Seems like I'm Finally Getting Rid of Diamond Resorts Mystic Dunes

Has anyone recently been able to give back their timeshare back to Mystic Dunes at Kissimmee Florida. I recently attended a owners update. I was told I would have to convert to points. I want to be get rid of the timeshare. The maintenance fees are going up every year to the point of ridiculous.

normanc20 wrote:

I recently attended a owners update. I was told I would have to convert to points. I want to be get rid of the timeshare.

A lot of things told at these owners updates are lies or half-truths. As long as you are happy with what you have there is no need to upgrade to anything, especially at the prices they want.

If you want to get rid of what you have, first of all, do not pay any company or law firm to get you out of your timeshare. First, ask the resort's Homeowners' Association if they will take it back. You could also advertise here on RedWeek that you want to give it away.

Does anybody know what they'd do if you wanted to cancel their "Sampler" points-only plan? This plan is worthless to us now, and was worthless then, we just didn't realize it.

Gary, I really appreciate your providing this crucial information for all of those people who feel that have been exploited in such a negative light.

I feel as if I am a victim of their exploits. I had a Diamond Resorts account that I purchased in 2015, and the annual maintenance fee quickly went from $800 to $1K (for 2,500 points). The entire loan was for $10K, and I am close to paying that one off.

The issue I have with Diamond Resorts is that their sales representatives use some pretty sly and aggressive tactics to get you to buy more points. Offline, they promise you the stars and the moon. But, once you get into that room to review and sign the Purchase Proposal, they make no mention of anything they promised. Instead, they tell you that the contract must be drafted a certain way and cannot contain the things they initial promised.

So, there I was, visiting my home resort (Cancun Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada) and a sales representative explained that my aforementioned account had no equity, and that I should purchase more points in order to give the account some equity. He added that he could consolidate the old and new accounts so that my maintenance fee would go down to $650. This proposal was underscored by the Sales Manager. So, the plan was to buy 4,000 additional points, add them to the 2,500 I already had, and consolidate both accounts into one new account. That was the motivating factor for me to sign. Unfortunately, this did not happen. I ended up with two accounts: the old one and the new one with two separate annual maintenance fees. To summarize, the maintenance fees for the 2,500 points was twice the amount of the maintenance fees for the 4,000 one, which was utterly ridiculous. So, now I am stuck paying almost $1,700 a year in combined maintenance fees for both accounts. That is why I need to relinquish the old account.

So, I searched the web and stumbled upon your postings--thanks so much for the information. Upon reading the thread, I immediately contacted Diamond Resorts' Hospitality Department, and spoke with an agent to see if the company still offered this program and, to my astonishment, they do! It's called the Transitions Program, and the department's phone number is (855) 342-3689. However, as discussed in your thread, the account to be relinquished must be paid off and the maintenance fees must be current. The other stipulation that was not disclosed is that, although the account must be paid in full, you must wait a minimum of six months from the payoff date to start the process. Therefore, since I still owe about $2,200 on this account, I must pay it off and then wait six months. This wait will force me to pay the $1K in annual maintenance fees before I can even start the relinquishing process. This will be an expensive life lesson, but we must all look at the long term in order to appreciate the agony of throwing money down a black hole. In the long run, I will be saving thousands of dollars in maintenance fees for points of which I will never take full advantage. It will free up that financial burden to allow me to invest the money into something more lucrative, appealing, and beneficial.

