Darnell Disroe, 38 of Boynton Beach, Florida was sentenced in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to 121 months in prison, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $1.1 million for his role in a timeshare resale telemarketing scam that collected money from 615 timeshare owners across the country.  Others involved in the timeshare scam were Michael Starace, 42, of Lantana, Florida who was sentenced in January to 18 months in prison on one count of mail fraud and ordered to pay $23,723 restitution.  Michael Lentine, 32 also from Boynton Beach, Florida was sentenced in January as well to 51 months in prison for one count of conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud and ordered to pay restitution of $249,432.  The sentence for Darnell Disroe cam Monday by Stephen R. Wigginton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

Real Timeshare Marketing Scam

The three men operated a company called Real Timeshare Marketing which was named in a multi-count federal indictment returned July 21, 2010, by a federal grand jury in East St. Louis, charging them with conspiracy and mail fraud.  The timeshare scam had originated in South Florida, but targeted timeshare owners across the country.  Real Timeshare Marketing would call these timeshare owners with the promise that a buyer had been found for their property.  Charging fees of up to thousands of dollars for closing costs, marketing fees and related expenses.  Timeshare resale victims were from 46 states and Canada, all who fell for this scam and handed over their money in hopes of selling their timeshare property.

Timeshare Resale Scams

This should be a perfect example as to how some of these timeshare resale companies operate.  When you are promised a buyer that is waiting (most cases their never is one) or charged a large upfront fee then avoid that company like the plague. If the timeshare resale company truly had a buyer waiting, they would take their fee out  AFTER the sale of your timeshare has been made.

You can read the first article about Project Transition Inc. Timeshare out of Daytona Beach, FL. If you have been called by this company to donate your timeshare for a small fee, let’s give a little history lesson to maybe open your eyes as to why you would not want to do business with this company after all.

Buy Owner Resort Marketing

Buy Owner Resort Marketing was a timeshare resale company located in Ormond Beach, Florida that was promising timeshare owners they could sell or rent their timeshare by signing up with their marketing services for an upfront fee.  As many timeshare owners should know, most timeshare resale companies that have large up front fee’s hardly, if ever, deliver on any services to actually sell or rent your timeshare property.  Buy Owner Resort Marketing was just one of those companies who was actually shut down by The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services of Florida.  You can read about Buy Owner Resort Marketing shutdown on WFTV Channel 9 website.  In the article it talks about state investigators raiding the timeshare office of Buy Owner Resort Marketing on South Atlantic Ave in Ormond Beach on July 14, 2010.  They seized boxes of records and computers from the company who was accused of scamming timeshare owners out of thousands of dollars for not delivering the services they had paid for.

Buy Owner Resort Marketing had an “F” rating with the BBB of Central Florida with 46 total complaints (37 in the past 12 months of this article) from people who felt they were ripped off.  So July 14, 2010 they were shut down and being accused of running a timeshare resale scam salesroom.  You can go to www.sunbiz.org, under document searches click on corporation then select by entity name and you will see the registered agent of Buy Owner Resort Marketing is/was James Holmes.

Buy Owner Resort Marketing Incorporates In Georgia

Talk about strange, but looking up the name Buy Owner Resort Marketing on Georgia’s Secretary Of State Website, you will see that on July 13, 2010 (one day before the company was raided) a corporation in the same name was setup by that of James Holmes.  You can view that information by going here.  A partial screenshot was taken and outlined for you here.

So now that is one piece to the puzzle, Mr. Holmes has setup a new corporation in the state of Georgia under the same business name that was being used in Florida of Buy Owner Resort Marketing.  One day after filing this, the Ormond Beach timeshare office was raided by the State of Florida and shutdown. Other corporations that were established in the State of Florida include Buy Owner Resort Real Estate Inc, Buy Owner Resort Travel Inc which all shared the same address at one point in time with Buy Owner Resort Marketing.

Project Transition Inc. Timeshare Company

March 7, 2011 a company by the name of Project Transition Inc. was setup by the same registered agent as ALL of the above listed companies.  This time though as a non profit organization which benefits them in a few ways, one being that NO telemarketing license is required in the State of Florida since it is suppose to be a non profit organization. So how is it that a company can be shut down by state investigators, turn around and reorganize out of Georgia then earlier this year start a non profit organization that is suppose to donate timeshares to charity when in fact that CHARGE MONEY UPFRONT.  You can read about it in the first write up done on Project Transition complaints.

