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Resort agreed in oct to buy back my timeshare but is trying to charge me 10 maint fee

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I am super frustrated!!!!
So I received a letter from my timeshare dated 10/1/09 stating they agree to buy back my unit that I should receive my final documents from Equity Land title within 90 days of this letter.

So it has been 117 days and I have heard nothing and I get a 2010 maintenance fee and a late fee. I have left 4 messages at the number on my sale letter and they do not get back to me. I have zero’d out and I am told that my account is flagged and only they can talk to me.

What rights do I have? In their letter it says I will receive my final documents within 90 days of 10/1. I have not received anything and now they are charging me for 2010.
 

DeniseM

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Hi and welcome to TUG! :hi:

As long as the deed is in your name, you are legally responsible for all fees. Unfortunately, the resort has no legal responsibility to take back the unit, and in this economy, they are probably swamped with people wanting them to do so. If you can afford it, you may want to pay the fees to protect your credit.

Are you absolutely positive the letter came from your resort?

Have you paid them any fees related to them taking back the unit?

Good luck!
 
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timeos2

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I am super frustrated!!!!
So I received a letter from my timeshare dated 10/1/09 stating they agree to buy back my unit that I should receive my final documents from Equity Land title within 90 days of this letter.

So it has been 117 days and I have heard nothing and I get a 2010 maintenance fee and a late fee. I have left 4 messages at the number on my sale letter and they do not get back to me. I have zero’d out and I am told that my account is flagged and only they can talk to me.

What rights do I have? In their letter it says I will receive my final documents within 90 days of 10/1. I have not received anything and now they are charging me for 2010.

The resort is under no obligation to accept your unit or buy it back. If they agree to do so that is great but until you have it in writing it doesn't mean anything. You are still the owner of record and the fees are due.
 

Bill4728

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Hi and welcome to TUG! :hi:

As long as the deed is in your name, you are legally responsible for all fees. Unfortunately, the resort has no legal responsibility to take back the unit, and in this economy, they are probably swamped with people wanting them to do so. If you can afford it, you may want to pay the fees to protect your credit. Good luck!

The resort is under no obligation to accept your unit or buy it back. If they agree to do so that is great but until you have it in writing it doesn't mean anything. You are still the owner of record and the fees are due.
It sure doesn't seem fair does it??

But we wouldn't be doing the right thing if we didn't tell you what we believe is your legal responsibility.

Sorry
 
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The letter I received from the resort is on the Westgate letter head and it states: This letter shall serve as formal notification that Wesgate herby elects to exercise its right of first refusal and purchase back the following units: (then my deatil info and the amount)

Westgate will forward the purchase and sale agreement along with any other file information to:---


so anyway they already agreed to purchase it back as of 10/1/09.

Trying to get a hold of them is driving me crazy. When I called the number on the maintence fee letter, they said my account is flagged and only Lissette Perez could speak to me and I have been leaving messages since Friday for her. I asked if I could pay the fee's and then get them credited back once we clear this up and they told me because the account is flagged they can't even take a payment from me.
 

DeniseM

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Agreeing to take it back - and actually taking it back are two different things. I wish you well, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope. The market is absolutely flooded with people desparate to get rid of their timeshares, so it isn't in the resort's best interest to take it back. They will have a hard time selling it and they are responsible for the maintenance fees until they do.

Until you have an executed contract in hand, and the deed is recorded with the county, and with the resort, you are still the responsible party.
 

falmouth3

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I had posted a resort on a sales site. And I found a buyer! It turned out that Diamond was buying back my week. All documents were signed by both parties and a realtor was the go-between. A few months later, after many tries to learn what was happening, I learned either here or on another board, that Diamond Resorts had stopped their buy back program. The realtor hadn't heard of that development. So after waiting even longer, she finally got back to me and said the deal was off. Finally, many months after signing the sales agreement, I finally heard from Diamond Resorts that they were not going to buy back the property. I was not a happy camper. I still own the property.

Sue
 

timeos2

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Wastegate will be totally unresponsive. Expect it.

The letter I received from the resort is on the Westgate letter head and it states: This letter shall serve as formal notification that Wesgate herby elects to exercise its right of first refusal and purchase back the following units: (then my deatil info and the amount)

Westgate will forward the purchase and sale agreement along with any other file information to:---


so anyway they already agreed to purchase it back as of 10/1/09.

Trying to get a hold of them is driving me crazy. When I called the number on the maintence fee letter, they said my account is flagged and only Lissette Perez could speak to me and I have been leaving messages since Friday for her. I asked if I could pay the fee's and then get them credited back once we clear this up and they told me because the account is flagged they can't even take a payment from me.

They probably don't even have ROFR (they often claim to when in fact they do not) but the real goal is to kill your sale. They will send out that type of letter then make it impossible to reach them (check), change the terms so it isn't equal to the original deal you had to sell, impose fees, etc . What they hardly ever do is actually complete the deal and get the week out of your name.

All you can do is keep after them but, right now, you are the owner and owe the fees. Returning calls is unheard of so try getting an address and start dealing in written documents with delivery receipts. They don't want to get your week they just want to queer your original sale so you'll have to fight tooth and nail to get them to ever follow through.

Good luck - you WILL need it in spades.

(How did I just KNOW Wastegate was in this before it was ever revealed?)
 