For those who are looking to buy timeshares from Diamond Resorts: Please DO NOT buy one. The person who invented this concept is a genius, and is a filthy rich and ridiculously affluent person, who preys upon the ignorant and misinformed for his own benefit. Every time you want to take a vacation, you will end up spending a significant portion of it sitting in a room with aggressive sales vultures, pressuring you to purchase more points. Be wary of those VIP representatives who "gift" you tickets and special excursions and the like, with the stipulation of having to sit through what they call an "update" or "presentation." This is where they use every tactical imaginable to place you under duress to sign your finances and life away to more unnecessary debt. Please do not become a victim like those who came before you. In the long run, you'll save more money paying full price for a vacation to Spain than giving away your hard earned finances to a predatory company like Diamond Resorts. Think about it: You could use that money to invest in company stocks, a 401K, a vacation account, or upgrades to your residence. Bottom line: IT'S NOT WORTH THE MONEY, THE HASSLE, OR THE STRESS. Steer clear from Diamond Resorts and any other timeshare companies out there. They're not there to assist you with vacationing. Their purpose is TO MAKE MONEY. Period!

Thanks again, Gary, for taking the time to help other victims like me. God bless you!

Did you have to sign an NDA?

I’m trying to get out of my contract with Diamond Resort. My loan is already pay since 2016. I have 12,000 of points but this year my Mainteinance is for $ 2,474.00 dollars a year I need an advise please what to do to relinquish it with Diamond Resort. Can someone please tell me how I can start the process. I would like to do as soon as possible because every year Mainteinance is going up and its really difficult to afford it. Please help me. Thank you and God bless you.

garyl108 wrote:

Money back?? I started this thread stating I could not give my property away let alone sell it. I consider the money spent a growing pain and one that I can never recoup. To me that's fine since I just wanted out, for others it may be different, all situations are not the same.

Depending on where you own there is very limited chance of getting any money out. Maybe a Marriott location, maybe a highly sought out location with very few timeshares, but if you own in a popular place, (mine was 5 min from Disney but so were 25 other timeshares), it's difficult to impossible to get rid of the timeshare through sale. Before everyone gets on me, yes I understand that some few may have had luck but they are only the few.

If you want to get rid of it and you don't owe anything I would start with the timeshare directly, this didn't work for years for me but it did the last time and I am happy to be free and clear even though I didn't get any money back for it.

Gary

mariag565 wrote:

I’m trying to get out of my contract with Diamond Resort. My loan is already pay since 2016.

Diamond has its Transitions program:

https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/sticky-dri-now-accepting-deedbacks-give-back-your-diamond-resorts-timeshare.224859/

Since your loan is paid off and if your maintenance fees are, then you should be able to give it back through the Transitions program. Diamond might charge you a fee for this but it is a lot lesser than the $2474 in maintenance fees.

Thank you very much Gary for your time and help to us. Before I had 6,000 of point but in a vacations that I had and Las Vegas I bought 6,000 more at Cancun Resort but at this point I just want to get out I have not problem if I don’t receive any money back I just want to stop throwing my money to the garbage. Thank you again and have a happy and blessed new year.

Thank you very much Gary for your time and help to us. Before I had 6,000 of point but in a vacations that I had and Las Vegas I bought 6,000 more at Cancun Resort but at this point I just want to get out I have not problem if I don’t receive any money back I just want to stop to continue throwing my money to the garbage for my entire life. Thank you again for all that information that you provide to us. Have a happy and blessed new year.

mariag565 wrote:

I’m trying to get out of my contract with Diamond Resort. My loan is already pay since 2016. I have 12,000 of points but this year my Mainteinance is for $ 2,474.00 dollars a year I need an advise please what to do to relinquish it with Diamond Resort. Can someone please tell me how I can start the process. I would like to do as soon as possible because every year Mainteinance is going up and its really difficult to afford it. Please help me. Thank you and God bless you.

garyl108 wrote:

Money back?? I started this thread stating I could not give my property away let alone sell it. I consider the money spent a growing pain and one that I can never recoup. To me that's fine since I just wanted out, for others it may be different, all situations are not the same.

Depending on where you own there is very limited chance of getting any money out. Maybe a Marriott location, maybe a highly sought out location with very few timeshares, but if you own in a popular place, (mine was 5 min from Disney but so were 25 other timeshares), it's difficult to impossible to get rid of the timeshare through sale. Before everyone gets on me, yes I understand that some few may have had luck but they are only the few.

