RCI Suspended Eagle Village Tamiment

[slarney77]

I called the building department I don't know if it's the right one in Lehman township and they informed me that they do not inspect and enforce codes so you would have to hire your own inspector to inspect the property this makes no sense because doesn't the building department issue violations. It seems they got away with not doing a lot of the maintenance because nobody goes out to inspect from the town and there's no recourse.

 

[194725RR]

I called the building department I don't know if it's the right one in Lehman township and they informed me that they do not inspect and enforce codes so you would have to hire your own inspector to inspect the property this makes no sense because doesn't the building department issue violations. It seems they got away with not doing a lot of the maintenance because nobody goes out to inspect from the town and there's no recourse.

Thank you for this information. I'm going to contact an attorney. It can't be legal to demand that owners pay maintenance fees with threat of collection agency fines and credit rating damages while misappropriating the collected funds. If there's anything I can say publicly about further legal action, I will post it in this thread. The recent customer ratings on trip advisor speak volumes about what they're actually doing... apparently nothing but misusing property owner funds.

 

[slarney77]

So it begins I have just been called by the collection agent Blackwell for the timeshare it amazes me I called the county Pike county's government office and they're telling me to contact the magistrate to see if they could help everybody wants to pass the buck but they certainly want any type of real estate taxes or tax dollars

 

[194725RR]

So it begins I have just been called by the collection agent Blackwell for the timeshare it amazes me I called the county Pike county's government office and they're telling me to contact the magistrate to see if they could help everybody wants to pass the buck but they certainly want any type of real estate taxes or tax dollars

Agreed. It's unethical if the Eagle Village Board legally is enforcing taking our money, not following through on their stated budget line requirements thereby putting property owners and guest's physical and mental health at risk. Reviews seem to show or describe what looks like black mold everywhere, rodent droppings, bugs, plumbing issues, dirty linnens and other examples of no maintenance being done.

If any property owner has information that can help or inform us as a group, post it here if you can. I know many of us are in the process of taking legal actions.

 

[LisaC]

So it begins I have just been called by the collection agent Blackwell for the timeshare it amazes me I called the county Pike county's government office and they're telling me to contact the magistrate to see if they could help everybody wants to pass the buck but they certainly want any type of real estate taxes or tax dollars

Yes, definitely concerned that would happen. They have a lot of nerve to not let us know what is going on and do absolutely nothing but expect to collect maintenance fees.

 

[LisaC]

Agreed. It's unethical if the Eagle Village Board legally is enforcing taking our money, not following through on their stated budget line requirements thereby putting property owners and guest's physical and mental health at risk. Reviews seem to show or describe what looks like black mold everywhere, rodent droppings, bugs, plumbing issues, dirty linnens and other examples of no maintenance being done.

If any property owner has information that can help or inform us as a group, post it here if you can. I know many of us are in the process of taking legal actions.

Wish we could all file a class action law suit against them!

 

[194725RR]

Wish we could all file a class action law suit against them!

Agreed. It seems like the property is being intentionally run down, which doesn't appear to align with the promises made in the board's annual letter. The board recently created a liaison with Concord Servicing, a new bill collection company to enforce collection of maintenance fees. It seems like some back door plan is being implemented.

 

[Manzana]

I even tried to pay online but the system wouldn't take it. Now I am getting called from blackwell. I was willing to pay and then give it up but if I cannot even use it or have access to it I am all for a class action like every one says

 

[194725RR]

I even tried to pay online but the system wouldn't take it. Now I am getting called from blackwell. I was willing to pay and then give it up but if I cannot even use it or have access to it I am all for a class action like every one says

It's unfortunate it's getting to this point. It might be a good idea for a few of us to make a computer document file of screenshots of recent reviews including photographs taken as back up photographic evidence and firsthand accounts of the current condition of the properties. A possible source of first-hand accounts is on TripAdvisor, search Eagle Village for the most recent reviews. Be sure to keep copies of any letters you receive or correspondence you send to Eagle Village or any attorneys you are working with.

