Diamond Resorts reduces owner benefits again!

javag wrote:

I've owned for something over 10 years. I would like to understand what the person said when they said they walked away from the points.

Also, the points vs the week. I was sold the week and it converted into points. I like points a LOT better. I can go for 2 days instead of a week, which is my norm.

However, it's getting close to the end of the year and if the explanation is to pay for the points and walk away without using them, I need to know. Or what about paying and using half?

I walked away from my points with DRI... We paid 53,000 plus for 31,000 points, CASH.... Became so fed up with their lies and the never ending increases, we could not get reservations when we had the time to use them.. So we walked away, did not pay the assessment for the water incursion, was one of the founding members of the members group that later became COPP, which turned out to be a sell out... We had used all of the points that we paid fee's on and then paid the next years fee's when due... When we walked they refunded the fee's... Now I do not know why they would not keep doing that, after all they kept our $$$ 53,000 +

Thank you for your answer. Did you write them a letter and tell them you were no longer using them? How did they know to refund your fees? the $53k is what you paid to buy the 31k points, yes?

I have 4000 pts, which I save up every year, bc I never have the time and the money at the same time, and, like you say they never have availability. Amazing how with SO MANY properties there is never availability.

thank you again for answering. It helps me plan my future.

[Q=michaeld41...was one of the founding members of the members group that later became COPP, which turned out to be a sell out...

Michael, I was one of the "named plaintiffs" in the lawsuit. Between the COPP attorneys and the big buck judicial mediator I was led to believe that if we did not agree to the mediated settlement that the litigation could drag out for months or years, cost vast amounts of money and there was a good chance we would not gain anymore; or even lose the suit and wind up with nothing. I'm a retired healthcare professional, not an attorney. The advice of the lawyers and the mediator was to accept the settlement.

bruceb306 michaeld41...was one of the founding members of the members group that later became COPP, which turned out to be a sell out...

Michael, I was one of the "named plaintiffs" in the lawsuit. Between the COPP attorneys and the big buck judicial mediator I was led to believe that if we did not agree to the mediated settlement that the litigation could drag out for months or years, cost vast amounts of money and there was a good chance we would not gain anymore; or even lose the suit and wind up with nothing. I'm a retired healthcare professional, not an attorney. The advice of the lawyers and the mediator was to accept the settlement.[/Q

No settlement should have ever been agreed to until after the DISCOVERY PROCESS of a lawsuit, make them open their books, make them disclose their violations of the BY LAWS, the way they do business, expose the sales rhetoric vs the actual manner of the business operations, etc. There would have been an entirely different attitude on DRI's part had their internal workings been exposed, membership could have been solicited to testify at depositions etc... YES lawsuits could and are very expensive, if they were not prepared to go forward why file it at all...

A person files, either collectively or individually, to get redress for the wrongs committed against them. Not to fight for someone else. If someone wants discovery, then they will need to do that for themselves.

Heck, DRI is responsible for my finger getting slammed in the sliding glass door at Kohl's Ranch in june of '14. They refuse to pay the medical bill. They sent me a form that they will give me back the points used, but won't do anything else. see below.

It was my pleasure to speak with you this morning. Following our conversation, I wanted to reply to your email with an update to your questions and a recap of our conversation for your records.

We received your fax with your claim letter and bills on 09/02/14.

The claims committee has decided to offer to refund the 400 points for your stay as a Gesture of Good Will. Unfortunately, your medical claim has been denied. On 09/09/14 we mailed out a release of all claims for the 400 points to be returned to your account.

We are waiting for you to send us back your signed and notarized release. If you do, we will carry out the points refund. If not, and you are requesting further documentation from our claims committee please send your request to the Risk Management Department:

Diamond Resorts International

10600 West Charleston Boulevard

Las Vegas, NV 89135

Or, if you would like to fax us your request, you can fax it to (702)765-8767 attention Risk Management. This includes the letter you are requesting stating the denial of the medical bill claim.

As I mentioned, your request for a reservation to be made for the dates you requested or to be given enough points that would allow for that reservation to be made has been denied as well. As you do not have sufficient points in 2014 for this request, I would be happy to help you obtain that reservation for next year (subject to availability) or you can use the new Diamond Flexibility member benefit where members can rent one time use points. For valued Club members like yourself you pay for points at a rate of only $.30 per point.

I hope you have found this information helpful. Best Wishes,

Brandi Alexander | Social Media Specialist | Diamond Resorts International® | Tel: 702.823.7533| Fax: 702.240.2576 |

these people are asshats.

Unbelievable stones! They are trying to sell you points in a letter to deny your claim!

Yeah. no kidding, trying to sell me points.

My finger was slammed by the sliding glass door when I pushed on it when it stuck and my hand was on the other side. An accident report was taken, the door was fixed and they are denying the claim? No wonder the GM of that property left DRI within a month of this happening. Plus the fact they worked him almost to death. He was changing sheets and doing housekeeping because they can't keep workers there.

I wrote back and asked why it was denied.

assuming you have health insurance and filed a claim for the treatment you received, your insurance company should be going after them to recover anything they put out.

You might also want to file small claims against them and/or report the safety violation to the Gila County Health Dept.

javag wrote:

Yeah. no kidding, trying to sell me points.

My finger was slammed by the sliding glass door when I pushed on it when it stuck and my hand was on the other side. An accident report was taken, the door was fixed and they are denying the claim? No wonder the GM of that property left DRI within a month of this happening. Plus the fact they worked him almost to death. He was changing sheets and doing housekeeping because they can't keep workers there.

