Westgate Resorts Scam-David Siegel- Robert Paisola Responds

DAVID SIEGEL, Westgate Scam CEO

Mr. Paisola

I found your site among many others that include people who have been ripped off by Westgate. We also didn't know about the ten-day cancellation period until it was way too late. We purchased ours in Orlando on 7/19/07. They sold us a unit that hadn't even been built yet, but we were told that we could always use a different one in the meantime. Later, we found out that you can use an alternate as long as you pay a hefty penalty for not using your own unit. We were also told that real estate is an "investment", but after my research online, I see that Westgate's owner (David Siegel) claims that they tell people it's a prepaid vacation. I'm sure he knows that his employees don't really tell people that. They also encourage you to post flyers offering $99 vacations. They say you can earn "trupoints" by putting your account number on these & getting credit when people redeem them. When you read through their fine print later, you see that you have to give them a list of names that will be using the $99 vacation or else you can't get credit for them. If you are putting these flyers up in random areas such as WalMart bulletin boards, how can you give Westgate a list of names? Obviously you can't, and they know it. Just another one of their scams. I noticed in one of your posted responses to somebody else that it could be considered fraud that Westgate shows on the sales paperwork that the deposit was paid in full on the sales date even though we had a payment plan on the deposit that went through October. Did you figure out a way to get the other people out of it? Have any attorneys perhaps come forward with plans for a class action suit against them? I would love to be part. I hate to think I gave them nearly 3 grand and got nothing for it.

Cassandra

Cassandra: Our Editors just found this letter that was authored by David Siegel in 2001. We can not believe what we are reading, so we are going to post it again here for our readers. For 7 Years Westgate Resorts has been screwing people? Where is the litigation? Where are the indictments? and most importantly, Where the hell is CNN, NBC, Dateline and the boys. Well, welcome to 2008 boys and girls...here we go again!

An Open Letter To The Editor Of The Timeshare Beat (Not this site)
September 28, 2001
Dear Sir:

I hope you have the guts to print this letter.

I am an avid reader of your distorted timeshare report as are most of my colleagues in the timeshare industry as well as many thousands of current and potential timeshare owners. I, as the President of Westgate Resorts, am tired of being your whipping boy. I consider my company a very reputable one and take offense with your unfounded allegations. At first I took the attitude that any response would only give credibility to the ludicrous statements. But, now, after months of your continuous assaults, I feel I need to respond even if the response falls on deaf ears.

To begin with, we pride ourselves on being one of the pioneer timeshare companies. We also pride ourselves on the fact that in our 20-year history we have never failed to meet a payroll. Many of our employees have been with us from the very beginning, attesting to the fact that we treat our employees extremely well. In fact, our employees are among the highest paid people in our industry. With over 6,000 employees, there will always be a few disgruntled ones. When we are made aware of a problem, we are quick to resolve it. In most cases, we are able to.

It seems that you are hung up on reserve accounts and charge backs. Let me explain to you why this is not only necessary but critical to the survival of our industry as it currently exists. We sell anyone that can come up with a minimum 10% down payment, regardless of whether they are credit worthy or not. We do not run a credit check and, therefore, our salespeople have no credit rejects. The next day we give the salesman an advance of 50% of their commission, even before the customer's check has cleared the bank. Our experience has shown that many of our purchasers have an unsatisfactory credit history. Rather than reject a sale that a salesman has worked so hard to make because of credit, we accept everyone. Therefore, the reason for having charge backs. Once the purchaser has made six consecutive timely payments, the salesman is no longer on the hook for a charge back even though we have to receive many years of payments just to recover our cost of the sale. Many of our competitors do credit checks at the time of purchase and reject everyone that does not have a perfect credit history and, as a result, don't have to charge back their salespeople. Years ago, when we gave this option to our sales staff they overwhelmingly opted for the charge backs.

In the case of reserve accounts, when a salesperson leaves the company, they are responsible for all commission advances that were made to them until every one of the sales has made the six consecutive timely payments. In most cases, the charge backs exceed the amount of money due the salesperson when they leave. In some cases where they do not, we pay the balance to the salesperson once every sale has been cleared. I receive many letters from ex-salespeople requesting their reserves and, in each case, I have my payroll person figure up their account and contact them.

