Complaint Review: Diamond Resorts International - Las Vegas Nevada

On October 16, 2011 I filed a BBB report as follows: I purchased a timeshare at Ka'anapali Beach through Diamond Resorts. During a sales presentation I was told I would save money on maintenance fees if I moved my deeded property ownership into the Hawaii Collection which included the Point at Poipu. On October 14, 2011 I received a maintenance fee invoice which increased by $2,363.50 or 140%. The increase is for a project that starts on 6/11 and takes 5 years to complete, yet they are requiring me to pay 84% or $2,000 by 1/1/12 or face additional fees, penalties, suspension and possible foreclosure.

The Board knew of these issues for three years, but waited until 10/11 to communicate this to the owners. A five year project should not include 84% of the money upfront based on estimates and not actuals. There was simply one line item for the total due by the Hawaii Collection of $25,356,399 (total project cost $65.8M) with little to no details. This gives new meaning to "Corporate Greed". A corporation of this size should be able to finance the project and pass this along to the owners over a 5-Year period based on actuals and not estimates.

Requiring me to pay an additional $2,000 or 84% by 1/1/12 with an advanced notice of 2.5 months is nothing shy of a corporate scandal. During the sales presentation I was told that I would save money on maintenance fees when mgmt. knew of these costs for three years and failed to include this information in the sales presentation. They simply needed more people to pay for their mistakes. A formal request for detailed information will be sent to Diamond Resorts with the appropriate Attorney Generals Offices copied.

The sales presentation to move my deeded property to the Hawaii Collection was done with management's full intent and knowledge that my maintenance fees would significantly increase. On the Assessment Payment Schedule, only one group of owners can finance over 5 years, those with 51,000 points. What does that represent, 1% of the owners? So, the remaining 99% are basically paying upfront. I am part of the 99%, shall I bring some protest signs for my next visit to Maui?

The President of the Board called and SVP of the HOA called me to resolve this complaint. In an e-mail dated 12/13/11, he stated: "One resolution we can discuss is "unwinding" your trust purchase and "re-deeding" you back into what you previously owned. If this is an option agreeable to you we can discuss further. If you owned at Ka'anapoli Beach Club that would alleviate your water intrusion obligation." This was never completed. In an e-mail dated 12/13/11 The Board President Frank Goeckel stated:

"I need to review your account. As we previously discussed, the context of our past discussion was for me to repurchase all of your points for what you paid Diamond. I will review and reply later today." This was never done. Finally, there was an offer to allow me to pay my water intrusion fees prior to my next reservation without late fees. On February 14, 2012, I received a letter saying my ownership rights have been suspended, they may cancel my reservations, and they have charged me late fees, interest and then excise taxes on the interest and late fees.