Complaint Review: Arizona Tourism Center - Sedona Arizona

Following a telephone call from Diamond Resorts International Marketing, Inc., DBA Arizona Tourism Center, http://www.arizonatourismcenter.com, and as current vacation property owners, we agreed to hear a 90-minute Diamond presentation on January 23 in Sedona, AZ. We agreed for two reasons: 1. We had researched Diamond and were impressed with its A+ Better Business Bureau rating, not realizing the rating was only for the marketing company in Arizona, not the corporate headquarters in Nevada, which is not BBB accredited. 2. We wanted a Diamond membership to replace our Festiva Adventure Club membership since we were extraordinarily displeased with it in nearly every respect. We found ourselves spending an entire vacation day hearing the benefits of Diamond.

During the 8:30 AM – 6 PM process: 1. We stated that we were not interested in purchasing unless our Festiva Adventure Club was sold in the process. Diamond discounted its price, but discovered late in the day that the transfer was restricted, leaving us with two vacation ownerships and their associated fees. 2. On several occasions during the day, we requested some time to discuss what for us was a large, expensive purchase, but were told the decision had to be made before leaving the premises on January 23. The reasons for our request were that our income is less very limited, we have few prospects of it increasing as we are at retirement age and the purchase was going to consume half of our savings account. 3. Even with those objections lingering, we signed the contract at approximately 6 PM and then were presented a ¾-inch-thick Timeshare Disclosure Report that recommended on Page 2, "You DO NOT SIGN ANY AGREEMENT before you have read this report."

When we returned home from vacation on January 29, we began to review the purchase documents and the secondary market for Diamond points and realized our decision was both hasty and financially unsound. We notified the Rescission Coordinator in writing on February 2 of our request to renegotiate the price or to cancel. The staff at Sedona Summit was nothing short of gracious and the sales staff professional; however, we paid far above market price for our ownership and the new owner benefits do not increase product value significantly. Given the Diamond pricing structure, we purchased a over-priced product that we cannot afford. While we believe that we would enjoy the simplicity and comfort that Diamond offers, we requested that the contract be rescinded or that the purchase price for our contract be significantly reduced to approximately $1.00/point. Above that level, our maintaining two vacation ownerships is cost-prohibitive. Diamond International corporate headquarters has denied our request in writing, even though our rescission request was submitted just 72 hours after the Arizona minimum-required seven day rescission period. The value of the product was presented as a nonnegotiable price that everyone pays. Even though we requested on several occasions during the sales presentation to consider our decision and provide our response the following day, we were told the "special offer" would expire that day. Without the opportunity to research the actual value of the product, only after signing contract documents did we discover the product price was highly inflated, clearly a questionable business practice, even if the same pricing structure is presented to all. Had we been given the time to research the purchase prior to signing contract documents, we would have discovered the actual value. As stated on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Resorts_International, "Diamond Resorts has a policy of not allowing points owners to forfeit their points when they are not able to pay the maintenance fees that increase every year. Some offer their points for a dollar or less on eBay just to avoid the fees." I say again, for a dollar or less.