Anyone have experience with Castle Law Group, PC out of Tennessee

They moved out of the Mt. Juliet office almost a year ago. The Nashville office is the only one they have. It's not "fake" it is their actual location.

At any rate, I'm sorry they gave you the run around. Just one of many reasons why I left almost a year ago.

edwardb323 wrote:

I tried to use Castle Law to exit a TumeShare agreement with Wyndham. I was lead to understand I "might" get back some of my original down payment if Wyndham rep had lie to me.And I might get out of the contract in a year or so. Later I learned this would not happen for the $3k I paid. At the very first I felt Castle was dragging their feet in appointing a rep to my case. When I tried calling her I usually got another. When I finally made a trip to Nashville I was not directed to their Mt. Joulit office but a fancy corner office in the 12th (I think) floor. This was a fake rented space to impress ,e. It did not. All I was told amounted to "No comment". I knew I had been scammed again and left $3000 poorer. I would never do business with Castle nor recommend them to anyone.

I was googling and I found this thread by accident. I wish I found it before. I have a contract with Castle Law and I have been frustrated and want to find out what I can do to expedite the process of getting out from timeshare contract. It’s been 7 months and nothing is really happening. So far, they sent 2 letters to the Timeshare developer, but that was 3 months ago. Really, nothing is happening and they don’t seem to care. Their communication is extremely bad, a lady even told me that they only contact a client when anything changes. Every time I complain, they also says, “Ms. You have 18 months time frame. It’s been only xx months. What is your problem?” This kind of tells me that they have no reason to speed up the process and while I am waiting for, I am still paying the mortgage. After reading so many threads against them, I concluded that they will not help me out at all. I already made a decision of reporting to TN Bar Association. If anyone has a good advice, let me know.

mikaey wrote:

So far, they sent 2 letters to the Timeshare developer...

I am still paying the mortgage.

You are showing precisely why using these supposed law firms to allegedly get you out of your timeshare is not very practical. All they do is send semi-threatening letters to the resort. That's something you can do yourself for a lot less money.

The thing that's complicating your desire right now is that you still owe a mortgage. You must first pay off the mortgage before anyone, including the resort, will want to take your unit. No one wants to take on ownership of a timeshare with a mortgage still owing on it.

Document EVERYTHING. That's the best free advice I can give you. I'm not an attorney, so I can't give you legal advice, but if you are going to be filing complaints, reporting anything, good documentation is never a bad idea...

mikaey wrote:

I was googling and I found this thread by accident. I wish I found it before. I have a contract with Castle Law and I have been frustrated and want to find out what I can do to expedite the process of getting out from timeshare contract. It’s been 7 months and nothing is really happening. So far, they sent 2 letters to the Timeshare developer, but that was 3 months ago. Really, nothing is happening and they don’t seem to care. Their communication is extremely bad, a lady even told me that they only contact a client when anything changes. Every time I complain, they also says, “Ms. You have 18 months time frame. It’s been only xx months. What is your problem?” This kind of tells me that they have no reason to speed up the process and while I am waiting for, I am still paying the mortgage. After reading so many threads against them, I concluded that they will not help me out at all. I already made a decision of reporting to TN Bar Association. If anyone has a good advice, let me know.

Thanks for both suggestions. I am keeping fairly good records for phone/e-mail correspondences, contracts, etc. I filed a formal complaint and I faxed the supporting documents to TN Bar Association. I will give a week before I contact them again. Here is my question, though. If the time limit expires (18 months) and the contract is not rescinded, does Castle Law give me a refund as they originally promised on the agreement?

I highly doubt you will get a refund. I'm hearing people say that Castle has just dumped their files back on the companies that referred them to Castle and have not been given refunds...I STILL get complaints on my personal cell phone and I have been gone over a year, so I'm not optimistic for you...I hope for your sake they honor their contract, but all I'm hearing is bad news all the way around...

mikaey wrote:

Thanks for both suggestions. I am keeping fairly good records for phone/e-mail correspondences, contracts, etc. I filed a formal complaint and I faxed the supporting documents to TN Bar Association. I will give a week before I contact them again. Here is my question, though. If the time limit expires (18 months) and the contract is not rescinded, does Castle Law give me a refund as they originally promised on the agreement?

mikaey wrote:

I filed a formal complaint and I faxed the supporting documents to TN Bar Association. I will give a week before I contact them again. Here is my question, though. If the time limit expires (18 months) and the contract is not rescinded, does Castle Law give me a refund as they originally promised on the agreement?

