Festiva takes over resort

[Carolinian]

Here's the problem at Southcape:

Up until 1990 there were 5 members on the board of trustees. Three were for Condo I, which was nearly sold out, and 2 were for Condo II where the trustees had "developer rights" as spelled out in the Master Deed. But there is a separate Trust for Condo II and until 1990 Condo I and Condo II had their annual meetings on different dates. In 1990 when Barth & Woods bought the developer rights from Sateriale and DePamphilis, the two associations met together and combined the management under Barth & Woods. Sateriale and DePamphilis resigned and Barth & Woods took over as trustees for Condo II, but Condo I retained its original 3 trustees.

Someway, somehow, the board got reduced over the years to two trustees, Barth & Woods, and no votes were ever taken at annual meetings. Back in 1984 the owners had the opportunity to elect board members, but no more of that under Barth & Woods, and nobody can figure out why.

When Barth & Woods sold the "developer rights" to NEVSLLC we were advised that we would be getting contacted by Outfield Marketing to advise us about the "changes" at Southcape. What we learned is that Outfield Marketing is contracted by Festiva to sell us "conversions" to Festiva points.

Now here's the best part. Outfield Marketing owns 75% of NEVSLLC and there are two principals of Outfield Marketing now serving on the board of trustees. Previously there were only two, Barth & Woods, and the two principals were "appointed" according to Cliff Hagberg, the third board member and managing partner (25%) of NEVSLLC.

We've been advised that all of this is legal and all we can do is serve on an "advisory committee" of the trustees' choosing.

You need your own attorney to look into whether this was legal.

 

[Carolinian]

The fourth Southcape owner I found who converted to Festiva and lives within my local calling area gave up two weeks, one float and one summer. These weeks were in her family since the Master Deed was registered with the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds. Her father was even on the Board of Trustees! But she, like the above unhappy converts, got "scared" into converting to Festiva. She was happy to talk to me and gave me her email address so that I can update her on all the developments since we found out what we've learned about Festiva, Outfield Marketing, NEVS, Cliff Hagberg, etc., etc. Her experience was similar to the others' in that she feels that she was deceived into converting and after looking over the contract and finding out that it's good for only 40 years, she's not happy!

Is anyone reading these posts as "happy" as Cliff Hagberg would have us to believe?

Contracts can be rescinded for fraud in the inducement (lying to get people to sign it). You need to get a group of these people and go see the Consumer Protection Division of the state AG's office. AG's rarely get involved when it is an individual or two, but when there is a common pattern involving a lot of people and it is ongoing, then they may swing into action. It would be great if the state AG could help all of these folks get out of this points scam. When a state AG takes up a consumer protection case, they have tools not availible to private attorneys.

 

[Sou13]

No "untruths" or "misrepresentations" here

The fourth Southcape owner I found who converted to Festiva and lives within my local calling area gave up two weeks, one float and one summer. These weeks were in her family since the Master Deed was registered with the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds. Her father was even on the Board of Trustees! But she, like the above unhappy converts, got "scared" into converting to Festiva. She was happy to talk to me and gave me her email address so that I can update her on all the developments since we found out what we've learned about Festiva, Outfield Marketing, NEVS, Cliff Hagberg, etc., etc. Her experience was similar to the others' in that she feels that she was deceived into converting and after looking over the contract and finding out that it's good for only 40 years, she's not happy!

Is anyone reading these posts as "happy" as Cliff Hagberg would have us to believe?

Just to make sure I hadn't inaccurately represented the above conversation, I called again. When we discussed her parents' involvement she realized that they had probably bought their week around the time that I had bought mine. A look at the abstract of the deeds confirmed that they had bought them after I bought mine.

I encouraged her to read the "Southcape Resort" discussion and to register to post her own story, which I hope she will do. A link to the discussion is found in my signature below.

 

[Sou13]

Outfield Marketing is now "corralling" owners?

