UPDATE Problem From Renting From Broker

Here's the update. First off I must say that I really don't go walking around with SUCKER stamped on my forehead! Why we were so lax about this I'll never know.

I broke the bad news to my husband, which was as bad or worse than the bad news in the first place!

I used the internet to find out where this guy lived with the 2 disconnected phone #'s that I had. I then phoned the police dept in that city. I found out that they knew his name and I was not the only one. Unfortunately, the man died at the end of Jan!! How weird is that?!!

I had my husband look up the paypal info. He had paid the deposit in Dec. Paypal is his thing and he never told me that there is 45 days to file a complaint with paypal, any longer and you're out of luck. So we're out of luck. No recourse with the cridit car company either because my husband goofed and accidently clicked the wrong button and the money came out of our checking acct. With the credit card , we'd have 60 days which we were beyond any way.

I wrote to customer service at RedWeek to let them know what happend. It certainly isn't their fault, just our stupidity. I wanted to let them know. They have had complaints from other people and also know that the man is deceased. They suggested I try to recover the $$ from probate court . I'll try to do this, but certainly not counting on anything.

So there's my crazy story.

Bummer...but look at the bright side...it could have been worse. I'm not trying to be flip and also have a sucker experience (non-timeshare) that cost us close to $1,000 so I truly empathize with you. I considered it a cheap way to learn from the experience and it's something we laugh about occasionally. In fact, the story itself is almost worth the $1,000 our stupidity cost us!

Ingrid

Yes, we lost $925. I know you're not being flip. It is quite a story!

Sorry to hear about the mess! You wrote that the police knew of him...does that mean he had scammed others and was not arrested? Did he not own any timeshares at all, but managed to get money for bogus rentals?

To Denise L.----I had understood that he was a broker renting the unit out for the owner. Evidently from what I had understood from the detective I spoke to there were other complaints against him. I don't know if he ever had any arrests. It could be he was legit, and died and others have also lost out like us. However if he was honest, I would think the timeshare owners themselves would have been given the rental info and they could follow up with us. I might just call the detective one more time to ask if he was ever arrested and when other complaints were called in. He is, any way you slice it , dead. It's a very bizzare story and I keep wanting to figure out more. I am going to submit it to the FBI internet scam site. It's possible that he was working with other people because one of the phone #'s he gave me which is now disconnected came up listed to another man and woman in his town. The police there are not interested in following up, Red Week also indicated they had the same impression.

califgal said:

He is, any way you slice it , dead.

Click to expand...

Karma, karma, karma.

Another Angle to pursue

Hi Califgal,

"Seller's of travel" in California are supposed to be registered and participate in a fund which covers consumer losses. You can contact the fund at Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation, P.O. Box 6001, Larkspur, CA 94977-6001.

If he was in violation of California consuimer law, a suit against his estate may get you higher "status" in collecting than a regular creditor. You should be able to include your expenses, especially if he was operating in violation of state law.

Really worth talking to a California lawyer on this one. Almost any lawyer will give you an introductory meeting without charge.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info but, I doubt a crook would be registered. I did talk to the probabe court in his county today and there has not been a file opened as yet. If he owned anything at all it went to his wife.