Diamond Resorts review: Deceptive sales practices

In August of 2018 my family and I attended a sales presentation in Florida. The agents gave us numbers that were too high. We explained we could not afford it. The floor manager offered us a full membership. We were unsure we could afford it. They offered us a free cruise and a Dream Holiday for 2 people to go to Hawaii for free, including airfare. The Dream Holiday was a huge decision maker for us if we could bring our kids. They said we would just have to pay a few hundred dollars per kid.

We purchased 7500/10 year points. August 2, 2018 for $16, 200. The amount financed at 14.294% was $13, 401. The monthly payment is $207.99. We didn't have the money for the $3, 366 down payment so they had us apply for a Barclaycard to charge $1, 959 down and finance the balance of the down payment at $214 a month for 6 months.

Sales: Andrew Sandler #58097

A few months later we called to book the trip to Hawaii. It was a nightmare. We could not have 5 people in the room. We would have to get 2 rooms. It would cost anywhere from $4, 000 to $6, 000. I felt let down and taken advantage of. The Dream Vacation was one of the main reasons we said yes to the timeshare.

In December of 2018 we accepted a free weekend getaway for the Red Lion in St. Louis to supposedly learn how to use our points. We met with a consultant and asked questions about how to work the plan. Instead of teaching us, the sole purpose of the meeting was to sell us more points. We were pushed to upgrade our plan and to upgrade the Barclay credit card. It was strange. We did not upgrade.

In July of 1999 we booked a trip to Mystic Dunes in Florida. One of the customer service girls said that if we met with the sales team we would get a free trip. I wanted to cancel the membership. The Florida salesperson was Allen Dawson and the manager Kenneth Janowitz. Allen informed us that we had purchased a starter plan that needed to be upgraded to full membership. He was confused because he couldn't find us in the system. He said if we didn't upgrade we would have wasted our money. We felt like we didn't have much choice. We had paid so far about $6, 000 for what Allen said was useless.

Why would Diamond allow a useless program to be sold? We have been driven into debt because of this.

On June 13, 2019 we purchased 7500 annual points for $28, 080.71. The down payment of $1, 200 was charged to 2 different credit cards. The amount financed at 15.58% was $24, 401.71. Payments were double the previous amount.