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Westgate v. Timeshare Exit Team lawsuit set for trial 1/5/2021

TUGBrian

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Bunk

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Looks like a case of the pot calling the kettle black
Here is the court decision.
Westgate said there were at least 600 cases in which unit owners defaulted on mortgages and or maintenance fees. I don't see why an owner defaulting on a mortgage should affect Westgate as developer or HOA, unless Westgate is holding those mortgages, which I doubt. The HOA should really just care about maintenance getting paid.

Telling the unit owners to default on maintenance does hurt the HOA. But it still might be sound advice if the alternative is to remain as an owner with no way of exit.

I read the decision to see whether there were any allegations that the unit owners that had their units foreclosed against suffered damage to their credit scores or were subject to lawsuits seeking deficiency judgments. That was not mentioned. Only thing I saw was that at least one unit owner received collection letters, but that really doesn't cause harm to the unit owner unless it affects credit.

I wonder if there is an agreement between Westgate and the party with whom it places the loans to the unit owner that Westgate has to buy back the loan if there is a default. If that is the case, the lender wound not be a holder in due course and would be subject to a defense of fraud if it tries to obtain a deficiency judgment against the unit owner.
 

cbyrne1174

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Looks like a case of the pot calling the kettle black
Here is the court decision.

Westgate said there were at least 600 cases in which unit owners defaulted on mortgages and or maintenance fees. I don't see why an owner defaulting on a mortgage should affect Westgate as developer or HOA, unless Westgate is holding those mortgages, which I doubt. The HOA should really just care about maintenance getting paid.

Telling the unit owners to default on maintenance does hurt the HOA. But it still might be sound advice if the alternative is to remain as an owner with no way of exit.

I read the decision to see whether there were any allegations that the unit owners that had their units foreclosed against suffered damage to their credit scores or were subject to lawsuits seeking deficiency judgments. That was not mentioned. Only thing I saw was that at least one unit owner received collection letters, but that really doesn't cause harm to the unit owner unless it affects credit.

I wonder if there is an agreement between Westgate and the party with whom it places the loans to the unit owner that Westgate has to buy back the loan if there is a default. If that is the case, the lender wound not be a holder in due course and would be subject to a defense of fraud if it tries to obtain a deficiency judgment against the unit owner.

Westgate has to be the absolute worst timeshare company. I noticed that that their resort with a water park in Orlando was in last call inventory so I called them to see the price of the water park. It's $20 per person per day. Meaning access to the water park for a family of 4 for a week costs $560. The water park is crap in comparison to the wilderness resorts that you have free access to when you stay as a Wyndham owner.
 

TheHolleys87

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Looks like a case of the pot calling the kettle black
Here is the court decision.

Westgate said there were at least 600 cases in which unit owners defaulted on mortgages and or maintenance fees. I don't see why an owner defaulting on a mortgage should affect Westgate as developer or HOA, unless Westgate is holding those mortgages, which I doubt. The HOA should really just care about maintenance getting paid.

Telling the unit owners to default on maintenance does hurt the HOA. But it still might be sound advice if the alternative is to remain as an owner with no way of exit.

I read the decision to see whether there were any allegations that the unit owners that had their units foreclosed against suffered damage to their credit scores or were subject to lawsuits seeking deficiency judgments. That was not mentioned. Only thing I saw was that at least one unit owner received collection letters, but that really doesn't cause harm to the unit owner unless it affects credit.

I wonder if there is an agreement between Westgate and the party with whom it places the loans to the unit owner that Westgate has to buy back the loan if there is a default. If that is the case, the lender wound not be a holder in due course and would be subject to a defense of fraud if it tries to obtain a deficiency judgment against the unit owner.
Can you briefly summarize the decision, please? I am unable to open the link. Thanks!
 

Bunk

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You should be able to read this pdf

The Exit Team advertises for Unit Owners who want to get out of their timeshare obligations (maintenance and mortgages). The Exit Team tells the Unit Owners not to make any more payments and then hires lawyers to send letters telling Westgate not to communicate with their clients. After Westgate forecloses, the Exit team tells the Unit Owners that the matter has been successfully resolved, but doesn’t tell them about the foreclosure. Westgate says that the Exit Team is damaging them because it is deceiving the Unit Owners.
 

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overthehill

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Here are two links to other lawsuits, one involving Westgate and the other Wyndham. Reading the Westgate case may cure your insomnia but it is interesting reading. It is from May 2019.
The Wyndham case is much shorter and was decided in May 2020.


