Timeshare Companies

Class Action Against Diamond Resorts?

Jun 03, 2019

irenep59 wrote:
This is complete nonsense.

Diamond's newer contracts over the last four years or so specifically state heirs are not liable. I have talked to a reviewer at the Florida AG timeshare division who said heirs are not liable.

Thanks for clarifying this. Sadly, this is a scare tactic that many of these exit companies use to scare owners into buying these "exit" services.


Lance C.
Jun 04, 2019

I booked a flight yesterday to San Diago,CA for $300.00 a ticket.Timeshare offered using 3300 points & I pay $430.00 a ticket .WHY IS IT ALWAYS CHEAPER NOT USING MY TIMESHARE.ITS WORTHLESS TO ME .


Brenda H.
Jun 04, 2019

I booked a flight yesterday to San Diago,CA for $300.00 a ticket.Timeshare offered using 3300 points & I pay $430.00 a ticket .WHY IS IT ALWAYS CHEAPER NOT USING MY TIMESHARE.ITS WORTHLESS TO ME .

susanb1439 wrote:
There are people working on a class action against DRI. Please contact me at sbharbison@gmail.com


Brenda H.
Jun 08, 2019

Hello,

I am reading all the class actions and lawsuits against Diamond Resorts and I would like to know If I can participate after they charged my credit cards without my authorization for a timeshare of a friend of mine that does not live in the USA.

irenep59 wrote:
According to a timeshare insider, Diamond currently has the highest loan loss provision of all major timeshare companies. The company is private, so earnings information is not public but they have recently been downgraded to CCC - one letter before D Default. They look like a house of cards. When they were public Roddy Boyd of SIRF said their foreclosure period is the longest. If it were shorter (Wyndham 60/90 days) rather than Diamond's 180 days, the foreclosure rate would be even higher. You can't keep up-selling until Platinum members are forced into insolvency as a viable marketing strategy. We have had 86 complaints from Diamond Platinum members of which 45 complaints concern maintenance fee relief programs that do not exist. People already paying $8600 a year in maintenance fees told buying more points would offer a program to be relieved of fees. 25% of the 86 are veterans, 65% seniors over 60. It's shameful. I have so had it. A recent complaint, they were told they could buy CLARITY points to pay maintenance fees at $.30 per point. CLARITY is Diamond's program promising RESPECT for the customer, clear, concise, accountable and transparent information. This program was in response to the AZ AG receiving over 900 complaints and issuing an Assurance of Discontinuance in 2017. Only Platinum members can pay MF at $.04 a point so $2000 towards an $8600 bill with no points to travel.

Diamond Resorts International Inc. Downgraded To ‘CCC+’ On Very High Anticipated Leverage, Outlook Negative

The negative outlook on Diamond reflects our expectation for minimal cash flow generation and very high leverage in 2019. The outlook also incorporates our belief that the company is vulnerable to possible future operating missteps or an unexpected downturn in the economy over the next two years, which may render its capital structure unsustainable despite our assessment of adequate liquidity.

https://www.ademcetinkaya.com/2019/04/diamond-resorts-international-inc.html?fbclid=IwAR0N7Sc0Dld_LFlK8F2sv0-t4gIzAr-yd5HngEyWb6JLnVcW_OA0hfvSPPU


Israel M. S.
Jun 11, 2019

Israel We have a team of volunteer members helping members. My name is Irene Parker and I am easy to find on our Diamond member sponsored Facebook page of over 3100 members. We are so effective I was deposed by Diamond's lawyers for six hours a few weeks about about a lawsuit I know nothing about. To their great disappointment they learned I am telling the truth when I say I am not compensated, and have never been compensated in my efforts to expose unfair and deceptive timeshare sales practices. Here's the link to the Facebook launched by an economics professor. Our volunteer team has answer questions for 739 Diamond members. To give credit where credit is due, Diamond has resolved many, many disputes. Also, an investigative journalist I've been working with is working on this very topic of unauthorized use of credit cards.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/


