Diamond Resorts
reviews and complaints

This special assessment for the Hawaii Collections is unbelievable. I have spent several
memorable years vacationing in Hawaii but this charge will end that! Why are we paying several thousands of dollars to fix structural engineering problems? Where is the developer and his responsibility in this? Is Mr. Clobeck (CEO) financing any of the cost? I refuse to put $4, 500 into a timeshare project I can't even give away! They have been looking into the problems at Poipu Pt. for the last 3 years...and continued to sell timeshares! Sounds like
a class action suit in the making to me! Anyone else walking away?

You got screwed like thousands of others like me. This company is a total rippoff. Since Diamond took over the fees have gone through the roof. You can book the rooms cheaper through a travel webb site now. Anybody reading this post stay a thousand miles away from this company. Once you buy through them your stuck. Your points are worth nothing. You can't even give them away as the maintenance fees are so high. They will also screw you on special assesment which they just did for all Hawaii owners since they didn't want to take the insurance company to court for construction problems at the property on Kuai. These people are nothing but thiefs.

WOW TB

I hope you have joined the www.poipuowners.org group, there is great strength in numbers and this group is building as is the sister resort on Maui kbcowners.com. Good luck to you that is a very stressful load to dump on folks without ANY WARNING just before the holidays WOW amazing! DRI way of sending Holiday Greetings, what a nice company (barf).

There is another group across the pond HATING Diamond Resorts International too they are Diamond Resorts International Complaints Protest Group DRIP for short.

http://www.drip.enjin.com

'A business that makes only money is a poor business.'
Henry Ford

CVO

I am an owner of three weeks (2 bedroom unit) at the Point at Poipu. My regular maintenance fee per week is $1, 348. Special assessment fee per week is $5, 893. That's $7, 241 per week owned or, for me, $21, 724! There is no way in hell I am paying that or any portion of it. I do believe MANY owners will walk away, far more than the "10% default" rate than DRI is estimating and say they will cover. If it's greater than 10% then owners who stick around and pay may end up paying a lot more. No thank you.

DRI knows there will be fallout from this and they probably have already estimated the revenue they will generate from the RE-SALE of all the new foreclosures in their executives Christmas bonuses.

These guys are a leeches and do not care about the resorts they purchase, they only care about the owners at those resorts and how much money they can fleece from them before the owners revolt. DRI also knows that by keeping the owner/members list "a secret" the owners will never be able to oppose DRI / VOA Board decisions, this is all part of their Extortion tactics, in my humble opinion of course, but if DRI wants to open up the discovery process I'd be willing to bet.

Let's see if this shoe fits...

Modern organized criminal enterprises make money by specializing in a variety of crimes, including EXTORTION, blackmail, gambling, loan-sharking, political corruption, and the manufacture and sale of illicit narcotics.

Extortion, a time-tested endeavor of organized crime, is the acquisition of property through the use of threats or force (just read the tone of the annual extortion and maintenance fee statement and tell me it is not threatening). For instance, a criminal enterprise located in a certain neighborhood of a city may visit shopkeepers and demand a specific amount of so-called protection money ( or in our case Special Assessments). If a shopkeeper (owner/member) does not pay the money, the criminal organization may strike at him(credit rating), his property (foreclosure), or his family (his heirs).

Hey Clueless can you say RICO

CVO

I would like to join any class action law suit against the Special Assessment being imposed on Poipu Pt owners.
What on earth have we been paying for over these years ? We are being told the Insurance does not cover the water problems - then sack whoever chose that insurance, dig into the sinking fund and get off our backs. Do they seriously think owners have this kind of money hanging around during a recession or are they expecting us to drop out so they can get the spoils for nothing ?
= Dave

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

Nice to know they (DRI) has your best interest in mind right?

Oh wait I have that backwards...

Join KBCowners.com lets see what we can do as a group to put an end to DRI's tyranny, who do they think they are Gaddafi?

http://kbcowners.com

CVO

We too enjoyed our stay at KBC in Maui for many years, but honestly have not been back for 5 years Exchanging through RCI or buying direct on EXPEDIA "when and where I want" for less than I pay DRI for what was once a nice property (pre DRI). DRI has also mismanaged KBC and from the tone of our News Letter they plan to stick it to us next year. I am ready to quit claim my deed to some bum on skid row and let DRI try and collect their fee from his broke a$$.

The only reason I have not given up yet is when I do DRI gets my currently worthless deed and I am sorry those clueless pieces of duff should not profit from their extortion tactics. DRI's bean counters have already factored in to their equation a drop out rate, they will just turn it around to some clueless honeymooners and lie through their teeth like they usually do and they will continue to rape and pillage the members.

Welcome to your most relaxing VACATION EVER right duffy cloobeck.

