Festiva takes over resort

[Sou13]

Yahoo! group, anyone?

Sou13...maybe you can post this to the Yahoo group to see if anyone there has interest in putting up a site? It could even be a blog, does not have to be elaborate...just a place to visit and post, but would have to be 100% about Festiva Adventure Club and Outfield Marketing increasing the chances that it would be the first site to pop up when people Googled Festiva Adventure Club or Outfield Marketing.

Are you referring to the Equivest-PeppertreeOwners Yahoo! group? I don't post there because I'm not an owner but joined the group in order to learn more about the horrors of the Festiva Adventure Club. I'm not sure how to start a group that would attract members to join. Perhaps someone who posts to TUG could offer advice?

 

[tombo]

In case it happens, this is the address I found

To: Festiva Resort
One Vance Gap Road
Asheville, NC 28805

Cc: MD State Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
200 St. Paul Place
Baltimore, MD 21202

NC State Attorney General
9001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-9001


The MD is where I live. You will need to find the state AG you live and report to the AG there. NC is where the resort exists.

I really don't mind the sale pitch. But I would much prefer they tell me what is the gift, so if too less, I will not take it, instead trying to rob me out of my free gift. And really, I like to see stuff in writing although I prefer it is signed and dated by them if they want to change the rule around.

Will see

Jya-Ning

Thanks for the AG addresses. As far as the gift for putting up with their sales pitch, as far as I know you don't get anything! For coming to the "update" at the resort I was not offered anything, not $75, not a free meal, nothing! For the phone calls to my home the offer was a discounted room rate in New Orleans to drive down and be updated. I guess I live too far from the sales reps to get them to come to my house. If anyone here was offered anything to sit through the sales lies, I would love to know what they offered.

 

[Fig]

Are you referring to the Equivest-PeppertreeOwners Yahoo! group? I don't post there because I'm not an owner but joined the group in order to learn more about the horrors of the Festiva Adventure Club. I'm not sure how to start a group that would attract members to join. Perhaps someone who posts to TUG could offer advice?

Not so much to start a new group as an informational website on the tactics of Outfield Marketing pressuring owners to give up a deed for in the ballpark of $3,000 and join Festiva Adventure Club, whose point system has been referred to as "worthless." I've heard these meetings are billed as "informational about changes at a given resort""..."there is nothing to buy," etc, which seems horribly misleading when you read accounts at what really happens at these meetings. The fact that these meetings can't be held without both spouses present and no literature can be sent or left about the meetings, should be a red flag. Just thought if we tossed the idea out enough, there might be someone out there willing to put together an informational web page on the subject where comments can also be posted and we can bring these secrets into the light of day.

 

[Sou13]

Try the search engine method

I've been searching online for "Festiva Adventure Club" and found this:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/440/RipOff0440457.htm

Report: #440457 View Similar Reports Report: Festiva Management Group/Festiva Resorts/Festiva Adventure Club
Category: Property Management

Festiva Management Group/Festiva Resorts/Festiva Adventure Club Festiva timeshare is fraudulent. They lied and misrepresented the timeshare. We purchased based on fraud...nothing they said was true. Asheville North Carolina


Read how Ripoff Report saves consumers millions.

Rebuttal Box
Respond to this report!
Are you an owner, employee or ex-employee with either negative or positive information about the company or individual, or can you provide "insider information" on this company?

Victim of this person/company?
Are you also a victim of the same company or individual? Want Justice? File a Rip-off Report, help other consumers to be educated and don´t let them get away with it!

Festiva Management Group/Festiva Resorts/Festiva Adventure Club
Phone: 828-254-3378
Fax: 828-254-5297
One Vance Gap Road
Asheville, North Carolina, 28805
U.S.A.

