[2009] SCAM WARNING - Beware Of Westgate Sales Group Rentals

[ptmm]

I wanted to warn everyone about an unfortunate experience I am fighting as I wright this. I posted a request for a rental week back in June and recieved a response from Westgate stating they had the week I needed. After speaking with the agent and confirming the availability I sent payment via PayPal. This is when the fun began. After multiple emails and phone calls I was informed that the owner was not following through. I was thankfully able to find another property owner with the same week, but the refund or credit has yet to be settled. I will not say this is a fraudelent company at this point but at the very least I would avoid them because of the lack of professionalism. I will keep this thread updated as to the outcome of my grievences with PayPal and AM_EX. I do not know if posting the agent name is allowed but if so I will certainly provide in a later response. Thanks and be aware, Paul.

 

[roadtriper]

I wanted to warn everyone about an unfortunate experience I am fighting as I wright this. I posted a request for a rental week back in June and recieved a response from Westgate stating they had the week I needed. After speaking with the agent and confirming the availability I sent payment via PayPal. This is when the fun began. After multiple emails and phone calls I was informed that the owner was not following through. I was thankfully able to find another property owner with the same week, but the refund or credit has yet to be settled. I will not say this is a fraudelent company at this point but at the very least I would avoid them because of the lack of professionalism. I will keep this thread updated as to the outcome of my grievences with PayPal and AM_EX. I do not know if posting the agent name is allowed but if so I will certainly provide in a later response. Thanks and be aware, Paul.

Paul, Looks like I may be in the same boat I too have made payment for a high end rental and I'm getting nothing but excuses and diversions.
as far as I can tell the Westgate Sales Group Inc. is not affiliated with Westgate in any way. the Address on the Contract I recieved was/is a mail drop. in Fla. and not an actual office.
I've demanded a refund, but...we'll see Bob

 

[frenchieinme]

If payment is made with a credit card and the services are not rendered or are fraudulent, can you not file a refute claim with the credit card company relieving you of any payment for such apparently fraudulent business transactions?

frenchieinme

 

[roadtriper]

If payment is made with a credit card and the services are not rendered or are fraudulent, can you not file a refute claim with the credit card company relieving you of any payment for such apparently fraudulent business transactions?

frenchieinme

Yes You can file a claim (and I have) but the outcome is unknown.
as of right now Mr. William Wright of "Westgate Sales Group Inc. will not return my calls or emails. also will not return my $1000.00 Shame on me for not listening to my GUT! everything looked and sounded above board.
had I researched before and not after the deal I would have never entered into any type of deal with this individual/business RT

 

[heythere]

Westgate Sales Group, Inc

Renter Beware! We also rented a condo from Westgate Sales Group, Inc. and were told that we would be refunded 100% since the owner of the condo was no longer wanting to rent. We are not only out $1000.00, but also out a vacation. Everything seemed so ligit... there was a contract, a company name, PayPal, and call backs (at the beginning)... and still we may have been dooped! As of right now, we have filed claims through our bank and PayPal, but there are no promises for a refund. It took us a year to save for this family vacation...shame on me and double shame on this freud creator!

 

[ptmm]

I am frustrated to see someone else has been taken by this guy. I think it is official at this point. Bill will not respond to our emails or calls and has gone dark. I will keep everyone posted as information becomes available. Thanks, Paul.

 

[carl2591]

hey,there,,
don't beat your self up over this.. the fact you posted here may be helpful for others that are looking at renting with this scum bag..

will be interesting to see how paypal handles this.. might be in the future only deal with credit card as you have more rights and power in this type of case..

good luck and let us know how it goes..


ps: how did you find this company.. if on craigs list do a couple posting about what has happened to you..

something like " beware of Westgate Rentals" ask me before you rent."

that might be a bunch more eye on and put a crimp in there style..

 

[Talent312]

I would encourage each of you to file a complaint with the law enforcement agency where the company has its mail drop and with the consumer protection division of the Florida Attorney General's Office.

 

[stu44]

I booked 2 trips through this guy...

I paid back in June and after a few attempts for confirmations I am wondering if he will follow through with my rentals. I paid $3,500 to him and I can't seem to get any kind of confirmation that I am booked through the resort. He just says he is waiting to hear back from the owners.

