Manhattan Club Lawsuit

So...no buy back, but a GIVE back. So they admit it's worthless.. And then blue green will take back for nothing...and resell for sonething. So now on top of being screwed by the Manhattan Club... we will then be screwed by Blue green. What a scam

please, we should not forget the major screwing (in addition to those mentioned) laid upon us by the "wimpy" settlement by the former, TOTALLY INEPT nysag, eric schneiderman.

really, we're having a hell of a time getting out from under financially, beginning with our initial purchase of TMC. i wonder if the new nysag, letitia jones, would be more empathetic to TMC OWNERS' disgraceful non-consumer-protective current DISASTROUS situation. some alternative action might be worth the effort looking into........i would say testing unexplored waters. maybe, just maybe, would be appealing to ms jones and might and be worth our efforts to try. just how many more times do we need to be screwed......need i count the ways?

debral251 wrote:

So...no buy back, but a GIVE back. So they admit it's worthless.. And then blue green will take back for nothing...and resell for sonething. So now on top of being screwed by the Manhattan Club... we will then be screwed by Blue green. What a scam

Yes, It is worthless except if the TMC sells it to you then it has value for them. I have finally received my "Deedback" documents after 4 years of ceasing payments of mortgage & maintenance . I may receive a check for $100.00 for my experience. Good riddance!

I emailed him twice( once in Dec, once in Jan) - no response either time.

Chris, I agree that reaching out to the new NYAG might be helpful. We have all been sorely scammed by TMC and it appears BLUEGREEN is following suit. It certainly can’t hurt at this point. I would be very interested to know if other owners, even those who have signed on to the Zimmerman lawsuit, agree or disagree, and if so, why? I have always felt that the $6.5M that Eichner had to pay back should have gone to the homeowners association to clear up the deficit rather than distributing the measly small checks that went to certain owners. The amount above clearing the deficit could have gone to those owners who were current on their fees. With the deficit cleared, the maintenance fees could have been adjusted down to a more reasonable rate and those who were behind could negotiate a payoff of back fees or “give back” their unit to resale. This would be income to the association. Just my 2 cents

becky, your comments are worth much more than "two cents;" they make sense.

regarding further action, i certainly would not want to corrupt zimmerman's possible suit, but as has been shown on this page, a few responses above, he seems not to be responsive to peggy's twice trying to connect with him in order to join his yet-unestablished suit (that i am aware of). we also have not seen one word from him on redweek for a long time. this might be time to try a tactic similar to that which we tried and failed with the unprofitable outcome of the former nysag schneiderman's inept legiislatve skills. now we have new blood in the form of the honorable ms letitia james our new new york state attorney general. perhaps filing individual claims and comlaints with her might prove to be to TMC owners' advantage. she has all the background TMC investigative information from schneiderman's records. ms james could either reopen schneiderman's case OR begin afresh with her own legal expertise, starting her own new court case. this idea is certainly worthy of consideration by TMC owners on redweek.

I’ve sent my info numerous times but no one has gotten back to me. I am joaniemac53@aol.com

hello joanm528, please offer more specific information:

to whom did you send information and what did you expect to receive? who did you want to get back to you?

joanm528 wrote:

I’ve sent my info numerous times but no one has gotten back to me. I am joaniemac53@aol.com

Would you please be good enough to post a link to pictures of your forms so that some of us who wish to do so can use them as samples to give back our interests (not buyback, even for $100)?

You'll be lucky to get $100, but based on O'Donnell's comments, that's unlikely. Please keep us informed

I am interested in current status. My wife and I have been owners since 2007 and are appalled by the increasing maintenance fees as well as by the fact that TMC operates as a “boutique hotel” offering “our” units to the general public often at lesser per diem rates than what our maintenance fee works out to, with absolutely no year to year obligation to TMC. I have to wonder what the hell we bought when we gave TMC $34,000 of our hard earned dollars for a “unique investment in NYC which can only increase in value over time.” I recently spoke with a company purporting to help timeshare owners get out from under their onerous obligations and was quoted an upfront fee of $8,750, which we cannot afford...the only guarantee was a “give back” to TMC or we would get a refund after 36 months. It makes me regret the day we ever walked into TMC.

Whatever you do DO NOT DEAL WITH A TIMESHARE EXIT COMPANY!!!! They are all scammers and liars and you will regret dealing with them EVEN MORE THAN DEALING WITH TMC! You will just throw your money away and end up losing even more of your hard earned money. Please do some research on these companies, which there are hundreds of them out there. You will feel much better if you outsmart these crooks who are experienced and cleaver at scamming people like you and me who have already been scammed. I gave $60,000 to the TMC and I consider it a lesson learned.

becky,

a definite SECOND on your comments about TIMESHARE EXIT COMPANIES. i personally have researched at least 10 of them: all findings were similar, in essence, DO NOT USE THEM.....the gall.....give us $3 to 10,000, and you'll be free of your timeshare obligations. ok, now where does your share entity go?: is certainly doesn't disappear since you paid to give it away. it's still available for future sale, especially since it's valuable nyc property.

