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Manhattan Club Lawsuit
We pay our maintenance fees on time. Own the seven (7) days over 2-years timeshare agreement. Originally tols we could book any Sunday, no problem. Now up to 9 months to book 1 day and get NO response. We Call & e-mail continuously... only to hear we are on a waiting list?? Absurb! Abusive! Unacceptable! Where do we go from here???
Barbara B.
the lawsuit is dead, the link seems to still point people to it though. there is a lawyer that some of us have used to get them to do a buyback.... it will cost you up front but you will not have to worry about the fees for the rest of your life. TMC will cut you a check for $100. that stings a bit but at least you are free.
Mark B.
Many owners wondered what happened with MC lawsuite. Below is the article published in Crain's. Post your comment, support disgranted MC owners community. * * * Time runs out for owners of midtown time-shares
Overbooking brings Manhattan Club stakes down as owners scramble for exits. Late last year, Jimmy Cottone took drastic action. He dumped his share in the Manhattan Club, a ritzy midtown Manhattan time-share condominium, for a mere $1. That's $16,999 less than he paid for it nearly a decade earlier, but one buck more than what he figured was its actual value.
"The time-share is completely worthless," said Mr. Cottone, a Long Islander who has not only seen his annual maintenance fee quintuple to $2,000, but found he was unable to book time to use his share no matter how far in advance he called to make reservations, owing to overbooking.
In the end, after finding no takers for his stake on eBay, Craigslist and other online sites, Mr. Cottone handed it over to the Manhattan Club's owner-operator, Ian Bruce Eichner, chairman of Continuum Co., and other firms, for a dollar.
Mr. Cottone has loads of company in a once-glistening project that has drawn a growing army of detractors over the course of nearly five years. A Yahoo online group where owners voice their complaints has drawn 493 members since it was created in 2007. Three years later, a website called the Disgruntled Manhattan Club New York Timeshare Owners, which chronicles the owners' plight, went up. More recently, a similar site appeared on Facebook, and TimeSharing Today published an article by a former owner titled "My Manhattan Club Experience: A Tale of Frustration."
It's all a far cry from the situation in 1997, when the club opened. At the time, it was billed as the first major time-share condominium in New York, where visitors could have a high time in the city at a relatively low cost. The property at 200 W. 56th St. was a bankrupt hotel that Mr. Eichner bought and converted into two properties, the 286-suite Manhattan Club and the Park Central Hotel. The cost of work on the club alone came to $141 million, according to Continuum's website. Initially, shares were marketed at prices starting at $10,000, depending on the size of the unit. Today, they start at $35,000.
Back in 1996, Mr. Eichner, who declined to be interviewed for this article, told The New York Times that if all the time-shares were sold, 18,000 customers a year would buy seven-day stays or the flex-time equivalent. As of 2010, exactly 14,872 had been sold. Since then, there has been a growing number of resales—including owners turning their shares back to Mr. Eichner, who rose to prominence as a developer 30 years ago but lost several properties in the real estate collapse of the 1990s and three years ago surrendered his $3.9 billion Las Vegas casino resort to a bank.
While time-shares are relatively rare in Manhattan, some have been quite successful. Shares in 78 units at the New York Hilton that were set aside for time-shares in 2001 sold out in about four years, according to Kim Kreiger, senior vice president of Club and Resorts at Hilton Grand Vacations. That led to the ground-up construction of Hilton's second time-share, West 57th Street by Hilton Club, with 161 units. That launched in 2009 and is 90% sold. Washing their hands
At this point, many Manhattan Club owners simply want to wash their hands of the whole experience.
"I am trying to get out of it, and it is almost impossible," said Zenon Hac, a teacher in New Jersey, who paid $20,000 for his time-share in 2002 and wants to give back his share for $1.
Other angry owners like Mr. Hac say they, too, would love giving shares back to the sponsor, but they say the developer is only compiling a waiting list and is not buying any shares back. In retaliation, Mr. Hac and others have recently stopped paying their annual maintenance fees, ranging from $1,800 to $2,500 a year, in protest of how the club is being run.
"I refuse to pay," said Tony Caliguire, a firefighter in Albany, who attempted to sell his $20,000 time-share online for $10,000 last year, but got no bidders. "My credit is at risk, but why should I pay for something I can't use?" All too widely available Others are going to court. Last year, five owners sued Mr. Eichner and related entities, accusing them of fraud and other misconduct. They accused the manager of "intentionally overselling the occupancy capacity of the 286 time-share units by renting them throughout the year to the general public through Expedia, Hotels.com and other travel websites."
"This has been going on for a long time, and people are getting ripped off," said Steven Blau of law firm Blau Brown & Leonard, which represents the plaintiffs. "I can get a room faster by using an online travel site, while owners are paying taxes and maintenance fees during the year."
Two months ago, however, a federal judge dismissed the suit. Now, with a different time-share owner as a client, Mr. Blau has filed a suit in state court alleging "deceptive business practices."
"I think we have a very good chance; otherwise, I would not be wasting my time," said Mr. Blau, who has been contacted by about 200 Manhattan Club time-share owners since filing the first lawsuit. "I think justice will be served."
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120722/REAL_ESTATE02/307229976
Fibo N.