Irene P.
Jun 14, 2019

We were also lied to when we purchased. Purchased in Sedona AZ after having already purchased a sampler pkg. We were able to roll the sampler points into our purchased package. Was told once we were Silver or Platinum members that membership would stay the same no matter how many points we had once we reached it. Wrong, we were bumped back down to Club level once the points dropped down. We were also told that there would be 2 free airline tickets available that first year as owners, that never happened either. I tried over and over to contact salespeople and corporate and never could find where/how to redeem. Can never seem to get resorts that we want at the time we want to travel - and we like to travel during the off season. Recently wanted to book at a Gatlinburg resort and the Diamond Resort Website had no availability for the dates we wanted, but when I went to Interval Hotel Exchange the dates were available - very frustrating to say the least.


Traci M.
Jun 21, 2019

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I too are victims of Diamond Resort's deceptive sales tactics just at the beginning of this year. Many "perks" and "bonuses" that were promised to us turned out to be different from how they represented it at the sales presentation.

1. As an incentive "bonus" to make the purchase of their "starter package", we were offered 6 separate "Dream Vacation Weeks" which are vouchers that we were able to redeem for a free week of vacation anywhere affiliated with the DRI network. We later found that these "Dream Week" vouchers are actually NOT free and we have to actually pay hundreds in redemption fee to use them. Not to mention the sales rep also did not accurately explain the terms & conditions of these vouchers.

2. As part of the DRI benefit we were told we will also have membership with Interval International. We were told about "cash deals" on Interval International which often offer significant discounts even if you book just with cash rather than points. We were then shown a bunch of nice resorts in Mexico which had like super deals like $20+/day for seven days. We said, in front of the sales rep, "wow just these deals make this worthwhile." After arriving home and excited to look for our next trip we found that the price we were shown are of "all-inclusive resorts" which in the next page of booking, required an "ALL INCLUSIVE FEE" that were ridiculously expensive like $250/person/day. I contacted DRI and they just said "these fees were third-party and they had no control over them". If this is not bait-and-switch I don't know what is.

A few years ago, a friend of mine also became a victim of a Timeshare company in Los Angeles. What he did was he filed a class action lawsuit and found 80+ plaintiffs across the world who experienced the same thing. He WON the lawsuit and that Timeshare company refunded their purchase and compensated them all with a free trip to Hawaii.

We are looking to initiate a class action lawsuit in hopes of finding other victims who is willing to share their experience and would like to join us in this pursuit.

Feel free to join our Facebook Group called Diamond Resorts Timeshare Class Action (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2062156860753839/)


Wei D.

Last edited by weid9 on Jun 21, 2019 11:18 PM

Jun 21, 2019

Hi Irene,

I browsed through this thread and like others, I'm looking to pursue/join a class action suit against Diamond Resort. I see that you seem to be very involved and knowledgeable and was wondering if you can help point us in the right direction. We recently purchased a "starter package" in Maui at the beginning of this year (2019) and have been devastated by the lies that we keep uncovering as we dive deeper into the timeshare/membership that we purchased.

Thank you for your time and any assistance.

Wei


Wei D.
Jun 24, 2019

I would like to know if the class action is still open. I "won" a cruise and 4 day trip last year with diamond resorts from a baseball game. All I had to pay was $250 dollars. They informed me I qualified for it and could book my resort stay within 90 days then I would get my cruise after the timeshare sales pitch. But once I called to make my reservations for the resort, customer service informed me I was ineligible for everything I paid for and would be refunded my money back to my credit card after 7 to 14 business days. So i waited the time then called back wondering where my money was and after being on hold for an hour, switch around from person to person multiple times I finally reached an agent that told me the previous person did not put my refund in and again it would be 7 to 14 business days to come back on my card. So again I waited then called back with the same issues as before (being hung up on and transferred multiple times) then this agent informed me that she would send out a paper check and that would take 30 to 45 days! I never recieved my refund and gave up in frustration. Please help.


