Royal Holiday Club
Timeshare Presentations in Nassau, Bahamas
Article detailing one person's experience in April
2002 removed upon request, following threats of legal action against
contributor.
"Royal Holiday hereby demands from you to cease
and desist all further communications regarding Royal Holiday, including
without limitation, the false, defamatory and libelous statements
by you that Royal Holiday has acted fraudulently and purposely misled
you on Club related matters....Your statements constitute, among
other things, libel, libel per se, trade libel, slander, slander
per se, and tortuous interference with business relationships and
contracts." 10/02/02
Note: In June they filed a complaint with
the Federal Trade Commission and the Florida Attorney General. Company
provided balance of refund in September even though clients "were
not entitled to receive a refund."
Another writes: I posted a letter about being
scammed by Royal Holiday in 2002. I did finally receive my
money back by writing a complaint to ARDA, specifically David J.
Evans who is an ethics director of the organization, DEvans@arda.org.
Unfortunately, Royal Holiday is no longer a member.
This is the site for ARDA's Code of Ethics www.arda.org/industry/arda/ethics/code.htm
I read with interest your article on Royal Holiday. I signed up
with them in July of this year in Nassau and have paid the full amount.
I was “guaranteed” that I would get a skiing holiday
at New Year in Vail, Colorado to the value of $7,100. I have contacted
them to arrange it and am told that there is no availability, when
I call or mail them now they do not respond to my calls or mails.
I noted that the article on Royal Holiday mentioned a group of unhappy
customers. Can you put me in touch with these people?
Paul Gracie 10/26/02
Note: The person helping out victims got tired of the thankless
work. People need to be more self-sufficient and proactive
in dealing with such problems and not expect others to bail them
out without providing the slightest bit of appreciation when they
do.
My husband, Michael, and I are also having problems with Royal Holidays. We
also purchased a membership in the Bahamas. Unfortunately,
we didn't cancel and now we are finding out what a big mistake we
made.
We were promised many things by our salesman. We were given
45,000 bonus credits, 20,000 of which they said they would
rent out for $3,000. We were told that we would have a check
in our hands in 45 days. This would cover our down payment
that we put on our credit card. We were also told they we could
ask them to rent out another 20,000 credits for another $3,000 if
we needed to later.
Then we said we couldn't afford so much for accommodations every
year. When you divide the initial investment by 30 and add
the yearly maintenance fee, the total cost for the room was more
than we could afford.
That's when we were offered an "annuity certificate" for
the amount of our initial investment of $10,950 that would be mature
at the end of our membership (30 years). We were told we would
be getting that money back. This would be in our price range,
so that's when we bought the membership.
We went back to our room, I read our contract.
That's when I realized there was nothing in it about all the bonus
things they gave us. We had none of it in writing. We
discussed it and on the day we were leaving for the airport, we went
back with a written request of cancellation. That's when they
drew up an addendum to the contract which looked like it covered
all the things promised.
While they were preparing the paperwork, a woman from the US who
was a new member, just happened to show up and got into a conversation
with us about how happy her boss was with his membership and how
she just purchased her own. Some coincidence isn't it. Since
we were in a hurry and we were handed this to sign in the hallway,
I didn't read it as carefully as I should have.
The way it was set up, I didn't notice that the paragraph before
the item of rental of the 20,000 credits for $3,000 had a stipulation
of payment of the membership in full before it was in effect. Also,
there was no mention of the future rental of credits for additional
money, as offered to us.
When I addressed this with my customer service rep on the phone
when we got home, I was told I was lucky we had what we did in writing
because we would be the ones that would have the responsibility to
rent out our credits, but since our addendum stated it, they would
take off $3,000 off the payoff price.
During this time, I placed many calls and left messages, but didn't
get return calls. Only when I said we wanted to cancel our
membership, did we get a response from a supervisor, that OK'd the
discount.
Our problems with getting answers was also apparent when we wanted
to use our bonus credits. I guess we were supposed to get certificates
that had the conditions of use on the back. But we didn't receive
them because they were holding them in the Bahamas to rent them out
for us.
We were never told that the credits were only good for 9 months. We
tried to use them for a future trip and we were told that there was
no record of our credits. Again had problems getting a hold
of anyone. We only got voice mail and our calls weren't returned.
We finally thought we had things pretty much worked out when we
were told by someone to check out the certificate we were given. Our
addendum said we were given an "annuity certificate in the amount
of $10,950." When we checked out the certificate they
gave us, we found out from the company on the certificate (Stanford
Trust) that it was a trust certificate and it had no guaranteed value
in 30 years.
