# Marriott Grand Chateau eBay purchase from redweeks4less



## ccpinternational (Oct 25, 2009)

I did read several postings here about this seller before bidding on this TS. I won the item at the end at $5100. For the floating week 1-52, which is very rare, I would like to give it a try. This company is operating under IA vacations and their closing company called American Timeshare Closings. Both companies are BBB accredited business and have quite a few complaints on both (20for Amercian timeshare closing, 6 for IA vacations). 

I am going to put the charge on my credit card via Paypal which will give me more 45 days to require charge back through paypal. 

Need your advises on how to protect my investment. Thanks a lot!

I will update this post frequently. 

Michael


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## ccpinternational (Oct 25, 2009)

I emailed them to ask if I can choose my own closing company. Below is their reply

_American Timeshare Closing handles all of our transfers.  They do over 500 closing per month and they do a great job.  You will notice all the complaints are resolved.  When you deal with that kind of volume for years you are not going to please everyone.  As for complaints about us you will notice most of them are from other companies.  We do not pay attention to tug.  We are a resale company.  American Timeshare Closing is bonded and insured so your funds will be in escrow and will be protected.  If you want this property American Timeshare Closing will handle the transfer and that is why we put that in the ad.  If you don't want to use them then we will cancel the purchase and sell it to someone else.  This property under sold anyways and you got a great deal.  Please let me know if you want to move forward asap so we can go from there.
Thanks,
Stacy Gillispie
IAVACATIONS_


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## josh1231 (Oct 25, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> I emailed them to ask if I can choose my own closing company. Below is their reply
> 
> _This property under sold anyways and you got a great deal.  Please let me know if you want to move forward asap so we can go from there.
> _



This is the quote that gets me from them. You got a good deal, but most have been selling in the $5-$6K range on ebay, so who knows what they are talking about here. 

That being said, $5100 is a good deal and I personally would go through with it. That being said you could probably pretty easily find one for $5500 from a reputable seller, so I guess that would be your questions is whether or not the $500-$900 savings is worth the risk.


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## ccpinternational (Oct 25, 2009)

josh1231 said:


> This is the quote that gets me from them. You got a good deal, but most have been selling in the $5-$6K range on ebay, so who knows what they are talking about here.
> 
> That being said, $5100 is a good deal and I personally would go through with it. That being said you could probably pretty easily find one for $5500 from a reputable seller, so I guess that would be your questions is whether or not the $500-$900 savings is worth the risk.



This unit is a 1-52 floating week, which is considered as platinum plus. Most of the units for sale on ebay are just platinum week 1-51.


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## Lizyyz (Oct 25, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> This unit is a 1-52 floating week, which is considered as platinum plus. Most of the units for sale on ebay are just platinum week 1-51.



Were you able to verify this with the resort? From what I remember from the MGC presentation, platinum weeks are 1-51 and 52 is platinum plus.


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## indyhorizons (Oct 25, 2009)

Here's the part that gets me: we don't pay attention to tug. Well, you should. You could probably learn how to reduce or eliminate your complaints. :hysterical: 




ccpinternational said:


> I emailed them to ask if I can choose my own closing company. Below is their reply
> 
> _American Timeshare Closing handles all of our transfers.  They do over 500 closing per month and they do a great job.  You will notice all the complaints are resolved.  When you deal with that kind of volume for years you are not going to please everyone.  As for complaints about us you will notice most of them are from other companies.  We do not pay attention to tug.  We are a resale company.  American Timeshare Closing is bonded and insured so your funds will be in escrow and will be protected.  If you want this property American Timeshare Closing will handle the transfer and that is why we put that in the ad.  If you don't want to use them then we will cancel the purchase and sell it to someone else.  This property under sold anyways and you got a great deal.  Please let me know if you want to move forward asap so we can go from there.
> Thanks,
> ...


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## m61376 (Oct 25, 2009)

Another Tugger made a purchase through them and they split the transaction into two invoices, which the person paid. Evidently, they do this to void the Paypal protection. Long story short is that they never owned the property in question (in fact, the owner who supposedly sold it to them was in the process of transferring the unit to someone else and had previously submitted the paperwork to Marriott). 

