Diamond Resorts
reviews and complaints

On September 11, I enthusiastically paid the deposit and filled out the contract. As the days passed, I began to call customer service which never answered me. I went to the Hotel in Orlando after several calls and they couldn't help me. At the sale they told me that they would always communicate with me in Spanish and then tell me that they don't speak Spanish. They have never offered me any service or to cancel but they charged me for the first month. This is an uncomfortable situation and it should be clarified this is my last resort and then I go directly to the BBB so that they can help me.

They forced us to sign a contract when all we wanted to do was go parasailing for our anniversary. Now we fight every month to pay our mortgage because they keep stealing out of our account. I have called them I have emailed them I have sent them letters and I have asked them to please stop stealing from us and they won’t. They are stealing from a blind and deaf veteran with melanoma. While my mom was on life support in South America they took advantage of that situation and stole $900 out of my account (my mortage payment) because I was not monitoring my account. My mom passed away. Now I’m dealing with my mom and my dads passing while fighting them for my $900 back so I do not become homeless. Now I have to find a lawyer. Now I have to close all my bank account and open new ones. Now I have to sell my car to keep my house. Diamond resorts is a scam and they know it. This will be on the news.

They forced us to sign a contract when all we wanted to do was go parasailing for our anniversary. Now we fight every month to pay our mortgage because they keep stealing out of our account. I have called them I have emailed them I have sent them letters and I have asked them to please stop stealing from us and they won’t. They are stealing from a blind and deaf veteran with melanoma. While my mom was on life support in South America they took advantage of that situation and stole $900 out of my account (my mortage payment) because I was not monitoring my account. My mom passed away. Now I’m dealing with my mom and my dads passing while fighting them for my $900 back so I do not become homeless. Now I have to find a lawyer. Now I have to close all my bank account and open new ones. Now I have to sell my car to keep my house. Diamond resorts is a scam and they know it. This will be on the news.

I had a all points cruise I booked thru diamond resorts it was 17000 points and it was with royal caribbean to alaska for 1 week in June 2020. Due to covid, all the alaskan cruises were shut down. I called diamond and got my port fees back but I never got my points back. every time I call, which has been MANY! I get the run around and transferred from department to department has been escalated to supervisors but I am still OUT 17000 points I want them back or a equivalent cruise very frustrated that I cannot get answers supervisor assured me he would look into it and call me back still waiting

A friend and I purchased membership with Diamond Resorts. Our last visit in October 2021 was terrible. The accommodations at Palm Canyon Resort have deteriorated. We were there for 3 weeks, and it was frustrating to get our room cleaned during our stay. We were told we were going to a member update and again we were subjected to high pressured sales. We've been trying to terminate our membership for almost a year.

The company has changed ownership twice since we joined and is now owned by Hilton. It is nearly impossible to book at a resort that can accommodate two women traveling together by having inventory that has 2 Bedrooms and 2 Bathrooms. If there are rooms matching that requirement, they are no available.

We had been told about how much more would be available should we increase the number of points we owned. As a result, we continued to purchase points and found that we still couldn't find what we wanted. There is no documentation of these discussions. Salespeople sketch things out on blank pieces of paper that never become part of your file. All those promises are worthless at the end of the day.

Joint ownership in Diamond has proven to be difficult and expensive for us. We are two widowed women who just wanted to vacation together. We are continually told we cannot terminate our membership as the contract we signed is clear. No compassion or customer compassion with this company.

While we have repeatedly asked to be released from our ownership, and have made our displeasure known, we continually receive emails promoting "specials". It's like adding gasoline to a fire

My husband and I believe that Diamond Resorts International has misrepresented their goods and services in the sales presentation to us.

We purchased a package with the Diamond Resorts Travel Services, in Va Beach, VA, for the purpose of using the points to travel in areas not having the Diamond Resorts timeshares since we reside in the west and have other timeshares. We were told both in the sales presentation and when checking motels online, that we would get the best price possible. The prices I looked up online however, were in general substantially less than the prices DRI customer service quoted me. In addition, I couldn’t use my points for more than half of any travel cost. The package saved me nothing. The sales representative in 2021 talked on and on about all the money you would save.

