genniferf wrote:We signed the contract on March 20 and according to the contract we have 5 days to send a letter. Not sure how to go about it. What type of letter? Any examples or recommendations are helpful. Thank you in advance.
The "letter" does not need to be long or complicated. Two sentences will suffice. It simply needs to state the following:
"I / We hereby rescind the purchase of {insert resort info and date of purchase here, with contract number, if one exists}, exercising our right under applicable state law. Please refund our deposit / purchase funds as soon as possible."
That's it. Period, amen. No reason is required and nothing else needs to be stated. You are exercising a legal right, not making a "request". This legal right is provided by state law (not by developer kindness). You don't need to provide a sob story or any further justification or explanation. Other important and directly relevant points follow below:
1. Everyone who signed the purchase contract as a buyer MUST also sign the rescission letter.
2. Provide a photocopy (keep all originals) of contract page(s) that specifically identifies your purchase (to facilitate processing at the recipient end). Make sure you send your letter to the correct address (which is NOT the resort location where you purchased, but a very different corporate address which should be very clearly identified somewhere within your contract / purchase materials).
3. Send your rescission letter by USPS certified mail and save the date stamped receipt issued to you at the counter. Do not make any phone calls and do not send any emails or faxes; all such communications are completely meaningless and worthless in a contract matter. Use USPS certified mail. You should also request a USPS "return receipt"; the additional cost for obtaining that (optional) return receipt with recipient signature is minor.
4. Under applicable Federal law, they have up to 45 days to refund 100% of your deposit or payment. However, it probably won't take anywhere near that long.
5. It does NOT matter one bit when they RECEIVE (or sign for) your cancellation. All that really matters is that the POSTMARK DATE on your rescission correspondence, as reflected on your USPS certified mail receipt, is within 5 days (that's 5 days in your particular case; the time frame allowed under state law differs among individual states).
6. Do NOT call to "follow up" and do NOT answer any incoming calls from the sales weasels. They only want to try to salvage the sale (and their commission). Once you send that rescission letter, you are DONE. In a contract matter, any verbal statements that are not also reflected in writing mean absolutely nothing anyhow, so don't even go there. Just sit back, be patient and wait for your contract cancellation to be processed and for your 100% refund to be issued.
7. If you got any "gifts" (like a tablet) or any "owner materials", send them back (separately, by the cheapest postal rate available --- NOT with your certified mail rescission letter). If they gave you a tablet and you fail to return it, they can (and they likely will) simply deduct the retail value of that item from your refund.
8. Don't delay --- do it NOW. This is your ONE AND ONLY opportunity to cancel this contract. Your rescission correspondence MUST be POSTMARKED within the applicable time period (which is established by applicable state law and is certainly not provided by developer benevolence). Make no mistake about this --- if you snooze, you WILL lose.
Later, If you really want to buy a timeshare, do so in the resale market. The exact same product is likely available for 90-99% LESS than the absurdly inflated cost of buying directly from a developer. If it's Westgate however, I would not even accept a Westgate timeshare for free, not even with a pile of cash also thrown in. A Westgate resale ownership is virtually worthless (due to the severe reservation constraints that Westgate imposes on its' resale timeshare owners).
P.S. Contract rescission (cancellation) periods are determined by individual state law. In Florida and Tennessee, the cancellation period is 10 days. In most states, the rescission period is 5--7 days. In a very few states (Massachusetts is one) it's only 3 days! In ANY state, if your cancellation correspondence is not postmarked within the applicable state law time period, you are simply out of luck and you are legally locked into the contract that you signed, like it or not. Tick Tock....
P.P.S. You're welcome.
