IA Vacations/ American Timeshare Closings

I had a fraud cased with a business firm in CA. BBB suplied m with the name of pres, VP:. and sales manager, a certified letter was mailed to each one. In addition, I filed a complain with the Attorney general, in CA. Suprised, the Pres called and said "I see that you filed a comlaint with the AT. We will refund your $65l., received a check in two days. The only AT that assisted with this fraud, AND NO ASSISTANCE FROM the Atto. General in Tenn, Mo, and Ks. ,

roberts1192 wrote:

I had a fraud cased with a business firm in CA. BBB suplied m with the name of pres, VP:. and sales manager, a certified letter was mailed to each one. In addition, I filed a complain with the Attorney general, in CA. Suprised, the Pres called and said "I see that you filed a comlaint with the AT. We will refund your $65l., received a check in two days. The only AT that assisted with this fraud, AND NO ASSISTANCE FROM the Atto. General in Tenn, Mo, and Ks. ,

Good that the CA AG helped you, but if you received no help from the other state AGs then you need to file until you get some response even if you have to file each week. Part of an AG's job is consumer protection and advocacy.

I've had two state AGs to help me in getting refunds.

So this story may take some time, but basically they stole the $468 they said was the maintenance fee for the resort.

The actual fees that year (2011) went up to $538. They never paid the resort and due to a sale at the resort they actually let me stay my week but billed me at the end of my stay. After 2 years of emails (which I have saved as evidence) I sent two letters certified with signature and advised them of my plans to sue as well as file complaints with everyone I can think of and their mothers. ƒº As a side note I got signatures on both at the PO BOX address as well as the Wagner Rd address(which isn¡¦t current office)

They said they would pay me the $468 and then a check never came and more excuses about holidays, accounting dept? (I am pretty sure they are all in same office after visiting) etc.

I told them I would come out there and I am sure they didn¡¦t believe me.

So I booked a flight to Atlanta (was cheaper) and then rented a car for $98 and drove about 4 hours up there. The first address (The Wagner Rd) was a false address; well I guess actually an old address. They share the building with an auction company and have some labeling on the windows but it was empty. I took pictures of this and put my investigative background to work.

I was able to trace them to a new address (3786 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 suite 102 ) next to a restaurant. I walked in and this is what a saw:

2 long tables set up with about 5 employees at each one. It looked like a telethon set up and all these young people (most in 20¡¦s) working phones, some on two lines at a time. Scam central in progress. There were two small offices within in this room as well. Someone finally acknowledged me and I asked for Hope. They directed me to an office and I observed two females in there. Hope asked what she could do for me.

I explained I was Rick from Seattle (wearing my Seahawks sweatshirt) and she looked both stunned and perplexed all at the same time. She said who? I said you know, Rick from Seattle the one that said I would come sue you. I¡¦m stopping here on my way to the courthouse. She was still played dumb saying she deals with a lot of people and will have to look. They directed me through a door (by a front desk with two other females) and into a fancy looking room. They do timeshare presentations at this location as well. I sat and waited. Amazingly she never asked how to spell my name, because as I already knew, she knew exactly who I was.

She walked out within 5 minutes with a check written out to me and some of my paperwork. Amazing. I informed them I wanted travel fees too as that¡¦s what I would be suing for as well, but they declined. I wanted to at least get something for now so I made off to the bank, where the check was promptly denied for insufficient funds. I returned to the office where I slapped the check on the front desk and explained it was bad. This time I did demand whoever she was talking to that she kept saying her boss. I had seen 2 young guys (cocky looking) walking around sipping on energy drinks earlier. One of those came out named Brad. He claimed Hope wrote the check from the ¡§wrong account¡¨. Yeah right I said. I want my money! He stated they transferred funds. One more trip to the bank and I had my $468 in cash. I¡¦m pretty sure these idiots thought I would go back to Seattle with that check.

As fyi, the two ladies at the front were sorting through hundreds of envelopes. Looks like a lot of financial stuff. My guess is even more people being ripped off. Next up? Well, I returned home but plan to return for a small claims suit. As a fyi the court buildings are right by the bank. I want to help others get their money back as well. I also plan to get a website up and running with a lot of the info I have shared plus gathering personnel info form all the employees so you know you are dealing with.