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Well I finally was able to talk to the manager. 1st the person that is coded on my account is no longer with the company. The manager I spoke informed me that there was an error and the fees were sent out to those who they were in the process of buying back and that we do not owe 2010 fees! Thank goodness.

However when i asked her the status of the final closing she told me that they sent the stuff over to the title company on 10/1 and that was just two months ago. I told her that was 117 days ago and she said no 10/1 was only 2 months ago. I said miss, Oct, Nov, Dec and now is the middle of Jan that is 3 and 1/2 months. I mean of all things you want to argue over is that 2 months ago was 10/:rolleyes:
 

timeos2

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I had posted a resort on a sales site. And I found a buyer! It turned out that Diamond was buying back my week. All documents were signed by both parties and a realtor was the go-between. A few months later, after many tries to learn what was happening, I learned either here or on another board, that Diamond Resorts had stopped their buy back program. The realtor hadn't heard of that development. So after waiting even longer, she finally got back to me and said the deal was off. Finally, many months after signing the sales agreement, I finally heard from Diamond Resorts that they were not going to buy back the property. I was not a happy camper. I still own the property.

Sue

And owe the fees. Nice deal, huh? And there is no recourse whatsoever.
 

theo

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It's all relative...

Well I finally was able to talk to the manager. 1st the person that is coded on my account is no longer with the company. The manager I spoke informed me that there was an error and the fees were sent out to those who they were in the process of buying back and that we do not owe 2010 fees! Thank goodness.

However when i asked her the status of the final closing she told me that they sent the stuff over to the title company on 10/1 and that was just two months ago. I told her that was 117 days ago and she said no 10/1 was only 2 months ago. I said miss, Oct, Nov, Dec and now is the middle of Jan that is 3 and 1/2 months. I mean of all things you want to argue over is that 2 months ago was 10/:rolleyes:

By the same token, do you realize and appreciate that you are fortunate indeed if a resort will even take back a week in the first place?

Most facilities won't do so at all, since leaving you as owner means leaving you responsible for all current and future fees until you manage to sell on your own. No resort is obligated in any way (and relatively few are inclined) to ever take a "deedback" in the first place, so if your primary beef is that they are slow in doing so, with all due respect my response is "count your blessings". I've had several closings where I wanted to buy take longer than 3 1/2 months to complete....:shrug:

P.S. If Westgate is involved, all bets are off anyhow. You may very well be being told tales which are, politely stated...."something other than accurate or truthful".
 
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richardm

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This is unfortunately a common occurance with Westgate when they exercise on the right of first refusal. Often, the closing will be delayed until the next year's dues are required- and then the seller is told the closing can't be completed as the account isn't current.

It's just another example of a Westgate failure to do the right thing, just one of the many reasons you'll often find Westgate villified in online forums.

You might try to threaten filing a complaint with the BBB and Florida AG against the closing agent, Equity Land Title (although this is owned by a very large firm, Greenspoon & Marder, which has a long standing relationship with Westgate) for not following the terms of the original agreement.. However- they will simply respond that they aren't party to the original agreement, and that they were only hired by Westgate to prepare a quit claim deed. In the end you won't get anywhere, as both Westgate and Greenspoon & Marder have quite a bit of political influence and BBB ratings have no real relevance any longer- but it might make you feel better and might put just a hair more pressure on the firm to request that Westgate step up to the plate and honor the original terms.

If you try to file a BBB report- be aware that there was also a "resale company" (if you can call them that!) using the name Westgate/Greenspoon Marter out of Ft Lauderdale that was reported to be running one of those "We have a buyer at $$$$ but just need you to pay us $$$ first" scams.

Ultimately, you might decide that it is simply best to pay the blood money to finally cut your ties to Westgate. There are plenty of timeshare ownership options that can provide a quality product and a positive ownership experience- you simply made a mistake when you purchased a Westgate.
 

Mel

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I don't know if it would really make a difference, but perhaps people submitting contracts to Westgate for review should include a paragraph stating that time is of the essence, and that closing is to occur by some specific date.

If Westgate wants to exerceise right of first refusal, they have to honor the same contract conditions - they can close quickly, as the original buyer intends, or elect not to take the week. (I would also put in the contract that they buyer is to reimburse the next year's fees if paid by the seller - again, if they want to exercise RFF, they have to honor that part too, or you have every right to sell to your original seller).
 

richardm

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The issue isn't the wording used, but rather the disregard for the original terms and the blatant "sue us if you don't like it" attitude that seems to be rampant with this particular developer.

Many of their resorts are absolutely beautiful (they make great rentals if you avoid the tour incentives), it's just the ego of the executives that seems to get in the way. They realize that they hold the majority of the cards in these situations, and unfortunately aren't hesitant to be heavy handed in how they handle them...
 

timeos2

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Sure you can sue but it will cost far more than you potentially get

The issue isn't the wording used, but rather the disregard for the original terms and the blatant "sue us if you don't like it" attitude that seems to be rampant with this particular developer.

Exactly. Unless you are willing to pay the relatively huge legal costs to enforce what is probably a few hundreds to maybe a couple thousand dollar issue you are out of luck. Either way you get nothing or end up paying and Wastegate knows that. So they basically flaunt the laws and do as they please. There isn't a worse developer group in all of timeshare and that is a lowbrow group at the very best.
 
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