A few months after my father passed away, in 2013, I received his maintenance fee invoice on Sunset Harbors timeshare property. The 2014 fee was around $125. I informed them of my father's death and put the timeshare in my name, regrettably, and paid the maintenance fee. I have never used this timeshare or even seen it. I turned it over to my name as a matter of course, as that's what I did with numerous agencies after his death.
This spring, I was called and told the maintenance fee was now over $400. Alarm bells went off. Why would the fee have gone up four times? I called to ask. The salesman didn't give me an answer, he just insisted that I should pay it. I asked to speak with someone with authority. He put their legal counsel on the phone. She was condescending, belittling, and offered no explanation as to why the fees had gone up four times. She actually said, "I'm not going to give you a lesson in economics." She compared it to how gas prices go up. She talked over me, refusing to listen to my side, saying, "I'm not going to stop talking if you keep interrupting."
I don't like it when people accuse me of things that aren't true. When they do this, I interrupt. Two people at this organization use these badgering tactics.
There is one kind person at SH. She called recently. She explained that I could buy my way out of this timeshare with three options, starting at $995.
I was floored. Buy myself out of something I never wanted to own, never even used?
Today, I called again. I had been asking for the contract my dad signed. I wanted the legal agreement, as I have no trust in SH to tell me the truth. WHen people have to be this rude, they must have something to hide.
The insolent man told me, "No, you can't have a copy of that. It's too late. You're in foreclosure. You didn't want to pay your maintenance fees. You have all your RCI points, and you are fine when it comes to using them, but when it comes time to fork over money that you owe, you don't want to pay."
I tried to interrupt him to tell him that I have never used a single RCI point in my life, nor have i ever used or seen this timeshare. But he kept talking, saying, "You always interrupt me. I'm just going to keep talking because you always interrupt me."
I hung up.
I'm a patient person. And I'm not easily angered. But it's just wrong to be badgered by a business. I'm certain these people intentionally misunderstood and misrepresented me. Is badgering legal? Yes. Is what they're doing with the timeshare legal? I doubt it. Is it legal to say, "No, you can't see the contract that you're supposedly in foreclosure for" ???
I know my dad would hate what is happening. He never wanted this. I regret paying that initial maintenance fee. I'd support a cause against these predators.