About Andreas Rossler Expertise I'm able to answer general questions on timeshares and specifically in regard to purchasing, renting or exchanging timeshares on the secondary or resale market and through the Internet. I have expert knowledge in sales, mechanics (how and why timeshares work), and timeshare exchanges.
I am also well versed in timeshare financing and may be able to guide you to better financing or refinancing options for your timeshare purchase.
If you ask questions of a legal nature, or those requiring tax advice - I may not be able to answer fully.
Experience I have 10 years of industry experience in sales, management and processing. I'm currently CEO of Timeshare Village, a resource for timeshare owners and industry professionals.
Organizations Mensa - Life Member
Publications I have been interviewed by Channel 7 News in the Bay Area of California regarding my opinions on Worldmark, the Club timeshares as developed by Trendwest-Wyndham Resorts.
Education/Credentials MBA - Master's in Business Administration
BS - Mathematics
BA - Economics
California Real Estate Broker
Question Dissatisfaction, bad service; we have been sold a service and have not been able to use it.
Andre Borges the sales person guaranteed availability and promised the World; thus far we have 0 availability, the worst service, slow responses; in one attempt we tried to contact Mr. Borges (The salesperson whom sweared he would help if we ever needed any)only to meet his bad temper, his unprofessional attitude to hang up the phone on my wife and not return our calls.
Our next step will be to email BBB and any other website that will take complaints (Including Travel sites), report and sell our ownership.
We will also file a complaint for abuse from Mr. Borges, and bad representation of what we believed to be a great time share service.
Mr. Borges took a great amount of time in showing us his huge ring for selling time shares, maybe that is all Mr. Borges cares.
FYI – The amount of time and money we have spent trying to find available locations and now the aggravation and disrespect from Mr. Borges is well over what we could have spent for a luxurious vacation anywhere in the World.
We have picked 4 locations that we would like to go and a fifth one in a not not desirable area to see which one would be available and as always we find the worst one and never the ones we pick.
With two babies our options are limited and after paying in full for the Timeshare deal we are caught in a Phone tag battle telling us how many locations they have available, that we are crazy not to find one available.... After 12 grand and lots of headaches we could've gone around the World and still saved money....
My wife has decided she is done with vacation after the terrible experience we have been having with this whole Timeshare experience.
To us, we just fell into this whole Time share scam that everyone warned us about...
Answer Rick,
Unfortunately - what you say is true. This is why I write on allexperts.com
I own a timeshare, and my experience has been good. But cases like yours are not uncommon.
Normally, I give out this list when someone is trying to cancel - but you might find some useful actions to take. Follow through on as many as you can - it will be people like you and like me that end up forcing the industry to clean up its act.
I'm not big on revenge - but, once you have chosen from this list, you may want to write the company, the sales office and the sales agent a letter explaining what you plan to do - let's see what the result is going to be.
1. The Attorney General. You should file a complaint with the Attorney General where the company is headquartered, the state where you purchased, and your home state. Here is a good site where you can link to Attorney General complaint forms online: http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/attorneys.html
2. See if the company is listed with the Better Business Bureau; file a complaint with the BBB. Here is their online complaint form: http://www.bbb.org/complaint.asp
3. A good site is the Rip-off Report. Be careful when writing up a report on that site – state the truth and nothing but the truth. This site is caught by search engines, so be sure to use the company name. Here is their site: http://ripoffreport.com/
4. Complaints.com is similar to Rip-off Report. Here is their website: http://www.complaints.com/ (#3 and #4 have a simple purpose, to get the company’s name to show up on search engines. This is the worst possible publicity and can cause the loss of an untold amount of business).
5. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission). They are very much interested in hearing about shady timeshare developers or rip-offs. The reason being that most timeshares solicit individuals via the telephone. Here is their online complaint form: https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
6. For reference purposes, you may want to check out the National Association for Members - http://www.natlassoc.org/ - lots of good stuff.
7. If a lawyer or other professional (CPA) was involved in the transfer or escrow process, you may be able to file a complaint with the state bar or other professional organization they belong to – depending on the nature of your situation.
8. Report the company to the state agency that regulates real estate. It is best to do a Yahoo search like this: “Florida Department of Real Estate”. You could however start here and drill down to the right website: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/State_and_Territories.shtml
9. If your situation involved a credit card purchase and you’re not getting your refund, definitely call the credit card company and find out their policy on filing a complaint.
10. File complaints with State, County and City Consumer Protection Offices. Here you’ll find a list of all of them: http://consumeraction.gov/state.shtml
11. File a complaint with the National Consumer’s League Fraud Center. Here’s the web site: http://www.fraud.org/
12. File a Complaint with the National Association of Consumer Advocates. Here is their website: http://www.naca.net/
13. Small Claims Court. What’s good about small claims is that it is easy and can cause huge head aches for the company.
Obviously, not all these action are appropriate for your particular situation - but it is a nice list.
