refund listing fees from fraud sellmytimesharenow.com

janiceb273 wrote:

Sell My Timrshares Now. They are fraudulent.

SMTN has been around for a long time and will likely be around, alive and well, for a long time to come. Their "service" is relatively worthless, but not "fraudulent". SMTN charges serious money (required "up front") to place a (usually unrealistically priced) "listing". People willingly pony up and pay SMTN, for reasons unknown to me and usually to no productive end. On the infrequent occasions when a willing buyer actually appears, SMTN then charges absurdly high closing costs to process the transaction --- high enough for buyers to get turned off and often just turn and walk away, saying "no thanks".

In short, the elements of fraud (which is a criminal offense) are simply not met when people willingly choose to overpay a relatively worthless listing service which promptly "lists", as promised (even if the listing yields little or no buyer interest). SMTN is almost always a complete waste of money, in my personal opinion, but their practices unfortunately do not actually constitute "fraud". That's why they remain alive and well --- although you really have to wonder how those lying parasites manage to sleep at night.

ken1193 wrote:

People willingly pony up and pay SMTN, for reasons unknown to me...

The reason(s) why people pony up and pay SMTN is because SMTN convinces these owners (and the owners foolishly believe) that using this listing website will fetch them "Full market value" (i.e. the tens of thousands of dollars they paid the developer) for their unit. Whereas using more reasonably-priced, more effective listing services such as RedWeek, Timeshare Users Group, My Resort Network, etc. is for "desperate" owners who are trying to unload their units ASAP just to stop paying the maintenance fees, likely for peanuts even free, but can't/won't get "Fair market value".

As long as there are owners out there who keep fantasizing that their units can sell for what they originally paid the developer, SMTN and sadly, many of the upfront resale scam artists, will continue to thrive.

SellMtRimeShareNow is by far the most horrible and fraudulent company I still deal with! I am not expecting to sell my Hilton timeshare for the money I have originally paid for, but 1/4 of the total and even less and still after almost three years my timeshare real estate has been on the market there is no sign of interest from buyers. I have tried to change the posting/advertisement myself and they tell you, you can't because of space/character limit and there is no way you can post pictures other than the standard ones they provide for all Hilton timeshare owners trying to sell through this company. I regret the day I decided to do business with them. I did contact them just because Hilton was being a big pain in the a** and were trying to push me to buy more points and I got pissed. I love Hilton timeshare if it wasn't for their aggressive business and maintenance fees. Anyone knows any way out of the bad deal with SMTN and fee refund?

Isn’t it fraud to tell you that your properties are valuable - worth 10 to 20 times their actual worth and that they have corporate buyers waiting to purchase them. And then no activity for months or years. Why wouldn’t a person give them $5k to bring in $60k?

I'm just as upset as you as are.

It may not be out right fraud but in my opinion it is overt deception.

Yes, it is our job to do our due diligence, and I tried, but they do tell you that your timeshare is worth more than you paid for it, they have hungry buyers, lead you to believe it will sell quickly, will help you sell for a great price AND, here's the kicker, the use a time sensitive tactic to get you to buy; that this offer is not available after "such and such date".

So, the question is are all or any of those students untrue or deceptive?

I think so.

Or guy told us that if her had his way he would sit at the pool and talk to owners that wanted to sell. He then said he would make a killing through reselling them. The way he framed it lead me to believe that their are "brokers" buying up timeshares so they can resell. When I asked these questions he did not refute or correct me.

I then asked for referrals and proof of previous sales, they gave me the website that only shows a few nebulous reviews, no real data, as the real estate industry can do and is required through property title search.

I feel that since the mortgage and real estate industry had to come clean and a major reform due to deceptive practices that timeshare resales should have the same requirements.

Deceptive practices! Wrong! Need a change!

According to Wikipedia “In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud itself can be a civil wrong (i.e., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation), “ maybe not a criminal case of fraud but a civil case For sure. The only reason they are not being sued is because no one wants to pay the attorney fees by themselves. It would be sixes even if they won. But if enough people did it together....it might be worth it.

janiceb273 wrote:

According to Wikipedia “In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud itself can be a civil wrong (i.e., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation), “ maybe not a criminal case of fraud but a civil case For sure. The only reason they are not being sued is because no one wants to pay the attorney fees by themselves. It would be sixes even if they won. But if enough people did it together....it might be worth it.

