• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Equity Acquisition Services

callmchg1966

TUG Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Lufkin,Tx
HELP,
Has anyone had any dealings with Equity Acquisition Services of Ft. Lauderdale, Fl? While at Morritts in the Cayman Islands this past summer, Morritts promised us that they could end our contracts and maintenance dues on our Wyndham and Barrier Island properties through Equity Acquisition Services. Of course it involved purchasing an addition property at Morritts. Ending our maintenance dues with Wyndham would eventually pay for the transaction. Eventually Equity Acquisition Services contacted us and offered to cancel the deal if we would send them $2000.00 for each property. Later they dropped it to $1500.00. (They are so busy this time of the year was the reason this offer was made.) The mailing address of this firm, along with about 50 other business, is a UPS store on SE 17th Street . The business address is a mobile home park on 12920 SW 15th Street, Davie, FL33325. Neil E. Paulsen is listed as the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer of Equity Acquisition Services.
To complete this transition, they are requiring a limited power of attorney, a fee of $655.00 for each property, and our user name and passwords to access our websites for each property.
I do not know if they are required to have a license to operate in Florida, but I could not find one.
Other players in this group are Berenice Rodiguez and Pavel Herrera.

PLEASE HELP!!!
 

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,093
Reaction score
7,676
Points
1,099
Location
Florida
this has all the classic signs of an awful deal for you as an owner.

you can give away your wyndham timeshare on the resale market and likely purchase a morrits on the same resale market for far less than the thousands you list above.
 

presley

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
6,313
Reaction score
1,121
Points
448
To complete this transition, they are requiring ... our user name and passwords to access our websites for each property.

A thousand times NO NO NO NO. No legit person will ever ask you to do something like that.
 

gmarine

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,304
Reaction score
17
Points
423
The business address is a mobile home park. I'm thinking that might be a bit of a red flag.

Its a scam, dont do it.
 

decadude

TUG Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2014
Messages
255
Reaction score
0
Points
126
The business address is a mobile home park. I'm thinking that might be a bit of a red flag.

Its a scam, dont do it.

I think that says it all.

:clap:

Good inspector gadget work, :)
 

jpc763

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
638
Reaction score
107
Points
254
Location
Fort Collins, CO
Resorts Owned
Marriott's - Ko Olina, Shadow Ridge Villages & Imperial Palms Villas
HELP,
Has anyone had any dealings with Equity Acquisition Services of Ft. Lauderdale, Fl? While at Morritts in the Cayman Islands this past summer, Morritts promised us that they could end our contracts and maintenance dues on our Wyndham and Barrier Island properties through Equity Acquisition Services. Of course it involved purchasing an addition property at Morritts. Ending our maintenance dues with Wyndham would eventually pay for the transaction. Eventually Equity Acquisition Services contacted us and offered to cancel the deal if we would send them $2000.00 for each property. Later they dropped it to $1500.00. (They are so busy this time of the year was the reason this offer was made.) The mailing address of this firm, along with about 50 other business, is a UPS store on SE 17th Street . The business address is a mobile home park on 12920 SW 15th Street, Davie, FL33325. Neil E. Paulsen is listed as the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer of Equity Acquisition Services.
To complete this transition, they are requiring a limited power of attorney, a fee of $655.00 for each property, and our user name and passwords to access our websites for each property.
I do not know if they are required to have a license to operate in Florida, but I could not find one.
Other players in this group are Berenice Rodiguez and Pavel Herrera.

PLEASE HELP!!!

Did you, in fact, purchase a Morritts resort property?
 

sloughshark

newbie
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Canada
Hello. We are in the same situation with Equity Acquisitions. I am embarrassed to say that we fell for this. We are currently trying to finalize the "deal" with them to "sell" this to a buyer.

Anyone else in this situation and how did this get resolved? Or, what is their next ploy?
 

LannyPC

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2010
Messages
4,777
Reaction score
2,406
Points
448
Location
British Columbia
sloughshark;1867784 Or said:
Have you paid them an upfront fee yet? If not, likely their next ploy is to tell you that they need a handsome sum of money to complete the deal. They might come up with some funky names for it like "Market Analysis fee", "Pre-paid Closing costs", etc.

If you have already paid them, then their next ploy is to run away with your money. If you can get a hold of them, they will likely tell you that, for some strange reason, the alleged sale cannot go through at this time and they need more time to find a (mythical) buyer.