to all other redweek.com contributors, our legal pressure MUST be continued on the current TMC ownership/management, WHOEVER/WHATEVER they may be. does anyone here know who is at the TMC helm.................bluegreen/eichner/a combination of the two evils? i salute those who appear to be continuing their diligence and persistence in eliminating the evil fraud and corrupt lies and scams endured by our purchase of time at TMC. we certainly weren't rewarded by the former nys attorney general's court actions against eichner and his gang of corrupt managerial staff.

what actions against our TMC nemesis are currently on the table? the following seem to be our choices at this time:

1. zimmerman's possible legal actiion, of which the list of TMC OWNER CONTACT INFO would be most helpful, but apparently not forthcoming... not implying that his efforts are not worthy of consideration

2. THE COALITION OF FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED TMC OWNERS, which doesn't seem to be too effective since not enough owners responded ,but at least 80 owner contact data are on our spreadsheet. (i am a co-founder of the COALITION which is still in existence, but not enforceable enough to be a viable entity YET.)

unless i am not aware of other interventions putting strong legal pressure on TMC , the above two possibilities are all owners have to combat TMC.

do we need more? should we combine the efforts that we currently have? should we add other possibilities to add to our arsenal? (personally, i would opt for combining efforts.)

on the question of other possibilities/options:

i would not dismiss appealing to the NEW NYSAG, the honorable ms letitia james. we can do this in the same way we got schneierman to establish his suit against TMC/eichner. true, his inept efforts and the final court outcome were much less-than-helpful to the TMC owners's cause. perhaps ms james would establish a more consumer advocacy environment/atmosphere if we asked for her intervention. our strategy would initially be the same: all TMC owners sending official and individual complaints about TMC using the form on the official website of the NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL. ms james has all the facts that schneiderman produced from our complaints to him and from the court proceedings/recordings that were established during his hearings against TMC. this is not to say that ms james would/should continue where schneiderman left off. i am not aware of procedure here, but i assume that a NEW suit could be brought by ms james.

I just joined the group. I've been a member since 2000 and while we love our stays in NYC we have experienced the same scam and outrageous member fees. Count us in on joining a class action perhaps forcing a letter to be sent to all member owners (if they will come forth with a list) informing them us of our legal rights to exit as promised in sales pitch. This new owner should have an existing obligation to us. How can they purchase a building we have been supplied with deeds to. It's not adding up.

To Bonnieh239 I didn’t specialize in real estate matters but your last point makes a lot of sense. Shouldn’t our interests as “owners” by deed of the individual units be considered in any sale of the entire building? Some good legal advice would be most helpful here as Eichner and his merry band go on and on ignoring our interests and charging us plenty for the right to be ignored!

How does one join your Coalition?

hello,dickh68,

contact...... beckyfitzmaurice@yahoo.com...... send TMC owner's name (names if more than one owner), email address, phone number and a brief comment concerning your unfortunate experience (s) with TMC. there is no fee to join or plans to charge one. positive results are not guaranteed. we do not offer legal representation or advice. rather, the COALITION OF FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED TMC OWNERS is attempting to establish a united front with as many defrauded owners as possible. joining the COALITION in no way precludes private legal affiliations you wish to pursue. you can choose joining both the COALITION and your own legal representation. one is not exclusive of the other. we welcome you and other owners to join us forming as large a unified force against TMC as possible.

thanks for your interest.

chris (co-founder of the COALITION with ms fitzmaurice)

dickh68 wrote:

How does one join your Coalition?

Any sale I would think should have allowed us to opt out with a buy out option based on a realistic value of our share. Obviously our unit time has value, with a duel income stream coming from rental and dues. Give back is not consideration. Just doesn't seem to me to be on the level. The deal seems shady to say the least.

hello, bonnieh239,

if you THINK the ".....deal seems shady....." be assured that it IS. why should TMC do a 360, and change its way of doing business? my suggestion is to join one or more of the forces, legal and otherwise, against TMC described here on redweek.com. there is not, nor has there ever been a reasonable and legal buy-out option at TMC. IT'S MERELY A "GIVEBACK" with an absolutely finite monetary value...........$100, at best, if that. you will NOT be offered or get ".....realistic value......" for your share. the only realistic thing to do is to become proactive in dealing with TMC by joining a force (or forces) to combat TMC.

bonnieh239 wrote:

Any sale I would think should have allowed us to opt out with a buy out option based on a realistic value of our share. Obviously our unit time has value, with a duel income stream coming from rental and dues. Give back is not consideration. Just doesn't seem to me to be on the level. The deal seems shady to say the least.

Hey Chris how are you buddy? Just how long has it been that we have been writing and reading this forum?! Not sure the catharsis has helped our mental health any and nothing has changed in all this time other than Eichner getting away with consumer fraud. New people join this group over the years and optimistically state their agreement with all of us and then request to join the class action lawsuit. We then fill them in. But there is so much detail in the history that the only way anyone can really catch up is by reading this forum from the beginning. The simple math on Eichner's fine, if its entirety was allocated to timeshare owners, would amount to $380. each. The NY Attorney General Schneiderman had the chance to make this right and he didn't. He had other, personal, priorities.