"The Villa Trader" is a timeshare related scam company and not affiliated in any way with Villa Trader - http://villatrader.com

I just received a phone call from someone at a place called Villa Trader, about selling or renting our timeshare. Has anyone had an dealings with them?

thank you, Tammy

tammyp80 wrote:

I just received a phone call from someone at a place called Villa Trader, about selling or renting our timeshare. Has anyone had an dealings with them?

thank you, Tammy

mike1536 wrote:

tammyp80 wrote:

I just received a phone call from someone at a place called Villa Trader, about selling or renting our timeshare. Has anyone had an dealings with them?

thank you, Tammy

================= If they asked for an upfront fee or claim to have a willing buyer/renter, but only need $xxx.xx dollars to complete the transaction, the RUN AWAY. You will never see you money again.

yes, thank you that i have learned from reading all the posts here. I haven't even discussed anything with them just yet. I asked for phone number to return the call later this week. I wanted time to review the company before i even went any further. thank you!

Anyone have info on Villa Trader? They want $2,000 and will charge it to my account but say when I review the contract if I don't like it I simply don't sign the charge card slip and then they have to reverse the charge. I have 310,000 points and they say they have a buyer at $27,000 (I paid about $32,000) Thanks Lesley

How did this work out? Thanks Lesley

Be very careful because they are charging you $2000 upfront but telling you they will credit you back if your not signing!

RUN!

If they have a buyer giving you $27000 then they can take their money from the sale.

I have never heard of these people but same game plan that they want money upfront.

There are companies that do sell timeshares and charge around $2000 after sale.

We have one in Lake Tahoe that sells Lake Tahoe and Hawaii timeshare resales and do charge $2000 and take their fee from the sale.

I would think you can find these companies in other area's.

PHILL12

lesleym28 wrote:

Anyone have info on Villa Trader? They want $2,000 and will charge it to my account but say when I review the contract if I don't like it I simply don't sign the charge card slip and then they have to reverse the charge. I have 310,000 points and they say they have a buyer at $27,000 (I paid about $32,000)Thanks Lesley

I don't know how many times that we have to reiterate in these forums to NEVER EVER pay an upfront fee in the hundreds (in this case $2000) to any resale company to sell you timeshare.

If they had a legitimate buyer they would take their fee after the sale and not before. See how long it will take for them to hang up on you when you request they take the fee after the sale is complete.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I wish I could get rid of these things (and recoup some of the money!)

My wife who works a Lucky's Grocery in Northern California keeps an eye out for new products.

I told her to watch the bug spray section for something called the Timeshare Sleeze Ball Insect Spray.

We owners need somthing to control the spread of these insects and parasites .

Phill12

lesleym28 wrote:

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I wish I could get rid of these things (and recoup some of the money!)

Unless you own at a very high demand resort in a very popular season, it will be hard to sell any timeshare in this economy. Even if you owned the above, you would have to price your week competively.

I have talked to 2 people at The Villa Trader one of them is named Alex. They also told me they had a buyer for my timeshare and in the first call said the offer would be between $25k and $35k, that seemed to be about what I thought it would be worth with 210,000 points and 19 years left that I have with El Cid. The second caller said that they could do even better and had a buyer that was willing to offer close to $60k,,, That seemed to be a huge red flag to me. Just in the interest of curiosity I did a little checking and they do have a web site www.thevillatrader.com and they are listed with the BBB in Orlando, FL, (just listed not members)and they have 2 offices in FL but I’m not sure that even helps me figure out why they need my money up front. Also Alex said that I would have to pay closing cost on top of the $2k for a title search the other gentleman said the $2k would be all that I needed to pay. Any other information that anyone can share about this company, the need to have a title search done and if the law states that the cost is to be paid by the seller? Thank you and I’m looking forward to your comments.

Few years ago well in Orlando we found these sales companies on every block!

Just to understand what they had we walked in and looked at their timeshare book which was extra large with timeshares,some had over 10,000 for same resort which tells you something.

The one thing we noticed was a few desk with phones,coffee michines and couple sales people trying to act busy.

What we also noticed was within ten minutes these offices could be cleaned out and these busy insects would be out of there!

I would recommend to any timeshare owner to just walk in couple of these scam offices and look around and ask yourself "would you lay couple thousand dollars down and walk out". This is what your doing when you hire one of these LISTING COMPANIES.

NOT A GOOD ONE!

PHILL12

I just told them I was not interested based on info on this site and they became angry and yelled at me about taking up there time and my being incorrect about what I found out. They would not let me speak and I had to actually hang up.

Think how you would feel if you gave them your money and later got this same treatment from them!

This way your ticked off but still have your money!

GOOD JOB! PHILL12

I wish I had found this forum before I gave them my money. I feel so stupid for being taken in by them. I have reported them to the BBB and here is the address for central Florida. Please report them as I have and pass the word. brivera@centralflorida.bbb.org

We owners on many forums have been warning others of these scams for years and still people like yourself come on these forums telling your sad stories of being taken.

The word is finally getting out to many new people to at least do your home work before donating your money to these parasites.

One of main problems is some owners can be talked into anything and probably why they bought from a developer in first place.

When the heat gets to hot these companies just pack up and move down the street and change their name and back to scamming.

Good news is you seem to have learned a lesson the first time. You would be shocked how many people come on these sites and ask for opinions and then give their money away because they would rather believe the listing companies and not the timeshare owners.

