Diamond Resorts, fraudulent billing, inaccurate record keeping

Diamond Resorts is the new manager of a timeshare I purchased with my wife about 10 years ago from ILX. My wife and I divorced in 2005. I provided ILX with a copy of the divorce decree and the quit claim deed awarding the property to my ex wife in 2005. ILX went bankrupt last September, and now Diamond Resorts, through the Premiere Vacation Collection Owners Association has sent me a bill for $709.55 for a 2011 assessment, with late fees added. I have not been an owner of this property for six years. David C and Angela at Diamond Resorts say I must dig through my divorce records and pay for a new copy of the quit claim deed and mail it to them, because somehow the record got lost since ILX received it six years ago. I wasted half an hour on the phone with these guys who think it is OK to bill someone and require someone to do work when the incorrect bill and work required is due to Diamond Resort's and Premiere Vacation Collection Owners Association's poor record keeping and poor management. Do not do business with either of these companies!

Even though the ownership is in your wife's name and somehow the proof was lost by the previous management company, I would copy the quit claim deed and send it as proof that you no longer own.

Also, if it's a week of ownership, the county where the resort is located should have records to prove that the week is in your wife's name.

However, I'm mystified that they have not bothered you for 6 years concerning the fees when the deed was evidently in your wife's name ..... you really do need to do some digging.

Just who were they billing for fees during that 6 year period?

Dear Thomasw280,

Thank you for your message. We (Diamond Resorts International) certainly meant not to cause you any frustration. The records forwarded to us from ILX contain a great deal of history and with that volumes of dated information. Much of it is hard copy not computer transferable.

We are a company that in fact prides itself on how we treat our customers. We look forward to showing you this now and in the future.

Please email me at; patrick.duffy@diamondresorts.com and send your contact information. We will work through this and assist you in sorting this out.

Cordially,

Patrick Duffy Chief Experience Officer Diamond Resorts International

A bit of free (and admittedly unsolicited) legal advice....

You might want to be more careful about casually throwing around the word "fraudulent". Fraud is a criminal act which involves knowing, willful, and deliberate deceit. A single, one time billing recipient error resulting from apparently sloppy record keeping hardly qualifies as being "fraudulent". In other words, "mistaken" is hugely different from "fraudulent".

You might want to at least CONSIDER the potential consequences of a big company (perhaps one with an idle legal team, sitting around on retainer) feeling libeled or slandered by the casual (and entirely inappropriate) use of the word "fraudulent" in regard to their business practices.

Just a thought, to consider or ignore as you may see fit...

One needs to think of the pain and suffering this company is causing, because of poor management this company over sold the amount of units it had to offer, Members had to book 18 months to two years advance and still never got to go on holiday, There are now thousands of members in the UK being threaten with court action, the fees have shot to a massive $2000 per year.

One representative of the company (Elizabeth Brennan) gave me her cell No and said to call any time 24/ 7. If you have problems i suggest you call her to vent your frustrations 702 539 4881

A national Newspaper in the UK investigating this company THE DAILY MIRROR i suggest you take a look. The woman i talked to on the phone number made it it clear to me they would not tolerate me making a TV documentary about the company WHY i wander. this i suspect there must had had bad management and now making members pay

IN Canada there is a Law, members of any travel club or time share can only sign on a year by year membership contract . this then helps keep companies like this in check if you are unhappy in the treatment contact every one from the press to your state Governor and get the same law put in place. O one last thing all these membership fees are covered by insurance so they will get paid in the end no matter what

Wow, I hate to hear all the bad stories about Diamond Resorts and their programs. In my humble opinion, they are converting the deeded owners into the points system and putting their deed into the trust where they control the votes. It gets ugly and its only going to get uglier. Expect those MF's to go up until you are priced out. Think about it, you pay the big bucks and they use some of that money to make the resort nicer and then when you can afford the MF's anymore, they sell it to the next person. The Hawaii resort owners are going crazy right now with all the assessments that they just found out about. $65 million dollar repair bill to be spread amongst the deeded owners and the Hawaiian Collection owners..... www.poipuowners.org and look up Point at Poipu Angry Owners on FaceBook

I was also an ILX member. When DRI took over and raised my maintenance fees by a large amount they also wanted me to join their new little exchange club for another $135 a year. I opted out and sent them the letter to that effect as requested. I found they still wanted the money. I tried again and thought it was fixed, but no! The third time they finally fixed it. What a hassle over such a simple thing. I do not like this company.