CVO

We purchased over ten years ago in Florida, 4500 points, maintenance fres were low and we liked it when we used it. On 2009, we went to Hawaii and like stupid people we were convinced into adding an additional 7500 points, they wanted for us to transfer the Florida collection to Hawaii, we didn't. We have finally paid off the Florida, but because we haven't paid the Hawaii maintenance fres, we can't use the system. The biggest problem is that the water intrusion fee fee is very high and we were never told of a repair that they new years prior that was coming up. If they would of mentioned this, we would of not paid. I owe 2010 and 2011 fees, $5000 worth and won't pay. I want to join any law suit against them. The sad part is how to avoid your credit being damaged or worse, even if I wrote them a check in full, how can I get rid of this time share. LETS UNITE

As a follow up to all who posted comments regarding the need for a lawsuit. I lawsuit against Diamond Resort International was filed Friday April, 6th in Federal Court in the state of Hawaii by a group of owners at the Point at Poipu. Details will be coming out shortly with information on who can join in to make this a class action suit. Follow Concerned Owners of Poipu Point Facebook page to see how things are going. Post this information on your own web pages and pass the word to help exposure our efforts to right the wrongs that we believe Diamond Resorts have placed upon us. Spread the word to any media outlets such as tv, radio, newspapers, magazines and of course the Internet. Hopefully we can see a news story pick up on our efforts.

Does anyone know any information on a class action? The name of the attorney or contact person. Thanks.

Concerned Owner

A&J Mack

Thanks for posting, you nailed it the head Diamond Resorts International's big money grab plan in a nutshell.

First take over enough of the HOA Board at any given resort to get a strong hold (sometimes done under the radar)

Next start Amending/Changing the Articles of Association so they fit better with the SCAM (make it all "LEGAL" the same way the politicians do it, just change the rules).

With the new rules in place now Jack up all of the FEES and Special A$$essments (Much like "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION") this forces other owners to default and get foreclosed (they STOP PAYING THE EXTORTION MONEY) or they buy into THE PONZI SCHEME, this is the crap DRI sells at their high pressure sales CON. The salesman tells you "it will save you money because you can use some of your worthless points to pay DRI's over inflated fees" (paraphrasing). How many folks were defrauded in to the Hawaii Collection using that exact tactic this past summer clueless? All of them...Right?

By the way Clueless exactly how does that bribe/discount calculate in to the Resort's budget (which line item and who handles the audit on that? just asking cuz that is going to get asked by the prosecution I'm sure). It seems to me like the discount needs to be paid by someone, if it is part of a "REAL" budget (not some FAKE made up crap by some ego-centric ConMAN trying to EXTORT as much money from folks to which he has a REAL LEGAL fiduciary responsibility to protect, not harm). The budget that is supposed to be used to maintain and run the resort from which it is drawn not some EVIL GREEDY TRAVEL EMPIRE for KING FULLOFHIMSELF used to SWINDLE/FLEECE Thousands out of there vacation dollars.

Maintain (v. used with object); to keep in an appropriate condition, operation, or force; keep unimpaired: to maintain order; to maintain public highways. TO MAINTAIN THE RESORT, that is why the fees are paid not to allow some has-been used car salesman to rub elbows with the Blue Bloods.

BTW/JMO

CVO

I have been an owner with my wife since 2002. We did the presentation to see about the pt system. We quickly saw there was no benefit learning they wanted not only our deed but also an additional 25k to get it. We were then surprised at the change of professionalism which turned into degrading comments as to our intelligence. They got hostile as we clearly could explain our stand & doing the math. They told us the people moving to pts would get first pick for reservation. We knew they were trying to intimidate us to force us to not only hand over our deed but at a 25k cost.
Once they couldn't strong arm us into paying to give them our deed, they tried resorting to fraud and steal our deed. We paid off our time share and called numerous times to get our deed to show we fully owned it. Finally, we were told they were sending paper work to get this done and to sign and notarize it.They would send it to the state of HI to get a copy of our deed. We did just that trusting the paperwork was for that very purpose. Instead, it was a quit claim deed giving up ownership of our property to Diamond Resorts. We called to see where the deed was and they told us we deeded our property over to them. The women we spoke to was so ridiculously rude to us. We couldn't believe we were dealing with a time share co. It felt more like a bunch of cheap con artists. We explained to them we had paid off our time share & just booked our vacation, so why would we sign over our deed. We threatened to get an attorney & get our recorded phone conversations. They finally agreed to the mistake and sent the copy of our deed. Now, we are finding out about this $5, 498 assessment that they are passing on to the deeded owners. We would love to be part of a class action lawsuit and will also be looking for an attorney ourselves this week as we are just finding out about this increase. If anyone would like to call us our number is [protected] & ask for Alan. Thank you.

