[2013] Beware Redweek4less / IA Vacations / VP Title / [see new names below][merged]

[brp]

It would be too late for that, the max limit is 120 days from the time the charge appears on a statement. It could still be within that, or the credit card company may still be willing to accept the dispute, but this is why these outfits are so successful at the scam. Drag it on as long as they can so they are outside any dispute period.

Definitely worth trying. I was able to get a credit card (Amex) to provide a credit for a dispute several years old. This had extenuating circumstances as it was a half marathon delayed a couple of years by the pandemic and, finally, moved elsewhere with no refund offered. Still, they were willing to work with me.

Cheers.

 

[dioxide45]

Definitely worth trying. I was able to get a credit card (Amex) to provide a credit for a dispute several years old. This had extenuating circumstances as it was a half marathon delayed a couple of years by the pandemic and, finally, moved elsewhere with no refund offered. Still, they were willing to work with me.

Cheers.

Sometimes in those cases, the credit card company just refunds you, they don't go back to the merchant. You are of course still made whole, but it is really all the other credit card users that pay for it rather than the person that ripped you off.

 

[brp]

Sometimes in those cases, the credit card company just refunds you, they don't go back to the merchant. You are of course still made whole, but it is really all the other credit card users that pay for it rather than the person that ripped you off.

True, and I've had that happen for smaller transactions. They did go back to the merchant in this case and indicated that the merchant had 3 months to respond before things were final. They did not, so the case is closed. But this did appear to come from the merchant.

Cheers.

 

[jwalk03]

Sometimes in those cases, the credit card company just refunds you, they don't go back to the merchant. You are of course still made whole, but it is really all the other credit card users that pay for it rather than the person that ripped you off.

With AMEX the 120 days starts from the day they expected to receive the product or service- not the date of the transaction. So with a timeshare purchase in theory the 120 day dispute clock shouldn't start until 120 days from the date you expected the transfer to occur.

 

[eddiemarks413]

It would be too late for that, the max limit is 120 days from the time the charge appears on a statement. It could still be within that, or the credit card company may still be willing to accept the dispute, but this is why these outfits are so successful at the scam. Drag it on as long as they can so they are outside any dispute period.

This is my issue—-first right of refusal takes time and then the persons name on the title was deceased so they had to take time to correct that. Then everything was good and was supposedly filed with the county which can take 2-5 weeks. It’s been 5 weeks and I don’t see any recording in the comptroller site. And the title company did get back to me but I was told her husband was in a boating accident so she will get back to me the following week. You guessed it—that week came and went and no replies to my calls or emails.

 

[dioxide45]

This is my issue—-first right of refusal takes time and then the persons name on the title was deceased so they had to take time to correct that. Then everything was good and was supposedly filed with the county which can take 2-5 weeks. It’s been 5 weeks and I don’t see any recording in the comptroller site. And the title company did get back to me but I was told her husband was in a boating accident so she will get back to me the following week. You guessed it—that week came and went and no replies to my calls or emails.

It's all lies and bu!!sh!t to string you along until it is too late.

 

[wakesurfer]

Thanks. Luckily someone overbid me in the last minute

I was the one that outbid you on the Grand Chateau 2 BR. Let me tell you how this all went down. The seller emailed me a contract to sign and an e-check authorization form for payment. I sent them the signed documents. I also signed the ACH form and gave them my bank information. The money was withdrawn from my account on 12/6/2022.

Knowing how timeshares worked I asked for the following from the seller:
-2022 & 2023 Maintenance Fee statements
-Current owners deed & recorded mortgage
-What is sales price being sent to Marriott for ROFR?

They said they couldn't send this information out of privacy concerns and until the deed was recorded. I was slightly suspicious of this because it wasn't a problem to obtain these documents the first time I purchased a timeshare.

National Resort Title said they mailed ROFR paperwork to Marriott on 12/15/2022. On 1/22/2023 I emailed National Resort Title to see if they heard anything back from Marriott. They emailed me back on 1/27/2023 that they should hear back any day from Marriott. On 2/15/2023 I emailed them again saying it's been about 2 months now, I know Marriott has to do this within 30 days. They emailed me back the same day that ROFR was approved on 1/28/2023 but failed to update me. I asked them to send me the ROFR approval from Marriott and they said they could not do so until the deed was recorded. I knew this wrong and that I was being scammed.

I found out how to contact Marriott myself, if you ever need to check an ROFR request with Marriott email them at: ROFR.Requests@mvwc.com

Also important to note, they never marked the item as paid on eBay so I could not leave them feedback at any point.

At that point I contacted my bank and said I was scammed on eBay and gave them the details. My bank told me to fill out a dispute form and they will investigate the transaction and that I also needed to fill out a police report to bring with my dispute. My local police department wrote-up a police report but at the time we were under the impression that the bank would be handling the dispute. Once I got the police report, I went to my bank and filled out the affidavit. At the end of March I received an email from National Resort Title saying they received notice that I filed a dispute with their bank. They sent their bank (Mountain Commerce Bank) the ACH form I signed and their bank denied the request that it was a fraudulent charge. My bank gave me the contact information for the person who denied the refund request:

Mountain Commerce Bank
PO Box 6047
Johnson City, TN 37602
Tracy Jones, Senior VP / Director of Operations

I talked with Tracy and told them the situation and that her bank customer was a scammer on eBay. She said there wasn't much more she could do about it but may have the bank keep an eye on this customer and said I could keep calling them to verify funds in the account before cashing the check.

National Resort Title told me I should have contacted them to cancel the file if I was unhappy with the transaction. So now they were going to close my account and issue me a refund. They sent me a check with USPS tracking which I received on April 1. On April 3 I called their bank to verify if there were enough funds in the account before I cashed it. They said there was not (we're talking under $4,000 here). So if I had cashed it, I would have incurred a fee from my bank for cashing a check that didn't have enough funds in it.

So I called the bank everyday to verify if they had funds in their account to cover the check and finally they did a week or so later. It must have been funds from another person they scammed on eBay unfortunately for them. But I did finally receive my money back after about 4 months. I also filed an internet crime complaint here and have no idea if anything came of it. Check out their BBB page to read all the complaints. So that's my story, hope it helps someone else avoid them in the future!