While it "might" have been an innocent mistake on their part, once the error was realized they should have refunded the funds immediately. Suffice it to say this didn't happen and it took over a month for the buyers to get their money back. Paypal told them the split invoice voided the buyer protection after they filed a complaint. Luckily, they had paid with a cc and their charge company stood behind them and, ultimately, after numerous complaints to Paypal and the redweek4less they did receive a refund but it took over a month. 

At the very least I would make sure you paid strictly via the Ebay transaction on a single invoice so that the Paypal buyer protection would apply. Keep in mind that most closings take much longer than the 45 days. Many people have gotten some great buys successfully from them, but there are those like this transaction and I believe it was Icydog's NCV fiasco that took something like 15 months of aggravation to close that have to at least give one pause. Make absolutely sure with Marriott that you are in fact getting the rare unit you that was listed. Just because redweek4less said it was a rare floating 1-52 doesn't mean it actually is. Check it out before sending any money that may sit in limbo. IF it really is an unusual buy it may be worth the element of risk, so I am not saying not to go through with it, just buyer beware and make sure to do your due diligence very carefully here.

Good luck and welcome to Tug


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## DVB42 (Oct 25, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> This unit is a 1-52 floating week, which is considered as platinum plus. Most of the units for sale on ebay are just platinum week 1-51.



I considered bidding on that one as well but chose not to because of the sellers bad reputation on TUG. In the sellers listing they state that the unit is deeded unit 1805 week 35. I believe the Platinum Plus weeks are fixed week 52 and should be deeded week 52 (someone correct me if this is wrong). Consequently, I doubt that this is a Platinum Plus week.


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## m61376 (Oct 25, 2009)

DVB42 said:


> I considered bidding on that one as well but chose not to because of the sellers bad reputation on TUG. In the sellers listing they state that the unit is deeded unit 1805 week 35. I believe the Platinum Plus weeks are fixed week 52 and should be deeded week 52 (someone correct me if this is wrong). Consequently, I doubt that this is a Platinum Plus week.



That makes sense. The op should call Owner Services for immediate clarification. This reseller is known to knowingly or unknowingly convey misinformation.


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## Eric (Oct 25, 2009)

There is no 1-52. Its either 1-51 or 52 Fixed



ccpinternational said:


> This unit is a 1-52 floating week, which is considered as platinum plus. Most of the units for sale on ebay are just platinum week 1-51.


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## josh1231 (Oct 25, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> I did read several postings here about this seller before bidding on this TS. I won the item at the end at $5100. For the floating week 1-52, which is very rare, I would like to give it a try. This company is operating under IA vacations and their closing company called American Timeshare Closings. Both companies are BBB accredited business and have quite a few complaints on both (20for Amercian timeshare closing, 6 for IA vacations).
> 
> I am going to put the charge on my credit card via Paypal which will give me more 45 days to require charge back through paypal.
> 
> ...



I'm looking at the auction right now. They typed the dates wrong and put 1-52, but its actually 1-51. Right in the heading it says platinum, not platinum plus. I mean its deeded as week 35, which right there tells you its not platinum plus. Sorry to point it out to you, but I suppose you'd rather know now then later.

-----------Sorry, I typed this before reading the post above that says exactly this.


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## IngridN (Oct 25, 2009)

DVB42 said:


> I considered bidding on that one as well but chose not to because of the sellers bad reputation on TUG. In the sellers listing they state that the unit is deeded unit 1805 week 35. I believe the Platinum Plus weeks are fixed week 52 and should be deeded week 52 (someone correct me if this is wrong). Consequently, I doubt that this is a Platinum Plus week.



That is correct. I own week 52 and that is the only Platinum Plus week at GC. Platinum floats 1-51; plat + is deeded week 52.

Ingrid


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## abg1688 (Oct 25, 2009)

*Be careful, and GOOD LUCK!!!*



ccpinternational said:


> I did read several postings here about this seller before bidding on this TS. I won the item at the end at $5100. For the floating week 1-52, which is very rare, I would like to give it a try. This company is operating under IA vacations and their closing company called American Timeshare Closings. Both companies are BBB accredited business and have quite a few complaints on both (20for Amercian timeshare closing, 6 for IA vacations).
> 
> I am going to put the charge on my credit card via Paypal which will give me more 45 days to require charge back through paypal.
> 
> ...