2. We first had a terrible experience after purchasing the package, in that we were forced to both attend another sales meeting while using a "free introductory 4 day package” last year. It was not disclosed previously that we had to attend a sales presentation. Instead of one hour, we had to endure four hours as we continually pleaded for them to let us go. We were promised that my husband could check in with me and then return to the room where we stayed since he has IBS and pain. Instead, he had to sit in a chair for 4 hours in agony. Their goal was to have us increase our loan total to $30,000 instead of the $14,316.56 price we paid. We refuse to go through any situation like that again. These methods are unfair and unlawful.

3. We have not used our points. This membership is useless to us since we can’t use it the way we were promised. One year’s maintenance fee does not cover 1 week’s hotel cost (even a one room $160/night), nor one week of a Rental car in Orlando, FL, where we go yearly 4110 points + $892.00) nor even one half of the cost of a flight for us to go to Orlando and back when we go (3,882 points plus $844.02).

This is unacceptable and we feel scammed. For these reasons we request a refund of the monies we have paid, and a cancellation of our contract. Thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

Diamond resorts is a scam. We bought a package for Las Vegas. Unfortunately, after traveling 9 hours by car. We discovered our son had covid the night we arrived. Concerned for the staff and guests, we left the next day back home. The staff at the hotel were very understanding and thanked us for leaving. The manager told us to call diamond resorts for a possible refund.

Diamond resorts refused to move dates of our package or refund even with these circumstances. The caller said he hoped we enjoyed our stay. What kind of sadistic person says that?

I have been a member since June of 2021 and irs been nothing but lies. I was told there were 1000's of available properties, I would save money on my vacations, that I could access Hilton properties starting in April of 2022. In reality there is only a handful of run down properties available, the nice properties have availability if you reserve through places like Expedia but not through Diamond, booking through places like hotels.com can get you the same property for less than the maintenance fees! Our "dream" vacation was a nightmare after my arthritis medication was stolen by the bell hops at the hotel. I have contacted every level of management and get nothing but excuses and sorry nothing we can do. Thousands of dollars wasted!

In Tahoe at diamond resorts for 3 days and I couldn't even go out on the balcony the one thing I enjoy because you had your Mexican worker staring up at me you had your Mexican workers hit my husband's car a year ago that cost us $3,000 I now have a trip there for a whole week free because my client has timeshare with you guys and I won't even go that's pretty bad,

I am writing in severe disappointment over the lack of operational execution, transparency, and integrity shown by Diamond Resorts since our contract finalized only two months ago.

During the presentation, our Sales Representative (Rob Eltz) made a couple statements to us that the company has not fulfilled. First, he stated that the company would cover ALL our transportation costs while we were in Las Vegas. This included the Uber rides to and from the airport as well as during our stay. He attempted to link us up with the company's Flex ride program, which worked for a day - but after that he told me to just e-mail him receipts of all Uber/cab rides and we'd be reimbursed. Second, he told us that we'd receive a tablet in the mail in 4-6 weeks that we would use to go over all orientation information.

I e-mailed him all the Uber receipts for reimbursement on March 25th and we exchanged text messages over the subsequent weeks, but the reimbursements never came. Neither did the tablet.

On April 25th, I text him yet again asking for updates on both. He responded the next day telling me he'd look into it and follow up with me. That was the last time I ever heard from him.

About a week later, I get a phone call from a woman named Kim with Hilton telling me that I need to book my orientation trip or we'd lose it. I was confused because I hadn't heard anything about an orientation trip, but I scheduled one anyways because I was told I could reschedule if necessary at no additional cost. This cost me $150 to book.

A couple days later, Kim calls back telling me that I need to authorize her to allow for phone calls, otherwise she can't talk to me over the phone and probably shouldn't have called the other day. I tell her that authorization is fine.

It's at this time that I start getting really uncomfortable with the company. We decide we don't want to be part of a company that is so mismanaged and unable to live up to even the simplest promises made at the very beginning of our agreement.

