The Oral Representation Clause and Diamond Resorts

August 12, 2021

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By Bernadette

Bernadette explains why reading the timeshare contract would not have helped her. Like many, Bernadette was told that in order to be released from a paid-in-full deeded timeshare, she must convert to points. This would not have been in her contract.

A TIMESHARE TALKS interview with Bernadette from Oklahoma:

My husband Fred had a heart attack in 2006 after we purchased a Monarch timeshare in 2003. In 2017, Fred suffered a stroke. I was afraid of what would happen to me should something happen to him. That was the only reason we attended a sales presentation in 2018 in Las Vegas. Despite Diamond Resorts having a voluntary surrender program called Transitions, we were told the only way to exit our timeshare was to convert our deed to points. We had no prior loan. We agreed to convert to Diamond U.S. Collection points, except the deed did not get converted so we ended up with two maintenance fees.

We next went to a meeting in Hawaii to ask about release. By this time Fred needed a wheelchair to get through the airport. Sales agents there told us that converting to U.S. Collection points would not help us with a release, but Hawaii points could be sold. We were not yet aware that our deed did not convert. We learned at the end of the year we still owed maintenance fees on our deeded week and for the new points.

We were next invited to a meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Christy, a traveling Branson, Missouri sales agent, informed us that Hawaii points had no resale value. She said she could help us by converting our Hawaii points back to U.S. Collection points to lower our payments by refinancing. She said Hawaii members would be subjected to a $3,000 special assessment. There was no way we could afford that so we switched from Hawaii points back to U.S. Collection points. I later learned there was no special assessment. Switching back to the U.S. Collection resulted in a higher monthly payment.

I learned of a Navy veteran, a retired postal worker, who was switched back and forth until he ended up with $2,700 a month in loan payments. He was forced to seek bankruptcy protection because he had charged payments to credit cards. He and his daughter produced this YouTube:

We had no choice but to default on a $57,000 loan and we lost $26,000 spent on down payments. I still owe my sister $14,000 of the $26,000.

I recently learned of someone who bought additional timeshare points from our Branson sales agent. They recorded their sales presentation in which Christy fabricated a reason to buy points. The member’s dispute quickly resolved because of the recording.

I listened to Diamond Resorts CEO Michael Flaskey on YouTube warning us to be wary of timeshare exit providers who lie. I was dismissed by the Missouri Attorney, also on YouTube, advising me to retain an attorney, I launched this petition asking to have the YouTube taken down. In the YouTube, former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods says, “And they hire lawyers who are storefront clowns.” Michael Flaskey says, “And they lie and make them worse off than they were before.” Mr. Flaskey ends the YouTube by saying, “And they could have just called Diamond.”

Please consider signing my Change.org petition to take down this YouTube, especially given over 1,000 Diamond members filed complaints with the current Arizona Attorney General in 2016 and 2017.

Sign The Petition

Mr. and Mrs. Lusk, ages 88 and 89, USA Today, were sold more than $60,000 in timeshare points, ending up with a $197,000 timeshare loan.

The complaint from the member who recorded our Branson sales agent

I purchased 6,500 timeshare points for approximately $25,000. The sales agent explained how I could turn in points at $.30 per point to pay maintenance fees, as well as redeed points at $.30 per point for travel, shopping and motel discounts. When I tried to use points to pay maintenance fees, I learned my loyalty level was not eligible to use points to pay maintenance fees.

I went to Branson, Missouri and attended an update to talk about how I had been deceived. Sales agent Christy said the only way to cancel the 6,500 point purchase was to buy a trial product for $3,995 as that would replace the 6,500 points. When I asked her where it said this in the contract she said, “Trust me.”

I called and asked a corporate representative to cancel both contracts as the trial product did not replace the 6,500 points. The representative actually laughed. Fortunately, I had the recording. After I submitted it, my dispute quickly resolved.

I was given a Public Offering Statement. The fourth sentence on the cover page stated in all caps: “The purchaser should not rely on oral representations as being correct.” The complete statement appearing on the cover page:

THIS PUBLIC OFFERING STATEMENT CONTAINS IMPORTANT MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED IN ACQUIRING AN INTEREST IN A MULTISITE VACATION OWNERSHIP PLAN. THE STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE ONLY SUMMARY IN NATURE. A PROSPECTIVE PURCHASER SHOULD REFER TO ALL REFERENCES, ACCOMPANYING EXHIBITS, CONTRACT DOCUMENT, AND SALES MATERIALS. THE PROSPECTIVE PURCHASER SHOULD NOT RELY UPON ORAL REPRESENTATIONS AS BEING CORRECT AND SHOULD REFER TO THIS DOCUMENT AND ACCOMPANYING EXHIBITS FOR CORRECT REPRESENTATIONS. 

I filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, the BBB, the North Carolina Attorney General and the Missouri Attorney General.