Non Profit = Not Having To Pay The IRS

The second benefit of being a  non profit organizations is the tax breaks they will receive since Project Transition states it donates all proceeds to charity.  What are those charities though?  Nobody knows because more then likely they do not exist, if they did people would be calling those charities to verify any and all donations.  So by pocketing the money and not delivering on actually donating any money to charities like they claim to be doing, they are actually profiting off of people’s hard earned money and NOT paying taxes on that income.  As bad as the economy is now, families living on really hard times, this non profit timeshare company sure seems to be doing a number on poor timeshare owners who are truly looking to get rid of their property since they can no longer afford it.

Project Transition Scam?

If you believe this is a scam or have done business with Project Transition, please leave your comments below to warn other potential victims of losing their money.  Please pass this information on to your friends via Facebook or Twitter to help spread the word.

Timeshare Relief is based out of Torrance, California and does business under several different names including Transfer America, Transfer Smart and a marketing company called Aston Marketing Group (which is now dissolved). Timeshare Relief claims they will take your timeshare out of your hands so you are no longer responsible for the maintenance fees or monthly fees if you are still paying on it. However, they charge a LARGE up front fee for their services, upwards of $4,000 from some websites we have read complaints on. More on those later, here are screenshots taken from the California Secretary of State’s website showing different business names they use and notice how all of them are owned by the same person.

Timeshare Relief Business Listing

Transfer Smart Business Listing

Aston Marketing Group Business Listing

As you can see by just these 3 images taken from here, each business is owned by the same individual, with the same business address.  Why would a reputable timeshare relief company need to go by different aliases?  Now we understand the Aston Marketing Group is not involved with timeshare relief or timeshare recovery, they are a marketing company that handled the web design, SEO, online marketing and PR services for Transfer Smart which are all owned by the same person.  We will dive deeper into Aston Marketing Group on another day.

Timeshare Relief Complaints

You may view this thread on complaints board where several people have complained about Timeshare Relief, Transfer America, Transfer Smart because they are all the same company. Timeshare Relief uses post cards as one form of advertising to timeshare owners.  These post cards offer to “relieve” them of their timeshare property and often times would invite them to a seminar where sales people will pitch the service.  The service is not free, charges can go as high as $4,000 from what some have said.  After being charged, some people have complained that Timeshare Relief has done nothing, not returning phone calls, being denied a refund and getting the run around. Sound familiar to you?  It should, as you know with timeshare resale scams, avoid any company that charges a large up front fee to do anything.  Why would you need to pay someone thousands of dollars to take your timeshare from you when in some cases they do nothing?  Yes Timeshare Relief has a list of timeshare properties they will not touch as the demand is so low they can do nothing with them.  Other timeshare properties that have a higher selling point will be pushed on Ebay for as little as a $1.  Not every client of Timeshare Relief is so lucky though…

Timeshare Relief Settles With Vermont Attorney General

You can read the full write up on the attorney generals website by going here.  It states that between 2007-2010 Timeshare Relief held seminars on 8 separate occasions to solicit timeshare owners to transfer their property over to them.  This would relieve the owners of any maintenance fees, taxes and other costs.  These seminars were being toted as the Guaranteed Timeshare Relief Solution, which many consumers thought that the company would pay them to “relieve” them of their timeshare.  When in fact it was the complete opposite and these consumers were charged $91,000.  The state of Vermont said this was deceptive trade practices, sued Timeshare Relief and won.  Restitution of $91,000 was to be paid back to 28 people along with $50,000 fine to the state of Vermont.  You can also view the Assurance Of Discontinuance that was issued by the state of Vermont.

Would you want to do business with a company that was sued by any Attorney General?  Especially for deceptive trade practices on multiple charges, that alone should raise an eyebrow as to how the company treats timeshare owners.

Do You Have A Complaint?

If you have a complaint you would like to make, please leave your comments below.  This will give the public more awareness of the complaints against some of these timeshare relief companies that are more about getting your money then actually helping you get rid of your timeshare property.