Submitted: 4/3/2009 8:27:38 AM
Modified: 4/3/2009 8:28:00 AM
Arlene
Bloomington, Indiana



Ripoff Report Verified Safe
On 11/8/08, after the initial timeshare presentation that went way past the 90 min. promised, the hard sell began. The timeshare did sound fantastic. Wonderful properties all over the world we would have access to using timeshare points. Also, fantastic prices on cruises and airfare. But, we were still unsure. It sounded too good to be true. The salesman said if we signed the contract, we would get a free 7 day cruise anywhere, anytime, any cruise ship. We have always wanted to cruise on Seabourn, but it's a luxury cruise line that costs over $12K. He told us, of course we could go on the Seabourn because they get wholesale prices. We felt better about signing when he told us we would have 7 days to cancel. We still found it too good to be true.

So, we signed the contract. We could not use an attorney because if we didn't sign that day, we would lose the great deal we were getting. We were purchasing another owners points because he was upgrading. We were also told us if down the road we decided we didn't want the timeshare, Festiva could easily sell our points as well as they keep escalating in value.

Needless to say, we soon found out it was all fraud. We didn't get a free cruise and the global properties were only available for less than a year. The cancellation policy was 5 days, not 7. We were told we could use the timeshare immediately...also a lie. We couldn't use it until Jan. 31,2009 after we paid the maintenance fee. We will never use this timeshare or give them another dime.

Arlene
Bloomington, Indiana
U.S.A.

 

[tombo]

Festiva has come up with a new blog site:

http://festivaresorts.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/contest/

These are very savvy businessmen. They are getting tons of bad press on the web and there is nothing they can do about it. What they do instead is start their own blog where they can tout the joys of owning Festiva and post happy customer comments while never allowing anything negative to be said. How many Festiva employees are currently writing glowing reviews about Festiva to post on the blog? In the open forums where things can be discussed openly by all, you almost never read a good post. I bet this site will be different. Happy owners will come out of the woodwork to extoll the joys of Festiva ownership. Is there anyway that a blog could be called fictional reading? If so I am willing to bet that this will be much more fiction than fact.

 

[Fig]

Festiva has come up with a new blog site:

http://festivaresorts.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/contest/

These are very savvy businessmen. They are getting tons of bad press on the web and there is nothing they can do about it. What they do instead is start their own blog where they can tout the joys of owning Festiva and post happy customer comments while never allowing anything negative to be said. How many Festiva employees are currently writing glowing reviews about Festiva to post on the blog? In the open forums where things can be discussed openly by all, you almost never read a good post. I bet this site will be different. Happy owners will come out of the woodwork to extoll the joys of Festiva ownership. Is there anyway that a blog could be called fictional reading? If so I am willing to bet that this will be much more fiction than fact.

Tombo, you or anyone can set up a blog with Wordpress...the virtual swimming pool idea. It can be about Festiva, Outfield Marketing, etc. I think it might get a few more hits and work its way up the Google listing if people posted their real experiences. That is the power of the Internet. Here's info on setting up a blog: http://wordpress.org/

 

[Fig]

More fun with Festiva

Maybe Festiva created the blog in the remote hopes people would land on their page instead of the many pages like this out there listing people's experiences with the company. I think a page like this gets a lot more hits as it is written by Festiva consumers.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/festiva-resorts-c84042.html

 

[tombo]

I think a page like this gets a lot more hits as it is written by Festiva consumers.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/festiva-resorts-c84042.html

None of these people are going to win Festiva's Photo and story contest.

 

[Fig]

None of these people are going to win Festiva's Photo and story contest.

Oy, check this out...they are running a contest without even finalizing the prizes.
-------------------------------------------
Ron Perkins said,April 20, 2009 at 2:43 pm

Festiva Vacation & Photo Contest:
May have overlooked; but, could not ascertain what the Grand Prize is?
( I couldn't find it either.)

festivaresorts said,

April 20, 2009 at 2:50 pm

The Grand Prize for each category will be a 7 night stay at a Festiva Resort. There will also be a prize for runners up in each category. Prize details are being finalized now, and they will be posted here soon!
----------------------------------------------------------

Hey, Festivarep, wherever you may be...let the folks at corporate know there are sweepstakes laws in each state that may have to be complied with when you run contests such as this. Prizes, rules, etc, probably shouldn't be cobbled together on the fly AFTER you launch a contest.

