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Diamond Resorts

Diamond Resorts review: foreclosure without notification! 137

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Author of the review
8:11 am EDT
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This is my third attempt to correct this grave error that has occurred - resulting in our apparent loss of ownership. We discovered this on our own, when considering booking a Sunterra resort in Scottsdale, AZ next week. We learned that over that past year our deed had a lien placed on it and then was foreclosed on in August (according to Douglas County records - even though we were told that it happened in Clark county). Here are the facts, as brief as I can be:

We have owned since 2003
Bought in Sedona, AZ - 5000 points
Ownership fully paid for
Used only 4 times
Had over 6300 points when our membership was "closed"
NEVER CONTACTED BY RIDGE POINT REGARDING MAINTENANCE FEES - BILL, PASSED DUE, LIEN, ETC.
Continually received mailings, notifications, emails and bills from Sunterra
All bills paid
According to the dates in the legal system, we have been billed, communicated with, and paid fees even after we apparently lost our property
Our ownership cancellation was never reported to us - from Ridge Pointe, Resorts West, Sunterra or Diamond Resorts.

We have invested over $11, 000 for less than 4 weeks of travel, paid all membership fees and apparently missed maintenance fees after having never been billed. Our credit has been impacted without our knowledge and our asset has been taken from us - due to mistakes and lack of communication - between Resorts West and Sunterra/Diamond and the owner.

We have been told, "Sorry, we sold it." And, "yeah, we shouldn't have billed you; we'll reimburse your membership fees." We want our points and our good standing reestablished, with the opportunity to pay missed maintenance fees. We have outstanding credit and aside from our mortgage, have paid for all that we own in full. I share this because to reinforce the fact that we pay our bills and would have paid maintenance fees - we were never given the chance and someone needs to accept responsibility rather than blaming each other and/or the owner.

Please, someone "step up and make this right." This is a plea for various parties to work together to get our owner status restored, including our maintenance fees paid by us. I am hoping that upon review, all will recognize their mistakes, accept responsibility and collaborate to get our full ownership status with Sunterra/Diamond back ASAP - with the points we had when it was closed.

The above is the most patient and kind request I can make.

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137 comments
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ajmitchell77
Floyds Knobs, US
Mar 04, 2009 11:15 am EST

My wife and I are in the same situation. I contacted the lawyer heading up the UK suit and he implied US may or may not be different, depending on your contract. I stopped paying this year and hope they just foreclose. I have a points based contract purchased in Sedona. Our credit has already been hit, but I am OK with that as long as they eventually foreclose and I can rebuild. Not looking to get a loan anytime soon. Anyway, I would love to get a class action suit going.

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Mlfreis
Irvine, US
Mar 04, 2009 7:07 am EST

I am interested in joining a lawsuit against Diamond Resorts. I have not invested as much as others in the initial purchase, as I purchased on ebay, however, my maintenance fees have doubled and are excessive for the accommodations available, if available. They rent the units out to others for less than what we pay in maintenance fees. They can charge us whatever they want with no accountability. My timeshare is only the US collection and I can stay in only 16 locations. My mom"s plan with Diamond resorts you can use with Interval International, however, if she sells it this option is none transferrable. The new owner can not use the Interval International option unless it is given to a relative. They do not tell you this when you purchase either.

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eac
Pasadena, US
Mar 03, 2009 4:35 pm EST

Our story is likely a familiar one to all of you. My wife and I bought a timeshare at the Diamond Resorts property in Sedona, AZ in 2008. We have yet to vacation on it, but have been hit with a 35% and 40% annual increase in maintenance fees, which we are required to pay in order to preserve the original investment (roughly $13, 000). These fee hikes have destroyed the value proposition for the original purpose (i.e., saving money on vacations), since the maintenance fees are now as much as we typically spend on our week of vacation. During the sales pitch, which centered on the cost saving of owning versus buying hotels in an environment of 10-15% yoy increases in vacationing costs, we specifically asked about the annual rates of increase in maintenance and other annual fees, and we were assured that these costs had and would continue to rise at low single digit rates. This was obviously was a fraudulent statement, which the customer service representative at Diamond said should not have been made. The problem is that Diamond is not taking responsibility for what is essentially a deceptive trade practice. Having attended multiple time share presentations, it is clear that all of them offer the same economic savings argument during the sales pitch--an argument that is made fraudulent in light of these fee increases. As an aside, I do not understand how these cost increases are approved, especially since Diamond claims that a subset of the owners (like my wife and I) have approved them. This could be another fraudulent statement, as I cannot imagine which owners would have signed off on such dramatic increases in maintenance fees. I am also willing and eager to join any lawsuit that is filed and hope that everyone posting here has also filed a complaint with the Nevada Attorney's General Office and its Division on Consumer Affairs (see http://ag.state.nv.us/complaints/complaints.htm).

