Wyndham Under Fire For Deceptive Sales Practices

A timeshare owner in the US is suing Wyndham and its sales agents, for tricking her into upgrading her membership.

The suit alleges the timeshare giant used deceptive business practices and fraud, when they mis-sold the upgrade of a timeshare membership. The complainant alleges that Wyndham and it’s sales reps made several false and misleading statements, which she says were the basis for her deciding to upgrade her membership.

According to the lawsuit, the resort manager called the woman claiming her account had been flagged and an upgrade offer had been sent to her home address detailing a better deal that was available to her. They said this deal was exclusive to her and only available on that day. They also falsely claimed she owed the company $30,000 from her previous timeshare loan, according to her lawyer, she actually only owed $17,000.

She also alleges that the sales representative for Wyndham charged her more than $50,000 for her new contract, but did not disclose this to her until the contract was signed. They also told her, in order to keep her annual maintenance fees low, she would need to purchase the upgrade. Her upgrade to 126,000 points, meant she could sell her annual points allowance and this could be used to pay the maintenance fees, this turned out to be false as it is almost impossible to sell timeshare points.

Lawyers also claim that Wyndham, in an attempt to avoid the five day rescission period, instructed the claimant to store her contract in the hotel safe until she returned home. Once she had returned home from her vacation, she contacted Wyndham immediately to cancel the contract, but Wyndham denied her request.

Think Twice Before Purchasing Holiday Points !

Owners buy points to gain access to a resorts properties, the more points owned, the more access a vacation owner has to top properties at peak times. Points programs can start at anything from £10,000 and owners are consistently persuaded to purchase more.

Points are valued depending on factors such as time of year, destination, size of accommodation etc. Points do provide a greater amount of flexibility, however, before purchasing a points based holiday product, do the math! Ask yourself, can the amount of point’s purchased provide you with the holiday you want each year without having to purchase additional points you didn’t budget for?

Can you gain access to the types of locations and facilities you want to visit when you want to? There are far too many holiday club members who report being unhappy with the standard of their accommodations using their annual points allowance. Even reports of people unable to book a specific week during peak seasons, when they were told by the sales agent they would be able to do so.

People who enter into Timeshare agreements often find it difficult to keep up with the mounting maintenance fees and simply cannot afford it any longer. They may also find that the Timeshare no longer suits their needs and simply want to end the contract. There are too many individuals who are willing to take advantage of Timeshare owners and offer fake products, along with timeshare exit schemes. Before agreeing to any Timeshare termination or exit procedure with an individual or company, seek independent advice and fully research any company you are thinking of working with.

It is also important to remember that purchasing a Timeshare should NEVER be viewed as a financial investment. Timeshare is an investment in lifestyle, in future holidays and family time together. There is almost no resale value to a Timeshare.

The mis-selling of holiday products is, unfortunately, common practice within the holiday industry and these type of crimes often go unreported by the most vulnerable in our society and criminal convictions are few and far between.

If you have purchased a Lifestyle / Concierge Service, a Timeshare or a ‘holiday points’ based product from a resort or company and feel unhappy with the service, or feel you have been mis-sold this product, please get in touch with us to discuss how we may be able to help you with a possible timeshare termination.