Manhattan Club Lawsuit

I have been following all the posts on this site and really appreciate everyone's comments and opinions, and thanks to Red Week for establishing and maintaining this blog.

We purchased a penthouse unit from the original purchaser in 2007 but we were never made aware of these issues. What caught my attention was that when trying to book a stay we often were told that if we paid the fees well in advance we probably could get what we wanted. This didn't make sense but foolishly we bought a second week a couple of years later. Since then it has been almost impossible to get any of the times we requested.

I was always confused about two things; why there was always units available for rent and why the fees went up so much. One year I called to see if they would rent my week as there were no times available that was suitable for us and they told me the do not rent units for owners. So I was really confused as the normal process in the other timeshares we owned was they would rent on behalf of owners who couldn't use their allotted time.

Now from reading all the posts here I see that this has been a scam all along.

We are Canadians and felt that any action being taken was primarily for residents of the State of New York. Unfortunately we didn't maintain a log of our requests over the years as we often took whatever was available, until last year . We would like our voice to be heard and included with all the other victims of this scam.

My question therefore is what can we do to add weight to this investigation without having any real documentation or paper back up to show that we like most others were taken advantage of.

And we recently were called to see if we wanted to update our credit card for the automatic billing and I said no. Send me an invoice as I have concerns with what is going on. The lady called said in a cheery voice, no problem. No reductions or one time deal as mentioned before was offered.

Sorry for the long winded post!

The best thing to do at this point is write a letter, stating your experiences/frustration. Send it to Brenda Heridia. They will review/file and add you to a list and may contact you with further questions/documentation. The more they have in writing from owners the better or so it says in previous emails shared.

Also, are people aware that when TMC bills you, the bills say something like prompt payment is expected, but they bill 6 months in advance. I was billed in January and I called and asked when is the bill really due (which I thought was July 1) and indeed it was due July 1. I said I would note this on my calendar and not to contact me further regarding this billing and that I would pay when it was due.

We all have to listen to our hearts and do what we feel is right. Hopefully we will know something by July, but I intend to keep paying fees because I don't want to lose my good credit. We have to wait to see how this all shakes out. We can hope the result will benefit us, but it may not. I have seen online that others have brought suit in the past because of this situation and it went nowhere.

Deborah, if you are interesting in having RW look into this, please email me with your contact information at jeff@redweek.com

patti, if you are interested in following up on this, send me your contact details so we can discuss: jeff@redweek.com

ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS (NOT SHOUTING.....WELL MAYBE RAISING MY VOICE A BIT!) YES, SEND ANY AND ALL PERTINENT EXPERIENTIAL INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE MANHATTAN CLUB FRAUD/SCAM OPERATION TO MR SCHNEIDERMAN'S, NYSAG, ATTENTION. HOWEVER HE SHOULD BE CONSISTENTLY INVITED TO VISIT THIS REDWEEK.COM BLOG (CURRENTLY ALL 45...AND COUNTING...PAGES OF IT) TO GET A TRUE AND CLEAR PICTURE OF WHAT THE MANHATTAN CLUB SHAREHOLDERS (DEEDED TIMESHARE OWNERS) ARE UP AGAINST. NEXT, MR SCHNEIDERMAN SHOULD CONSIDER PRESENTING THIS BLOG OR A COMPLETE SUMMARY OF IT, AS FURTHER EVIDENCE TO THE COURT IN ORDER TO EXPEDITE ADEQUATE, LEGAL REMEDIATION TO ALL OF US WHO ARE VICTIMS OF THIS SCAM AND FRAUDULENT THIEVERY PERPETRATED BY THE MANHATTAN CLUB DEVELOPERS, SALES DEPARTMENT AND ANY OTHER CLUB AFFILIATES INVOLVED.

Is there a Class-Action for Timeshare Owners? If so, how can one join?

My understanding is that a class-action by owners is the primary way to get paid back on our time share and damages. The AG action does not necessarily get us money back.

If I am incorrect, please advise.

Hi Jeff, I am curious and need to ask, what would RW be looking into that the Attorney General of NY is not already doing? I am also curious as to what you are referring? Is it everything I have described or just the inheritance issue or the issue of the one timeshare I have given back/signed over and for which I have received nothing and is in limbo? thank you!

