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Class Action Against Diamond Resorts?
Yes, this also recently happened to me on account of a website and using Redweek also. They seized my points.
As for claims that Diamond do not represent their UDI points as real estate, they certainly did in Florida. In fact, that was their big selling point to me. It's real estate and cannot be taken away from me.
Furthermore, DRI also only ever gave me a disc copy of the Rules and Regulations, and I believe that Westgate may have lost their case on account of this.
There is much in Diamond's paperwork that have no legal basis, for the law would overrule it. I am not confident a class action would work, but I am looking to sue Diamond personally. I have some papers that show that the sales rep were calculating figures and was clearly on the basis of rentals. This was 2007 in Scottsdale. I'm not 100% that Diamond had any prohibition on rentals back then, but I'll know more when I pull my contracts out of archives when I am next back in Canada.
In any case, Diamond are worthless liars and thieves. They will get what is coming to them at some point. I just replaced my whole 130,000 points I lost to Diamond by buying back equivalent DEEDS. As Diamond have the habit of seriously ripping off by charging as much as 6 times retail for what one could pay cash for, I also will save myself heaps over the next decade.
As they seized my accounts involuntary, I can also use tax laws on this in my favour. Needless to say, DRI is not registered to do business in my country, have no tax registration in most of the countries that they operate, and I believe that this is where Diamond can be attacked. They may be legal in their own jurisdiction, but in my jurisdiction, they are powerless and illegally conducting business and making superpowers from real property.
In fact, as I take off on a World Tour in the next fortnight, I now am 're-routing some parts of my trip to visit the consumer regulator and tax authorities of many places that Diamond conduct business...but pretend to be invisible and to not do business in jurisdictions that they are not registered to do business in. I am interested to hear how each regulator views Diamond's activities. I will compile a large amount of International Regulators against them, and will share it all here.
Justin S.
I guess that what I am saying is, that whilst many of the big players have taken the time to do all their business registrations, Diamond Resorts has not. Do a bit of research, but this is what I plan to do more of in the next 12 months and more. They are not registered for tax or to even conduct business in many of their countries. In some of these countries, the Double Tax Agreements as well as the Consumer Legislation is quite clear, that despite their US centre of operations (and Diamond have plenty of offshore companies too), they actually are in breach of many local laws where they advertise the supply of accommodation. The New OECD tax laws should also be interested in DRI's country by country reporting, if they are subject to that. DRI does lots of business in OECD countries. And with international consumer efforts today, I think.that the US regulators may need to near a bit of pressure here...if they are being lobbied by the ARDA to turn a blind eye to the abuses of DRI, then one would ordinarily have to question...why?
Justin S.
Justin The answer is because money talks. Please join the DRI Facebook page below. It consists of close to 7000 Diamond members who are looking into deceptive business practices and aggressive sales and marketing practices due to the oral representation clause protecting developers and sales agents. They are not just a complaint site. Members do share information about their vacation experiences and share great stories about outrageous sales presentations and solicitation calls.
Intrawest owners that have been acquired by Diamond have their own Facebook page. Many of their members are from Canada. They had 100 members and now have 2,198! One member has an MBA and a PhD in finance.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/clubintrawestowners/
There is a class action being looked into, but the information is not public. Complaints should be filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB is investigating Westgate (search BuzzFeed Westgate investigation) and Diamond is frequently mentioned as being on their radar.
The DRI Facebook administrator asked me to write a document explaining how to file complaints with government agencies in America. I condensed the information from timeshare attorney Mike Finn of Finn Law Group's "Survey of Agencies". You can find the document I wrote on this Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/diamondresortsmembers/
Thank you for your efforts. I have been investigating Diamond for about 18 months. You can find my articles about Diamond on Inside Timeshare published in Spain and at Irene Parker The Street. I seek information from a group of 25 individuals. Eight are lawyers, including the Canarian Legal Alliance I met with in September. CLA has 2000 timeshare cases and 100 are against Diamond. Mike Finn has 500 timeshare cases with 20 to 25% against Diamond. To seek help from Canadian authorities there is a CARDA Canada's ARDA. The NTOA National Timeshare Owners Association is the only lobby type organization on the side of timeshare owners. They interact with ARDA and CARDA.
Irene P.
Thanks. I am not Canadian, but Australian. My family are Canadians, but I am the owner. Timeshare here is regulated under the Managed Investments Act as well as the Australian Consumer Law and the Australian Finacial Services regime. One usually requires a license, but there are some exemptions given. But ASIC also run the corporate regime that requires foreign businesses to register. DRI has no registration in Australia, and yet, they meet the definition of 'doing business' in Australia according to the ACL. Now, whilst Google, Apple and others may have some defense in their technical products crossing borders, Diamond are dealing with 'real property, having association (ie being located) in Australia. They will most likely argue that they are only settling contracts ie purchasing, but the reality is that they are actually transacting and making profits from real property (ie including hotels and hotel accommodation) in Australia. I plan to investigate the rules in many other jurisdictions, and I already have the airfares and accommodations booked to do this over the next 12-15 months. I will join your Facebook page now. Thanks.
Justin S.
Justin, please contact me at dillanman10@gmail.com. There are laws against what Diamond is trying to do. I am not a lawyer, but have hired one and will take legal action shortly.
justin184 wrote:I've written my letter to them this morning, asking them how they can force a cease and desist from advertising upon me when it was their sales representatives that enticed me along that route, and then used it as part of their sales pitch again in 3 yrs time. If Diamond have decided that they now have a strict 'no rental' policy on their points, it certainly wasn't there in the sales table when I bought. I'm now waiting to see how they respond. In any case, they have taken all value out of these timeshares anyway. All it appears to me is that they want to now function like a bank. When the regulators and govt came up with the bailout, that was just the start of this. If you look at how Diamond now conducts its business, and how it accounts, and how it does everything, it is behaving like a financial company. The failure to prosecute the banks led to an open door policy, and a lot more people are going to get hurt by this now.
