Get the Resale Scammers on T.V.

I'm wondering if a concerted effort is made to flood a Dateline, 20/20 or similar type news show with the bad experiences consumers have had with the various timeshare resale companies would do any good to peek the interest of their investigative/consumer affairs people.

This is a huge scam going on in the country as we all know but yet the mainstream news seems oblivious.

These scammers need to be exposed on a nationwide basis and with the millions of dollars being lost by timeshare owners each year this seems like a story that would be of interest to them.

Any thoughts?

Garym172,

I ABSOLUTELY AGREE!!! I bet if everyone mailed their scam stories to Dateline they *may* just sit up and take notice.

On a side note, under the General Discussion section someone had started a thread about IBD Marketing and was asking whether they were scammers. Naturally every single person who posted warned against the company because they were scumbags. (as we all know they are)

I had filed a dispute with my credit card company about them and they wrote back asking for more information about my complaint. I printed out the entire thread for them. :P

btw Garym172, in your other post about your timeshare MLS experience, what you said about what these timeshare scammers do (we have showcases and open houses) was EXACTLY what they told me!! GRR.....

In late Sept. 2006 I was interviewed on the troubleshooterjudd.com internet radio show in regards to my exereinces with the up front fee timeshare resale scam companies. Originally my segment was to be 10 minutes but Judd McIlvain did hold me over for and additional 10 minute segment.

Now I know that wasn't a Prime Time National Television News program with an audience of millions but it was a start.

The main benefit is that Judd has contributed a couple of consumer reports to 20/20 during the years and he may be a good resource to find out exactly how to go about getting the attention of a national news show.

At the time of the interview it didn't cross my mind to try and get his help to approach a national news program.

I do have taped calls of timesharemls.org and timesharefsbo.com sales reps pitching their lies of every type and a taped conversation with the general manager of their parent company chl marketinginc. in which he gives some very candid insight into how this industry (scam is more appropriate) works and his personal views on sales reps that have integrity and how they should be fired.

I also have another very interesting piece of evidence about this company.

Wouldn't you love to see one of the slimy millionaire timeshare resale company owners squirm on national t.v. ?

Who knows if a grass roots effort would be successful in getting this scam on national t.v. but if we don't try it won't happen anyway.

Norin,

Thanks for the input. I will do my best to see what advice Judd McIlvain can give me about getting a national news show to take interest in this resale scam. Like you said, if we can get enough people to send in their stories that's gotta get the news shows attention.

I have contacted Judd McIlvain of troubleshooterjudd.com to seek his advice on approaching major prime time news shows in regards to the advance fee resale scam.

As soon as I hear back from him I will post his advice on getting the attention of these network magazine shows. As I mentioned, he has contributed to 20/20 in the past so he should have good advice on how to go about this.

From that point if everyone feels it is worth a shot maybe we can organize a campaign to send 1 or more of these shows the experiences everyone has had.

Not only would a national prime time report on the advance fee timeshare resale business educate consumers on a wide scale but it should also motivate state agencies such as the Florida Attorney General's Office to act more agressively against these companies in their states.

gary, what is the address for Dateline and 20/20? Perhaps if enough people complain Dateline or 20/20 will then take notice.

BTW, send your letter a thousand times if you have to and to different department heads of the above networks.

The Dateline NBC address is:

Story Suggestions Dateline NBC 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, N.Y. 10112

email: Dateline@NBC.com

MSNBC: letters@msnbc.com

viewerservices@nsmbc.com

I'll post 20/20's contact info later as well as contact info for other national news shows

I have the following link to ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/BrianRoss/page?id=3247430

in which story suggestions can be submitted to their News Investigative Team.

I am in the process of submitting my story suggestion in regards to the timeshare resale scam.

Contact Inside Edition's Investigative Unit

If you know of a scam, cover-up, crime or hazard, we want to hear about it. Please be specific and mention any video, photos or documents that support your news tip.

Email your tip to ietips@kingworld.com

Call us at: (212) 817-5555

Write to us at:

Inside Edition VIEWER COMMENTS PO Box 1323 Radio City Station New York, NY 10101

Judd, the consumer advocate has emailed me to let me know he will be calling me in the next couple of days to discuss the best way to approach a major news/magazine show.

If anyone else has or will be contacting any type of news show such as Dateline feel free to post it here.

Remember, it doesn't matter which company you've dealt with it is Omega, timehsaremls.or, timeshareonly.com or any other up front resale scam company. The key is to make as many news organizations as possible aware of this multi million dollar rip off.

We've gotta take action to have any hope of getting anything done about these guys.

I've just gotten off the phone with Judd McIlvain of troubleshooterjudd.com. As I've mentioned above he has contributed in the past to 20/20 as well as 48 hours as an investigative reporter.

He has booked me for next Wed. July 18th at 4:15pm EST for a follow up interview as to how things have been going to get the word out about the advance fee resale scam since our last interview.