The salesman for Royal Holidays said that we would receive our
money back at the end of our membership. This trust certificate
has a statement on the back that,
"The trustees (Royal Holidays) shall invest
and manage and hold the income of the Fund in Trust for the Primary
Beneficiary for a period of thirty years from the date of issuance
of each coupon ("Maturity Date"). At the Maturity Date
for each coupon the Trustee shall disburse the Fund to each Ultimate
Beneficiary (In their proportionate share) who shall have been
in compliance at all times with the Timeshare Agreement, including
the payment of all fees, the Vacation Club Declaration and all
rules and regulations thereof."
I found out from Stanford Trust that Royal Holidays was only going
to deposit 2% ($219) for my certificate and there was no guaranteed
maturity amount. As stated on the certificate,
"The MEMBER or his/her previously appointed
Beneficiary (in case of death) as stated on the Certificate, shall
have the right to receive the Funds being deposited in Trust,
and it's accrued interest upon complying with the terms, and
conditions as stated in the Vacation Club Sale/Purchase Contract."
Also, if we were out of line with any of the rules of the club,
our certificate was voided
("The Vacation Club will notify the Trustees
in writing, in case the member is declared in breach of any of
the provisions of the Vacation Club Sale/Purchase contract, therefore canceling the
Certificate for the benefit of the named parties.").
This is a far cry from the what was represented to us by our salesman. This
was the final straw and we asked for our money back, stating their
noncompliance to the addendum's representation of the certificate
as an annuity.
I was told that they were getting a new company to handle what they
were now calling "savings certificates", as if our problem
was with Stanford Trust. I said that I didn't have a problem
with them, but with the kind of certificate we were given. If
the new company is going offer a trust account with similar rules,
we are not interested.
They were not even in contact with us until I filed a complaint
with the State of NY Consumer Protection Board. From what I
see on the Internet, our chances of recovering our money are pretty
bleak. If there is a way I can get addresses of lawyers working
on suits against Royal Holiday or any other advise, I'd appreciate
it.
I think the only way this company will do what's right and refund
any money is if the news media picks up on this and they get so much
bad press that they just settle to stop the publicity. I think
it's going to take a miracle. Thank you for this opportunity
to tell my story.
Shirlrene D. 11/22/02
I was saddened not surprised to read the story with regards to
royal Holiday club in Nassau at the Marriott Crystal Palace. We
also had a similar situation take place.
I tried numerous times to cancel my contract, but in my opinion
once you sign on the dotted line it is all over with this outfit! I
was also told to speak with the infamous Mr. Harris. I feel
he is nothing but a front.
The writer was telling the truth in every detail. I don't
have the patience to write all that transpired in our case but, I
assure you Royal Holiday Club is NOT something you can easily fight
with. We feel they misled us, and over-exaggerated the truth
about what you are really buying.
I hope for our sakes that we will be able to utilize this
costly mistake.
Kevin Collins 11/20/02
Rescued by Right of Rescission?
Our experience with Royal Holiday Club in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico:
To: PROFECO (Mexican Consumer Protection Agency)
This letter is to register a complaint about a Royal Holiday Club
purchase agreement that took place on Tuesday April 1st at Royal
Park at Los Tules in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, MX.
We wish to exercise our right of rescission to cancel this agreement
and request a refund of all deposits taken.
Following is a summary of what transpired:
During the presentation, when it was learned we already owned timeshare,
we were turned over to a Mr. Ken Waller, introduced as the "trade
in manager". Ken offered to take our existing timeshare
property at Summer Bay Resort in Orlando in "trade" for
a membership in Royal Holiday Club.
Note: Story details about financial promises made, then allegedly
lacking in final paperwork, not included.
Then a man named Jerome Phillips came out and asked what the problem
was. We told him and he said they do not take timeshares as "trades" and
never have. He apologized that we had been "lied to" but
said there was nothing we could do.
We demanded to cancel the agreement and he refused. He recommended
instead that we try to sell our existing timeshare. When we
demanded back our copies of the papers, Jerome said that was not
possible as Ken Waller had ripped them up. At this point, Jerome
told us if we did not leave the property, he would call the Mexican
police and have us put in jail.
After learning of the 5 business day right of rescission, we called
Los Tules and spoke with a supposed manager, Daniel Le Hoya. Daniel
had Jerome call us back. Jerome said we would have to return
to Los Tules. We wrote a letter of cancellation and took it
to Jerome. This was on Sunday April 6th.
Jerome refused to accept it and said they only way we could cancel
the agreement was to give him $500.00 US in cash or travelers checks. We
refused to do so. When we asked to see Mr. Daniel Le Hoya,
Jerome again said we had to leave or he would call the police.
Joe and Peggy Shafer 04/26/03
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