I am the fellow tug member M mentioned who had bad experience with redweek4less. The following is my experience with them; hopefully this can help you when working with redweek4less.

After winning my bid on eBay, I was contacted immediately by IA vacation with the clause "If you decide to pay through ebay with paypal, you will need to list the transfer fees, maintenance fees, and closing cost as shipping. Most of the time they will not let you add the closing costs. Thus, you will need to login to paypal directly to do so. It is a lot easier to go to www.paypal.com directly and you can pay in full and list it as service/others".  Before I was able to further investigate this, I received 2 invoices (split of the total amount) from paypal.  I verified with paypal that I can use my credit card to pay for both invoices.  However, I did not realize until later that by splitting the invoice of one purchase, both the buyer and seller lose paypal protection.  Obviously, redweek4less does not need any protection on this deal... 

I wanted to use my own closing company, and offered to still pay for the $399 closing cost... the response I received was "no".  So I asked to speak with the bank their closing company uses.  They gave me the name and number of a contact at Tennessee state bank. I called the bank's main number and asked to speak with that person (so that I could verify she actually works there)... she gave them great reviews... I also asked for a copy of the deed, and verified with Marriott that the unit existed.  Please note, it was quite difficult to ask Marriott for.  To protect the owner, Marriott asks for the owner's names, address and phone number when I called.  IA vacation put their company information in the seller’s section on the contract.

Once I paid through paypal... the closing agent contacted me immediately and was responsive.  They even offered to book a week for me for 2010.  Then I received an e-mail that Marriott did not have the week I wanted.  When I called for a different week, the line I got was "I have spent too much time on your TS, need to work on other deals... I will get to it later"... but the “later” never came.

The next day (a Thursday), I got an e-mail from the closing agent that she is going to be out of the office till the next Wednesday. At the time, I was impressed that they were going above and beyond by informing me that.  On that next Wednesday, I e-mailed her about ROFR results... no response... I called her the next day first thing in the morning... I was told she would be in meetings probably for the whole day... (I started to feel the butterfly in my stomach)... then I got this e-mail "I have received information that the original owner had already submitted this property to Marriott with another person on it. It was in fact, a signed agreement to sell it to IA Vacations. As it is already in the process to transfer the ownership, IA Vacations will be filing litigation as the previous owner tried to sell this property twice.  You will be issued a full refund since funds are held in escrow."

I called IA vacation immediately and asked for a full refund, along with an e-mail request.  They agreed for the refund verbally.  However, the refund was not initiated in the following days.  I was calling them daily several times... I then got an e-mail from IA that it takes 3 business days for them to put money in their paypal account.  When there was still no refund after the 3 business days, I called paypal and the specialist told me to file a compliant immediately because the invoice was billed outside of the ebay transaction and I was not protected.  Once I filed a complaint, IA initiated the refund... While I thought the refund would go through, I got an e-mail from paypal 5 days after IA initiated the refund that the e-check payment was declined by the sender's bank.  I immediately called my credit card company and filed a complaint, and received conditional credit due to the fact that I have a copy of the e-mail from IA vacation on the refund.  I also contacted IA vacation, they told me this was paypal's problem, and paypal took money from their bank account already. At that point... I was too tired to care who to believe. After about another 2 weeks, I finally received my refund from IA vacation. 

I am currently going through a closing with a private seller using First American Title as the closing company.  The purchase price is a little higher comparing with the ebay deal... but the whole process is stress free.  

I would not call redweek4less/IA vacation a scam; there are quite a lot of good reviews of them on ebay... And I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.   Plus, They do hold some great units and at great prices...The ebay winning price I had could have been at least the "deal of the year"  That being said, I probably would not have clicked the "complete" button on paypal had I known things would play out the way it did...  I am just not that emotionally strong 

I have gained so much knowledge from TUG and received tremendous help and support from fellow tug members.  If you need additional information, please feel free to post your question here or send me a PM.  Good luck with your purchase!