Unlike laurab773, I have had no direct or personal involvement with "Castle Law Group" at any time (a fact for which I am certainly very grateful).

That being said, I would venture to speculate (although I cannot document or prove this) that Castle Law Group has NEVER issued a refund to ANYONE --- and that you are highly unlikely to become the first refund recipient. I'm quite confident that they have a whole laundry list of reasons they regard as valid why they ARE indeed "fulfilling" whatever lame agreement was executed. I would further speculate that they believe that their "agreement" essentially protects them from ever having to (willingly) issue a refund to anyone. Even if foreclosure was initiated within that 18 months time period, they could easily then just state "You're out, which is what you wanted and exactly what happened --- so what's your beef?"

For what it's worth, I see no reference to your having ever filed a formal complaint with the TN Attorney General's office. ALL of the information you need to do so can be found in an earlier post within this very thread. You can even file a complaint online (all the information required to do so is contained within one post). While you should certainly contact BOTH, I think you are more likely to elicit some interest and muscle on your behalf from the TN AG, as opposed to the TN Bar Assn (...don't bother with the utterly useless BBB). Good luck.

My update: I faxed all my documents to Tennessee Bar Association and I got a letter yesterday saying that they did open the case against Castle Law Group. I may be able to get a refund that I paid thru Amex card by showing this letter. At least, Amex will hold the payment and credit back to me. Now, Castle Law really have to do a good job to settle my case, otherwise, they may lose a license.

By the way, Ken1193, I can't seem to file a complaint against attorney/lawyer with TN AG. They only allow us to complain against professionals, other than legal. If I want to bring a case against attorney, I need to file with TN Bar Association.

The Bar ASSOCIATION is just like a membership club for attorneys to get referrals...they have no authority over attorneys or their licenses. If you are trying to complain to the Tennessee BAR, that is the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. That is what it is called here in the state of TN.

www.tbpr.org for more information. You can also email them directly through their consumer assistance program at cap@tbpr.org

Good Luck!

mikaey wrote:

My update: I faxed all my documents to Tennessee Bar Association and I got a letter yesterday saying that they did open the case against Castle Law Group. I may be able to get a refund that I paid thru Amex card by showing this letter. At least, Amex will hold the payment and credit back to me. Now, Castle Law really have to do a good job to settle my case, otherwise, they may lose a license.

From what I have been told, you can file a complaint with the AG against the law firm or their marketing arm, Castle Marketing Group, LLC but not a specific attorney. Several people have contacted me and told me they have done this.

They have also contacted the FBI and the FTC.

Again, I wish you the best of luck.

mikaey wrote:

By the way, Ken1193, I can't seem to file a complaint against attorney/lawyer with TN AG. They only allow us to complain against professionals, other than legal. If I want to bring a case against attorney, I need to file with TN Bar Association.

laurab773 wrote:

... you can file a complaint with the AG against the law firm or their marketing arm, Castle Marketing Group, LLC but not a specific attorney.

Correct on all counts, as far as I know. Mikaey may have tried (unsuccessfully) to file a AG complaint against an individual person / attorney, instead of filing a complaint against the firm itself, which can most certainly be done, including online.

Not sure that FBI (or FTC) complaints will ultimately prove to be productive however, since it's unclear (at least to me) that there is actually overt violation of Federal law involved.

Castle parasites accept money for "contracted services" and then (maybe) push some paper around and send out some correspondence, ultimately accomplishing no "exits". They can (and they will) claim to be "making sincere efforts", but magical exit is something they ultimately cannot actually deliver anyhow, in the final analysis. Their practices are clearly unethical and reprehensible --- but unlikely to elicit FBI interest or involvement, unless the FBI regards the activity as large scale criminal fraud, perpetrated across state lines. That conclusion is highly unlikely (in my personal opinion), but I would certainly be glad to be proven wrong, It is frankly just very hard for me to imagine that, with so many much bigger fish to fry in this day and age, that the FBI is going to invest resources into a matter where people who once voluntarily purchased what is essentially a "luxury" item are now choosing to pay even MORE money to a law firm to try to get OUT of a legally binding, contractual obligation that was once freely and voluntarily taken on. Not a whole lot of "victim appeal" there --- and maybe no actual violation of any Federal law anyhow. Color me dubious.

