The Timeshare Company review: Horible Service / Rude Service 7

As a victim myself of one those ‘Rogue’ timeshare resorts, I followed this lawsuit from the beginning. The real story is that this case is a perfect example of the crisis this country is experiencing with regard to the justice system. Or as more and more people are calling it…the injustice system.
There were several things in George Hesselberg’s recent one-sided article about the June 24th Consent Judgment between the State of Wisconsin and Uri Fried’s companies (The Timeshare Company and The Timeshare Group) that were just plain wrong or that conveniently never made it into the article.
Most importantly, this new-on-the-job DOJ attorney was obviously trying to impress his new boss. Unfortunately, he did things backwards. For starters, he first filed the lawsuit and then afterwards did his investigative work. Backwards. And here’s the best one. Naturally, Mr. Fried and his attorney wanted to know how many complaints were filed against his company and by whom. But strangely the DOJ attorney refused to disclose the information (very weird, and illegal). After a good deal of legal badgering, the DOJ attorney was finally forced to disclose that there was only one complaint, that it was NOT from a consumer, that it was not in writing, and that it was NOT from someone in Wisconsin. The complaint came in the form of a phone call from an attorney representing a timeshare resort located in another state. Better still, this complaining attorney refused to put anything in writing (hmmmmmm). What’s wrong with this picture?
This is unheard of. You see, this case was brought by the department (DATCP) that is charged with protecting Wisconsin consumers. Every state has one. Typically, these departments don’t act on just a single complaint because single complaints usually stem from a simple misunderstanding or a bad customer service experience. However, when they receive hundreds of complaints about a single company, that’s when they might look into it. But in this case there were no Wisconsin consumer complaints made against Mr. Fried or his companies. None. In fact, neither Mr. Fried or his attorney are aware of any consumer complaints filed in any state. Considering that Mr. Fried has been in business for over twenty years, that might suggest that his customers are happy with his services. So, why was this lawsuit filed?

Debbie, I was curious as to whether or not you were still working with The Timeshare Company (aka: The Timeshare Group, We Sell Timeshares) to sell your Timeshare. I am experiencing a similar situatuion now (April 2016), whereas, I paid The Timeshare Group ($1, 410) and signed and executed all documents on August 21, 2015 for the "disposal" of my deeded week with Diamond Resorts. Now 8 months later, Diamond Resorts refuses to complete the transfer because they said that The Timeshare Group has multiple delinquent accounts and is a fraudulent company (no matter how professional they appear). The 2016 maintenance fees and now "late fees" continue to accrue and go unpaid on the Diamond Resort week, which the Deed has been transferred and recorded out of my name on Oct 8, 2015.
I'm beginning to investigate the formal complaints and practices of The Timeshare Group (registered under 4 different names and up to 23 LLC's) and found this information from the State of Wisconsin which I have copied and pasted below for you and other victims to be aware of:

Wisconsin Department of Justice files Suit
Date of Action: 6/25/2015
On June 25, 2015, the Wisconsin Department of Justice ("WI DOJ"), filed a complaint in Dane County Circuit Court against Uri Fried, owner of The Timeshare Group, Inc, and the Timeshare Company, LLC. The suit alleges that Fried and his companies engaged in a pattern and practice of violations of Wisconsin consumer protection laws in connection with their marketing and sale of "timeshare transfer" services to customers in Wisconsin and nationwide. Fried offered "timeshare transfer" services for customers who owned timeshares in both deeded and non-deeded jurisdictions. Upon contact by an interested customer, or upon referral by a third-party partner, Fried assembled information and documents regarding the customer's timeshare ownership. According to the complaint, if the timeshare was deeded, Fried prepared a Warranty Deed describing the conveyance of the timeshare owners interest to a limited liability company ("LLC") that was created and controlled by Fried. If the timeshare was not deeded, Fried filled out whatever transfer form was used at the customer's resort, requesting ownership be changed into the name of one of Fried's LLCs.

According to the complaint, Fried created at least 23 LLCs registered with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, with the registered agent being himself or one of his employees. The LLCs were created to hold transferred timeshares. After transferring the timeshare into one of these LLCs, the entity ceased to take any action to exercise the rights and responsibilities of ownership, such as paying annual fees or taxes. As some timeshare resorts began to recognize these LLCs, they refused to accept the transfer paperwork.

As well, according to the complaint, some of the timeshares Fried transferred into his LLCs were later marketed on Ebay for sale.

In addition, postcards were directly mailed to individuals nationwide. The postcards had a variety of claims on them regarding timeshare disposal. In the complaint, it is alleged that these claims are false, deceptive, or misleading; in particular, many customers would incur late fees and other charges for missed maintenance payments as a result of the refusal of the resort to recognize the transfer, even though the postcard claimed a customer could dispose of a timeshare for "only $585."

The State is seeking permanent injunctive relief, civil forfeitures, and restitution for any persons who suffered a loss as a result of the defendants' alleged illegal acts.

We contacted The Timeshare Company after reading reviews. We did all the paperwork and paid the fees. The process was straightforward. Sadly, the crooks at our resort absolutely refused to accept the transfer of deed and continue to threaten and harass us. Here is what is important about The Timeshare Company: They did not take our money and go away. The answered every call and email and still do. They gave us suggestions for dealing with our "Rogue Resort" at every turn. Our resort is not in the US and we had less legal basis to assert our rights . So, for now, our dishonest resort has won. True to their promise, one week after we notified The Timeshare Company that we were not getting anywhere with getting the resort off our backs, we had a refund of every penny we paid them. They took no fees for the time they spent on us, and their was no delay for "processing." They emailed us a form, we signed it and scanned it back, and we have every penny back. This company may not win every battle, but they have integrity. I recommend them.

I purchased a timeshare from The Timeshare Company, LLC several years ago. I thought the price to be great and the closing was much faster than I expected. My family and I used the timeshare every year, but when the kids were grown up we didn't need it any more. So we called The Timeshare Company again, this time wanting to get rid of our timeshare as we were no longer using it and didn't want to pay the maintenance fees year after year. They were happy to hear from us again and gave us a 'repeat customer' discount on the fee to dispose of our timeshare, far less than the other companies that gave us quotes to do the same thing. They handled it quickly and we were done. This was just last month. There may be alot of bad guys in the timeshare business, but we found these guys to be one of the good ones.

After they disposed of an unwanted timeshare for my mother in 2003 I referred this company to do several timeshare transfers for many of my clients over the years and have not heard a single complaint. In a few cases I have dealt directly with their office on behalf of my clients and found them to be quite knowledgeable, and responsive. Any issues that came up were handled quickly and I was always kept abreast of the progress of each file. That alone was very impressive. If anyone has a problem with this company I would imagine that it is a rare occurence.

I purchased two timeshares from the Time share company, and they were efficient, professional and friendly. I did have a slight problem, which they took care of in a reasonable amount of time.

This customer is extremely aggressive, irrational and painfully uncooperative. His expectations are extraordinarily unreasonable. His phone demeanor was so crass and vulgar that we had to ask our staff to refuse his calls. While we are extraordinarily customer service oriented, we do not allow our employees to be subjected to irrational tirades such as this customer continues to display.