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## ccpinternational (Oct 25, 2009)

wow! I did not expect that I can get these many insights from the members here. Thanks a lot for your help. I am still waiting fortheir contract and the copy of current deed. Once I get them, I will contact marriott to verify the unit. Before I place my bid, I did ask them if the unit is floating week 1-52 and they said yes.


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## ccpinternational (Oct 25, 2009)

DVB42 said:


> I considered bidding on that one as well but chose not to because of the sellers bad reputation on TUG. In the sellers listing they state that the unit is deeded unit 1805 week 35. I believe the Platinum Plus weeks are fixed week 52 and should be deeded week 52 (someone correct me if this is wrong). Consequently, I doubt that this is a Platinum Plus week.



I will verify this with Marriott. But I noticed several classified ads listing on Tug resort reviews section with 1-52 floating weeks.
http://tug2.com/RnR/TabResortClassifieds.aspx?Tab=C&ResortGUID=0afcb85a-155a-4007-b4ae-d61077b990f8


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## IngridN (Oct 25, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> wow! I did not expect that I can get these many insights from the members here. Thanks a lot for your help. I am still waiting fortheir contract and the copy of current deed. Once I get them, I will contact marriott to verify the unit. Before I place my bid, I did ask them if the unit is floating week 1-52 and they said yes.



Please see my post above...I own week 52. Week 52 is Platinum Plus and is a fixed week; float weeks 1-51 are Platinum. If that's important to you, I would call Marriott to verify, not the seller.

Ingrid


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## m61376 (Oct 25, 2009)

Unless Marriott originally sold the resort as weeks 1-52 at initial pre-construction, a deeded week 35 is a Platinum week with weeks 1-51 available for reservation. Perhaps one of the early purchasers (unless Ingrid is one) can definitively clarify this for ccpinternational. 

Just so you know, many times owners don't really know the ins and outs and will be mistaken in their advertisements. Just because there are other listings for 1-52 floating weeks doesn't mean that designation actually exists.


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## dhole (Oct 25, 2009)

I bought preconstruction plaatinum 1-51.  Platinum Plus is fixed week 52.


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## ccpinternational (Oct 26, 2009)

Confirmed with Reweeks4less that this unit is just 1-51 platinum season. They misprint it on eBay. 

These people are not honest, please be cautious when you deal with this seller on ebay.


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## Zac495 (Oct 26, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> Confirmed with Reweeks4less that this unit is just 1-51 platinum season. They misprint it on eBay.
> 
> These people are not honest, please be cautious when you deal with this seller on ebay.



Are you cancelling? Sounds like you should,


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## curbysplace (Oct 26, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> Confirmed with Reweeks4less that this unit is just 1-51 platinum season. They misprint it on eBay.
> 
> These people are not honest, please be cautious when you deal with this seller on ebay.




So have you decided to pass on this ebay transaction?   

Right before you posted this I was going to mention to you and all TUGgers that you ask for and read through the resort's filed property documents and amended filings.  And yes, they are full of legaleze and much of it is not really relevant to this discussion but you will find in plain language almost every answer as to the particulars about units and the types of weeks (floating, fixed, seasons, etc.). If this is not practical, you can always call Marriott Vacation Clubs Int'l and they are normally very good at answering these types of quesitons.


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## dioxide45 (Oct 26, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> Confirmed with Reweeks4less that this unit is just 1-51 platinum season. They misprint it on eBay.
> 
> These people are not honest, please be cautious when you deal with this seller on ebay.



I don't know that it is dishonesty. I think they just deal so much volume that their quality level of ads is low. They don't take the time or simply can't keep track of all of the different resorts and systems out there and all of the differences.

We never saw a link to the ad, so we don't know if it included week and unit information in it. Many of them do include the specific deeded week for sale. It is up to the diligent buyer to check things out also. I have no issues if you wish to cancel, but I don't think it is necessarily fair to call them dishonest.


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## TheTimeTraveler (Oct 26, 2009)

Real Estate Timeshare Resales on eBay are not binding as all Real Estate Contracts must be in writing.

These eBay transactions are basically an agreement to discuss entering into a Contract to purchase.

That said, with the misrepresentation of Week 52 (deliberate or otherwise) then I wouldn't hesitate to walk away and wave as I leave.


