The Manhattan Club Lawsuit - RedWeek's Report & Most Recent Info

The AG office made the comment public on Tuesday. No information is available on how this will play out. We have to wait and find out.

18,000 owners only 6.5 million nets $321 per owner. Plus doesn't state whether we can get out of contract. Not much of a victory unless new owners decrease maintenance fee significantly. Just got bill for maintenance this week 8 months before it was due. When I called they admitted I'm not due to pay till next April. Maintenance up to over $2,900 for 1 bedroom for next year. Can get 1 bedroom on Jetsetter right now for $221 per night. That's almost 13 nights verses my seven I get with my maintenance fee. I have flex week and can only get nights they say are available verses renting any night any time on website.

News sounds good, but when I saw the amount of the settlement, that is not so good. Not counting maintenance fees, my investment for a flex week (7 days) 1 bedroom penthouse is $50,000. With most property, values rise, appreciate. In fact, I have learned the going rate for NYC, for a similar or 1 bedroom timeshare unit is $100,000. At each update, I keep offering to sell to Wyndham but of course the minion sales folk do not have that option. Before I learned of just what the ripoff timeshare industry is, I had hoped to sell my TMC Penthouse and purchase a property for our family...one member now lives in NYC. It would be nice to have an actual accounting sheet of what has been paid by the 18,000 owners. Hoping for a more commensurate reimbursement.

$6.5 million for 18,000 owners is basically $361 per owner. Good news...."The owners and operators to be barred from the timeshare industry The owners and operators will sell their stakes to a third-party purchaser and relinquish management control Remove all sponsor-appointed current officers and directors from their positions as members of the Board of the Timeshare Association."

The potential scenarios for the timeshare owners???

I pay close to $3500 each for my 2 penthouse time share units - one is fixed and one is flex and so I shell out around $7000 a year just to "own" those 2 weeks. I'm hoping that only those owners who have complained will be in the first round to get some relief under the settlement. We can hope there are many owners who are pleased with their ownership and therefore, would not share in the settlement. No one knows at this point. Only saving grace is that (1) the Eichners can no longer stack the Board (2) he and his cohorts have to get out of the time share business and a 3rd party will be heading up the sales/management of the Manhattan Club. Please respond if anyone else has the same or different interpretation of the settlement agreement. I totally agree - it should have been much, much more but again, hopefully those of us who got involved and continued to contacted the Judge and Attorney General will be in the first tier of the settlement. Would be great if Marriott or Wyndham took over the Manhattan Club.

I don't believe that there is an accurate count of how many "owners " actually exist, but it is probably between 14,000 to 18,000 "owners". Maybe the AG has that number. The levels of "ownership" also vary greatly. For instance I was sold a Metropolitan Suite 7day over 3 years "low budget" contract for about $9400 with a maintenance fee of $1500. due every 3 years then rose to $2100. After I declined a normal 7 day per year contract at around $15000. They were desperate not to lose a sale. This was what they came up with after they "wined & dined" me with Broadway tickets,restaurant vouchers, free garage parking & a 2 night stay. This is where I believe that they went wrong. The sales team being goal oriented pushed and sold these "flextime" contracts (biennial,triennial, quadrennial,etc) until there were an unreasonably high amount of " owners" that were stepping over each other to make reservations along with competing with regular hotel guests When everyone complained the staff did their best "smoke & mirrors" routine to fend everyone off resulting in the unhappy situation you read about on these pages. As far as NYC timeshares selling for $100,000. There are no other NYC timeshares to compare this to, maybe one other? Want to vacation in NYC? You're better off making reservations in one of the many available hotels there whenever & where ever enjoy then return home. There is no need for you to "own" your personal hotel room.You don't really "own" it anyway.

I have no idea what the settlement entails, but I can speculate.

My guess is that there will be an announcement that won't in any way satisfy the owners. There will not be a "put" offer, and owners will still be bound by the contractual terms.

HOWEVER, this is the AG settlement, and now the owners can pursue their own legal settlement, hopefully, as a class action. You can assume the Eichners will drag this out, as well, starting with fighting the class status.

The sooner that any AG required new buyer sees that they face a tsunami of lawsuits from the people who got duped, the less they are willing to pay -- or even consider the deal. I cannot see this ending well for the Eichners

I am no lawyer, but I think the time to hire a lawyer for a class action suit is fast approaching. Since the major relief the owners will seek is to get out of these illegal contracts, I do not see how the lawyer can work this as a "contingency".

I think we will have to pay him/her, and I think it will not be cheap.

On the other hand, even though it will take a while and cost a lot, I cannot see how we would lose.

Yes... There are at least 3 other NYC timeshare to compare TMC to and maybe a few more then that. Yes... the cost for these has risen during the last several years. And Yes... some are selling for 100K.

Some people are throwing out crazy numbers all over the place, for the total number of owners. I know that for a long time even the AG was trying to get an accurate count. I don't know if they did, but I do know that in 2004 (pre the Metropolitan suites & Studios) the maximum sale goal was 13,780 owners.

I also know that Ownership FEES and Losses Vary GREATLY! When the MF's jumped a few years ago, suddenly the fees also jumped at a TIERED RATE. As some Owners just pointed out: One is paying $1500 every 3 years / One is paying $7000 / some are now paying $14,000 / year in fees. It's the same building, same gym, same business center & lounge. I guess we'll just have to wait to see how this settlement plays out.

