Fidelity Property Management

[kijowsb]

We received a call from Jeff Rogers who said he worked for Fidelity Property Management. He said they could sell our Westgate Timeshare and our getaway weeks. He was asking for $1395 to post and sell our timeshare.

I am skeptical. I am new to this forum and am thinking about selling, but I've also read the warnings about never paying anything up front. We've been burned before.....

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[DeniseM]

There is a simple rule of thumb for dealing with timeshare business offers:

Any company that charges you a large upfront fee of any kind to sell or rent your timeshare, or to get your money back from another company, is going to scam you - period.

They make their money with the upfront fee and then they make no attempt to sell/rent your timeshare, or to get your money back.

Legitimate businesses charge a commission after the service, but the scammers all ask for a large upfront payment.

Here are some warnings signs with these kinds of companies:

1) Did you get an unsolicited sales call or mailing or email from them?

2) Do they say that they already have a renter/buyer for your timeshare? (Or an established market like people attending conventions.)

3) Do they claim that they can get your money back from another scammer?

4) Do they want you to pay hundreds/thousands of dollars for a title search, or transfer fees, or taxes, or a closing fee, or appraisal, or ANY large fee, UPFRONT?

5) Are they offering to rent/sell it for far more than the market value?

6) Do they want you to pay a large up front fee that supposedly you will get back?

7) Do they want your credit card number over the phone?​

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then this is the usual scenario:

Once you pay the fee and receive the contract, you discover that the company has only promised to advertise your resort, not to rent/sell it, and they don't mention having a renter/buyer in the contract.

Then, you won't hear anything from them for a long time, and when you contact them, they will tell you that the renter/buyer backed out, but they will advertise your timeshare on their over-priced website.

Finally, when you try to get your money back, they will point out that you signed a contract, and it's only for advertising.

When you try to challenge it with your credit card company, they will tell you that you only had 60 days to dispute the charge, and that it's too late to do anything.​

This is a bitter pill to swallow, but right now, most timeshares are selling for 0-20% of the original retail price. It's not a good time to sell a timeshare.

To see what your timeshare is really worth on the current resale market:

1) Register with ebay
2) Sign in
3) Search for your resort by exact name
4) From the menu on the left click "completed listings"
5) The next page will show you current selling prices

(Be sure you look at the completed listings - those are actually SELLING prices - you will find asking prices all over the place, but what really counts is what they actually sold for.)​

 

[Stefa]

We received a call from Jeff Rogers who said he worked for Fidelity Property Management. He said they could sell our Westgate Timeshare and our getaway weeks. He was asking for $1395 to post and sell our timeshare.

I am skeptical. I am new to this forum and am thinking about selling, but I've also read the warnings about never paying anything up front. We've been burned before.....

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Anyone who calls you is a scammer. There are waaayy more sellers than buyers and no legitimate broker has to go looking for sellers.

In almost every case the upfront fee is greater than the value of the timeshare.

 

[LannyPC]

He said they could sell our Westgate Timeshare and our getaway weeks.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Assuming these getaway weeks are weeks from an exchange company like RCI, that would be illegal under RCI's rules. You can not legally sell or rent getaway weeks. That should have tipped you off right there that these bamboozlers are not legitimate and that they're trying to scam you.

 

[timeos2]

ANY group that calls YOU is 99% certain to be an upfront fee company. What are those? A group that makes great sounding promises to rent/lease/sell/transfer/etc your timeshare or system membership points at a good to great price. They often claim to have a buyer or a renter or a group wanting space, etc - but then YOU have to pay to assure the process gets done. In realty that is all they really want - the upfront money paid by you and they can basically disappear (you'll hear nothing more from them & they will be very hard to impossible to reach) to go after the next victim.

DO NOT try to deal with them as it is a scam. Forget any "guarantees" as they are unenforceable (ask yourself what recourse you'd have if you couldn't reach them tomorrow or they simply never followed through with the promises made). Forget any protection from a credit or debit card. They have things set up so what you are promised meets the minimum requirements to assure they, not you, get paid.

