Help out a fellow victim

[K-MUS]

Hi, I found out this forum a little late because now I can't rescind the contract.

I bought 154k from Bonnet Creek Orlando for a shit ton of money a month ago. I'm from Argentine and I wasn't aware on how this thing timeshare thing works and from what I can see it was a sweet deal.

So I'm now well aware on how *bleep* up I'm and the amount of money I just lose. I believe they literally lie about everything straight to me face.

I'm not gonna bored you saying how mad I'm because you know everything I have to say, I'm just asking for help on how to minimize the lost because I'm on the other side of the world and I feel desolated. I don't wanna know anything about Wyndham and I try to think convice myself that this a fricking nightmare.

What are my options ? because the seller told me that I could sell back again my point directly to Wyndham but from what I could read this is not true, right ?

I have to resell it in ebay ? if this is the only option. I can do it via internet or I have to travel over there to finish the transaction?

Anyway any help or advice you can give me will be well received.

Thx and gl

 

[tidegirl]

You can sell it on ebay, but you would never be able to get what anything close to what you paid and owe. My advice is use it and enjoy your vacations, even if it was more than you should have paid. It is still a wonderful product even if it is overpriced.

 

[OutSkiing]

You don't have options to sell it for anywhere near what the developer (Wyndham) charges. You are not alone .. we have bought directly from Wyndham in the past before we knew / trusted the resale market. I believe there are many many people here on TUG in the same situation enjoying their vacation and even more who never found TUG.

I would just enjoy the travel with your 154k points .. maybe add some resale in future years after you've paid off any loan for this first batch of points. That's what we do.

The way I look at it is Wyndham would not be able to develop the resort and sell each and every room in the resort 52 different times if it were not for those salespeople. Imagine selling your house 52 times! I think most of the initial purchase price goes to support that sales organization.

So when they call them 'the developer' that means a lot more than just building the building / landscape / digging the lake etc but then working to sell it 52 times. If it were not for them taking the risk that they would be able to fill all those units every week of the year, we would not have a resort to visit at all.

Bob

 

[Jan M.]

If you paid in full for what you have, keep it and use it. That money is spent and you can't get it back so make use of what you own. If you try to sell it you will find you will get very little for it. Almost everyone who later finds out that they could have bought resale for a small fraction of what they spent goes through what you are feeling.

 

[Arimaas]

Not that I would advocate this, but if you're in Argentina, Wyndham will have a hard time enforcing their contract against you. The legal hurdles of serving process and enforcing judgement against a foreign citizen, let alone one that is as far south away From their corporate HQ as possible would probably cost more than it's worth to them.

Maybe it pays to try to call them and see if they will take it back or you can threaten to just stop paying. Not sure if they can impact your credit score from Argentina (not sure how that works there). That being said, if you were to follow that route, I am sure you would be precluding yourself from ever owning a Wyndham property, developer or resale.

 

[Passepartout]

I would write them and tell them to foreclose and that you are not EVER giving them another penny. Or dollar, or anything else. You will lose what you've already paid, and of course change credit cards or banks that they have set up for taking your payments. You will get threatening letters, but I really doubt that there is any actual way that any entity can force you to pay. Eventually, they will foreclose and take back the week (or points) you bought. It will not affect your ability to travel to the USA or anywhere else.- Though you may not have good credit in America for a few years.

Best wishes!

 

[Mosescan]

A timeshare is worth everything the developer/salesman told you it was worth....except resale value. If you bought a good product, which I believe Wyndham is, then you can have lots of great vacations and make wonderful memories with your family. You can stay at their luxurious properties and enjoy the amazing locations all for the annual cost of your maintenance fees. In that they were not lying.

Like many on here I bought direct from the developer myself. In my case it was Hilton and HGVC. Not once, but twice before I found TUG and the resale market. Did I pay a ridiculous amount of money for my points? Yes! What did I do? I bought a bucket load more points...on the resale market and now my family and I have some of the most amazing vacations. We are taking my wife's parents to Hawaii for 2 weeks this April and staying in a 2 BR suite for a week on 2 different islands.

If you can afford what you purchased from the developer, my advice is to suck it up, read the boards here and learn to get the most out of what you own and use it for all that it's worth. Just because you paid 10 times as much as you would have buying used, doesn't mean that it's worthless. You may find, like myself and many others here, that you really enjoy using your timeshare and in time add more to your portfolio from the resale market.