Sierra H.
Jun 27, 2019

Sierra Class actions are not really appropriate for fraud by inducement because, according to attorneys, all damages are not uniform like a medical device failure. You can have a class action for things like excessive maintenance fees, special assessments. Diamond has a class action ban in their contract forcing arbitration. Most timeshare attorneys feel arbitration is very pro-industry and if you lose the arbitrator can order you to pay Diamond arbitration fees, which can exceed the amount of the damage. The best advice I can offer is keep calling. On both class actions filed, the judge ruled in favor of arbitration.


Irene P.
Jul 08, 2019

I too was victim of fraudulent actions by Diamond resorts international. In our case we attended an update (right!) at the Polo towers! I stated clearly that I neither wanted more points nor could afford them as I refinanced my house to pay off the previous bill! The sales people told my Wife and I they have a program just for seniors on Budgets that uses the points from becoming Platinum to cover the maintenance fee's so the payments you make for platinum covers your maintance fees leaving you just the points usage of the Gold to use free and clear year after year when retired. He explained this was a common issue for many retiring or soon to retire and was designed for them. NO more Maintenance fee's! That would be perfect as the program was like paying up front the fee's before actually dealing with the retirement budget. Pure lies! In February of this year we get our Maintenance fee bill 8 thousand dollars plus!! I call to see what mistake had happened on their end as we were now on this new program. They show nothing! not a damned thing! They denied the sales people ever offered such a plan and now instead of a 5 grand yearly (still too high) we have 8 grand and 700.00 a month bill for upgrade plus paying our down payments on our credit cards for this seniors program. Nothing but lairs and thieves! If this doesn't get results , and likely wont I want all of you reading to enter their room and immediately start recording every word, of course tell them you are doing so.

irenep59 wrote:
Michael819 Please call me at 270-303-7572 any day of the week from 1 to 5:00 PM EST as I set those hours aside to hear from Diamond and now Bluegreen members. I am a volunteer so this is not any form of solicitation. This cell number is specifically for this purpose and is available on public domains already. DRI has responded to three cases against Rick Casper although the company never admits wrongdoing. One or two complaints are meaningless but a volume of complaints against one sales agent provides compelling and compounding evidence, despite the oral representation clause. DRI has made three Rick Casper victims whole again. We have eleven other Rick Casper complaints pending. The fact Mr. Casper still works for DRI tells me his behavior is endorsed and encouraged top down. All the complaints are from Platinum members up-sold because at the next level members could sell points, he would help them sell points, "people will be standing in line to buy your Legacy points" and when the member attempts to contact him to do the promised sell, the email is directed to VP Dan Percy who seems to be protecting him. This is why we could use a good volunteer with a background in fraud. FBI definition of White Collar Crime Financial Institution Fraud is "deceit, concealment, violation of trust, bait and switch." Members check all of the above. I have a slew of Polo Tower and Cancun complaints at lower loyalty levels as well.


Carl H.
Jul 09, 2019

Timeshare contracts always have a clause that says you cannot rely on anything told to you by the sales person. That’s a license to lie. It says this contract is the complete agreement within its four corners. After hours of being broken down by the sales force, nobody wants to thoroughly read a long and dense legal document.


Robert R.
Jul 09, 2019

My wife and I are too victims of the DRI sales person/Cole Harris in Williamsburg last year, who talked us into signing up for the sampler package by mis-presenting (or should I call it cheating) after hours of trapping us there, until very late at night, at the presentation site. We were given wrong information/rosy pictures only to find out now that it was a stupid thing to trust them and paid $4000 for 2000 points that we will have to travel together for every trip and will have to attend the presentation every time, within two years, not to mention the difficulty in booking due to availability. $4000 should give us much more freedom/flexibility/fun instead of the upset of being cheated. I read in the posts here about $25/day deals, which was sold to us too by the salesperson, and now I know it turned out to be a lot of other charges hidden there.......There really should be something that can/should be done by the government to punish this cheating practice of DRI so that no more people will fall victims again! Just spread the words so that more people can hear about it.