We have also just received a new maintenance fee. It started at about $800 about 7 years ago. Then it quickly went to $1300. We just got the new maintenance fee that is due in January or else for $3, 300. I don't know if we can even come up with that amount of money so close to Christmas and I've just retired. I don't know what to do. I was sold such a bill of goods about this timeshare. If there is a lawsuit going, or anyone would be interested in pursuing a class action lawsuit, it may be time to look at that. Some are getting very wealthy because of this scam and something has to be done. This is for the Diamond Resort at Point of Poipu.

I had posted the following on another section but will add it here as it's pertinent to the Special Assessment fee for Hawaii Collection owners, especially those of us at The Point at Poipu.

I am an owner of three weeks (2 bedroom unit) at the Point at Poipu. My regular maintenance fee per week is $1, 348. Special assessment fee per week is $5, 893. That's $7, 241 per week owned or, for me, $21, 724! I was given a 10 week notice of payment due, although it can be spread out over a few years. There is no way in hell I am paying that or any portion of it. The Special Assessment fee is to repair water damage to the resort, a total cost at this time of 65 million dollars or over $300, 000 per unit! The insurance carrier will not pay. I do believe MANY owners will walk away, far more than the "10% default" rate that DRI is estimating and say they will cover. If it's greater than 10% then owners who stick around and pay may end up paying a lot more. No thank you. I do feel DRI wants owners to give up their deeds so they can charge a lot more reselling them.

I encourage all Point at Poipu owners to join a large group fighting this at www.poipuowners.org. And all Kaanapali Beach Club owners should check out kbcowners.com. There is also information on Facebook at Point of Poipu Angry Owners. Other resorts of the Hawaii Collection are the Polo Towers Villas, Las Vegas, and the Sedona Summit Resort in Arizona. We all should band together. There is strength in numbers. We who have joined Poipuowners.org recently started a massive letter writing campaign to politicians, tourism officials, the Attorney General, and RICO in Hawaii. All owners at The Point at Poipu need to get involved with poipuowners.org. They have addresses and sample letters for ten different people of authority who can help. Poipuowners.org is currently in legal battles trying to get the list of all Poipu owners which DRI will not release even though they are obligated to under Hawaii law.

For anyone looking into whether or not to buy from Diamond Resorts International, don't do it. You could end up like owners on Kauai or in "The Hawaii Collection" or like those in Europe dealing with a similar situation (see www.drip.enjin.com).

themajority,

Were you a deeded owner that got sold the magic mystery points, I am sure there are others that would benefit from the details of your case and your particular filings... PLEASE ELABORATE! If you have filed a RICO complaint, there are others that would follow suite. There are enough folks (in my opinion) that are tired of getting FLEECED/EXTORTED by Diamond Resorts International, paying for all of Cloobeck's unsustainable corporate expenditures (like overpaying for acquisition of "Resorts" ie. new members to fleece/extort from, executive salaries and bonuses and political bribes [I mean contributions]). If enough folks complain perhaps some consumer advocate could step in to help sort this whole mess out once and for all. The simple fact that Hawaiian FEE SIMPLE DEEDED property has no monetary Value indicates to me that the Policies and Practices of the property management are not conducive to any real value whatsoever.

We are the majority, but Diamond Resorts International fleecing company knows it is difficult for members to organize any real opposition to their systematic and hostile take over of any of the the resorts they acquire. To them it is simple math acquire a 500 room resort times 51 intervals per room is 25, 500 INTERVALS times avg $1, 200.00 per interval yields a cool $30.6 million per year or roughly 6 million per 100 units every year, year in and year out regardless of the cost to actually run the resort (which should be no where near the 6 million per 100/units).

Does it really cost over $60, 000 per unit/year to operate a resort? If it does, your doing it wrong clueless... The real costs with Diamond Resorts International are running the BIG CORP SCAM and paying off the HUGE LOANS Cloobeck took out on the Sunterror purchase and the other resort acquisitions where he has over paid just to ring the membership cash register over and over again. Diamond Resorts is about as organized at their CRIMINAL ACTIVITY as some New Jersey Italians... (my humble opinion)

CVO

Hi Everyone, if you have a complaint please contact DCCA Hawaii and file a RICO complaint. I did which resulted in Diamond and the brokerage firm West Maui Resort Partners, LLP paying fines by the State of Hawaii and because their action was fraudulent (in my case), there is additional restitution under Real Estate laws.

We are on the same boat- scam, scam, scam all over from DRI - I am so upset no that to many words are coming through my mind and is hard to capture them in one good sentence other that gangster robbery. How come there are no law suits against them already started? My frustration is how come there are no laws to protect the consumer against these frauds and pyramid schemes? Does anyone know about a class law suit action already against DRI?
Thank you,
AGH & family

Go to DRI protest Group you'll need to look it up online Google or what ever because I can not submit the URL here Looks like their are filters on that kind of behaviour.