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## NJMOM2 (Oct 26, 2009)

We used Redweeks4Less for our OceanWatch purchase last year without any issues.  We won the bid in Nov. 2008 and the first year of use of 2010 with the MF not due until 2010.  I got a bill from MVCI for the 2009 MF.  When I called IA Vacations they put me in touch with the escrow company (American Timeshare Closings) and the 2009 bill was then paid by the escrow company.  I just thought I would say something nice about IA Vacations since our sale went through without any problems.  I think is was three months from start to finish when the resort showed up in our MVCI account.


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## Suzjoh (Oct 26, 2009)

TheTimeTraveler said:


> Real Estate Timeshare Resales on eBay are not binding as all Real Estate Contracts must be in writing.
> 
> These eBay transactions are basically an agreement to discuss entering into a Contract to purchase.
> 
> That said, with the misrepresentation of Week 52 (deliberate or otherwise) then I wouldn't hesitate to walk away and wave as I leave.



  If you bought it to use or trade for the most part with week 52, you would have a good reason to not finalize. As stated its a agreement to enter into a contract. You have the opportunity now not to. Only you know what will satisfy your travel needs and feel good about buying.
You were given info that was not accurate, that is not your issue, that is their issue. They have to deal with the fact that you have chosen to act now based on the info you have. You would not be wrong by not finalizing, if you meant to use/trade the week in question. You know your initial intentions act on that and you will be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience.
 If you do not buy it, Someone else will buy it. Look at it as if, you are doing the other person a favor. Thats if you know you bt it for the specific reason of 1-52. JMHO.. I hope this helps


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## josh1231 (Oct 27, 2009)

dioxide45 said:


> I don't know that it is dishonesty. I think they just deal so much volume that their quality level of ads is low. They don't take the time or simply can't keep track of all of the different resorts and systems out there and all of the differences.
> 
> We never saw a link to the ad, so we don't know if it included week and unit information in it. Many of them do include the specific deeded week for sale. It is up to the diligent buyer to check things out also. I have no issues if you wish to cancel, but I don't think it is necessarily fair to call them dishonest.



I would agree. As a frequent ebay seller, I know how difficult it is to make sure everything is changed for each auction that you use a preset template. This is probably not dishonest, just a typo. They did state platinum, not platinum plus in their ad. Most of the frequent sellers have errors in their ads, so as a purchaser it is important to do your due dilligence before buying.


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## m61376 (Oct 27, 2009)

While I agree that a possible typo alone would be insufficient to categorize them as a dishonest seller, I think they have earned the label for the way they have dealt with their errors in the past. Abg1688's experience with them, as well as several others who have posted nightmare dealings, is reason to give one pause before buying from them. 

As stated, errors are frequently found on other Ebay seller's ads as well, and any buyer must be very careful to check things out. I think what makes or breaks a reputation is how any errors, however inadvertent, are dealt with. Holding onto thousands of dollars for over a month before issuing a refund is inexcusable when the unit sold didn't exist. Taking 15 months in another case to close is inexcusable. These and other issues make me strongly question their honesty.

That said, it is true that heightened care must be taken with any Ebay transaction and the savings may be worth the risk. If I could make a similar purchase from a reputable seller for 10% more or so, though, personally I'd opt for that route. I'd need a really good bargain to risk the aggravation.


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## thheath (Oct 27, 2009)

My experience with PayPal and eBay purchases is that their buyer protections are few and far between.  If you read their fine print there are so many exclusions it's a joke.  Your CC company is your only line of defense; never make a purchase on eBay thinking that they or PayPal will protect you.


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## josh1231 (Oct 27, 2009)

m61376 said:


> While I agree that a possible typo alone would be insufficient to categorize them as a dishonest seller, I think they have earned the label for the way they have dealt with their errors in the past. Abg1688's experience with them, as well as several others who have posted nightmare dealings, is reason to give one pause before buying from them.
> 
> As stated, errors are frequently found on other Ebay seller's ads as well, and any buyer must be very careful to check things out. I think what makes or breaks a reputation is how any errors, however inadvertent, are dealt with. Holding onto thousands of dollars for over a month before issuing a refund is inexcusable when the unit sold didn't exist. Taking 15 months in another case to close is inexcusable. These and other issues make me strongly question their honesty.
> 
> That said, it is true that heightened care must be taken with any Ebay transaction and the savings may be worth the risk. If I could make a similar purchase from a reputable seller for 10% more or so, though, personally I'd opt for that route. I'd need a really good bargain to risk the aggravation.




