Board of Directors

As I mentioned in my earlier post about an hour ago, I am in Poipu and appreciate that someone took the time and effort to distribute the flyers.

I just received a phone call from "The Regional Director of Security" for Diamond asking if I had done the distribution. Apparently we have their attention and they are not happy about it. He pointed out that mine was the only name in the flyer that is also currently on property. I simply told him that I support he effort, but had not participated in the distribution.

He pointed out that distribution of flyers is in violation of some CCR rule on the property. I guess that I wouldn't want every pizza joint in town to be doing it.

I am making an effort to meet people face-to=face at the pool and other meeting points. It is amazing how many people are weeks owners and have never bothered to vote in the elections.

We really need to get the "silent majority" speaking. I would sure help to have a master list.

Haven't heard anymore from you. What happened while you were talking to other at the pool about diamond resorts?

Here we are again; another vote and fifteen people vying for two spots. There are seventeen if you wish to count the two professed Diamond shills. Other than Robert, who do I support?

You can find other suggestions at

http://poipuowners.org/

Another endless game of nonsense huh???

Thanks, I'll register next week. How did I miss this. Keep up the good work!!!

Dear Poipu Point Owner, The annual meeting of the owners is scheduled for January 18th. If you are not able to attend in person, it is important that you assign your proxy to Joe M Williams. A vote not cast is another vote for Diamond to continue their ongoing management activities.

If you want the quality of our resort to continue to decline at the same time our maintenance fees go up then just don't vote.

If you want to see the resort managed for the benefit of us, the owners, then vote for me and please alloocate your proxy to Joe.

You can do this either online or by mail, but please vote.

Thank you, Bob Halem

Dear CDOPP member,

We want to wish you a very healthy and happy New Year along with the hopes of regaining control of our resort at Poipu this year. We have made some progress since the last newsletter and will keep you informed of the events.

Our president Rich Batchelder and his wife Connie were in Hawaii recently and visited the office of attorney Patrick Kelley. He is the legal councel assigned to our case by the attorney general's office in Honolulu, RICCO. They had an interesting meeting and Rich clarified many of the issues we are having with DRI. They have had many complaints from owners of several timeshare developments on the islands and are concerned that the malcontent could lead to lower tourist travel. This is a very real concern due to the huge revenue they depend on from the tourists. Rich explained how escalating and out of control annual dues are often not paid, resulting in foreclosures and more take-over and control by the management companies. Proper designation should be "mismanagement". We hope they will become pro-active and help us. Please write a letter informing them that you are part of a group of 500 owners and expect them to take action in our behalf. Write to Regulated Industries Complaints Office State of Hawaii Dept. of Commerce and Consumer Affairs 235 So. Beretania St. 9th floor Honolulu, HI 96813 Attention : Mr. Patrick Kelley, Esq. phone 808 586 2660

Send your proxy vote immediately to Joe Williams he lives on Kauai and will hand deliver them to the board at the meeting on Jan. 18. Simply fill in the box at the top of your ballot that says "I THE UNDERSIGNED DO HEREBY CONSTITUTE AND APPOINT fill in Joe Williams Be sure to sign where it says SIGNATURE OF MEMBER fill in DATE fill in SIGNATURE OF JOINT OWNER( your spouse) fill in DATE Return to Joe Williams 2321 Kanio St. Lihue, HI 96766 He will fill in our candidate of choice, have the ballots certified by an attorney and turn them in at the meeting to DRI.

Please let us know when you plan to vacation at Poipu so we can forward information to you that you can pass on and help our membership grow.

We are in the process of coordinating our activities with the timeshare owners at Kanapali, Maui which is also mismanaged by DRI. Many owners are very concerned about the direction (misdirection) their vacation investment is going and plan to do something about it. A concerted effort on all parts would benefit us all.

We have also been in contact with the owner's group at the timeshare Polo Club in Las Vegas, also mismanaged by DRI. They are making progress with their complaints and we are learning from them. BEST WISHES FOR A GOOD YEAR

Cordially, Myra Orta, secty CDOPP poipuowners.org

Sorry to join the party so late. Didn't realize that the disgruntled owners were this organized. I just received an email from Diamond with the results of the 2011 VOA and AAO meetings. I can't paste the results here, but to summarize, out of 5313 (VOA) and 5270 (AAO) votes cast, Kathy Wheeler, I believe she is an officer of Diamond, received 65% of the votes in each case. No other individual received more than 15%. This is an inconceivable statistical result given the rancor that has existed over the past several years towards Diamond and its management of the property. I have asked some follow up questions that I will pass on should I receive an answer. If there is a mailing list of those participating, add us to it and I will forward Diamond's email(s).

Joseph Balac, Esq.

Welcome to the club - The results are no surprise to me. You need to remember that DRI casts one vote for every timeshare the DRI owns plus one vote for every owner who has bought DRI points. When I pressed the issue, DRI sales people told me that owners forfeit their right to vote for each week they place in the DRI point system. Together these two sources provide DRI a huge block of voting rights. To add insult to injury, DRI refuses to provide us owners a copy of the Point at Poipu owners list. When owners have tried to assemble, uninvited DRI management personnel have used intimidation with cameras rolling. I know I've been there. Simply stated, it is an unfair voting system and realistically impossible to challenge DRI under the current conditions.

