POLL: Do you pay the ARDA donation on your Maintenance fee bill?

[TUGBrian]

You're probably right about this but what I understood about this was that these upfront fee scam companies put the ARDA logo on their website and claimed they were ARDA-accredited in order to appear legitimate to unsuspecting prey.

while you certainly do get the right to use the ARDA logo upon paid memberships....you will find the major players are at the forefront of most arda conventions, presentations and literature.

their membership list is available on their website.

 

[SueDonJ]

... As for privacy protection laws, they're obviously not very effective. How are these scam companies getting owners' information including name and phone number (rhetorical question because this question has been discussed many times here on TUG)?

Count me as one in agreement with the privacy protection laws regardless of the difficulty they cause owners who want easy access to their fellow owners, no matter the reasons. If an owner feels that strongly about something s/he can access public records the same way the scammers do, or follow the collection methods mandated and outlined in the bylaws. I understand the difficulty this causes when there may be legitimate reasons for owners to band together, but I also know that there are far too many owners out there who would misuse the contact info if it were easily available to them.

And of course, anyone with proof that a timeshare developer/manager is releasing ownership lists in violation of the privacy protection laws should contact the AG's offices local to the timeshare and residence. Or, contact ARDA-ROC.

 

[pedro47]

Yes, I saw this post because it was mentioned in the newsletter that I just rec'd.

DeniseM, I am baffled but not surprised by your response. Is there an unwritten (or written) rule I have broken?

Are you saying my posting IP address is the same as others or the IP address when I join TUG? I may have joined TUG more than once (forgetting my user etc...but many many years apart....or no more than twice..also I am sure I was not even in the same state each time much less same IP). I assure you I am not posting under another user or anything unethical like that.

As I said I have worked in the timeshare industry (I made sure to disclose that fact) and I may have been at an office or resort when I first joined. I assure you I am a timeshare owner as well (and have been since the late 80s), and that I made this post from that view point.....but maybe none of that matters...

Curious, and in the interest getting the thread back on topic: Is there a case where the ARDA-ROC PAC lobbied for developers at the expense of timeshare owners?

Can you list for the readers of this website the Top Ten issues that ARDA have help timeshare owners ?

 

[DeniseM]

DeniseM, I am baffled but not surprised by your response. Is there an unwritten (or written) rule I have broken?

I am challenging your assertion that you "have worked" in the timeshare industry - it appears that you currently work in the timeshare industry, as an executive for a developer/management company. Which definitely casts your post in a different light...

My 2 cents. Disclosure, I have worked in the timeshare industry before so guess I do not view all developers as the evil dark side and all owners as good.

Of course you don't - you are employed by them...

 

[karibkeith]

Its on the Invoice

The invoice I get from a points based organization includes the ARDA fee and describes it as voluntary but just try to get rid of it. I give up and pay the damn thing. Somewhere I read that ARDA is only open to Americans. It seems my Canadian address does not stop the organization from collecting it from me. I have no idea what ARDA does for me.
There is a CRDA that says they are affiliated with ARDA and it sounds like they get a lot of their material from ARDA.

 

[TUGBrian]

you can also just send in 5 less dollars Kari.

 

[bankr63]

Illegal

No, because ARDA is (as I understand it) a registered US PAC and it is illegal for foreign nationals (i.e. Canadians) to interfere in the US political process by supporting PAC's. I always deduct these fees. Don't want to be denied access to the United States!

I do actually wish that they would stop adding this to the fees of foreign owners.

 

[dioxide45]

No, because ARDA is (as I understand it) a registered US PAC and it is illegal for foreign nationals (i.e. Canadians) to interfere in the US political process by supporting PAC's. I always deduct these fees. Don't want to be denied access to the United States!

I do actually wish that they would stop adding this to the fees of foreign owners.

Not 100% sure of the laws, but I think you are okay. The problem lies with the ARDA-PAC for accepting illegal contributions. There was something about this a few years ago.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...y-fine-20100809_1_timeshare-fec-contributions

 

[LannyPC]

A Question

A question just popped into my mind (Actually it was last night).

Whose idea is it to put the ARDA contribution on the MF bill and effectively, gently suggesting the owner(s) pay this contribution? The resort? Management company? HOA? Developer? Timeshare company?