Dianyuan W.
Jul 09, 2019

Need to get out of my timeshare 🙈🙉🙊


Jose L.
Jul 10, 2019

josel216 wrote:
Need to get out of my timeshare 🙈🙉🙊

If it's with Diamond, check out its deed back program. There's no need to contact any exit company, law firm, or charity to help you do this.


Lance C.
Jul 11, 2019

Boy do I know about the "keep them in the room till they are worn down Of course lies help get things changing from NO to Maybe. Also has anybody here heard anything of Diamond letting go of the properties in California, Arizona and Nevada to A now separate division under just Diamond resorts and not Diamond resorts international? I was told this while in Hawaii at the Royal Lahaina resort in Maui. Their people told me of the class action suite against The U.S. collections and said Owners would soon find far less options as owners of D.R.I. They tried to offer some bogus crap to get us to join the Hawaii collections (more money needed again) It is time for some serious legal actions to shut down Diamond and all fraudulent time share companies and returning money back to those who have been ripped off year after year by them.


Carl H.
Jul 11, 2019

lancec13 wrote:
josel216 wrote:
Need to get out of my timeshare 🙈🙉🙊

If it's with Diamond, check out its deed back program. There's no need to contact any exit company, law firm, or charity to help you do this.

It has to be paid off, MF have to have been paid for the year. You can't have any active reservation for later in the year. You can't have contracted with a "get out of your timeshare" outfit. You have to pay$1000 per deed or contract and you are only eligible for a deed back if you bought from the developer not for any resale contract or deed.

So yes, they have a deed back program but it is one of the most expensive in the industry.


Tracey S.
Jul 15, 2019

Carl, I answer your questions:

Also has anybody here heard anything of Diamond letting go of the properties in California, Arizona and Nevada to A now separate division under just Diamond resorts and not Diamond resorts international?

My answer: Diamond resorts International changed their name to Diamond Resorts, probably after shutting down all their EU sales centers.

I was told this while in Hawaii at the Royal Lahaina resort in Maui. Their people told me of the class action suite against The U.S. collections and said Owners would soon find far less options as owners of D.R.I.

My answer: This is total BS. The judge ruled in favor of the class action ban a year ago, forcing arbitration, which every attorney I know feels is pro-industry and if you lose the member pays Diamond's arbitration fees.

They tried to offer some bogus crap to get us to join the Hawaii collections (more money needed again) It is time for some serious legal actions to shut down Diamond and all fraudulent time share companies and returning money back to those who have been ripped off year after year by them.

My answer: Please join our Facebook launched by an economics professor. There are over 3,300 members going through what you went through. Our group has answered questions for 779 Diamond members. https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/

You need to file a complaint with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. .


Irene P.
Jul 16, 2019

I previously owned two time shares: one with ILX in Sadona Arizona and one at San Dimous Riviera Beach Club. I turned both properties for time with Diamond Resort's. With both properties, I still owed money on the time share. I understand that but I didn't understand the amount I would have to pay on association fees. The amount turned out to be way more than either of my previous properties. I have been unable to pay those fees. I called and tried to explain my situation but they simply don't care. I now owe several thousand dollars and have taken to collections. Is there any way I can become part of a class action suit and get out of this mess?


Sylvia S.
Jul 27, 2019

Sylvia Diamond has a class action ban written into their contract, forcing arbitration. Arbitration is believed to be pro-industry by many, including the AG of Minnesota. This is our Diamond member-sponsored Facebook page launched by an economic professor. There are over 3,300 experiencing what you have experienced if you would like to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/


Irene P.

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