 

[Sammy1234]

I think Eagle Village is located in the Pocono Township. I have a call into their code enforcer and she called me back, but I missed her call. She left a message and said it was better to email them which I will do over the weekend. I will let you know what they say. I also thought it might be a good idea to contact the local state representative for the area. Once I find out for sure if they are in the Pocono Township, I will find who the local state rep is. Then we should all call or email them and see if they can do anything. Someone mentioned the local magistrate. What would we do? File a complaint for misappropriation of funds? Because bottom line is, this is what this is. They took money that was intended for maintenance and obviously they did not use it for maintenance. So could we file criminal charges against them with the magistrate? I will look into that option too. I do not remember who said, we should make up a file with the reviews and the pictures, but that is an excellent idea. I was going to contact RCI and ask them if they verify the reviews because its pretty obvious that the last couple that give them 10 and 8 stars, are fake. How can you have people packing up after one night and a couple of days later, there are reviews saying the place was beautiful. In order for them to get reinstated with RCI, their ratings have to show improvement. That's why they are all of a sudden getting good reviews. Either the people that work there or their friends or family are posting them, which I would think would be considered fraud.
Also, I have to double check this, but I think I read that if you are being contacted by a debt collector, you can tell them not to call you anymore. Your debt does not go away, but they just can't call you, or your place of employment, or family. If they do, its a violation of the FTC. If you do tell them not to call you anymore and they still do, take a screenshot of your phone's caller ID. So, I will look into the above mentioned items and tell you what I find out.

 

[Sammy1234]

Just looked up about the debt collector calling and yes, you can write a letter to them telling them not to contact you anymore. Again, its just the phone calls that go away and not your debt.
I do not have a copy of the timeshare document because my parents gave us their week at Eagle Village. This was before we found out about how bad the place is. If someone has a copy of the contract, can you read over it and see if there is a class action waiver or an arbitration clause in our contract. Thanks!

 

[194725RR]

It might be helpful to review previous posts in this thread for our fact finding. There are many helpful points, opinions, and facts being communicated. For example, from comment #201 to the most recent one, key points have been made regarding first hand recent experiences and information. Comment numbers can be found to the right of each comment date.

Not all units are in the same condition. Some are part of newer phase builds. They could be renovated and secured as a newly named phases for stay use. RCI would allow those new phases to qualify for RCI reinstatement. The location of the units is highly desirable. The recreational center still seems viable.

As we proceed to seek legal recource, at some point in the legal process, we will have to decide on what compensation we want to resolve the situation we've been put in. It's safe to assume that interested stakeholders, including board members, attorneys, RCI, and the Oakes Group are monitoring this thread. For those of us who have suffered a loss from poor property management, I believe most of us would be satisfied if reasonable efforts would be made to help us recover from our losses.

No communication has come from the Board since this year's annual letter regarding the Oakes Group signing on to help the efforts to renovate the properties. This is and recent reviews are leading us to cautiously believe that nothing is being done. It is possible that the plan is still being worked out and we may receive an update regarding what specifically is being done to rectify the units' renovation needs.

As recently stated, there are some possible ways that Eagle Village can make property owners whole from their mismanagement of the resort quality. "For example, Eagle Village might put this year's points on hold, or categorize them as bonus points, or provide stay options at a local hotel or resort they may have an agreement with. It would be ethical for Eagle Village to notify property owners of how they are going to handle this loss."

The board can still recover this situation, but if they continue to keep us uninformed with no factual communication provided regarding renovations, it leaves us with no choice but to proceed legally to help us recover from their actions. No action is actually a chosen action.

They should not be continuing to rent out units that are in deplorable and inhumane condition. There seems to be rodent bite marks in the soap left for guests, for example. It's appalling. I hope those who have experienced such conditions have not had to lose money or points on top of being subjected to these issues. If a class action lawsuit proceeds, we should allow those people to elect to be part of the legal restitution.