On May 9th I tried calling Diamond Resorts to cancel our membership. The phone number that is listed on the Diamond Resorts congratulations letter sent me to a call center for Hilton, who said they cannot help me since I'm actually a member of Diamond Resorts. They gave me a phone number for Diamond and transferred me. I waited on hold for 15 minutes before finally reaching a representative at Diamond Resorts that told me that she couldn't help me and needed to transfer me to the Transitions team. Again, I was given a phone number and waited on hold for probably another 15 minutes before I had to hang up and take care of other business. I found a page on the Diamond Resorts website that allowed me to submit information directly to the Transitions team with my concerns. I submitted my information and requested a full refund since we were brand new and hadn't received any benefits or taken any trips. I was surprised that no e-mail was automatically generated stating that the information was received or that someone would be following up with me.

On May 12th, after hearing nothing back from the Transitions team or our Sales Rep, I called the Transitions Team again. At 11:18am EST on a Thursday, there's an automatic message stating that it's outside of business hours and to leave a message and a representative would call me back within a day or two. However, this didn't allow me to leave a voicemail and instead redirected me back to Hilton. Here we go again. Hilton can't help, so they transfer me. The person they transfer me to can't help, so they have me hold the line until noon, when someone would finally pick up the phone. Eventually I spoke with Tara McGrath at the Transitions team. She tells me that this is the wrong team because this is for people who have had their contracts for at least 6 months. She doesn't even see that the message I sent from their website was ever received, so she crafts an e-mail and sends it to the Assistance team. I'm told to await their response, which may take a week to 10 days.

On Friday, May 13th, I'm contacted by Samantha Giles from the Assistance team. I go over everything with her and tell her I can forward all the text messages between Rob Eltz and myself. She also confirms that the message I sent through the website was received by the Transitions team and forwarded to them. Why didn't Tara from the Transitions team see this? I have no idea. I forward all text messages to Samantha the next day.

The following Monday, Samantha responds via e-mail to tell me she sent my request to the Sales site for consideration but it was declined due to being past the 5-day rescission period. The tablet was held up due to supply chain issues (if that was the case, why was that never told to me?). She said the company only allows for one ride to be covered, so Rob must have been making a personal offer to reimburse everything else (does this company actually allow its sales reps to pay out of pocket to prospective clients?). They'd refund me one trip for $32 (which still hasn't happened), look to see if they have a tablet to send (which I still haven't received), and offer us a 'free' 5-day 4-night stay for our troubles.

I respond to Samantha stating that this is not acceptable to us. It took longer than 5 days to realize how incapable this company is at living up to their statements. I don't want one Uber trip to be reimbursed, I don't want the tablet, and I don't want a 'free' trip. I want to cancel our membership due to the overwhelmingly awful experience we've had. And going through all this is just making it worse. I ask Samantha to escalate this matter and that I wanted to speak with a decision maker. She responds only to say that it was reviewed by the highest form of resolution and request was denied.

So now I'm looking through my contract and everything that was provided to us during the presentation and I come across the 'Diamond Clarity Promise - DiamondRESPECT' page. This page talks about Transparency, Integrity, and Directness; which are three things I've found to be lacking in our experience. This page states that other companies make promises, but this company delivers. It says if our expectations haven't been met since day 1, I should contact their 'Consumer Advocacy Channel. I write an extensive e-mail about all the issues above and the e-mail comes back as 'Undeliverable'! Apparently this is just one more sham in a long line of dishonest sales practices that this company is becoming known for.

Hello,

We were there attending a sales presentation. We denied the sales presentation, but another rep came over to offer us a sampler package. For $2500, he said he would give us 2 free roundtrip southwest airline tickets and 30 nights worth of stays. He said we only had to attend a 55 minute presentation on the first visit at one of their limited locations, then we could travel to any one of their other locations. I asked him several times about this to have him clarify that we only had to attend one sales presentation on the 1st visit. He repeatedly confirmed we only had to attend it on our 1st visit. Fast forward two months later to now when we called to actually starting booking and we were told by two other people that is in fact NOT TRUE and we do have to attend a presentation every time. This is unacceptable and I feel scammed out of $2500.

