Manhattan Club Lawsuit

pattyh59 wrote:

Anyone curious why two of the three "non-sponsor" board members have manhattan club email addresses? I think it is a good idea for us all to write to these members, but I am skeptical about writing to two of them at tmcny email addresses. Patty

pattyh, PRECISELY: your comment about the TMCNY email addresses for board members other than bob ballot (and one other with a hotmail address) prompted me to write to bob ballot. but i think he may also be beholden to eichener and company. he referred my email question (s) to be responded to by "the developer"...........scamming/ fraudulent, in my opinion, bruce eichner. but please write to any or all of the board members for answers to what's going on with our investments! get your fellow owners and others on this REDWEEK.COM blog to jam their e-mail boxes requesting information that we owners are entitled to be made aware of NOW.

keep in touch, chris

jonathan2 wrote:

Chris, I'm not sure why you didn't see the lawyer's name. Douglas Wasser and he is in Wasser Russian in NYC. Some communications work best when they are lawyer to lawyer. Jonathan

jonathan, .....so, it will cost us $500 to find out which communications work best when they are lawyer to lawyer.....your quote:"Some communications..." i don't mean to be ornery or resistant, just cautious..........many of our $$$$$$ have been spent regarding all phases of our association with the now-infamous MANHATTAN CLUB. i want to see some concrete evidence that your attorney could help us in our continuing legal saga with eichner and gang, especially how he would/could work with nysag, eric schneiderman, in our behalf.

chris

I have been away on deployments with the military and ALL of this is news to me. I learned about the issues with MC this morning and have been on line most of the day googling and reading articles, and have now found this forum on RedWeek, which seems to be the most informational. I will continue to follow and want to make my interest in being involved known. Thank you

chrisv126 wrote:

it appears that none of us owners/manhattan club shareowners (and victims of scamming and fraud) has made attempts to contact the non sponsored manhattan club board members WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT US OWNERS (PRESUMABLY, THEIR BEING ONWNERS/SHAREHOLDERS JUST LIKE US.) i recently emailed bob ballot for his version of how we are being represented (especially with reference to the lawsuit) by the non sponsor board members. ha...he referred my inquiry to "the developer" who i assume is his superior, for a response to my email (a joke in itself)......IAN BRUCE EICHNER AND HIS OTHER VOTING BOARD MEMBERS. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE THREE CURRENT NON SPONSOR BOARD MEMBERS, AGAIN OWNERS JUST LIKE US. IT'S ABOUT TIME FOR THEM TO DO THEIR JOB ON OUR BEHALF..............: Patricia Soltys Non-Sponsor Board Member email: patti.tmcny@gmail.com James Dunphy Non-Sponsor Board Member email: jdunphytmcny@hotmail.com Robert Ballot Non-Sponsor Board Member email: bbb174@aol.com ALL OF US SHOULD DEMAND THAT THEY RESPOND DIRECTLY TO OUR INQUIRES WITH PERTINENT AND TIMELY INFORMATION PER OUR REQUESTS. LET'S GET ON OUR COMPUTERS FELLOW REDWEEK.COM BLOGGERS..

GOOD (HOLIDAY) WISHES TO ALL OF US. HOPEFULLY, SOME POWERFUL FORCE (YOUR CHOICE) IS WITH US.

KEEP IN TOUCH. LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU. CHRIS. (not shouting with CAPS; they're for emphasis only or to highlight important points. {i usually use only lower case when i type...saves using the shift key})

I agree w Paul. We should attempt to negotiate with them regarding the 9 month restriction on releasing rooms to timeshare holders. I would pay an attorney to solely handle that issue.

I still don't see any attempt by atty Wasser or his agent to advise us on what he can offer us. I did go to his website and see nothing there either. Although it's possible I missed something.

Can anyone tell me if they have paid their real estate fees? I am not paying the maintenance fees but would like to pay the real estate taxes. I am curious to see if it could be sent directly to NY state gov? Has anyone done this? if so, can you post the address? I do not feel right in sending them to the MC - who knows what the Eichners would do with it!

