To whom this may concern:
In August while my wife and I were on our honeymoon, I was given a vacation voucher for three nights in Ft. Lauderdale with the consent to listen to a 90-120 minute presentation regarding timeshare with Fairfield Resorts. My wife and I recently attended that Fairfield Resorts Presentation in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. We were sincerely interested, went in with an open mind and found out we were in for a lot more than we bargained for. Let me explain.
First, it appears that the representatives of Fairfield Resorts will say ANYTHING to get you to sign a contract with them. Unfortunately, verbal promises mean nothing legally. The problem is that what you are signing for is dramatically different than what they will be offering you. So if you do not take the time to read the fine print you are legally bound to their contract, not their word.
Keep in mind that even after you sign a contract with them, you have a (10) day opt out period with no penalties or obligations by law. If you feel uneasy about your recent purchase cancel your contract in writing now!!!
Now then, the actual Fairfield resort presentation is a carefully choreographed dance between the prospective buyer and the agent. Your agent will be very friendly, charismatic and well versed in all forms of customer relations tactics. They will promise you the moon and the stars if only you would sign up. Unfortunately for us, we were actually interested in this program for pragmatic reasons. Half of our family lives in Japan and the costs of putting a family of 4 in a hotel over there are tremendous.
After studying their point system, it seemed to make sense. For us, by taking one or two trips to Japan, through the money we would be saving by using our package, it would basically pay for itself. At some point, we also want to go to Iceland. For those of you who don't know, it is also an extremely expensive trip. Our agent told us they also had resorts in Iceland and we could do both vacations on their RCI point system for international resorts given with the Fairfield Resort time-share. To do this I had to give them a reasonable processing fee and I could go anywhere in the world at a fixed price. So for us it seemed like a no-brainer, right? Here's the real story.
After further analysis of the book they gave us, this is what I learned. They will tell you that they have a fixed amount of contracts which they can work with. Each contract has a set amount of points attached to it. Points are essentially the Fairfield currency. You buy into a set amount of currency points and that determines how much you can travel. Different locations and different times cost different amounts of points. From what the agent said, the points are fixed, meaning that they never change. Sounds like a logical, even brilliant plan, right?
Yes, but not quite. Points are fixed and so are the number of contracts. They are fixed by the number of people they are able to sign up; not a predetermined limit. So basically they have a limited amount of rooms and an unlimited amount of points to entice as many buyers into their program as possible without actually saying so. Through this, they have created massive inflation within their system whereby you have to plan at least a year in advance for anything with the most likely scenario being that you points expire at the end of your predetermined cycle; usually annually or biannually. So in truth, your points are basically useless unless you settle for the first available trip, period. They will make no guarantees in writing about your ability to use your points the way you want to.
Next, they will tell you that because they have created a point based travel system in which there are a limited amount of points, as soon as they run out of points, these contracts will appreciate as time passes. The truth is that yes, there is a limit to how many points they have and as Ifve said, it's based on however many people they are able to entice. There is no demand for these timeshares because of the unlimited supply; hence the hhard-sellh. Basically their only customers are the audience at the presentation; which means that the contracts you are signing are GROSSLY OVERVALUED. You will never get the money you put in to it back; probably not even 10%. The most likely scenario is that you wonft even be able to give it away and will either spend the rest of your life as an indentured servant to these people or in foreclosure which will destroy your credit rating. You decide.
Next is the financing. First they will show you a ridiculous price for an mortgage contract and try to undercut said price until you get up and walk. You have to forcefully walk away. They will stand in front of you (while never actually touching you) and will not back down or give up until you walk around them and leave. (When they wouldn't go down anymore, and they were going to let us walk, that's when we decided to sign.)
They also have their own financing company and will finance anyone under any circumstances. I had enough money to pay for my vacation package outright but I refuse to take any money with me on vacation. I keep it in an inaccessible account to keep me from doing something stupid. Let that be a lesson to everyone. It probably saved us from a ton of headaches. They tried to sign us up for a credit card but since we recently moved, my driverfs license does not match my actual address.
It should've ended right there. But what did they do? They bypassed the patriot act to get me my credit. I found out that they used my previous address to set the credit account set up and none of my information matched. That right there is illegal. You would think financiers would understand these things. I didnft even realize they did it until after everything was finished.
Then after we signed everything, keeping in mind that we have (10) days to opt out with no penalties or obligations as in any mortgage situation, we thoroughly researched everything. That is when we found out that there was no resort in Iceland. I did further research and learned of the deception and scams they were committing. At that point I sent the developer a notarized written demand to terminate the mortgage and everything associated with it as was required by our mortgage contract. Luckily I did it four days after we signed the mortgage, more than enough time. I also faxed it to Fairfieldfs rescission department and got a report from the FAX machine saying it went through.
By the way, if you need that FAX number, it is (702) 277-3298.
By doing so we are legally cleared of this mess. That is why it is so important that you take the Fairfield tour at the end of your trip. Keep in mind that you only have (10) days to decide. If you go on the second day of your two week trip, they have you and they know it.
Finally, you will get a call from your agent asking you how your trip was. This call is actually to follow up and make sure you havenft cancelled yet. When I told our agent of our intent to cancel, her demeanor changed dramatically. First, she asked us to take a few more days and think it over. (Convenient, huh?) So when I told her that the cancellation documentation was already in the mail and it was too late, she seemed unusually angry. She demanded to know why we opted out and I told her it was because they used misleading information during the presentation. Plus she lied when she said there was a resort in Iceland. She still stuck to her story until I challenged her. Then she said oh Iceland? I thought you meant IRELAND! (Again convenient, huh?)
Then she gor desperate and proceeded to tell me that she thought we were friends and that I was letting my wife and my future children down. I told her that I am not impulsive and that she knew that from the start. When we went home we would research this in it's entirety. She got flustered and then accused us of ripping them off for the free trip, wasting their time and lying about being interested in the program when in actuality she was the one lying, again. We were actually quite interested in the program SHE TALKED ABOUT.
So I told her that at any rate, I have her call recorded in my cel phone received calls list and so in the event they wanted to escalate this, she knew of our intent to cancel 4 days after we signed as well as the documents already being in the mail. Then she told us to talk to the legal department about the imminent legal ramifications and penalties for our cancellation and I told her by the contract we signed, we could cancel within (10) days without any legal ramifications, penalties or obligations. I told her she should have read the fine print. After that she was very bitter and finally gave up.
Anyway, I will be updating this site to inform you what comes of this debacle as this story develops. The Express Mail packet is set to reach Las Vegas tomorrow, the faxes have been sent, and call records kept. I give my permission to anyone in the media that reads this to contact and/or cite me and my article for any stories they want to print exposing these situations. I am waiting and available for interviews with any media outlets. If there is ever a class-action suit against Fairfield Resorts, I will stand as a witness to their deceptive practices.
In closing, anything contractual you sign with anyone is either a weapon for or against you. Remember that and please be careful. It is very important that you read the fine print of any contract you sign with anyone. I am not impulsive. However, as I was on limited time in Florida, I had no other chance to check the validity of what they were offering and did not want to go back again. Knowing this, the only reason I signed on was because the (10) day cancellation window was written into the contract and is THE LAW in these situations. So I used that window to my advantage. Now I have all the information, have done all the steps I needed to take to opt out of this and we're free. Other people werenft so lucky; by Fairfieldfs estimate over 700,000 are locked in this scheme. Something really needs to be done about this.
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