DO NOT try to use them or you will be out whatever money they manage to get from you. THAT is a guarantee you can bank on unlike the meaningless, unenforceable one they are trying to lure you in with.

 

[robinsutters]

[Shill!] Fidelity property management [Shill!]

We received a call from Jeff Rogers who said he worked for Fidelity Property Management. He said they could sell our Westgate Timeshare and our getaway weeks. He was asking for $1395 to post and sell our timeshare.

I am skeptical. I am new to this forum and am thinking about selling, but I've also read the warnings about never paying anything up front. We've been burned before.....

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hey kijowsb,

I was in the same position as you about 2 months ago, I got a call from one of their sales people a guy named Neil, he said he could rent my unit and would do it for a lifetime membership with them for 1390.00. Against my husbands wishes i went ahead and joined up. I was scared and unsure but Neil was great and kept me informed almost every week by start of the next month I had a check in hand for over 2500.00. If they never rent this unit again i will still be pleased and have added my other property in Gatlinburg to see if they will be able to rent this one with a couple of getaway weeks. I can't speak for everyone but my experience was excellent compared to 2 other companies i went with before. What you hear is mostly correct DONT deal with timeshare resale companies, from what i understand fidelity is a property management company and i can recomend them to anyone.

Robin

 

[aliikai2]

Shi'll be coming round the mountain when she comes.

Shi'll be coming round the mountain when she comes, shi'll be riding 6 white horses, shi'll be riding 6 white horses, shi'll be riding 6 white horses when she comes.:whoopie:

Coming here and posting for a scam company is pretty common for a company shill, please advise your boss that doing this just allows us to post more evidence that they are scammers, you have done yourselves no favors here today.

Greg

Hey kijowsb,

I was in the same position as you about 2 months ago, I got a call from one of their sales people a guy named Neil, he said he could rent my unit and would do it for a lifetime membership with them for 1390.00. Against my husbands wishes i went ahead and joined up. I was scared and unsure but Neil was great and kept me informed almost every week by start of the next month I had a check in hand for over 2500.00. If they never rent this unit again i will still be pleased and have added my other property in Gatlinburg to see if they will be able to rent this one with a couple of getaway weeks. I can't speak for everyone but my experience was excellent compared to 2 other companies i went with before. What you hear is mostly correct DONT deal with timeshare resale companies, from what i understand fidelity is a property management company and i can recomend them to anyone.

Robin

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Hey kijowsb,

I was in the same position as you about 2 months ago, I got a call from one of their sales people a guy named Neil, he said he could rent my unit and would do it for a lifetime membership with them for 1390.00. Against my husbands wishes i went ahead and joined up. I was scared and unsure but Neil was great and kept me informed almost every week by start of the next month I had a check in hand for over 2500.00. If they never rent this unit again i will still be pleased and have added my other property in Gatlinburg to see if they will be able to rent this one with a couple of getaway weeks. I can't speak for everyone but my experience was excellent compared to 2 other companies i went with before. What you hear is mostly correct DONT deal with timeshare resale companies, from what i understand fidelity is a property management company and i can recomend them to anyone.

Robin

Shi'll be coming round the mountain when she comes, shi'll be riding 6 white horses, shi'll be riding 6 white horses, shi'll be riding 6 white horses when she comes.:whoopie:

Coming here and posting for a scam company is pretty common for a company shill, please advise your boss that doing this just allows us to post more evidence that they are scammers, you have done yourselves no favors here today.

Greg

Too bad Robin is in Kentucky (ostensibly - can't check the IP address.) If she were on the coast somewhere we could do the old tongue-twister: "She shills!! She shills!! By the seashore!!"

 

[DeniseM]

Steve & Greg - Robin is NOT in Kentucky...she's in that state that is infamous for timeshare cold call boiler rooms! What a co-inky dink! It's the same state where this company is located!

