Smtn.com, how can i get my money back?

[leos1]

We listed our wyndham ownership for sale with them, now one year later we have not had one email from them about interesting buyer, we have lowerd the price few times and nothing, we paid them upfront sales fee and now i know we have been taken for a ride, i want my money back but has anyone been able to do that??

Ps: now we know to never use service that you have to pay sales fee upfront
They say only way to get refund is to show proof of sale with other company but it is not for sale anymore


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[friedshrimp]

We listed our wyndham ownership for sale with them, now one year later we have not had one email from them about interesting buyer, we have lowerd the price few times and nothing, we paid them upfront sales fee and now i know we have been taken for a ride, i want my money back but has anyone been able to do that??

Ps: now we know to never use service that you have to pay sales fee upfront
They say only way to get refund is to show proof of sale with other company but it is not for sale anymore


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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but no, you will not be able to get your money back. They fulfilled their end of the bargain (which is a bad bargain) by listing the property for sale.

 

[Talent312]

You have been scammed and now the scam has come home to roost.
Never pay an upfront fee to list/market/sell a TS -- it's always bogus.

It's fairly easy to DIY on a variety of online sites w/o throwing $$ away.

 

[leos1]

Had that feeling right away...... I did read that some one sent them email saying that he will start a negative feedback every where there company name was involved if they would not pay back his money, don't know if that did work for him, they maybe dont care


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[friedshrimp]

Had that feeling right away...... I did read that some one sent them email saying that he will start a negative feedback every where there company name was involved if they would not pay back his money, don't know if that did work for him, they maybe dont care


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They change names so often they probably just got a good laugh out of the threat and that was it.

 

[VacationForever]

They change names so often they probably just got a good laugh out of the threat and that was it.

They have been around for a long time, as far back as I was doing a bit more research on sale of timeshare. On their site, it said it was founded since 2003.

 

[Passepartout]

Not defending either this seller or the listing agent, but so far, no mention has been made of the price the seller was either promised, or had asked the listing agent to get for this ownership.

Was the listed price for this timeshare in the ballpark of what other ownerships of the size of this one are selling for? Using eBay, it is easy to tell if it's price is realistic.

As we all know, timeshares today sell for a small fraction of their original cost from the developer. If the listing agent contacted the seller, saying they could get an unrealistic price if the seller would pay an upfront fee, it wasn't lying, it was just a scam, like we see daily here.

In short, OP isn't EVER getting ANY money back.

Jim

 

[tschwa2]

SMTN typically does a hard sell trying to convince owners that ebay prices aren't market price and they have such great exposure- yada yada yada. Their agents for the most part, seem very timeshare industry sleaze and will say anything to get their sale (your upfront listing fee) even if that means convincing you that your timeshare is worth and should easily sell on their site for $10,000-$20,000 more than a similar ebay completed sale. They typically charge $600-$2,000 for a single listing. They might throw in a title examination credit but still require potential buyers to go their their brokers and paying closing cost and other fees that are 4-6X's the fees charged by closings companies recommended on TUG.

 

[leos1]

That's exectly what they did, the sales person told me that we should be asking for 20k and could get few k out of that sale, they could not promise but that should be resonable price, since than we have lowerd the price few times but i see now that we would never get that price. I paid them 1500$ for this service hahaha omg, I sent them email last night and told them to cansel the contract and if they have it in there heart to pay me back for i know now what kind of buisness there in, 8 months with out a single email about interest......crap


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[dioxide45]

I would at least write a complaint to whatever regulator exists in the state they do business. Perhaps Florida? If so, write a complaint to the Florida States Attorney General. They perhaps didn't break any laws, but complaints get attention and if there are a lot of them, they get more attention. Something that SMTN doesn't really want.

They are offering a service that does not work for a price which would lead many to believe it works great. Was the person you spoke with a licensed real estate agent? If not, they likely broke the law by offering you advice on the sales price of your timeshare.

 

[TUGBrian]

here are some suggestions we make for folks who feel they have been scammed as an attempt to get a refund

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/timeshare_scam_retaliation.html

 

[leos1]

Thank you peoble..... Will definitely use that info and follow through with reporting the scam


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[theo]

Volunteers are not "victims"...

I would at least write a complaint to whatever regulator exists in the state they do business. Perhaps Florida? If so, write a complaint to the Florida States Attorney General. They perhaps didn't break any laws, but complaints get attention and if there are a lot of them, they get more attention. Something that SMTN doesn't really want.

