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[ 2012 ] Fairmont / Sunchaser / Northwynd official thread with lawsuit info!

jekebc

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How can we get some of our other larger media outlets reporting on this situation which may assist in increasing our class action numbers. Not sure if a letter to the editor is a good tactic or not, but unless we increase our exposure to other investors we may not get a larger number of participants. We know we can't afford to be taking out large ads in any of the daily's.

Open to suggestions

I released a statement through Michael Geldert's office today. Our family company was the appellant on behalf of other timeshare investors in the BC Court of Appeal case that resulted in the November 2013 decision of Justice Loo being set aside.

http://members.shaw.ca/thebelfrys/statement_by_jeke_enterprises_20jun2014.pdf
The statement includes specifics as to reasons that I believe confirm that Northmont and their associates have breached fundamental terms of the timeshare contracts and as a result all investors have suffered damages from loss of value of their original timeshare investment.
It is no longer a matter of just getting out of your contract because Northmont has made it plain they will pursue everyone to collect overdue maintenance fees as well as the renovation fee. Expect the Ontario law firm to proceed with filing individual actions in the courts.
We must go after Northmont and their associates for damages and take action to prevent them from selling the Resort out from under us.
And the costs of joining in this action will be far less than trying to defend each individual collection action on your own.
 

DarkLord

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The statement includes specifics as to reasons that I believe confirm that Northmont and their associates have breached fundamental terms of the timeshare contracts and as a result all investors have suffered damages from loss of value of their original timeshare investment.

[Post text removed at request of Original Poster. -- Makai Guy, TUG BBS Administrator]
 
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Info regarding FRLP Finance

You may find this site of interest regarding FRPL Finance.

http://frplfinance.blogspot.ca/

It explains a bit more of FRPL Finance, & how Collin Knight is involved and he was the person who signed our lease with Fairmont several years ago.

A sample of the information follows:
"Collin H. Knight, RRP: President and Developer
Mr. Knight’s career in the industry began in 1980. He excelled at sales at Fairmont and the next year was moved into the sales management team. In late 1982 he set up his own marketing company and initially offered services to Fairmont and later provided services to Panorama Mountain Village, now an Intrawest development. Mr. Knight’s success took him as far south as Mexico and it was from there that he and his now partner, Doug Morcom, were convinced to return to Fairmont to buy an interest in the timeshare-development company. His love of a challenge and desire to
be the developer led to his success story of today."


Some readers on this site have also questioned whether or not there have been issues at other timeshare locations. From memory,I believe this was on this "tugbbs.com" site a while back. It discusses the problems the lease/owners had with Rancho Banderas and the connection with the same offices in Calgary.

http://www.redweek.com/forums/messages?thread_id=16076
also google Rancho Banderas and interesting articles come up. Yes, similar things have happened before to innocent people like us. Go through and see how many of the same names that you recognize.
 

heydynagirl

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From May, 2013 through May, 2014, the Trust has generated substantial cash flow from

"From May, 2013 through May, 2014, the Trust has generated substantial cash flow from cancellation fees related to the Realignment Plan. The cash was used to pay off the $8,150,000 in debt owed to Terrafund Financial Inc. between June, 2013 and January, 2014."

I thought the monies collected were to go towards renovations???
 

Tizzel

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I've been following this thread since Northwynd the lawsuit stuff started
Admittedly I should have joined with a lawyer back when it first started
After the original court case, I decided to pay the renovation fee and stay. I then rejoined Interval and traded in a week and stayed in an Interval resort in Orlando in April (Had a great time)

After the original case, I figured, ok they won, carry on. I didn't know an appeal was happening because I didn't check this forum. Now that I see the appeal has been won, I wondering what recourse do I now have.

I received the letter from Northwynd and I'm not happy with the fact that I could be on the hook for more renovation fees because someone people haven't paid. That's utter bullshit. I just contacted Geldert Law through their website.

As a note, I did pay the fee to stay, but I still owe money on the Timeshare itself. I don't ever stay at this resort, but like the face that I can trade weeks easily with Interval and stay somewhere else. But I don't like being bent over and taking it raw, because this place is tanking
 

DarkLord

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I received the letter from Northwynd and I'm not happy with the fact that I could be on the hook for more renovation fees because someone people haven't paid. That's utter bullshit. I just contacted Geldert Law through their website.

[Post text removed at request of Original Poster. -- Makai Guy, TUG BBS Administrator]
 
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Join lawsuit now!