I know what information I want to get out but I am also open to any thoughts or suggestions anyone else may have for the interview.

Judd also told me I need to get in contact with Dennis Murphy of Dateline since this type of story is the type he likes to report on. He is getting me his contact info.

This may not be a 20/20 or Dateline interview I'm going to be doing but it is a start and Judd's show does have a fairly good reach via the internet and Judd has a very good reputation in the investigative/consumer advocacy reporting field.

If we ever want a chance to bring down the Advance Fee Timeshare Resale Scam Kings we have to get the word out every way possible. Media, government agencies, forums like this one and the ripoffreport.com good outlets to make people aware and get more bad press on these companies circulating.

Might I ad, any report posted about a company on www.ripoffreport.com generally gets listed on the first page of results when a search is done about that company.

WeCollectTimeshares.com is being investigated ... WeCollectTimeshares.com is a company that charges $3000+ to take your timeshare off your hands. They are referred to as a postcard company, since they send out postcards to prospective clients informing them they will be in their area holding a meeting, but they do not tell prospective clients that they will be charging $3000+ to take their timeshare. Many of their clients are elderly.

At the meetings, they go into a long sales spiel explaning that the prospective clients timeshares are worthless (one of the timeshares the elderly couple owned was in Vegas .... hardly worthless.)

This company is being investigated by Washington State authorities where their home office is located. Kudos to the elderly couple that came forward to a TV station in the Bay area of California with their grievances concerning wecollecttimeshares.com.

This is exactly what those that have been ripped off by upfront fee resale companies should do .... get a TV station involved.

Story here: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...ide&id=5475716

P.S. The irony of postcard companies VS upfront fee resale companies is the major differences in their sales pitch. Postcard companies tell prospective clients that their timeshares are worthless while upfront fee resale companies tell prospective clients their timeshares are worth much more than they actually are getting the client excited to list with the upfront fee company.

I would rather dig ditches than to work for either a postcard company or an upfront fee resale company. They take advantage of desperate people while spewing their lies.

gary, hope the above info helps with your investigation.

I think I am starting to finally make at least a wee bit of progress against timesharemls.org.

The company is starting to address my posts on the various sites that I have written about them on.

They aren't addressing how great their service is but are trying to attack me personally.

To me this shows they are losing at least a few sales due to my efforts or else they wouldn't be trying to "discredit" me.

The powers to be at CHL Marketing, Inc. which is the parent company of timesharemls.org and timesharefsbo.com have made an attempt to influence the Troubleshooterjudd.com radio show from interviewing me today.

They have made an unsuccessful attempt to have my interview with the show canceled. I will be on as scheduled.

Just so everyone knows, this goes to show that the owners and principals of the advance fee resale companies do keep an eye on forums like the one here at redweek.com. This is how they found out about my upcoming appearance on troubleshooterjudd.com.

They are aware of these forums because they know that they do a very good job in educating timeshare owners and that if they get mentioned on the forums themseleves it will eventually cost them money.

To paraphrase what jayjay always says, "these forums are here to educate timeshare owners". This education is making a difference.

Just finished my interview on troubleshooterjudd.com and it went well.

I was able to reiterate that if a company charges any type of fee up front no matter what they call it to help in the selling of a timeshare to not do business with them that it is a scam company.

Judd also asked me what a timeshare owner who wants to sell should do. As has been mentioned on the redweek forum many times I said to first follow the golden rule of pay no money up front to anyone period. I repeated the "no up front fees to anyone" as much as I could. Then as has been said here many times again, the best person to sell their timeshare is usually the timeshare owner and that they should look to websites such as redweek or other similiar websites like redweek to advertise the unit.

After the email CHL Marketing dba timesharemls.org sent to Judd this morning trying to persuade him not to have me on his show and then Judd's reply back to them saying I would still be on that someone from CHL Marketing didn't ask to be on with me to rebuttal what I had to say. I'm not sure but Judd may have invited them on the show in his email to them.

Alas though, no representative from timesharemls.org. Makes me wonder that maybe they don't have all that much confidence that their resale package is such a great deal for the timeshare owners after all. All of the sudden they got a little shy when it came to addressing my posts and comments on them and the resale industry.

garym172 wrote:

I'm wondering if a concerted effort is made to flood a Dateline, 20/20 or similar type news show with the bad experiences consumers have had with the various timeshare resale companies would do any good to peek the interest of their investigative/consumer affairs people.

This is a huge scam going on in the country as we all know but yet the mainstream news seems oblivious.

These scammers need to be exposed on a nationwide basis and with the millions of dollars being lost by timeshare owners each year this seems like a story that would be of interest to them.

Any thoughts?

PLEASE BE ADVISED.