I was a co-signer for my wife’s account. Diamond resorts took out all the payments through direct deposit EXCEPT for the LAST PAYMENT. Now this LATE payment ended in collections and on my credit report. Last payment was made but they won’t give me a letter stating that I was a co-signer and that the account is PAID IN FULL. I’m having all types of credit issues with loans because of this matter that THEY CREATED.

DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM.

Worst company ever! We have made countless complaints to Diamond Resorts on the sheer fact of how everything that our salesman Craig Miller promised was an absolute fabrication. Please do not fall for any of their lies! You can not book whenever, wherever you want. Your rates will continue to go up. The salespeople will do WHATEVER it takes to get your money. We feel like we have done nothing but set our money on fire! The company is unwilling to work with anyone who is in need of getting rid of their timeshare if they do not have everything paid off, so do not let anyone tell you otherwise. We have received a letter stating that they would be automatically terminating the account. Yet nothing has been done and they continue to hold us hostage. We have even made it clear to them that in some of our documents that the dates are wrong from the date that we actually signed, which would make it null and void, and they still refuse to do anything about it. They continue to tell us that they stand firm in their decision that they will not grant cancellation out of their rescission period even after receiving the letter that they are terminating the account. They have told us that they consider the matter resolved. THE MATTER IS NOT RESOLVED! This has in turn hurt our livelihood and our business. Whoever thinks that a timeshare will not impact your personal life and your job, think again. These people will scam you out of your money quickly to watch you struggle so that their greedy hands can profit.

I have been with this company for 17 years. Always paid on time. They botched my wife & I anniversary vacation to Hawaii in December. I complained many times and finally got a verbal resolution. In the mean time I held up my dues and they are trying to charge me $959.16 for being late.

They are now part of Hilton vacations. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY. Their service has gone down hill in the past year. If you want service go elsewhere.

Now they have locked me out of my account. 17 years paying them and the service has gone to 0.

I made a reservation, confirmation number ending in 3337, on March 17th, 2022. On that day, I also purchased a reservation protection plan for $160. I need to cancel my reservation but I was told that I can't cancel because I needed to cancel within a certain window. But due to the fact that I would be checking in on April 17th, I do not fall within the cancellation window.

This is what I was told by the agent:

Your reservation is protected by a Reservation Protection Plan. Should you need to cancel your reservation; you must cancel your reservation 31 days or more before the check in date to receive 100% of your points. If cancelled less than 30 days prior to arrival, 100% of your points will be lost.

March 17th - April 17th is 30 days; thus I wouldn't be able to cancel in a realistic amount of time. Therefore, I shouldn't have been charged $160. The agent, Aimee Najera, insisted that my purchase was non-fundable. This is also unfair because I essentially purchased something I could not use. Thus, I am requesting either my reservation be canceled and I receive my points back (which I own). I have proof of purchase of the trip insurance. I have been a member since 2008 without incident or complaint. However, I am willing to take this as far as I must because this is akin to fraud, charging me for something that I can not use.

Please contact me via email or cell phone as soon as possible so that we may rectify this situation expeditiously. I am also attaching a copy of the chat where I was unceremoniously disconnected by the customer service representative.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

Dr. Keri Orange-Jones

My husband and I purchased a resort back in 2019. From the time we signed on the dotted line we have had nothing but problems! They want us to keep spending money but not accommodate us. We were told we could bank points to keep them from expiring, we did so, now they are telling us that we have 15,000 points that have expired because we have to bank each year? No one told us this and it’s insane that we have to deal with this crap! Diamond needs to do better! We spend over a thousand dollars a year for maintenance fees but the rooms are nasty and dirty! Sales team can’t take a “NO” and move on! It’s exhausting dealing with Diamond Resorts! Owners don’t always want to sit in a room being pressured to buy things sometimes people just want to take a vacation and relax without the hassle! That’s why people take vacations.

I have recently stayed in an apartment at Thurnham Hall, and have had a stay which wasn't great, in fat it was disgusting.

I have raised a complaint with the property (as below) and have also raised a complaint with Booking.com however I do not seem to be getting anywhere.

I have attached photographs from arrival.

Sequence of events:

I arrived at the property around 7pm to check in. Once checked in we headed to the apartment in which myself, my mum and my brother arrived at the apartment at about 7:10pm, I took a few quick photos on arrival.