Aside from voting, read article 19 of the POA attached to your fee simple contract. It says the management company (DRI) may have ONE position on the Board, not two or three or more as they now have. I interpret the POA and DRI's response to it as a flagrant violation by DRI of all owners' contract agreements. State of Hawaii, Regulated Industries Complaints Office refused my request to take action, stating that this is a civil matter. Maybe the State Real Estate Board should be contacted for potential misrepresention of the product DRI is selling unspecting buyers. Unfortunately, I'm not a candidate, since I didn't buy my timeshare from DRI.

I was a candidate and didn't buy my unit from DRI. It doesn't matter how you acquired it, if you own it you can run and vote. Since DRI is willing to violate both the Association rules and Hawaii State Law, without consequences, there is little we can do. Only by gathering enough upset owners who are willing to contribute enough to hire an outside attorney will anything happen. Instead, DRI picks up more units, gets more votes and gains stronger control. I'm sure they would tell you that the "developer" (DRI) gets the one seat. Their other seats are due to their ownership of voting units that have been deeded to their "Trust"

robertm816 wrote:

Aside from voting, read article 19 of the POA attached to your fee simple contract. It says the management company (DRI) may have ONE position on the Board, not two or three or more as they now have. I

Does your fee simple contract say that they can have ONE position or does it say they can APPOINT one position to the board? At KBC our rules read "appoint" and that's how they are able to appoint one and then elect 2 because they hold the majority of votes due to the "trust" and those that do not vote.

Can you confirm the exact wording on the fee simple contract?

For Point at Poipu, it reads the same as you indicate at KBC. Our Special Power of Attorney states under Aticle 19. Other Rights "Poipu also has the right to use the 53rd week (if and when this occurs) and to appoint one director to the Board as long as Poipu continues to own and Ownership Interest in the Program." My argument is that the voting system as administered by DRI has been rigged, since they began putting their own candidates (employees and family members) on the election ballots. The voting system is meaningless for all the other owners, like you and I. It should be obvious to any reasonable person that DRI is not following the intent of the original document as written. My objection is that once DRI has a seat on the Board, they have no right to place more candidates on the ballot who are representing the interests of DRI in conflict with the interests of all other owners. It doesn't mattter whether or not their new candidates (employees) are voted into office. DRi's actions are to me is a very serious and blatant violation of the intent of the agreement I signed.

Agreed! It wasn't the intent.

The only way to fight it is to bring legal action on a private basis. The State of Hawaii has pretty much said they won't do anything even though DRI is clearly violating state laws.

That means either an attorney who thinks there is some money from DRI at the end, raising enough group money to fund an attorney, or finding one, perhaps an owner, who will take them on.

josephb314 wrote:

Kathy Wheeler, I believe she is an officer of Diamond, received 65% of the votes in each case.

Can anyone confirm whether or not Kathy Wheeler is an employee with Diamond? I see her on another Board in Arizona and I believe she is on the Board of the U.S. Collection also.

Is she an employee and does anyone know what her title is at Diamond?

How is everyone handling the new assessment from Diamond on Poipu point. Mine is 1880.28 for 5yrs on top of maintenance dues. Moliver deeded owner

The assessment fees are outragous!!! Ours went up by $3200 for the point at poipu. We also have points in the Calif. collection. In total Diamond is charging us $7000.00 yearly in fees. Everything is paid up and with each year doubling the fees makes it just plain stupid to continue throwing money to the greedy corporation. We will just have to walk away and take the chances of hurting our outsanding credit rating. My husband and I are in our mid- 50's and would like to join in on a class action lawsuit. Please email so we might discuss possibilities Lauriebuen@comcast.net deeded owner too!

Laurieb, I would be interested in a lawsuit against Diamond. Im sure others will not stand for this assessment since we are paying probably the highest maintenance fees for this type of timeshare. We have been paying Diamond for maintenance of Bldgs. that haven't been done. Now were talking millions to repair these same Bldgs.?? I am also conteplating just walking away and taking any consequences that might arrive. I have 2 weeks scheduled for April that I wont use now even though my fees are paid thru 2012. I also have airfare and auto rental that are prepaid. It isnt worth giving Diamond another 1800.00. Did you get notice of this assessment?

Yes, I received it yesterday Oct.5th. I have spent most of the day making calls and researching ways to walk away. Tomorrow, I will call Diamond Resort Intern'l Corp. ask for the Loss Mitigations Dept, file a Mutual Release & Termination of Vacation Ownership Agreement, pay transfee fee $250 per contract which we own 2. Hopefully, based on the research I have done this will be the way we can cut our losses. If Diamond does not comply we will have to hirer an Attorney at $300 hr. but it beats paying $7000 in maintance fees for 2012 which will continue for the next 5 years. Thank you for responding.