Wonderful news! Does anyone know what we need to do to ensure that we 'get out' of our contract???? I am happy just to be rid of this, and are not concerned about getting any monetary restitution. So thrilled that this albatros will not be hanging around my neck and being passed on to my children.......

Susan Larson susanlarson6@gmail.com

Are there any attorneys hired by individual owners who are working on a class action suit?

I seem to recall that way back at the beginning of this action that the NYAG's investigation was being made on behalf of owners who resided in New York, and as such, those of us who reside outside of New York could seek info but not "participate" in the case. I hope my recollection is inaccurate, but if it is, does it mean that only New York owners get a piece of the settlement?

Now that the AG case came to a close and fraud was validated why can't those of us owners file a class action suit? Any attorney out there want to respond? It could be a very solid case.

I asked Douglas Wasser, liaison attorney to NY AG TMC investigation

Hi Irene – It sounds from the posts, that the purchasers used 3rd party sources to purchase at the Manhattan Club.

I haven’t seen the actual settlement agreement yet so I can’t say for sure who benefits from the settlement and who does not.

The NY Attorney General’s press release indicated that $6.5mm was to be set aside for the benefit of “hundreds of purchasers” as a restitution fund. But The Manhattan Club has upwards of 14,700 unit owners. So, it appears likely from the press release that the pool of Manhattan Club owners entitled to a purchase refund may be a very small one. I have no indication yet, without seeing the settlement agreement, as to what the eligibility requirements may be for restitution.

On the other hand, the press release speaks of the forced divestiture by the current sponsor of control over the Manhattan Club. Given the lack of confidence in the current reservation system and the many complaints that the reservation system was heavily tilted to benefit the sponsor, this seems like a significant positive to Manhattan Club community. It may restore confidence, perhaps drive up market value of the units and allow those who want to leave to do so, and bring in new and willing participants. That could be a lift for the entire community.

Keep up the good work!

It is apparent that it will be some time before the exact stipulations are known as to how the settlement proceeds are to be allocated. I would certainly hope that those of us who doggedly pursued this action with letters and conversations with the A.G.'s office and with the Judge would garner some benefit. There again, I suppose none of us will know until the final terms are made public.

I personally would be very happy to simply be "forgiven" for the 2 years of maintenance fees that TMC says I owe and then come up with a reasonable annual maintenance fee so that I can continue to afford the fees and use my unit. If the fees are reasonable I'm sure my share would be easier to sell if I should decide to sell it. I am not expecting any type of refund for what I paid nor am I expecting any financial gain from this. I simply want to continue to enjoy my unit until I decide to sell it. Reasonable maintenance fees will certainly increase my chances of actually finding a buyer.

hi all.

since we don't know the status of the of the court settlement of TMC case all we can do is wishful think about what we want from the outcome of this legal matter.

my current wish is that TMC will cease requesting maintenance fees that haven't been paid (for time that hasn't been used). wipe that part of the slate clean and start from there, but not before adjusting maintenance fees to a very reasonable and affordable level (as was the case when many of us had initially purchased our week(s). remember, our maintenance fees are up nearly 400% since our purchase.

we don't know who eichner will sell TMC to. personally, short of the EICHNER REGIME, i really enjoy staying at this better-than-nyc-hotel venue. the location can't be beat, and i found very little to complain about the physical quality of TMC or of its employees from the bellpeople, concierge and front desk personnel to the other service people. i hope it is sold to a fair and equitable timeshare operator who will respect the needs and requirements of individual shareowners.

that being said, if other owners wish to sell their week(s) , i suspect that they would be able to do at current market value of our units, if the new owners reverse all of the eichner regime inequities.

we can wish for the stars, and get merely a fleeting comet; time will tell, and i hope that time comes rapidly.

keep in touch.

chris

beckyf76 wrote:

I personally would be very happy to simply be "forgiven" for the 2 years of maintenance fees that TMC says I owe and then come up with a reasonable annual maintenance fee so that I can continue to afford the fees and use my unit. If the fees are reasonable I'm sure my share would be easier to sell if I should decide to sell it. I am not expecting any type of refund for what I paid nor am I expecting any financial gain from this. I simply want to continue to enjoy my unit until I decide to sell it. Reasonable maintenance fees will certainly increase my chances of actually finding a buyer.

What about those of us who dutifully continued to pay maintenance fees that climbed precipitously because of those who refused to in protest?

tulipblossom wrote:

It is apparent that it will be some time before the exact stipulations are known as to how the settlement proceeds are to be allocated. I would certainly hope that those of us who doggedly pursued this action with letters and conversations with the A.G.'s office and with the Judge would garner some benefit. There again, I suppose none of us will know until the final terms are made public.

To ws57, I agree.

I agree, too.

I agree as well and I too continued to pay the high fees up until my very last bill for $3,400. I paid $60k for my unit and I'll be happy to get back my 7 days per year and use it again. Of course I would love to get back some of my money from all the years I paid more than was reasonable but I'm not sure there's enough money for us all to get what we want. I'm sure if we're all patient we will have an opportunity to stipulate what we're hoping to get. As someone said earlier "only time will tell". I'm just glad this over for all of us.