Yes, I totally agree. Definitely not a great seller. A lot of their negative ebay feedback though is from people not familiar with the timeshare purchasing process. I certainly would not deal with them though because of the first hand experience that people here at TUG have had. They have a responsibility to make sure the most important aspects of any auction are accurate. Some things you can get away with having inaccurate, but the week numbers and seasons are not one of them. That being said, errors do happen and this one was pretty obvious because they did list the deeded week number and listed it as platinum, not platinum plus. 

The best deals are found on ebay. I recently purchased a NCV gold for $5500 and a Shadow Ridge Gold for < $3k. I am a big believer that your knowledge of timeshares is what should determine where you buy from. If you looked at the Grand Chateau auction and thought it was platinum plus, I would go with a Broker like Seth Knock because it would be to your advantage to have someone with an in-depth knowledge of timeshares on your side. If you immediately knew it was a 1-51, not 52 like was stated I think you can buy from ebay. This is by no means a knock on the OP of this thread who is light years ahead of most people because he knew to ask questions before putting down any money. Before I bought a single timeshare I followed this board for 2 years and learned a great deal from the many people on this board that are significantly more knowledgeable than I. This is just my opinion on how not to get ripped off.


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## thinze3 (Oct 27, 2009)

If you want a platinum MGC unit, just pay for it and move on. This company is no different than most PCC's. Their is nothing pretty about the deal. Make sure you do ALL your paperwork timely and stay on top of them by calling and/or emailing frequently. 

Your purchase will turn out just fine.


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## Clemson Fan (Oct 27, 2009)

Here's the link to this auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350266060117

I watch this resort on Ebay and I seriously doubt that it floats for weeks 1-52.  It's my understanding that there are only 2 choices:

Platinum floating weeks 1-51
Platinum Plus Fixed (and deeded, not deeded week 35) week 52.


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## ccpinternational (Oct 27, 2009)

we decided to go ahead with this deal and see how good they are. we have purchased 2 marriott timeshares from ebay since August and they have both been transfered under our names successfully.  I have been following MGC on ebay for almost 5 months(tired of biding and waiting). Platinum season is good enough for us. 

I will keep updating my this post so that more people can benefit if they are concerned about this seller.

Thanks a lot for all these valuable informations.


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## m61376 (Oct 28, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> we decided to go ahead with this deal and see how good they are. we have purchased 2 marriott timeshares from ebay since August and they have both been transfered under our names successfully.  I have been following MGC on ebay for almost 5 months(tired of biding and waiting). Platinum season is good enough for us.
> 
> I will keep updating my this post so that more people can benefit if they are concerned about this seller.
> 
> Thanks a lot for all these valuable informations.



Congrats! You certainly are taking advantage of the depressed prices; hopefully you won't be too depressed when the MF's become due  . Seriously, though, the odds are strongly in your favor that things will go relatively smoothly. 

Welcome to Tug, btw


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## ccpinternational (Oct 28, 2009)

I received a page of Estoppel Notice from Redweeks4less today, they said they do not have current deed. The only thing they have right now is the estoppel. Is that normal? I will put the charge on my credit card via paypal just in case anything happens I can still file the charge back.

Michael


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## josh1231 (Oct 28, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> I received a page of Estoppel Notice from Redweeks4less today, they said they do not have current deed. The only thing they have right now is the estoppel. Is that normal? I will put the charge on my credit card via paypal just in case anything happens I can still file the charge back.
> 
> Michael



This is normal. The estoppel has all the information on it so you can call Marriott and confirm what you are buying. Make sure to do this part as well. Also, when I purchase a new unit, I never put down more than $500-$700 until everything is done and the deed is ready to be mailed to the county. Many sellers want you to pay everything up front, but I would not and I don't require it when I sell. $500 is easier to do without for a period of time if you run into a problem. You don't pay for your entire house before closing, there's no reason to do it on a timeshare.

