New Owners

Your story sounds just like ours, and we purchased in summer of 2017. So sad and frustrated that we spent $10k on something, it appears, that we cannot use!

Again:

Not that the current AG cares, like previous ones did, but here's a place to complain:

https://www.ago.mo.gov/file-a-complaint

and here's another one:

https://www.bbb.org/en/us/mo/springfield

Could you past this attorney's name and phone number to me

Assuming you are referring to my post where I said I know of only one legit timeshare exit attorney, it is the one who has his own "board" on www.timeshareforums.com.

For whatever reason, that site is not available right now. I can tell you that I have spoken to him by phone at length, and I know that once he reviews your case, he will tell tell you whether he can do anything or not. I don't know how to explain what he does, except to say that he gets you out of your contractual obligation by exerting his influence over your resort, not through any type of magical legal power.

If he takes on your case, and is successful, you pay him what is a fair amount, something around $1000, and if he is not, you don't pay him anything.

He is very old school, and reminisced about is time with the Kennedys, and stuff like that.

Beware that the following was posted 6 years ago, so I will not vouch for it. Post here if it works or not, but it is enough to head you in the right direction:

John Phillip Abrams WSBA Attorney #31068 Consumer Protection Attorney Timeshare Divestment Lawyer Timeshare Industry Legal Analyst and Author TheAbramsFirm.com – Owners Be Safe! TCPAA.org

So, good luck, and the next time you are offered something that is too good to be true, use you rescinsion period to confirm, or not confirm, that.

As for the reason I contacted him, the six or so weeks that our resorts were not willing to work with us on, through the passage of time, and diligent effort, I was able to take care of them on my own, by giving them away, and handling the "transfer" and "closing" myself.

I want to sell my share but do not know how. They have $20000.00 of my money!!

daled96 wrote:

Just to let everyone know i as a former employee of stormy point they will try and screw you every way they can. They tell you that they have sandy beaches which are 10 miles away. They use to have pontoon boats which are crap and break down all the time with you on it. The GM and Assistiant Gm are fake and liars. If you have a time share with them sell it and get out while you can.

oops

patw309 wrote:

I want to sell my share but do not know how. They have $20000.00 of my money!!

Sadly, there is no easy answer for you. You need to google-search, and see where you stand, in order to understand where you stand.

Sadly, again, current owners cannot give away what prospects are paying $20K for.

I/we have been timesharing for 30 years, and there are a few situations that make cents.

I am in a position where I see Branson timeshare people almost daily, and most of them are jerks who don't care what they have to do to get your money, and pretend to pass themselves off as legitimate business people.

I posted a link which the attorney has posted on the Internet. It is not exactly current information. If you can't figure it out, let me know.

richards1511 wrote:

Could you past this attorney's name and phone number to me

i have been an owner there for about 12 years. I was happy with the ownership until recently. The waste management system they built was insufficient so they were leaking (or dumping) waste into the lake. Since this time, they have been having trucks come in to pump out the waste. The corp of engineers have put limits on the number of people they can have at the resort at one time and the use of the lake (e.g., no marina or boats). this is public record. Since this time, I have not been able to use my bonus time and have been unhappy with the overall resort. fortunately, my owner ship has been paid for so I am not locked into a contract and have a deed. I am considering selling it but not sure where to go. any help would be appreciated. buyer beware.

& it just gets better.

If there is a problem like that at Stormy Point Village, it can't help that the mega-resort, Nantuckett, is on the hillside right next door.

Raping the landscape and polluting Table Rock Lake is pretty much the way things are done here. - - - - - - An afterthought . . . how many times over the years have I heard/read, "I have a timeshare I don't want, because it doesn't do what they said it would. I hope I can find someone to sell it to."

There's much logic there. ;-)

I think they over-built and overwhelmed the system. was not a problem the first 8 years or so.

Jun 20, 2018 "PATTERN OF COMPLAINT Better Business Bureau is advising consumers to use caution when considering doing business with Summerwinds Resorts Services LLC in Branson, MO. BBB has received a pattern of consumer complaints alleging, failure to honor promise of a vacation package when attending their seminar, failure to issue refunds, failure to cancel contracts, misleading sales presentations, and overall poor customer service.

This Business Is Not BBB Accredited Summerwinds Resort Services, LLC

F

[159] Total Customer Complaints

Composite Score: Summerwinds Resort Services, LLC has received 1.09 out of 5 stars

https://www.bbb.org/stlouis/business-reviews/...

If you choose to go to the sales scam don’t buy it. I have made $400 from summer winds in two years basically getting thrown out of their presentation. They offer us a hundred bucks to sit through the presentation. My wife and I sign up separately. News flash every modern phone has a voice recorder. Make it very clear to the sales rep that you are going to record every word. That worked last year and got us both tossed instantly. Wife and I each collected our hundred bucks and left. The year before it took about 30 minutes on why I wanted to record it all and then I got tossed. Worked for the wife the same way. Hey it’s spending money and between the wife and I $400 in two years on less than an hours effort. I am a long time owner and got the timeshare for free. When the maintenance fee gets bigger than I can rent a compareable place I will walk away and let them foreclose.