If you can't really afford what they sold you and you still owe a lot of money on a loan for the purchase, then you have to decide if you want to walk away and stop the bleeding. Stop making payments, default on the loan and maintenance fees and let it going to a collection agency. You are in Argentina, what can they do to you? They can't really collect on the debt down there can they? I am by no means advocating this approach and believe it should be a last straw. Only you truly know your situation and what is best for you.

Good luck my friend.

 

[K-MUS]

Thx for the inputs, I just paid a 20% in advance ($3,5k) the rest (aprox 19k) in a loan for 10 years. But my main goal was exactly resale value. Here in my country things are tough, so I believed it could be a good inversion. (silly me)

The thing is that I don't know if I'll be able to enjoy my points.

I bought them because supposably I could use these point in ALL Wyndham group, not just the resorts inluding airplane tickets, without any extra cost (except the RCI ones). That was the mainly reason to use the points I don't really like Resorts and fancy hotels, and is true... you CAN use them it but then I find out that to be able to use the Wyndham hotels goes through Wyndham Rewards and with a 1000 to 400 point ratio. With my 154k point I can't afford even a single week in any hotel and with the Airplanes tickets (PlusPartners) I don't have any system or portal to check the points... so I don't even know how much point cost an airplane ticket I have to call a 0-800 wich is free in America but from here I get charged as an international call.

When I ask what if in the future I want to sell my points. They told me that I could:

1- Resale the points by myself
2- Resale the point using a Real State agent
3- Directly to Wyndham

So I can't resale my points directly to Wyndham as they told me?

Thx again for the inputs, I'll contact them and see in a polite way if I can foreclose this all thing. I can live losing those $3,5k that they already charged me. But I don't wanna keep pay something that I won't be enjoying or even using.

 

[jwalk03]

Thx for the inputs, I just paid a 20% in advance ($3,5k) the rest (aprox 19k) in a loan for 10 years. But my main goal was exactly resale value. Here in my country things are tough, so I believed it could be a good inversion. (silly me)

The thing is that I don't know if I'll be able to enjoy my points.

I bought them because supposably I could use these point in ALL Wyndham group, not just the resorts inluding airplane tickets, without any extra cost (except the RCI ones). That was the mainly reason to use the points I don't really like Resorts and fancy hotels, and is true... you CAN use them it but then I find out that to be able to use the Wyndham hotels goes through Wyndham Rewards and with a 1000 to 400 point ratio. With my 154k point I can't afford even a single week in any hotel and with the Airplanes tickets (PlusPartners) I don't have any system or portal to check the points... so I don't even know how much point cost an airplane ticket I have to call a 0-800 wich is free in America but from here I get charged as an international call.

When I ask what if in the future I want to sell my points. They told me that I could:

1- Resale the points by myself
2- Resale the point using a Real State agent
3- Directly to Wyndham

So I can't resale my points directly to Wyndham as they told me?

Thx again for the inputs, I'll contact them and see in a polite way if I can foreclose this all thing. I can live losing those $3,5k that they already charged me. But I don't wanna keep pay something that I won't be enjoying or even using.

It is NOT a good use of points to use them for hotel stays, airfare, car rentals, cruises, etc. All of these things cost less paying out of pocket than what you would be paying in MF. If you do not intend to use the points to stay at Wyndham timeshare resorts than you should just default on the loan. As others have mentioned it is very unlikely they can try and collect from you in Argentina. You will lose what you already paid, but that better than throwing more good money after bad by continuing to pay the loan for 10 years on a product you have no intention of using.

 

[Arimaas]

It is NOT a good use of points to use them for hotel stays, airfare, car rentals, cruises, etc. All of these things cost less paying out of pocket than what you would be paying in MF. If you do not intend to use the points to stay at Wyndham timeshare resorts than you should just default on the loan. As others have mentioned it is very unlikely they can try and collect from you in Argentina. You will lose what you already paid, but that better than throwing more good money after bad by continuing to pay the loan for 10 years on a product you have no intention of using.

I was just thinking, should you chose to default, maybe you want to use some points this year by making a guest reservation for someone (giving a family member a gift, booking for a friend, etc) so at least you get some usage of your $3k spent before you default. Obviously have to do this quickly, because once your loan and MFs are not current, they will not let you make reservations.

 

[K-MUS]

I was just thinking, should you chose to default, maybe you want to use some points this year by making a guest reservation for someone (giving a family member a gift, booking for a friend, etc) so at least you get some usage of your $3k spent before you default. Obviously have to do this quickly, because once your loan and MFs are not current, they will not let you make reservations.

Yeah.. but honestly. I don't care. I just want to get out and forget Wyndham.

I hope they understand my reasons and close the contract, if not... I'll see how can I do to stop paying (because I used the same creit card that I used for other stuff that I'm still paying)

 

[Jan M.]