Orlando Florida police raided 9 different timeshare resale offices in the Orlando area on Wednesday and taking 17 people in for questioning.  The locations and business names have not been disclosed, however one company that was raided was that of Jams Management.  Orlando police did say that all 9 companies are related and may be related to other timeshare resale companies being investigated.  Investigators with the Economic Crimes division of the Orlando Police Department took away boxes of papers, computers, dry erase boards and other non disclosed boxes of evidence from these timeshare resale companies. Two automobiles were also seized and brought in as evidence from one timeshare office. No arrests have been made, but Orlando Police say that can change in the near future. Just how much money these timeshare companies were making is unknown at this time.

Timeshare Resale Industry Hit Hard

If this is not an eye opener to the state of Florida showing just how bad the timeshare resale industry is, then we do not know what is.  These timeshare resale companies move from office to office, changing names, websites, phone numbers to try and hide their identity to keep operating.  They collect upfront fee’s calling them various things from marketing fees, advertising fees, appraisal fees, and more to keep their merchant account happy and not lock them out from processing credit cards.  Not to mention by making these changes as often as some of these timeshare scam companies do, they hide in the shadows and continue to prey on innocent timeshare owners who are truly looking to sell or even rent their timeshare property.

If and when more information is available regarding the timeshare companies involved in these raids, we will post them on the site.  You may view images of one raid that took place on Lake Ellenor Drive at WFTV’s website.

RCINow or better known as Resort Connection International (RCINow.com) is another timeshare resale company that has scammed many timeshare consumers out of their money.  On their website RCInow.com they list their headquarters at the City National Bank Tower in Los Angeles, California.  The funny thing is their is no business license or corporation papers filed in California for this company.  The address listed is

515 S. Flower St. 36th Floor
Los Angeles, California 90071

That address is nothing more then a virtual office that is rented from a company by the name of Regus.  Basically if you want an office address, but do not need a real office you can rent one from them for a monthly fee to make it your business address.  This is not illegal, just a way for companies or individuals to look bigger then they really are.  Resort Connection International was doing just that, here is a screen shot right from Regus website, we have outlined the office address and monthly pricing in red.

The same holds true for the Resort Connection International office they list in Miami, Florida.  You can see here that it can also be rented from Regus for a monthly fee.  The Denver office is the same way, however the Daytona Beach office that RCINOW used was a real location and the actual headquarters of the sales staff making all of the phone calls.

Resort Connection International Corporation

The corporation was actually setup in Colorado by C.R.E.A.M Inc which the owners listed are the same as Resort Connection International.  You can view the records here and see more options at the bottom to find out the true names of the people listed on the corporation documents.

Resort Connection International Scam Operation

First thing was the Daytona Beach of RCINow was labeled as Telif Communications from the outside, however inside was the entire sales staff that was making the phone calls soliciting timeshare owners to purchase their timeshare resale service.  They were not licensed in the state of Florida to do business, they had no telemarketing license (which is illegal to cold call consumers), they were allowed to say whatever they wanted to on the phone which included some of the following:

• Pretend to be RCI themselves, work hand in hand with RCI to make a quick sale.
• Use fake names which is illegal to do.
• State that a buyer has been found for the timeshare property in question.
• Promise a sale or rental in the next 30-90 days.

The above details show that Resort Connection International operates a timeshare boiler room, with the sole purpose to make money by any means necessary.  They use owner lists which are obtained from an inside connection at certain resorts or which can be purchased from database companies who sell this information to telemarketing companies.

Resort Connection International BBB Record

As of this post their current BBB rating is an F with 16 complaints that have gone unanswered.  You can view the BBB rating for RCINOW by clicking here.  The BBB listing is out of Los Angeles California with James Dawkens listed as the owner with a business start date of 4/10/2010.  This is why it is important to always look up the BBB rating of ANY timeshare resale company that contacts you.

Resort Connection International Uses Fake Testimonials

When you do a search for Resort Connection International Complaints, you will see several different complaint boards where positive feedback has been left for the company.  You can see in the example below.