I've received a recap of a week at Southcape from an owner:

Check-in was fine but this was the first time we had ever been directed to go and talk to someone about our timeshare week. I told them we were not interested and never would be and we weren't pushed at all. But - they sure are coralling owners into meetings re Festiva! They were also anxious to get the rest of our assessment which we paid.

The resort itself was in pretty good shape. Our unit was clean and well maintained. The lawns were being cut, the flower barrells had been planted. Co-Op 2 (32 to 52) looked a little seedy and they seemed to be doing some exterior work on one of the buildings.

Still no Internet connection which is badly needed but then not having access limits owners contacting others to compare notes etc.

 

[Sou13]

. . .

The second one contacted me because a friend whom I found on a timeshares resale/rental site forwarded one of my messages to her. Here's her sad tale:

I was an owner at Southcape for many years but last November I was 'scared into" changing over to the Festiva point system. I was told by their representative that if I didn't switch (and 97% of the owners were switching) I would be faced with larger and larger special assessments and fewer and fewer owners to pay it. It was one of those deals that if you didn't sign on that day, it would cost twice as much in the future. Is there anything being done for us or is it too latehttp://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?p=739768&highlight=owner+Southcape#post739768​

From further email between us we learned that we live within two miles of each other and are now communicating via telephone. Here are some more of the deceptive sales practices which caused her to panic and fall into the conversion trap:

The price of conversion was the same, $3185, but because her family had owned a summer week for more than 25 years, she got 4800 points, which were supposed to cost a yearly maintenance fee of $666. (The actual MF for 2009 turned out to be over $700.) But because the Outfield Marketing sales rep was not supposedly getting a commission for the conversion, it would cost her $6085 to convert in the future. The really scary part was that he told her that if she stayed on as a deeded owner (which supposedly nearly nobody wants to do) she would be liable for a $600 Special Assessment in 2009 and could expect to be paying $1632 for combined MF and SA in 2010.

He told her that over 85% of deeded owners have converted to points and that nobody is selling deeded weeks anymore.

He also told her that she would be able to sell her points on EBay for 25 cents on the dollar, whatever that was supposed to mean. He extolled the virtues of membership in Festiva while badmouthing RCI.

He neglected to tell her that she is no longer an owner at Southcape and will have to take whatever week is available there if she wants to stay at Southcape in the future.

Now that she has learned the facts and that there are a minimum number of summer weeks available for Festiva points, she wants to know what to do about being deceived into converting to Festiva points.

 

[tombo]

The price of conversion was the same, $3185, but because her family had owned a summer week for more than 25 years, she got 4800 points, which were supposed to cost a yearly maintenance fee of $666.
​

They quoted MF's of $666? 666 is the number of the beast.

I am not surprised that they would select that amount of 666 for MF's because they are evil and without morals or conscience IMO.​

 

[Sou13]

Festiva settles with Equivest

Are you aware that Festiva has put some sort of gag order on Equivest owners who have accepted their settlement? They're even going so far as to retract all negative comments about Festiva!

 

[Sou13]

Another Outfield Marketing tale

I asked this Southcape owner to post this for himself but he does want it shared, so here it is:

We've been owners since 1986, and have asked over the years for that info! We had our visit, last November, from that Festiva "pitch man" named King, the "hustler" gave his song and dance act until we started to ask questions. He did and said every thing he could to get his hands on our credit card. He told us that our condo fees were going up because of all the problems at Southcape, and if we don't join up with the other Festiva owners, the remaining condo owners would have to pay for those expensive improvements and costs. He actually became upset at our inferring that he was trying to sell us something! Can you believe that one! He wanted our deed, $2,990, plus a $195 filing fee and he would give us 4,500 Festiva points!! And we would have to notify Festiva a year in advance if we were going to use our week!! There were very limited options from his Festiva book on other Cape sites and for that matter, any other place. He just wanted that credit card! He was irritated at the thought that we were questioning him, particularly when I suggested that, just possibly, my week was worth 5,500 or even 6,000 points and I possibly should only have to pay him $1,500!! We told him that we wanted more time to research his organization because we never heard of them. That was the last straw for him, he became "red faced" and asked if we didn't trust him!! Ha,ha, that was it, we told him we are just wasting his and our time and the visit was over. I called the Southcape office about the visit, someone was supposed to get back to us, but never did. Anyway, that's my little story about Festiva.​

I'm not quite sure what info he's been trying to get. This message was in reply to how to file a complaint with the AG!