Reception called to the apartment to check all was okay and I'd said that so far things looked great but that we had only just got in.

We all had a cup of tea then headed over to The Stork at 8pm for some food.

Upon arrival back to the apartment at around 9:45pm, my mum took her suitcase into the master bedroom to get changed into her nightwear. She alerted me of the several dead flies, and a couple of flies which were still flying around the room.

I called straight to reception to inform them of the issue, and I was just asked to sweep them up using the dustpan and brush. I advised there were many flies and that several were still alive, so reception said they would send someone to the room.

When the lady got to the apartment, again she asked why they could not be swept, but upon showing her the room and the several flies, she also seemed shocked (I cannot remember the name of this lady). She swept up several dead flied from the floor, windowsill and on-suite and sprayed some which were still alive. She insisted that the flies would have come through the window whilst being open, as housekeeping wouldn't leave that many. I told this lady that we hadn't opened the windows, and that all doors in the property had been kept closed.

The lady even found a fly underneath a pillow, picked this up and put into a bag.

Before leaving she sprayed the room with fly spray.

An hour later, before my mum headed to bed, I had checked the room and had found a further 7 dead flies. Again - no windows or doors had been opened.

During the whole stay my mum was extremely paranoid about more flies being in the bedroom, yet throughout the whole stay, no further flies were found anywhere in the apartment.

I am extremely disappointed that the staff member had assumed that we had windows open, and I had spent some time looking through the photographs i had taken on the initial arrival. I had noticed that some flies could be seen when zoomed in on the photographs - so it was clear that the flies had been there upon our initial arrival, and so must have been in the apartment when cleaned by housekeeping.

I also found it disgusting that no offer was made to change the bedding or offer any kind of compensation.

Prior to departing the apartment, I called down to reception to advise that we were leaving and that the keys were in the room. On this call, the receptionist had seen the complaint that I had sent over through the chat on booking.com (as below) and advised that someone would be in contact with me on Monday regarding this.

I had followed up this complaint due to not hearing anything to be told that this needs to be passed further. I have raised this with booking.com and would like to be compensated by receiving a full refund for this stay.

We left the property in an immaculate condition, removed rubbish from the kitchen, and I had even stripped any used bedding and left in piles by the doors. (Photos also attached).

_______________________________

Booking.com chat log to Thurnham Hall:

27 Mar 2022

To whom it may concern,

Upon arrival to the complex everything seemed wonderful, however as we didnt arrive until 7pm to check in, we got to the apartment, put out cases into the hallway and took a few quick photos.

We had a phone to see how everything was and I said it was great - this was based on brief inspection.

We had a drink in the lounge then went out to the Stork at Conder Green due to not having anything for dinner yet and it being recommended on the information.

Upon returning back to the apartment my mum headed into the master bedroom and noticed several dead flies in the room, and a couple flying around.

We hadn't had any windows open, and had not had doors open to allow any flies into the apartment.

I dialled down to reception, a woman came up to remove them - they were on the carpet, windowsill, in the onsuite bathroom, under the bed, on the bedside tables and even one under the pillows. There must have

The lady said that housekeeping wouldn't have left them, yet there wasn't any way in which the flies could have got into the apartment.

She picked up any flies that could be seen (approx 8/9 as a rough guess) and sprayed any that were remaining.

Prior to my mum getting into bed, I had checked the room and had swept up another 7 flies. Again, the door had been kept shut and the we had not opened the windows.

This was extremely disappointing as the weekend was booked as a mother's day surprise for my mum to treat her - and gosh, the flies certainly surprised us all.

Upon seeing the flies my mum just wanted to go home, which it took over three hours to travel over from Scarborough.

My mum has been very cautious of the bedroom, expecting flies to appear for the whole stay.

I'm disappointed with the amount of flies that had been discovered in the room, and how they were only in that singular room/on-suite and no where else in the apartment.

I'm also disappointed that no other solution or compensation was offered.

I felt like we were being held to blame for the flies in the room, or like it was a silly thing to be complaining about. One or two flies i would have somewhat expected, however this situation shouldn't have occurred.