Hello, happy to answer all questions but not for posting in forum. I write about timeshare issues involving many companies but continually run into situations where owners are left high and dry by companies that sold them timeshares. I am an owner as well as a journalist and have been covering the Manhattan Club case for many months. My interest in talking to you is finding out how the club is operating today in the face of adversity, and what is actually happening with owners who are communicating with the club. I need to work with owners on matters like these because the club will not talk to me since I am NOT an owner. I can be reached at 310-275-4929 at your convenience.

I got the same problem with emailing Brenda. My email was returned with the message "Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address". I suggest to send the email to Brenda and cc to serwat.farooq@ag.ny.gov. My cc email to Serwat has been delivered.

Checking the NY Acris records my timeshare lot was deeded 114 times with numerous liens.

Irene, could you please kindly share on how did you figure out the number of the liens on your timeshare in ACRIS records? I would like to figure out the liens on my timeshare. Thank you in advance!

This is the letter I sent to Mr Farooq and Ms Heredia from the AG's office:

I bought two weeks (two apartments) of flexible timeshare at the Manhattan Club back in 1998 when my NY based grandmother died and I wanted to own a place in the city. I have always lived abroad and I now live in Rome, Italy. Its hard enough to own a timeshare when you live in the vicinity but managing it from Italy is pretty difficult. I used to pay very low maintenance fees, aroung $400 a week. I was also assured, as it was obviously very important for me, that they were going to offer a rental service that would put my apartment to good use when I was not using it and would not have to pay the yearly maintenance fees. They have been assuring me for the last 19 years that they were working on it! Maintenance fees skyrocketed a few years after I bought the property but until I could use it myself I liked it so much I accepted the high fees. After that, the economic crisis hit. It is way too expensive for us to fly over from Europe and to sustain those kind of fees. I have tried selling it for years but with no success. Also, it is so difficult to find vacancies that I need to plan ahead by at least 9 months at a time--I work in television, this is practically impossible for me. I was summoned in by the sales people during my last stay, December 2013. I came out of that meeting feeling caged and cheated. They were not about to listen to what my problems, but they wanted me to cough up a whopping $6,000 or $9,000 per week to buy back into the RCI system...something I was not about to do. They also pretty much told me I was stuck with the property and the fees. I need to sell it because under the circumstances I cannot pay for the maintenance anymore. In fact, I can't even get myself over there. Renting is an option but I can only make a fraction of the fees as they are so high its much cheaper to stay in a hotel. What I would like to know is if we can just stop paying the fees and what kind of trouble we would run into. Thank you. Flavia M. T.

Flavia,

I'm encouraging all owners to stop paying all fees to TMC. By continuing to pay you are funding TMC and their lawyers in their fight against us.

STARVE THE BEAST, STOP PAYING!

If you stop paying, ask yourself what recourse does TMC have against you? Do you have assets or other property in the US?

-----Original Message----- From: Facebook <notification+mh-kp3h_@facebookmail.com> Sent: Mon, Mar 9, 2015 7:38 pm Subject: New message from Margaret Fauchier

Margaret Fauchier Margaret Fauchier 7:08pm Mar 9 ALL OUT ASSAULT ON THE MANHATTAN CLUB! This is our first phase! We need documentation to prove the Manhattan Club is scam. We are assembling information related to

ownership, prices, unit numbers and model, and purchase dates.

Real Property Transfer Report, State of New York, State Board of Real Property Services: RP – 5217NYC Owners: Fred Cosentino & Margaret Ann Fauchier Contract #s 48678-1&2 Borough: Manhattan; Block 1027; Lot 1233; Entire Lot 2120; Address 870 7th Avenue Sale Contract Date: 4/22/2014 Date of Sale/Transfer: 5/7/14 Building Class R,H Total Assessed Value: $81,316 Borough, Block & Lot / Roll Identifiers: Manhattan, 1027, 1233 Full Sale Price: $26,364

On a The Manhattan Club Document (looks like a diploma) 4/22/14 Timeshare Unit Number 2120; Owner Number 48678-RS Registered Owners of a One Week GOLD Flex Interest

A maintenance fee history is also important. A maintenance fee of $1,815 in 2014; $2,045.18 in 2015

Also, did you pay for your unit in full? Yes

Did you receive documents attesting you paid in full? No. Paid deposit on 4/22/14 and paid remaining balance on 5/13/14 via Equiant Financial Services who has contracted by O Park Central