 

[Carolinian]

I think I would also research the criminal law in Massachusetts. In North Carolina, the crime of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses in a felony, and one that is fairly frequently prosecuted. Your state may not have the same law exactly, but may have something close. In this type of situation, a prosecutor may not be too keen on one isolated case, but if someone brought in a string of victims telling the same story where they could show a pattern, most of the prosecutors I have worked across the courtroom from would start salivating. And depending on what evidence was developed on the role of others besides those directly involved, there may even be a chance to bring others in on the basis of conspiracy. I cannot tell you Massachusetts criminal law, but I would suggest it might be an area for some research.

The second one contacted me because a friend whom I found on a timeshares resale/rental site forwarded one of my messages to her. Here's her sad tale:

I was an owner at Southcape for many years but last November I was 'scared into" changing over to the Festiva point system. I was told by their representative that if I didn't switch (and 97% of the owners were switching) I would be faced with larger and larger special assessments and fewer and fewer owners to pay it. It was one of those deals that if you didn't sign on that day, it would cost twice as much in the future. Is there anything being done for us or is it too latehttp://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?p=739768&highlight=owner+Southcape#post739768​

From further email between us we learned that we live within two miles of each other and are now communicating via telephone. Here are some more of the deceptive sales practices which caused her to panic and fall into the conversion trap:

The price of conversion was the same, $3185, but because her family had owned a summer week for more than 25 years, she got 4800 points, which were supposed to cost a yearly maintenance fee of $666. (The actual MF for 2009 turned out to be over $700.) But because the Outfield Marketing sales rep was not supposedly getting a commission for the conversion, it would cost her $6085 to convert in the future. The really scary part was that he told her that if she stayed on as a deeded owner (which supposedly nearly nobody wants to do) she would be liable for a $600 Special Assessment in 2009 and could expect to be paying $1632 for combined MF and SA in 2010.

He told her that over 85% of deeded owners have converted to points and that nobody is selling deeded weeks anymore.

He also told her that she would be able to sell her points on EBay for 25 cents on the dollar, whatever that was supposed to mean. He extolled the virtues of membership in Festiva while badmouthing RCI.

He neglected to tell her that she is no longer an owner at Southcape and will have to take whatever week is available there if she wants to stay at Southcape in the future.

Now that she has learned the facts and that there are a minimum number of summer weeks available for Festiva points, she wants to know what to do about being deceived into converting to Festiva points.

 

[tombo]

Get ready to get a bargain. 2600 Festiva points are being auctioned off on e-bay (auction number 350222137735 ). There are no bids yet but the seller knows how hard it is to sell Festiva points and has his auction running for 25 days. Surely someone will buy it in 25 days with a starting bid of $1. Well actually there will probably not be a single bid.

 

[Sou13]

Another Outfield Marketing tale

This was posted by a Sandcastle owner:

Sandcastle Resorts Deeded Weeks vs Points

During November 2008 we received an undated form letter at our home address titled ”Dear Sandcastle Owner”, from New England Vacation Services LLC. It was sent by Cliff Hagberg Managing General Partner of New England Vacation Management Services LLC. The letter also states that New England Vacation Services LLC has affiliated Sandcastle Resorts with one of the premier vacation companies in the country, Festiva Resorts, in addition to RCI which Sandcastle has always had, and is in the process of affiliation with Interval International. We subsequently received a call from a sales person from Outfield Marketing wanting to schedule an appointment at our home to discuss the new changes that were going to be made by the new owner “New England Vacation Services, LLC”. We requested he send us a written summary, he declined stating it could only be discussed in person. We declined.