 

AwayWeGo

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The battle of nefarious tactics and overt liars!
It would be great if both sides could lose.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

Bunk

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The main issue to me is that this industry has developed so that people buy Timeshare Units and there may be no way for them to get out of their obligation. Unlike traditional condominium owners, in some cases, they have no say in management, no access to financial information they deserve to have as owners, and no market for their units.

The advice to stop making payments may be the best course for them to follow. But their lawyers have to disclose and discuss the possible consequences of that decision to them and not lie to them. Specifically their credit score may be impacted if they default on their note or their obligations to the HOA and potentially if there is a foreclosure, depending on the jurisdiction, they potentially face a deficiency judgment being entered against them.

In my opinion, the States should have regulate this industry to protect the consumers. But since the States have chosen not do, what can the people do? So they go from Westgate to the Timeshare Exit Team, both of which fleece them.

And if you think it’s bad in the US, check out the Fairmont/Sunchasr/Northwynd link in the Canada forum. It’s been going on since 2012. It reads like a Dickens novel with a bunch of villains.
 

AwayWeGo

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[triennial - points]
Westgate has to be the absolute worst timeshare company. I noticed that that their resort with a water park in Orlando was in last call inventory so I called them to see the price of the water park. It's $20 per person per day. Meaning access to the water park for a family of 4 for a week costs $560. The water park is crap in comparison to the wilderness resorts that you have free access to when you stay as a Wyndham owner.
The late John Chase (timeos2), wonderful timeshare guru & good friend to many TUG people, detailed many of his gripes with WestGate right here in the annals of TUG-BBS. He consistently referred to WestGate as Wastegate. He gained his familiarity with WestGate the hard way, as owner & vacationer at WestGate resorts. Thanks to John, we managed to steer clear of WestGate until 2019, when we succumbed to an RCI siren song offering a bargain-priced January 2BR week at the big WestGate timeshare in Kissimmee FL over on the west side of the Disney Gap. We wanted to hate the place, but it was actually OK (except that our unit was in a cell phone dead zone -- zero bars). Then again, all we did was stay there. We did not get tangled up with WestGate in any other way.

For timeshare water parks, we like FantasyWorld in Kissimmee FL, behind Olive Garden near Mile Marker 11 of Rt. 192 -- nice zero-depth entry main pool, hot tub, warm tub, splash zone for kids, lazy river, & dual-lane tall water slides (up 51 steps in a launch tower -- I counted). No extra charge for the water park.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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Bunk

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Here are two links to other lawsuits, one involving Westgate and the other Wyndham. Reading the Westgate case may cure your insomnia but it is interesting reading. It is from May 2019.
The Wyndham case is much shorter and was decided in May 2020.



The Westgate decision that Overthehill links to is well written by a judge who clearly is familiar with this industry. The Judge's cast of characters are Westgate, the Exit Lawyer and the Westgate Owners. He calls them the Trapper, the Weasel and the Prey. Can you figure out which sobriquet applies to the Westgate Owners.
 

LannyPC

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The advice to stop making payments may be the best course for them to follow. But their lawyers have to disclose and discuss the possible consequences of that decision to them and not lie to them. Specifically their credit score may be impacted if they default on their note or their obligations to the HOA and potentially if there is a foreclosure, depending on the jurisdiction, they potentially face a deficiency judgment being entered against them.

Yes, in some cases that might be the best advice. The problem is that the exit/cancel/relief companies deceive the owners into thinking that the companies are working hard behind the scenes to lawfully, cleanly, and ethically end the ownership without consequences all the while the companies are doing nothing except telling the owners, "Don't worry about it, we're handling it. Some people on the other end are slow on the draw. This just takes time."
 

AwayWeGo

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Maybe you could slither you way into being the judge on this case?
Better yet, get Judge Judy to rule on the case.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

swditz

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Westgate has to be the absolute worst timeshare company. I noticed that that their resort with a water park in Orlando was in last call inventory so I called them to see the price of the water park. It's $20 per person per day. Meaning access to the water park for a family of 4 for a week costs $560. The water park is crap in comparison to the wilderness resorts that you have free access to when you stay as a Wyndham owner.
The water park is free to Westgate owners.
 

skimeup

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A long read, but so far from the usual dry court proceedings as to cause me to laugh out loud! An apt characterization indeed of the Trapper, the Weasal, and the Prey!
 

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@swditz ”The water park is free to Westgate owners.”

Resale owners too?
 

swditz

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@swditz ”The water park is free to Westgate owners
@swditz ”The water park is free to Westgate owners.”

Resale owners too?
any owners as long as this is the week you own and your home resort or doing an internal exchange with your week into this resort.
There is however a hefty exchange fee for resale owners.
 
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