 

[slarney77]

Another issue is isn't the board duty bound to maintain value in the property The woman my mother bought the timeshare from paid I think $40,000 a week she owned two weeks and that was when Wayne Newton owned the property now if you look online you can't even give a week away at Eagle Village they've done nothing to maintain the value of the property it seems just a money pit every year they're going to either collect dues and not raise it and basically expect people to thank them for not raising it but then again let's say next year they say they want $1,000 or $2,000 a year there is no law that prevents them from Raising it to whatever they want you know God forbid one of these people on the board's kid gets into Harvard or something they may be putting the bill through the time share. My family's own our timeshare since 2007 we bought a week from a lady I don't know how much we paid for it it was a friend of the family I inherited the property in 2014 and I've never been there I used RCI and I've been paying every year and every year the reviews get worse and worse there are some reviews that are say they're wonderful it's the best place on Earth but you really have to question this because if you have 10 reviews that say it's awful where does this one odd review come from either it's paid for is an employee or it's AI as with Blackwell you know I just saw there's a letter in the mailbox coming from them they'll threaten going to court if that's the case I'll just have to bring pictures and reviews you know hopefully whoever hearing itunderstands that they are the ones who broke the contract by failure to maintain the property it's lost value it as well as lost any no wanting to go to a timeshare I think my units 1066 why would I want to go to a place it's like a third world country I could go to a Motel 6 or another cheap motel and have the same experience with roaches and mice

 

[nellevad]

 

[nellevad]

 

[nellevad]

 

[nellevad]

 

[nellevad]

 

[nellevad]

 

[nellevad]

The above pictures are my unit taken in 2021 unit 1064. Just want to show that not all units are as bad as Trip Advisor . There are positive reviews because there are still decent units. Just not updated. Also, how can you prove they mismanaged money when they never got the money from owners who stopped paying? Remember, the resort only has less then 50% ownership now, which has been the case for years, as owners died or forfeited because of lack of interest. I know it is a disappointment, but don't get carried away with accusations of mismanagement. No, money in the budget means no money to spend beyond daily running expenses. As far as Concord goes, they switched to Concord quite a few years ago to try to collect MF, in order to maintain the resort. That was an appropriate thing to do. That was good management. It is a 45 year old resort whose base has moved on. When it lost Tamiment Hotel, that shared its pool, courts, restaurant, beach with us, Eagle Village lost hundreds of owners. Nobody set out to rip off the owners. I don' t believe there is some evil plan to take our money. But what we can do is send the resort letters asking for a vote to close, If the remaining owners want it, it has to close. I for one will not spend money on legal fees that only beat a dead horse. I think more letters to the board will work better than legal action.

 

[194725RR]

The above pictures are my unit taken in 2021 unit 1064. Just want to show that not all units are as bad as Trip Advisor . There are positive reviews because there are still decent units. Just not updated. Also, how can you prove they mismanaged money when they never got the money from owners who stopped paying? Remember, the resort only has less then 50% ownership now, which has been the case for years, as owners died or forfeited because of lack of interest. I know it is a disappointment, but don't get carried away with accusations of mismanagement. No, money in the budget means no money to spend beyond daily running expenses. As far as Concord goes, they switched to Concord quite a few years ago to try to collect MF, in order to maintain the resort. That was an appropriate thing to do. That was good management. It is a 45 year old resort whose base has moved on. When it lost Tamiment Hotel, that shared its pool, courts, restaurant, beach with us, Eagle Village lost hundreds of owners. Nobody set out to rip off the owners. I don' t believe there is some evil plan to take our money. But what we can do is send the resort letters asking for a vote to close, If the remaining owners want it, it has to close. I for one will not spend money on legal fees that only beat a dead horse. I think more letters to the board will work better than legal action.

Thank you for your helpful reply and pictures taken from 2021. I appreciate your valid perspective. Ultimately, I don't want to put good money to futile use under perpetual, threatening terms. No one at the resort has gotten back to my multiple methods for requests for communication. The Board has not issued any updates, nor kept us informed after issuing an annual letter stating a significant issue.

I would assert that allowing people to reserve dilapidated units, not taking action on decaying units, nor utilizing maintenance funds to inspect units, ignoring owner or guest requests, choosing to be rude to guests, taking no action on units that are severely damaged, not properly cleaning reserved units, not properly responding to requests of action from the Attorney General, while accepting funds from owners for employees who are paid to manage these services would constiute mismanagement of funds, to be fair.

