enjoyed that. However, the unit need refurbishing and the entire property needed a facelift. Whatever company owned it before had neglected it. DRI is in the process of repairing from what I have read from owners.

As for units being in hotels.com, well DRI is no different from Marriott, Westin and other big timeshare chains. They too rent out timeshare units to non owners. That's not big news. I also rent out units when I want to recover some money from maintenance fees. DRI rents out their units that they pay maintenance fees for this can be confirmed by your HOA that they pay the maintenance fees.

If we don't use our timeshares then yes, we are waisting our money. I use mine. I will be in Hawaii for a month with two of the weeks at DRI resorts. My value when I go during summer which I will be there all of July is high and my maintenance fees are a bargain to me. I have seen times when hotels.com and booking.com are cheaper than maintenance fees. I don't like that but sometimes I rent for less too to recover some of my maintenance fees.

My point is that DRI is not different from other points owned timeshares. Points owned systems are more expensive than weeks systems. I own both and there are advantages and disadvantages to both. I use them together and it works out fine for me and I do not feel ripped off. You can still get value for your accommodations.

With regards to checking with the HOA, DRI undoubtedly IS the HOA and will tell you whatever they need you to believe. They seize control of the HOA Boards at all of their resorts then the fees climb very quickly. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH DRI!

davidl712 wrote:

With regards to checking with the HOA, DRI undoubtedly IS the HOA and will tell you whatever they need you to believe. They seize control of the HOA Boards at all of their resorts then the fees climb very quickly. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH DRI!

Last year I rec'd the notice from the HOA for Los Abrigados about the upcoming board mtg/election. Informed them in writing I wanted to be on the board and sent in a qualifications brief. Never heard a thing back from them. Board mtg came and went, never rec'd any info abt what happened there or who was elected to the board. No info on how/who to contact. Prev board had majority members who were in some way connected to DRI. Assume it is the same now.

Go to Diamondresortshoa.com and log in with your username and password. I just found this and it looks like some interesting reading. There are no minutes since 2009. There are meeting presentations up to 2013. There are no bylaws, no newsletters. There is a one page budget. I called Diamond and asked who to contact for more information but the representative could not tell me. There is email contact through the web site and I sent a message. Let's see if I get a reply.

davidk689 wrote:

davidl712 wrote:

With regards to checking with the HOA, DRI undoubtedly IS the HOA and will tell you whatever they need you to believe. They seize control of the HOA Boards at all of their resorts then the fees climb very quickly. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH DRI!

Last year I rec'd the notice from the HOA for Los Abrigados about the upcoming board mtg/election. Informed them in writing I wanted to be on the board and sent in a qualifications brief. Never heard a thing back from them. Board mtg came and went, never rec'd any info abt what happened there or who was elected to the board. No info on how/who to contact. Prev board had majority members who were in some way connected to DRI. Assume it is the same now.

I was unable to find Sedona Vacation Club HOA, Inc. (the hoa for deeded owners at los abrigados) through the search interface provided by the arizona corporation commission. are they incorporated in anothe state? If so why and is that legal? something doesn't smell right.

The entire Timeshare Industry in the World is a model of a corrupt business of selling dreams that are far more than that industry will ever deliver... They sell more than they can accommodate, the old model of selling 51 weeks for each unit in a resort was a fair business model... The points system is a fraud, they can sell as many points as possible, and when you try to book your vacation and its not available, because someone is in it that the management wants to sell to and they are not members, how does anyone know. And on top of that they get the best rooms that have been updated so they can be sold... Most of these points systems have more members and time / unit obligations than they can ever provide, and the HOA associations are controlled by those within the management, that is why most who work in that industry are members, so they can control the Boards..

susani67 wrote:

File complaints with your State's Bureau of Real Estate and the Better Business Bureau. Don't know if it will help yet, but that's what I'm doing.

Forget the BBB. All they require is an answer from the company and it doesn't matter what that answer is. "Screw you" is fine with them & the BBB then closes your case .

robertr558 wrote:

Go to Diamondresortshoa.com and log in with your username and password. I just found this and it looks like some interesting reading. There are no minutes since 2009. There are meeting presentations up to 2013. There are no bylaws, no newsletters. There is a one page budget. I called Diamond and asked who to contact for more information but the representative could not tell me. There is email contact through the web site and I sent a message. Let's see if I get a reply.

To follow up on this I found out the following on the HOA website referred to by Robert and by some further Googling as well:

(1) 2006 through 2009 there were no annual meeting. Directors were elected and actions taken through "consent documents" supposedly in accordance with ARS 10-3821 (will have to look this up). Directors all appear to be affiliated with ILX. (2) For 2010 there is NOTHING (3) 2011 there is a meeting. It appears DRI has taken over by this point. No documentation is provided relating to the ILX bankruptcy and DRI takeover or how that relates to the HOA.

(4) The three 2014 Board Officers: Frank Goeckel, President; Linda Riddle, Vice President; and Kathy Wheeler, Secretary/Treasurer are ALL EMPLOYEES OF DRI.

(5) There are two other directors who do not appear to be employees of DRI. I found their contact info elsewhere online:

Robert Braatz, Director - a retired Air Force pilot living in Flagstaff 4855 E Crestview St Flagstaff, AZ 86004-5201 (928) 526-2209

Ann Teich, Director - a mortgage loan underwriter in the Phoenix area 506 W. Grandview Road Phoenix, AZ, 85023 (602) 439-5555

It would be interesting to hear what these people might have to say about the issues being raised in this discussion (as well as others on RedWeek which touch on Los Abrigados and/or the kind of management being provided by DRI.