I wrote back and asked why it was denied.

As I have said many many times, and again it is just my opinion, and I have no evidence other than all of these stories as well as my own... DRI IS AN ONGOING CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE, selling you air, while showing you pictures of Paradise, they would screw their mother's out of their assests if given a chance.... Again just my opinion

I am thinking of small claims court. They wrote back and this is what they said:

Dear ___, We have received your Sept. 19th fax.

Enclosed is the requested copy of the report your completed.

Your claim was carefull evaluated by the claims committee. Maintenance responded to your unit to fix the sliding glass door on the vening of June 2, 2014. He was only able to apply WD-40 in the track at that time due to your request for the door to be repaired the next day after 10 a.m. The incident that occurred was at 8:30 a.m. prior to the specified arrival time of maintenance. Therefore, you would be aware that the door needed repair, and due to your request it would not be repaired until after 10 a.m. The claims committee failed to see any liability on the part of the resort.

Our offer of the 400 point returned to your account as a gesture of goodwill remains. Please have your signature notarized on the enclosed settlement and release agreement. Upon receipt of the xecuted settlement documens, we shall refund the points back to your account.

Sincerely,

Risk Management Team

And that's NOT what went down or the way it happened.

davidk689 wrote:

assuming you have health insurance and filed a claim for the treatment you received, your insurance company should be going after them to recover anything they put out.

You might also want to file small claims against them and/or report the safety violation to the Gila County Health Dept.

javag wrote:

Yeah. no kidding, trying to sell me points.

My finger was slammed by the sliding glass door when I pushed on it when it stuck and my hand was on the other side. An accident report was taken, the door was fixed and they are denying the claim? No wonder the GM of that property left DRI within a month of this happening. Plus the fact they worked him almost to death. He was changing sheets and doing housekeeping because they can't keep workers there.

I wrote back and asked why it was denied.

Diamond's 2015 maintenance assessments are out and guess what? They went up! Not so much as in the past but far above inflation. My DRI maintenance fee is now nearly three times as much as my very comparable timeshare in Mexico!

Can you tell me where this info is posted? I have not received any info on-line or by mail. Thanks

I got an email from Diamond telling me my statement was ready. Then go to My Accounts and Payment.

susana277 wrote:

Can you tell me where this info is posted? I have not received any info on-line or by mail. Thanks

It appears they have billed only those affiliated with the Hawaiian collection. The rest of us await the dropping of the shoe.

It's been 5 months since the last post on the subject of DRI reducing ownership value. I am an owner at San Luis Bay in Avila Beach for over 10 years. The first two years were great under Sunterra. I could always either reserve a studio during my week (34) or rent available days at a very reasonable price.

I haven't been able to reserve "My Unit" during "My week" for years. In fact, I can't even reserve any unit any decent week because those with more points get priority. The standard answer I get to my inquiries is "buy more points".

Now we are relegated to reserving in the California desert during the summer. What a deal!!

I am an owner of a time-share at Los Abrigados in Sedona, AZ. With the Diamond International takeover of ILX (original timeshare company), my "points" are not enough to use during the peak times, although my original purchase gave me the right to book any one of the 52 weeks of the year, without restriction. DI's response to me about the loss of value, is to buy more points.

I feel your pain. I have no intention of putting any more money into what is already a bad situation (sharply rising annual maintenance fees).

If you originally had a deeded timeshare with ILX and "upgraded" from Sedona Vacation Club to Premier Vacation Club you got stuck exchanging that membership to DRI points. If you had declined the "upgrade" and just kept the original deeded ownership, as I did, you would be able to book your floating week with no difficulty.

It is still a ripoff with the ever-increasing maintenance fees and the downgraded amenities, but at least I get something out of it.

NEVER sign anything in any kind of "update" or sales presentation from anyone involved in the timeshare industry. They are all thieves.

We did not upgrade to PVC....we still have the deeded property, so I don't understand why they are telling us we are limited by points.

I am fed up with them. In 15 years missed one quarterly invoice which I did not receive and they are trying to get $150 interests for it. After 1 hour conversation on the phone they "tried to help me" by reducing it by half. I will simply send them back the certificate and finish this. We enjoyed it when we were under Monarch resort Palm Springs. However with current maintenance fees it does not make sense. One week is costing us about $1800 and we can't even get a normal property and 2 bedroom that we owe. For that amount I will rent anywhere I want without time share. So we will just stop all the payments and return the certificate.

You may just be speaking to someone who assumes you are on points. As a deeded owner you have the absolute right to book any week which is not previously booked by someone else. I don't always get my first choice of weeks (or split weeks) but do end up getting something fairly close to what I first wanted.

If you think they are jerking you around try this: call up to make a reservation as just someone who is not an owner but just looking for hotel accommodations. Get some dates when there are rooms available. Write them down and then tell them you will call them back after you confer with your spouse (or whoever). Record the call.

Next call them (it would be good to have two different people doing this) to make a reservation on one of those weeks as an owner. Record the call. If they tell you nothing is available just politely say you will call them back.

File an action in small claims court (probably Coconino County) for the full amount of your annual maintenance fee + any legal costs incurred (filing fees, process serving, collecting, etc). You might also want to include your cost of other lodging for the week if you decide to go to Sedona and stay somewhere else.