Margaret Fauchier

I just received via email a copy of the annual budget for the Manhattan Club. According to the general manager our elected Board of Directors has approved another increase to our fees. This is on believable. Does anyone happen to have the email addresses of the Board of Directors? Regardless of who controls the board I think it's time to find out exactly what our Board of Directors is doing as far as representing us in these matters. I for one voted for the Board of Directors to represent the owners. I do not see that happening at all. Thank you, Kevin O'Day

Has anyone stopped paying? And if so, what happened? Doesn't that create problems with your credit rating? By the way my email to Farooq and Heredia were not delivered.

robertb1802 wrote:

Flavia,

I'm encouraging all owners to stop paying all fees to TMC. By continuing to pay you are funding TMC and their lawyers in their fight against us.

STARVE THE BEAST, STOP PAYING!

If you stop paying, ask yourself what recourse does TMC have against you? Do you have assets or other property in the US?

Not paying your maintain fees will accomplish nothing except trashing your credit. When you don't pay, they just take your time and rent it out. NYC is thriving so I am sure a place like the MC will have no problem renting your time out. The solution moving forward is that we find a way to oust Eichners cronies from the board. We need the board held by real owners. We then stop paying 20% to the management company. I figure we could get our fees down to around $1700. Maybe $1500 but that might be a stretch in NYC. The Hilton timeshare nearby has very high fees too and they don't have kitchens or 2 baths. Once we gain control of our board, good things will happen.

flaviat2 wrote:

Has anyone stopped paying? And if so, what happened? Doesn't that create problems with your credit rating? By the way my email to Farooq and Heredia were not delivered.

robertb1802 wrote:

Flavia,

I'm encouraging all owners to stop paying all fees to TMC. By continuing to pay you are funding TMC and their lawyers in their fight against us.

STARVE THE BEAST, STOP PAYING!

If you stop paying, ask yourself what recourse does TMC have against you? Do you have assets or other property in the US?

When you stop paying maintenance fees pls send a letter to TMC Board, Brenda and Farooq at the AG office with the explanation of your reasons: fraudulent sale when you were promised that the fees would not raise 2-2.5% (in my case) thus you cannot afford it any more, lack of usage, refusal with the reservation while it was available online, raise of 2016 fees, whatever your reason is. Would be nice if you posses and mention in the letter the proof such as email correspondence, phone call conversations with the dates and names, etc. Though paying Real Estate fees is a must to keep a good record with NY state.

How do I pay NY State taxes and who do I send this to. From earlier posts it appears TMC uses these funds and do not apply to taxes. Do I make payment to NY State Treasury rather than TMC.

If you stop paying your fees, it will eventually show up in your credit report, but if your credit is good that one derogatory won't hurt it much. A number of people writing in this forum have stated they stopped paying maintenance fees long ago. TMC can't "come after" you, but they will keep hounding you with letters, because the billionaire owners really do want that huge cash flow to keep rolling in. Yes, it will hurt them significantly if we all stop paying. I'm also going to quit paying on my ts mortgage because it was sold to me under false pretenses and I can't use it due to TMC's overbooking practices. I expect to get lots of pressure from TMC, which I'll ignore. Eventually, I expect they'll foreclose on my ts (this can take a couple of years to occur), which is what I want because it's my only way out of this mess since I can't sell it or give it back. A foreclosure means I'll probably be ineligible to get another mortgage loan for 5 to 7 years, unless I can convince a lender that I was the victim of a "predatory loan," which may be possible in the TMC case. Since I'm not planning to get another mortgage or large loan, it won't be a problem. For me, it is so worth it to get out from under this ever-increasing burden that I was tricked into. I've got all the credit cards I need & in a few years my credit will bounce back. I'd rather lower my credit score than continue to feed this nasty beast.

I disagree with "not paying your maintenance fees will accomplish nothing..." When we DO pay, they just take our time and rent it out - as a hotel. So how is that different from when we don't pay? We all know they have no problem renting our time out - that's why we can never use the time we're paying for. We will never "oust Eichners cronies from the board." We can't even use our own timeshares; how will we oust the board put in place by the billionaires who own the entire scam? Vote them out? Does anyone really believe they would allow that to happen? This is not a neighborhood HOA. It's a multi-billion dollar profit-making corporation. All decisions go to the benefit of the corporation - not the timeshare holders. We're not homeowners. We only own a little bit of time. And we can't even get that. We don't have the power or the finances to fight them. The only thing we have the power to do, is walk away.