Today I received another threat.. Diamond Resorts International owner Stephen CLOOBECK.. lost TWICE now in the court in Philipsburg St Maarten. He does not like that so its attack... Jules James worked with Cloobeck... My two weeks I bought in 2009 from a previous owner... NEVER a contract issued... but they NEVER send maintenance fees letters. They still don't know my name nor my address and Elizabeth Brennan claims 'inadvertent errors' I went to check into my unit week 17 7132 at Flamingo Beach Resort I was refused check in by William PEMBERTON on orders of JOHN BETROS... They had all my money... They refused unless I paid them all the FEES they had added onto the two weeks I have never received contracts for. Their mathematics also was wrong... but BETROS ordered Pemberton not to check me in with my two children.. I went to the unit... a couple from EMGLAND THOMAS COOK were in there. DIAMOND RESORTS INTERNATIONAL HAD TOLD RCI I COULD NOT BANK MY WEEK AS I HAD RENTED IT OUT! But they had!! they pocketed my maintenance fees as well as the payments from THOMAS COOK MANCHESTER.. This company can only lie!! I have photos and the names of the people who used my unit... So now I received a threat from Patricia Rosado.. and their lawyer LEXWELL here on St Maarten.. but what they have done again... they LIED they sent me letters.. even their lawyer... can you imagine..? A letter was sent to me last week as he claimed.. BUT Diamond can not get the address correct... It really is so disgusting that this company can continue to cheat people who have kept ST Maarten going. The Inspectorate of taxes said they would do an enquiry... but Cloobeck has connections.. I still have no idea what they wrote but be sure as soon as I can I will put the judgments on this site...

I agree with you about crapbecks connections. He recently held a $1000.00a plate dinner in Vegas where he introduced Pres.Obama. The following week the President gave him a position on the US Board of Travel Agents. He has apparently made large donations to the President with our money. I dont like to see Polotics entering into Time Share disscussions but I feel that it is justified. We are Seniors who paid several thousand in maintenance fees and are being asked to pay aprox $3000.00 for water damage for a Hawaii timeshare which incidently we have not used as we are told there is no space or we do not have enought points. We have requested to be non members of our units but a letter from their legal Dept said no way. Like many other owners we are refusing to pay. The owners in the UK are having many problems are are to be featured on an upcoming BBC1 TV show on Scams. I hope he does take people to court. It could then all come out about his miss-management of these resorts.

The video of Diamond Resorts International complaints has been taken down or have a privacy restriction. Some people are pretty sure it was Diamond Resorts International that put some pressure on the maker of the video, but I heard that there are more videos being made by owners that are upset over what has transpired since 2007 when Diamond Resorts acquired Sunterra and the management of two resorts in Hawaii, the Kaanapali Beach Club in Maui & the Point at Poipu in Kauai. Don't believe me, check for yourself, just Google Diamond Resorts International complaints or problems.

Since theses wolves have taken over PVC, I fail to see the quality of guest/ownership relationship as portraid on "Undercover Boss." I have a bi-annual 2 bedroom @ The Carriage House in Las Vegas and have been charged over $1,000 every year for the past two years. When the actual annual maintenance fee published on an annual 2bdr is $466.

http://www.sellmytimesharenow.com/timeshares/index/content/details/AdNumber/581933/

These representatives have treated PVC owners as below tarnish level.. "Oh, you are one of THOSE owners!, you hear on the phone."

They failed to honor an agreement I had with PVC on a personal issue.

The Carriage House is a great timeshare, too bad DRI sucks.

I even tried to talk to the "Boss" about my situation but was rudely denied.

I am stuck and do not trust the Timeshare seller snakes.

Diamond Resorts International sued me for slander after I declared the truth on www.canyoutrustthem.com. They lost in the court in St Maarten,. They appealed,. They lost.. The owner of Diamond Resorts Stephen Cloobeck did not like that! So via his lawyer here on St Maarten I was told that if I did not take the agreement I would lose everything and my weeks. I was pressured to sign an agreement, they took my weeks and it was done by NEVADA LAW on ST MAARTEN.. where I am not allowed to go to the resort nor the beach... and the lawyer who was supposed to be my lawyer forced me to sign so he could get a payement of $2050... and two lawyers on St Maarten arranged all this using NEVADA LAW on Dutch St Maarten...

as well in the courthouse the Judge told Cloobeck's lawyer that he had to open a 'financial transactions office' at the two resorts CLOOBECK has on St Maarten. He has not done so. In fact the Inspectporate of Taxes told me he had to do that too.. He has not done so. It is so very curious that the General Manager then was Jules James.. he was also the President of the Timeshare Association... Cloobeck got rid of many staff. James went to Pelican.. same thing happened.. But Cloobeck does not stay as his resorts when he comes to St Maarten on his private lear jet.. perhaps they are not good enough for him?

