Sheraton owners: Have you received these phone calls?

I recently purchased a SDO resale. It closed about 2 months ago & I have booked my time for next year. This week I have received phone calls from 2 different outfits asking if I am interested in renting or selling my week. I have never gotten this before and I own at 8 different resorts. Is Sheraton selling a "prospects" list to these people? Anyone else had this happen after a Sheraton purchase? I'm just curious how these rental/resale agents got my name.
Julie

they got your name off the recorded deed which is public record. I get the calls all the time for all my timeshares I own. Once I get a call I just put a call block on their number.

I've gotten such calls too. Starwood did not sell your number. These rental/sales companies get your name from public records. Many are not reputable and will offer you lots of money if you sell your timeshare with them. You only have to give them several hundred dollars in fees to get everything set up. Then you should double the money you paid for the unit - Yeah, right.

I've had a conversation with Starwood about them selling my phone number also. This is the only timeshare that I own that I keep getting calls about selling. I still believe an employee did it without their knowledge. The calls went on for months and after I called twice to Starwood and complained about them giving out my phone number the calls STOPPED!!!!! Coincidence??

I’m certain someone at Starwood is providing our personal info to these scammers.

I received the following voice mail at both my home and my work at around 7 am (!!!!) on July 17, 2006. Caller I.D. showed the caller’s phone number as 407-396-6252, which is an Orlando, Florida area code.

“This is D. V. Dehamlin calling regarding your Starwood property. We do need an update regarding your planned usage. Please call 1-888-707-8463, Extension 615.”

I thought it was Starwood calling so I called ‘em right back. However, instead of Starwood answering, I got “Thank You for Calling Timeshares by Owner.” If you ask for extension 615 you get “D.V.’s” voice mail. She is apparently too busy waking other people up on the West coast to actually answer the calls she dupes people into making to her.

Why am I so certain Starwood leaked the info? D.V. called my unlisted, blocked, home number, a number I rarely give out, except to family. However, I gave it to Starwood because they use it to establish identity when you call. I didn’t want my wife to be filtered out by giving the wrong “home number” to Starwood when calling.

If these scammers made an effort, I bet they could find our names and home addresses via public records. But they are lazy and they certainly couldn’t find unlisted home numbers without a little help.

I reported D.V. to Starwood, but haven’t heard anything.

-Nodge

I agree that there is an employee selling information under the table. I have gotten calls on my cell phone and my starwood account is the only place they could have put together the ownership with my cell number.

Short

My brother-in-law and I bought SVO timeshares at the same time. They get bombarded with phone calls about their timeshare, we don't get any. Two weeks ago, i figured out why. When they recorded our personal information, they one of the numbers in our phone number was typed wrong....wahoo for us!

I have no doubt that it is Starwood or employees at Starwood. I initially bought from the developer, but recinded within the 7 day period. Three weeks later, I bought resale and the deed hasn't even gone to recording yet. Between the time I recinded and the time that I purchased resale, I received one of these calls.

Yeah, it's somebody at Starwood!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I also have an unlisted and rarely used phone number that these calls came in on. And one of the calls was from the exact same name & number as Nodge received. And it came in at 6am (here in California.) I was pretty sure it was NOT a bonified Starwood call so that's what prompted the question to my Tug buddies. The second call was a different name & number and was a more honest message offering to rent or sell for me and I just hit the erase button.

I know this stuff is all public record, but what kind of Bozo has time to sift through all that stuff just to find the timeshare resales to hit up with solicitation? I'd put my $ on either an insider at Starwood or the Corporation itself selling lists. Just one more small annoyance in daily life. But, hey, only 2 weeks and 1 day until retirement so life is looking pretty good!:whoopie:

Julie

I'd say we get about 1 call a month. Always a message on the answering machine. Very vague, something like, "Hi mis-pronounced formerhater and Mrs. formerhater, I'm calling about your Westin vacation ownership. Give me a call as soon as you can at..." I'm sure they trick their fair share into thinking it's a call from Westin. Lord help them if they ever get one of us on the phone.

I thought about my response a little more and I did do one more important thing that may have stopped my calls. I went back into the StarCentral website and deleted my home phone number.

ciscogizmo1 said:

they got your name off the recorded deed which is public record. I get the calls all the time for all my timeshares I own. Once I get a call I just put a call block on their number.