Google the search phrase Diamond Resorts Protest Group

CVO

Go to DRI Protest Group LOTS of answers for you there on how can move forward.

http://drip.enjin.com/

CVO

Miccl

Your case sounds good for material breach, but be prepared DRI will fight you tooth and nail and deny any wrong doing. It is always the member/owner that "does not understand the inner workings" of DRI and their magic mystery points. It is unfortunate that they have already placed your TS deed in to an irrevocable trust (In my opinion this is a strong handed tactic to hold members hostage to DRI's annual fleecing until 2054, DRI claims it is for the stability of their points system, but there is nothing stable about any points system I have seen, they are all ripe for greed and corruption from the developer)

Good luck!

CVO

Stop justifying you former carrier of ripping off vacationers fasdfaf If that is your real name?

TS today is a rip off and probably always was a scam that millions have been sucked into over the 40 or 50 years. Now there is this pool of Timeshare carrier "has beens" that have sold these "Holiday Intervals" that is all they know (except for those that have crossed over to the big TS UNDO SCAMS).

Is the TS Industry too big to FAIL TOO! Do you think I care about a bunch of rip off artists ConMen not working because SALES are DOWN, the whole Industry has become a cesspool of GREED and CORRUPTION with the top of the pyramid really keeping their slice of the residual payments we are forced to pay WHICH IS DAMN NEAR EXTORTION it certainly is a form of FLEECING. From the looks of your post fasdaf, you may still have some financial ties to the industry. Seems to ruffle your feathers that some of the sheep might stray from the Shepard with the big boots.

Of course everything I say on these boards is just my humble opinion.

CVO

I believe the biggest problem with people who own timeshares is that they think their lifestyle will remain such as it was at the time time of purchase forever. Most people dont take into consideration that times might change and once youre locked into a legal binding contract which at most times the purchaser never even bothered to read then youre done. Thats why they give you a recission period to read over ALL of your contract and decide if this is what you like. I'm sick and tired of hearing the sales man promised me this and that when it clearly states in your contract that such contract superseeds any verbal agreement. Bottom line, people buy this stuff even some who barely make 30K a year buy into to because they're sold a lie. Any good salesman will sell you the world, it is up to the individual to decide and READ what they got. I do agree with the increase in prices as those go hand in hand with the economic times we live in, naturally things get more expensive so people will pay more to maintain such luxy properties. Make no mistake this is a luxury item which if neglected will affect your credit which lets be real most people could care less about. People will ultimately blaim the company they bought this timeshare in weather its Diamond Resorts or any other and would naturally accuse them of bullying and harrasing them? Really, is it really that evil collectors fault that you cant pay your bill after you signed a legal binding contract and a promisary note which states how much youre paying per month, for how long and at what interest rate? Please people stop blaiming your own failures, misconceptions and bad decisions on others because of your innability to follow through. You must first come to terms with what you've done, accept you messed up and admit you cant follow through with what you said you would. There's nothing worse than a grown person blaiming another for their mistakes and then turning around and saying they harras them?. Anyway, All you have to do you geniuses is type up a letter to whatever company or bill collector is calling you nonstop and ask that the calls stop. It's called a CEASE AND DESIST letter and it's the most unknown peace of information most people dont even bother to research. Make no mistakes just because they wont call you doesnt mean you dont own the $, they will still report to your credit and eventually whatever it is you bought or owe will default and get foreclosed upon or canceled. Unexpected things do happen in life, people die, jobs are lost i understand. But stop your damn complaining, man up to your decisions and continue on with your life that's all there is to it.

Yes they (DRI) can and they will charge lots of other fees, but if it make you feel any better I never said yes to Diamond or Sunterror for that matter and at the same resort you were at, I have been a deeded owner for more than 10 years and I too am required to pay the DRI fleecing fees and extortion fees as well.

Welcome to the Diamond Difference where you are obligated to pay for the cr@ppy stupid deals that Steven J. Cloobeck made in 2007 and beyond (Polo Towers LV NV / Credit Suisse as collateral for the purchase of Sunterror @ 700 million of our holiday dollars down the toilet) oh and don't forget you might get to go on holiday at one of their other run down resorts to boot if you can book one that fits your meager amount of points. There is a good chance you won't be back at your HOME resort EVER, unless you upgrade from 3, 500 points.