So I guess the answer to your question depends on how much or if you have paid them.
 

sloughshark

newbie
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Canada
Sadly, yes. It's all paid up. Equity Acquisitions now states that they have a buyer but they want us to pay the RCI fees for the next year, the maintenance fees for the next year, closing fees, etc., and that we are responsible for fees for another year to Feb 28/17 ( and THEN, what will come up next???).

My fear it that even in paying all of that, agreeing to the contract, that there will be something else down the road and we will still be the owners of the timeshare.
 

LannyPC

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2010
Messages
4,777
Reaction score
2,406
Points
448
Location
British Columbia
My fear it that even in paying all of that, agreeing to the contract, that there will be something else down the road and we will still be the owners of the timeshare.

Your fears are well-founded. This is exactly how these scammers work. They will continue to try to bleed you dry of money leading you on telling you that they need money for this, that, and the other in order to complete the alleged deal.

You best be now is to cut off all communication with them and report them to the Attorney-General.
 

sloughshark

newbie
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Canada
Done Deal

Just an update to say that the sale of our time share unit through Equity Acquisiton Services has finally gone through.

It has been a VERY long drawn out, difficult process but it has now been completed to our satisfaction.

Other than the original transition fee paid last July 2015, we have not paid any additional money to EAS, despite the tactics noted above in this thread.

We also did not pay any additional money/fees to RCI on the RCI account for closing fees, next years maintenance fees or the annual RCI fee.

As we were already well into the process once we discovered what we were dealing with, we felt we had to preserve.

Not a pleasant process, but it is done now!!
 

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,093
Reaction score
7,676
Points
1,099
Location
Florida
paying thousands of dollars for a company to dispose of a wyndham timeshare that you could have done yourself for free still seems like an utterly terrible idea.

to each his own! glad you are out of it but saddened you got fleeced again doing it despite our advice to not do so.
 

RX8

TUG Member
Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
4,107
Reaction score
4,452
Points
449
Resorts Owned
HGVC and DVC
...to each his own! glad you are out of it but saddened you got fleeced again doing it despite our advice to not do so.

Actually, the OP had already paid the upfront fee prior to posting.
 

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,093
Reaction score
7,676
Points
1,099
Location
Florida
I think there are two different parties in this thread after re-reading it.
 

MuranoJo

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
4,946
Reaction score
186
Points
448
Location
Idaho
Just an update to say that the sale of our time share unit through Equity Acquisiton Services has finally gone through.

It has been a VERY long drawn out, difficult process but it has now been completed to our satisfaction.

Other than the original transition fee paid last July 2015, we have not paid any additional money to EAS, despite the tactics noted above in this thread.

We also did not pay any additional money/fees to RCI on the RCI account for closing fees, next years maintenance fees or the annual RCI fee.

As we were already well into the process once we discovered what we were dealing with, we felt we had to preserve.

Not a pleasant process, but it is done now!!

Thanks for returning to tell us how this all turned out; that's really appreciated (and doesn't happen all the time).
 
Joined
Apr 2, 2017
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Resorts Owned
Raintree, Vida
Now into the 5th year involving a Vida Vacations agreement to liquidate our Raintree property. It started with a Florida company called Global Aquisitions. After paying a fee of $395.00, I began to receive calls from them offering to sell the property back to me. Each time the offer was half of the previous offer. It ended with them telling me that they were unable to sell the Raintree property, and that I would have to continue to pay maintanence fees. I used a trip to Mayan Palace (Vida property), to inform them that their agreement to dispose of the Raintree property had failed. They apologized, and told me that the property had been transferred to Equity Aquisitions. Now, one year later, Raintree is demanding their maintenance fee payment. A call to Neil Paulson, revealed that the property had still not been sold. He advised me NOT to pay thr maintenance fee and that he would expidite the sale. I think everything associated with the Mexican timeshare business is a scam. I personally think the their tourism business is going to be destroyed by their timeshare industry. My gen-x and millenial children will have nothing to do with Mexico. You can't keep ripping people off and not suffer some damage at some point. My advice to anyone is to avoid the Mexican timeshare industry. You can rent theses properties all over the internet without spending $$$$$$ thousands to become a member of these organizations.
 