We are deeded Time Share Owners at Sandcastle Resorts in Provincetown MA. This year we rented prior to starting our deeded weeks. The day we checked in we received a phone call from an on premise salesman from “Outfield Marketing”. We asked how they knew we were at Sandcastle, we didn’t get an answer but were scheduled to a sales meeting to change from deeded ownership to the point system. A meeting was scheduled with the salesman from Outfield Marketing. He went thru his sales pitch speaking and making notes on sheets of paper extremely fast to the point it was almost impossible to keep up with him. This consisted of the following:
1. Exchanging each deeded week and paying $ 1,000. plus recording fees of $ 195. each week For this we would receive 3,000 Festiva Resorts points for each week..This was a one time offer and the payment would increase if we did not act today.
2. To purchase points outright, the minimum purchase is 1,800 points costing $ 6,000. The charge for each time share week consisting of 3,000 points, was $ 3,995.
3. In addition he stated that our annual maintenance fees would increase dramatically if we chose to stay with our deeded weeks, there was no current budget and the deficit of $ 237,000. would soon exceed $ 300,000.
4. The point system with the Festiva Resorts, the maintenance fees would remain stable due to their large reserve for maintenance and increases would only be a nominal cost of living adjustment.
5. A benefit with the point system is if you give over 30 days notice to the Resort for a one week reservation it only costs you 1,900 points versus 3,000 points for less than 30 days notice.
6. After our deeded weeks were transferred to New England Vacation Services, they would be put into a Trust. There wasn’t a clear explanation what that meant.
7. Some of his notes we could not decipher.
8. He gave us a few days grace period to sign and pay the contract. This was a one time offer, after the few days the cost of acquiring the points would increase.

It was alluded to but not stated that after the conversion to 3,000 points per week we would continue to have our usual weeks at Sandcastle Resorts each year without limitation. We didn’t get to ask our question “could the points required to stay at Sandcastle Resorts ever be increased over the current 3,000 points per week”?

The sales contract forms consisted of legal size sheets numbered 1 thru 8 (with two copies of page one), pages 9 thru 11 missing, letter size sheets numbered 12 thru 18 and unnumbered “Individual Membership Application”, all of which consist of the following pages:
Page
1. New England Vacation Services Festiva Adventure Club Membership Application.
2. New England Vacation Services/Festiva Resorts Adventure Club, Purchasing and Security Agreement and Truth-in-Lending Disclosures.
3 - 4 - 5 & 6 Terms and Conditions consisting of 26 items.
7. New England Vacation Services Promissory Note.
8. Festiva Resorts Adventure Club/NEVS Purchaser Acknowledgements. Pages 9 thru 11 missing.
12. Untitled – Contract #. for credit card payment.
13. New England Vacation Services, LLC, Bank Authorization Agreement For Pre-Approved payments (ACH Debits).
14. New England Vacation Services, LLC, Credit Application and Agreement.
15. Festiva Resorts Privacy Disclosure.
16. NEVS/Festiva Resorts Adventure Club, Addendum to Purchaser Acknowledgment.
17. New England Vacation Services, LLC, Policy Regarding Your Financial Privacy.
18. Notice of Cancellation and unnumbered Membership Application.

Some questions for above forms:

Page 2 Equity upgrade from?? Term 40 years? Did not hear of this during meeting.
Page 8 Membership level. Non term points? These were not mentioned during meeting.
Page 5 – Item 15 Renewal rights for additional ten Years? Didn’t hear about this limitation!
“ 18 No oral or written statements are accepted as part of the contract, only the wordage which is contained within above documents is accepted. So the rep. can say or write anything on a sheet of paper to make the sale and if it isn’t contained within the above documents then the reps. statements are not valid..
Page 16 Par. 2 Membership does not include maintenance fees, but the purchase price does include the first year’s membership fees for Interval International? What, first I’ve heard of this! What is the annual membership after the first year? And what if your not interested in ”Interval International”.
Par. 3 Forms states salesman made no representation about increased maintenance fees. We were told by rep that maintenances fees would increase greatly.
Par. 5 We did not have the opportunity to ask many questions.
“ 6 Rep. not well informed based on what he communicated to us, and no we were not satisfied with his sales pitch. AND What are the missing pages 9 thru 11?