There was no other way for the flies to have entered the property other than for them to have been missed by housekeeping, and throughout the rest of our stay, no other flies have been found.

I have attached photos of some of the flies.

Some have been zoomed in, but I have also added the originals. Hopefully you can see these. Otherwise please email me directly at l.[protected]@hotmail.co.uk and I can resend the photos.

Please confirm how this is going to be compensated.

Regards,

Lucy Hepworth

27 Mar 2022

Good morning Ms Hepworth,

Thank you for your email. I'm so sorry you haven't had the stay you expected. I've forwarded your email, along with the photos to Lee, the Resort Manager and Gina, the Housekeeping Manager. Lee isn't on site today but I'm sure he will get back to you first thing tomorrow.

Kindest Regards,

Lauren Jeal Receptionist

T (+[protected] Thurnham Hall Resort, Cockerham, Lancaster LA2 0DT E Lauren.[protected]@hgv.com W diamondresorts.com

[cid:image001.[protected]@01D82C17.E6042190]

Diamond Resorts (Europe) Ltd | Registered in England and Wales | Registered address: Citrus House, Caton Road, Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 3UA | Registration number: [protected]

Today, 18:08

Hello,

I hope you are well.

I am just following up regarding my previous email as I haven't heard anything yet. Have management had the opportunity to look over the issue which I had and come to an agreement as to how this can be compensated?

Kind regards, Lucy

Delivered

Today, 18:58

Hello, Good afternoon Lucy I have forwarded this message onto the Resort Manager. Kindest Regards Jane

Today, 19:20

Evening Lucy, I've been told you need to contact booking.com and also contact central reservations on [protected]@hgv.com as the resort Manager has sent all information across to them, for their consideration on discounted future stays.

Kindest Regards Jane

______________________________________

I would very much appreciate if someone would get back in contact with myself to discuss this.

My contact details are:

Miss Lucy Hepworth

[protected]

l.[protected]@hotmail.co.uk

I purchased my sampler package in April 2019 prior to the pandemic. I never used any points as Covid hit one year later. Yes I did get a one year extension but with new variants of Covid looming have no desire to travel nor do I need to purchase more points.I feel I have not received what I signed up for.I just did a presentation in Williamsburg,Virginia and could not get any satisfaction.I am also a member and was told I don't travel because I only get 5,000 points a year.

Alright so, where to begin. For starters when I was checking in the lady working at the front desk was very rude. She would laugh at anything that I would mention to her regarding my marital status or other questions she would have. Then I was promised that the presentation out take two hours, I was there for four and a half! They do not like hearing NO for an answer and was basically pressured to take on The Sampler Package. I just wanted to get out of there so I agreed to it. Needless to say after the two week waiting period I went to book a trip for the future and was instructed that the whole amount has to be paid upfront. The contract clearly states that you cam book after the down payment has been paid. Which it was.

I called customer service to clarify this with them. The young lady was less than helpful! She proceeded to inform me that at the bottom of the paragraph stated that the first six monthly payments have to be made before a reservation can be done. I told her based on the wordage of the contract that it was in reference to an upgrade of the package. She proceeded to tell me no that it was for The Sampler. I informed her that then it contradicted the statement about only having to pay the down payment before booking. She then went on that I can book something for in the future. Well, that's what I was trying to do! But their site would not allow me. She tried blaming it on their merging with Hilton! I told her that does not matter, a contract that does not match what the site/sales is claiming makes it void.

I requested to have my account cancelled, she told me I was not going to be able to do that. Thank goodness for banks that are willing to work with their own customers.

This company preys on people and do not provide the services they promise. When trying to look for reservations, there are no dates for what you want. The only days they allow you to book are literally in the middle of the week. Plus from previous reviews I have read, the resorts are all terribly maintained and dirty.

These people are the worst of the worst! Every last one of them! We just sent them let’ letters to cancel and tried to be nice and legal with it but now we have a key from the IRS saying we have to pay taxes on this wack place! We don’t use it anymore because every single time they wasted our time and we didn’t get to enjoy our trip, the rooms were falling apart, and the unbelievable pressure! Let’s not forget your still spend money no matter what! Complete waste of money just say no and avoid them all together.