[2007] Coral Resorts

[coolgunz]

Another "Fast Switch" at Coral Resorts

I thought about NEVER visiting Hilton Head again, but I now think that's the wrong decision.

Yes... the people of Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County, S.C. should put Coral Resorts out of business.

And yes... they are partially responsible for this and other "timeshare frauds".

But Hilton Head is an otherwise wonderful place to visit.

I think we as consumers can put Coral Resorts out of business.

To start with... let's name all these employees with whom we've been dealing. I don't think it's enough to just say "the salesman" or "the rep". Let's name them by person. Why not? What if anything can they sue about? Just be honest and tell the truth.

My "vacation counselor" was Mark Broderick.

The "verification officer" was Sheldon Stanhope.

The owner services representatitve Lori Lucas.

Their attorney (at closing) was K. Michael Barfield.

Their law firm: Barnwell, Whaley, Patterson, & Helms of Charleston, S.C.

Despite what they might say... everyone involved in any fraudulent transactions concerning Coral Resorts - Island Links is jointly and severally responsible.

Don't listen to them or their attorneys.

I will soon seek legal counsel myself.

By the way... as I was reviewing my contract... I just noticed another scam they pulled on me.

We purchased an ANNUAL timeshare -- but the contract says "Tri-X" in three different places, and one of those places it also says "(Every Third Year Usage)".

Sheldon Stanhope signed those papers, so I'm holding him personally responsible for that "fast switch".

 

[coolgunz]

Let's Agree to Fix This Problem Permanently

Let's all agree to fix this problem permanently.

The best justice would be to see these crooks go to jail.

Will that happen?

Probably not.

Steal from your local store or rob a bank and you'll be looking at some serious time in the state penitentiary.

But participate in "white collar crime", even if it involves millions or billions of dollars, and you'll probably never spend any hard time in prison.

What's up with that anyway?:annoyed:

But if we can put these turkeys out of business, and follow that up with a civil lawsuit to strip away all their assets... well that's almost as good as prison.

If we can't get them sent to prison... then making sure they all end up penniless would provide some sort of satisfaction.

By the way... have you ever visited their website?

No self-respecting 21st Century company would have such a lame website!

Don't despair. It may seem at times like we're beating a dead horse...

:deadhorse:

but we can do this if we all band together!

Unfortunately... it may prove an expensive lesson, as most of us will NEVER recover our total investment!

 

[tabbermom]

Help with legal action?

We are currently on HHI using a Developer Week from Coral Resorts. We attended the Owner's Update this past weekend where the misrepresentation continued. At the close of our discussion, Danny, our second (pressure) counselor concluded by telling us we could sell our tri-annual timeshare back to Coral Resorts for two cents per point (even the the counselor we started the hour with stood there and told him it would be five cents per point). Anyway, when I asked Danny to put his $500 quote in writing, he refused to do so saying "Because I don't have to!".

My husband and I tried in vain last year to find a lawyer on HHI who would even speak with us about taking leagal action. Does anyone have a recommendation? In 2009, we thought we'd purchased an annual week AND the guarantee that our Gatinlinburg timeshare would be sold within 6 months regardless that the paperwork stated there was no guarantee. Sheldon Stanhope assured us that he had a corporate buyer who needed such a property to use as a vacation incentive for employees. Imagine our surprise when we found out we had a tri-annual week and the Gatlinburg timeshare is still ours. HAH! We would love to get in touch with someone with legal expertise to consult with. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've heard there might be a class action suit in the works but can't find any info on it.

Oh, and we found out this year in our update that we would need additional points to get a summer week (platinum time). We had apparently purchased the last week of the gold season.

 

[tschwa2]

I hate to be the one to dump on your parade but you did sign a contract that stated what you bought and it did have information about the period to rescind your contract. I am certainly not defending the salespeople and everyone else involved with selling timeshares but your boat to "recover our total investment" sailed long ago (10 minutes after your rescission period ended. 99.7% who purchase timeshares retail won't recover any investment.

Unfortunately the law will side with the lying timeshare folks because they have the signed paper and all you have is hearsay. Try to seperate your hate for the TS selling force with the rest of the TS experience. Try to learn to use what you have to get the best vacations possible and/or how to legally dispose of it if you can.