Cheers,

CVO

Maintenance fees are unaffordable. Almost $1900 a year for 9000 points. Not only are the fees skyrocketing every year but the points are buying fewer and fewer days. We used to go to Daytona Beach Regency for a week. Even though we bought more points we get less time. Unbelievable that DRI bought Club Navigo which we had to buy our way out of at another resort. Now we are struggling to pay the maintenance fees which DRI is using to refurbrish Club Navigo which we never wanted any part of again after 5 years where Club Navigo never returned phone calls and never booked us in our home resort. TIMESHARE NIGHTMARE! They constantly contact us for owner updates which are high pressured sales events. The last time I signed up for one of these, I had to cancel.
I called the contact to let them know ahead of time and discovered later that they charged me $85 cancellation fee. They can keep the
"free" credit cards. We plan to avoid all future presentations.

Hey JazzCat,

First of all just because you think you know what you are talking about does not make it fact. I do own property and I have the Deed to prove it, When I purchased this over 10 years ago we purchased a FEE SIMPLE DEED for my 1/51th ownership of unit 654. This deed is recorded in the state of Hawaii and I am listed as the owner. If you want to talk about the useless magic mystery points Diamond Resorts International sells today well then your right those folks OWN NOTHING except a promise from DRI to bill them for their annual magic mystery points until 2054.

FYI - JazzCat
Fee Simple - Legal ownership of potentially infinite duration. Property so owned is fully transferable and inheritable. Historically, special words were required to create a fee simple such as “I grant Blackacre to X and his heirs forever.” G.L. c. 186, Sec 13 abolished the need to use the term “heirs” in such a conveyance and states “A deed of real estate shall be construed to convey an estate in fee simple unless a different intention clearly appears in the deed.” -

Secondly it never was an "INVESTMENT" as you say it was a purchase for use by myself and my family and as such we have enjoyed several vacations over the years. My complaint is that Diamond Resorts has destroyed any value this DEED had by forcing us to pay for DRI's poor business practices of paying to much for their acquisitions and other stupid decisions made by Diamond Resorts like not properly maintaining the properties to which they have a moral and fiduciary obligation to maintain.

CVO

WARNING! After DRI bought Los Abrigados in Sedona we went in to ask if we could convert our week to points to make it more valuable. After 2 exhausting hours of double-speak, we thought we were paying to convert the week for 5000 points and add 2000 more. The reams of papers we signed had 2 short paragraphs that, as clear as mud, said we now have 2 separate "assessments" (read: maintenance fees) for the old week and the new points. Had they told us that up front we'd have walked out the door. It was a shell game, pure and simple, and now we are stuck.

Jazzcat23,

You are not very well informed about TS vs Points trusts. In a real TS you do own a deed equal to 1 or more weeks each week is equal to 1/51 giving 1 week for general maintenance of the unit. What DRI has done is take over the resort through the home owners association and then fleece all owners through special assesments. Our admin fees charged to the HOA are now almost 3 times what they were before DRI. Property values are near zero because nobody wants to buy a TS that will cost 1500.00 for 1 week.

You are right that how they do it now is a stupid way to vacation, but when we bought we had a great deal now DRI has taken away all but the deed and our ability to use at our home resort so now our original purchase has no resell value you can not even give these weeks away.

In my opinion
DRI is only interested in collecting more money to pay for all the
aquisition. Resorts are not properly maintained and DRI points members can not book the time they want so yes if you buy the cr@p DRI is selling then yes you are a sucker and that is what they are looking for in a magic points member. Some one that won't complain about the perminant assesments they charge on top of the maintenance fees.

So get your facts first then post relivant info. If you do not own then why are you even posting in a complaints blog.

CVO

This is priceless! The guy has to have his head up his ***!

Expected standards of behaviour

« on: May 20, 2008, 07:24:48 »A Letter from Diamond Resorts (Europe) Ltd. regarding expected standards of communication between and among members and between members and Diamond Resorts International®.

May 19, 2008

As members of Diamond Resorts European Collection, Ltd. extensive communications occur each day between members, the developer and the management company. This communication takes place in the form of written letters, telephone conversations, and in-person meetings and, ever increasingly, through e-mail and postings on various websites and blogs, including the member’s forum sponsored by Diamond Resorts International® (DRI) for use by members.

One of the benefits about living in an open society is that each of us is free to express our opinions without regard to censorship or repercussions from a governmental entity. That right however does not mean that common courtesy and politeness should not be exercised at all times, even if there is a legitimate disagreement amongst the parties.

Recently, a number of our DRI staff have been subjected to the use of language, both written and verbal, by certain members which is nothing short of unacceptable. These members have taken to using abusive, unprofessional, threatening, and offensive language which simply cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. Additionally, some members have made accusations which are full of untruths and are slanderous to the people to whom they are directed.

