Names and phone numbers are not personal information.
Personal information is not going to be divulged. No one will see a credit card or social security number, or your kids names or your birthdays. That is personal information. If a salesperson calls, you can hang up. Our phone numbers, addresses and names are everywhere out there. Ours is in the phone book.
If a timeshare salesperson got your name from an owners' list at his home resort that he got legally, you can "just say no." The real problem is not being able to get a list. That is where your rights are really being violated. I think it is time more owners start asking for a list of fellow owners. I would like to see this become a trend, not because I want sales calls (we have a no-call list in Colorado, so if you solicit, by phone, someone that is on the no-call list, you can get huge fines), but because if an owner is more in touch with what is going on at any of my resorts and wants to get my proxy, I am going to give that person my vote over a board member that may be causing the problem.
At our resort, the board members have just become too complacent. They allow the management to do anything and everything. That is what comes with being a board member for one or more decades. The people are very nice, they really are, but I wanted to be a part of a board that thinks outside the box. They're stuck in the box, headfirst.
Our assessments have totaled $1,532 in recent years, with some of that still being paid with the regular MF's for the next four years. When the meeting minutes were sent to the owners, the secretary explained: "a week of dues is less than one night's stay in Hawaii." That was all the explanation we got from our own board. What is that supposed to mean to the owners on fixed incomes? The management company's owner added: "The average dues for a two bedroom in the western region is $583 per year based on 188 resorts tracked by Timeshare Today." I emailed Timesharing Today, since I have written many articles for them, and was told that no such survey or report was ever published. So I asked our resort manager what he was talking about. He said he did it himself by looking at the classifieds. That's not a valid poll/survey.
This is the garbage they sent out to justify a huge assessment. If they would have said tiles and kitchen cabinets are falling apart, windows no longer close, siding is deteriorated, shingles need replaced, etc., chimneys are crumbling, parking lot needs retarred, with a cost of each item, divided by the number of weeks per unit, then people would have understood better. As it was, I had people who were reading my tirades on the resort's BBS contacting me, asking me what was up with the maintenance fees.
I had lots of proxies for the last annual meeting in October, to help me with my election to the board. I didn't need them. The board didn't announce the number of proxies they had and just started the meeting. That is against our bylaws. They are supposed to check to see if there are enough proxies to do business, and announce the results, but they always skip that. What we need to write into the bylaws are term limits. All we need to say is: a decade or more on the board is not allowed. They're just a little too comfy.
I have no idea why the guy wanted the list. He never told the board what he would do with the names and numbers, but I think he was just testing us to see if we would obey the law, which is clear. He is going to get the list. He has to pay for the expenses of copying and mailing it, but he is getting what he wanted. I may have to resign from the board because I lost my temper. That is probably my next move, even my husband thinks so. The board has already decided that I am probably in cahoots with the owner that wanted the list. They think he and I are planning to "stack the board." As though that is the worst thing that could happen--new board members with crazy ideas.
Those words, "stack the board," are directly from an email I got from the board member that has been on for ten years. He thought I was too passionate and must have a reason. Well, I was fighting for the guy's rights, which made me feel some passion, but I had no intentions of stacking the board or in getting rid of anyone. Now if volunteers step forward for this next year's meeting, I would like to replace two of the board members with some new faces, but I have no power to do it.
Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone really thinks it would be horrible for a fellow owner to have their name, address and phone number. You need to give a valid reason. What is the worst that can happen? If he/she is willing to pay 39 cents to mail you a letter, I would bet you would be interested in what is in that letter.