We've been with Geldert Law since the beginning. I hope you will do the same if you haven't already. Only the courts can stop unethical timeshare developers and managers from misusing the maintenance fees that timeshare holders paid in good faith for the proper care of the home resort.
Northwynd acquired the Fairmont resort at a bargain price knowing, or they should have reasonably known, the existing deficiencies. The discount purchase price would have reflected this. We only own the right to use a week per year at Fairmont/Sunchaser or to trade that time & stay elsewhere. We did Not agree in our contract to cover faulty construction, major infrastructure repairs, expensive redecorating, etc.
The original developer and current owner counted on revenue from more timeshare sales to keep the boat afloat and to pay FRPL BOND/unit holders their promised high interest. Timeshare sales have tanked, Sunchaser timeshare trade value is no doubt suffering which impacts those who've tried to stick with & trust Northwynd/Northmont at Sunchaser, Northwynd's REIT investors are out $ millions plus some of them are in double jeopardy as timeshare investors, and seemingly, N/N's saviour is to be the little guy -- the timeshare investors who were sold a dream that's turned into a nightmare!
 

ERW

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"From May, 2013 through May, 2014, the Trust has generated substantial cash flow from cancellation fees related to the Realignment Plan. The cash was used to pay off the $8,150,000 in debt owed to Terrafund Financial Inc. between June, 2013 and January, 2014."

I thought the monies collected were to go towards renovations???

I realize Northwynd watches this site and would like their reaction to the above quote. Silence will be telling if they decide not to speak up and explain their actions. I don't recall if it was ever specified in their communications how the reno/cancellation funds would be spent - did they specify that reno funds would be for renos and cancellation funds would be to pay back investors? Or was the impression left that all funds collected would go towards renos? I don't recall, perhaps someone else here does.

Also, where does the above quote originate and is it available online anywhere?
 

GypsyOne

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I realize Northwynd watches this site and would like their reaction to the above quote. Silence will be telling if they decide not to speak up and explain their actions. I don't recall if it was ever specified in their communications how the reno/cancellation funds would be spent - did they specify that reno funds would be for renos and cancellation funds would be to pay back investors? Or was the impression left that all funds collected would go towards renos? I don't recall, perhaps someone else here does.

Also, where does the above quote originate and is it available online anywhere?

In Post #1143, I asked this question:

"5. Am I right that funds from the cancellation fee go to the REIT investors and the RPM funds less management fee go toward resort renovations?

This was the response:

G1: 5) Where do the fees go?

With a typical annual cancellation fee, at this time roughly 20% of the fee goes to the resort to cover your share of the outstanding deficit and a reasonable accounting for the interest on your outstanding renovation fee. The remainder stays with Northwynd as our right as developer.

100% of the renovation fee goes to the resort of which 15% is paid to us as manager for managing the renovation.
 
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heydynagirl

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I realize Northwynd watches this site and would like their reaction to the above quote. Silence will be telling if they decide not to speak up and explain their actions. I don't recall if it was ever specified in their communications how the reno/cancellation funds would be spent - did they specify that reno funds would be for renos and cancellation funds would be to pay back investors? Or was the impression left that all funds collected would go towards renos? I don't recall, perhaps someone else here does.

Also, where does the above quote originate and is it available online anywhere?

I found the above info in post # 1493, where that poster got the info from I do not know.
 

aden2

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I found the above info in post # 1493, where that poster got the info from I do not know.

The post came from a unitholder (investor) who is upset with all the scams and shared this notice of meeting with me.:whoopie:
 

ClanMac

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Nite Nite!

As Northwynd/mont heads into nowhere land, let me tell them a bedtime story:

Once upon at time there was a young student in accounting who found to his joy that he could become accredited as a "Chartered Accountant" without nearly as much as was required at a Graduate and Institutional level from the not too distant past. So he studied and came to realize that accounting as much as any discipline within economics was very broadly defined and the leverage for accountability could be sustained over at least several years. Such leveraging and deferred balancing would be ideal in a speculative market, and lo and behold there was none better than in his home town of Calgary; oil central and home to the elite 'big boys' clubs'.

So he ventured into a company as a chief financial officer and came to realize that there was a huge amount of money being invested based on one producing well, another that had some potential, and at least one that was dry as desert sand. The investors didn't know this because they had been told they could expect at least double digit returns on their investment, and the initial payouts from the producing well had looked like it was heading that way.

Well guess what? The money couldn't come in fast enough to pay off the investors, and the CFO had done a good job of deferring the balance sheets for at least a year and a half; and then it all went bankrupt. It was OK though because it was a company and the executives had already been paying themselves huge salaries and bonuses, and who knows where all the remaining investment money went. Seemed like a good profit with bankruptcy.

