Back in 2011, we bought our first timeshare on the resale market. We’ve been DVC owners since 1993, and we love it, but we wanted more time and options. We bid on, and won, an EOY Even 231,000 pts at Wyndham’s Kona Hawaiian Resort. It was a private sale and thankfully everything went smoothly.
This September, my husband and I went to Hawaii, and we loved Maui. When we returned home, we decided that we wanted to look into buying a Maui timeshare, preferably in the Lahaina/Kahana/Kaanapali area. I searched ebay listings, and ended up following a link to the main page of a well known timeshare reseller. On the page for their Maui listings there were 3 classifieds with identical photographs for the same resort. The only difference was the size of the unit and the time interval. One was for a studio, EOY ODD, one was for a 1-bedroom, EOY ODD, and the third was for a 1-bedroom, EOY EVEN.
My husband and I looked at the listings, did research on the resort -Kahana Beach Vacation Club (KAH), and looked up information about the resale company to make sure they were reputable. We liked Kahana Beach’s location and reviews. It wasn’t a high end fancy resort, but it was Premiere beachfront, all the 1-bedrooms were ocean view, and the MF were reasonable.
We decided on the 1-bedroom, EOY ODD to complement our Kona, EOY EVEN. My husband was beside me when I clicked on the link. I had to be certain I was choosing the correct listing because, as I said, all 3 were identical as far as name and images. When I was sure it was the right one (1-bed, EOY ODD), I clicked to buy, and we began the purchase process.
That’s when things began to go hinky. I got the confirmation email, and I skimmed over it because I was getting ready for work, and I was in a rush. Looking back, I think I did notice that something wasn’t quite right with the resort name on the receipt, but I was hurrying, so off I went.
It just so happened that I had to rush down to Philadelphia the following day because of a family emergency with my mom. I got the notice from the resale company and the documents to sign on-line. I put them aside to wait until my husband could join me Saturday night. When I finally had a chance to look everything over, I noticed that the address listed on the papers was not the same as the address I had remembered reading when I was researching the resort. I copied the resort name and address, did a web search, and I was shocked to find a resort I had never seen before. The resort, Kahana Villa Vacation Club (KVV), was managed by the same company as Kahana Beach, but was not ocean front, nor did all the units have ocean views. I scrolled through the pictures and looked at the reviews and ratings, and I knew this wasn’t the resort I thought we were buying. I went to the resale company’s website to look up the original classified, but it was gone. The only Kahana Beach listing left was the EOY ODD studio. I immediately raised a red flag and emailed the company resales rep asking her what was going on.
My husband joined me, and I showed him the resort and pictures. He, too, was shocked, because we were 100% certain that this was not the resort we thought we were buying. He wrote an email to the resales representative, stating that this wasn’t the resort we wanted, and we wished to cancel the sale. The representative was very nice and agreed to cancel the sale and issue a full refund, but at no time was what happened explained. The rep sent us a “copy” of the original listing, but it wasn’t the listing we’d seen (the pictures were different.)
I still don’t know what happened. All of my browser history shows me researching Kahana Beach. I would not have agreed to purchase a resort that I hadn’t researched. My husband was with me when I clicked on the link to purchase. His memory matches mine about the resort and its location. We have no idea how we thought we were buying one resort, but were really buying a sister resort across the street instead. I am very glad I caught it, and we were able to cancel without any penalty, but the only explanation we can come up with for what happened is when I clicked the link to purchase Kahana Beach Vacation Club, Kahana Villa Vacation Club was put in the cart instead. Was this an HTML error? Was the ad mis-labeled? We don’t know. The sales rep insisted the ad was listed correctly.
The resort names were only one word apart, Kahana Beach Vacation Club vs Kahana Villa Vacation Club. Could we have misread it? Possible, but both my husband and I are 100% positive that the photos for all 3 listings were the same. Did they put up the wrong pictures? I don’t know. The ads were taken down & I couldn’t cross reference. The ad the sales rep sent had the correct resort name and images for Kahana Villa Vacation Club, but that could’ve been fixed.
