How to cancel Sheraton Flex long after recission period

[CoreyW]

Hello,
I purchased a Sheraton Flex plan (51,800 points- even years) at Vistana in Orlando, FL a the beginning of 2017.
I have since been unable to book anything through Vistana or Interval International. Booking through Vistana at any resort that is not 'in my priority' is nearly impossible and Interval International appears to be practically useless as nothing is ever available.
Does anyone have any idea what the lawyers charging $3-5k to cancel these contracts are putting in writing exactly. I have lawyers in other specialized fields (outside of real estate) that can help me put together a letter if I know how to approach the cancellation.

Thank you to anyone with advise who may have cancelled these Sheraton Flex contracts before!

 

[vacationtime1]

Hello,
I purchased a Sheraton Flex plan (51,800 points- even years) at Vistana in Orlando, FL a the beginning of 2017.
I have since been unable to book anything through Vistana or Interval International. Booking through Vistana at any resort that is not 'in my priority' is nearly impossible and Interval International appears to be practically useless as nothing is ever available.
Does anyone have any idea what the lawyers charging $3-5k to cancel these contracts are putting in writing exactly. I have lawyers in other specialized fields (outside of real estate) that can help me put together a letter if I know how to approach the cancellation.

Thank you to anyone with advise who may have cancelled these Sheraton Flex contracts before!

Lawyers do not have magic words or magic incantations to void valid contracts -- and timeshare contracts are iron tight after the rescission period is over. Paying someone $3-5K to write a letter is throwing good money after bad.

Your best options are learning how to use your purchase (hang around here) or to sell it or give it away (unfortunately, it is virtually valueless).

 

[Passepartout]

There are NO magic words that will cancel a properly drawn contract. Unless you can prove some sort of fraud, it's unlikely that you can magically cancel this. If it's paid for and current, you can sell it or give it away, or as I see that you just found TUG, you can hang around here for a while, do some reading and find how you can get the use from it that you bought it for. It could be as simple as setting up a search for an exchange instead of taking the leftovers in the online catalog. Any surprise that the desirable weeks are gone? Nope.

Good luck, we wish you well, and advise strongly against signing up for ANY upfront fee outfit to get you out of a contract. We have found all of them to be scams.

Jim

 

[taterhed]

Interval International appears to be practically useless as nothing is ever available.

Hi Corey.

I'm sorry you're having problems....and I certainly understand your frustration and regret.

Two things:

1. You are well past the rescission period. Unless you have a legal box full of written/recorded iron-clad documentation as to why your contract is fraudulent, why you were coerced illegally or simply not competent to sign......you're the proud owner of your vacation interest. Sorry, but they are good at what they do and there is little to 'wiggle out of.'
2. Anyone who tells you that you can 'dump your timeshare now...' is lying through their teeth.....more than the salesman that sold it to you. DONT pay money up front, DONT pursue breaking the contract. You're likely wasting your time and money. Yes, if you had the legal team of OJ Simpson and lots of cash and time....I'm sure you could drag the thing through court long enough to convince them to accept a settlement. But, that's foolishness.

Finally, learn to use what you've got. Vacations are good. Not using your timeshare interest due to lack of knowledge, experience etc... is a shame.
Your statement about Interval International is telling; they have great inventory.....but it won't jump into your vacation calendar without some experience and patience.

You've come to the right place....take some time and opinions from experienced Tugger's and learn what your options are.

 

[CoreyW]

Thank you so much for the quick responses. My family and I love vacationing which is why we bought in. We started with the smallest point package to try it out before upgrading at a possible later date. Are there any developed threads you may be able to direct me to on the forum on how best to deal with and navigate this vacation share?

 

[Ckhawaii]

What are you looking to accomplish with your ownership? Any particular destinations within the Vistana system?

51,100 options EOY isn’t a whole lot of options, but I wouldn’t throw in the towel... that contract is iron clad. Learn from these guys on how to use it. If you’re expecting to get to Hawaii or a large unit in Mexico or the Carribean, you’re going to need more options. You can easily pick up a SVV mandatory here in Tug for nothing, but first learn how the system works before committing yourself to anymore MF.

Have you had any luck with the II getaways?

 

[Passepartout]

Start with the 'sticky' s at the top of this forum. No one thread can possibly educate you on the intracies of making a small package of eoy points work for you, not knowing what you want out of them. Maybe you should start back at square one with the newbies questionnaire in that newbies forum so we know more about what you want.

Oh, Welcome to TUG! We've missed you.