You can click here to view this actual page from complaintsboard.com and then click on the person’s name in blue that left the positive feedback.  You will see only 1 or 2 posts and the only activity being of praising Resort Connection International as being a great company offering timeshare resale services that deliver.  Complaints on a timeshare company can add up and really hurt a company when trying to make a sale because the potential customer will more then likely look up the company and search for  any complaints on them.  By creating these fake comments, they are trying to make themselves look like the best timeshare company in the world.

Resort Connection International Complaints

Between running a boiler room that allows you to say anything over the telephone in order to make the sale, charging timeshare owners between $500-$2,000 for their timeshare marketing service, using virtual offices across the country to make themselves look much larger then they truly are please be warned of the possible scam that resort connection is running.  Do not be fooled by what they promise, remember if it sounds to good to be true…it probably is!

If you would like to leave any feedback regarding Resort Connection International please do so below so everyone else may read your experience with the company.

Free timeshare classifieds should be the first place a timeshare owner should look to when trying to sell or rent their timeshare property.  Their is no cost to the individual for the exception of the time it takes to place your free ad.  Some classified websites may require a small fee in order to list your advertisement, example being Ebay.  Ebay is pretty much a household name and for that reason one of the first places many people will turn to when trying to get rid of their timeshare resort.

I Do Not Know Where To Start

This is probably one of the most common excuses people will use, as they either do not know where to begin.  The internet is a very powerful selling tool if used correctly.  Each year more and more companies are spending their marketing dollars online as opposed to the “old school” offline approach with newspaper ads, telephone books, signs, etc. Going digital has been the way for years and people understand just how powerful the internet can be for a sales tool.

Craigslist should be your first stop as it is free to post your timeshare property for sale or even an advertisement to rent it out.  Is your resort located in a vacation hot spot?  Do you own during a week of special events in that location?  If so, then you will want to make sure you post your resort in the city where it resides first and do so on a DAILY basis.  You can also post an ad in other city locations as well.

Ebay is not free, they will charge you to post your timeshare advertisement on their website as it is an auction site and not a true classified website.  Many timeshare owners who are looking to get rid of their timeshare and no longer want to pay the maintenance fees will list their property for as little as $1 just so they no longer have to deal with it.

TimeshareHelper is a free classified site that puts you in complete control over your ad.  Registration is free and you can post as many ads as you like.

Timeshares123.com is also a free timeshare classified website where you can either list your property for sale or rent.

Tug2 is probably the biggest and most well known timeshare forum and marketplace, it has been around for years and built a good reputation on offering information and resources in the timeshare resale industry.  The website however is not free, they charge a yearly membership fee of $15 to use all of the features.  That price is just over $1/month so we listed it here under the free timeshare classified section.

Here at Selling My Timeshare we also offer FREE timeshare classified listings with no strings attached.  You control everything from the sales price, rental price, descriptions, etc. down to communicating with any potential buyers or renters.  Remember, all it takes is a little bit of time and some descriptive words to put a classified ad on the internet.

Use Any Free Classified Website You Find

Do a search for free classified website and you will get pages and pages of results of other classified websites you can use to list your timeshare property.  The website does not have to only tailor to timeshare resales, most classified websites have a real estate section that you can use to your advantage.  Yes it will take some time for you to actually go through and sign up with all of the different websites, but it is costing you either a few dollars (like Tug2) or is completely free. You can even use the same information regarding your timeshare property on multiple different free classified websites to save you a lot of time.  The more you advertise your property the better chances you are giving yourself to seeing an actual result.  With many timeshare resale companies that charge large upfront fees and deliver next to nothing, you are saving yourself a lot of money and will produce better results by utilizing free classified websites to your advantage.

Do you know of other free or cheap timeshare classified websites?  If so, please post them here for everyone else to use in an effort to better help them sell or rent their timeshare property.

Project Transition Inc. is setup out of Daytona Beach, Florida as a non profit organization.  They promote themselves by telling the city/state that they take recovery fees and donate the money to needy charities when in fact the money is pocketed by Project Transition.   They seem to be a spinoff of a timeshare resale recovery company offering to recovery your lost money while hiding behind the non profit status.  This gives them the ability to cold call without a license since it is for charity and to tell the people on the other end of the phone how the donate the money to all these places.