Out of a job but still doing well with the cut he had received our more experienced CFO realized how much investment money was coming into a more stable and reliable market with mortgage bonds, and the trends that had arisen in the US. The bundles of house mortgages that were headed for collapse in the states were nothing like what could be achieved by investments into a real estate investment trust; particularly when the bonds had already been exchanged for units so that in essence a mutual fund was set up and a prospectus indicating where all the money was going and who was receiving what did not have to be sent to the unit holders nor revealed to anyone else. Welcome to the time share industry Mr. CFO.

Deferring, leveraging, raising maintenance fees of the tenants for the properties, encouraging further investment, and ignoring what needed not to be addressed to maintain the properties for several years was the way to go... and then everything that had been restructured so you could do this when you signed on collapsed. Your unit holders demanded accountability and a major law suit had begun which you needed a buyer to take care of.

The CEO resigned (i.e. was told to get the hell out, or more likely got what he could and disappeared before the crap hit the fan) and now your the boss. You can do this! You know everything is folding around you however you can sell off everything you can and make sure you and your buddies have ownership and control over assets and time at southern resorts and even that which is offshore in the Bahamas. You already knew this was where to funnel the money because your former CEO had already informed you of this, but he was dumb enough to tell a disgruntled TS owner at the Mexican Resort and some that are more astute have already found out.

Hey wait, get rid of all TS sales, convince the more gullible to pay a whole lot more to own the time for life, hit the TS lessees and owners with a major renovation cost, do some cosmetic work on the Fairmont property, tell the trustee that you are doing a realignment in addition to the renos, and head to the supreme court of BC and jam it down everyone's throat before they know what hits them. And it works! You win!

Now get the scalphunter from Ontario that calls himself a lawyer and scare the hell out of the TS to either pay the reno and be stuck, or pay to get out, and if you don't do one or the other, in addition to paying your maintenance fees up front or ahead of time, we will take you to court and threaten the very foundation of all the assets you have secured for the rest of your life.

Then the worst thing happens to our new CEO, he encounters those who won't take this crap anymore. They band together and become brothers and sisters at arms, with a representative and a lawyer who helps them appeal the gross injustice of all this; most significantly the massive breaches of contract that has been occurring throughout the entire Fairmont/Northwynd history. And the biggest nightmare of all occurs, they win the appeal! With no less than three Madam Appeal Court Justices flushing everything down the 'loo'; and specifically stating that a trial was necessary in order to adjudicate the complaints of the TS lessees/owners about the breaches and miscarriage of justice that had already been occurring.

And now it's time to take what you can and run to where you think it is safe. It is not all that comforting trying to sleep with the walls caving in on you, so it's best I say "good night" little accountant boy!!!!!
 

GypsyOne

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[
And now it's time to take what you can and run to where you think it is safe. It is not all that comforting trying to sleep with the walls caving in on you, so it's best I say "good night" little accountant boy!!!!![/QUOTE]


I like that bedtime story, but about one third of the owners paid the reno extortion, so there will be no running for the hills just yet. There are still millions to play with and owners to shake down.
 

ClanMac

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Those still out there!

I agree G1. The thousand that payed are either going to suck it up or be so ticked off at getting extorted only to find out there is no legal support to justify it they may want to jump on board the Statement of Claim vs. Northwynd bandwagon in the effort to get some restitution.

It is the other thousand or more that have done nothing that we must appeal to. We have to try and reach as many as we can, and if you are one of those reading this or following some of these posts, please don't sit in the trees to wait until the smoke clears. Nearly as many as you all have been waging this battle since day 1, for you as well! We could use your help!!!!!

Give Michael Geldert a call and truly become one of us. You will be proud of what you have done.
 

DarkLord

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[I like that bedtime story, but about one third of the owners paid the reno extortion, so there will be no running for the hills just yet. There are still millions to play with and owners to shake down.

[Post text removed at request of Original Poster. -- Makai Guy, TUG BBS Administrator]
 
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fairmontlvr

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Deferring, leveraging, raising maintenance fees of the tenants for the properties, encouraging further investment, and ignoring what needed not to be addressed to maintain the properties for several years was the way to go...

For years we would book our week of choice in the summer exactly one year in advance in order to get a unit of our choice. Book the week and then pay the Maintenance fees about 6 months later in January. Around the year 2010 a new policy was implemented that in order to book a full year in advance, one would have to pay the entire projected maintenance fee a full year in advance. We reluctantly did this to secure our preferred unit. We would receive a letter in the fall indicating how much more we would owe due to the increase in Maintenance fees.

