After paying over $80K to Wyndham for a timeshare bought in 2015, David and Brenda Kriens are now suing the timeshare conglomerate for sales fraud. According to the couple behind the class action lawsuit (David J. Kriens Sr., et al. v. Wyndham Destinations Inc., et al.,), Wyndham allegedly used a “highly organized” timeshare scheme to misrepresent the features and overall value of the purchase while leaving out important elements of the agreement. In turn, this caused them to spend a lot of money with little to show for it.
Represented by Donald S. Hackett III, the Kriens claim the scheme intentionally avoids the discussion of “prohibited limitations” for points program (VOI’s) in order to close deals. From their perspective, nobody would make the purchase if they knew the sales pitch wasn’t entirely true. Like most unhappy vacation owners, dealing with minimal disclosure can be a tough pill to swallow. Especially when you find yourself under contract after being lied to.
What Did Wyndham Leave Out of the Sale?
Regarding the Kriens’ contract, they agreed to purchase a number of points for a specific dollar amount. According to their understanding, they would be able to use these points to stay at “several resorts” owned or operated by Wyndham or an affiliate. They also confirmed they knew some resorts and locations would cost more points due to popular demand or the resort’s overall rating.
What the Kriens did not believe was fully explained was the simple fact that there were additional “factors” that could hinder them during booking attempts. The legal accusation specifically says “much is represented to prospective customers [during the sale], but representatives for the company do not accurately represent certain limitations of the system.” One of the primary factors left out was that other point holders would be in competition with them for timeshare units.
After processing thousands of complaints for the timeshare industry, our understanding of point memberships is that available spaces may rarely be consistent and predicated on demand – allowing price gouging to hike profits through upgrade “solutions”. Aside from failed expectations, the class action suit is also alleging many of the units promised to point holders are often occupied for prospect tours, retail leasing opportunities and other marketing efforts. It’s rather ironic that nearly every timeshare owner we speak to has similar assumptions.
The Kriens Aren’t Wyndham’s Only Timeshare Problem.
Hypothesis aside, the class action lawsuit simply wants Wyndham to admit they knowingly misrepresented the opportunity to the Kriens (and others) in order to increase profits. False advertising for a pair of slippers is one thing – but after receiving over $80K from the Kriens, you would think at least an apology would be provided. Especially if they’re not interested in providing specifically what their sales teams presented.
Thousands of people have relied on timeshare sales teams for adequate product representation and have been let down. This isn’t the only lawsuit of its kind against Wyndham. After reviewing hundreds of cases like this, it’s hard for us to believe timeshare companies will ever admit any wrongdoing. But that doesn’t mean the Kriens won’t receive restitution for their losses. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to go through a lot of trouble just to get it.
15 Responses
ADD me to that class action lawsuit and I don’t want an apology, I want out !
Add me to the lawsuit. It’s all a scam.
Have never been able to use it even once after a decade.
My husband and I purchased Wyndham back in 2016 on my son’s 1st birthday. We were invited to attend a 90 minute meeting with Wyndham. It turned out to be the WHOLE ENTIRE day. It was hot and tiresome, but the amenities and the sales person was very attentive and even told us we could use this for last minute trips and could pass it on to our children in the future, that it was a good investments. A few years down the line, this turned into a nightmare. The last time we used our points, it was back in 2018 and the room was so outdated. We were very displease and when we arrived we were told to go to a desk. When we arrived at the desk, we were told to join another meeting to discuss the new projects that was happening. That meeting took up our whole day. Talk about fool me once shame on me, fool me twice we sure were the fools. So, we ended up upgrading. Fast forward to trying to book a trip, we couldn’t because everything was BOOKED! Fast forward 2020 I find out my contract that was upgraded was cancelled. I called and asked them about it and they couldn’t explain to me why this occurred. I asked them, if we owed any money to them. They said no, so I asked for a letter, so if they tried to come for me in the future I have a letter stating that I don’t owe anything. A few months go by and I get a letter indicating that our old contract was reinstated! How?! Now, we were furious. So, I called them up and had to explain all over my issues and they offered the resale program. We were in the resale program for a few months and heard nothing. So, when asked how much was owed on it, we were told $4000. Now, it makes sense to pay it off and get rid of it. We exited the resale program, because prior to all of this I did communicate with the resale program to ask about what’s happening and we were told that they were turning things over to a Florida Sales team and that we would have to sign another contract. Sounds fishy, right? I thought so too and at this point I just want out. When I called the financial department to pay off $4000 I was told we owed $13,000! How?! Now, we are furious. We tried to re-enter the resale program just to be denied, because it was only for certain people that qualify. Now, I’m back at the drawing board. We are thinking of paying off the $13,000 and getting rid of it completely. I don’t want ANYTHING to do with Wyndham anymore. I will pay whatever it cost to go into a hotel with NO strings attached. My husband and I have learned our lesson entirely.
