International Event Coordinators?

[gomezlor]

Has anyone worked with International Event Coordinators? They've sent me an offer to rent 20 timeshare weeks from me with no up front fee, and commission payable only after I've received my payment. Sounds legit, but I'm very gunshy after being ripped off so many times. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[DeniseM]

What happened on your other deal?

Let me guess: They are renting timeshares for conventions and other corporate activities.

1) Corporations hold events at major hotels with convention centers - not timeshares.

2) The market is flooded with cheap rentals - there is no need to solicit them.

Ask them to send you the contract and read all the fine print. This sounds like a typical scam, and I bet you anything there is a hidden upfront fee. My guess is that it will be taxes or something like that.

 

[gomezlor]

...

This is actually for another timeshare I own (Mayan Bliss). Sigh....

You're probably right. I'm having an attorney look over this one, and will never give money up front again. That's for sure!

 

[LannyPC]

Has anyone worked with International Event Coordinators? They've sent me an offer to rent 20 timeshare weeks from me with no up front fee, and commission payable only after I've received my payment. Sounds legit, but I'm very gunshy after being ripped off so many times. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Do you really own 20 weeks? If so, how did this company know you had them?

Do you have their phone #? If so, type it into a search engine and see what pops up. That number is usually connected to either another scam company or a company that deals with other items than timeshares. It might also appear on ripoffreport.com.

 

[Rent_Share]

are you sure they don't need 419 weeks ?

 

[DeniseM]

Do you really own 20 weeks? If so, how did this company know you had them?

With the Mexican RTU resorts, usage is structured differently. This wouldn't be 20 different deeds. This would be 20 reservations on one deed.

 

[gomezlor]

Lanny PC - I have 4 weeks a year for 25 years. Thanks for the idea about searching their phone number. Will do now.

Rent_Share - I don't understand your question about 419 weeks....

 

[HudsHut]

You originally posted on the Sierra thread on January 20, 2010.
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showpost.php?p=850796&postcount=17

That thread is so far 5 pages long. Many experienced TUG members warned you that it was a scam and advised you to ask your credit card company to reverse the charges.

On August 16, 2010 at 12:14 pm, you implied that you still believed you were going to get paid.

On Aug 16, 2010 at 12:45 pm, (31 minutes later) you ask about another company running the same scam????

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of these companies. If doesn't matter if we have heard the exact name. They change their names all the time.

The scam is the same.

 

[gomezlor]

Hudshut - I appreciate your feedback, but there is no need to talk down to me. I'm learning, as I'm sure many other people out there are. I am here for advice, not to be demeaned.

 

[famy27]

They are getting trickier

I think that some scammers may be getting wise to the ways of TUG. They know that anyone who searches here will get the very sound advice to stay far away from anything with an upfront fee.

I took a look at this company's website, and it seems (emphasis on "seems") to follow the rule to stay away from upfront fees, saying that they charge 5% commission with no upfront fees. The site also gives much greater detail than any I have seen about how they supposedly get their inventory and why they allegedly have a need for it.

However, I still have LOTS of questions about this company and would personally be very wary of renting/selling weeks to them. If they have been a top event planner since 2003, why was their website registered in June of 2010? Also, I can't find any information about this company, other than forum postings (here and at other sites) like this original post, saying owners had been contacted by the company and looking for more info. The forum posts seem to have started in July of this year.

For whom have they been hosting events for the past seven years? And from whom have they been obtaining their inventory for large events for the past seven years as well? I just can't believe that they have been hosting events for groups of 125 or more for many years (and renting/buying inventory from individual timeshare owners) without it registering on the TUG radar. Seems mighty unusual to me...

I don't know for sure that this is a scam or how it operates, but there seem to be red flags aplenty here, JMHO

 

[gomezlor]

.

Famy27 - thank you so much for your insight. It was extremely valuable to me.

I did some sleuthing on my own and you'll probably not be surprised as to what I found.

I did a google map search of the supposed address of the company, and it showed that it was located at a shopping mall in Tulsa, OK. So, I contacted the mall manager to verify them as a tenant. Not only were they not a tenant there, but the unit that they claimed to inhabit had most recently been rented by a timeshare resaler that wes kicked out after 3 days for "suspicious activity". Coincidence? I think not.

So, I contacted the Tulas Police Department and filed a fraud report, and I filed a complaint on line with the Internet Complaint Center as per the Tulsa PD's request.

Moral of the story is that a little detective work (and the advice of folks on here) saved me a bunch of money, and maybe these crooks will get caught this time around.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Hudshut - I appreciate your feedback, but there is no need to talk down to me. I'm learning, as I'm sure many other people out there are. I am here for advice, not to be demeaned.

I'm sure this is going to come across as speaking down to you. So be it.

Reading through your posts, though, you seem to believe that when someone makes a post questioning a decision you have made, you interpret that as demeaning and talking down to you.

I'm not quite sure what to say. With people in your situation, our objective is to help people not get scammed out of their money, which includes alerting people when they seem to be entertaining ideas of doing something that they have already been warned about.

So if your definition of "help" implicitly includes "... and please don't tell me when you think I might be making a mistake" then it's no wonder that you don't find this to be a "helpful" place that gives "good" advice and that you feel as if you are being demeaned..

 

[Rent_Share]

Rent_Share - I don't understand your question about 419 weeks....

Google 419 SCAM


Someone Promises you something of value, but you must pay a fee in order to receive it . . . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud

It's been around for a while

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Prisoner

The Spanish Prisoner is a confidence trick dating back to the late 1800s.[1] In its original form, the confidence man (con-man) tells his victim (the mark) that he is in correspondence with a wealthy person of high estate [Timeshare Buyer] who has been imprisoned in Spain under a false identity. The alleged prisoner cannot reveal his identity without serious repercussions, and is relying on a friend (the confidence trickster) to raise money to secure his release. [Closing Costs, Apparaisals] The confidence trickster offers to let the victim supply some of the money, with a promise that he will be rewarded generously when the prisoner returns: financially and perhaps also by being married to the prisoner's beautiful daughter. However, once the victim has turned over his money, he learns that further difficulties have arisen, requiring more money, and the trickster continues attempting to get more money until the victim is cleaned out and the process ends, presumably with the victim realizing he has been defrauded and that there is neither a rich man, nor a reward coming to him.