Click to expand...

Most of these calls I get are from "Private Number" so are hard to block. But they all tend to call when I'm not home, so I've learned to quickly delete their message. Of course, my number is listed with the Federal do not call list, so they shouldn't be calling me anyway as I have not given them explicit permission to do so...but we know that system isn't perfect anyway.

I just rec'd one of these unsolicited calls. It was from a "Larry Bradshaw" (yea, right) from Global Resort Management:

http://www.globalresortmgmt.com/

I immediately told the caller that my number was listed with the Federal Do Not Call list, and he promptly hung up. I then proceeded to file a complaint at the DNC web site, and I encourage all of you to do the same when you receive these calls (assuming, of course, that you listed your number with them).

https://www.donotcall.gov/

Starwood's Response

Hey Starwood Tuggers,

I suspect we all just received the following email from Starwood. It's nice Starwood is working on it, but it would be even nicer if they let us know what steps they are taking to prevent their own employees from giving out our personal info to these scammers in the first place . . . ..:

-Nodge

Email Dated: October 27, 2006

Dear [NODGE],

We have recently been made aware that Owners have been contacted by companies representing themselves as part of Starwood Vacation Ownership. These companies have solicited Owners to sell or rent their vacation ownership interest. Typically, these companies have given inflated estimates of the amount for which a vacation ownership interest can be rented or sold. Such inflated estimates are used to induce the Owner to pay the party a large listing fee to rent or sell the interest. These companies are not affiliated with Starwood Vacation Ownership, and we do not share the names or any personal information of our Owners with any third party resale or rental companies.

There is one resale company in particular that has been contacting many of our Owners. If you have been contacted by a company known as "Timeshares by Owner", and would allow us to contact you directly to discuss the contact in more detail, please click here.

https://starwood.facilitate.com/4DA...hTop?resalecompanysurvey*resalecompany*79/354

If you do receive a call from Timeshares by Owner or any other resale company, please obtain as much information as you can about the company and person calling before you pay them any money or give them your credit card information. If you have any doubt about the identity of the caller, ask for a contact name and number and then email any concerns that you have via our website at mystarcentral.com.

We advise you to be cautious about enlisting a third party to rent or sell your vacation ownership interest. If you choose to use a timeshare resale company, we recommend that you evaluate the company first by asking for references and by checking the company’s history with the Better Business Bureau and with timeshare regulators in the company’s home state or the state in which your vacation ownership interest is located. A great reference is the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's website, which can be found by clicking here.

http://www.state.fl.us/dbpr/lsc/timeshare/information/faq_resale.shtml

Thank you.

Starwood Vacation Ownership

Yes, just got that email also.

Have had a good 10 calls in the past 6 months from company/companies trying this scam. Always to my cell, and almost always from 407 (Orlando) numbers. When I tell them (a) I'm not interested and (b) they're the "n'th" company to try this trick, they say I must have got it wrong and put the 'phone down.

Given they're performing an international call to a UK cell at a reasonable cost per minute, the most recent two calls I've had, I've made sure I've had a good long chat with the guy, costing the company a few $$ in call charges, before telling them I'm not the slightest bit interested.

Got the mail

I rarely get any of these phone calls, but I used to. Not sure why they stopped calling, but sometimes I get robot recording calls and I just hang up.

Interesting that Timeshares By Owner has a new WKORV listing on ebay...with 86% positive feedback, who is going to buy from them? Plus they list the MFs as $800, totally wrong.

I just received text messages on my cell phone - webuyresorts.com. The phone number information did not come from any title search because I don't give out this information. But I did when I checked into the Desert Oasis in September. The proof that somebody or Sheraton is giving out this information - my wife got the same three messages on her cell phone, and except for leaving the number with Sheraton, doesn't even know her number. I'm phoning Sheraton in a few minutes to raise hell.

John

I totally agree that someone is giving out this info from inside Starwood. Our number is private, unlisted, always has been is blocked when we call out, etc.

Oh, and we are on the Federal Do Not Call list. Doesn't matter - we get tons of calls about selling our timeshare.

I'd love to know exactly who to complain to at Starwood!