Yesterday May 3, we attended a timeshare offering at the Coral Resorts in Hilton Head, SC. The unit offered was a 5 bedroom in Coral Sands. We were told by Mike Pierce that this unit was a forclosure originally selling for $38,000 and they would allow us to purchase it for $21,000. Mike was new to the Hilton Head area so he had his sales manager, Bob help him. They told us that the maintenance fees were based on a tri-ennial basis and would only have to be paid every three years. We would receive 31,333 RCI points along with 2 "Developer" weeks each year, one 5 bedroom for us to use and one that they would rent out for us which would pay for our maintenance fees. Bob was very clear about this, telling us that every January 2nd we would have to call so the company would know if we were using the units or if they should rent them out for us. He also told us that last year they had to send out letters begging owners to give up their developer weeks, the renting need was so high. They were sure we would net at least $2,500 from the rental property which would more than cover our maintenance fees. When Bob found out that we already owned a timeshare he offered to sell it for $18,000, put $9,000.00 of it towards the new property and pay the rest in 120 days. This way we would no longer have to pay the high maintenance fees of our previous resort. They said most timeshares sell in less than 120 days and the Sales Manager Bob said he guaranteed that it would sell. If it didn't sell they would take the loss for it. It sounded too good to be true but we were trusting and committed to buy it. They then had the office make out the paperwork. Bob disappeared and Mike brought out a paper they they just needed us to initial. He seemed nervouse and I soon found out why. We were asked to initial the following statements.
1. I have been given no oral or written guarantee or assurance as to when or if my timeshare/vacation interest will sell.
2. I have been given no oral or written guarantee or assurance as to the price that my timeshare/vacation will sell.
3. I understand that my purchase of a timeshare is not contingent upon the sale of my existing timeshare/vacation interests.
These statements were not something we could initial so Bob called the finance manager Danny out. Danny told us that by law they had to have us initial these however 99.9% of the time the existing timeshare sold in 120 days for the price shown. He assured us that they would not take a chance by giving us $9,000 of the purchase price up front if they were not sure it would sell. Their company was not in business to lose money. Danny seemed sincere so we initialed the places and the deal was complete.
Today I decided to google Coral Resorts and came upon this site. Tomorrow we will send out a certified letter cancelling our timeshare. Mike, Bob and Danny not only lied throughout the presentation but are misrepresenting the disclosure form so people sign away their right to sue for misrepresentation, which shows this entire company is based on fraud and needs to be stopped. Thank you to everyone that posted here, you have saved us so much trouble.
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