I don't know if you have a law degree (...yes, I do), but an academic "definition" from Wikipedia is irrelevant to actual legal application in the everyday real world (including in the courtroom).

The reason SMTN is not sued and will remain alive and well for as long as they choose to remain in business is that they are not doing anything unlawful . They are a (mostly useless) listing service --- no more and no less. People foolishly pay SMTN serious money for a listing and SMTN then lists --- done deal. The fact that gullible people choose to entertain unrealistic "pie in the sky" verbal (...never in writing) nonsense about the actual resale value of what they own is on them, like it or not (please don't shoot the messenger). A little homework will reveal the actual resale value and marketability of any timeshare. Unfortunately, some timeshares have little or no resale value or desirability in the open marketplace, but people who once paid big bucks (understandably) have great difficulty accepting the fact that they grossly overpaid for what they previously bought. Accordingly, they really "want to believe" that they can recoup their money. SMTN takes advantage of that desire to "believe". Slimy? yes. Unlawful? no.

I have no use whatsoever for SMTN, but it is my firm belief that attempting to initiate or pursue legal action against them would just be an unproductive and complete waste of time, even if some attorney would take your "case" pro bono (highly unlikely). SMTN weasels are slimy, opportunistic parasites --- but they are not breaking the law. Nonetheless, it's your time and money and it is your prerogative to pursue any course of action you deem appropriate. Good luck.

They told me and countless others bold face lies about our timeshares worth and marketability just to take our hard earned money. That’s the bottom line. They lied for their personal gain. And I am going to pursue this. If there is anyone out there reading this who wants to join me in fighting this. Please contact me. No nay sayers please.

janiceb273 wrote:

They told me and countless others bold face lies about our timeshares worth and marketability just to take our hard earned money. That’s the bottom line. They lied for their personal gain. And I am going to pursue this.

How did you come into contact with SMTN? Did you receive an unexpected telemarketing call from the company? Did you see a Google-type ad and then click on it? Did you do a search engine (like Google) with something like "sell timeshare" and then see SMTN appear at or near the top?

As much as I despise SMTN's MO, I have to agree with Ken. Pursuing this in a court of law would likely be a colossal waste of time and money. SMTN is not doing anything illegal. But if you feel you have been wronged, you can file a complaint for free with the Attorney-General of the state where SMTN is located (Florida, I think).

I would just be careful considering what you said in your second- and third-to-last sentences. When you post statements like this in a public forum, you're going to get inundated with offers from unscrupulous people who are seeking to take advantage of people like you. Many supposed law firms claim that they will sue the pants off people or companies with whom you have a grudge but then accomplish nothing except take your money.

Thank you for your advise.

janiceb273 wrote:

Thank you for your advise.

No problem. I'm glad that you're thinking with a cooler head now rather than getting all vengeful and Rah, Rah against SMTN (not that I'm defending them) which causes many people to think irrationally.

On to a different note. What is the situation with your timeshare? Do you still own it? If so, do you still have it on the market? Do you still have a mortgage or maintenance fees owing on it? If your contract with SMTN now is still valid, you might want to reduce the listing price on your unit to something that reflects the actual market value.

If you're serious about selling or getting rid of it, you can also try listing it on reputable web sites such as here on RedWeek, My resort Network, E-Bay, Craigslist, or Timeshare Users Group which are all a lot cheaper than SMTN.

I wrote two articles about SMTN. In both cases SMTN refunded the money. Then they stole our key words to advertise for sales and rentals as if we were advertising for sales and rentals which so endeared them to us. Anything I can do to put them out of business I'm in. We pull an article if the dispute is resolved. One article got published. I won't provide the link because they did resolved after publication.