Look up the Diamond lawsuit against them...I think there's a very good possibility that the Feds may get involved...we're talking about millions of dollars from thousands of people across state lines...money that Diamond is alleging they funneled into other companies...

ken1193 wrote:

laurab773 wrote:

... you can file a complaint with the AG against the law firm or their marketing arm, Castle Marketing Group, LLC but not a specific attorney.

Correct on all counts, as far as I know. Mikaey may have tried (unsuccessfully) to file a AG complaint against an individual person / attorney, instead of filing a complaint against the firm itself, which can most certainly be done, including online.

Not sure that FBI (or FTC) complaints will ultimately prove to be productive however, since it's unclear (at least to me) that there is actually overt violation of Federal law involved.

Castle parasites accept money for "contracted services" and then (maybe) push some paper around and send out some correspondence, ultimately accomplishing no "exits". They can (and they will) claim to be "making sincere efforts", but magical exit is something they ultimately cannot actually deliver anyhow, in the final analysis. Their practices are clearly unethical and reprehensible --- but unlikely to elicit FBI interest or involvement, unless the FBI regards the activity as large scale criminal fraud, perpetrated across state lines. That conclusion is highly unlikely (in my personal opinion), but I would certainly be glad to be proven wrong, It is frankly just very hard for me to imagine that, with so many much bigger fish to fry in this day and age, that the FBI is going to invest resources into a matter where people who once voluntarily purchased what is essentially a "luxury" item are now choosing to pay even MORE money to a law firm to try to get OUT of a legally binding, contractual obligation that was once freely and voluntarily taken on. Not a whole lot of "victim appeal" there --- and maybe no actual violation of any Federal law anyhow. Color me dubious.

Even if they were legit and filed a lawsuit against a timeshare company it would take years to drag through the courts . In a class action lawsuit even if they win the plaintiffs usually get a token settlement of a few dollars credit towards something the defendant has to offer . That's only pennies on the dollar . There are only a handful of class action lawsuits that paid the defendants a windfall of money.

The whole time the case proceeds through the courts you still have to pay all fees and assessments . And let's not forget the appeals if they lose. That could be at least another three years of paying fees and assessments .

For those of you that think they can get you out of your contract think again . They have no hidden secret that can magically void your contract. All they are doing is something you can do yourself. They contact the home resort and ask them to take it back . With a little time and effort you can do that yourself . I got rid of two timeshares in 2011 that way . All these companies do is send them a " lawyer letter " requesting the same thing but for some reason they think that since it comes from an attorney it has some magical powers. It doesn't .

My goal is to educate and warn the owners about these scams to prevent them from occurring in the first place . Over the years I see less and less owners complaining about being ripped off by the scammers in here. To me that is progress from years ago . There are still some post card companies and some exit companies out there that running these scams but they are slowly disappearing .

We need to keep the dialogue open in the forums and hope we eventually root out the scammers and hopefully influence developers to come up with an exit strategy that benefits both the owners and developers . Let's keep working together and see if we can come up with a solution .

laurab773 wrote:

Look up the Diamond lawsuit against them...I think there's a very good possibility that the Feds may get involved...we're talking about millions of dollars from thousands of people across state lines...money that Diamond is alleging they funneled into other companies.

I respectfully submit that this is comparing "apples and oranges". Diamond is accused of misusing (i.e., siphoning off) maintenance fee money to fund unrelated corporate matters (which is NOT appropriate use of owners' maintenance fees). While reprehensible, that Diamond matter is not relevant to the Castle Law Group situation or practices.

donp196 wrote:

We need to keep the dialogue open in the forums and hope we eventually root out the scammers and hopefully influence developers to come up with an exit strategy that benefits both the owners and developers . Let's keep working together and see if we can come up with a solution .

What Wyndham is doing via their "Ovation" (deedback) program is certainly commendable. It's good for Wyndham owners who want a quick and easy (and free) "exit" and it's good for Wyndham's bottom line as well --- a "win / win" all the way around.

HOWEVER, it is important to understand and acknowledge that it requires the deep pockets of a huge, multi million dollar corporation like Wyndham to do what Wyndham is doing. The Ovation approach is simply not a viable option for small, independent timeshares that require owner maintenance fees just to keep their doors open and the place running --- with NO "deep pockets Sugar Daddy" corporation in the background to help subsidize them.

donp196 wrote:

Over the years I see less and less owners complaining about being ripped off by the scammers in here. To me that is progress from years ago . There are still some post card companies and some exit companies out there that running these scams but they are slowly disappearing .