Steve M.
Last edited by smonks on Nov 17, 2016 06:40 PM
Nancy You will find conflicting messages on this topic. Diamond has a voluntary surrender policy but surrenders are not guaranteed. You should contact Diamond customer service to start the process to see if they will take back your points. The older you are the better. If you have a loan, I feel you need an attorney. You can always just stop paying but Diamond employs 90 full time collectors making 100,000 collection calls per week via a dealer (KROLL Bond Report). Many of us have high credit scores and can't stomach the harassment from collectors. I have intervened on behalf of two families who were ignored. I had help from an attorney who did not charge me or the client anything for his advice. Both families were released and the attorney waived the fee for the 83 year old owner. She was on social security and could not even afford to make the payment annually. Join the Facebook page below of 7000 Diamond owners. It is not a Diamond sponsored FB and not censored like the Diamond Facebook page. You can message me from the Facebook page if you want to rehearse your request before you contact Diamond. Diamond is the only major timeshare without a secondary market that would allow you to sell your points or week. Here's the Facebook page and there are several members who have messaged me from that page. I'm an owner. I do this as a volunteer. There is no charge. Just sick of it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/diamondresortsmembers/
Irene P.
Last edited by irenep59 on Dec 08, 2016 08:00 AM
Nancy, best not to publish your personal email address on a public forum. You may be contacted by persons or organizations that only want you to pay them some fee. The Timeshare Users Group forum (www.tug2.net) has a number of threads on getting rid of timeshares. At the moment, Diamond is taking back timeshare contracts for free. The proviso is that the timeshare must be paid in full (no mortgage) and the maintenance fees must be current. There is no charge to ask questions on the Tug forums, and a minimal charge ($15) to join. Well worth your effort.
John I.
This is to andreah255, I am having the same problem!!!! Signed up last year Jan. and have been trying my hardest to get out of it, but it seems like they swindled me into a no win situation. In late April I was invited to a weekend away by them, and upgrade my points was told one thing and it turned out to be another. So, as the contracted stated I could request a cancellation within a certain number of days which I complied with only to be told that that only cancels the upgrade request and my contract goes back to the original purchase."buyers remorse" they called it. Now please note that I asked I asked about the old contract and the new one and was told this was the only one that would exist with a new account # and all. Double talk tell them what they want to hear to make the sale. hat's their game and all they want after they have hooked you is your money or else. I am a lamb lead to the slaughter for sure. I am in if and when there is a class action suit, and my this Redweek site there are plenty more just like us. Thanks, Brenda Gibbs....Connecticut
Brenda G.
Hello DRI owners, My account has been suspended too, all my reservations was cancelled which I booked using points and cash, without any reimbursement for any of monetary losses. I have the platinum level of ownership with 140,000 points,. My points balance was confiscated. DRI accused me of advertising on AirBnB, I never had membership with AirBnB and never used the site. I contacted DRI legal department more than 8 times and never received a response...
If any of owners in the same situation and hoping to get any cooperation from DRI legal department, you are dreaming!!! DRI has absolutely no interest in negotiating with any of us. The sole interest is to confiscate as much property value as they possibly can, because they are selling inventory on public rental sites. The new development, DRI planning to raise capital by selling the "Junk Bonds", this is an indication of financial distress.
DRI going after largest accounts, they are destroying the financials and referral base. More litigation case will be filed shortly.... This type of actions usually taking by corporations in desperate finical circumstances.
I am paying mortgage and DRI demanding maintenance fees for 2017 on property I can't use.
I started the Litigation Process and working with Consumer Protection Law Firm.
I filed complaints with request for investigation with Attorney Generals for states of AZ, CA, NV & HI.
I filed complaints with request for investigation with Bureau or Real Estate for states of AZ, CA, NV & HI.
I filed complaints with request for investigation with Consumer Protection Financial Organization.
I filed complaints and request for investigation with Federal Trade Commotion.
I filed complaint with BBB for state of NV, but they did not help...
The timeshare was sold to us as Real Estate Investment with "Price per Point value vs. recently DRI start claiming: "We purchased a Vacation Experience With NO Real Value"!
If owners would like to have any protection against abuse by DRI you have to take actions and file complaints with governing authorities in your or location of your property jurisdiction.
You are welcome to contact me.
Julia M.
Last edited by juliam181 on Dec 11, 2016 09:07 PM
Hi,
I purchased Monarch Resorts in 2001, and paid off the timeshare in 2006 - $17,000. In 2013, I was contacted by Diamond Resorts stating that Monarch filed bankruptcy and the assets were purchased by Diamond Resorts. And in order to maintain the same level of ownership it would cost an additional $12,000. The maintenance fee doubled. In addition to doubling the maintenance fee, the entire 2014 fee was due upfront in order to utilize any of the resorts. I signed documents to maintain the resort in Palm Springs, I thought. I received notices for the $12,000. I informed DRI that I was unable to pay the additional fees, and wanted to surrender my ownership. I has no other communications from DRI. In September, I attempted to purchase a 2nd home, DRI had placed a charge off on my credit. I hired an attorney to attempt to settle the $12,000 debt. DRI has not responded as of today's date - December 12, 2016.
pottert@sbcglobal.net
Tina G.