That, added to the fast talking salesman and his zooming paper doodling to emphasize his fast talking points. When my wife attempted to ask him questions, he stated “who is running this meeting?” So for all of this we would get relieved of our deeded weeks and thousands of dollars for what benefit that was never made clear? What happens to the deeded weeks and who eventually ends up with them? A complaint letter was filed with MA Attorney General.

I suggest everyone that has had a bad experience file a written complaint to the MA Atty. General, that volume should ensure that an action will be taken. A current list of deeded owners and addresses is a must for us to have to ensure that all deeded owners are informed of the meeting date and to have sufficient votes to overcome the New England Vacation Services LLC votes. To anyone who has made a request for the list of deeded owners and was rejected, that is more than sufficient reason to file a written complaint to the MA Atty. General.​

 

[Carolinian]

For some of you who would like to share your thoughts about Festiva and the way it does business, I have started a thread on the UK timeshare site TimeshareTalk on Festiva on its ''Shark Alley'' board on disreputable timeshare operations and linked a couple of other TUG threads on specific resorts which are victims of Festiva at the moment. For those who would like to share your thoughts on the Shark Alley board at TST on Festiva, the thread is at:

www.timesharetalk.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11239

 

[Sou13]

Are you aware that Festiva has put some sort of gag order on Equivest owners who have accepted their settlement? They're even going so far as to retract all negative comments about Festiva!

This came from an Equivest/Peppertree owner who seems to have come to some sort of confidential settlement with Festiva:

I understand your concern regarding the desire to resist takeover by Festiva. I am a member of the Equivest/Peppertree Vacation Club Advisory Committee and have had the opportunity to talk to Festiva Management. I have just two observations.

Nobody is holding a gun to your head to make the property convert to Festiva - it must be either a Board of Directors or membership decision. Sounds to me like a minority are trying to fight it. If it is the result of them 'populating' the BofD, that is a result of appathy on the part of owners not wanting to serve and allowing outsiders to 'sneak' in across time.

Once, and IF, they assume management control, you cannot use the word 'coerce' to address their encouragement to convert to Festiva's Adventure Club. What you need to learn is the word "NO!!!". They cannot MAKE you convert - they will try to sell you and sell you hard, They may mislead, quote irroneous information, and browbeat you, but they cannot MAKE you convert. I didn't convert and neither have about 5,300 other Equivest members. We have the right to say no.

Richard​

 

[JackB62]

A points vs money question

I am a Southcape interval owner and I'd like it if someone can advise me on a points system question.

If I have Festiva points and I book a week at Southcape, what does Southcape get in the form of rental cash?

Does NEVMS just say, "thanks, you owe us 500 points." Or, does Festiva have to give Southcape a $ amount for the week?

 

[Bill4728]

I am a Southcape interval owner and I'd like it if someone can advise me on a points system question.

If I have Festiva points and I book a week at Southcape, what does Southcape get in the form of rental cash?

Does NEVMS just say, "thanks, you owe us 500 points." Or, does Festiva have to give Southcape a $ amount for the week?

Normally, with point systems, the system works like this:
- The owners in the point system, have their ownership rights transfered to the system. So when they reserve a week at one of the resorts, the systems uses one of the weeks that were transfered to them to fulfill the request. So Festiva wouldn't be renting a week from Southcape just using a week like they were the owner.

**I'm not sure this is true for Festiva but it is true for most all point systems.


PS Festiva can only allow reservations into a week which they have. So if all the summer week owners at the resorts say NO to festiva, then Festiva will not have any summer weeks and therefore can not allow a festiva owner to reserve a summer week.