Maybe I missed a whole bunch before but to me, I have not seen fewer owners complaining about scams and rip-offs. Yes, some of these scam artists are getting caught, shut down, and arrested. But many still are out there and, even more tragic, many owners are still getting scammed.

Orange Lake, Westgate and Diamond all sued Castle Law Group. Castle Law Group has questionable business practices. All the developers are on a campaign to kill all the lawyers. While the developers and the DOJ need to crack down on bad practitioners, the goal seems to be to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Some members, with high interest rate loans, concerned about their credit, do need to seek legal counsel if they reach a dead end with the resort. I have heard, as a volunteer, from the elderly or their kids, if parents are diagnosed with dementia, or suffering from medical conditions, like the army vet with blood cancer after living next to a burn pit in Basra, Iraqi - members that can't handle the 90 to 180 days of collection calls. As soon as an Attorney General has a complaint under review, or a member has retained a lawyer, the collection calls stop. My hairdresser said Diamond collectors even called her parent's neighbors - I can't reach them, can you go next door and see if they are home? Her parents were forced into bankruptcy over their vacation plan. The CFPB seems to be more proactive. They can make changes but it takes volumes of complaints. Please file complaints. I received this email yesterday: We have taken the following additional actions on your complaint:

We added your complaint to the CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database on our website at consumerfinance.gov/ComplaintDatabase. Your feedback, as well as feedback other consumers may provide about this company, helps us make decisions about which issues and companies to investigate. If we take public legal action against the company that involves the issue you complained about, we will let you know. You can see public legal actions here: consumerfinance.gov/policy-compliance/enforcement/actions/. We have also shared your complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which will add your complaint to its database for state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The CFPB appreciates your participation in the complaint process and your feedback on the company’s response. Both are important to us and to other consumers who may have the same issues and concerns.

Welk Resort sued Timeshare Exit Team, also accused of using lawyers that transfer deeds or point contracts to fictitious LLCs or individuals. There are many lawsuits. The motive the developers say is to protect timeshare members. The fact is that when the deed is fraudulent it hampers the hamster wheel - sell by deceit and bait and switch, finance with high interest rate loans and higher interest rate Barclay cards, foreclose easily when points are non-deeded, resell for full value. The good lawyers and the bad all impede the flow.

I think a RedWeek representative responded to my post above on a different site in reference to my comment about the CFPB, which is why I am responding here on the Castle thread.

RedWeek - In addition to the auto response I received above, CFPB has reached out to several of the 179 timeshare members who have reached out to our advocacy group for assistance. When a member is hampered by age, computer skills, English as second language or, as in the case last week, mom going into labor soon with baby number six, I, a volunteer, walk the member through the CFPB filing process or they file orally. A widow called me on the eve of what would have been her 51st wedding anniversary sobbing, asked me to help her with her complaint. After we filed, CFPB notified her that I needed to call them and have her switched as the primary so they could speak with her. Timeshare members can definitely speak to a human, it's not just auto-response. Callers need to remember to speak slowly because they take your complaint down as a dictation so best to file online. The problem with the CFPB is you cannot select a timeshare because they investigate lending practices so you have to select Barclays or Barclaycard if they are the lender. This is unfortunate because Barclays obviously is not the one physically opening the card. Many complaints are from members unaware a Barclay card had been used to fund a down payment for a timeshare purchase. This post has nothing to do with Castle Law Group, as reporting them to CFPB won't work, but whatever prompts a member to seek legal action should consider regulatory filings before contacting any law firm if the member has time. Out of 87 formal complaints tracked 42 have been relinquished, refunded or have had loans cancelled through the resort. It takes endless rebuttals so patience and determination. I'm sorry to RedWeek if I should not have posted my comment above and If I offended anyone at RedWeek. I posted a response on the other site but both comment and response were deleted. If RedWeek would prefer I no longer post, I will not be offended if you remove me from your subscription list. I very much appreciate RedWeek's reporting as good information helps members and developers.

Can you assist me for how I can get out of the sales contract? I do have an issue with Castle Law but the main purpose is to get out of the timeshare contract. People who have the same issue, how they resolve? I guess, I am still naïve side and can't seem to have any alternatives.