At DRI we value all of our members, owners, team members, and guests. However, this type of behaviour towards members of DRI staff and other members simply will not be tolerated. We must ask that all communications, both written and verbal, be expressed in a professional and courteous manner. Membership is subject to the rules and regulations of Diamond Resorts European Collection, Ltd. Violation of these rules and regulations will result in the appropriate action being taken. Going forwards, any member who uses abusive tactics will have their membership suspended and potentially cancelled. During any period of suspension or in the event of permanent cancellation, the said member will be unable to use their membership and may even face further legal action if deemed appropriate.

It is our sincere hope that we can continue an open, healthy and productive discourse without profanity, libelous statements and downright rudeness. Diamond Resorts International® is always willing to listen to its members and depends on feedback to ensure that we are always in touch with member’s needs, wants and desires. However, a common level of professional courtesy, decency and decorum is appreciated and expected.

Sincerely,

_________________________

Martin Kandel

President, European Operations

Diamond Resorts International®

Talk about taking the mick! Where are Cloobeck and co these days? Not heard from them for a long time!

Unfortunately TCWeaver you are in the same boat as many other people! I belong to a group in the UK who are fighting this company all the way since DRI have taken over GVC/Sunterra contracts our timeshares are worthless as well! The people who run this dispicable company have been conspicuous by their absence of late although Marty Kandel has now popped up threatening all sorts of action (including legal?) because of slanderous accussations against this fine upstanding company! Oddly the last time they went court over what they said was slander they lost!
Unfortunately these people seem to be coated in Teflon but then Cloobeck does spend an awful lot of money (ours no doubt) greasing palms and oiling the wheels of corruption! (oops is this slander? No I think not it was one of the things he was accussed of in St Maartens where they lost a court case). Anyway I wish you luck I suspect there must be groups in the States who are also taking this bunch to task, maybe you can ge some advice from them!

We have the basic studio and did own one week every other year with Premier Vacations. Even paying the maintenance fees to Diamond, all I could get for my week and borrowing on the next years points was 2 days in Vegas at the Polo Suites. Two days for 1 1/2 weeks? What a rip off!

Sounds identical to what we did last Thursday at Williamsburg, Va.

Don't do it!

These people seriously think that we all carry $33, 000 in our back pocket while on vacation, just in case - someone wants to sell 'Time Shares'. PLEASE don’t spoil your vacation for useless freebies they want to offer.

Here is our story:
We just wanted to spend a couple of days in Sedona and Grand Canyon and walked into a 'tourist info' center. Little did we realize that deception of Diamond Resort Internal had just begun! Mr. Nice guy - 'James' was very courteous to offer a FREE helicopter / tom car / jeep ride / free stay in Sedona, we just had to choose and we ended up falling for the helicopter ride. All these goodies just for us attending a NO high pressure ‘presentation’ of timeshares that will NOT exceed 90 minutes. Just to make sure that we attend the presentation and not bail, James did swipe our credit for $25 which will be refunded after the completion of the said ‘presentation’.
Our appointment was fixed at 1:00 PM and we had the privilege of meeting Ms. Suzanne around 1:40 PM. Ms. Suzanne was very apologetic because she closing a deal with a customer and was late. Now, let me attempt and introduce Ms. Suzanne. In her own words - Ms. Suzanne was Regional Director of Radio Shack, Manager at Vegas Casinos, had a high post in Marriott but YET she chose to be a ‘Real Estate Broker’ for Diamond Resorts International (DRI). She is a ‘been there done that’ and ‘seen it all’ kind of ‘(old) girl next door’ person. She loves what a great company DRI is and such wonderful things are being done under the leadership of their ‘Undercover Boss’ star CEO – Steve Cloobeck. The list of wonderful things started (and didn’t end) with the CEO hand picking the granite countertops, cabinets, bath tubs, coffeemaker and every other thing available at their resorts. In short, Steve runs a tight ship and with the customer at his heart, ALWAYS.
The presentation went on until a little over 4:00 PM and of course, the numbers come at the very end of the presentation as $$$$$ is not that important when compared to the dream and luxury that only DRI has to offer in the form timeshares. The real hard push started after 4:25 PM when Ms. Suzanne started getting restless hearing us say ‘NO – we will not buy it right now’ as we have other priorities in life. We were courteous in saying that this is a big decision involving $33, 000++ and we need to discuss privately, take a few days and we are not ready to sign on the dotted line. It was really hard for Ms. Suzanne to imagine that we were letting go of a wonderful opportunity to buy her timeshare for a meager $33, 000++. Honestly, who wouldn’t want an opportunity like that? In the end, after 15 minutes of showing us many ‘economical’ alternatives, ultimatums of ‘now or never offers’ and our repeated NO responses – Ms. Suzanne started getting nasty and tried to cross the line of decency by asking ‘don’t love your wife’ and ‘doesn’t she deserve this’? That pushed me over the edge and made me ‘teach the old dog (hag) some new tricks’. Immediately after that, Ms. Suzanne got up and said – ‘Sorry, if you felt this was a high pressured sales talk but I just don’t want you to miss this opportunity’. It really sounded to me like - ‘PLEASE buy something, I haven’t sold anything in months’. Off she goes for a quick smoke break but only after sending the ‘corporate guy’ to our table.