Last edited:

T-Dot-Traveller

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
4,644
Reaction score
3,592
Points
348
Location
Canada
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace Regency
Taranova
My advice to anyone is to avoid the Mexican timeshare industry. You can rent theses properties all over the internet without spending $$$$$$ thousands to become a member of these organizations.

Not as easy as you think - if you are trying to get a 2 bedroom in Puerto Vallarta / Nuevo Vararta : IN FEBRUARY

You do not have to own - but if you do not plan a year+ ahead and likely do an exchange / snowbird season can be difficult to get more than a hotel room .
There is also VRBO -/ Air B & B etc but they are not cheap per night for peak snowbird season and often the owners use then , and try to rent
May- Dec to cover the overhead of owning a full time condo or house .

If the Raintree is still in your name & paid for - you might try giving it away on the TUG bargain deals in the " Buying , Selling , Renting Forum
 

neil p

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
120
Reaction score
3
Points
78
paying thousands of dollars for a company to dispose of a Wyndham timeshare that you could have done yourself for free still seems like an utterly terrible idea.

to each his own! glad you are out of it but saddened you got fleeced again doing it despite our advice to not do so.
For an administrator on Tug your remarks are somewhat unfair. Any question you may have, I will gladly provide an explanation. As long as the questions are sincere in nature, and this does not erupt into a free for all finger pointing incident. For years I have avoided forums considering them to be fraught with stern opinions and not facts. That made changing someone's mind utterly impossible. Thus the intent of this post is to assist timeshare owners, who may benefit from some wisdom I can impart and possibly clear up some of the mistrust that keeps getting recycled. As an administrator, I will rely on you to moderate this thread appropriately.
 

theo

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
9,032
Reaction score
2,268
Points
648
Location
New England Coast
...the intent of this post is to assist timeshare owners, who may benefit from some wisdom I can impart and possibly clear up some of the mistrust that keeps getting recycled. As an administrator, I will rely on you to moderate this thread appropriately.

Your (very first) TUG post here today responds to a thread in which there has been no other input for over a year now. Accordingly, how much "moderating" is needed regarding the wisdom you offer to impart for questions not asked? :ponder:
 
Last edited:

neil p

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
120
Reaction score
3
Points
78
Your (very first) TUG post here today responds to a thread in which there has been no input for over a year now. Accordingly, I'm not sure how much "moderating" is necessary or appropriate in regard to the wisdom you so generously offer to impart. :ponder:
I certainly agree, yet I wanted to enter the arena somehow, and there are numerous inactive threads. So I decided to choose one. Thank you for reposting. Would you like me to answer anything contained in this thread? Is there anything you would like clarification or further information on? You have commented on our company in the past. Maybe you are the ideal person to talk with.
 

theo

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
9,032
Reaction score
2,268
Points
648
Location
New England Coast
I certainly agree, yet I wanted to enter the arena somehow, and there are numerous inactive threads. So I decided to choose one. Thank you for reposting. Would you like me to answer anything contained in this thread? Is there anything you would like clarification or further information on? You have commented on our company in the past. Maybe you are the ideal person to talk with.

If I have any "questions" or need for "clarification or further information" after 35 years of timeshare ownership and experience, I think I know where and from whom to obtain it.

No offense intended, but I frankly wouldn't be seeking timeshare knowledge from an unknown first time TUG poster with a commercial agenda, whose mailing address is in a UPS store and whose business address is in a mobile home park.
Just color me dubious --- very dubious...
 
Last edited:

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,093
Reaction score
7,676
Points
1,099
Location
Florida
absolutely nothing unfair or inaccurate about my remarks.

folks come here to get truthful advice, not nonsense and misleading statements from upfront fee companies who are looking to prey on the uninformed.
 

neil p

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
120
Reaction score
3
Points
78
If I have any "questions" or need for "clarification or further information" after 35 years of timeshare ownership and experience, I think I know where and from whom to seek it.

No offense intended, but I personally wouldn't be seeking knowledge from an unknown first time TUG poster with a commercial agenda whose mailing address in a UPS store and whose business address is in a mobile home park. ;)

Theo, don't know if I can use your name but I did not join to further any commercial agenda as I do not offer any service to the general public. I do however get discouraged, by people who say awful things with wanton disregard. So I will answer your 3 points of contention that you obviously want to be explained and if I just let your comment unanswered than it would grow larger wings. This is the rollercoaster I guess I just bought a ticket for.