 

[taterhed]

Thank you so much for the quick responses. My family and I love vacationing which is why we bought in. We started with the smallest point package to try it out before upgrading at a possible later date. Are there any developed threads you may be able to direct me to on the forum on how best to deal with and navigate this vacation share?

Start by reading some info in these threads:
FAQ on S. Flex https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/flex-options-f-a-q.238504/
Flex and II https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/sheraton-flex-is-more-flexible-in-ii.230898/

Post some questions about 'how to reserve Sheraton Flex....how to exchange in Interval Sheraton Flex ' etc... in the Vistana thread of the Forum: https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/vistana-signature-experiences-formerly-starwood.51/

Study the FAQ's and then post some specific questions. You'll be amazed by the great advice.

Also, consider starting a conversation with @okwiater this is the member that wrote the FAQ I think....

cheers.

 

[DannyTS]

Hello,
I purchased a Sheraton Flex plan (51,800 points- even years) at Vistana in Orlando, FL a the beginning of 2017.
I have since been unable to book anything through Vistana or Interval International.

You were probably sold on the flexibility of the booking, they make is sound like it is similar to a reservation on Expedia. It is not. As others commented, your best option is actually to try to use it. With Vistana book exactly 8 months before the check in and you should be able to find some good resorts to go to. Have an open mind, just wanting one resort or 2 and at particular dates may yield some random success but will often lead to frustration. There are tons of posts on Tug about how to successfully book on Vistana and II websites.

Of course you can try to sell but you will get close to nothing for it, may actually incur costs and it will take time and effort to do it because it is not a desirable resale contract. I would argue that it may take you less time to learn how to use the system. We are new owners and i find the Vistana reservation system decent (once you understand the limitations). I actually like the premium overall feeling of the site. I cannot say the same about the II website, I do not find it very user friendly. This comes from a very new user again so i may be able to learn it better in time.

One "hack" is to save the codes (separated by comas) of the resorts you want to go to. I took the time and have tens of resorts in separate lists: Sun, driving distance from Eastern Canada, Europe, mountain resorts etc. Should it be that way? No, i think that II should have a smarter search system but at least it allows me to find more deals that I can ever use in the next year. This is even without the ongoing search, I am talking about good quality properties of course. It may not be a bad idea to have an alert on the "sighting" section on Tug. Good luck

 

[DannyTS]

You were probably sold on the flexibility of the booking, they make is sound like it was similar to a reservation on Expedia. It is not. As others commented, your best option is actually to try to use it. With Vistana book exactly 8 months before the check in and you should be able to find some good resorts to go to. Have an open mind, just wanting one resort or 2 and at particular dates may yield some random success but will often lead to frustration. There are tons of posts on Tug about how to successfully book on Vistana and II websites.

Of course you can try to sell but you will get close to nothing for it, may actually incur costs and it will take time and effort to do it because it is not a desirable resale contract. I would argue that it may take you less time to learn how to use the system. We are new owners and i find the Vistana reservation system decent (once you understand the limitations). I actually like the premium overall feeling of the site. I cannot say the same about the II website, I do not find it very user friendly. This comes from a very new user again so i may be able to learn it better in time.

One "hack" is to save the codes (separated by comas) of the resorts you want to go to. I took the time and have tens of resorts in separate lists: Sun, driving distance from Eastern Canada, Europe, mountain resorts etc. Should it be that way? No, i think that II should have a smarter search system but at least it allows me to find more deals that I can ever use in the next year. This is even without the ongoing search, I am talking about good quality properties of course. It may not be a bad idea to have an alert on the "sighting" section on Tug. Good luck

One more thing if I may add. I see that you just joined today so you did not have much time to absorb the info on Tug. I have been active on this forum (joined about 3 months ago) and i have learned a ton so far. I really do not know what i would have done without it.

 

[taterhed]

One "hack" is to save the codes (separated by comas) of the resorts you want to go to. I took the time and have tens of resorts in separate lists: Sun, driving distance from Eastern Canada, Europe, mountain resorts etc. Should it be that way? No, i think that II should have a smarter search system but at least it allows me to find more deals that I can ever use in the next year. This is even without the ongoing search, I am talking about good quality properties of course. It may not be a bad idea to have an alert on the "sighting" section on Tug. Good luck

The sightings thread on TUG is a 'Members only' option. Additionally, there are some spreadsheets produced by a TUG member @youppi in the sighitings thread that give you all the Interval or RCI codes. You can then make a search group of codes to make your Interval searches more productive.