Timeshare Recovery Sales Pitch

Project Transition sales pitch starts off by telling the person they are non profit organization and are in the business of helping timeshare resale victims recovery lost advertising money.  They claim their is no upfront charges for their services, as they will contact the persons merchant account requesting a chargeback as well as sending a letter to the original timeshare resale company demanding the advertising fee be returned. The catch though is their is a charge for the service, they tell people on the phone that they will be charged 35% of the money that is recovered and that is why Project Transition needs the billing information right now.

Project Transition Website

Projecttransition.org seems to be a front for a non profit, charitable organization.  They claim to be dedicated to improving the quality of life for low and moderate families in the greater Daytona Beach area through education, social, community and economic development efforts.  On the donate page, under “donate vacation property” they claim to recovery timeshare resale fees that maybe have been paid to unethical, immoral and fraudulent timeshare resale companies.  They say you need to be qualified for this program, I am willing to be the only qualification needed is a valid credit card.  Another warning sign is the contact page, what reputable company uses a yahoo email address for the main source of contacting them?

Project Transition Inner Workings

For numbers sake lets say the original timeshare marketing fee was for $1,000. Once the person has agreed on the timeshare resale recovery service a letter is sent on behalf of that person requesting a chargeback in the amount of $1,000 for misuse of the card or not authorizing the transaction in the first place.  First off, this cannot happen as only the credit card account holder or a layer representing them can initiate a cahrgeback.  Project Transition cannot initiate anything to the persons credit card company and thus was a waste of time.  Secondly they will send a generic letter to the timeshare resales company requesting that the funds in the amount of $1,000 be returned to the customer.  Once that letter has been put in the mail, Project Transition will then charge 35% of that $1,000 which is $350 to the persons credit card that they took over the phone just a few days prior. That right there is a lie by the company, as they say you will be billed 35% once the money has been recovered for you.  No money is recovered as those letters go unanswered and most likely ignored.

Project Transition Gets Paid

Now that Project Transition has just billed the persons credit card for $350, they pay the sales person 40% commission ($140) and will keep the remaining $210 for themselves.  This amount should have never been billed to the customer in the first place and how can it go to other needy charities when the sales people are getting paid as is Project Transition?

Project Transition Complaints

If you have fallen victim to this please leave your comments below as we want to hear your story and share your experience with other users sot hey do not fall victim to this possible scam.

Vacation Property Services located in St. Petersburg Florida has been shut down by the FTC.  This was just another timeshare resale boiler room preying on timeshare owners who did not know any better.  The FTC stated that thousands of unsolicited phone calls where made by Vacation Property Services dating back to 2006.  Back in 2007 and 2008 the same company had settle with the Florida Attorney General to stop these practices that the FTC had cited.  The unsolicited phone calls made between 2009-2010 were made to people on the national Do-Not-Call list, which when broken is a federal offense.  The typical timeshare sales pitch used by Vacation Property Services went something like this:

We have a buyer lined up to buy your timeshare property, it will only cost you $xxxx!

Another story we found on a complaints board went as followed

I have a buyer.” He claimed that Vacation Property Services had sent “the buyers” on a week’s vacation to my property and had given them a “virtual tour of RCI” (resort association). The “buyers, ” he said, had offered $15, 000. “You could counter-offer, but I wouldn’t. That might scare them off.” He told me I’d incur no costs except for deed and title, for $702.

The investigation into Vacation Property Services is not being done by just the FTC, it also include the United State Post Office, Florida Attorney General, Florida Department of Agriculture as well as the St. Petersburg police department.  So you can expect to hear a lot more about how this company operated, how many victims they had lied to regarding their timeshare resale services and what fines they will have to pay along with even possible jail time.

As you can see Vacation Property Services was running a boiler room to get the sale by any means needed.  Timeshare resale scams and fraud are on the rise due to the bad economy and people are desperate to sell or rent their timeshare property.  Some of these companies are literally fly by night timeshare services.  They will setup a business for just a few months to only close the doors, relocate and do it all over again.  If you are a timeshare owner, you need to be aware of how some timeshare resale companies will try to scam you out of your money by any means they can.  Do your homework first, look the timeshare resale company up online to see if a lot of other consumer are complaining about the service and possible scam or fraud.  Ask for legal documentation to be sent you to by certified mail, check with the BBB to see how they are rated.