I wonder who's idea this new policy was? Nice form of receiving cash flow 6 months in advance, especially in troubling times. Were these funds appropriately set aside and accurately accounted to the following year?

I should have know something was up....
 

Beaverjfw

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BACKGROUND ON THE SUNCHASER - NORTHWYND SITUATION - Questions

Post #1493 by Aden brings up many questions about what lies ahead and what will become of Northwynd and their Trust. I'm not fully able to follow all the corporate links. Its like Russian dolls, with another one seemingly inside everyone you open.
What is clear is that the Trust was prepared to completely bail out in September 2013 for $28.9 million by selling Northwynd LP and the Administrator. This was while they were collecting the Reno and cancellation fees. I suspect this deal fell apart when it became clear far less money was coming in than what they had forecasted when the sale was negotiated. The deal does give an indication of what sort of haircut awaits the original bondholders given they took over Fairmont for $43 million in absolved debt in 2010.
It now seems they may eventually end up with even less money. Based on the information in the post they received $8.15 million in cancellation fees, $9.1 from Lake Okanagan Resort, they will have roughly 55 units back ($8.15 m / $3k/ 50 wk) which they can resell (assuming the Petition actually gets Court approval) which may bring another $8 million (guessing 55 units @$145,000 per unit) If the renovation actually goes ahead they might scam another $5 million in fees. From all this they need to deduct legal fees and collection costs.
(btw I fear that the reno, if fully done, will be finished on the cheap, with Northwynd keeping a large chunk that is the difference between what they collect and actually spend (without oversight))
Aden's post notes that their is a recommendation to wind up the Trust. Until this vote happens in July I don't think we will know what is to become of Northwynd and how we will be impacted. I do know that right now the smart thing to do is sign up with Geldert Law. I expect a rocky road ahead.
 

gnorth16

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Were the construction firms hired through a bid process or was it not on the 'up and up'? Who are the firms hired and is there any connection back to Scamwynd and Crony Bunch? I'm sure they could find someone to overestimate the cost and somehow get a kickback in a 'consulting role'...
 

Anxiety123

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Shocked

Still shocked to see the numbers that paid either to stay or get out. Do folks have that much money or just felt that there wasn't anything they could do to fight Northmont. It's crazy!! I'm just as scared as the next guy but man, I sure don't want these crooks to win. I will continue to talk to my friends that are on the sidelines just watching and waiting, to join in the fight. Even if we were to loose, I would feel better for at least trying.
 

Anxiety123

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Paperwork from Sunchaser/Northmont

Hey, has anyone gotten paperwork recently from Sunchasers? Are they still demanding Reno Fees? Or are they just now going after us for the Maintenance Fees for 2014? Wondering how much they are wanting?
 

JetJock

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Got our love letter from Sauvageau & Associates today. Very sneaky, stating that it was a draft statement of claim in the covering letter but not stating that on the statement of claim itself.

I will be, and I would suggest others should too, file a complaint with the Law Society of Upper Canada regarding this unethical behaviour. Perhaps if they get flooded with complaints about this practice they might have a little chat with Mr. Sauvageau about his legal practices. The following is a link for your convenience...http://www.lsuc.on.ca/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=7751
 

gnorth16

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Got our love letter from Sauvageau & Associates today. Very sneaky, stating that it was a draft statement of claim in the covering letter but not stating that on the statement of claim itself.

I will be, and I would suggest others should too, file a complaint with the Law Society of Upper Canada regarding this unethical behaviour. Perhaps if they get flooded with complaints about this practice they might have a little chat with Mr. Sauvageau about his legal practices. The following is a link for your convenience...http://www.lsuc.on.ca/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=7751

Good Job. FYI, the more times the words "Sauvageau & Associates" are on this site, the higher it goes up on the google search. If I, got a letter from Sauvageau & Associates, the first thing I would to is type in "Sauvageau & Associates" and this site would be the first thing I click. Then I would learn about the lawsuits and join...

Hmmmmm... I wonder how many times I can add "Sauvageau & Associates" in the same post????;)

Currently on page 4 of the google search. Bring it up to page 1 and you will get more peoples attention.

What about a facebook page for fairmont? Anyone have any friends in the office at the resort? I think they might be willing to give out a list of names if they know the compnay they are working for is going under soon....
 
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ClanMac

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Sauvageau?

How many lawyers do you know are directly involved with collections!!!!!

I would have loved to have met a lawyer like this in all the courtrooms I have been in.

The same response: "I am involved in a law suit with your solicitor, and if you continue to bother me I will contact the RCMP and file a complaint for criminal harassment."
 
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