Scammed Timeshare Owner Finds Help.
Colleen Clarke: We became disillusioned about a couple of years into it. We were just not able to get booked into places that we wanted to go and we found it getting more and more expensive. The fees were pricey, the fees went up every year, and it just wasn’t working for us. So we contacted our timeshare and talked to them about returning our timeshare points. They were not interested in doing that for us and so I started an online search for how to get rid of timeshares and did find a couple of companies that would be willing to try to sell them for us but at a fee.
Colleen Clarke: There was an upfront type, like a realtor’s fee, and no guarantee that they would be sold, so that was something I wasn’t sure about because I think it was throwing good money after that. We actually went to a company that promised to take over our timeshare and, as it turned out, we had to buy their timeshare in order to get rid of our old timeshare. So, we got a bit scammed and we were very hesitant, but we definitely wanted to get rid of it. We spoke to our lawyers in Canada and we spoke to our lawyers here in the States. Both said there was nothing that they could do for us.
Colleen Clarke: We thought about walking away, but we’re very concerned about damaging our credit rating, having collection agencies come after us, and we didn’t want any part of that, so we felt just stuck. And one day, at a home show of all things, we met a representative from your company, VOC, Vacation Ownership Consultants, and he just started to explain how things work in your company. Why it works, how it works, how long it takes, how much it costs. We had all the information given to us up front. And so we thought about it and we made an appointment and we came to see the consultant and, again, he reiterated all the information we needed and it was important to us to know why it worked, why your company could get it work for us.
Colleen Clarke: The fee we paid was a little more than one year’s maintenance fees so in 18 months, our cost had paid for itself, essentially, and we were free and clear. We didn’t receive any contact from our timeshare, we didn’t receive any harassment letters, we didn’t so much as receive an invoice for the next year’s fees. It was just all done. It was all gone and we were thrilled. We were just thrilled.
Colleen Clarke: We were skeptical going in as anyone would be. We also felt embarrassed that we’d been scammed by one of these timeshare people and we’re going to be losing some money and it’s hard to admit that you’ve made a terrible mistake financially. But, speaking with the consultants at VOC, they were so clear at explaining how we would get this to work for us that it became clear to us that it would work and that we could get this accomplished. They also offered us a guarantee that they could get the job done and, I mean, we’re just regular people caught in a bad situation and this company got us out of that bad situation as they promised.
Colleen Clarke: Don’t hesitate. Don’t hesitate. If you’re caught in a bad situation with a timeshare, these are the people to go to because they will get results for you. They did for us.
