Diamond Resorts International Management Company for the Point at Poipu Timeshare Resort Large Corporation takes advantage of Middle Class America Las Vegas, Nevada
In 2006 I purchased deeded timeshare property at the Embassy Vacation Resort Poipu Point on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The resort was managed by the Embassy under the Sunterra Corporation. Soon thereafter Diamond Resorts International (DRI) somehow took control of the resort without my vote or approval. My understanding when I purchased the property was that timeshare resorts are owned by the individual deeded owners who contract with a management company for the day to day operations. Apparently DRI believes they own the resort and by packing the board of director positions with DRI employees and relatives of corporate officers, have been able to approve dramatic increases in management fees payable to DRI.
In 2006 the management fees were $662,035. For 2012 the management fees are $1,965,506. This fee is in addition to all the operation and administrative fees for running the operations of the resort. In reviewing the books it is surprising that many expenses like insurance has decreased, but the overall cost of operations has increased dramatically. How much has your salary or social security increased during that time?
Over the last five years the DRI sales force has been aggressively trying to convince deeded owners to give up their deeded rights and, for a significant additional fee, join the DRI club or points based system. They even called me at my home to say they would send an agent to our home to complete the transaction.
I was advised by a DRI Sales Agent that eventually, all deeded property interests will be converted into the points based club system because deeded owners will not be able to afford the increased costs. The increases in annual fees over the last five years appears to reflect this assertion.
Because of the dramatic increases in management fees and a recent significant additional assessments on deeded owners, there is no market value for these units. This hostage situation has caused many deeded owners to give up and face foreclosure on property that they paid a significant amount for. What happens to the foreclosed properties? I believe that DRI is acquiring the foreclosed properties at little cost and transferring the interest into their "Club" system.
As I was told by a DRI Sales Representative, as more and more property is moved into the club system, there is less availability for the original deeded property owners. in essence, DRI is extracting the intrinsic value of the ocean front Hawaii property at the expense of the deeded owners. Once DRI has forced all the original deeded owners to give up their property, by joining the club or through foreclosure, DRI will own the resort and the property value associated with it. Hopefully our elected representatives and government officials employed to protect the interests of the citizens will take note, investigate DRI, and take appropriate action to protect the citizens from the large and powerful Corporations that are taking advantage of the small consumers.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
God...save America
Baton Rouge,Louisiana,
United States of America
Diamond Resort time share owners
#5General Comment
Sun, January 22, 2012
Dear time share owners, I'm afraid there a 2 kinds of people in this country those who are wealthy and smart and aggressive , Alpha people and those of us that are peaceful, good and ....well maybe not dumb but not aggressive enough to start a buisness that sucks money out of the sheep being lead by smoke screen scams. Just like mutual funds companies , that long term investment , they are using our hard earned money to buy companies or while they make 200% on investments of thier own , we get 2-3 % and are happy to go fishing or a vaction once or twice a year ...maybe .While the Fund managers are having extravagent picnics on their yacths that we paid for indirectly/directly. If the good really did die young they would have no one to feed off of OPM's (other people's money) I feel scamed every day and every where I go , even though I'm aware of it , If I don't become crooked and aggressive ; I'm going to get stomped further and further into the mud. I wish Government really would or ...could protect us from these people whom they themselves are connected with . Good luck nice , shy, meek , kind ,righteous , if God doesn't come and sort this out I'm afriad life may get .... God please bring happiness and abundance to all the meek that are suppose to inhereit the earth.Witout scaring people and causing people to go into deep depression from realizing the truth, stay positive maybe good can happen to nice people.It's scary how Diamond resorts wanted to talk to those people behind closed doors , could you imagine that aggressive mofia like guy one on one with you ??? Yikes !! You WILL accept these maintenance fee hikes or else !!!
linwin64
United States of AmericaI feel victimized
#5Consumer Comment
Sun, January 01, 2012
I feel have been mislead by our sales rep. I received my yearly maint. bill along with an added assessment to a resort I have never visited or owned any stake in? We purchased a week in Feb 2007 while staying at the Kaanapali Beach Club. (We also own at the Maui Ocean Club Marriott) During our visit in August of 2009 to Kaanapali we were convinced by our sales rep that joining the Hawaii collection of 4 resorts in Hawaii we would have more options of places to stay. Sounded Okay and he had gained our trust over the last few years. So after paying $4800 for that and apparently giving up deed to Florida and Kaanapali converting it to a point system, I now have to pay a $4,435 bill due today.