I strongly advocate becoming a member of TUG; it's the best $15 you'll spend on your timeshare!

Cheers.

 

[KACTravels]

I have collected these codes from previous threads. I have not vetted them recently for accuracy:
VISTANA II:
WDL, KAA, KAN, WKV, WLR, WLX, WMH, WNA, WPV, WRF, WSJ, STW, SDI, VTA, VT1, SRM, VIT, VIO, SVV, VIS, HRA, LFP

HYATT II:
HBK, HCC, HMS, HYI, HYP, HYA, HYB, HSH, HWP, HSL, HNS, HKB, HYS, HYK, HYN, HRP, TYL, GBJ

FOUR SEASONS II:
FSC, FSF, FSP, FOU, FSA, FS1, SCT, SC4

MARRIOTT II:
SRK, MHI, MGA, MG1, MG3, MG5, MHO, MWF, MCU, MFL, MQB, MNY, MSQ, MPP, MGQ, MAO, MSU, MBF, MBY, MBP, MCV, MEM, MMI, MCP, MDS, MPD, MFV, MFC, MGC, MC1, MGO, MGV, MGR, MHH, MHZ, MZ2, HPS, MHG, MIP, MKW, MKI, MKO, MK1, MGK, MLE, MKB, MMC, MSE, MMB, MMO, MM1, MMS, MVL, MV2, MOU, NCV, MPB, MOW, MVO, MPU, MP1, MUZ, MRP, MSP, MRD, MR2, MSK, MDO, MVB, MEV, MSW, MSN, MSF, MML, MVF, MVD, MWO, MAW, MA1, MHB, MH2, RMX, SYA, MS1

Starwood and Marriott:
WDL, KAA, KAN, WKV, WLR, WLX, WMH, WNA, WPV, WRF, WSJ, STW, SDI, VTA, VT1, SRM, VIT, VIO, SVV, VIS, HRA, LFP, SRK, MHI, MGA, MG1, MG3, MG5, MHO, MWF, MCU, MFL, MQB, MNY, MSQ, MPP, MGQ, MAO, MSU, MBF, MBY, MBP, MCV, MEM, MMI, MCP, MDS, MPD, MFV, MFC, MGC, MC1, MGO, MGV, MGR, MHH, MHZ, MZ2, HPS, MHG, MIP, MKW, MKI, MKO, MK1, MGK, MLE, MKB, MMC, MSE, MMB, MMO, MM1, MMS, MVL, MV2, MOU, NCV, MPB, MOW, MVO, MPU, MP1, MUZ, MRP, MSP, MRD, MR2, MSK, MDO, MVB, MEV, MSW, MSN, MSF, MML, MVF, MVD, MWO, MAW, MA1, MHB, MH2, RMX, SYA, MS1

ALL: HRA, KA1, KAA, KAN, LFP, PGA, PGN, SDI, SRM, STW, SVV, SXP, VIO, VIS, VIT, VKM, VO1, VS1, VTA, VVM, WDL, WEJ, WKV, WLR, WLX, WMH, WNA, WPV, WRF, WSJ, WV1, GBJ, FS1, FSA, SC4, SCT, HPS, MA1, MAO, MAW, MBF, MBP, MBY, MC1, MCP, MCU, MCV, MDO, MDS, MEM, MEV, MFC, MFL, MFV, MG1, MG3, MG5, MGA, MGC, MGK, MGO, MGR, MGV, MH2, MHB, MHG, MHH, MHO, MHZ, MIP, MK1, MKB, MKI, MKO, MKW, MLE, MM1, MMB, MMC, MMI, MML, MMO, MMS, MNY, MOI, MOU, MOW, MP1, MPB, MPD, MPP, MPU, MQB, MR2, MRD, MRP, MS1, MSE, MSF, MSK, MSN, MSP, MSQ, MSU, MSW, MUZ, MV2, MVB, MVD, MVF, MVL, MVO, MWF, MWO, MZ2, NCV, LXR, LX2, LJX, APZ, GBM, GBN, RCB, CII, HEC, ROI, VDF, VGR, VG3, RCQ, MBE, GSE, GSD, GSF, GMC, MC3, RDI, WKO, VLS, MCZ, HVB, CRH, ITB, GP8, GP7, PPB, PMT, VBL, ITD, FSC, IPS, HTB, HT2, HT3, IN1, CL3

 

[CoreyW]

I am going to start digging into all of the info on this site and will report back with any questions. Thank you all for the information and support!