Buying, Renting, and Selling Timeshares

Holiday Property Management. Scam?

I was just contacted today by someone from Holiday Property Management. The rep said they are looking for timeshares in Mexico at the resort where mine is. She said they have a pharmaceutical company in Texas that wants to buy timeshares for corporate events, etc. She didn't ask for any money. Said there would be an 8% commission after the sale went through. Said the pharmaceutical company would contact me directly. All I gave her was my email address, because she said she would email me a proposal to look over. But, I haven't received anything yet. As the day has gone by I've gotten more and more suspicious. I guess I'm ok because I didn't sign anything or pay anything, but she did have information on my timeshare, so she could have personal information on me. I don't know if I should be leary or not...

Linda P.

lindap538 wrote:
She said they have a pharmaceutical company in Texas that wants to buy timeshares for corporate events, etc.

Companies, pharmaceutical or otherwise, do NOT buy timeshares (not for "corporate events" or for any other reason). Why would they? They can rent whatever accomodations (and meeting rooms) they might need, exactly when and where they need them, without ever BUYING timeshares and taking on the annual fees and the ownership obligations associated therewith. That's really just about all you need to know to realize that this contact cannot possibly be legitimate.

Last edited by ken1193 on Apr 27, 2011 04:44 PM

I was contacted yesterday. They sent me the info and are requesting bank account info. It's a no go.

Sue H.

I guess I'm lucky. I still haven't received any informaton from them. But, if they contact me again, I'll tell them I'm not interested.

Thanks for giving me the scoop on these people. They seem very legitimate when you speak with them. I'm glad I found this forum.

Linda P.

I too was contacted by a rep from Holiday Property Management today telling me the exact story about the pharmaceutical company. The offer they made me sounded too good to be true and as the day progressed I grew suspicious of this offer, which led me to research more on the company and I was directed to this site. They do seem to have a sense of urgency in getting the information out to us and asking for a signature and return to begin the process. I wasn't able to find much information online regarding HPM or Mr. Sinclair, but another guest on this forum stated that Mr. Sinclair had a history of fraud in relation to this type of scam. I own Playa del Sol Grand (now Belair Collection) and have been trying to sell it for the past 3 years at less than half the price I was offered by HPM, which is one of the reasons I got suspicious about their dealings. Why would they want to pay so much for a resort that I couldn't sell on my own at a much lower price?

Alberto D.

albertod7 wrote:
Why would they want to pay so much for a resort that I couldn't sell on my own at a much lower price?

Because all they want is your upfront fee then you're history to them .... that's how upfront fee resale scam companies operate.

R P.

I was contacted by HPM about a month ago. I was highly suspicious for all the same reasons. They said they wanted to buy my Playa Del Sol timeshare for $23,900. I thought, no way, but what will it hurt to play along as long as I make sure I don't send them any money or give them any bank info. So I received their proposal in my email and signed it and sent it back along with a copy of my Playa Del Sol contract. Heard nothing for 3-4 weeks. Then I got a call this afternoon from an escrow company called Reliance Escrow, a gentleman explained that he had set up an escrow account for me with $23,900 in it. He even gave me a tracking number for it! He said that they had done a title search on my Playa Del Sol timeshare and it showed that I owned it free and clear(which is BS, I stopped making payments when all this other stuff started happening). Anyway, I'm supposed to receive a resale contract in the mail from HPM, I'm supposed to sign it and then I will mail it back. The guy at the escrow company said that as soon as he receives that, he will call me and release the funds to me. Has anyone else gotten to this point with these con artists?

Tim D.

timd188 wrote:
I was contacted by HPM about a month ago. I was highly suspicious for all the same reasons. They said they wanted to buy my Playa Del Sol timeshare for $23,900. I thought, no way, but what will it hurt to play along as long as I make sure I don't send them any money or give them any bank info. So I received their proposal in my email and signed it and sent it back along with a copy of my Playa Del Sol contract. Heard nothing for 3-4 weeks. Then I got a call this afternoon from an escrow company called Reliance Escrow, a gentleman explained that he had set up an escrow account for me with $23,900 in it. He even gave me a tracking number for it! He said that they had done a title search on my Playa Del Sol timeshare and it showed that I owned it free and clear(which is BS, I stopped making payments when all this other stuff started happening). Anyway, I'm supposed to receive a resale contract in the mail from HPM, I'm supposed to sign it and then I will mail it back. The guy at the escrow company said that as soon as he receives that, he will call me and release the funds to me. Has anyone else gotten to this point with these con artists?

When they request that you sign the contract and send it back they will also demand a fee (they will say for closing or whatever), however since the timeshare isn't even paid for by you and they say they'll give you $23,900 for it, that should have raised a huge red flag to you. I know of no timeshare that's selling for $23,900 in this economy and timeshares that aren't paid off can't even be given away much less sold .... it's a scam, period.

R P.