 

[tombo]

Normally, with point systems, the system works like this:
- The owners in the point system, have their ownership rights transfered to the system. So when they reserve a week at one of the resorts, the systems uses one of the weeks that were transfered to them to fulfill the request. So Festiva wouldn't be renting a week from Southcape just using a week like they were the owner.

**I'm not sure this is true for Festiva but it is true for most all point systems.


PS Festiva can only allow reservations into a week which they have. So if all the summer week owners at the resorts say NO to festiva, then Festiva will not have any summer weeks and therefore can not allow a festiva owner to reserve a summer week.

Bill's explanation is how it works at Festiva resorts. Festiva works the same way as other points systems. Festiva has very few prime summer weeks in their inventory because their points come mainly from buying unsold/repossessed inventory at existing resorts. Ver few owners give up prime summer weeks for points, so it will be hard to trade for a prime week using Festiva points. The resorts like wyndham who build their own resorts have 100%o of the resort's inventory in points so you can trade for prime weeks fairly easily if you own enough points. At Southscape very few of the summer weeks owners will trade their prime fixed summer week for points that would only give them a slim chance of ever getting to stay there for that week ever again, and the few that do swap their weeks and $3000 for Festiva points will be absolutelly sick that they did so.

Do no buy Festiva points. They have very limited prime season inventory at most Festiva affiliated resorts and they are selling points to new members constantly using underlying weeks that are almost useless. They get these weeks for free often from the resorts repo's and from deed backs. If 500 people join Festiva and 480 of the weeks underlying the points are off season weeks, there end up being 20 happy Festiva points members and 480 mad members. I own a prime summer week at Blue Ridge Village, and I WOULD NEVER let Festiva have my week for points even if they gave me points and $2000 cash. I might sell my week for $2000 cash but I would never allow myself to be obligated to pay Festiva annual MF's on points that are almost worthless, that you could rarely exchange for a prime week, and that you could probably never sell.

Don't even schedule a meeting with a Festiva sales rep because as many can attest to here, you will probably be told nothing but lies, and you will be seriously pressured to give up your valuable deeded week for some worthless points.

 

[tombo]

TV News clip about Festiva

The CEO of Festiva says this has been a wake up call that they need to train their sales staff better. What a joke. I guess being sued and settling with the Missouri AG for false and misleading sales tactics wasn't enough of a wake up call. The CEO of Festiva told this reporter that Festiva no longer outsources it's sales. Either Festiva owns Outfield Mktg or they are outsourcing their sales as they did before, and using some of the the same sales people that they used in Missouri. Spin, lies, more spin, and more lies is all you can get out of anyone associated with Festiva IMO.

Do not buy Festiva points and do not swap your deeded week for Festiva points. If you do you will be forever sorry, just as the man in this news story is.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=6789555

 

[mweinberg]

The CEO of Festiva says this has been a wake up call that they need to train their sales staff better. What a joke. I guess being sued and settling with the Missouri AG for false and misleading sales tactics wasn't enough of a wake up call. The CEO of Festiva told this reporter that Festiva no longer outsources it's sales. Either Festiva owns Outfield Mktg or they are outsourcing their sales as they did before, and using some of the the same sales people that they used in Missouri. Spin, lies, more spin, and more lies is all you can get out of anyone associated with Festiva IMO.

Do not buy Festiva points and do not swap your deeded week for Festiva points. If you do you will be forever sorry, just as the man in this news story is.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=6789555

Tombo,

Thanks for the link; that's certainly an interesting story. I have contacted the reporter to congratulate him on his coverage and to apprise him of my own experiences as an owner at the Sandcastle. If anyone else would like to share their experiences with him, his email address is <steve.daniels@abc11mail.com>.

 

[bull2671]

Good morning,

I have spent this evening reading all the posts of the Festiva take over and am a bit concerned now since we signed our 2 bedroom at the Blue Ridge
(4th of July week) for 5,200 points at a points conersion price of $3k for the Adventure Club just this afternoon. We were told that RCI would not be accepting our week as of January 2010 and that II would be the exclusive exchange company for this property and only as a points resort. Otherwise, our only option would be to use it on the deeded week, if we did not conver to the Adventure Club.

