Diamond buyback from Goldkey owners

[Jbthree123]

This is from jbthree123
I purchased Gold key Villas at theBoardwalk in early 2000. I went to a diamond int presentation last nite to ask questions about how to sell it , trade it etc. I like it but the doubling maintenance costs are killing it. I was told my questions would be answered. Well , somewhat they were , as in ,you need to switch to the points system thru diamond at another cost of so many thousands of dollars. My timeshare is paid for and it is in February during valentines week. Diamond is forcing everyone into the points by increasing maintenance fees to make it see like the only way out. Then of course you give up your deed for points and they wanted to do this deal last nite to get the discounted points pricing, which is half or the almost 9 dollar current price.And of course that price was only good for last nite as they ran in and out of the room like car salesmen used to do. Then the pressure pitches, it was kind of amusing actually. Anyway I don't know what their huge rush is to own my deed other than to get me
Involved with another set of payments. They said all Gold key members were offered a buyout based on points that were givin in exchange for your deeded week. I didn't go to owners meetings during my stay because I didn't want the upsell that always came with it and waste a vacation day. I never signed or got a option list on what I wanted to do and they had no record on file of me receiving one. Yet said that when Apollo partnered with diamond they put a cutoff date in place for goldkey owners ? And I no longer qualified for the buyout. This sounds crazy to me. Is there any type of help out there for gold key members and is anyone down at the boardwalk on this forum in this situation? I would like some feedback if so. I went to use my week this year and they said pool is closed and there is construction all over the place. I would really like to get rid of it due to rising fees but hate to lose what I paid for it initially. I feel there are bigger plans for these facilities and they want all the deed weeks cleared out. Just my opinion. I would be interested in being part of a HOA if one was started. Thanks for your time. You can contact me here or at my email. Jbthree123@aol.com

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

A lot of this sounds like sounds like sales BS . Diamond has that reputation .

There are at least 2 TUG threads you should read . One was started when the purchase of Gold Key
occurred . You also may wish to “conversation “ some Gold Key owners who posted to get additional
info . since some may not be regularly reading this forum.

There is also a more recent thread about Diamond . There are satisfied Diamond owners , including some who become “affiliated” by prior Diamond purchases and DID NOT become points members , but decided to keep their fixed week .

The construction is probably adding value to the resort ( for future use ) . Diamond does seem to run quality resort BUT with increases to MF that helps pay for the upgrades .

DON’T - make a hasty decision

 

[Jbthree123]

Thank you for your help.

 

[nuwermj]

This is all flat out lies.
(1) There was never a buyout offered to Gold Key owners.
(2) The annual fees for points are 25% higher than the equivalent deeded accommodations. That is, if your deed is worth 6,000 points, the fees on that number of points will be higher than your HOA fees on the deed.
(3) Diamond has not been very successful at forcing everyone into the points system. Only about 11% of the owners at your resort have converted.
(4) All of the lies and hard sales tactics pre-date Apollo. Nothing new on the sales floor.
(5) There are some GK owners in this forum. There is also a small group (about 100) on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1639958046252175/

 

[Jbthree123]

Thank you for your help.

 

[nuwermj]

Elsewhere Jbthree123 wrote:

I went to a Diamond presentation last night and listened to the high pressure sales bs. I only went to try and get rid of mine due to they have raised the maintenance fees so high that it is cheaper to be free of the deeded week in February and be able to roam for the same money.

Diamond has a surrender or relinquishment program called "Transitions". Log into the website and look for a navigation button labeled "Transitions". Follow the instructions there. You will give the deed back to Diamond, they will not pay you anything, they will charge a processing fee of $250. But you will be rid of the obligations.

Most, but not all, of the program is discussed here:
https://www.diamondresorts.com/transitions

 

[Jbthree123]

Elsewhere Jbthree123 wrote:

Diamond has a surrender or relinquishment program called "Transitions". Log into the website and look for a navigation button labeled "Transitions". Follow the instructions there. You will give the deed back to Diamond, they will not pay you anything, they will charge a processing fee of $250. But you will be rid of the obligations.

Most, but not all, of the program is discussed here:
https://www.diamondresorts.com/transitions

Thank you. That was easy enough

 

[Jbthree123]

Here they were running the game on everyone and all you have to do is qualify and pay 250. Amazing. I just paid 900 for maintenance fee.

 

[CrissyLiz]

This is all flat out lies.
(1) There was never a buyout offered to Gold Key owners.
(2) The annual fees for points are 25% higher than the equivalent deeded accommodations. That is, if your deed is worth 6,000 points, the fees on that number of points will be higher than your HOA fees on the deed.
(3) Diamond has not been very successful at forcing everyone into the points system. Only about 11% of the owners at your resort have converted.
(4) All of the lies and hard sales tactics pre-date Apollo. Nothing new on the sales floor.
(5) There are some GK owners in this forum. There is also a small group (about 100) on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1639958046252175/

New member here... We're one of the ones who had to pay $$ to bring our Gold Key Ocean Beach Club "into" Diamond points. I am looking for other complaints about Diamond; we are extremely unhappy. Just saying now, the lies/hard sales tactics do NOT all pre-date Apollo. In Dec., at Cypress Pointe, they shoe-horned us into this deal where they told us, because we had so many points (Platinum), we could request cash-out on a monthly basis at 30 cents a point, not the usual 10 cents cash-out, and could use that cash towards our maintenance at the end of the year. Of course, when we went to do this, we were told there is no such program, and of course, none of the people who gave us the hard-sell want to talk to us now. Always some excuse. We are seriously considering suing.