First eBay Timeshare purchase out of a few that has become a problem

[Egret1986]

Update

Any up-date on this?

Ray

The first email I sent the seller and closing company, prior to speaking directly with the actual owner resulted in the seller contacting me, sugary sweet and sending my family well wishes, and assuring me I had purchased what was listed. The closing company never contacted me.

After speaking to the actual previous owner and finding out I did not actually own the unit that was listed, I sent a couple more emails to both the seller and the closing company indicating that the resort was correct in stating that I did not own the unit that was listed on eBay. Additionally, I requested a copy of the Estoppel letter and the name of the South Carolina attorney who handled this transaction. There has been no contact by either VIN nor TCS.

VIN and the closing company, Timeshare Closing Services (VIN's affiliate) provide documents along with the Sales Contract with their "guarantee" that if they do not provide clear title to the timeshare as listed, then the buyer will receive a full refund including closing costs and the transaction reversed.

Well, that guarantee is worth about as much as the paper it was printed on obviously. I really wanted the transaction reversed with a refund. It looks like if I want that to possibly happen, then I will have to really work at it utilizing some of the options suggested in this thread. There was a total of $775.00 to purchase, close and transfer ownership for this timeshare. It was not a major cash outlay. It is simply not the unit that I wished to own at this resort and I would not have bid on it had it been listed with the correct unit number.

I'm in the middle of a major remodel on my home and I am drained from this project. It should be done at the end of the month and I may pursue this further at that time. I will not; however, expend any additional cash to pursue this, only energy. I believe I have seen other folks respond that they have gotten refunds from these PCC's when there has been an error.

This auction was won last September and transfer of ownership was finalized in November. I only found out recently about the unit number because I got the reservation from the resort for the upcoming week with a different unit number than what I thought I bought. Maybe the seller and closing company felt that I sat on this too long, although I fully explained the circumstances.

I thought I did due diligence, but now I know better. Maybe this has been addressed before on TUG, but I have been on TUG for a few years now and didn't realize that I needed to check to make sure about the possibility that someone selling a timeshare was referring to a lot number as opposed to a unit number. I did not get the actual owner's name when I checked with the resort, only the unit number and week.

One last thing that VIN includes in their sales documents with their guarantee is their desire to maintain positive feedback. Well, I don't think I have ever left feedback on eBay for a timeshare purchase because by the time everything is finalized, it is usually past the 90 day deadline for leaving feedback.

 

[riverdees05]

Good Learnings

Thanks for the information, some good learnings here for everyone. Some of my timeshare deeds are difficult to read and understand, especially the floating ones.

 

[Talent312]

I respect the OP trying to fix this and wish him luck. But what about the unfortunate seller. The seller accepted an offer for the unit he was selling and delivered a deed for that unit to the buyer. AFAIK, he did nothing wrong. Should he have to take back the unit because the buyer discovered later that it wasn't the one he wanted? <Food for Thought>

 

[rsackett]

I respect the OP trying to fix this and wish him luck. But what about the unfortunate seller. The seller accepted an offer for the unit he was selling and delivered a deed for that unit to the buyer. AFAIK, he did nothing wrong. Should he have to take back the unit because the buyer discovered later that it wasn't the one he wanted? <Food for Thought>

Yes he should. He advertised it as "Unit number ###” but that was not the unit number it was the lot number. The buyer wanted unit number ### and thought that is what they were buying since that is what was advertised.

If I advertise a ring on ebay as having "a perfect 14ct diamond set in gold" and it turns out the ring was "a perfectly good diamond set in 14kt gold". I would expect the buyer to be upset and want the deal canceled.


Ray

 

[Egret1986]

I dont' feel it was an intentional bait and switch...

...but I believe that if these sellers (not the owners) provide documents that they have you sign, along with the sales contract listing a specific unit number, stating that if they can't deliver clear title to what was listed in the auction then they will reverse the transaction and refund all proceeds; then they should. That is what has happened; the unit listed was not the unit that was sold. The actual owner paid $3500 for these folks to relieve him of his timeshare. They failed to list and provide a sales contract stating the correct unit number. I don't get why I should feel sorry for them if they stood behind their word and did what they said they would do.

I have been involved in the buying and/or selling of about 15 timeshares over 20+ years and have never experienced this issue of a lot number being utilized that had absolutely no significance to the actual unit number.

Since I have never experienced this nor remember reading about this happening to others on TUG, I started this thread to let others know that it is indeed something to be aware of when conducting due diligence. That was the food for thought I was serving up.

Some folks do actually buy timeshares to be in a particular unit and that was what I thought I was doing. Perhaps others are more savvy, more experienced, more knowledgeable, etc.; and would have known that in conducting their due diligence to dig deeper and question the unit number being sold. For my ignorance, I now own a unit that I did not knowingly purchase.

 

[Jennie]

I have bought many timeshares through the years from resale companies and more recently, Ebay. I always trusted the description on the web sites. It never occurred to me that perhaps the seller had not done the proper "homework." I guess I'm just lucky that it never 'back-fired" on me.

I got a wake-up call when, browsing through ads at www.myresortnetwork.com I saw that a private party had listed my exact unit and week for sale. I sent him an Email asking for an explanation. He called me and insisted that he had a deed to "my" unit, had owned it for 20+ years, and that he had used it or rented it every year. I told him this was impossible, as I have been using it every year. He was an older, very polite man and certainly did not seem to be dishonest (or senile).

So I called the resort manager and they checked the records and confirmed that he owned the week in question. However, the number that was on his unit when he bought it, had been changed a few years later, and had been assigned to my unit. It's a long complicated story so I won't go into detail as to why they did that. It only affected a few units. The gentleman apparently did not receive the notices mailed to him telling him to return his deed so it could be re-recorded with the new number (at the resort's expense). He never noticed the new number hanging outside the door to his unit all those years. AND the resort never noticed that his deed had not been "updated."

If I hadn't happened upon the sale ad, it could have been a big mess. The new buyer-to-be, who had sent him a deposit, was familiar with the resort and had believed she was about to buy my unit. This was important to her because her sister owns the unit next door (same week). The other unit was way on the other side of the resort, which would not have been acceptable to her. We would have both shown up at the same time the next year, both expecting to be owning and using my unit.

Fortunately, the error was caught and corrected. The man found another buyer soon thereafter. The wanna-be buyer made a very generous offer to buy my unit and I was tempted to sell it to her. But hubby, mother-in-law, and DD would have none of it.

You can be sure that I do much more "due diligence" since then.

 

[riverdees05]

I have found that some owners and a lot of sellers (esp. post card companies) do not know exactly what they are trying to sell for an owner. Let the buyer be aware, do their homework and hope they discover any problems before they purchase. If the buyer and closing company provides a money back guarantee, then they should stand behind it, if the buyer does not want the unit. I sure wouldn't want to buy an ocean front as listed and find out it was garden front unit.

 

[Talent312]

...The gentleman apparently did not receive the notices mailed to him telling him to return his deed so it could be re-recorded with the new number (at the resort's expense). He never noticed the new number hanging outside the door to his unit all those years. AND the resort never noticed that his deed had not been "updated."...

Great post that explains a lot.
Here, I'd fault the resort for relying on a legal description in its deed that used door numbers. That's foolish. Had they given each unit a construction number in their recorded plan and used that # in their deeds, there'd be no need for changing anyone's deed. The fellow may have still listed your door # (thinking it was his), but at least his contract+deed would not have described only what he owned and not your unit.