We have never traveled to the property, but have enjoyed the trading power it gives us under the RCI points system as well as the II system as a week. We had bought it initially to travel for that specific week, but have not done so as of yet.

We have a 5 days to rescind and I am leaning towards this after reading the various posts, but wondered about the advantages of getting 2 1/2 weeks of vacation on the points allotted to my week. Has anyone converted and enjoyed the benefits of that conversion or have they wished they had remained deeded?

Any assistance that a Tug member can provide that has converted or is familiar with the "in-home" Outfield Marketing presentation would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tombo]

Good morning,

I have spent this evening reading all the posts of the Festiva take over and am a bit concerned now since we signed our 2 bedroom at the Blue Ridge
(4th of July week) for 5,200 points at a points conersion price of $3k for the Adventure Club just this afternoon. We were told that RCI would not be accepting our week as of January 2010 and that II would be the exclusive exchange company for this property and only as a points resort. Otherwise, our only option would be to use it on the deeded week, if we did not conver to the Adventure Club.

We have never traveled to the property, but have enjoyed the trading power it gives us under the RCI points system as well as the II system as a week. We had bought it initially to travel for that specific week, but have not done so as of yet.

We have a 5 days to rescind and I am leaning towards this after reading the various posts, but wondered about the advantages of getting 2 1/2 weeks of vacation on the points allotted to my week. Has anyone converted and enjoyed the benefits of that conversion or have they wished they had remained deeded?

Any assistance that a Tug member can provide that has converted or is familiar with the "in-home" Outfield Marketing presentation would be greatly appreciated.

RESCIND NOW!!!!!! I also own a 2 bed room 4th of July week and it trades GREAT with RCI and IT WILL CONTINUE TO TRADE GREAT WITH RCI!!!! THEY LIED TO YOU!!!! We are still and probably always will be associated with RCI. Festiva has to be excited to get your money and to get their hands on a 4th of July week. If you get Festiva points you will never be ale to stay at Blue Ridge Village on the 4th because every points member will be fighting for your week since you might be the only 4th of July owner who let a great week like that go for some worthless points. Keep your week to visit or trade with RCI. RESCIND NOW!!! They will try anything to stop you from rescinding. Cross your T's and dot your I's.

They have a wonderful fireworks display every 4th at the resort by the lake. You don't even have to leave to see great fireworks. This is a great resort but FESTIVA is a horrible company IMO.

Follow the directions on the agreement to rescind. Make sure to send your recission letter certified mail with receipt required and make copies of the recission letter and the envelope ypu mailed it in. Some here can help ypou on how to rescind because i have never personally rescinded a week.

The Festiva points are WORTHLESS!!!! You have a great week. Keep it and RESCIND NOW!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tombo]

Just to see how worthless these points are, here is an e-bay action that has no bids and probably will not receive a bid. I have seen a lot of Festiva points be listed multiple times with no bids because they are worthless resale. If you feel that you must have some Festiva points, buy these for a dollar. I wouldn't take Festiva points if you paid me to take them because you can't use them for any prime weeks (like the 4th) unless you are very lcky, and you have to pay them MF's each year.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...RRENCY=0&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_fvi=1&_rdc=1

 

[bull2671]

Tombo,

Thank you I have sent the leather binder back with all the required information today via certified mail.

After looking into a few of the websites related to Adventure Club we decided that we are better off staying with the great week we have. We can always go there for 4th of July if no exchange were available anymore via either of the exchanges.

Thank you.

 

[Sou13]

Did you get anything for your trouble?

Were you offered any kind of "reward" for attending the presentation? Was it worth what it cost to return the binder, etc.?

 

[bull2671]

Outfield Marketing came to my home

Soul,

A couple came together to my HOME from Outfield Marketing. They provided all the information regarding the conversion of points and how by January 2010 my weeks would no longer trade as a week under the exchanges, but as points through the Adventure Club membership and only through II since they supposedly held the exclusive right to the resort. It appears to be phrased that way in the agreement as well. I decided to accept the offer (contingent on my research) since I had a 5 day rescind period.