How might I know? I've sat in my share of boring meetings with corporate legal going over the laws of every state we ran a contest in. Not a legal opinion, just a heads up from someone who has been there.

 

[Fig]

None of these people are going to win Festiva's Photo and story contest.

Looks like Festiva rep is very, very busy trying to put out Internet fires. Within hours of our posting the "Horrible Festiva Story" contest link, Tombo,
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/festiva-resorts-c84042.html
the rep was on it. Look at the last entry.

"2 hours 29 minutes ago by Festiva Rep 0 Votes ....
We appreciate it when owners and guests contact us directly so that we can address the problem."

Now, if they could stop the practices that lead to these kinds of stories in the first place, maybe the stories on the Internet would be a tad more positive...just a thought.

 

[Fig]

FestivaRep, here are some more Internet fires

Here, you might want to follow up on these posts as well...I don't think they will be entering your Festiva Story contest either.

http://www.complaints.com/Festiva-M...-Festiva-Resorts-timeshare-points-207569.html

http://timesharetroubles.getpaidfrom.us/

Tombo, I have not come across any glowing reviews of Outfield Marketing yet or Festiva...quite the opposite...just wondering, have you?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Looks like Festiva rep is very, very busy trying to put out Internet fires. Within hours of our posting the "Horrible Festiva Story" contest link, Tombo,
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/festiva-resorts-c84042.html
the rep was on it. Look at the last entry.

"2 hours 29 minutes ago by Festiva Rep 0 Votes ....
We appreciate it when owners and guests contact us directly so that we can address the problem."

Now, if they could stop the practices that lead to these kinds of stories in the first place, maybe the stories on the Internet would be a tad more positive...just a thought.

It extremely likely Festiva is monitoring this thread. When you post a link to site such as complaints board, they simply follow your link.

 

[Fig]

It extremely likely Festiva is monitoring this thread.

Yes, I know. What's interesting is it takes someone outside of Festiva to point them to no small collection of complaints that have been sitting out on the Internet for all to look at for nearly a year now. So much for monitoring their image.

 

[tombo]

Here, you might want to follow up on these posts as well...I don't think they will be entering your Festiva Story contest either.

http://www.complaints.com/Festiva-M...-Festiva-Resorts-timeshare-points-207569.html

http://timesharetroubles.getpaidfrom.us/

Tombo, I have not come across any glowing reviews of Outfield Marketing yet or Festiva...quite the opposite...just wondering, have you?

Still looking for a satisfied customer thread with no success. Festiva somehow found 15 happy owner stories and put them on their new blog page under testimonials. I guess the few happy Festiva owners are all entering the Photo and Story contest hoping to win the unamed prizes.

 

[Carolinian]

Still looking for a satisfied customer thread with no success. Festiva somehow found 15 happy owner stories and put them on their new blog page under testimonials. I guess the few happy Festiva owners are all entering the Photo and Story contest hoping to win the unamed prizes.

Or they wrote 15 happy owner stories themselves. I remember a Dillbert cartoon that was a riot on this subject.

 

[ecwinch]

It extremely likely Festiva is monitoring this thread. When you post a link to site such as complaints board, they simply follow your link.

While we can agree that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, I think we should give them credit for trying. Most developers do not even do that.

 

[tombo]

While we can agree that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, I think we should give them credit for trying. Most developers do not even do that.