Yeah.. but honestly. I don't care. I just want to get out and forget Wyndham.

I hope they understand my reasons and close the contract, if not... I'll see how can I do to stop paying (because I used the same creit card that I used for other stuff that I'm still paying)

In addition to defaulting on the loan and maintenance fees you might want to contact the credit card company to dispute the charge for the down payment claiming the salesperson misrepresented things.

 

[ace2000]

Victim? We should come up with a hashtag... #mescrewed ??? Or something else?

 

[Passepartout]

Yeah.. but honestly. I don't care. I just want to get out and forget Wyndham.

I hope they understand my reasons and close the contract, if not... I'll see how can I do to stop paying (because I used the same creit card that I used for other stuff that I'm still paying)

Not likely that they will 'understand'. All they care about is those monthly payments. Knowing that a timeshare has NO VALUE other than resort stays might help you decide to default (quit paying). Not air fare, not hotel stays, not anything. You can't rent your weeks to others for more than your cost- otherwise Wyndham would be doing it.

Move your credit card payments to another card- at a different card issuer, then close the account that Wyndham has access to. By the way, extending payments on a credit card is a bad idea anyway, but that's another issue entirely.

Good Luck.

 

[Braindead]

You can't rent your weeks to others for more than your cost- otherwise Wyndham would be doing.

You might not be aware of it.
Wyndham does rent to others and makes big $ !!

 

[Passepartout]

You might not be aware of it.
Wyndham does rent to others and makes big $ !!

But individual owners can't make money on it if they are also paying Wyndham AND credit card interest on the purchase.

 

[Arimaas]

In addition to defaulting on the loan and maintenance fees you might want to contact the credit card company to dispute the charge for the down payment claiming the salesperson misrepresented things.

Honesty, think you’re going to have a hard time disputing the charges when there’s a signed contract involved. I highly doubt the credit card company is going to find in the favor of the consumer , even with sales people misrepresenting facts. Anyway, in contract law only the four corners of the document matter. Anything verbally promised, if not also in the contract doesn’t matter. I just think contesting the charges is a waste of time. Best route is to default if you don’t care about the credit hit and loss of money already spent (of course after speaking to someone at Wyndham about the situation)

 

[Iggyearl]

To the OP (original poster). You are not alone. Last year Wyndham reported $94 million in defaults on contracts. (up $10 million from 2016). Because third party cancellation companies have been assisting disgruntled owners (for a large fee), Wyndham introduced their own "new" service which they named "Wyndham Cares." I have no idea what their operators are trained to say, but here is the website:

https://www.myclubwyndham.com/mycw/owner-101/wyndham-cares.page

You may find a sympathetic representative who can help you. You may not. But the address is designed for people in similar circumstances to yours. Good luck, and please come back and tell us what happens. (Unless you end up signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement - NDA ).

 

[K-MUS]

Hi to all,

Thx Iggy for the link I'll contact them via "Wyndham Cares" to see if they can cancel or foreclose my contract to minimize the future fighting with them. Meanwhile I canceled my credit card to stop them from charging me. From what I could find out is not likely to have consequences outside USA (but nothing is impossible).

I wanna thank you all again for the inputs and advices. This past weeks were simply awful, my stress level went to the roof. Except this whole Wyndham incident the people that I meet in USA, from New York and Orlando were awesome, very friendly it's a beautiful country.

I learned my lesson. I'll never EVER sign a fricking contract on an impulse. I'll keep you posted on how things move foward in case it can help someone in the future.

Thx gl

 

[Arimaas]

Hi to all,

Thx Iggy for the link I'll contact them via "Wyndham Cares" to see if they can cancel or foreclose my contract to minimize the future fighting with them. Meanwhile I canceled my credit card to stop them from charging me. From what I could find out is not likely to have consequences outside USA (but nothing is impossible).

I wanna thank you all again for the inputs and advices. This past weeks were simply awful, my stress level went to the roof. Except this whole Wyndham incident the people that I meet in USA, from New York and Orlando were awesome, very friendly it's a beautiful country.

I learned my lesson. I'll never EVER sign a fricking contract on an impulse. I'll keep you posted on how things move foward in case it can help someone in the future.

Thx gl

Good luck! Hope it works out. And if you're back in NYC and happen to want to bring an extra box of havanna alfajores, I'll be glad to take them off your hands!

 

[Family_travel]

https://www.myclubwyndham.com/mycw/owner-101/wyndham-cares.page

Does anyone know who is "Featured Reseller - Learn about Wyndham-approved third-party resellers."?