I own a every other year week at Island Links that I bought resale. I avoid TS presentations in general (although I think I am good at saying no to retail) and certainly recommend friends and family to stay far far away from presentations.

Two of the biggest Mantra's here are:
1. Buy resale never retail
2. How do you know a TS salesperson is lying? his lips are moving.

PS Be careful of anyone wanting money to help you with your problem. From recovery companies to companies guaranteeing to sell your TS. Most of them are scams too.

 

[Fitts]

Coral Resorts Complaints

Check the BBB website. Coral Resorts is not BBB accredited, rank of F, lots of complaints. Also see The Island Packet for 5/2/2010, "New Complaints..."article about more complaints with the SC Real Estate Commission since Coral Resorts was told to change their sales tactics in 2005.

 

[JBaldwin]

I hate to be the one to dump on your parade but you did sign a contract that stated what you bought and it did have information about the period to rescind your contract. I am certainly not defending the salespeople and everyone else involved with selling timeshares but your boat to "recover our total investment" sailed long ago (10 minutes after your rescission period ended. 99.7% who purchase timeshares retail won't recover any investment.

Unfortunately the law will side with the lying timeshare folks because they have the signed paper and all you have is hearsay. Try to seperate your hate for the TS selling force with the rest of the TS experience. Try to learn to use what you have to get the best vacations possible and/or how to legally dispose of it if you can.

I own a every other year week at Island Links that I bought resale. I avoid TS presentations in general (although I think I am good at saying no to retail) and certainly recommend friends and family to stay far far away from presentations.

Two of the biggest Mantra's here are:
1. Buy resale never retail
2. How do you know a TS salesperson is lying? his lips are moving.

PS Be careful of anyone wanting money to help you with your problem. From recovery companies to companies guaranteeing to sell your TS. Most of them are scams too.

A little update on my lastp post: when we found out they had given us a 1-bedroom instead of a 3-bedroom, I used the contract to get them back. We had notes and documented phone conversations stating that we were purchasing a 3-bedroom condo at Island Links. In the standard contract it says that they will provide you with a floor plan of the unit you purchased. I contacted Brent Trew and informed him that the only floor plan I had was for a 3-bedroom which was true. Guess what? They gave us the 3-bedroom for a fixed week. It wasn't at Island Links as we requested, but at Port O Call which is another one of their older resorts on HHI. We compromised only because the original contract we signed was for Port O Call, and we really couldn't get around that. What pushed Brent Trew to the brink was a letter I wrote to the BBB. That REALLY does work. They don't want another complaint to the BBB. We also signed letter agreeing that they would give us a 3-bedroom fixed week in the week we wanted.

And by the way, going to the attorney general does not work.

But wait...there's more!!!! One of our big complaints was that at the sales meeting we were told we could use our week at ANY of the Coral Resorts locations. All we had to do was tell someone when we paid our maintenance fee which resort we wanted to use. To try to convince us this was true, they put us at the fancy 3-bedroom unit overlooking the new lazy river at Coral Sands. We did have a lovely week using this fine unit. But of course, we were taken into a meeting where they informed us that there was no way we could use our Port O Call week at Coral Sands unless we wanted to upgrade! The cost? $13,000! AND, they told us they would buy my timeshare week in Surfside (the one they promised to sell last year), and we could pay off the mortgage with the rented out developer weeks that would come with our upgrade. NOT. At least we had enough sense to walk away from that.

In short, it is difficult to get out of the contracts, but if you have any written record of agreements made when you purchased your timeshare at Coral Resorts, even if it notes scratched on a piece of paper by the salesperson, these can be very helpful in negotiating your way into getting what you thought you paid for.

Our problem was not sorted out to our complete satisfaction, but at least we have something to show for it. I still haven't sold my bi-annual week in Surfiside. (If any of you are interested, it's a nice place, and I'll give you a great deal on it.) We do have a fixed week in HHI at Port O Call, but we have been scammed, cheated and lied to so many times, I can't say. They have turned fixing "their little mistake" scamming into an artform.

Stay away from Coral Sands and tell all your friends to do the same!