Timeshare owners may recently have noticed an increase in advertisements from companies promising to help them get out of a vacation ownership contract.
But the companies aren’t new. In fact, Diamond Resorts and other industry leaders first began seeing these timeshare exit companies pop up nearly a decade ago.
At first, Diamond Resorts attempted to work with these companies by having them assist owners with participating in on-going exit programs. However, some of these timeshare exit companies didn’t see any money in that and chose a more nefarious path: lying to the public.
Diamond Resorts has been fighting back to protect owners from becoming a victim of one of these scams. In the past 18 months, Diamond has filed 11 lawsuits that have, so far, resulted in seven injunctions and one disbarment.
And Diamond isn’t alone.
The American Resort Development Association – Resort Owners’ Coalition (ARDA-ROC), which represents more than 1.5 million timeshare owners, recently sent out a press release reiterating its warning to consumers after another third-party exit company filed for bankruptcy.
According to ARDA’s release, a company called American Resource Management Group, LLC (ARMG), which has been doing business under the name Resort Release, has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. During a court hearing on April 18, serious questions were raised that led the court to appoint a Chapter 11 Trustee to take control of the business review all aspects of its financial affairs.
“The Court specifically questioned why ARMG represented to owners that it is a Midwestern-based firm, when, in fact, the Debtors are operating in Florida,” the release reads. “In addition, the court noted that the Debtors, despite being paid substantial upfront fees from timeshare owners, have minimal cash in their bank accounts and have insufficient reserves to cover potential 100% ‘guarantee’ claims they made to thousands of timeshare owners.”
In the release, ARDA lists several red flags for timeshare owners to be aware of when it comes to timeshare exit companies.
You can read the full release here on PRNewswire.com.
As always, Diamond Resorts encourages owners to reach out to Member Services directly to review ownership options. Diamond doesn’t want to see any owners become a victim.
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