 

[mendey]

I also rented a timeshare from Bill Wright at Westagte Sales for Splitrock Resort at Lake Harmony, PA. My contract with Westgate was bogus and not honored at Splitrock so I filed a claim with my credit card provder and Paypal. Credit card provider has temporarily credited my account pending their investigation. Has anybody done this and eventually gotten a permanent credit?

 

[adelgadillo]

I was scammed too I guess!

Unfortunately it looks like I was taken by this man too. I am a single mom of five boys who is getting married on Sept 19th, 2009 and i bought a week in maui from Bill wright at Westgate sales group the beginning of June 2009. He told me after a month that the owner was an elderly gentleman who was gifting me the week and had to do it throught the mail so it would take a little longer. No he will not return my phone calls or emails. This was our dream honeymoon and it looks like wemight end up having to camp on the beach. We spent every dime we had saved for this vacation and I am so destroyed that someone could do this. i opened a case with paypal but they said since it's been over 45 days there is noting they can do. I will be contacting my bank next but i get the feeling they wont be able to do much either. Has anyone been suceesful with any claims they made with paypal, cc, or bank? we should all get our contact info and see what we can do to make sure this guy gets caught! I don't know what to do!

 

[heythere]

oh no...I am so sad to hear this is happening to so many more people!

I have filed as many complaints and reports as I could think of...Good luck everyone, please keep this site posted if anything comes out.

 

[roadtriper]

PayPal Update

My dispute filed with PayPal was decided in my favor! Unfortunatly they weren't able to recover any of my money Because there wasn't any money in the account to recover. I guess that's the end of their Reach, other than freezing his account untill the refund is issued. PayPal has contacted him telling him he has to refund my money, I'm sure that has him scared RT

 

[lobsterlover]

westgate sales, Bill

Wow, that was a close call.... I advertised here on Tug for a week wanted to rent for a certain resort and received a response RIGHT away, was sceptical and tried to find info on the guy who had my EXACT WEEK and exact place, couldn't find any, and decided not to respond. Luckily, my gut told me not to respond or I'd be in the same boat as the rest here.
I'd put faith in Tug members if you can find them here on the site, but I couldn't find him here. I entered his name and nothing came up. Even if he was, he could con his way into our wallets. I googled him too. Lets hope anyone googleing his name will now come up with this little bit of talk on him to help save people from being scammed!!
I tried to find help on this site about how to rent safely but thee really isn't any safety net.
So glad I logged on to TUG today to see this!!
Thanks Tug!!!

 

[TUGBrian]

I have recieved 2 calls and a PM regarding this issue in the past week, so ill add a global announcement to the top of the forums here in a sec.

A few things to point out.

1. it does not appear this gentleman works for westgate in any capacity given his emails use public/free domains.

ie johndoe@msn.com or gmail.com etc etc, rest assured that ANYONE who is working for a resort or legitimate timeshare company is not going to send you an email from his or her personal public email address.

Also note that you can make an email look like it came from ANYWHERE, so be sure to pay close attention to the reply to email address, not the display email address. it could say it came from president@whitehouse.gov and really come from abc@hotmail.com etc etc.

2. paypal requires a valid bank account in order to accept payments, so for those of you ripped off, reporting the same account (assuming he used it) and getting the police involved hopefully will allow paypal to release that information to help track down his real identity for law enforcement.

3. if anyone wishes to contact me privately with info, vs posting publicly...i will compile what I can to provide to law enforcement if necessary.

 

[drivable]

Unfortunately it looks like I was taken by this man too. I am a single mom of five boys who is getting married on Sept 19th, 2009 and i bought a week in maui from Bill wright at Westgate sales group the beginning of June 2009. He told me after a month that the owner was an elderly gentleman who was gifting me the week and had to do it throught the mail so it would take a little longer. No he will not return my phone calls or emails. This was our dream honeymoon and it looks like wemight end up having to camp on the beach. We spent every dime we had saved for this vacation and I am so destroyed that someone could do this. i opened a case with paypal but they said since it's been over 45 days there is noting they can do. I will be contacting my bank next but i get the feeling they wont be able to do much either. Has anyone been suceesful with any claims they made with paypal, cc, or bank? we should all get our contact info and see what we can do to make sure this guy gets caught! I don't know what to do!

I think it's great that all these people are posting to get the word out.

adelgadillo - do you already have airline tickets? What are your dates? Is the honeymoon just for two? Maybe someone here can help you out with a place, are you tied to Maui or will another Hawaiian island do?

