How does someone get me out of my timeshare responsibilities?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I assume there is a factual answer, so here goes. I occasionally watch network TV during the daytime and I noticed that the ads are very different than the ones they run at night. Some of them are about refurbishing your roof, others about life alert devices, and many are about purchasing life insurance, but the one that caught my eye was about how they will get me out of my timeshare obligation.

I’m guessing they will give me a low-ball offer to buy my timeshare and then turnaround and sell it on the open market, but is that what’s going on? If that’s what it is, why don’t they just come out and say it? During the commercial they don’t even hint at how they are going to accomplish what they are promising. Can someone enlighten me on how this supposedly works?

For the record, I don’t now, and have never owned a timeshare, but I know a lot of people who do and are always complaining about how much they have to pay each year in maintenance fees etc.

2

I remember reading an article that said some of those companies that promise to get you out of a timeshare are scammy themselves.

It wasn’t this article, but it wasn’t along those lines:

EDIT: It must have been Last Week Tonight

3

Makes one think about starting a company that guarantees to help you get out of being scammed by timeshare exit companies.

mmm

4

Well, yeah. The business model only makes sense if those same companies that are getting you out of timeshares are themselves timeshare-selling companies. Is it a surprise that a business that’s slimy on one side of the business is also slimy on the other side?

5

It’s such companies all the way down.

6

The only thing more profitable than selling a timeshare is selling it twice.

7

Basically legal advice question and not likely to find one factual answer, so off to In My Humble Opinion.

8

Unfortunately I have WAY too much experience with this. My mother has called me numerous times over the last 30 years to ask me to dissuade my father from sending money to a timeshare exit company.

They have paid $25,000 over the last 35 years for the timeshare itself. And numerous times have paid $150/$300/$500 to timeshare exit companies for an “appraisal fee” who then either are completely unresponsive or ask for more money for “marketing” or “legal fees”.

It was bad enough when these solicitations came via the mail. Now they are coming from endorsements buried in the religious and political videos they watch all day.

9

There are consumer protection laws and intricacies of contract law that could invalidate a poorly written[1] or fraudulently induced timeshare contract, or at least create enough risk that a threatened lawsuit will persuade partners to buy out your share. Sometimes lawyering up is enough leverage to get the resort or whoever to buy back your deed. Bankruptcy is another option of last resort.

~Max

[1] You think sleazy timeshare operators pay top dollar for good contract drafting?

10

There is an timeshare exit company that advertises in the radio locally (& I presume on local stations in many markets) how they were one of the first TSE companies & have been doing this for decades, yada, yada, yada. He speaks a line that the TSE co is not a law firm & he, the founder/speaker is “most definitely not a lawyer”

Not only do I not now or have I ever owned one, I have never even considered it but I wonder what type of firm they are. Anyone have a clue

11

Yes. I do think that they do. Their entire business model collapses if they have poorly written contracts. I think they have very good lawyers on retainer both to make sure that the contracts are air tight and that they don’t let people out of them outside of death or bankruptcy law. Spend even a few minutes on timeshare reselling websites, and you’ll find plenty of people taking huge losses to try to get out of their contracts. If they were poorly written, that wouldn’t be the case.

12

No, but the humungoid companies they work for most certainly do. If you can find examples of someone “lawyering” their way out of a timeshare contract, please present it.

13

Which is also the best antidote to someone selling timeshares.

14

Hey, I’ll admit when I’m wrong. I did not realize most timeshares are now the big resort type (hence partners buying out shares), and I did not know the TV ads were for sketchy “exit companies” (I don’t watch much television and assumed they were law firm ads).

In which case no, the resorts are not sleazy operators, the contracts are probably written by lawyers, and the TV advertisement does not correspond to real legal services I mentioned. I suspect big resorts have some terms for buyback, for a fee that is probably less than what you would pay a lawyer.

That being said, I can back up my other claims - which go to the title question. Even those well-written timeshare contracts are not necessarily legally airtight. A meritorious lawsuit would be settled or arbitrated, so the judgments are rarely made public. It would never go to trial with a public judgment. Which is a feature, especially for resorts that need to avoid bad PR. But you asked for an example:

The parties settled the Wisconsin Lawsuit on December 31, 2011, and executed a Settlement Agreement and Release of Claims (“Settlement Agreement”), in which Defendant [Wyndham] agreed to pay Plaintiffs $25,000.00 and cancel Plaintiffs’ contract for the purchase of the timeshare, in exchange for Plaintiffs’ dismissing their Complaint in the Wisconsin Lawsuit with prejudice …

(This is from a case where there was a settlement, then a second lawsuit over a second timeshare, and Wyndham is arguing the second lawsuit is either barred by or invalidates the earlier settlement.)

~Max