My guess is these punks work for someone much larger, but that is yet to be proven. I am on a mission now so let me know if I can help out at all! I would love to see a group of us meet up there to get funds and file court paperwork together, etc.

Great story. I wish I was there to watch.

rickf103 wrote:

So this story may take some time, but basically they stole the $468 they said was the maintenance fee for the resort.

The actual fees that year (2011) went up to $538. They never paid the resort and due to a sale at the resort they actually let me stay my week but billed me at the end of my stay.

I'm somewhat confused ..... I assume it was the resort that let you stay billing you for maintenance fees upon your departure. What was IA Vacation's part in this scenario? Had they told you that they had sold your week but you were still being billed for maintenance fees? Did you go to the resort to stay during your owned time or did you go to try to straighten out this mess concerning the supposed sell of your week?

Either way, kudos to you .... more people should do this .... scare the beegees out of crooks and scammers in person.

The attorney gen. is supposed to be of some help with fraud, However, French Quarter, believe owned by Spinnaker has been in bankruptcy for last 3 years. the AG, I believe is Chris Koster has been of ZERO assistance. I receive the bankrupty filing last week and I guess there is over 2 mllion dollars where owner filed their claim. Now someone "stole" the funds from all of these owners, and yet, Missouri AG has done NOTHING to help in assistance of these bankruptcy claims

Please contact me asap. I just wrote my final email to IA Vacations and have read your posts. bordenjohn at hotmail . com.

rickf103 wrote:

So this story may take some time, but basically they stole the $468 they said was the maintenance fee for the resort.

The actual fees that year (2011) went up to $538. They never paid the resort and due to a sale at the resort they actually let me stay my week but billed me at the end of my stay. After 2 years of emails (which I have saved as evidence) I sent two letters certified with signature and advised them of my plans to sue as well as file complaints with everyone I can think of and their mothers. ƒº As a side note I got signatures on both at the PO BOX address as well as the Wagner Rd address(which isn¡¦t current office)

They said they would pay me the $468 and then a check never came and more excuses about holidays, accounting dept? (I am pretty sure they are all in same office after visiting) etc.

I told them I would come out there and I am sure they didn¡¦t believe me.

So I booked a flight to Atlanta (was cheaper) and then rented a car for $98 and drove about 4 hours up there. The first address (The Wagner Rd) was a false address; well I guess actually an old address. They share the building with an auction company and have some labeling on the windows but it was empty. I took pictures of this and put my investigative background to work.

I was able to trace them to a new address (3786 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 suite 102 ) next to a restaurant. I walked in and this is what a saw:

2 long tables set up with about 5 employees at each one. It looked like a telethon set up and all these young people (most in 20¡¦s) working phones, some on two lines at a time. Scam central in progress. There were two small offices within in this room as well. Someone finally acknowledged me and I asked for Hope. They directed me to an office and I observed two females in there. Hope asked what she could do for me.

I explained I was Rick from Seattle (wearing my Seahawks sweatshirt) and she looked both stunned and perplexed all at the same time. She said who? I said you know, Rick from Seattle the one that said I would come sue you. I¡¦m stopping here on my way to the courthouse. She was still played dumb saying she deals with a lot of people and will have to look. They directed me through a door (by a front desk with two other females) and into a fancy looking room. They do timeshare presentations at this location as well. I sat and waited. Amazingly she never asked how to spell my name, because as I already knew, she knew exactly who I was.

She walked out within 5 minutes with a check written out to me and some of my paperwork. Amazing. I informed them I wanted travel fees too as that¡¦s what I would be suing for as well, but they declined. I wanted to at least get something for now so I made off to the bank, where the check was promptly denied for insufficient funds. I returned to the office where I slapped the check on the front desk and explained it was bad. This time I did demand whoever she was talking to that she kept saying her boss. I had seen 2 young guys (cocky looking) walking around sipping on energy drinks earlier. One of those came out named Brad. He claimed Hope wrote the check from the ¡§wrong account¡¨. Yeah right I said. I want my money! He stated they transferred funds. One more trip to the bank and I had my $468 in cash. I¡¦m pretty sure these idiots thought I would go back to Seattle with that check.