If you have been scammed by Vacation Property Services or another timeshare resale company that you feel was a scam or fraud, please leave your story below for everyone else to read and warn them to stay away.  Fighting timeshare resale fraud and scams starts by educating timeshare owners first, before they start being solicited by a possible fraudulent resale company that is only out for the money.  Not all timeshare resale companies are a scam, their are companies and individuals out there who truly can help you sell or rent your timeshare.  However, Vacation Property Services is/was not one of them.

If you are looking to buy a timeshare property as an investment for financial gain, then the simple answer is NO a timeshare is not a good investment.  When purchasing a piece of real estate, like land, a house or commercial property you can expect the value to go up depending on the market.  With timeshare properties you can never expect the selling price to be what you paid for it or to even go higher like with standard real estate.

Timeshares Are Not Worth What You Paid

As much as it hurts to say this, the amount of money that you paid for your timeshare resort will NEVER be worth it.  It is just like buying a brand new car, as soon as you drive it off of the lot it has already depreciated in value.  With timeshare properties the depreciation is even worse because they hold more baggage then they do financial value.  The timeshare industry is full of hard sales, that is why many of the sales people are good at what they do.  They need to convince you, the potential buyer that the property is a must have.  When that sale is finally made, the buyer is actually getting the marketing and timeshare advertising fees tacked onto the final purchase price.  Here is why:

1. Free Lodging At The Resort – Timeshare vacation resorts will give out 2 or 3 day package for free, the only catch is you have to attend a sales seminar for a certain amount of time.  These seminar’s are how they attract new people to purchase timeshare weeks from the resort.  Who do you think pays for those free packages to stay at the resorts?  Yes YOU, the person buying the timeshare from them.
2. Advertising And Marketing – It cost’s the resort money to advertise and market, either from TV commercials, newspaper ads, mailers, radio ads, billboards, you name it they have to market the resort.  Once again who do you think ends up paying for this at the end of the day?  You guessed it, YOU, the one that has just bought a timeshare from them.
3. Free Gifts - To get people to take the free resort stay and attend the sales seminar’s, they will give out free gifts to every person taking part.  These gifts can be free meals, vouchers, or gift cards.  The money for these free gifts have to come from somewhere, which would be the timeshare resort.  However, that bill is passed on to the person who has just bought a timeshare.
4. Sales Commissions - When you attend those mandatory seminar’s so they can pitch you on why it is so great to purchase a timeshare vacation from the resort, those sales people are very hard when they sell.  They have to be hard sales people to close the deal and get people to buy the property.  When they makes sales, they are paid a commission on each property that they sell.  That commission is tacked on to the sales price of the timeshare you are buying.  So once again YOU the buyer is paying for that as well.

Normal Investments Can Go Up In Value

When investing your money in real estate, stock market, bonds, CD’s, Mutual Funds, etc. your investments have a chance to increase, that is why you want to invest your money in the first place.  When you invest money, you are hoping to see a financial gain from that investment over time.  The possibility is you can lose money, but not every single time you invest your money.  Timeshare properties on the other hand have ZERO chance of holding or even going up in value.  If you paid $30,000 for your vacation property, you will be lucky to see half of that back.  Timeshare resorts are not like buying typical real estate, you only own or lease one week at that resort and have the ability (for an additional fee) to exchange your timeshare week with another resort.  You still have to pay maintenance fees and any membership dues each and every year in order to keep your so called “timeshare investment“.

Timeshare Is An Investment In A Lifestyle

Owning a timeshare property should never be viewed as a financial investment, what you have read above explains why and all the extra money that is passed onto the buyer.  Instead, view investing in a timeshare property as investing in a lifestyle.  If you know you go on vacation every year with your family or are looking for a vacation home but cannot afford that house then you could consider buying a timeshare.  Understand though if you do not use your timeshare for a year, you are still required to may the maintenance fees associated with the property.  Never look at a timeshare property as a financial investment, always look at it as a lifestyle investment to enjoy the time with your family or friends.