The problem is their business model, and they are not trying to change that. They are trying to keep people on the net quiet and happy through answers that are mainly spin IMO. They try to convince owners that not having votes at their resorts is no big deal. They want the owners to trust Festiva completelly while Festiva manages the resort, decides how much MF's should be each year, and how much needs to be assessed at Festiva resorts without any owner input. Renovations are done at the whim and desire of Festiva with no bids for the renovations submitted to the owners for approval, and no input from owners on what needs to be renovated. No sold out resorts should have developer controlled boards because there is no one loking out for the folks that actually pay to upgrade and maintain the resort.

Festiva has some great resorts, but so far I have nothing great to say about Festiva.

 

[FestivaRep]

A few things:

1. We know the sweepstakes laws in all of the states where we run, and the contest we're doing complies with those, don't worry. Our legal team is very involved in making sure we comply.

2. The owner/guest testimonials on our blog are not made up or written by employees. Some companies may do that, but I assure you that we do not. They come directly from comment cards at the resorts, and e-mails and letters sent to Owner Services. There are nearly 60,000 members in Festiva, and I know that there are those of you out there who are not satisfied, but not everyone has had the experiences that you have, and believe it or not, we do have satisfied owners who use the program and reap the benefits to the fullest. The reason you don't see them posting much online is because they're satisfied. How often do you call, write or post on a forum about your cable company, cell phone service, etc. because you're happy with them and haven't had any problems? Typically those that do go out of their way to let us know they are happy are those who have worked in customer service and know that it's a thankless job, and while the satisfied customers may outnumber the disgruntled customers, it's the latter that you hear from the most.

3. We have people who constantly monitor the complaints online and have been doing so for about two years, we did not 'learn' about them on this or any other member discussion board. We are well aware of them, we just don't feel like all of them warrant responses on a public forum. Many of the people who make those posts on complaint websites are contacted personally, including Arlene in Bloomington, Indiana (from the post copied and pasted from Complaints Board below).

I'm sure my comments will get attacked and picked apart and misconstrued, but they are the facts. I'm not putting any 'corporate spin' on anything, I'm not currently (nor have I ever been) a salesperson (of any kind), I'm just putting this out there for those of you willing to listen, and I appreciate those of you who do.

 

[Carolinian]

Festiva Rep - I do not own at a resort you manage and would not. I only own at resorts controlled by the members, not by a developer who has worn out his welcome. At some of my resorts, the members have had to go to quite some lengths to kick those people out the door that they should have exited on their own.

There is absolutely no legitimate justification for impostion of a developer dictatorship instead of letting the members of a sold out resort democratically elect their HOA board which then hires and fires management and directs management in how to run the resort. Festiva seems to want to run resorts like they are third world banana republics.

 

[tombo]

Festiva Rep - I do not own at a resort you manage and would not. I only own at resorts controlled by the members, not by a developer who has worn out his welcome. At some of my resorts, the members have had to go to quite some lengths to kick those people out the door that they should have exited on their own.

There is absolutely no legitimate justification for impostion of a developer dictatorship instead of letting the members of a sold out resort democratically elect their HOA board which then hires and fires management and directs management in how to run the resort. Festiva seems to want to run resorts like they are third world banana republics.

Boy do I agree!

 

[tombo]

Festiva Rep, you are very nice and very good at your job. You answer some questions for owners here and we are very appreciative. That being said, I am sure that the PR people who work for Countryside Mortgage and AIG are great people too, but the fact that they are nice doesn't change the fact that their companies suck. Unless Festiva changes it's owner unfriendly policies you will never convince the majority of owners to like Festiva anymore than the PR people at AIG will convince the majority of Americans that the bonuses were needed to "retain key employees". AIG is probably the most hated company in the US, and Festiva is probably the second most hated timeshare company on the entire net (Festiva seems to be better liked than Westgate). You are a nice person, but you are working for a greedy company that could care less about owners at resorts it acquires.