We too have had very bad dealings with DRI. First was the nearly 200 % increase in annual MF when they took over ---for what? Now the resort has disallowed my exchange through Red Week or any of the other exchange groups. Since RCI cannot seem to find me anything I want I felt it was time to go elsewhere. NOT! We long term RCI owners long for the days of the original owners. These new people are just in it for the money Owners? WHO CARES!

Diamond Resorts has a lot to answer for in its highly likely illegal liquor license Stephen J Cloobeck arranged for his cousin Howard klubeck without any board consent.

It also has at some point and may continue to operate unlicensed time share solicitation booths in the pristine, american native peoples ancestral lands of Lake Tahoe and in Hawaii.

DRI just disses native Hawaiians and native americans.

thomasw280 wrote:

Diamond Resorts is the new manager of a timeshare I purchased with my wife about 10 years ago from ILX. My wife and I divorced in 2005. I provided ILX with a copy of the divorce decree and the quit claim deed awarding the property to my ex wife in 2005. ILX went bankrupt last September, and now Diamond Resorts, through the Premiere Vacation Collection Owners Association has sent me a bill for $709.55 for a 2011 assessment, with late fees added. I have not been an owner of this property for six years. David C and Angela at Diamond Resorts say I must dig through my divorce records and pay for a new copy of the quit claim deed and mail it to them, because somehow the record got lost since ILX received it six years ago. I wasted half an hour on the phone with these guys who think it is OK to bill someone and require someone to do work when the incorrect bill and work required is due to Diamond Resort's and Premiere Vacation Collection Owners Association's poor record keeping and poor management. Do not do business with either of these companies!

I purched the ILX timeshare unit as a deeded week and now have been forced to accept the points system. i have not used the point system ( lost unused of pointd and associated use). I would like to get out of this ownership and feel that Diamond Resorts has changed the original ownership agreement. Does that allow me to opt out of this life time of payments.

I don't know how they can force you into their point system. Read the original contract you signed. They are bound by the contract. They may try to push you into their point system but they can't " force " you to convert.

donp196 wrote:

I don't know how they can force you into their point system. Read the original contract you signed. They are bound by the contract. They may try to push you into their point system but they can't " force " you to convert.

No, the cannot force anyone to change from their original contract. If you like the way things were, then just keep doing what you have been doing.

After owning a biannual at Los Abrigados since 2000, DRI forced us into a points position and increased maintenance fees from $393 for 2011 to $584 for 2014. DRI also failed to make clear that bi-annual usage was no longer available unless owners banked points for two years nor have they provided "rates" for various other properties supposedly available for exchange. Numerous phone calls have been ignored and I feel strongly that DRI's ethics are questionable and their management style certainly not conducive to good owner relations. I have owned timeshare properties for more than 20 years and this has been the MOST unsatisfactory experience ever.

I have not one good thing to say about DRI. What they do may be legal by virtue of cozy relationships with politicians, but they are truly an evil, predatory company.

That said, I fail to see how your could be "forced" to convert your deeded unit to points. I am a deeded owner, and yes they tried to pressure me into converting, but I just sat through their interminable bs session, kept telling them I was not interested, and took their "gift" at the end. Since I am retired and have plenty of time on my hands I enjoy wasting their time and taking their so-called gift. Just don't engage with their sales tricks and keep saying no, no, no. They can't make you do anything.

lindah943 wrote:

After owning a biannual at Los Abrigados since 2000, DRI forced us into a points position and increased maintenance fees from $393 for 2011 to $584 for 2014. DRI also failed to make clear that bi-annual usage was no longer available unless owners banked points for two years nor have they provided "rates" for various other properties supposedly available for exchange. Numerous phone calls have been ignored and I feel strongly that DRI's ethics are questionable and their management style certainly not conducive to good owner relations. I have owned timeshare properties for more than 20 years and this has been the MOST unsatisfactory experience ever.