If you want to get rid of it and you don't owe anything I would start with the timeshare directly, this didn't work for years for me but it did the last time and I am happy to be free and clear even though I didn't get any money back for it.

Gary

Thank you very much for your wonderful help and advice you are right I will try to get in true the Transition Program a soon as possible. God bless you.

I'm stuck I with a Sapphire resort in vegas..bought in May of 2017 went and ended lip downgrading. They got me back by lies July 2018. So now I'm paying off 5000 and fees . I'm 75, I'm alone, can't afford it, in poor health.

So many scammer company oh ill get you out. No take your money.

I need help Thank you Dorothy Dorothy

We have been members from 3months n now feel stuck. Is there a way we can get out of this

So I don't actually use this site any longer but I did start this thread years ago. Once and a while I received an email about a posting and just deleted it but today I felt like I wanted to check in.

I'm so happy that my information helped out a few people that were in similar situations with this horrible company. Before you say, it's not that horrible because they offer a way out. Just think about what they offer... they offer for you to PAY for a deed transfer TO THEM, of the property/points that YOU PAID in full for and now cannot sell or tolerate the fee increases. This is the biggest legalized scam in history and people are still buying in today.

I just hope that a few people will investigate BEFORE they purchase so they will see a thread like this and reconsider instead of trying to find a solution after they are in bad shape.

Good luck everyone, hope you have a wonderful future.

garyl108 wrote:

I just hope that a few people will investigate BEFORE they purchase so they will see a thread like this and reconsider instead of trying to find a solution after they are in bad shape.

I hope so too. However, a lot of people get sucked into buying based on these horrible sales tactics. They get sucked in by a "free" gift just for attending a "90-minute" presentation. They obviously do not go in with any intention of buying. They only leave with a purchase because the sales people essentially hold the "gift" hostage and won't let the buyers leave with the gift until after signing on the dotted line.

The gift is a powerful sales technique. When we receive a gift from someone we are programmed to reciprocate.

i would like to termanate my powahtan plantation time share

The first step is to contact your home resort and ask them to take it back through a deed back " . I got rid of two timeshares that way in 2011 . They may ask you to pay a years maintenance to give them time to find a new owner . That is a small price to pay to be rid of future fees and assessments .

alexanderr73 wrote:

i would like to termanate my powahtan plantation time share

Yes, Don P. has a good suggestion above. If you go that route, make sure you tell the resort's Homeowners' Association that you are not going to pay any more money in maintenance fees so it would be in everybody's bet interests to take the unit back.

Another possible suggestion is to try to sell it or give it away. You can advertise it for sale or giveaway here in RedWeek's Bargain Basement. Offer to pay the closing and transfer costs and maybe even the next maintenance fee. You can also advertise it for free on Timeshare Users Group (aka "TUG"; tugbbs.com) in the Bargain Deals section.

If all else fails, just stop paying maintenance fees and let it go into foreclosure. You might face a ding on your credit score or history. You will also probably face a bunch of annoying collection calls and letters but those will eventually go away.

Whatever you do, do not pay any company or law firm that claims it can "cancel" your timeshare. Those are usually scams.

You are very fortunate that your transition went so smoothly. I submitted my request and appropriate paperwork in march of 22. At the time, I was told that as long as everything was processed before my next "dues date" in september, that I would not have to pay dues for next year. However, as I am finding out now they will not process my request because I have to pay september 22-23 dues. This does not make sense because I won't even have the timeshare next year. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, please tell me the final resolution. Thanks

Stuck in Mystic Dunes now since 2006. Minimum of 5th new owner now that Hilton took over. Maintenance fees in 2006 was $6?? And now $1400 this year. Hilton just told us a new $269 fee will be assessed next year. Just want out and it’s a deeded original timeshare. Any advice on how to just get rid of it? Been paid off since 2008.