Original Message:
Be careful about taking advice from the Timeshare Users Group (TUG) (by Susan B.):
TUG purports to be an unbiased website dedicated to helping consumers. It has long been rumored that TUG is very biased in favor of TS developers. Certainly the policies on that site indicate they are more interested in protecting the TS developers than the consumers.
I am one of several people involved in a long term investigation of DR. I been trying to network with DRI owners on TUG, asking for them to share information about their DRI experiences. The TUG moderators immediately decided I was involved in some nefarious activity and they prevented me from starting new threads to discuss DRI. Today one of the moderators announced he was certain that I am "promoting for an attorney" and he commented that "the truth always comes out". With that context in mind, here is the post that caused them to ban me:
I am not "promoting" for any particular attorney. I am a consumer rights activist (currently focused on TS), I help TS victims, I don't charge anyone a dime, and I don't receive any type of compensation from attorneys.
It would be easy enough for you to confirm that by contacting me as a victim asking for help. Surely if I am doing what you claim I'm doing, it wouldn't take long for you to obtain evidence of that. But you know that don't you?
Over the past seven months I've been contacted by many, many people asking for help. A handful of them have disappeared after exchanging several emails with me. I assume these people were "testers" and I suspect some of them were TUGGERS. Yet in all this time, not one person has appeared on any forum to warn others that am doing anything other than exactly what I say I am doing.
I work at least sixty hours a week investigating DRI and helping the individuals that contact me. I've heard from quite a few people while they are still in their rescission period. I literally drop whatever I am doing to send them rescission instructions. I've discovered that some victims need more than written instructions so I walk them through the process until they have their notice in the mail.
I am promoting something though. I want people to know that it is a myth, mainly perpetuated by TUG, that the only way out of a TS is a surrender. That is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I hate to think how many people have walked away from tens of thousands of dollars based on the advice that is routinely given here.
I hope to identify a number of attorneys that are willing to represent TS victims on a contingency basis or for a small payment with the retainer agreement. I intend to create a list of those attorneys and publish it on a website where people can comment on their experiences with each attorney.
I know TUG has heard from people that obtained satisfactory results (cancellation WITH a refund) by using an attorney. TUG should be happy to hear about such attorneys and anxious to publish their names. But you haven't done that. You won't even let your users recommend an attorney by name. All this time, you could have been making it easy for people to find the attorneys they need. Instead you act like you are afraid for that information to come out.
You are also determined to prevent me and presumably anyone else, from reaching out to your members for information or help with our DRI investigation.
Taken together these facts indicate TUG is interested in protecting TS developers from lawsuits. That is a very unusual stance for people that profess to be interested in helping consumers. I wonder what "truth" is behind that agenda.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ I am sharing this incident here, because it is evidence of some serious truth! TUG is 20 years old and now boasts 70,000 members. When a dissatisfied owner that has already missed the rescission period comes to TUG and asks for advice, they get two suggestions. 1. Accept that you can't get out and learn to enjoy the vacations even though they are costing you much more than they are worth. 2. Surrender your purchase and take a total loss on the tens of thousands of dollars you paid for it.
TUG tells people there is no other option. Clearly, as evidenced by the fact that I've been banned, the site does not allow people to post about other solutions! This is why you don't hear from more of the people that DO get their money back. People that deviate from TUG's agenda are likely to be censored. sbharbison@gmail.com