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h500r
York, US
Mar 02, 2009 8:49 am EST

hi,
I am a culb member and have had nothing but trouble with
this outfit.
I can no longer afford this, anyone know how to get out of this ?
thanks

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scamdiamond
, CA
Feb 23, 2009 10:40 pm EST

I just want to pass on a few web sites with other cpmplaints.

The first two are the Mirror Newspaper in the UK. There is a group organising there through a laywer. We need to work together and be coordinated.

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2008/11/no-answers-from-diamond-resort.html#comments

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2008/12/answers-some-anyway-from-diamo.html

http://www.redweek.com/forums/messages?thread_id=14638;page=2;query=

Let's keep up the pressure

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richguypoor
Nowhere, US
Feb 19, 2009 11:34 pm EST

My biggest complaint with this company is that they don't tell you before you sink all the money into this that the chances of getting the dates you want are almost nil. Even if you try to book as far in advance as the system allows, you can't get into a decent resort. Interval is even worse. Their rep told me that 99% of openings in the Cancun / Caribbean are studio units with a double bed. That is worthless to me. I got into this because I thought it would be a good way to travel and see alot of new places. Problem is, you can't go if you can't get a reservation. I'm all for the class action suit, though i"m sure they've got the 'fine print' covered and there is probably nothing any lawyer can do to them. richguypoor@yahoo.

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lepreshaun
Dublin, US
Feb 19, 2009 4:50 pm EST

We are experiencing an ongoing battle with Diamond Resorts over our timeshare in Hawaii. We converted to the "point system" last March when they acquired our Home Resort. They immediately began trying to collect a second maintenance fee for 2007, have raised our maintenance fees from $600 every other year to $1200+ EVERY year and, as of this writing still have not credited our account with the points due us for 2007 or the bonus points that we were entitled to in "upgrading" our contract. Despite the points awards being written into the contract and the contract clearly stating that the 2007 maintenance fee was already paid, they claim that the sales people "weren't authorized" to make that offer so therefore the contract terms that benefit us aren't redeemable. They seem to think that the rest of the contract (the part that benefits them) is ok though. So, by their way of thinking, we get no points, we get no vacation and they still get the money. Wow. Do they really think ANYONE is that dumb? From reading these comments as well as the comments on other sites, ours is not an isolated case of employee ineptitude but a Corporate mentality of trickery, deceit and outright theft. I, for one, will be happy to join in any attempt to file suit against these criminals!

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scam diamond
xxx, US
Feb 16, 2009 1:50 pm EST

We have similar complaints to many of the above. We need to be in touch . There is a UK group starting up however they are basically dealing with UK sign contracts. We need a group going in Us. Lets try and contact eachother and move forward

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Kyle
South Riding, US
Feb 07, 2009 10:12 pm EST

Just got a letter dated January 6th, 2009 that we were late with our payment. The POSTMARK was 2/3/09. We've only been members since May and I'm ready to throw in the towel with the chaos and horrendous service.

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starshowtlc
, US
Feb 07, 2009 4:38 pm EST

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT! In an effort to escape Diamond Resorts, I along with others desire to file a class action lawsuit against DRI. Based on fraudulent sales practices, and lack of resonable value for payment. Sounds so simple, but I assure you it is not. We are requesting all with like complaints to join us in this effort. The more people we have participating the stronger our position becomes. Please respond with your email address, and prefferably a phone number to Tom Cline my email address is starshowtlc@yahoo.com

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jumba
Phx, US
Feb 04, 2009 11:16 pm EST

Diamond Resort/Sunterra- great scam. Beware everybody and let all your friends and family to stay away from timeshare. We just stop paying this year 2009, no way I would give $1000+ for ridiculous annual fee and then club due. Owned it for 12 years and extremely frustrating in using even our resort. Paid last year claim they will try to book us(beg of January), the year had passed and nothing. So we just refuse to pay. They never send any communication at all. Besides, our contract is with Sunterra not Diamond Resort. We have the original paper. Per law, acquiring company should communicate to all owner and we never get one.