You are employed by a company that is almost impossible to defend on line or in print. I understand that the economy is bad now and jobs are hard to come by, but I would strongly recommend changing companies as soon as you can find another employer. If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. Since Festiva has been sued (by the Missouri Atty Gen), is being sued (by owners at the Atrium), and from the sound of many here might be sued again in the future, they are obviously a bad company that owners don't like. No amount of PR skill and spin can change that.

 

[Sou13]

How to get positive feedback

I, too, would look for positive things to say in order to win some sort of prize (unless the prize is a week at the resort if it's a dump) but we're not getting any prizes here for reporting our negative experiences with Festiva and Outfield Marketing.

BTW I've given up on the idea of getting anyone to share their Outfield Marketing offers here, but the longer this discussion goes on the more unhappy Festiva members we find!

 

[mimimay1]

Actually the press release did not say anything about us 'buying' OBX I/II, it just said that a resort in St. Augustine was 'involved in the acquisition' which it was. From the press release, which can be found in the Press Room on our website:

Resorts involved in the acquisition and previously owned by Peppertree Resorts are located in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., Branson, Mo., Gatlinburg, Tenn., Myrtle Beach, S.C., and St. Augustine, Fla. Four North Carolina resort locations include Outer Banks, Atlantic Beach, Banner Elk and Maggie Valley. The properties in Wisconsin Dells, Banner Elk and Atlantic Beach also include undeveloped land.

Hi Festiva Rep,

I recently bought Festiva Resort in August 2008 with 3,300 points and PAID IT IN FULL AMOUNT INCLUDING THE MAINTENANCE FEE. The transaction happened at Wachesaw Resort with the Sam branham the Director of sales.
When the receipt came out being charged w/ my Amex card it showed P12,605.....when the agreed price was US$12,000.00 FULLY PAID. I brought this to their attention,and a credit was given to me . I was a little suspicious about making this mistake. Then in the Purchase and Security Agreement and Truth-In-lending Disclosure,the real amount of US$12,210.00 was NOT disclose.......what was written was $12,605.00 which was NOT the amount the Paid for Festiva! I was told that After 15 days that I can use my timeshare.....well,I was JERK as when I called to use it,I was told by yr Customer Service that I can only use Festiva by Jan 1 2009! WHY WOULD I PAY IN FULL AMOUNT IN AUG 2008 AND NOT BE ABLE TO USE IT RIGHT AWAY BUT WAIT UNTIL JAN OF 2009???? ON TOP OF THIS,I AM AGAIN BEING INVOICE FOR THE MAINTENANCE FEE WHICH I HAD NEGOTIATED TO BE INCLUDED IN MY us$12,210.00 WHEN i PAID fESTIVA IN FULL.

CAN YO TELL ME WHERE CAN I GET HOLD OF THE BOARD MEMEBRS OF FESTIVA BEFORE I TAKE THEM TO COURT???

tHANKS,

mILDRED mimimay1@aol.com

 

[Tia]

You might like to join this group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Equivest-PeppertreeOwners/?yguid=301889772

Festiva is in control of their resorts/points.

 

[Jya-Ning]

Since this look like a sale pitch to me, I send 3 mails one to Festiva, cc one to MD AG, cc one to NC AG and ask the company send me stuff in writing instead of try to do a sale pitch man to me. I ask for public offering and the change they made to alert my original usage highlight.

Will see

Jya-Ning

Got response from Maryland and Festiva. I kind expect the result. MD say they open a case for me for 30 days, but believe I will get response from Festiva and should be good.

Few days later, I got Festiva's letter, state the call is from their marketing department in regards to an informational meeting about Festiva Adventure Club (FAC), a point based membership. But I am not required to convert to FAC, nor will their be changes to my existing ownership and usage. And they will continue to honor my existing contract. Signed by Deborah Shroyer Director of Customer Experience Dated 4/17/09.

I guess this is the end of this call. Although I don't believe my contract has anything to do with them. I believe my resort is managed by them, and that is the only relation. I will keep the letter as record. And continue enjoy my ownership.

At least the response is quick.

Jya-ning