As fyi, the two ladies at the front were sorting through hundreds of envelopes. Looks like a lot of financial stuff. My guess is even more people being ripped off. Next up? Well, I returned home but plan to return for a small claims suit. As a fyi the court buildings are right by the bank. I want to help others get their money back as well. I also plan to get a website up and running with a lot of the info I have shared plus gathering personnel info form all the employees so you know you are dealing with.

My guess is these punks work for someone much larger, but that is yet to be proven. I am on a mission now so let me know if I can help out at all! I would love to see a group of us meet up there to get funds and file court paperwork together, etc.

rickf103 wrote:

So this story may take some time, but basically they stole the $468 they said was the maintenance fee for the resort.

The actual fees that year (2011) went up to $538. They never paid the resort and due to a sale at the resort they actually let me stay my week but billed me at the end of my stay. After 2 years of emails (which I have saved as evidence) I sent two letters certified with signature and advised them of my plans to sue as well as file complaints with everyone I can think of and their mothers. ƒº As a side note I got signatures on both at the PO BOX address as well as the Wagner Rd address(which isn¡¦t current office)

They said they would pay me the $468 and then a check never came and more excuses about holidays, accounting dept? (I am pretty sure they are all in same office after visiting) etc.

I told them I would come out there and I am sure they didn¡¦t believe me.

So I booked a flight to Atlanta (was cheaper) and then rented a car for $98 and drove about 4 hours up there. The first address (The Wagner Rd) was a false address; well I guess actually an old address. They share the building with an auction company and have some labeling on the windows but it was empty. I took pictures of this and put my investigative background to work.

I was able to trace them to a new address (3786 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 suite 102 ) next to a restaurant. I walked in and this is what a saw:

2 long tables set up with about 5 employees at each one. It looked like a telethon set up and all these young people (most in 20¡¦s) working phones, some on two lines at a time. Scam central in progress. There were two small offices within in this room as well. Someone finally acknowledged me and I asked for Hope. They directed me to an office and I observed two females in there. Hope asked what she could do for me.

I explained I was Rick from Seattle (wearing my Seahawks sweatshirt) and she looked both stunned and perplexed all at the same time. She said who? I said you know, Rick from Seattle the one that said I would come sue you. I¡¦m stopping here on my way to the courthouse. She was still played dumb saying she deals with a lot of people and will have to look. They directed me through a door (by a front desk with two other females) and into a fancy looking room. They do timeshare presentations at this location as well. I sat and waited. Amazingly she never asked how to spell my name, because as I already knew, she knew exactly who I was.

She walked out within 5 minutes with a check written out to me and some of my paperwork. Amazing. I informed them I wanted travel fees too as that¡¦s what I would be suing for as well, but they declined. I wanted to at least get something for now so I made off to the bank, where the check was promptly denied for insufficient funds. I returned to the office where I slapped the check on the front desk and explained it was bad. This time I did demand whoever she was talking to that she kept saying her boss. I had seen 2 young guys (cocky looking) walking around sipping on energy drinks earlier. One of those came out named Brad. He claimed Hope wrote the check from the ¡§wrong account¡¨. Yeah right I said. I want my money! He stated they transferred funds. One more trip to the bank and I had my $468 in cash. I¡¦m pretty sure these idiots thought I would go back to Seattle with that check.

As fyi, the two ladies at the front were sorting through hundreds of envelopes. Looks like a lot of financial stuff. My guess is even more people being ripped off. Next up? Well, I returned home but plan to return for a small claims suit. As a fyi the court buildings are right by the bank. I want to help others get their money back as well. I also plan to get a website up and running with a lot of the info I have shared plus gathering personnel info form all the employees so you know you are dealing with.

My guess is these punks work for someone much larger, but that is yet to be proven. I am on a mission now so let me know if I can help out at all! I would love to see a group of us meet up there to get funds and file court paperwork together, etc.

I too have just read your posts and would appreciate if you could get in touch. I have the same problem. Maintenance fees paid to them but not passed onto resort and loosing patience with them now as not giving me a refund. chrisahalliday at gmail dot com.