I have recieved 2 calls and a PM regarding this issue in the past week, so ill add a global announcement to the top of the forums here in a sec.

A few things to point out.

1. it does not appear this gentleman works for westgate in any capacity given his emails use public/free domains.

ie johndoe@msn.com or gmail.com etc etc, rest assured that ANYONE who is working for a resort or legitimate timeshare company is not going to send you an email from his or her personal public email address.

Also note that you can make an email look like it came from ANYWHERE, so be sure to pay close attention to the reply to email address, not the display email address. it could say it came from president@whitehouse.gov and really come from abc@hotmail.com etc etc.

2. paypal requires a valid bank account in order to accept payments, so for those of you ripped off, reporting the same account (assuming he used it) and getting the police involved hopefully will allow paypal to release that information to help track down his real identity for law enforcement.

3. if anyone wishes to contact me privately with info, vs posting publicly...i will compile what I can to provide to law enforcement if necessary.

 

[JeffW]

Has anyone contacted Westgate (aka CFI - Central Florida Investments)? I don't think they'd think too highly of someone using a 'Westgate Timeshare' name. If they release their lawyers on the guy, there might be some different results.

Jeff

 

[fillde]

This thread is very suspicious. 3 new posters all registered on the same day with the same problem.

 

[Stricky]

(yea but the OP and others seem fine)

Has anyone affected contacted the Florida AG's office? If there are 4 or 5 people here imagine how many total this guy scammed.

 

[TUGBrian]

I sent off a note to a contact I have at westgate, although have not recieved a reply.

 

[J&JFamily]

This thread is very suspicious. 3 new posters all registered on the same day with the same problem.

I don't think so. Just do a google search with the name and company name (don't even have to add the word scam) and links to this thread pop up. Anyone who became suspicious likely did that and found this thread.

 

[ptmm]

I wish this wasn't true but trust me it is.

Unfortunately this is very true and TUG just happens to be the place people come to when this type of thing happens. That is the reason so many people logged on the same day. I am the one that started the original post to warn everyone prior to confirming this guy was a fraud. I was hoping to help someone avoid my situation. Between myself and a couple others we have contacted the Florida AG, westgate and the FBI's internet fraud department with complaints. I have not heard anything lately but hopefully someone can track this guy down or at the very least keep him from victimising someone else. I think most people have tried to get a refund thru their CC companies and will see how it works out. Thanks for all the support here and the tips from the admin. It all seemed so legit at the time but you live and learn. I am one of the lucky one's I guess because I was able to find a week from an owner and financially was able to still enjoy our vacation. I just really feel for some of the other people that saved for a long time and had their dreams crushed by this worm. All I can say is Karma is real and may he get whatever he has coming. Thanks again, Paul.

 

[roadtriper]

This thread is very suspicious. 3 new posters all registered on the same day with the same problem.

Fillde, Why is the Thread suspicious? I can assure you that this is very real, in my case it's a Thousand Dollars real! I too was questioning the influx of 4 folks who showed up in a 2 day period. but as stated, a Google search brings you right to this thread. RT

 

[adelgadillo]

Drivable

We do have airline tickets to maui from sept. 21st to the 28th. we are getting married on Sept 19th. we are looking for a timeshare on the island of maui but have basically wiped out all our money on this horrible scam. we are thinking of just taking whatever money we get from the wedding, flying out to maui just finding a little motel on the island and just budget. It's unfortunate that it happened but we will NOT let it ruin our honeymoon! I hope this guy gets caught and Karma gets him really good.

Paypal was horrible to deal with by the way. they kept telling me there was nothing they could do and would not even flag his account because my claims of fraud were only speculation. I will NEVER use Paypal again because it is apparent to me that they have no issueswith being used as a middleman for fraud.

 

[gorevs9]

Drivable

We do have airline tickets to maui from sept. 21st to the 28th. we are getting married on Sept 19th. we are looking for a timeshare on the island of maui but have basically wiped out all our money on this horrible scam. we are thinking of just taking whatever money we get from the wedding, flying out to maui just finding a little motel on the island and just budget. It's unfortunate that it happened but we will NOT let it ruin our honeymoon! I hope this guy gets caught and Karma gets him really good.

Paypal was horrible to deal with by the way. they kept telling me there was nothing they could do and would not even flag his account because my claims of fraud were only speculation. I will NEVER use Paypal again because it is apparent to me that they have no issueswith being used as a middleman for fraud.

I sent you a PM