Congratulations on your purchase and enjoy. Hopefully some other people will chime in on some tips as well.


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## m61376 (Oct 29, 2009)

josh1231 said:


> This is normal. The estoppel has all the information on it so you can call Marriott and confirm what you are buying. Make sure to do this part as well. Also, when I purchase a new unit, I never put down more than $500-$700 until everything is done and the deed is ready to be mailed to the county. Many sellers want you to pay everything up front, but I would not and I don't require it when I sell. $500 is easier to do without for a period of time if you run into a problem. You don't pay for your entire house before closing, there's no reason to do it on a timeshare.
> 
> Congratulations on your purchase and enjoy. Hopefully some other people will chime in on some tips as well.



Nice advice- but they will never go for it. Nor will they allow you to use another closing company, even if you offer to pay both their closing company fee and the additional fee for another closing company. They definitely have a gimmick there.

Of course, call Marriott to check the info. first. However, be aware that just verifies what the unit is, but not that it hasn't already been sold to someone else and is in the process of transfer (as happened to the other owner who posted above). So it is no guarantee.


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## icydog (Oct 29, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> we decided to go ahead with this deal and see how good they are. we have purchased 2 marriott timeshares from ebay since August and they have both been transfered under our names successfully.  I have been following MGC on ebay for almost 5 months(tired of biding and waiting). Platinum season is good enough for us.
> 
> I will keep updating my this post so that more people can benefit if they are concerned about this seller.
> 
> ...




I would run away as fast as you can from this seller. I bought a Newport Coast from them and it took me 9 months to close it. They lied to me and told me it was the fault of the county in CA.. In fact, they never sent it to CA since it was never theirs to begin with. That's how postcard companies work, they sell things before the paperwork has been filed.

Please, if you can, say you don't want the week and back out of the deal. Nothing is final with eBay. You have the option to cancel your bid with no retribution. I will send you the link to my thread if I can find it.


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## icydog (Oct 29, 2009)

icydog said:


> I would run away as fast as you can from this seller. I bought a Newport Coast from them and it took me 9 months to close it. They lied to me and told me it was the fault of the county in CA.. In fact, they never sent it to CA since it was never theirs to begin with. That's how postcard companies work, they sell things before the paperwork has been filed.
> 
> Please, if you can, say you don't want the week and back out of the deal. Nothing is final with eBay. You have the option to cancel your bid with no retribution. I will send you the link to my thread if I can find it.






This is a first thread

This is the subsequent thread 


It took me from July to Dec to get the contract closed. Use your better judgement when dealing with them and back out while you can.


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## Dean (Oct 31, 2009)

ccpinternational said:


> Confirmed with Reweeks4less that this unit is just 1-51 platinum season. They misprint it on eBay.
> 
> These people are not honest, please be cautious when you deal with this seller on ebay.


I had a not so good experience mostly with the closing company.  Here's my quote from another thread on the subject.


> I'll expand. Things were moving very slowly and they kept delaying with what sounded to me like excuses rather than reasons. I had paid through Paypal using a CC so I felt I had some protections. Once things seems to stall I started doing some digging. Apparently they had actually "purchased" the week with the agreement not to pay for it until they resold it. I actually contacted the "seller" directly and he was having similar issues on that side. After that, and that we let them know we were in contact, things started moving somewhat more rapidly. It did get done but a few months later I got an email from the actual seller saying he hadn't gotten paid. I directed him back to the company and also forwarded the info to them both by email and by phone, I didn't hear back from them. I haven't heard anything else one way or another which suggests to me that he must have eventually gotten paid or he'd be screaming. I did post on TUG about people's thoughts as to my level of risk in this situation and the consensus seems to be the same as my thinking, that I was in the clear.
> 
> I remember doing some research on the company and related closing company and for the most part what I saw and heard was negative. By then I'd already bid though and was willing to risk it over going back on my word. It worked out but was a hassle. Fortunately it was an EOY so nothing available for almost 2 years from when we started, good thing given it took so long.


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## travelplanner70 (Oct 31, 2009)

Can someone give me the link for Redweeks4less?  For some reason I cannot get to their web page.  Thanks.