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Wamsley
Ridgefield Park, US
Jan 29, 2009 10:04 pm EST

I just had Diamond Resorts grab my resort as well...they have all my info but never contacted me to tell me that I was behind on my maint payment. I actually paid Sunterra in February 2008 and they talked us into upgrading to Diamond Resorts and getting more points because their new membership allowed for more versatility with the points. They sent me a notice of foreclosure in August which I thought was a mistake. When I tried to book a vacation they told me I didn't have a membership with them, it was cancelled. I also wanted to rectify the mistake, obviously we were still paying our loan after their only attempt to contact us went unanswered. I owned my time share for 12 years, how can you not accept payment within the year of the dues? What a scam!

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Helen Compton Jensen
West Yarmouth, US
Jan 29, 2009 1:29 pm EST

I have never been able to see status of my account online; my fees are going up 30% per year; they send invoices by emails, which I never see; and they give you confirmation numbers for "0 balance" which doesn't exist. When I called last time I was told I had a balance I did nort know about. Moreover if I send them something by mail, even using the envelope that comes with their printed material, I am told they never received it.I can never get satisfaction when I call. On my last call I was told a LATE FEE (on a balance I did not know I had) was being imposed THAT DAY; but when I said "Ok, I'll pay the balance now, please do not assess the late fee", they said NO! And above all else-- I never receive any statement at all on my mortgage balance-- nor can I find out who they are now so I can write or call! I want OUT but I can not even get information as to howb to go about it. HOW ABOUT A CLASS ACTION SUIT? Does anyone have an attorney who wants to take this on?

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harry
, US
Jan 24, 2009 3:37 pm EST

my complaint is their non disclaimer regarding the ARC fee that supposed to be optional. If you decide to go paperless and recieve a bill, this bill is not itemized, You must request an itemized bill. Know that the ARC fee is OPTIONAL, Although it is only $10.00 it is principal.
I paid my bill only to realize this was optional, but after contacting Diamond (rip-off) Resorts the were quick to respond with once you pay there is no way to recieve a credit. BEWARE if you wanna pay this bill excellent, but if it is an option shouldn't people be told that?
Diamon Rip-Off has been the worst experience I have ever had. I bought this time share yhinking it was a great deal..but as the saying goes..if it sounds good it probaly is.

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starshowtlc
Powell, US
Dec 21, 2008 12:49 pm EST

If any others have horror stories about sunterra or diamond resorts please post them as I'm sure it will help my lawsuit against them. As matter of fact, please feel free to e-mail me with such communique at; starshowtlc@yahoo.com

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starshowtlc
Powell, US
Dec 21, 2008 12:41 pm EST

We own at Sedona Ridge Golf Resort we were told we would always be able to book into our home resort. We purchased in 2000, we have never been able to get into our home resort, yes I said NEVER! The maintenance fees have nearly doubled in 8 years . Now they have started charging miscellanious fees, who knows for what. And membership in '"The Club"" is required to book into any exchange resort, for which a membership fee is required, as well as an exchange fee. This is nothing but a scam mnoey pitt. We bought from Sunterra, now Diamond Resort. The new parent corperation with whom nothing has gotten better, but maybe worse. We are present looking for an escape route, toward that end we have hired an attorney. The sales pitch has turned out to be fraudulent. And the terms and conditions of ownership have not been met or fulfilled. For what this type of vacation ownership cost one is better served by an independent travel agency.

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John Murgatroyd
,
Jun 11, 2008 8:32 am EDT

I purchased 10, 000 points with Sunterra whilst staying at their resort in Mougins France two years ago. I have had one vacation with them costing 10000 points at their suites at the Intercontinental Hotel in Malta. I did like Malta though and have subsequently moved here permanently.
The suites were good but the outlook from the windows was over a wreck of a house in the background.
The cooking facilities were minimal and we set off the fire alarm twice trying to do some cooking in the suite. Since then I have been billed for an extra amount of fees this year on top of the £600+ yearly fee and everytime I try to book with them there are no vacancies (except in America a country I would not go to from choice).
I believe Diamond resorts are just there to grab as much money from the "punter" as possible and if you dont pay up they confiscate your so called benefits. I would dispose of my timeshare tomorrow if I thought I could recover some the money I wasted buying it! But who could I trust to pay me for it and who would want it?