The Arizona Attorney General’s office and The Diamond Resorts Corporation reached an $800,000 settlement on December 23rd, 2016 regarding misleading and false sales practices during timeshare sales presentations. The timeshare legal troubles for Diamond Resorts Corporation began after the Office of the Attorney General received repeated complaints from many timeshare owners citing the significant difference between the contracts and what was communicated to them during the sales presentations. Mia Garcia, the AZAG’s spokeswoman, stated that this is the first time Diamond Resorts has been investigated for consumer fraud and that the office received more than 500 complaints before the investigation ensued.
Diamond Resorts Consumer Fraud Settlement
The practices that were cited in the settlement included maintenance fees, resale, buyback programs, rentals, and further discounts. The time frame for these practices was January 2011 until January 2017. Provisions of the settlement dictate that The Diamond Resorts Corporation must pay $650,000 to timeshare owners, $150,000 to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and offer a “Relinquishment Remedy Program, which permits qualifying consumers to return their timeshares to Diamond Resorts without any further obligation.” The Details of Diamond Resorts’ Timeshare Legal Troubles.
The Details of Diamond’s Timeshare Legal Troubles
The first deceptive practice cited was that salespersons would make false statements regarding the dollar amount that maintenance fees could or would increase yearly. Most seasoned timeshare owners understand that maintenance fees can significantly impact the cost of timeshare ownership, often costing thousands of dollars per year. The salespersons falsely implied that maintenance fees would either not increase, or increase at a lower percentage than the actual percentages listed on the contract..
Another deception was regarding the ability of owners to sell their timeshares to the public. While many timeshare contracts restrict the ability to resell timeshares, the sales teams with Diamond Resorts were actively deceiving the potential purchasers stating that no such restrictions applied, even though the restrictions were included in the contract. In the long run, most timeshare owners discover that their property has zero resale value. Stating they were disappointed with this reality would be an understatement.
Salespersons also actively deceived potential owners by leading them to believe that there was a buy-back program through Diamond Resorts itself, a kind of money back guarantee, as it were. However no such program existed, leaving the consumers stuck without the ability to sell the property to the public or back to the company, all the while having to pay yearly maintenance fees.
The sales persons also would suggest that the timeshare owners rent out their timeshares in order to make a financial profit off their purchase. However it was the exact opposite in the contract, meaning that the owners could at no time rent out their timeshares to others. This is where Diamond’s timeshare legal troubles became inevitable – but it is unknown at this time what penalties or legal ramifications occurred as a result of this deception.
Diamond Resorts personnel also stated that sales teams also told potential owners that timeshare ownership gave them access to discounts for other travel needs, although no such program or discounts existed. Although prosecution tends to cease when it comes to allegations during timeshare sales presentations (because they know how to protect themselves), a number of timeshare owners were able to prove manipulative statements were made during the sale.
When something sounds too good to be true, it’s imperative that consumers act on their intuition instead of crossing their fingers. Far too many people have been taken advantage of by misleading tacts over the years. Seeing through the persuasion from the get go can save you tens of thousands of dollars.
What to do If You’ve Been Taken Advantage of.
In order to qualify for restitution or the Relinquishment Remedy Program, consumers must have purchased memberships between January 2011 and January 2017, must have been living in Arizona at the time of purchase or made the purchase itself in Arizona, and consumers must provide a detailed account of any and all deceptions that occurred during the sales presentation. Without any evidence of wrongdoing, it’ll be extremely difficult for your claim to be taken seriously.
For those of you planning on attending a timeshare sales presentation, be sure to document the claims of the resort and ask them to point out the details in the contract. If they’re unable to do so, it’s important that you walk away from the opportunity immediately. Catching them in a lie right away should tell you that ethics is being left out of the sale. Although the timeshare presentation may intrigue you, nothing is worth financial hardship or timeshare legal troubles down the road. If you decided to buy into timeshare ownership and regret your decision, we’d be more than happy to talk to you about your options. Request a free consultation or submit a qualification form below.
5 Responses
We bought points in Sedona AZ and were made promises that they did not follow thru on. But, the biggest problem is that they transferred some points to US collection at a higher maintenance fee and we did not understand that our Cabo collection is so much less on maintenance.
We tried calling diamond contracts and other Representatives and they told us we had to get the salesman to go over it and make the changes with corporate. We left no less than five messages and I tried to visit and the salesman would never come out and see me or would he call back. At one time he had an assistant call and she indicated we would have to talk to him and she would let him know. He has never called.
Thank you for some great information! We’re looking forward to seeing more updates on this topic.
How can I apply this to timeshares that were transferred to Diamond under similar circumstances? I bought in California and got that same sales pitch. Are there plans to sue in California? I have aksed they take back my timeshare and they keep upping the relinquish costs. We can ‘t afford it with both of us on disability.
Hello,
I got diamond sampler 20000 points finance for 2 years 2019.
That time I was single and now I am married.
We make reservation and my husband have travel for work can’t go. And I was going myself then they said I cannot use my sampler if my husband can’t join me.
It doesn’t make sense I was got that when I was single.
I would like to stop payment and get back my money which I paid year.
Anyone know how to do and need help.
Thank you!
We attended a sales presentation at The Summit in Sedona, AZ, June 21, 2020 & we liked some of the concepts, as we own a different timeshare but had some reservations. A “corporate” person came around to make sure we were satisfied & offered us a “Sampler” package to see if we are interested down the road and lock in pricing. We thought based on everything she said it was worth exploring. The next morning we looked over the contract and discovered there were multiple discrepancies on the contract compared to what we were told. We were misinformed on the destinations that we could book a Diamond Resort, as well as getting discounted stays when booking less than 60 days from arrival. We had asked during the presentation for her to pull up on computer some examples of points to various destinations, her reply was the internet was too slow and wasn’t working well. The next day, after realizing what a mistake this was based on misrepresentation, we went back to the preview office to speak to a person to see why what we were told was totally different than on contract. They said the contract couldn’t list every destination, so we asked to see the destinations on the website and the rep said he couldn’t do that for us…..crazy I know! At that point we knew we were conned. Michael Kimbell, Vice President of Sales we were bound to the contract but would work with us on destinations we want to go to. After researching and reading all reviews, I’m sure thats a promise that he hopes we will forget. All we want to do is refuse the charges and cancel the Sampler Package completely. Please help.