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## josh1231 (Oct 31, 2009)

m61376 said:


> Nice advice- but they will never go for it. Nor will they allow you to use another closing company, even if you offer to pay both their closing company fee and the additional fee for another closing company. They definitely have a gimmick there.
> 
> Of course, call Marriott to check the info. first. However, be aware that just verifies what the unit is, but not that it hasn't already been sold to someone else and is in the process of transfer (as happened to the other owner who posted above). So it is no guarantee.



You don't really know unless you ask. I would certainly run the other way if someone wanted me to pay everything up front and use their services.


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## icydog (Nov 1, 2009)

It's the only way they will do business with you. They sell owners weeks without owning them themselves. Therefore they need their own closing company to keep track of their coverups.


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## Dean (Nov 1, 2009)

icydog said:


> It's the only way they will do business with you. They sell owners weeks without owning them themselves. Therefore they need their own closing company to keep track of their coverups.


I think what they mostly do is actually buy the week with an agreement not to pay for it until they sell it then try to change it from the past owner to the new owner without have it in their name.  I'm not sure if the seller ever got paid on my purchase, I do know he emailed me later saying he hadn't.


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## ccpinternational (Nov 1, 2009)

travelplanner70 said:


> Can someone give me the link for Redweeks4less?  For some reason I cannot get to their web page.  Thanks.



The timeshare resale company is under the name - IA Vacations
www.money4timeshares.cm

The closing company is under the name - American Timeshare Closing
http://americantsclosing.com/


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## Bill4728 (Nov 1, 2009)

CCP International,

In all likelyhood, your purchase will go smoothly. It just that when other people have a problem they post it here. So you may hear more bad stories than good. 

Good Luck


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## ccpinternational (Nov 6, 2009)

Just noticed that American Timeshare Closings has been revoked by BBB as a Accredited Business. Their rating is now F.

American Timeshare Closings is the closing company that "Redweeks4less" (IA Vacations) is using.

Michael


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## wilma (Nov 6, 2009)

I've noticed that Redweeks4less is trying to improve their ebay ratings by buying up cheap stuff to get some positive feedback to offset their negative. They do not apologize for their mistakes and instead always blame the buyer on ebay. Their closing company is truly incompetent and it seems that they intentionally drag things out so that buyers aren't really sure what happening within the 60 days feedback timeline on ebay. I'm experiencing a slow closing and transfer with their closing company due to the 1st agent disappearing after about a month, and then the next agent somehow could not properly spell my name on the deed. She initially tried to blame it on me and said she simply copied off what I submitted but of course had to backtrack later when she could not show me where I had misspelled my own name. It's no wonder they have a BBB F rating.


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## ccpinternational (Jan 21, 2010)

We have received our ownership transfer documents from Marriott last week. The resort has been successfully transferred. We had some problems dealing with Redweeks4less (American closing). Below is the summary of closing process with this seller on eBay.

1. Purchased off ebay Oct 25, 2009 at $5100.
2. Shows Platinum+ (1-52), but it is just a Platinum (seller's mistake)
3. The company was down graded to F rating by BBB in Nov,2009.
4. First deed was incorrect. Recorded as "the Polo Towers" not "Marriott"
5. Deed was revised and we ordered the copy from county's website ourselves.
6. Received the copy of the deed. They only claimed $500 for sales price. Legal?
7. They asked us for MF for 2010, we told them will pay directly to Marriott.
8. Received transfer confirmation from Marriott Jan 12,2010.

We still concerned about the first deed they recorded for "the polo towers" as it is still listed on clark county's recorder's website. We have send a letter to the recorder to delist the deed.

Overall communication is slow with this company. They sometimes don't response to your email. But I would say Redweeks4less is still safe to use with a lot of cautions. 

Thanks for the information provided by the tuggers here. We have successfully closed 4 resorts from ebay since last may and We have learned a lot from TUG on Timeshare. We are going to use our Marriott Grand Chateau and Four Seasons Aviara next month. Cant wait for the trip!


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## Dean (Jan 21, 2010)

ccpinternational said:


> We had some problems dealing with Redweeks4less (American closing).


I would have been surprised otherwise.


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