Corporate guy starts the conversation by asking how everything went on and whether everyone was courteous! After spending 4 hours having our brains picked, he offers us one last chance at the dream for just $2, 200++ and offers ‘Platinum’ membership at airports / airlines. These so called ‘Platinum’ membership gets you a free companion tickets to anywhere in the world, deep discounts on airfare anywhere from 70 – 90%. When I ask him for a real world example of what he is claiming the benefits of Platinum membership, he has ‘other’ customers to attend to and has no time for this. I can try it after 14 days, when my membership is active – provided I buy it immediately. I thanked him and told him that I will not buy the watered down version of timeshare and ‘Platinum’ membership for $2, 200 if cannot see the benefits myself. There ends our less than 90 minute, absolutely no pressure timeshare pitch by DRI. Oh, we heard a couple of champagne bottles being popped open during our presentation and round of applause followed. After reading the reviews on DRI, I only hope that people who apparently ‘closed the deal’ are either paid actors / employees of DRI posing as customers.
Mr. Corporate was kind enough to take us through the ‘backdoor’ to get us the voucher for the chopper ride and refund our $25 deposit.
Last but not the least, the freebie that we got for the helicopter ride was supposed to be 12 minute long. Apparently, for anyone that is being sent by DRI – ride is a magical full 3 minute one!
Be your own judge, is this worth it? While on your vacation, spend 5 – 6 hours for a 3 minute chopper ride?

We bought out Maui (same place) timeshare at about the same time - through Diamond (they were buying Suntera at the time). The Sellers lied and pressured us to buy. Now we find the same thing - the maintenance fees started at $400. (we were promised our fees would be about $300. to $400./year, but now the fees are $1800.+ (last year $1400.+). We are hoping that someone will file a Class Action lawsuit against Diamond Resorts. Please feel free to contact us at [protected] in Burnsville, Minnesota.

Yup, that is the way they do it lie till you buy, I think that is Diamond Resorts International's standard marketing slogan

"We'll Lie Till you Buy".

STAY AWAY FROM THESE HIGH PRESSURE SALES SCAMMERS

Concerned Vacation Owner

This has been the most frustrating company to deal with and is not professional. We are still Monach owners and since Diamond took over/purchased they stopped sending us invoices. Then would send us a statement with the late fee. After numerous phone calls with employees the frustration has grown. Each employee stated that we would be getting invoices, but then wouldn't get them. Their excuses were "Oh you requested paperless invoices...(no we did not!) just change the options on the website"...still no change! "- "Oh I see the problems (as they were looking at our account), I'll fix it and you will get mailed invoices"...once again, no change. I feel this is a business practice that is unethical.

Diamond cashed my check on 12/29/15 payment was due on Jan 1. On 1/20/15 received notice with $50 late fee . I called on 1/20 and said would not remove late fee., The check is sent to Houston address listed on my original bill and cashed, then info is sent to Vegas to be processed and entered that my fees are paid, took 10 days for processing. Now it shows its late only due to the sending of check from Houston to Vegas! This has happened for the last 2 years. All bills should have the Vegas address or you will be paying late charges.

Is this your scam on collecting late fees? Change the original bill to reflect the Vegas address where to send the maintenance fee's..

We are sorry if the billing dates caused any confusion. We are happy to explain why the dates are documented this way, and reassure you about our billing practices.

Each member or owner is sent an invoice for their monthly loan payment 21 days prior to the due date. If the balance due is not paid, the member or owner will receive an additional invoice the following month, (21 days prior to when the next payment would be due) and this invoice will detail the unpaid month’s due date. This continues for each subsequent month until the original invoice is paid.

For example, if the payment was due on 4/16/2011. An invoice would have been sent out on 3/26/2011. If the balance was not paid by 4/25/2011, (which is the date of the next invoice), the new statement would state that the payment was due on 4/16/2011.

We hope that helps explain, and we would be more than happy to discuss your account with you. Please just email us at HospitalityMgmt@diamondresorts.com.

I am not surprised at all. These people are the worst I have ever dealt with. File a complaint with the BBB.

It appears that the company may be using a debt collector.
I am writing to my MP in the hope she will be able to get Parliament to address the issue. If not, I will appraoch the BBC.
Dougc

Just walk away, they may call a few times and threaten you, but they have little recourse in collecting fees. If they report to the credit agencies, just write the credit agencies a letter explaining the reason you are not paying, they will not use it against your credit. I walked away they that is what happened

My guess is Patty o'l boy is packing his bags (with our cash) to go on a long trip... I wonder if he has enough points to be gone long enough for this to all blow over.