I am hearing about a lot of upset owners. Is there a class action lawsuit pending yet? Are we really being scammed? It sounds like you have done some real research on this. Does anyone really think this is something we can win? Where are the Attorneys that would jump all over something like this?
Have I been Scammed? I feel from all the things I have been reading this last week that this was their way of getting people in the Hawaii Collection just to help pay this assessment of $65MM. I'm just as confused today as I was the day I bought my first time share in 2000. In 2008 my maint. fees with DRI was 1105 per year, its now 2384.88 per year and now this assessment of $2,547.00. Will this happen again next year with another assessment?
CVO
Diamond Bar,California,
USA
I too have been Damaged by Diamond Resorts Intentional.
#5Consumer Comment
Sat, December 24, 2011
My wife and I Also purchased Embassy Suites Vacation back in the late 90's. We purchased are Maui and have enjoyed the property and felt that there would always be some value in our fee simple deed. as it was Real Property we own free and clear since 2004.
As in the original complaint we too saw the change of Developers / Management companies these changes from Embassy Suites to Sunterra affected the original intent of our contract and therefore changed very little of my original purchase as well as retained my property value. When Diamond Resorts International Purchased Sunterra we felt Diamond Resorts at the time had industry respect and thought the change would be a good one help keep our property value up as well as maintain the property.
Here we are just five years later and our fees have gone from around 600 in 2000 to nearly 1300. I too have seen the new line items in the budget of Management fees and Administrative fees and even administrative support fees. All of these fees are voted in by the New Board of Directors comprised of 60% Diamond Resorts (Employee or Family member of Employee) Diamond Resorts International uses many tactics to prevent owners from getting any voice in our ownership. The board also votes to keep Diamond Resorts International as the "Management Company" While that is not my vote nor is it the vote of most owners if they were to be asked. But we the owners are prevented (by unlawful and corrupt means) from being able to ask the other owners. By a vote of the board Diamond Resorts decided the list of deeded owners would not be provided to an owner who requested the list by affidavit. In accordance with Hawaiian Law the Home Owners Associations is supposed to keep an up to date list of all property owners and upon request that list is to be provided within few days at the most.
Diamond Resorts International has managed to devalue our deed to the point I can not even give it away. Yes I own a piece of Real Estate in Hawaii on the Beach and it is not worth the paper it is written on. How is that even possible in the real world. Diamond Resorts International would however love for me to protest their fake fees so they could foreclose on my deed. This would bring them 1/52 closer to their goal of owning all of the resort by hook or by crook I guess.
No Diamond Resort I will not call you or email you if you wish to discuss lets do it publicly where the whole world can see you tell your side of the story. If your innocent in these matters then you have nothing to hide.
The above Employee post is typical of Diamond Resorts to want to take these issues behind closed doors. These guys can not rebut any of the claims on the original complaint nor any of the other 27 complaints here on Rip Off Report. Unfortunately for Diamond Resorts International it seems they found the threshold we owners would endure, now we will be heard.
Customer Service at Diamond Resorts
Las Vegas,Nevada,
United States of America
The Point at Poipu
#5UPDATE Employee
Mon, December 19, 2011
Hi,
We would really like the opportunity to discuss with you in person the concerns you have raised in this post. Without any information to help us contact you here, can we ask that you email us at customerservice@diamondresorts.com so that we can arrange a time convenient for you to talk further about your ownership at Poipu.
Many thanks,
Customer Service Team at Diamond