Some come back and complain about losing their money then jump back in with another company with same game plan.

If you want to sell with help you need to sign on with a realtor that sells timeshares and takes their commission after sale. These companies charge 20-30% for their services and for many it is well worth it because you pay nothing until sold. These companies work just like a resales dept at many resorts and it cost to sell but your dealing with honest ( or as honest as you can find in timeshare sales) companies that sell your timeshare and get paid for their services after sale.

When I get one of these calls and have time I love to jerk their chain!

Not knowing I bought resale this company called me up and stated that my timeshare has really gone up in value and the price I paided of $18000 is a low number now. Now I can get about $26000 and they have a buyer wanting my unit. Funny since we only paid $5500 resale three years ago and we are not trying to sell. I guess we are the only people to own at our resort. Why else could he have a buyer for just our unit. I guess my weeks July3,2009 and Sept 3,2010 gives my unit more value.

I told him that was great news even though we were not trying to sell and just don't have the time to deal with it. I told him I would sell it to him for my $18000 and he could make a fast $8000 from this buyer he has. He went into his act of by law he can not sell and needs the money upfront by law again. He explained this was cost to list my timeshare for sale and I said why do we need to list when you have the buyer already? LMAO

I then ask why he was calling with a buyer if he can not make the sale and I guess this knocked him off his game plan. I have to guess this question wasn't on his print out of answers to use.

At this point I told him this isn't against the law because he is buying my unit for $18000 and then as owner can sell to this buyer for quick profit and this legal.

When I told him I am a lawyer for State of California and would be glad to handle all the forms he was gone.Not even a goodbye! HOW RUDE NOT TO SAY GOODBYE!

I wanted to tell him I never went to law school but did spend three days at a Holiday Inn so I know the law and next month I'm going back for couple days to become a doctor!

PHILL12

paulr259 wrote:

I have talked to 2 people at The Villa Trader one of them is named Alex. They also told me they had a buyer for my timeshare and in the first call said the offer would be between $25k and $35k, that seemed to be about what I thought it would be worth with 210,000 points and 19 years left that I have with El Cid. The second caller said that they could do even better and had a buyer that was willing to offer close to $60k,,, That seemed to be a huge red flag to me. Just in the interest of curiosity I did a little checking and they do have a web site www.thevillatrader.com and they are listed with the BBB in Orlando, FL, (just listed not members)and they have 2 offices in FL but I’m not sure that even helps me figure out why they need my money up front. Also Alex said that I would have to pay closing cost on top of the $2k for a title search the other gentleman said the $2k would be all that I needed to pay. Any other information that anyone can share about this company, the need to have a title search done and if the law states that the cost is to be paid by the seller? Thank you and I’m looking forward to your comments.

Why do you keep asking for info concerning this company. THEY WILL TELL YOU ANYTHING TO GET YOUR UPFRONT FEE, THAT'S ALL THEY WANT. Telling you that they have a buyer that will gladly pay 25-35K for your timeshare is out and out BS, PERIOD. Nobody in their right mind would pay that amount of money for a resale of any kind.

Paul, I hope I'm wrong but it sounds like you don't believe anything your being told here! Sounds like now talking to two different people Alex and a un-named caller with different prices has you hooked and you want to believe them over the people trying to help you.

There have been many over the years that fall for this and within a year are on a timeshare forum saying they wished they had listen and saved their money!

I don't mean to be rude here but I really don't care what you do with your money because it cost me nothing but 90% chance it will cost you!

All I can say is do your home work and learn what you can and make your own choices because bottom line is it is your money!

Just remember no one on here talking to you is trying to get money from you but everyone at Villa Trader wants your money.

Good luck in what ever choice you make!

PHILL12

I copied this from TVT's website. It makes for interesting reading in light of all the previous responses I've seen here. (Look carefully to find mention of "the one-time service fee" hidden in the text!) Enjoy.........

"The Villa Trader is a full service resale company that specializes in advertising and marketing timeshare resales and rentals. We are not a real estate firm; rather, TVT is strictly a for-sale-by-owner program. Our marketing efforts are directed towards timeshare owners and others who are interested in buying, selling, or renting timeshare property, attempting to make the perfect match between buyer and seller where everybody wins. That is the only thing we do!

"Once we have matched a buyer with just the right property, we then help them through the entire process, from proposal to closing. We do not stop until that buyer has a clear deed in their possession.

"Because we are a for-sale-by-owner company, that means as the seller you pay NO commissions! There are also NO appraisals and NO closing costs for you. All applicable fees are handled by the buyer. Therefore, the entire amount collected for your property goes into YOUR pocket, not ours. Our one-time service fee covers everything: *Featuring your property on our inventory roster, *Advertising and actively marketing it, *Assisting both buyer and seller throughout the entire property transfer, and a *Guarantee that when we have a buyer, the entire sales process will be expedited by licensed and bonded title and finance companies, with all documents delivered to your door within three to five business days."

I have never really done anything like this but i actually owned a timeshare property at the El Cid i had vip status i owned over 300k points ibought them for 23.5k.The company known as The Villa Trader contacted me said they had a buyer on the spot said said the fee would be $2000 to finalize the sale they said it would take 30-90 days to recieve my check.I got a moneygram for 25k about 2 weeks after there closing process