Complaint Review: Bluegreen Resorts - Internet Internet

I'm with you on this scam.  They leave out the important parts of what your buying at Bluegreen and try to divert your attention away from the serious matters.  I was told that my Vacation Club was a great investment, easy to rent and make a profit, easy to use and easy to sell.

After three years of ownership I've found that none of this is a reality.  I've tried to give it back to Bluegreen after paying in full $14,000 plus but they were not interested.  What kind of business wouldn't gladly keep the $14,000 and take the points back if it was really worth anything?  I tried to sell and Bluegreen said that they only recommend Pinnacle Vacations as a seller for my Vacation Club.  I paid Pinnacle a fee and never heard from them again.

This past year, after paying my maintenance fees on time every year before, my wife and I ran into medical bills on her cancer and my diabetes.  I asked Bluegreen to keep the $14,000 plus and cancel my contract as we could no longer pay the rising maintenance fees.  Bluegreen wrote back and said they were sorry for my troubles and that they realized that timeshares were not for everyone and offered to put me on a payment plan.  I had paid in full for the vacation club at time of purchase.  Only yearly maintenance fees remained.  I wrote back and told them I could not pay the rising costs.

Next thing I knew they had turned me over to Pinnacle Recovery and I began getting calls daily trying to collect.  There are a few things that people need to know before getting  involved with timeshares or vacation clubs.  First of all the vacation club points are worthless.  There are thousands on the market with people asking only a few dollars or even giving them away for free.  It is very difficult to rent your points out and next to impossible to make any kind of profit.  Unless you buy thousands of dollars worth of points your chances of booking where and when you want to go are slim at best.   They also try to convince you after the fact that the Vacation Club passes on to your children and then to their children etc.

Here are the facts as I understand them:

Bluegreen sales people will lie and misrepresent any way they can to get a sale.  They write their contracts in such a way that a common person has no way of reading the contract through and understanding it.  They have done a pretty good job of covering all the bases in their favor.  They want you to believe that there is no way out and that you and your children and your children's children will be paying the maintenance fees from now own.

They have no mercy even after they have your money and want you to keep sending the cash every year no matter what.  So, here is what you can do:

Write a letter to Bluegreen saying that due to your circumstances you are canceling your club membership and that you will not be continuing with the maintenance fees.  They will have one of their partner companies such as Pinnacle Recovery start harassing you and say that you will be foreclosed on and your credit ruined as well as other legal action.  By law you have the right to send a letter to the collection agency telling them to stop all telephone communications with you, your relatives and your place of employment.  Only communications by letter are still allowed.  

In a few weeks someone will contact you wanting to cut a deal,  usually a payment plan.  Don't give them another penny are you'll start your statute of limitations over.  If they want to give you a deed in lieu of forecloser you can consider that but always get legal advice before signing.  Do not agree to pay anything to get this deed.  The deed in lieu of forecloser will cancel your contract and return the membership back to Bluegreen.  They will likely make threats but they don't want to spend the money in court to foreclose.  If they do foreclose your debt is canceled and your free.  They might threaten to sue but they can't sue unless they foreclose and no court in it's right mind would likely punish you over timeshare points.

It's a nasty mess.  Bite the bullet and stay firm in your convictions.  Your not the criminal, they are.  Get out as fast as you can and don't look back.  Your not alone.  There are thousands in the same boat.  This advice pertains to Vacation Club points not actual land purchases.  Don't let them frighten you and don't talk to them unless you need to.  Talking is how you got in this mess to begin with.   There is an end to it.

My wife and I have also been BlueGreen owners for nine years. We knew when we purchased we would be paying dues and maintenance fees for life, or until such time as it would be of more value to our children and/or grandchildren.

Of course there are other things you buy which automatically require payments for life, most notably taxable real estate. As long as it is in your name, the county tax assessor will bill you and expect to be paid (and the bill will more than likely keep going up). Not only that, even after you die, the bill will continue to go to your estate and/or heirs until it is sold to someone else who will pay the taxes.

 There is a secondary market for timeshares (or deeded points, such as BlueGreen), and there are always buyers who are willing to snap up bargains at pennies on the dollar, and even more super-bargain-hunters who will pay a $1 plus transfer/legal fees from those who cannot see any more use for their timeshare ownership (as long as their maintenance fees are paid current).

Also, I recently learned, if you want to claim a tax deduction, you can offer to make a gift of your points/timeshare to Southern New Hampshire University through the auspices of TBS (Timeshare Broker Services). TBS will list your timeshare for free, and when a willing buyer is found, transfer to SNHU is made from which the purchase is then finalized.