Bel Air Vacation Club

I haven't seen it affecting my credit score. So no consequences as of now. We stopped paying 3 years ago.

Hi Jeremy, Did you ever locate the Facebook page that Erlinn mentioned? I haven't been able to locate either. Also any luck in getting rid of your timeshare membership? Thank you! Kristin

Hey everyone. We bought a studio unit back in 2003 before it was Bel Air. It was about $6,500 and we paid it off within about 18 months. We were young newlyweds at the time and thought it was going to be amazing. We banked our first year and used it at a Marriott resort in Park City for a week. Now that was phenomenal. Every two years they hit us with maintenance fees that kept going up. Around 2012 we stopped paying the maintenance fees and the calls would occasionally come in to us. Then around 2018 they got aggressive again asking for fees and foolishly we negotiated them down to $1,400 and paid them.

They started calling us again around 2020 asking for money and I told them to pound sand that they would not get another dollar from me. I told them that I purchased and paid for it in full over 20 years ago and have only really used one banked week in 20 years through Interval. They told me that I had a contract and I needed to pay my maintenance fees.

Fast forward to this month May 2023, the idiots have begun calling again. I usually pick up and immediately tell them they will never get another dollar from me and then I call them every vulgar word in Spanish and hang up. They'll usually call back two more times and I repeat exactly the same procedure. I've decided I'm going to make it very very uncomfortable for them to call me. They started out calling me daily the first week, then 3X per week and now we're down to about twice per week. Now they're down to once per week and most recently for the first time left me a voicemail. Andrew at extension #5 said he would like to setup payment arrangements to bring my account current...otherwise they'll have to proceed with legal arrangements and send my account to collections.

So here we are again...I will never give them another dime and I assume I'll get a few calls again from them in a couple more years. If I get anything in the mail I'll let everyone know. I would encourage everyone to give them the finger and stop paying. They won't last long if everyone stops paying.

Hi Kristin,

I never did find the Facebook page that was mentioned.

No luck in getting rid of my timeshare membership.

I even tried looking into donating it, but no luck there either.

Seems like it just going to stick around like a ball and chain...

Sigh.

Jeremy

I have not paid in years. They keep phoning me asking if I would like to get rid of timeshare. ha ha ha .......no I don't use it and I am not paying another red cent. They threatened to go to small claims once. Nothing has happened but they still mail bills. I send bills back to them.

I send my bills back to them

They were very aggressive with us and said if we did not sign a document that indicated that we were not swindled…we would be arrested. Very aggressive with several “bouncers” in the meeting room. The last time we stayed, once again, we did not get the room arrangement we paid for. We did pay the assessment after a great deal of back and forth with BelAir. There were no upgrades to the rooms we stayed in. The resort was still selling rooms and asked if we wanted to “upgrade”. I really wanted to visit each table and tell the couples they were being swindled. The rooms were not in good shape, it took hours for the resort to find something that even came close to what we had purchased….two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. They gave us a unit with a bed in the living room, the door to the other bedroom off of that living room. Not even close to what we purchased. I did take pictures. The kitchen was not equipped for six people, as that was what we had purchased. There were not enough of anything. There were not upgrades done, as was promised by paying the special assessment.

We are done.

Just noticed your message. Haven't kept up on Belair for a few years now. I quit paying after the demand for that "special assessment". I will not pay. I suggest you just forget about the Belair and write it off as a bad investment, as I have. We stayed a few times and it was ok but then got so crowded on our last visit They send me a bill once in awhile but I just throw it away. Just about impossible to sell on secondary market or even give it away, so much bad reviews. We are members at Paradise Village just down the road, 26 years now, and love it there. A well run timeshare. We will be back in Jan for six weeks. Check it out. Sometimes we have time to sell to friends and relatives. Keep us in mind...

OOPS I thought I was responding to a message to me...

Has anyone gotten this? Call 888-422-1552 ext. 6 and ask for Diego to dispute the debt. His business card is attached Diego Gallegos - says he's on the Collection Team.

This person Diego called you, or emailed you, or you got a letter? Did you respond? Im curious.

Be careful, probably another money scam.

Emailed us. The email address is: collection1@belairownerscircle.com. It looks official. He has all the correct information of our membership#, address, an invoice of maintenance fees, special assessment fees, etc.

I'm asking to see if Bel Air has ever let someone out of the contract by paying a one-time fee of a few thousand.

I asked years ago.....they said no.

Haven't received any calls from them but I did receive for the first time an email from Diego regarding the special assessment. He states that it is in our best interest to contact him right away in order to protect our credit rating. I too received and paid the first "special assessment" in 2010. We are original owners of the PDS and paid it in full and last used it before Belair took over. We've been receiving the 2nd "special assessment" notices for the past few years on a monthly basis. We did stop receiving them for about a year during the pandemic but now they seem to have resumed. We don't plan on sending them any money whatsoever. We paid for the membership in full and have not used them in over 15 years. We feel we've given them enough or our money and just plan to ignore them moving forward.

rickb283 wrote:

Has anyone gotten this? Call 888-422-1552 ext. 6 and ask for Diego to dispute the debt. His business card is attached Diego Gallegos - says he's on the Collection Team.

I just received an email for the first time a few day ago from Diego. Prior to that I had never received a call or letter from this individual. The only thing I have received on a monthly basis is the "special assessment" bill.

We are trying to just walk away from our Bel Air contract after using once and paying a special assessment. Has anyone had recent contact with them and their demands? Have their aggressive threats escalated to affect your credit rating or other actions? Thanks Ian

My wife received a voicemail from an "Andrea" at Belair today. She stated that she was calling from the collections dept. and wanted to set up payment arrangements. I advised my wife to ignore these calls. We've been receiving these monthly bills for the "special assessments" for years and we've just ignored them up until now. They seem to be stepping up their efforts to collect. Has anyone had a different experience with them? We have been paid up in full for about 20 years and don't use this resort at all. Has anyone actually been sent to a collection agency in the U.S. in order to try and collect on this special assessment? Any information on this would be helpful in perhaps coming up with a game plan moving forward against Belair should the need arise for legal action. We would be willing to participate.

We are in our 70,s, retired, own our home completely no mortgage, own our car, no payments, have a nice income from investments, so the threat of lowering our credit score means nothing. Even if we are contacted by a collections company, we have the right to fight any collection demand. That "special assessment" was wrong. We would have continued to pay the regular maintenance but refuse to pay thousands to improve the place when the maintenance charge is for that. Also, there is a statue that states how long can a debt be ignored with no activity. Check it out online.