CVO

Hi all
Some good news from the UK. eg - TCA http://www.timeshare.org.uk/news.html
" Kings Ransome Holidays (Peachy Leisure) yesterday took a large number of its Members to Court in Manchester. Kings were attempting to claim back management fees and other monies from said Members.The Judge STRUCK out every claim, and told Kings they were liable for ALL defence costs, and ALL Legal costs."
It seems the LAW does not like scamming timeshare! It also just so happens that this company had the same contract type as the company for this thread. Shame on them!
Wheres duffy?

Have a look at www.canyoutrustthem.com and search Diamond resorts
Also look for the TODAY newspaper on St Maarten
Join www.drip.webs.com
Have a look at www.blogs.mirror.co.uk and Diamond resorts complaints
Over 137 pages...
Photo is after the FLOOD and the wall inside was soaked... the bathtub there since 1980 flooded us and downstairs... one week no one repaired it OVER $1200 in "Maintenance fees" where do they go to>>>Las Vegas

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2011/04/diamond-resorts-sends-in-debt.html

I too find myself in a similar situation. I deeded my share in an ILX resort to my ex partner via a Quit Claim Deed to my ex partner. He had assumed financial responsibility. Out of the blue, I receive an 'overdue' statement for January 2012 fees. I rang and spoke with an inept customer service rep. I explained that my share had been deeded and that I was no longer responsible. I pointed out that I am not responsible for the inaccurate records they accepted from ILX when they purchased the now bankrupt company. I made it abundantly clear that I am not and will not be held responsible. I provided them with the name and current address of my ex and informed them to contact him as their records will reflect he is financially responsible. I would like the CEO of Premier Vaction Collection to reply and explain why (a) their records are so inaccurate and (b) why their custome service reps are as inept as they are.

Don't give them a single penny. They won't be out of business soon enough for the thousands of members they've lied to all over the world.
Check all the complaints here and on the DRI Protesters Group website http://drip.webs.com/

I can not give you any legal advice.

With that said, If I were in your situation I would nicely tell them to go pound sand. They (the collections ppl) will use any tactic they can to try and get you to pay their extortion, I mean maintenance/assesment fees. If you signed and had a properly filed quit claimed deed giving your interval rights to your ex-wife you should be able to get that record as it should have been filed with the courts as a public record. You do not need to refile as once you properly file you are legally removed from the property and any legal obligations assessed against the property. Unfortunately the responsibility to prove it is on you, but that should not be a big issue.

Regardless of your quit claim status you need to dispute in writing to whomever sent you the collection notice. Send it certified mail Return receipt if possible. If you can obtain a certified copy of the quit claim deed include that with your written dispute. In your dispute you should state your reasons and that you have no intention of paying for property/services for which you have legally been release from obligation.

If it were me I would also kindly ask them NOT to contact me regarding this issue unless they have OTHER relevant information of financial obligation not absolved by the aforementioned Quit Claim Deed. This should prevent them from harassing you in the future. For more info on your rights as a consumer to dispute such a claim check out,

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs27-debtcoll.htm

or google debt collection rights, there is a bunch of info on the net about how to handle collections such as this.

Hope this helps

CVO

Diamond Resorts only cares about one thing and it is not their members...

$$$$

Here are some numbers that might make your head spin.

Currently DRI claims 1.4 million served annually (that is members and deeded folks that own at a DRI hijacked resort)

Now guestamate an average for fees charged (all 1.4 million are paying something to diamond for SERVICES)
lets use a number that is probably very conservative and also makes the math easier $1000.00/members and owners fees (number is more like 1200+) Some that own more points or weeks as the case might be are paying much more.

1, 400, 000 x 1000=1.4 BILLION dollars

Now you tell me what is DRIs incentive to buy back your points/deeded weeks (regardless of their actual value to you being near zero) to Diamond Ripsorts it is their biggest profit center and they need that extra bump to offset the sliding timeshare sales slump.

DRI has realized the best way to get new members is to acquire new resorts and bailout failing Vacation Clubs at ridiculous prices and then saddle the membership/affiliate owners with the cost of the overpaid acquistion.

Examples
2007 DRI bails out the failing Sunterror for 700 million (Wall Street experts say way over priced, google it) and kick starts DRIs own reign of terror.
2008 DRI failed attempt to pay 500 million for Bluegreen Resorts. Also deemed by Wall Street as over priced.

DRI has no problem overpaying because really it is you and I that must foot the bill.

Join DRIP.WEBS.com if you too have had enough of DRIs Fleecing, dont just read about the problem be part of the solution...

CVO