Yes I would like to be added to any lawsuit with them as well. I went to the timeshare presentation, and they almost had me sold, but when I was brought into another room where I was supposed to sign e-documents I didn’t sign anything and backed out. I told them I’m not going to do this. They told me they would reverse anything they had done and we could be on our way (our 2 hour presentation turned into 6 hours by the way) and now a week later I have a letter in the mail from Barclays that I was not approved for the Wyndham credit card (that I absolutely never applied or gave permission to apply for) and then a few days after that a letter from Comenity “congratulations on your new Vacation Club Credit Account” and there’s an account number and a credit limit. So I went to the website, called the number and it says I have an unpaid balance of like $4700 but it is not due yet…. I NEVER SIGNED UP or gave approval for ANYTHING! So I clicked the buttons on the phone menu to close the account and now that’s going to hurt my credit score. This is fraud. I want a case out of this bull.. so now I’ve been sitting on hold for 1/2 hr trying to find out where this was approved/activated/etc but “I’m sorry, all of our representatives are currently busy, please hold and someone will be with you”
My story is the same, But with a twist. They ask me if I had a credit card, I said no, they ask me if I had PayPal, I said no. Then I had a 3000.00 loan that I didn’t approve of, on top of all the monthly bills that I would have to pay. Everything was rush!!!!! rush!!! sign, sign “we want to get you to your cruise”. I have been paying paypal since 2006 and still have an 1800.00 balance. They told me that I could cancel in 30 days. When I tried to cancel, they told me that ” I only had 5 days to cancel, and that I missed the cut off date. I keep bugging them, so they told me don’t make payments and let it default. But Wynham said I had to pay paypal. Also never used wy, they kept saying it would be 3 mo.
I think PAYPAL is responsible also for taking part in this SCAM!!!!!!
Please add me to the list. They have misrepresented on several occasions with me, the latest being extremely egregious. They flat out looked me in the eyes and sold me on MOVING my deed. The contract I signed added an ADDTIONAL contract, not MOVE my current one. It has cost me upwards of $65K.
Glad we passed on this just yesterday. The monthly maintenance fee was a huge trap in addition to the upfront investment
Fees go up and properties are not kept up.
HOA fees are doubled so Wyndham charges its programs. To make owners think it’s the only way to go. Buy into more points to save your investment.
If it not too late I would like to be added to that lawsuit. They took away 160,000 points from me because I paid off my account early. So they penalize me for paying it off early. That is a bunch of you know what.
I have had the same experience. Please add me to the class action lawsuit
Add me to this lawsuit as well. We bought into this timeshare back in 2016 and have yet been able to book a vacation from them. Everytime we try to book a vacation.they are booked up to 5 months in advanced. This is horrible.
We bought into the discovery program thinking we could plan a great vacation for our entire family and book multiple units all at the same time. We could not get into any locations that we desired as there was NEVER vacancies . We gave up even dreaming of finding a location that would have 2 or 3 units available when we were able to make it work. We are not able to plan things out a year in advance due to health issues so my husband d I are literally just trying to use the points up by going places we really don’t want to go before the points expire. We regret making the purchase in Las Vegas where we were told it would take an hour of our time ( it was 5) and you are practically strong armed into a decision by high pressure salespeople who transfer you back and forth until you cave. Attempting to extend my points after a cancer diagnosis prevented us from traveling was a time consuming and highly stressful nightmare as well. Had we known the reality of the package we would have NEVER purchased.
( The exception was the Nashville staff were professional and respectful ) Wyndham sells these packages knowing customers are consistently unable to access hotels/ locations when desired. NEVER BUY !!
We didn’t buy a time share…we did spend over 3000.00 us…on a test run. because of COVID was unable to use it….Wyndham took our money…they lie…thought we would at least use our points in Canada…turns out we couldn’t…3000.00 us is alot of money to give away…Stayaway beware…