In the end, I did not receive anything other than the developer's discount of $3,185 vs. $6k for the Adventure Club membership. Since the presentation included a leather binder with the II membership book, all this had to be returned at a cost for me of $48 for certified next day mail. If I did not return the leather binder and II book, $79 would be deducted from my deposit.

They stated that many weeks timeshare companies are converting to points and I would eventually have to do it at a higher cost for this one and perhaps any others I own.

I guess I will take my chances from now on. Thankfully most of my resorts/ weeks would rent well should I happen not to use the actualize week.

Hopes this information may be of help to other Tuggers.

 

[tombo]

Soul,

A couple came together to my HOME from Outfield Marketing. They provided all the information regarding the conversion of points and how by January 2010 my weeks would no longer trade as a week under the exchanges, but as points through the Adventure Club membership and only through II since they supposedly held the exclusive right to the resort. It appears to be phrased that way in the agreement as well. I decided to accept the offer (contingent on my research) since I had a 5 day rescind period.

In the end, I did not receive anything other than the developer's discount of $3,185 vs. $6k for the Adventure Club membership. Since the presentation included a leather binder with the II membership book, all this had to be returned at a cost for me of $48 for certified next day mail. If I did not return the leather binder and II book, $79 would be deducted from my deposit.

They stated that many weeks timeshare companies are converting to points and I would eventually have to do it at a higher cost for this one and perhaps any others I own.

I guess I will take my chances from now on. Thankfully most of my resorts/ weeks would rent well should I happen not to use the actualize week.

Hopes this information may be of help to other Tuggers.

They came to your home and lied to you. As long as you don't swap to Festiva points you can continue to exchange YOUR WEEK with RCI or II, depending on who you are a member with. Festiva POINTS only exchange with II. On top of charging you $3100 to steal a week you own, they only gave you 5200 worthless Festiva points for your $3100 and prime 2 bed 2 bath summer week. To get an idea of how bad you were being taken look at this e-bay ad and see how many Festiva points it takes to stay in 2 bed room prime summer weeks. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...RRENCY=0&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_fvi=1&_rdc=1 Except for Branson and Orlando, 5200 points will not get you a week in a 2 bed 4th of july week at any Festiva resort listed in this ad. What a deal!!

Many timeshare companies are turning to points because they can charge owners more money for something they already own. It is a scam. The deal they offered you for $3185 was the usual price. They always tell you that you are getting a heck of a deal for $3185 ( they claim that it is usually $6000 or more), and they always tell you that if you don't get it right now that you won't be able to get it for that special price ever again. The reality is that they know if they let you think about it there is almost zero chance that you will ever want to get the points. Be glad you found some web sites warning you before it was too late.

You will never have to swap to points because you own your week. They can't take away what you own. If you look at II's demand chart, week 27 is the highest demand of all 52 weeks except for week 40 and a tie for week 41 since those are the prime leaf changing weeks in the mountains. The next highest demand weeks are weeks 26,28,29,(prime summer weeks) and 42 (the final leaf season week). You own as good as there is at the resort, and it will trade like it with RCI for many ears to come. http://www.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=1503&resortCode=BRV&parentResortCode=BRV Go to this site and click on the travel demand index in the blue on the right to see the annual demand based on the individual weeks.


You dodged a bullet today. If you keep reading TUG (edited because I see you joined TUG), you can learn many things about different resorts, and you can learn how to maximize the value of your week with RCI or II. You can also learn about RCI points which many here love, and you can find out how to buy those points cheap on e-bay to get you started. There are many good points programs out there (Bluegreen, Starpoints, Disney points, RCI), but festiva is not one of them. If you want points research here and aske questions before you buy, but whatever you do don't buy from a developer (buy resale), and don't give up a 2 bed 2 bath 4th of July week for points, any points.

Welcome to TUG.