We've been owners at Stormy Point for about 3 years...and it has always been messy dealing with them from the get go. When we received our recent assessment fee invoice I emailed reservations before we decided how to pay...meaning pay it out or pay it all at once and received the "free week" as we are a Tri Owner (not by choice...another long story). I started an email (so that we would have it in writing) to Reservations to inquire of any black out weeks, can the week use be split up etc. We were told in the email that we could only book 90 days in advance of when we wanted to use it. We wanted to use it over Thanksgiving 2018 which we were told was not an issue this year but couldn't book until August 17 for Nov 17-24th.Well after getting all the necessary information that we needed and thinking it looked like we could use it when we wanted... we decided to pay it all at once ($660) and get the free week. So we received our certificate in the mail about 2 weeks after we paid and on the certificate it read that it couldn't be booked more than 12 months out. I immediately sent another email and this is the email I received back out ....."At the time of the emails we have exchanged the certificates being sent had the 90 day verbiage, however, an agent with our company made a mistake on a consecutive order and the wrong certificates were sent to us, with verbiage of a 12 month booking window, not the 90 day that you was quoted. Again, at the time you was given the correct information, we had no intention on changing this 90 day window, it's just the order was submitted wrong. I apologize for the mistake on the order and hope you can please understand".I have double checked with our Inventory Control Dept. and we do not have any pet friendly cottages available for Thanksgiving week 2018. It was explained to me that holiday weeks had limited free weeks available, in order to leave owner weeks open for owners who have usage this year. I've also been advised that since there is no pet friendly for the time frame you are asking for that regardless of the booking window then or now, we are still not able to accommodate your request for Thanksgiving week."

The saga with this timeshare ownership never ends.

I met a family at the golf course today whom I've met in years past. They own a 4-bedroom and love it.

go figure

PS: I was in direct sales for ten years after college, and learned that some of the "stuff" sticks.

It is unfortunate that you have already paid the "special assessment." I found out about this through an otherwise benign appearing email with an imbedded PDA. It seemed excessive to me so I have looked into it. The staff at Summer Winds initially informed me that they would have a "portal" up by mid July that would document the justification for this. I finally was able to get into this and reviewed the audited 2017 "Reserve Report" and minutes from the March 2018 annual board meeting. Though the Reserve Report seems to indicate some future shortages, there is no mention of a need for a "special assessment." There was no discussion at the Annual Board Meeting regarding a special assessment. I contacted Owner Services at Summer Winds and they stated that the decision to initiate the special assessment was made sometime "after the meeting." I asked for documentation from that decision and am thus far have not received any. Owner Services seems to have a standard response to this as I have talked with them on three occasions now. Something about a "new clubhouse" (not mentioned in the reserve report or elsewhere)..."no assessment for 15 years"... "section two [of the contract regarding assessments]", etc. It would seem that it would take an official Board Meeting to assign such an assessment, and perhaps a vote of the owners. (That is how our local HOA works.) In reviewing the bylaws I also noted that the Board membership was to be turned over to the owners after "seven years" regardless of the number of units sold out. I believe that time has passed. Is the Board even legitimate? I would appreciate any information that you have come up with and will continue looking into this.

keelyk3 wrote:

We've been owners at Stormy Point for about 3 years...and it has always been messy dealing with them from the get go. When we received our recent assessment fee invoice I emailed reservations before we decided how to pay...meaning pay it out or pay it all at once and received the "free week" as we are a Tri Owner (not by choice...another long story). I started an email (so that we would have it in writing) to Reservations to inquire of any black out weeks, can the week use be split up etc. We were told in the email that we could only book 90 days in advance of when we wanted to use it. We wanted to use it over Thanksgiving 2018 which we were told was not an issue this year but couldn't book until August 17 for Nov 17-24th.Well after getting all the necessary information that we needed and thinking it looked like we could use it when we wanted... we decided to pay it all at once ($660) and get the free week. So we received our certificate in the mail about 2 weeks after we paid and on the certificate it read that it couldn't be booked more than 12 months out. I immediately sent another email and this is the email I received back out ....."At the time of the emails we have exchanged the certificates being sent had the 90 day verbiage, however, an agent with our company made a mistake on a consecutive order and the wrong certificates were sent to us, with verbiage of a 12 month booking window, not the 90 day that you was quoted. Again, at the time you was given the correct information, we had no intention on changing this 90 day window, it's just the order was submitted wrong. I apologize for the mistake on the order and hope you can please understand".I have double checked with our Inventory Control Dept. and we do not have any pet friendly cottages available for Thanksgiving week 2018. It was explained to me that holiday weeks had limited free weeks available, in order to leave owner weeks open for owners who have usage this year. I've also been advised that since there is no pet friendly for the time frame you are asking for that regardless of the booking window then or now, we are still not able to accommodate your request for Thanksgiving week."

