lots of questions and thoughts
Newbie here…I am so thankful to find this forum and grateful that you all have been willing to share your opinions and insights.
I am as confused as anyone that a situation like this could continue in North America and need a few questions answered by whomever is willing.
1. Can someone explain to us why the court case was stated as Philip K Matkin Professional Corp. v. Northmont Resort Properties Ltd. ? We thought they were working together.
2. The information was available that Northmont Resort Properties had been able to obtain Fairmont Resort Properties free and clear from any of Fairmont Resort Properties’ liabilities. Why did none of the lawyers realize that nothing relating to Fairmont Resort Properties, eg. multiple breach of contracts would be admissible in court? Some have suggested filing further action with Geldert Law. He was one of the original lawyers. If he didn’t do anything then, how or why could he now? Just asking...willing to go with him if someone can tell us what the plans are.
3. Why if we “surrender” our lease do we surrender it to Philip K. Matkin Professional Corp. and yet to “cancel” it is to Northmont Resort Properties?
4. Why if we stay are the renovation fees paid to Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, one of the largest law firms in North America?
5. If we do pay them anything, where are the guarantees that any of the money will be used for the resort?
6. We were lied to and sucked in by an amazing sales pitch, not once but twice. Now we look at the “Cancellation Agreement” and even if we decide to go that route, how can we be sure that it is legal and they won’t come back to try and extort more money?
7. Nothing that we have ever signed was called a “Vacation Interval Agreement”…yet if we cancel that is what we are cancelling in the “Northmont Resort Properties Cancellation Agreement”????
8. In the “Cancellation Agreement”, #1 says it is “subject to payment of all amounts owing to Northmont under this Agreement and the Additional Agreements”…anyone know what the additional agreements are??
Aside from all the questions, I do have a few other suggestions/comments:
I believe we along with thousands of others have been duped into a highly professional, very intentional, fraudulent scam that continues to be perpetuated by the “current” management, who for some reason are protected by the courts and are not being held accountable for any previous liabilities…and yet, we the timeshare lessees can be held accountable for the mismanagement of Fairmont Resort Properties (and all its other aliases, associate companies and underlings) and the liabilities of the “current management”. Who in all this fiasco is holding them accountable…definitely not the justice system!
“In good faith” we listened to the trained sales scammers who twisted the truth and left out a lot of key information and were sucked in. Our trust was violated. We were told it was to be an investment for the future, a legacy for life…it has instead become a nightmare. Unfortunately, this management group, investment group or whomever is ultimately behind all this, seems to have been allowed to leave their malicious footprint all over the globe. Their track record and the debris of shattered timeshare lessees is far reaching. But to give them credit, they are smart and they know how to manipulate the law, change their company names and disguise their identity, and write twisted contracts so they can weasel their way out of being held accountable. We, and it sounds like many others, were gullible because we accepted their contracts in good faith not realizing that the contracts were open to interpretation, their interpretation, and could be changed at their whim while holding us responsible for their greed, deceitfulness and massive mismanagement of funds.
One way or the other we have all had our trust violated and we have all lost a lot of money. But, we still have a voice. We all need to be willing to use all avenues of social media at our disposal to share our experience. This has been an awful experience for all of us. We have watched a beautiful dream get sucked down into the sewer. But, let’s do what we can to prevent others from taking the same path. We were naive, but let’s use our experience for good in the lives of others and encourage them to:
1. Never sign any contract unless they are allowed to take it home to read and evaluate for at least 24 hours. Any contract where they are being pressured to sign on the spot, is not a good contract.
2. Never sign a contract that allows the other party the right to change it for their benefit whenever they want.
3. Never sign a contract that is written in such a way that it is “open to interpretation”.
4. If something seems like a “sweet deal” it probably isn’t. The only people that really care about the happiness of your family is you.
5. If those that are selling the contract are trying to isolate you from others that are also considering buying, then red flags of warning should go up.
6. If you are receiving a sales pitch in a dimly lit room, do not stay!
I wish I could meet each and every one of you timeshare lessees who are honest people just wanting to have a nice vacation with your family and friends. They have stolen our money, but I am grateful that they can’t steal our memories or the memories of our children.
Hoping to receive some responses to my questions! Thanks!