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Radisson Timeshare scam
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Question: I'm a Canadian citizen and shortly after getting married my wife and I
moved to the U.S. (IL) on a temporary visa. While there I get this call one
day saying we won a free vacation. I asked the girl where I filled out the
application form and she said they had booths set up all over various
places (like malls). I should've realized it was a scam right there but I
after filling out a million forms from moving (even for application in a
mall for getting a cell phone) I figured maybe I did fill this one out.
So a week later I find myself waiting for my "prize" and it turns out to
be a Radisson timeshare presentation. My wife turned to me and said she
had relatives that did this and found it worked for them, so we stayed.
After the presentation the sales guy sits down and runs through his story.
When I heard the price I tried to be polite and said I really couldn't
afford it because I just graduated from university and I just moved. So he
goes to his boss and comes back and offers half the # of weeks for half
the price. I'm thinking this may be do-able but still wasn't sure if it
was a great deal. The whole time all he advertises (as I found out later)
is this exchance program that will seem to me like a floating vacation
week, and all I have to do is reserve the week a few months in advance.
As I'm standing up to walk away for the second time, the guy says we can
easily sell the unused weeks and, if we wanted to, we could sell the whole
package to someone else with a guarantee that we'd at least break even.
His words were "if you don't use the vacation weeks, it makes a good
investment".
He also throws in this package of free vacations and "cheap" cruises, and
says that while they have to be used within a year we could sell the ones
we won't use. A few months down the road we called the company to find out
how to sell these freebies and they said we couldn't, "they are
non-transferrable"!
So then I realized we got sucked into a scam. I pulled out all the forms I
signed from that night and couldn't believe I had actually signed this
crap, even though I did attempt to read everything before signing it. But
of course it was late at night and they were closing so I felt rushed to
sign it. It turns out there is nothing guaranteed in the contract. The fine
print in the contract even stated "...for personal use, not an
investment", which countered against the quote the salesguy told me and
convinced me to not walk away.
Even if I don't use the exchange program and just go to the hotel & room I
bought (which is in the netherlands) I still have to submit a written
REQUEST for it 3 months prior, and they have the right to say "sorry,
we're booked at that time, so instead we've assigned you this room 5 weeks
later" and screw up my vacation plans even though I bought a fixed-week
plan.
Can I get out of this contract because the sales guy lied to me? Oh, the
"free vacation" I was told I won on the phone turned out to be a free few
nights in California, but I had to consume it within 3 months and I had to
pay the air fare. To use this freebie I had to send this application form
in, so I did after about a month and a half, but didn't get a response
back. My wife called them to ask what was going on, they said they never
got the application. By the time it would take to get another application
and send it in the 3 months would've been up! Since everyone who was at
this presentation "won" this free vacation I'm sure the company has set
themselves up to conveniently lose the applications!
However, I didn't get to the point of saying "this is stupid, I'm not
paying anymore" because I'm honest and I signed a (stupid) agreement, so I
kept my payments going every month into this black hole. A year
later I get a letter saying they've decided to increase the maitenance
fees. I pulled out the contract I signed and it states that "member shall
pay a minimum maintenance fee per year, currently established at ....",
does this mean they have the right to bump it up to $1000 a year and I
have no choice but to pay it?
Another year later my wife and I realized we're not able to use this thing
and everything's pretty much been a lie. We contacted Century 21 and put
the thing up for sale at about half the price we bought it for (and paid
them $500 up front for it, I assumed this was because they were good at
selling timeshares).
Almost another year later my wife and I are moving back to Canada. The
timeshare still hasn't sold and since companies like Radisson are now
almost giving away timeshares it's no wonder. By this time I'm so pissed
off at this screwball company I've decided to stop paying after the move.
I'm not worried too much about credit history, in the U.S. I had to twist
everyone's arm to get them to look at my (good) credit history in Canada
(even Harrison bank, which is owned by a Canadian bank: Bank of Montreal)
so I'm assuming Canadian lenders aren't even going to bother looking at
my U.S. history if I've only been there for three years and have good
credit here.
But obviously, since I'm posting to this website, I'm not entirely
convinced this plan will work. Even though I've paid half of this thing
off already, I still owe $4000 USD (but now I'm paid in Canadian funds)
just to have the ownership...I'm still locked into this maitenance fee and
rediculous set of rules, whether or not I ever go to the netherlands.
Is there any way out of this? If I just stop paying can they come after me
for a timeshare payment across the border? If they can, would they bother
for $4000? Does it even matter that this involves three countries (the
netherlands, U.S., and Canada)? Is it worth getting a lawyer involved?
If I haven't stated this clearly enough I'll spell it out: if these guys
hadn't lied to us and screwed us out of every "freebie" so far, I would
simply say "I made a bad purchase and I should pay for my stupid mistake",
but they've verbally lied to us and conveniently lost our application for
the sole free vacation that sucked us into this whole nightmare. It's
making me pull my hair out and I no longer feel like playing by their
rules. What can I do to fight this?
Answer: You need to read your agreement carefully to see what recourse Radisson has
in case you cease payments. In all likelihood, the limit of their power is
to repossess the timeshare. You will, of course, lose your 'investment' and
risk a mark on your credit report. You can protest the credit report later
on if something shows up adverse to you.
You claim fraud here. Fraud in this sense is the sale but not delivery of a
good or goods. This is a criminal charge with civil penalties possible if
you can prove what you write. As the transaction was in the US, you need to
pursue this through either the state Attorney General's office in the state
where the transaction took place or you may try the District Attorney's
office in the municipality where the transaction took place.
My personal opinion is that the company is slick enough to stay on the right
side of the legal line here - or just enough so there isn't a sufficient
hook to hang criminal charges upon. You may be able to find an attorney who
will take this case for pay, but I doubt you'd collect (even if you win) the
attorney's fees.
A middle ground is to hire an attorney to write a threatening letter (called
in the US a 'lawyer letter') to this company. That may shake something loose
and will only cost you a few dollars. Many have done what you did and lived
to tell the tale. Welcome to the club of poorer but wiser.
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