Last edited by jayjay on May 04, 2011 08:18 AM

Yes; same story. Playa del Sol timeshare. Got called out of the blue by Holiday Property Management saying they represented a pharmaceutical co. I signed back a contract with the understanding that no up front money was required. Then they asked me to wire them a fee of 8% to be refunded at closing, which I foolishly did. Then they said I needed to send an additional 16%, which sent red flags up. I tried to Google map addresses for both Reliance Escrow and HPM, but neither business is listed at the address they provide. I left a message with Montgomery TX police hoping they will investigate while the deal is still alive.

Georgia W.

Please post the response once they contact you. They offered us a similar deal but we halted when they asked for money up front. Did they tell you they were looking for about 50 units? Has anyone contacted playa de sole and asked them if they has transferred leasing rights to a company lately?

I'm calling them tomorrow to get more info from playa de sole. I'm iffy about it. He actually called us back and offered us an extra $1000 cause we had a bonus week available. Again please post any responses l you get back from these people so we all know what we are dealing with.

Matty D.

mattyd2 wrote:
Again please post any responses l you get back from these people so we all know what we are dealing with.

You are dealing with scam artists - plain and simple!

Lance C.

lancec13 wrote:
You are dealing with scam artists - plain and simple!

Well said and truthfully stated.

Far too often, people just want to "believe", even against all logic and common sense. It's always much easier to "believe" than to do the hard work often required to sell a timeshare. It has been said that "a fool and his money are soon parted". Unfortunately, this old axiom gets proven true day after day, time and time again...

FYI this is what I know. The reliance escrow service does not exist at that address. I called the panther shopping center, they have no listing of this business and have been notified. Also I looked up the web address info.. They are running the escrow service and HPM off the same IP address. SAME COMPANY. They are bought their domain names from go daddy and placed the " privacy info" on them. Of course no corporations or none sole priority do this. Best buy has best buy head quarters listed ..... I love the Internet. Just for giggles I'm going to verify the HPM address is fake. But here's the question ... Who do we report them too?

Matty D.

Wow they have the same address imagine that!! http://www.tecolote.com/OfficeLocation/Dayton.html

This is the address HPM has listed

Matty D.

mattyd2 wrote:
FYI this is what I know. The reliance escrow service does not exist at that address. I called the panther shopping center, they have no listing of this business and have been notified. Also I looked up the web address info.. They are running the escrow service and HPM off the same IP address. SAME COMPANY. They are bought their domain names from go daddy and placed the " privacy info" on them. Of course no corporations or none sole priority do this. Best buy has best buy head quarters listed ..... I love the Internet. Just for giggles I'm going to verify the HPM address is fake. But here's the question ... Who do we report them too?

You report them to the Attorney General in the state the scammers are located.

R P.

I was contacted by HPM out of Columbus, OH about 3 weeks ago with an offer to buy my unit at Rancho Banderas for $23,900. They were working with Reliance Escrow Services out of Houston. Reliance has sent me documents signed by an agent and officer of the company showing that they are holding funds in escrow already paid by the buyer - a pharmecutical company. I was asked to wire 10% fee to a bank in Mexico to cover the transfer, but that the buyer had already deposited same amount in escrow to pay me back. Of course, in the beginning I was thinking this was too good to be true, but both HPM and Reliance have legitimate looking sites on the internet and I couldn't find any complaints about them. So, I wired them the money. Today I got a call back from both HPM and Reliance and they are saying I now have to wire them 19% Mexican government tax. Again, they sent me official looking signed documenation.

So I get the impression everyone else thinks this is a scam. I'm going to call Rancho Banderas to find out if they know anything.

Any idea if I have any way of getting my $2390 back? Do I need to report this to the authorities in Texas and Ohio?

Colin E.

georgiaw17 wrote:
Yes; same story. Playa del Sol timeshare. Got called out of the blue by Holiday Property Management saying they represented a pharmaceutical co. I signed back a contract with the understanding that no up front money was required. Then they asked me to wire them a fee of 8% to be refunded at closing, which I foolishly did. Then they said I needed to send an additional 16%, which sent red flags up. I tried to Google map addresses for both Reliance Escrow and HPM, but neither business is listed at the address they provide. I left a message with Montgomery TX police hoping they will investigate while the deal is still alive.

Fellow fool here. Last week I sent them $2430 and yesterday they called back asking for $4400 more. I had previously searched for complaints about them on Google, but found nothing. Yesterday I found this website / forum. Wish I had found it a week ago.

I checked with the Texas AG website and they recommend starting with your local DA, which I plan to do this morning. Reply back here and let me know if you get anywhere with legal action of your own. I will do the same.

Colin E.

We were also contacted recently by Holiday Property Management regarding selling our Playa Del Sol timeshare in Mexico. It sounded too good to be true.

Michelle K.

Last edited by michellek295 on May 19, 2011 08:07 AM

Was wondering if anyone followed up on this and had anyway of getting funds back?

Cindy G.

Dod you have any luck with the TX police?

Cindy G.