In September we were called and told we had won one of three prizes, given a code # (which we later found out was the same for everyone) and asked to come to a Star Vacations office location in Merrillville, In. My husband and I went and got sucked into a scam. Embarrassing for us because I can usually smell a scam. We had taken in 3 foster children earlier in the year who had never been on a vacation. We were told we could let our children (we have 7 of our own) use the timeshares, deed it to them upon our death - all of it sounded so good. We put money down, financed the rest with Highland Credit, and were told that after 3 monthly payments we would receive a PIN number to register online and book vacations.
After 5 months of payments taken out we still had not received our PIN and started calling. We were told by ICW (the processing company) that they could not find any data on us. Actually, the lady at ICW told us that they too were bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Harbor Resorts. Of course, no one answered the calls to Harbor Resorts. We called our "home base" resort in Texas and was told "the lady who handles that is not in today and will call you tomorrow." Our call was never returned. We had our monthly payment stopped at our bank and so far have received 2 payments returned to us. Highland Credit called us and acted surprised, but said they could not return the other 3 payments because they did not have the money and did not know who did have the money.
I looked into the Federal Trade Commission reports and found that there was a suit back in 1997 (different company name, but same address of 1050 E. Flamingo Road). It's the story of changing company names, continuing the fraud. Someone needs to stop these people and stop them NOW! My daughter's friend, somehow, got a booking to Mexico - or so she thought. My daughter called the resort in Mexico and they had never heard of her friend's booking.
I am so disgusted with this scam and cannot believe so many of us fell for this. I suggest anyone involved with this file a complaint with the Attorney General of their state, the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau. Make sure you make copies of all of the complaints, media coverage, etc. And mail them with copies of your documents. Keep copies for yourself so that you can dispute any claims against your credit. I can't see how any of us can have this reported against our credit if we all stick together on this.
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