I guess IOW I'm trying to ask is Who (besides the ARDA) benefits from the ARDA receiving this contribution? Is some other party "in bed" with the ARDA and hence, gently suggests owners contribute?

 

[karibkeith]

I wrote e-mail to ARDA-ROC several years ago and they answered that Diamond has switched to soliciting for ARDA-ROC only (not ARDA -ROC PAC), so there are no restrictions as to what individuals can contribute. So they say!

 

[dioxide45]

I wrote e-mail to ARDA-ROC several years ago and they answered that Diamond has switched to soliciting for ARDA-ROC only (not ARDA -ROC PAC), so there are no restrictions as to what individuals can contribute. So they say!

The question is then, what does ARDA ROC do with that money? I thought ARDA ROC was pretty much just a PAC?

 

[Sugarcubesea]

Every Year I have to make at least 3 phone calls to Starwood / Vistana to get my Arda fees removed... Each time they tell me its gone and then I look on line at my account and it shows I still owe $5.00 in MF's...It should not be automatically added to the bill and it should not be this hard every year to get it off my SDO account...

 

[RLS50]

In my opinion, no individual timeshare owner should ever pay the optional ARDA fee. ARDA works for the developers, not individual owners. ARDA has killed bills in certain states that would have led to more consumer protection from predatory timeshare developers and backed legislation (I.e. Florida) that led to decreased protection for individual consumers / owners.

ARDA makes millions off the "voluntary" donations of owners, and then turns around and uses those millions to protect developers, often at the expense of owner rights and owner protections.

Hypothetically, if every owner paid their $5, $7, $10 ARDA fee instead to some kind of Timeshare Owners Protection group, that would generate $50M-$80M per year and would give owners the funds needed to level the playing field against the developers.

Not all developers are the same. But some of the timeshare management / developer companies out there appear to have no conscience and aggressively exploit every loophole available to them to take advantage of owners. ARDA is not protecting timeshare owners, not even against those super aggressive predatory timeshare management / developer companies.

 

[LannyPC]

I don't know what this would be counted as but here goes:

I used to because when the MF bill came, the resort explained why the ARDA could use the money so I naively believed it and paid the contribution. After I discovered TUG and read many threads, I stopped paying the contribution.

PS. We only owned it for one year after that and then sold it. So I guess the answer to the original question "
Do you pay the ARDA donation on your Maintenance fee bill?" is No, I no longer own one.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

I have gone back and forth on the contribution, some years i do and other I skip it. After reading this thread i think I will have to go back and see if i can figure out more about what ADRA actually does.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

I've never paid it and I never will, I just hate that they stick it on my bill and then the onus is on me to get it off...

 

[Tia]

Never paid it. Went to an owners meeting this year and resort manager was encouraging owners to pay it as ARDA was working with the USVI government against the occupancy tax $25/day to no avail, it is now relabeled as impact fee on timeshare occupants passed the VI senate as they are desperate for $.

 

[jeysa]

Hmm the results caugh me off guard i must say. I did not expect "NO! - I think they work for the developer - not the owner." to have the majority of the vote. Eye opening, i guess another reason why i love this voting threads sometimes

 

[TUGBrian]

Im thrilled to see only 10% specifically choose to pay it!

 

[Saintsfanfl]

Hmm the results caugh me off guard i must say. I did not expect "NO! - I think they work for the developer - not the owner." to have the majority of the vote. Eye opening, i guess another reason why i love this voting threads sometimes

It is because in reality that is the case and since TUG members are generally informed the results make sense.

It is very difficult for any organization to work for timeshare owners because there is little out there that organizes timeshare owners with a common agenda or goal. Timeshares are either being used and cause no issues or they are an annoyance but not enough to take action with an agenda. Owners sit back and are complacent. Tug is an exception but we are such a small minority of the overall timeshare ownership number.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I've never paid it and I never will, I just hate that they stick it on my bill and then the onus is on me to get it off...

Yes, that is my problem with it. People here on TUG will tell you that it's not that hard to take it off, but it IS difficult to communicate to Vistana that I do not want to pay it on all of my weeks. I tend to have more than $5 credit on my statements. For whatever reason, I have various amounts of credit on my weeks. It's probably my fault for not doing the math as I should when I pay fees to book next year's weeks.