Stephen and Chris,

Over the years many owners have contacted the non-sponsored board members through emails, certified letters and regular mail. The non-sponsored board members are less than useless. Their response has been pay your maintenance fees and how lucky you are to be an owner at TMC. When an owner is in arrears on maintenance fees they get a letter from the non-sponsored board members. The letter urges the owner to pay their fees so they don't lose their privileges at TMC. The non-sponsored board members are completely in the pocket of the developer.

Irene Smalls

The 9 month rule is not the problem here. It's other things. The 9 month rule is important as those needing a full week must have that opportunity or there would be nothing but fragmented weeks available. Every timeshare on earth that allows less than one week stays has the 9 month rule because it's absolutely necessary.

The problem is that almost all timeshares who offer less than one week reservations are flawed. Timeshare only really works well for those who want whole weeks AND can plan ahead. If you ask timeshare to give you 3 nighters and on short notice, you will be very disappointed (as you are). Most timeshare experts in places such as Red Week or TUG know this. It's not what people want to hear but unfortunately it's reality.

What we really need at the MC is control of the board. If we get that, we can address the abnormally high management fees etc and get our annual maintenance fees back down below $2000 per year. Maybe even down to $1800 or so. We need to have control like other projects. Eichners built in a clause saying as long as he owns one single MC ownership, he has board control. Normally after about 60% sellout, owners gain control. This is the problem.

mazarati wrote:

The 9 month rule is not the problem here. It's other things. The 9 month rule is important as those needing a full week must have that opportunity or there would be nothing but fragmented weeks available. Every timeshare on earth that allows less than one week stays has the 9 month rule because it's absolutely necessary.

The problem is that almost all timeshares who offer less than one week reservations are flawed. Timeshare only really works well for those who want whole weeks AND can plan ahead. If you ask timeshare to give you 3 nighters and on short notice, you will be very disappointed (as you are). Most timeshare experts in places such as Red Week or TUG know this. It's not what people want to hear but unfortunately it's reality.

What we really need at the MC is control of the board. If we get that, we can address the abnormally high management fees etc and get our annual maintenance fees back down below $2000 per year. Maybe even down to $1800 or so. We need to have control like other projects. Eichners built in a clause saying as long as he owns one single MC ownership, he has board control. Normally after about 60% sellout, owners gain control. This is the problem.

a timeshare has similar or the same situations as condominium by laws: THEY CAN BE AMENDED. so eichner's controlling "built in clause" can be changed and/or amemded to the benefit of all of us owners. the board of directors has 3 developer (eichner) members and 3 other members who seem to be token people playing a make-believe game of "representing" owners, which we have, obviously, NOT SEEN HAPPENING. NOW, THE QUESTION IS: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO CHANGE THIS TO SHAREHOLDER'/OWNERS' BENEFIT, E.G., SUBSTANTIALLY LOWERING OUR MAINTENANCE FEES?

That's very interesting info about the 9 mo rule. I didn't know that. Thank you.

How do you suggest we take control of the board...

I agree, as long as management control of the board emains with the Eichners we are at his and his mercy. We the owners will never be capable of determining our own destiny.

That can only be done by a court ruling, as Eichner is President of the Board for Life, and he also has 3 board members that he appoints , that are also his Employees

Please help me understand what you did. I am in the process of donating my unit and it will end up on Lynn O'Donnell desk. Can you explain what you did exactly and how it was processed....as a gift, buyback, quick claim deed or other. I have been trying to do whatever I can. I realize there will be fees involved but what did you pay and to whom did you pay it. Did you need an attorney? What forms were needed to do this transaction? I really need your help if you had even a little success!!! Please get back to me for I am very frustrated. Any information will help and be appreciated! Thanks Ellen So far the donation process seems the best and legal way out. But it will cost us $3,000 to do it all.

howardb21 wrote:

That can only be done by a court ruling, as Eichner is President of the Board for Life, and he also has 3 board members that he appoints , that are also his Employees

i know.....easier said than done......, but let's try to get a court ruling disenfranchising eicher........perhaps through the efforts of the nysag, eric schneiderman. it surely can't hurt to look into this issue, and the legality of how it's currently set up, benefiting only eichner and his gang.