They are offering a service that does not work for a price which would lead many to believe it works great. Was the person you spoke with a licensed real estate agent? If not, they likely broke the law by offering you advice on the sales price of your timeshare.

With all due respect, letter writing and complaining will almost certainly be a complete waste of time and effort in this instance. I have no use for SMTN, which has been plying its' trade for nearly 15 years now, "listing" timeshare properties for people who have voluntarily chosen to pay them a hefty fee to do so. SMTN offers absolutely no promises of results or outcome, only promising to "list" the timeshare --- which they do. I believe that SMTN audio-records conversations with their voluntarily paying "customers", in order to protect themselves from false claims and to document the details of any and all pertinent conversations regarding costs or "services".

SMTN will prove to be completely ineffective for most would-be sellers, but IMnsHO there is simply no substantive or valid basis for "complaint" to an AG office by anyone who freely and voluntarily chose to pay up front and out of pocket to engage this particular advertising venue, expensive and ineffective though it may be.

Dr. Philip McGraw has a terse but directly applicable saying for such matters --- "There are no victims, only volunteers". Sadly, the OP volunteered.

 

[bogey21]

You asked "How can I get my money back"? The simple answer is "You can't"!

George

 

[dioxide45]

With all due respect, letter writing and complaining will be a complete waste of time and effort in this instance. I certainly have no particular use for SMTN, which has been plying its' trade for nearly 15 years now --- "listing" timeshare properties for people who have voluntarily chosen to pay them a hefty fee to do so, offering absolutely no promises of results or outcome. I believe that SMTN even audio-records conversations with their voluntarily paying "customers".

What exactly would be the basis of "complaint" to an AG office?

If everyone who fell victim to these scammers did so, would you not think someone would take notice? Perhaps not, but we won't know since everyone is scammed and then moves on. They have a very questionable business model, perhaps not illegal, but perhaps some attention can get some things changed. One letter won't do anything, but if everyone who is scammed does something, perhaps something can happen.

Sure it may be futile, but we won't know unless someone tries.

 

[leos1]

If the sales person would have said" we will put in an ad with price that you will think you are going to make money out of but in real it is so high that nobody will ever buy it, then you can contact us several times to lower the price and i will make sure that you will not lower the price to much so that you will wait many more months but in real nobody will ever buy this no matter what the price is and this i know" so are we all set..... Ohh and yes this will cost you 1500$ upfront.......... Who would buy this?? The truth does not sell, the lie dous


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[leos1]

This i got from them after i told them to cansel the contract and remove the ad, and pay back my money for this is bullshit. Dear Eyjolfur,

I have received your email. Unfortunately, at this time you do not qualify for a refund of your advertisement fee. As an advertising company, we are not legally required to offer a refund policy. We offer this as a courtesy of our program, under strict guidelines described below:

We offer to refund the advertising fee if a timeshare is sold through another timeshare resale company while it is being advertised on our site, as long as it is sold at the same price or higher. We offer this as a courtesy and feature of our program.

We would be more than happy to assist you with the sale of your timeshare. It is very important to stay proactive with your listing and to consider adjusting your price if need be to attract a buyer.

Updating your ad with new prices and comments will help to not only attract more buyers, but increase their interest. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee the time and price that will attract the serious buyer. Please consider the different motivations when pricing--some people have drastically reduced their price due to their desperation to sell, where as others are being aggressive by making slow price decreases in smaller increments. Considering to be priced more competitively may help attract more serious buyers to negotiate with.

We wish to assist you in any way we can, and hopefully this information will help you with the sale of your timeshare. Please continue to feel free to contact us at any time in the future if you need our assistance. For all other questions or inquiries please feel free to email/call us at customercare@sellmytimesharenow.net or 1-877-815-4227.

***
Andrea McManus | Customer Care Specialist | SellMyTimeshareNOW LLC | Toll Free: 877.815.4227 | Direct: 603.516.0200 | Fax: 603.516.0757


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[dioxide45]

The problem with SMTN is they have slick marketing targeting the uninformed. Much like Timeshares Only. I don't know if they are even still around.

A lot of people believe their timeshare is worth what they bought it for or more. The sales rep likely told them that timeshares always go up in price. Outfits like this just purported it more. Who would pay $1500 to sell something when the outfit tells them they can only get $1 for it on EBay. They need to show a value to what is being sold to justify the high fee.