Thanks for all the responses. This is my first contact with TUG and its' been enlightening to browse the site.
I'm not attending any meeting thanks to your input. We've been satisfied with our ownership with HGVC for the 7 years we've been with them.
HGVC did respond to me directly, here's the content of that email which is also reassuring:
Thank you for reaching out regarding the suspicious call you received from TFC.
Although your email is the first I have heard of TFC, their tactic is not new. There are a number of unscrupulous operators seeking upfront fees from timeshare owners based on false claims and illusory services.
A common scam is for a caller to attempt to use scare tactics to try and convince you that they you should hire them to help you get out of your timeshare. These scare tactics often include claims that maintenance fees will increase substantially, that other owners are unhappy, etc. but in this case it would seem the scare tactic would be what appears to be a false claim about a "legal filing" regarding deceptive trade practices.
The caller then invites you to a meeting or dinner event, often at a hotel or restaurant. At the meeting, the customer is asked to pay a large upfront fee (often in the thousands of dollars) with the promise to transfer the timeshare out of the owner’s name. Sometimes they promise a money back guarantee.
Typically, if an owner subscribes or enrolls in this type of program, they are directed to stop making any maintenance fee or loan payments. Often this results in the owner going into foreclosure - which the owner could do without paying an upfront fee to a third party. In other situations they end up still owning their existing timeshare but in lock-out status (meaning they can't use it), but the money back guarantee is typically never honored. And, in some cases the owner is unknowingly enrolled in an entirely new travel program on top of their existing timeshare.
Although we would caution you against these type of scams, the most important detail is to avoid paying an upfront fees. Fees for legitimate services are generally provided after the service is performed.
Below are a few links with additional information that may also be of interest. The first link appears to be related to TFC, while others are regarding exit scams in general:
https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/a...-agent-for-getting-out-of-a-timeshare.318151/
https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/o...ort-timeshare-exit-scams.335042/#post-2747340
https://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/t048-c000-s004-don-t-fall-for-timeshare-exit-scams.html
https://responsibleexit.com/news-and-alerts/
Thank you again for reaching out and I hope this information is helpful.