I am still in fact finding mode and don't have a copy of the agreement that indicates owners can vote to close the property. Can you share a copy of the full agreement with personal information redacted in this thread? Maybe, after getting approval from some legal entity, we can schedule an owner meeting on site on some weekend day to inspect the units ourselves and take a vote as one option.

I believe some action must be taken. I'm open to suggestions, but I cannot endorse a wait and see what happens solution where we're being forced to make payments for zero benefit.

 

[slarney77]

From my understanding they chose to tear down the hotel to try to sell vacation homes plots I heard this from one of the other owners who owned this time share since it was owned by Wayne Newton Enterprises they also thought they were getting investors from overseas

 

[nellevad]

No, that is not true, about the tear down of Tamiment Hotel. A man bought it and then immediately tore it down, probably tax purposes.He sold the property to a developer who had planned a community but Bushkill wouldnt ok the plans because of road and utility development.EV was a separate entity pand aid dues to so as to have access to the facilities. It was a blow to EV, and the start of its failing. Everyone who buys a timeshare is to get a copy of the bylaws. But people who inherit, or buy from from third parties probably didn't. The bylaws are recorded in Pike County. I will attempt to post a link. The bylaws are not sales contracts. But in your sales contracts you have agreed to abide by the bylaws which states you will pay MF's. That is why I say you don't have a sound legal standing. The maintenance cannot be done if the money is not collected. The money is not collected because people want out. The board is between a rock and a hard place. If over 50 % of the weeks are not owned, then no MFs from those weeks. The board probably only spends money on the units with the most MF coming in. Doesn't that make sense? Don't spend money on buildings whose owners have left. Spend it on the buildings that still have sufficient owners. That would explain the huge difference in conditions of buildings. The older phase 1 is probably the worst. BUT, here is the rub. Eagle village obviously rents those out to try to cover costs ...for us!. And yes they get bad reviews. They can rent them because the deeds have gone back to the board. But the rent doesn't go to fix them up. Why would they? Nobody owns them. But some deeds have been lost. How! Look up Viking Ship timeshare fraud. That might help you understand what probably has been going on with EV.

 

[Sammy1234]

No, that is not true, about the tear down of Tamiment Hotel. A man bought it and then immediately tore it down, probably tax purposes.He sold the property to a developer who had planned a community but Bushkill wouldnt ok the plans because of road and utility development.EV was a separate entity pand aid dues to so as to have access to the facilities. It was a blow to EV, and the start of its failing. Everyone who buys a timeshare is to get a copy of the bylaws. But people who inherit, or buy from from third parties probably didn't. The bylaws are recorded in Pike County. I will attempt to post a link. The bylaws are not sales contracts. But in your sales contracts you have agreed to abide by the bylaws which states you will pay MF's. That is why I say you don't have a sound legal standing. The maintenance cannot be done if the money is not collected. The money is not collected because people want out. The board is between a rock and a hard place. If over 50 % of the weeks are not owned, then no MFs from those weeks. The board probably only spends money on the units with the most MF coming in. Doesn't that make sense? Don't spend money on buildings whose owners have left. Spend it on the buildings that still have sufficient owners. That would explain the huge difference in conditions of buildings. The older phase 1 is probably the worst. BUT, here is the rub. Eagle village obviously rents those out to try to cover costs ...for us!. And yes they get bad reviews. They can rent them because the deeds have gone back to the board. But the rent doesn't go to fix them up. Why would they? Nobody owns them. But some deeds have been lost. How! Look up Viking Ship timeshare fraud. That might help you understand what probably has been going on with EV.