Gary Manning is utilizing consumer reports and timeshare industry forums to share the slanted view of his experience with my clients. To this date my clients have refused to pay any money to Gary Manning and they have not posted a single reply to his posts. Unfortunately he has gone too far with his slander and libel. To discredit Gary Manning a history of his employment and career involvement is due. Gary Manning managed "Vacation Break USA" a vacation package company. He sold vacation packages up to $899 in up front fees. It was alleged that the "travel and timeshare marketer deceived consumers into thinking they won "free" vacations that ultimately cost them hundreds of dollars". A link to the report below. Gary also worked for "APEX Marketing" who had multiple investigations from multiple states Attorney Generals and an uproar of consumer complaints. Another link below shows the numerous consumer complaints. These are only some of Gary Manning's involvements and more recently he has been involved with Caribe Marketing, who is also under scrutiny. See below. Please be advised that Gary's comments are only a tactic of libel. He has only recently given the appearance of being generally concerned with the upfront fee timeshare resale market. My clients are in preparation of filing suit against Gary Manning for his slander and libel. Continued publication of his existing or responding posts might involve a cease and desist order to your internet service or hosting provider. This discredit of Gary Manning is being submitted to all websites and forums that Gary Manning is utilizing. All information is deemed to be true and has been collected by public sources.

PLEASE BE ADVISED.

Gary Manning at Vacation Break USA

http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?A=1772&Q=282386

Gary Manning at APEX Marketing

http://www.ripoffreport.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q5=Apex+Marketing&submit2=Search%21&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0

Gary Manning and Caribe Marketing

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/179/ripoff0179345.htm

To address the "Discredit" of me from the owner of Timesharemls.org I submit the following:

I freely admit I was a sales manager for Vacation Break USA and APEX Marketing which were both eventually purchased by Fairfield Resorts which is now owned by Wyndham.

We did sell vacation packages to generate tours to timeshares. I have never had a problem per se with timeshares since there are very good ones out there and many timeshare owners are happy with their units. My problem is with the upfront fee resale companies of the world.

At Vacation Break we sold packages mostly in the $399 range but if a customer wanted a carnival cruise it would be $899.

At APEX and Fairfield we sold the 3 day 2 night get aways for a price of around $99 to $129.

These packages were for the purpose of generating tours for mostly Fairfield Resorts.

As for Caribe Marketing I never worked with that organization.

The reason his clients have never paid any money to me or as he put it "refused to pay me money" is because as I've mentioned before I never submitted any sales to "His" company..didn't have the stomach to rip these people off for a worthless up front fee timeshare resale package.

Back in my younger days I also managed a Burger King Restaurant which he didn't mention. I'm sure my restaurant had a complaint during the 4 years I was there but when my customers paid their money for a whopper fries and coke, well, that's exactly what they got!

Anything else anyone wants to know about me please ask and I'll be happy to answer.

Howard, I guess you must be losing some sales to get a feed back from you or whatever lacky you had post this. Thanks for that feedback. It's nice to know I am making a difference.

AAhhh, took me a couple of times to read the timesharemls.org discredit of me but I understand what they were trying to get across in one of their sentences now.

"To this date my clients have refused to pay any money to Gary Manning and they have not posted a single reply to his posts."

At first I thought they meant their timeshare resale customers which wouldn't be correct since I never submitted any sales to their offices due to my disgust with timehsaremls.org's tactics, however, now I know what this writer meant..

by the above statement he is implying I have constantly been asking the company for money, or possibly they are implying extortion on my part. This isn't true, once I closed my office I did ask for reimbursement of my expenses and the General Manager of timesharemls.org replied no and that was the last time the subject was mentioned. I urge timesharemls.org to provide proof as to this allegation if indeed this is the truth as they are implying. Talk about slander.

As far as this only being a recent concern on my part in regards to people having bad experiences with advance fee timeshare resale companies is another falsehood. My posts on various websites go back to sept. of last year. This is shortly after I ended my short association with timesharemls.org and chl marketing.

I'm fairly certain I either have on the way to me or will shortly have sent to me a certified letter telling me to stop my postings in regards to timesharemls.org or they will pursue legal actions. Basically an attempt to bully me into stopping.

I don't react to well to threats, especially from companies that skirts ethics in their business dealings.

CHL Marketing dba timesharemls.org is grasping at straws when it comes to trying their best to dig up info on me to as they put it "discredit" me.

They indicate in their "discredit post" that recently I have had an association with caribe marketing. This had me puzzled since I have never worked for this company. However, after doing some searching I have found that if you do an internet search using my personal email address, the one chl marketing has on file for me, caribe marketing will show up. This caribe marketing page also has emails of just about everyone that requested info from them on it so I guess we all are "associated" with them.This is about the only thing that shows online about me when you do a search with my name, email or anything else.

No I haven't worked for this company but about 7 years ago or so I came across their website. I filled out a form to receive information on their travel packages. I received the info via email and that was it.

What does this tell me, Chl Mareting is scrubbing the web the best they can to find anything at all they can on me. If requesting info from a company is a crime then I am guilty but come on guys, getting info about 7 years ago is a long cry from working with or for that company. I expect more from you guys.