Florida House Bill 435 is currently being worked on. It would require services be delivered before charging anything. I believe SMTN would fall under this bill, at least for Florida residents. If you live in Florida or bought in Florida and experienced SMTN overstating their accomplishments, please contact the bill's sponsor, Florida representative Wyman Duggan. There is some bad in this bill, some good. I am so glad there is a SMTN thread. File BBB complaints too. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/435/BillText/__/PDF

Hear yee hear yee well said from his another ripped off sucker

On the contrary, Jason, SMTN is NOT accredited by BBB, and it is listed in BBB site the many complaints!

Hi, I'm in the same situation as you were, where SMTN charged me with $1796 USD and I haven't hadf any inquires, questions of offers at all in the six months that have with them. I can't even find my add if I search a a regular person, I contacted them a few times and they just make excuses and blame you for the bad results. i reported the to the BBB and on the Conssumer Affairs Site, but I haven't gotten the response I want which is a full refund of my money. What can I do to succed as you did? What recomendations can you give me? My timashare is linked to a florida adress but my contract with SMTN started in 2018 so I don't know if the Florida House of Representatives HB435 is valid or retroactive. What can I do? Thank you

I have communicated with SellMyTimeshareNow's Chris Grand and Elizabeth Lamendola several times in the last two weeks. They are devious, persistent and not too smart.

A large upfront fee like SellMyTimeshareNow charges is a sign of a scam, rather than a legitimate sales opportunity; there is no incentive on their part to do anything once they have your money. Coupled with a BBB rating of C-, they have sealed their fate, if anyone checks.

SellMyTimeshareNow believes their own hype and BS, and they are dysfunctional. SellMyTimeshareNow have misappropriated money from others by their misrepresentations and lies. That is not decent and if they had a conscience, they would feel guilty. However any confrontation with them is futile and a waste of time. With any luck karma will catch up with them.

Stay away from this slimy company or you will require many hot showers to get their stink off you. But then, I like to sugar coat things.

williams1391 wrote:

A large upfront fee like SellMyTimeshareNow charges is a sign of a scam, rather than a legitimate sales opportunity; there is no incentive on their part to do anything once they have your money.

I don't know if they're necessarily a scam. They're just a very expensive listing company. As much as I hate their tactics, they are a legal listing company. It's just important that anyone who does business with this listing company (which I do not recommend BTW) realize that he is paying for a listing service and not a full-out sales service.

However, if the person at SMTN flat out told you that SMTN is a full-out sales service and quoted you a price for full-out sales, then you might look into fraud and scam. Just make sure you understood what you were getting into when you agreed to pay for their services whether it was a full-service sale or just a listing service.

The Timeshare industry survives on advertising & marketing and they obviously stack the deck in their favor, because that is in their self interest.

Nevertheless, a spade remains a spade; it's like a pack of wolves looking after a flock of sheep. It is easy to do dishonest things without doing anything illegal. It’s also easy to make excuses for them, like they're a very expensive listing company. That still does not make what they do right or decent, except in an alternate universe, where nothing makes any real sense anyway.

The BBB, in spite of all of their imperfections, is about the only truly impartial arbitrator of this buffoonery. For every complaint that they receive, hundreds go unreported.

It’s a hard sell for me to pay a large upfront fee to a “shady” company before it actually does anything . . . and even if they did anything, their upfront costs are negligible. Remember what our parents told us, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Yes, I was made to believe that they will be doing a full-out sales service, thus, the big amount of money, which includes the closing cost. Before convincing me to sign up, they even showed me a video of a legit company with a Marketing team! But after signing up, they give the contract which says, "Subscriber is solely responsible for the pricing, content and control of Subscriber’s advertisements and responding to any inquiries on such advertisements. The Subscriber(s) understands that inquiries are controlled solely by the Buyers and Sellers." So, they just advertise in their website, which doesn't cost that much money, and leave it be. Sellers are on their own.

Have been trying to get my agreement canceled since July 6th and all I have been getting is a runaround. Mostly from Martin Riewaldt. He is a seasoned pro and can talk you out of anything. I have called several times to cancel and I think because of their stall my time period to cancel has expired. They are charging me $1,998.00 for each of my timeshares of which I have 2 Marriott's. These charges have put a strain on me emotionally as I'm retired and on a fixed income now. My advice if you are reading this in advance of listing with Sell My Timeshare Now is "don't do it".