We are still looking for a west Maui timeshare, but I am now wary of that resale company. Even though they were cooperative and cancelled the sale, their explanation for what happened was that we made a mistake. We’re still baffled as to how that happened.
This September, my husband and I went to Hawaii, and we loved Maui. When we returned home, we decided that we wanted to look into buying a Maui timeshare, preferably in the Lahaina/Kahana/Kaanapali area. I searched ebay listings, and ended up following a link to the main page of a well known timeshare reseller. On the page for their Maui listings there were 3 classifieds with identical photographs for the same resort. The only difference was the size of the unit and the time interval. One was for a studio, EOY ODD, one was for a 1-bedroom, EOY ODD, and the third was for a 1-bedroom, EOY EVEN.
My husband and I looked at the listings, did research on the resort -Kahana Beach Vacation Club (KAH), and looked up information about the resale company to make sure they were reputable. We liked Kahana Beach’s location and reviews. It wasn’t a high end fancy resort, but it was Premiere beachfront, all the 1-bedrooms were ocean view, and the MF were reasonable.
We decided on the 1-bedroom, EOY ODD to complement our Kona, EOY EVEN. My husband was beside me when I clicked on the link. I had to be certain I was choosing the correct listing because, as I said, all 3 were identical as far as name and images. When I was sure it was the right one (1-bed, EOY ODD), I clicked to buy, and we began the purchase process.
That’s when things began to go hinky. I got the confirmation email, and I skimmed over it because I was getting ready for work, and I was in a rush. Looking back, I think I did notice that something wasn’t quite right with the resort name on the receipt, but I was hurrying, so off I went.
It just so happened that I had to rush down to Philadelphia the following day because of a family emergency with my mom. I got the notice from the resale company and the documents to sign on-line. I put them aside to wait until my husband could join me Saturday night. When I finally had a chance to look everything over, I noticed that the address listed on the papers was not the same as the address I had remembered reading when I was researching the resort. I copied the resort name and address, did a web search, and I was shocked to find a resort I had never seen before. The resort, Kahana Villa Vacation Club (KVV), was managed by the same company as Kahana Beach, but was not ocean front, nor did all the units have ocean views. I scrolled through the pictures and looked at the reviews and ratings, and I knew this wasn’t the resort I thought we were buying. I went to the resale company’s website to look up the original classified, but it was gone. The only Kahana Beach listing left was the EOY ODD studio. I immediately raised a red flag and emailed the company resales rep asking her what was going on.
My husband joined me, and I showed him the resort and pictures. He, too, was shocked, because we were 100% certain that this was not the resort we thought we were buying. He wrote an email to the resales representative, stating that this wasn’t the resort we wanted, and we wished to cancel the sale. The representative was very nice and agreed to cancel the sale and issue a full refund, but at no time was what happened explained. The rep sent us a “copy” of the original listing, but it wasn’t the listing we’d seen (the pictures were different.)
I still don’t know what happened. All of my browser history shows me researching Kahana Beach. I would not have agreed to purchase a resort that I hadn’t researched. My husband was with me when I clicked on the link to purchase. His memory matches mine about the resort and its location. We have no idea how we thought we were buying one resort, but were really buying a sister resort across the street instead. I am very glad I caught it, and we were able to cancel without any penalty, but the only explanation we can come up with for what happened is when I clicked the link to purchase Kahana Beach Vacation Club, Kahana Villa Vacation Club was put in the cart instead. Was this an HTML error? Was the ad mis-labeled? We don’t know. The sales rep insisted the ad was listed correctly.
The resort names were only one word apart, Kahana Beach Vacation Club vs Kahana Villa Vacation Club. Could we have misread it? Possible, but both my husband and I are 100% positive that the photos for all 3 listings were the same. Did they put up the wrong pictures? I don’t know. The ads were taken down & I couldn’t cross reference. The ad the sales rep sent had the correct resort name and images for Kahana Villa Vacation Club, but that could’ve been fixed.
We are still looking for a west Maui timeshare, but I am now wary of that resale company. Even though they were cooperative and cancelled the sale, their explanation for what happened was that we made a mistake. We’re still baffled as to how that happened.
