Today we will keep this article short and sweet. In the past, we have reported on a number of occasions that Diamond Resorts, recently acquired by Hilton Grand Vacations, are not backward in coming forward in filing lawsuits against exit companies for, amongst other things, Tortious Interference. Well, they’re at it again.
Recently a suit was filed by Diamond alleging that Pandora Marketing (d/b/a Timeshare Compliance) and Intermarketing Media (d/b/a Resort Advisory Group) and their attorneys, JL Sean Slattery, Carlsbad Law Group, Del Mar Law Group and Slattery, Sobel and Decamp engaged in false advertising, tortious interference with contract, California unfair business practices and civil conspiracy. It would appear that Diamond won their day, while the parties will still need to go to trial on the issues of causation and damages, what is clear is that the defendants have been violating the law and harming consumers, so says the judge.
TCA Comment
Regardless of this action and those that have gone before and those yet to come, TCA has always stated that if the timeshare industry were to accept and act on the fact that for whatever reason, some owners simply want out, there would be no need for court action the associated time and costs.
Exit companies only exist because the developers have no simple strategy to allow for the cancellation of timeshare ownership. For sure some have come up with so called strategies, for example, Diamond have their Transitions Programme, meaning they would rather transition an owner into a different form of ownership rather than just allow an exit.
In the article we read surrounding this case, Charles Corbin, chief legal officer & general counsel of Hilton Grand Vacations was actually quoted as saying:
“HGV is committed to helping owners find the right solution for their needs”
This is yet another example of sidestepping the real need. The right solution to their needs in many cases is to simply terminate the ownership, not to be upgraded or switched to some other in-house scheme.
Timeshare developers will tell you that most owners are happy owners and that’s fantastic. This statement may be borne out by the trading figures of the large developers, added together we are talking about billions, not millions of Dollars, this being the case, would it really cause tremendous financial damage to let the supposed “few” that want out simply be allowed to do so? Of course not.
Perhaps the balance between happy and unhappy owners is not quite what we are told, that being the case one can understand the intransigence to allow exits. If that is the case it’s still wrong to hold unhappy owners to ransom because of a flawed business model. Finally, TCA are all for the taking to task those fraudulent exit companies that proliferate the peripheral of the timeshare industry, this is why carrying out your own due diligence is more important today than its ever been.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk