This time we visit Pennsylvania (PA) with an expected court case revolving around Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony. PA Attorney General Michelle Henry announced a lawsuit against Split Rock Investments, LLC, and SCH USA, LLC, which conducts business as “Bel Air Owner’s Circle” over their alleged deceptive business practices and failure to live up to representations made to timeshare owners at the resort.
Contained within the lawsuit are allegations that Bel Air not only placed obstacles in the way of owners trying to make reservations but also falsely represented that downgraded accommodations were “upgrades.” In addition to an injunction to prevent further harm, among other things the lawsuit asks the court to order the defendants to pay restitution to consumers and to pay civil penalties.
Further allegations are made stating that the defendants imposed “excessive” maintenance fees above the stated 7.5% cap. Also fees were charged for use of the recreation facilities, these in instances where timeshare owners neither used nor wanted to use such facilities.
The real icing on the cake was the fact that the defendants charged Mexican VAT at a rate of 16%! Very odd as the last time we looked at a map of the States, Pennsylvania was roughly 2,200 miles from Mexico. So neither the resort nor owners were located in Mexico, nice try!
Finally, the lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated the Pennsylvania Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act by using oppressive, abusive, and harassment-like methods to coerce timeshare owners into paying fees. In one incident, the defendants issued a letter threatening to send the consumer’s account to collections where the consumer could possibly “lose out on job opportunities, loans for cars, houses, and so much more.”
TCA Comment
Whilst some of the specifics of this case are rare, it still serves to illustrate that some developers and management companies run rough shod over owners. Over the top rises in maintenance fees and lack of availability are common downsides of owning timeshare and are certainly not restricted to this case. Over promising and under delivering is yet another complaint common across the board and is highlighted in this case.
All credit to Attorney General Henry for not only thoroughly investigating the plight of owners at Split Rock but actually doing something positive about it in the quest for consumer fairness and protection. Most would agree that Florida is the timeshare capital of the USA. Florida AG, Ashley Moody and her department have over 4,200 complaints against one single developer alone, Westgate. Given this one has to wonder how many overall timeshare complaints have been lodged with the AGs office in total.
Whilst Florida has enacted some protection laws, these seem mostly to be aimed at the resale market with very little solid protection aimed at new sales or existing ownership. A page from the Florida AG website seems to confirm this.
Until solid timeshare consumer protection legislation is introduced across the whole 50 States, then all we can do is hope that other AGs take a leaf out of AG Henry’s book and both face up to and act on much of the unfairness created by the timeshare industry.
Naturally TCA will be following this case and will report further when news and updates are available.
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