RE message: Re: Manhattan Club Lawsuit (by johna916): I did the reverse buy-back using an attorney. Don't try doing it yourself. I did. They just told me they would put me on a waiting list. My attorney got it done in a month.
Would you please mind sharing the name and info of your attorney? And also, if you don't mind, in what year did you purchase and when did you do the reverse-buy-back?
Thank you!
Lori H.
I purchased in 2005 and sold back my unit in February of this year. E-mail me at jockwood@hotmail.com and I will be glad to send you my attorney's name. I just don't want it posted here because she is getting overwhelmed with inquiries. She is very good!
John A.
We have been owners for 3 years and the first year everything seemed fine and it went very down hill from there. Is there still a pending law suit?
alexc100 wrote:MC owners opened a lawsuite / class action in regards to the MC resrvations.Everyone who is inerested to join the class action please contact me at alexcrystal22@gmail.com
You will be asked to fill out the Survey and send it or email the lawyer's office. It is urgent! Regards, Alex
Jeffrey B.
alex, my opinion:
if you intend using the original law suit attorney, mr. blau, you should reconsider.....his track original track record was a failure...case dismissed...AND MC OWNERS REMAIN JUST WHERE WE BEGAN: BEHIND THE PROVERBIAL "EIGHT BALL!"
i don't know of a reasonable substitute, but research should be done before selecting and retaining any attorney for owners to rely upon and trust. this attorney should have a proven background of success in timeshare litigation FOR OWNERS' INTERESTS, NOT MANAGEMENT'S. if eichner's attorneys are top notch, ours should be beyond that for a satisfactory legal outcome.
chris
jeffreyb213 wrote:We have been owners for 3 years and the first year everything seemed fine and it went very down hill from there. Is there still a pending law suit?alexc100 wrote:MC owners opened a lawsuite / class action in regards to the MC resrvations.Everyone who is inerested to join the class action please contact me at alexcrystal22@gmail.com
You will be asked to fill out the Survey and send it or email the lawyer's office. It is urgent! Regards, Alex
Chris V.
Is there a contact number for the lawyers that the owners are interested in utilizing for the class action lawsuit. Thank you Sharon
chrisv126 wrote:alex, my opinion:if you intend using the original law suit attorney, mr. blau, you should reconsider.....his track original track record was a failure...case dismissed...AND MC OWNERS REMAIN JUST WHERE WE BEGAN: BEHIND THE PROVERBIAL "EIGHT BALL!"
i don't know of a reasonable substitute, but research should be done before selecting and retaining any attorney for owners to rely upon and trust. this attorney should have a proven background of success in timeshare litigation FOR OWNERS' INTERESTS, NOT MANAGEMENT'S. if eichner's attorneys are top notch, ours should be beyond that for a satisfactory legal outcome.
chris
jeffreyb213 wrote:We have been owners for 3 years and the first year everything seemed fine and it went very down hill from there. Is there still a pending law suit?alexc100 wrote:MC owners opened a lawsuite / class action in regards to the MC resrvations.Everyone who is inerested to join the class action please contact me at alexcrystal22@gmail.com
You will be asked to fill out the Survey and send it or email the lawyer's office. It is urgent! Regards, Alex
Sharon V.
CraigNy APRIL 26, 2013 9:04 A.M.
Eichner buys Vornado site
The buyer of the long-stalled Harlem site sold by Vornado Realty Trust has been identified. Developer Bruce Eichner of Continuum Co. has purchased the site, located at the southwest corner of East 125th Street, between Madison and Park avenues, for $65 million. He plans to build a residential building there, according to the New York Post.
The proposed 596,000-square-foot residential tower would include 600 market-rate and 200 affordable apartments. Vornado originally wanted to build a 640,000-square-foot office tower called Harlem Park, where the MLB Network would have been the anchor tenant, but that didn't pan out. Mr. Eichner's developments in the city include CitySpire, on West 56th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, and 1540 Broadway, in Times Square. He is also the owner-operator of the Manhattan Club, a ritzy time-share condominium at 200 W. 56th St. that has generated a slew of complaints from owners who are so fed up with not being able to use their time-share that they have been trying to unload their shares.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130426/BLOGS03/130429908
Alex C.
Hi, Just like everyone else, we are victims and have similiar stories. After reading the different e-mails about contacting the Attorney General's office and hopefully getting some results we also found ourselves in the same situation. They were not very helpful. Intially, we thought after speaking with them and filling out complaint forms that we would be able to resolve our problem. In the end they didn't help at all.
We would like to join in the Class Action Lawsuit. We will be contacting Alex in an email.
Thinking outside the box, if we can get a list of owners living in the New York area (I am one) we would be willing to protest in front of the Park Central Hotel. Whether it be one day a month, week or whenever your available this might prove to be an effective means of getting the local media's attention. (Channel 2,4,5,7,9,11).
Another thought, what about calling Occupy Wall Street. This might be an issue they might interested in.
We can also write letters to Editors of local newpapers (Newday, Daily News, New York Post, New York Times)
What are your thoughts on this matter?
Ken
Kenneth L.
it must be informational picketing; we must get a city approval for any formal gathering such as picketing. if this is the case, YES, COUNT ME IN.
lynns333 wrote:Are there any owners out there interested in picketing in front of TMC ? We can call the local TV channels to cover the story.
Chris V.