The saga with this timeshare ownership never ends.

I hope you have not already paid the "special assessment." I found out about this through an otherwise benign appearing email with an imbedded PDA. It seemed excessive to me so I have looked into it. The staff at Summer Winds initially informed me that they would have a "portal" up by mid July that would document the justification for this. I finally was able to get into this and reviewed the audited 2017 "Reserve Report" and minutes from the March 2018 annual board meeting. Though the Reserve Report seems to indicate some future shortages, there is no mention of a need for a "special assessment." There was no discussion at the Annual Board Meeting regarding a special assessment. I contacted Owner Services at Summer Winds and they stated that the decision to initiate the special assessment was made sometime "after the meeting." I asked for documentation from that decision and am thus far have not received any. Owner Services seems to have a standard response to this as I have talked with them on three occasions now. Something about a "new clubhouse" (not mentioned in the reserve report or elsewhere)..."no assessment for 15 years"... "section two [of the contract regarding assessments]", etc. It would seem that it would take an official Board Meeting to assign such an assessment, and perhaps a vote of the owners. (That is how our local HOA works.) In reviewing the bylaws I also noted that the Board membership was to be turned over to the owners after "seven years" regardless of the number of units sold out. I believe that time has passed. Is the Board even legitimate? I would appreciate any information that you have come up with and will continue looking into this. I hope that others that are aware of this issue can continue a dialog to get to the bottom of it.

keelyk3 wrote:

When you say lawyerup...what are you specifically saying? We have contacted a lawyer who told us that its a no win situation. He has tried to help others over a 25 plus year period and has gotten no where and spent alot of his clients money doing it. We purchased back in 2014 and it has been lie after lie about using the cottage and facilities and we continue to make a payment every month. Now they are requesting a Special Assessment of $660 promising you that if you pay it by 8/1 you can have a free week. We were able to use our 4BR Cottage back in 2015 for a week and actually did love it there, other than it was in November so alot of the resort was closed. We are just done with it and the lies but have been told that we can't get out of it because we owe money to Concord Servicing. We felt very pressured in to purchasing it by the sales lady that basically wouldn't let us leave. We did leave and came back the next day to say we didn't want it and they took us back in an office and started pressuring us by reducing the cost to almost half price. So we felt pressured and had to leave for home that evening or would have gone back the next day. Wasn't aware of the Missouri law that we could cancel the contract or would have. Call us stupid and naive I guess. The following January they sent us a use form and little did we know that we didn't even get what we thought we were getting....we went from a every year use to a every three year use.....NEVER told anything about that...guess we should have paid more attention to the small print on the contract. Learned a real life lesson! We don't want this to go against our credit, so how do you get out of this timeshare? when you owe money?

jlb wrote:

jenniferh1259 wrote:

We purchased a two bedroom house in Feb. 2017 with the hopes of using this for more travel purposes. As soon as we received our information, I contacted Summer Winds to try to book a Hawaiian vacation. It turns out everything told to us during the sales pitch about discounts and lower costs were all untruths. I literally had a travel agent in the same phone call that we should've booked this vacation over a year ago -which was impossible - and that they don't get discounts on airlines like we were told. No one has ever responded back to me about any of our complaints.

Every time I try to find a time to use our Branson house, everything is booked and nothing is available.

It has been nothing but headaches and everything told to us in the sales pitch was straight lies.

Follow the information in the previous post. The AG has invited you/all the file a complaint. (Assuming Josh Hawley can stay in office!!!)

If you lawyer up Summerwinds will cancel your purchase and refund. So few do that the their "mud"-on-the-wall technique is profitable.

They told me the $660.00 is for a "building assessment." As I mentioned in earlier posts, I believe it has something about their waste management system being insufficient and needing to be improved or replaced. They were fined for sewage leaking into the lake a couple of years ago. the Army Corp of Engineers have placed limits on the resort (e.g., Marina use, number of people) until this is resolved. the last two summers I used my week, the placed was nearly empty during July When you ask about this issue, they simply deflect. Maybe somebody who is involved with their board can clarify this issue.

How about because Pat Joyce said to?

It still seems to me that there would have to be some type of formal meeting, especially for an "emergency" assessment though this was not billed as such. I don't mind paying the fee if it is justified, though I am sure there are many that would still object. (More than a years maintenance fee is ridiculous.) I am already into this for 30K for a 3 BDR 1wk/yr. It is a project to make it work right and one needs to be extremely flexible, though I would never buy one of these again.

I was mistaken in that the control of Stormy Point is not turned over to the class A membership until the LATER of 90% sold OR 7 years. Looks like we may be stuck with Summer Winds control for a while.

I plan to contact the Missouri Secretary of State and/or AG to find out the specifics on the unilateral decision to apply a Special Assessment to the owners. The Bylaws are rather vague on this, but there must be some state regulation (open meeting laws, etc.) that controls how this should be done. Thanks for your input.