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Trickery and Deceit

topcop400

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Location
Northern Arizona
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Desert Oasis
Wyndham Oceanside Pier
Wyndham Old Town Alexandria
In August 2019 I purchased a Wyndham contract for points deeded at Oceanside Pier. You can’t get into this location during the summer months without ARP, so contracts for this resort are highly sought after. My winning eBay bid was just over $600 for 189k annual points. I received an estoppel from the seller and everything looked good.



After my purchase, I realized I was doing business with an exit company. Ughhh. I never would have purchased if I had known this in advance.



In early November I was able to speak to someone at Principal Transfer Group, who told me they were waiting for the recorded deed to come back from the county. I never heard anything after that. Calls were never returned after leaving messages on voicemail.



In January, I called several times and sent several emails with no response. I figured I’d try sending the seller a message through eBay, but their seller name came up “No longer a registered user” (uh-oh).



I was able to find a website for PTG and a Facebook page. I sent a message through Facebook and said I had a Marriott property and a Westin property that I wanted to get rid of. The seller immediately called me. He was surprised by my deceit.



I told him I had called Wyndham and they’ve not received any transfer documents. He looked up the contract and said the deed was rejected by the county and returned to them. They needed to send in a corrected deed. This was in January and there's been no contact since then. Wyndham has never received anything.



Just a few days ago, I went back to their Facebook page. It no longer exists (uh-oh).



I sent an email to the seller and said I had a Newport Coast Villas Annual Platinum that I no longer used and wanted to get rid of. He immediately called me. This time, I let him talk a little bit. He told me he’d get the contract out of my name right away and he’d use it as a rental (yeah, I bet he would). He went on to educate me about the timeshare business and RCI. Blah, blah, blah. I asked him if he ever sold timeshares and he said he got out of the business of selling timeshares back in 2009. I then told him that I had tricked him once again because that’s the only way he’ll call me. I told him I was due a refund of $635.


Dead silence.


I thought he had hung up on me, but after a few moments of silence he looked up the contract. He said the corrected deed had been sent back to the county on February 25. After that, the world fell apart with the covid thing and he doesn’t know if the county office in California is open yet. His stance is that ten months for a transfer is common. He told me he’d have one of his staff look into the status of things and get back in touch with me. I told him I also wanted someone to find out if the maintenance fees are still current. It’s been since last August!



I realize I may never get this contract transferred to me and I may never see the $635; but next time, I think I’ll own a HGVC that I want to get rid of.
 

Theiggy

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Marriott Aruba Surf Club
Marriott Frenchman’s Cove
Something similar happened to me purchasing on eBay with an exit company. In my case the deed was recorded but the transfer never occurred and the company had gone bankrupt and wouldn’t return my calls. With the help of Tuggers I was able to pay for and file transfer papers myself but this was for a Marriott week. What was the eBay name of the company? Just curious.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DaveNV

TUG Review Crew: Expert
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Free Agent
Have you tried checking with the county or resort directly, and see if things have been transferred into your name? Even if the county hasn't been open due to Covid-19, things may be happening behind the scenes.

I sold a Kauai week independently a few years ago, and although the new deed was recorded at the county, the resort management company was never notified of the change in names. Four months later when the new owner tried to make a reservation, it was still in my name. I provided proof of the recording, and the name change happened in just few minutes. So you may be further along than you think. Maybe. :)

Good luck!

Dave
 

topcop400

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Location
Northern Arizona
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Desert Oasis
Wyndham Oceanside Pier
Wyndham Old Town Alexandria
Have you tried checking with the county or resort directly, and see if things have been transferred into your name? Even if the county hasn't been open due to Covid-19, things may be happening behind the scenes.

Dave

Thanks for the tip. If I call the county, what sort of information will they need?
I do have the estoppel with the owner's name & address.
 

bogey21

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Thanks for the tip. If I call the county, what sort of information will they need?
I do have the estoppel with the owner's name & address.
The name and address might suffice but the legal description of the property would probably help. If you don't have this, Wyndham may be able to give it to you...

George
 

dioxide45

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Marriott Harbour Lake
Sheraton Vistana Villages
Club Wyndham CWA

DaveNV

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Thanks for the tip. If I call the county, what sort of information will they need?
I do have the estoppel with the owner's name & address.

I'd try the resort first. Since you have the previous owner's name, you can ask whether it's been transferred to your name. If they still show it under the old owner's name, then call the county. You might also be able to check online. A lot of County Recorder's Offices have an online presence.

Dave
 

RX8

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HGVC and DVC
Thought I would share this funny but true story.
The person behind the Principal Transfer Group is Donnelly Snellen. He is one of many defendants sued by Wyndham for their exit company practices. In January of this year an attorney for one or more of the defendants was admonished by the court because he had taken off his pants in a hissy after being asked to remove his belt at the court’s security check point.

 
Last edited:

topcop400

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Northern Arizona
Resorts Owned
Sheraton Desert Oasis
Wyndham Oceanside Pier
Wyndham Old Town Alexandria
….an attorney for one or more of the defendants was admonished by the court because he had taken off his pants in a hissy after being asked to remove his belt at the court’s security check point.

Charming!
 

Synergy

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Grandview, Massanutten
I'm in a vaguely similar position right now - I was able to go to the county records online and was surprised to realize that both ownerships had been recorded in our name. The resorts have no idea about any of this, and I was actually able to get a response from the seller without having to trick them, so now I'm back to twiddling my thumbs. Knowing the property is in my name is nice, though! I hope you're able to get some truth out of someone, one way or another...
 

DaveNV

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bogey21

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I was able to go to the county records online and was surprised to realize that both ownerships had been recorded in our name. The resorts have no idea about any of this,
Wouldn't the simple thing to do is get copies of the recorded deeds from the County and send them to the Resort? My guess is that you might have to pay a fee to the Resort but if it isn't outlandish, this should complete the transaction...

George
 

Synergy

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Wouldn't the simple thing to do is get copies of the recorded deeds from the County and send them to the Resort? My guess is that you might have to pay a fee to the Resort but if it isn't outlandish, this should complete the transaction...

George
Yep, that was my initial plan before they responded, but it's about $400 in transfer fees plus deed costs. We aren't in any particular hurry, so if there remains a chance that they'll pay those costs as initially agreed, I want them to. Before I got ahold of them, I was just grateful they'd performed the initial bits of the process.
 
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