 

[aliikai2]

So I guess my hill billy song

wasn't as appropriate as Steve's She Shills Sea Shills

You would think that after seeing every shill that comes here get beaten about the head and shoulders that they would get the message,
Maybe their new song should be Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick??

fwiw,

Greg

Steve - Robin is NOT in Kentucky...she's in that state that is infamous for timeshare cold call boiler rooms! What a co-inky dink! It's the same state where this company is located!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Steve - Robin is NOT in Kentucky...she's in that state that is infamous for timeshare cold call boiler rooms! What a co-inky dink! It's the same state where this company is located!

I'm not surprised. So say it five times, real fast "She sure shills her sell shills by the seashore!"

 

[Westgate Owner]

We received a call to see if we were interested in selling our timeshare. After speaking at length (they seem to have ALL the answers) we agreed on a price. The very next week, we got a call with an interested buyer.

Evidently, they were chomping at the bit to buy, and had been approved for financing . . . The contract was eSign sent to me and required my paying ONLY about $1500 for the transfer fees. Supposedly, this would occur only after the buyers had deposited their down payment in escrow, so that if the deal were to not go through, we would receive the 20% (about 5K). How could we lose??? I began to look into the Better Business Bureau and found a grade of "F" as opposed to "A" or "B" or "C" or even "D" !!! When I questioned my agent at Fidelity about this, he asked me to NOT sign the contract, and that he would send me one immediately himself for me to sign. NEVER HEARD BACK FROM HIM AGAIN!!!! (This is after he had called numerous times over a three day period to strike while the iron was hot!) Hmmm, do you think he got worried about something . . .?

 

[RX8]

They claim to be the world's largest resale marketplace. Lofty claims for a company with a website barely two years old. That website is loaded with outrageously priced timeshares. For the worlds largest marketplace I would expect thousands of timeshares but the fact is there are only about 12 states represented and some of those states have as few as one timeshare for sale. I would guess maybe 100 timeshares listed total, maybe even less.

They also claim to advertise on TV, radio, billboards, bus stops, etc... Here is what they say about the TV advertising.

"Yes. We are currently advertising on over 500 television stations. You've probably seen our ads on ESPN, The History Channel, The Travel Channel and many others even CNN.
If you are looking to sell or rent your timeshare, no other marketplace provides more television exposure than Fidelity Property management . As a timeshare buyer or timeshare renter, you can feel confident that we have the best selection because our massive advertising campaigns attract timeshare owners worldwide who want to advertise their timeshare property for sale."

Any one see these TV spots for over priced timeshares for sale? I would guess not.

BBB has them rated an F.

 

[mommybee6]

scammed?

we had fidelity properties from fl contact us. told us that they had buyers for our timeshare at westgate resorts located in branson. we sent them 2,000 dollars for closing costs. that was over 6 months ago. the person named david mills that originally contacted us i guess no longer works for them? very convienient. now they said the buyers according to them said they owe back taxes and have to pay them off first before they can continue to finish the loan. they told us that they are making weekly payments on their back taxes? anyway, this has gone on long enough. can rarely reach them by phone now. we dont know what else to do. this resort has set us back bigtime, and we wanted to sell, but now we are stuck again? and this place has our 2,000 dollars too!!

 

[DeniseM]

In a nut shell - they stole your money, don't send them any more.

 

[mommybee6]

they have not asked for anything more......its very confusing for us.

 

[Rent_Share]

I bet somebody else will call and offer to recover from them for a fee

 

[DeniseM]

they have not asked for anything more......its very confusing for us.

They are going to ask you to pay the tax, and tell you they will refund it after the sale. Don't do it!

 

[timeos2]

All too typical example of "service" you pay thousands for & still own the timeshare (s). Overall about 99%+ of these groups are just ripoffs & do not accomplish what you want.

Do not try to deal with any of them & certainly not this one.