This all sounds good, but why are they not answering phone calls, or sending us updates? Someone left a review and said, the unit was not cleaned. You can't tell me that if they can't afford to pay for cleaning services, they could have the people that are working there, go and clean the unit. If they are not at fault for all this, then why are they not going and at least cleaning the units between guest and at least making an effort. Or is it because like one review said, they were sitting in the office smoking pot when they went to check it? Gee, that alone just screams a professional place. Gosh, these poor people working there are really busy trying to make this resort a better place to stay, aren't they??
Another thing about people wanting out is, when we bought our timeshare, there was an outdoor pool which would be packed with people. Whatever the reason was for getting rid of the pool, do you think its fair that we bought into this resort for the amenities they had and now they are gone. If you have a family with kids, how much fun is it going to be to go there in the summer with no outdoor pool? What did they expect to happen when they got rid of the pool? Did they really think this was going to continue to be a place where people wanted to stay?
If there was some transparency and accountability with the staff and the board and communicating with the timeshare owners, I might be able to look at this in the way you are looking at it. But how about you let another timeshare owner stay in your unit and you go stay in one of the mouse and roach infested, mold filled bathrooms and see if you still want to defend the people that allowed this to happen.

 

[nellevad]

This all sounds good, but why are they not answering phone calls, or sending us updates? Someone left a review and said, the unit was not cleaned. You can't tell me that if they can't afford to pay for cleaning services, they could have the people that are working there, go and clean the unit. If they are not at fault for all this, then why are they not going and at least cleaning the units between guest and at least making an effort. Or is it because like one review said, they were sitting in the office smoking pot when they went to check it? Gee, that alone just screams a professional place. Gosh, these poor people working there are really busy trying to make this resort a better place to stay, aren't they??
Another thing about people wanting out is, when we bought our timeshare, there was an outdoor pool which would be packed with people. Whatever the reason was for getting rid of the pool, do you think its fair that we bought into this resort for the amenities they had and now they are gone. If you have a family with kids, how much fun is it going to be to go there in the summer with no outdoor pool? What did they expect to happen when they got rid of the pool? Did they really think this was going to continue to be a place where people wanted to stay?
If there was some transparency and accountability with the staff and the board and communicating with the timeshare owners, I might be able to look at this in the way you are looking at it. But how about you let another timeshare owner stay in your unit and you go stay in one of the mouse and roach infested, mold filled bathrooms and see if you still want to defend the people that allowed this to happen.

I think you are under the assumption that the outdoor pool belonged to Eagle Village. It never did.
It belonged to Tamiment Hotel and Conference Center. That was the big,, hugely famous resort that they tore down. Eagle Village was a separate timeshare community that was built along the lake(which by the way EV never owned) and payed dues to use the big resort. It was devasting to EV when it came down and EV sued for breach of contract. The result was the owner of that resort had to build our recreation center. I agree with you 100% about the communications. I know alot about this because I go there periodically. I pay $55 to have my unit cleaned if I rent to someone for only 3 days and I have a second set of renters finishing out the week. EV is only responsible to clean the units every Friday. That is part of our maintenance fee. I suspect some owners rent without paying for the extra cleaning between midweek. That would explain the dirty units. That is not EVs fault. I really want to stress there are alot of outside influences going on. There are several entities that own defaulted weeks that rent them out. EV does not have control over them. Also, I don't rent to timeshare owners. I rent only my unit which I believe still has many owners, so our MFs are used to keep our building relatively decent. I would be extremely mad if they used even a penny of my money on a building that has very few owners helping with the cost. Do you see my reasoning? EV has less than 50% ownership. That is a huge hole in the budget. Unfortunately, this current board has made a mistake to not communicate. Plus you can't hire a receptionist and then tell her to go clean a unit!!!! (Really??) When I went there in the past, the office always had their updates posted in the office. People were friendly. Now I think they hide because they dont know how to explain things to guests. They are just employees. Not part of the board. And i have never seen anyone smoke. It was probably one instance and you cant take that account and blanket all the employees. They expect owners to visit. But so many weeks were sold to people who never intended on using EV. They were sold a timeshare with very low maintenance fees, and then got high points to trade. It was great! But over the years, EV lost point value from RCI, as it lost owners and tried to spread the MFs to cover all the units. You can only spread butter so far. They had to make a choice, I suspect. Did you look up Viking Ships? I want to be realistic about this. I want to understand the underlying cause. But I am 100% sure nobody stole our MFs or mismanaged the money. But I would definitely hold the board's feet to the fire for miscommunication....gladly.