OK,

Our office address is in Cancun and is printed in PLAIN site on the reverse side of every acquisition agreement. If you were a customer and had our paperwork in your possession, you would know this. We are incorporated in Cancun, Quintana Roo. Mexico and we voluntarily incorporated in Florida as well, so that customers from the USA and Canada would have accessibility or if needed a venue for grievances. This was not a requirement and was done as a courtesy.

As for the UPS Store, If you reside in the USA or Canada, where would you prefer to mail notarized or simply executed conveyance documents? Would you want to send them via FedEx or DHL internationl to Mexico or would you prefer to send them to a CMRA. Commercial Mail Receiving Agency? We set up that facility as a convenience to the USA and Canadian customers, and our office does send mail from Mexico back to that facility to be forwarded on to resorts and title agencies.

To meet the requirements to Incorporate in Florida, and if you ever owned a small business, then you may know that the Registered Agent and Business must have a physical address and cannot use a PO BOX or CMRA. Thus the address reflected is my personal residence. Is it a Mobile Home Park? Its a Manufactured Housing Community located in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. There are approximately 30 residents and the lots vary from 1/2 to 1-acre parcels. All homeowners own their land and if you like, you can put the address into Zillow and get more details and value. Broward tax records will reflect that I purchased this property in 1997. Why a Manufactured Home? Well if anyone took the time to Google my name and Manufactured homes or Mobile homes together, they may learn that I spent many years in the Manufactured housing industry, and that area of Broward County contains a large contingent of Manufactured/Mobile homes. Nonetheless, google away, and please verify, but I must say, your comments about a mobile home park are meant to be derogatory and to put yourself above others by referencing stereotypes is wrong. Someone's choice of housing or their economic status doesn't define their character or integrity and my neighbors would certainly be offended.

So would the timeshare industry prefer that we close our corporation, and remove that accessibility? Should I just have all mail sent to Mexico, or is the UPS Store that is open 7 days a week a more reasonable alternative? No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

As far as being unknown, I do not think we are unknown, just engaging in these forums can exacerbate things, which normally produce only a downside. Take a look at the comments you find. Most are nonsensical, such as that I am PRES, VP, Tres, Secr., why is this so shocking? Should I give up ownership of my small business to add additional names to bolster credibility? I am incorporated legally, and file my annual report every year. Florida allows a sole owner to assume all titles. If it was in style back then, I probably would have preferred a Single Member LLC. I guess you do not know any other small businesses that are solely owned? "Sole Proprietor" is a term most people know.

I do know a great deal regarding timeshares, not that it was a dream of mine, but OCD makes me want to know everything I can. So as I said before, I can try to help, and if I am unwanted, then what more can I do? I have wanted to do this for so long, been advised against it so many times, along with multiple recommendations to change my company name, so cheap to do so. I've made my bed, and unlike others, I am not afraid to sleep in it. I appreciate, you asking the questions without actually asking, I can address more, maybe if we can avoid insults and the like, this interaction may benefit others out there. I am not soliciting business, and not asking for your trust, but can answer some questions openly on this forum, and the posters can evaluate all they wish. Sorry for the long post, I only belong to the F150 forum, so quite new at posting anything. It would be great to learn how to capture and repost. Before everyone wants to attack, please read and re-read, then imagine it's your company and the infrastructure you may have put into place.
 

neil p

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
120
Reaction score
3
Points
78
If I have any "questions" or need for "clarification or further information" after 35 years of timeshare ownership and experience, I think I know where and from whom to obtain it.

No offense intended, but I frankly wouldn't be seeking timeshare knowledge from an unknown first time TUG poster with a commercial agenda, whose mailing address is in a UPS store and whose business address is in a mobile home park.
Just color me dubious --- very dubious...
I hope I was able to clarify some things. Didn't mean to target you, or take away from your status as a timeshare authority. Just wanted to communicate, and you were the respondent.
 

theo

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
9,032
Reaction score
2,268
Points
648
Location
New England Coast
Didn't mean to target you, or take away from your status as a timeshare authority.

No offense taken. For the record, I claim no status as a "timeshare authority" of any sort --- although I hope that I've learned at least a few things over the course of a few decades of timeshare ownership, use and some Board experience.

I commend your willingness to answer questions about your particular operation, but having no interest at all in Mexican timeshare matters, I admit that I am not among those any further interested in whatever "wisdom" you care to impart.
 
Last edited:
Top