I cannot believe these people are still in business! A few years ago, I listed 2 timeshares for sale with IA Vacations. They sent me a contract which I signed and received a signed one in return. They talk a good game on the phone but not a word that comes out of their mouth is the truth. To make a very long story somewhat short, they sold the timeshares and never let me know, forging my signature on the deed. They owed me $22,000.00...did they think I was just going to walk away without a fight. And fight I did. I sent registered letters to every office of authority in the State of Tennessee. I actually tracked down the new owner of my timeshare and they were appalled to think they might not actually own the property due to fraud. No one from the Attorney General's office bothered to make a call. However, the local sheriff's office did and it was because of him that we were able to get our money. After going back and forth with IA, the sheriff sent one of his detectives to AI's office and he waited there until they wrote the check and put it in the mail. It took almost a year of haggling and threatening to get what was owed, but I did get it! Persistance is the key...never stop...keep after them until they pay. I actually had someone contact me because I posted my telephone number in case anyone wanted to call me. They were owed $6,000 and told me it was just too much trouble to collect it...didn't want to pay attorney fees, etc. You don't need an attorney...act on your own! This is what these bottom feeders count on...making it difficult enough for you to engage them in a fight and then you just plain give up. Don't give up...keep after them! Good Luck to all of you who continue to fight!

the_saving_traveler@hotmail.com you can email me.

I even purchased a domain and want to get a website up and running so we can share all about these guys and their methods. Just havent had time...between work, blogging, and family stuff....

Sadly i never been try to sold a timeshare but seem there is a lot of benefits on doing it.

I have also been scammed by IA Vacations and VP Title, both owned by Stacy Brian Gillispie of Sevierville, TN. I purchased a timeshare on eBay from redweek4less but they never proved that there was a property. I have demanded a full refund of over $6,500 and have been waiting as they provide a long list of lies and excuses. I can be contacted at mikebrazeal@sbcglobal.net.

File a complaint with the better business bureau and the Attorney Generals Office and the state that they are doing business out of or where they are licensed. Don't give up and be a thorn in their sides until you get results or shut them down.

I filed complaints too but that won't get your $ back.. you have to do what I did and just go collect from them in person.

I noticed there are two addresses almost alike. Their usual address is 3784 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN. But your address was 3786 Parkway, Ste. 102, Pigeon Forge, TN. Are you certain of your number? I see that that it is a large building. There is a deli next door. Also do you know if Hope's last name is Yoakum, Flynn or Gonzalez? All paperwork says Yoakum but on a recent BBB post she replied that her name was Gonzalez.

They use a large section of that building with multiple suites. So probably just trying to switch it up. Same location though. Yeah she was yoakum or whatever at the time. Real young gal, you can actually find her real home address with some research. I was gonna start sending notices to their houses I was so pissed. They are things and living off our money

Thieves

Hello,

I finally just got my 7,669 back from them and the check cleared after the second attempt by my bank. I had to get the Pigeon Forge police involved. Officer Scott Finney helped me. Great guy.

If I can be of any help let me know.

Just went through this with Logistical Services Group out of CA. They got 2,370.00 from me for maintenance fees and then they were to pay me for 6 weeks rental for marketing. Then they wanted 4,040.00 in taxes before I could get the money. Hell no!! because all the money was coming through Mexico. It is so horrible. I am sure my resort never received the maintenance fees and I have an email into them. They will just say they have nothing to do with this company and I am out the money. The whole presentation in 2013 in Costa Rica was a fraud and lie. I have my information being posted on insidethegate.com and travel advisors, pissed consumer. FBI and BBB is next. I will pay no more money to Bahia Turquesa in Playa de coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. They sold me a fraudulent annuity (this has to be against the law), were going to sell my weeks for 5 years and I would make all my money back. None of what they said for 2 hours was even in the contract. The guy said his name was Todd Richards, found a picture on insidethegate.com website and its Todd Dehn or Tod Dehn. So signature is a forgery or something. They sold it as a fractional ownership. It's just a travel club membership. I am such a putz.