I would like to join the group in pursuing justice with our timeshare nightmares! I am currently in the process of donating mine and it is going to the "right of first refusal" stage. I am praying it works out to the finish. HAS ANYONE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN DONATING THE TIMESHARE??????????? Need to know. Thanks, Ellen

Who can vote for new board members? If no proxy is available! Or maybe there is and I do not have one! Can we vote? Or do we need to attend the meeting coming up and be there to vote? ANYONE KNOW THE PROCESS TO VOTE NEW BOARD MEMBERS????

mazarati wrote:

The 9 month rule is not the problem here. It's other things. The 9 month rule is important as those needing a full week must have that opportunity or there would be nothing but fragmented weeks available. Every timeshare on earth that allows less than one week stays has the 9 month rule because it's absolutely necessary.

The problem is that almost all timeshares who offer less than one week reservations are flawed. Timeshare only really works well for those who want whole weeks AND can plan ahead. If you ask timeshare to give you 3 nighters and on short notice, you will be very disappointed (as you are). Most timeshare experts in places such as Red Week or TUG know this. It's not what people want to hear but unfortunately it's reality.

What we really need at the MC is control of the board. If we get that, we can address the abnormally high management fees etc and get our annual maintenance fees back down below $2000 per year. Maybe even down to $1800 or so. We need to have control like other projects. Eichners built in a clause saying as long as he owns one single MC ownership, he has board control. Normally after about 60% sellout, owners gain control. This is the problem.

say what you will about the "nine month rule" (which i think is bull****). when we bought our 2 weeks at TMC, we were told by the manipulated, lying sales person that TMC was our "home away from home in new york city." by all standards, we owners should be totally homeless for the time we bought at TMC. your point about reserving one week vs a day or two at a time might have a bit of merit, but not in light of what i just stated above. we were defrauded, lied to and scammed from the first moment of the bull****, lying and misrepresenting sales presentation. yesterday, i tried to get a reservation at TMC for june 7 and was told i would be put on TMC famous wait list...........what a total joke, sham and fraud. i went to booking.com, and was able to make a reservation for june 7 about 5 minutes after hanging up with TMC reservation clerk who was rather snotty to boot! so there goes your "9 month rule" when it comes to paying extra to get a reservation..........i.e., on top of my outrageously high maintenance fees.

I don't have my contract (long story), but wondering what the contract states as far as rescheduling reservations.

cynthias402 wrote:

That's very interesting info about the 9 mo rule. I didn't know that. Thank you.

please don't refer to it as the "9 mo RULE." this is not a requirement (nor is it a RULE!) that must be adhered to. simply try to get a MANHATTAN CLUB SUITE on booking.com right now. to be sure, you won't find a b.s. (9 month rule.) what you will find and be able to book will be A SUITE AT THE MANHATTAN CLUB AND FOR THE EXACT DATE THAT YOU WANT. BELIEVE ME, EICHNER HAS US BY THE "OUCH FACTORS."

According to the NYAG court order, the Manhattan Club has no legal authority to approve a sale or transfer of ANY timeshare entity, so your application to donate your unit to the club is likely to sit in limbo until the AG's investigation is concluded. The AG already got court approval to rescind 37 owner give-backs/donations that were in progress when the original court order was approved, July 24, 2014. The Manhattan Club has been barred from conducting ANY timeshare business, other than processing owner reservations, paying bills and pursuing owners to pay maintenance fees, since July. As a practical matter, the Manhattan Club timeshare business has been shuttered for nine months. Owners maintain the right to use their weeks as long as their maintenance fees are current. The next lawyer-to-lawyer meeting on the AG's investigation is May 1 under the auspices of NY Supreme Court special Referee Liebman. In the meantime, the AG's office is still accepting owner-information complaints from club owners who want to tell their stories to the Attorney General.