This is a very competitive business. In order to remain successful and to continue meeting all our obligations, we must run a tight ship and react to problems instantly. Sometimes this means firing or shifting personnel from resort to resort and whatever other things we deem necessary to be efficient. We don't need "The Timeshare Beat" second guessing us or taking pot shots at our company. We have good valid reasons for everything we do and we are not accountable to you.

Your "Timeshare Beat" could be an asset to the timeshare industry as a common denominator for all the timeshare resorts. It could be valuable as a way for our industry to stay on top of current news, employment opportunities, and even investment opportunities.

Unfortunately, you decided to be more like the "National Enquirer," "The Globe," and "The Star" and distribute rumors, half-truths and innuendoes in your paper rather than helpful and informative information. What you are doing is a disservice to the entire industry. While we have tried so hard to build up credibility with the public for our industry, you are doing us tremendous harm. When the public reads all of the garbage that you put in your paper, how could they possibly think that timesharing is the best way for families to vacation? They must have the impression after reading "The Timeshare Beat" that no one can hold a job, everyone is sleeping with everyone, every resort is going bankrupt and there are few credible people still around. This is far from the truth. The truth is that the timeshare industry is very much alive and prospering. We are one of the few industries that have consistently grown from year to year. With the entry of Disney, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Starwood, Wyndham and, of course, Westgate Resorts, the industry has never enjoyed higher credibility than it does today, in spite of your muck raking commentaries. Our industry employs millions of good hard-working people from all walks of life and in every community across the country we create huge tax bases, support the local charities and create employment. Our owners come year round to enjoy the resorts, pay taxes, spend money in the community and don't burden school systems, libraries or community functions.

I am a strong advocate of a national public relations campaign where every person will come in contact with positive articles on timesharing and learn about the benefits of owning a timeshare vacation villa. Your "Timeshare Beat" could go a long way in being the spokesman for our industry if you used journalistic responsibility.

Of course, these are only my views but I am sure that they are shared by all of my fellow developers as well.

I dare you to print this letter in its entirety.

Sincerely,


David A. Siegel
President, CEO and Chairman of the Board

___
This is another article that we wrote in December 2008 on David Siegel and Westgate Resorts:

This is an open letter to Mr. David A. Siegel, The CEO of Westgate Resorts.

Mr. Siegel:

Millions of people around the world have seen the video that is now on youtube showing the massive estate that you own and the abundance of wealth that you portray to have.

We have some questions for you that we have not been able to get answers on from your staff including but not limited to Barry W. Siegel, Tom Dugan, Mark Waltrip and David Crabtree

We are concerned about the thousands of people that have contacted our offices and in an open forum explain how they feel that they were abused by your company. They feel that they received nothing for their money, and they feel that the properties that they "bought into" are completely sub par, as opposed to what they were promised.

We refer you to The Westgate Vacation Villas Town Center , Buildings SSS and TP. We will be posting interior and exterior photos later for our readers, so that they are clear on these "5 Start Luxury Accommodations" that you provide.

Next, we are highly concerned about a lawsuit that your attorney Victor S. Kline of GREENSPOON MARDER, PA filed in Ocala County, Florida entitled : WESTGATE RESORTS, INC. VS DOE, JOHN Case 2008 CA 008314 OC

For your review and to memorialize this letter, we are attaching the full complaint and attachments for our friends at GOOGLE and your clients, employees, prospective employees and most importantly, the potential purchasers at the following Westgate Properties including:

Arizona
* MesaPainted Mountain Country Club

Florida
* Daytona BeachHarbour Beach Resort

* Orlando AreaBlue Tree Resort at LBV

* Lakes Resort & Spa

* Leisure Resort

* Palace

* River Ranch

* Towers

* Town Center

* Vacation Villas

* Miami AreaSouth Beach

Mississippi
* RobinsonvilleTunica Resort

Missouri
* Branson AreaBranson Garden Inn

* Branson Woods

* Emerald Pointe

Nevada
* Las VegasFlamingo Bay

South Carolina
* Myrtle BeachMyrtle Beach Resort

Tennessee
* GatlinburgSmoky Mountain Resort

Utah
* Park CityPark City Resort & Spa

Virginia
* WilliamsburgHistoric Williamsburg

This is a full and complete copy of the lawsuit that you filed against your employee(s)

After the posting of the pages, we will submit our questions for counsel, Victor S. Kline and your Corporate Counsel Michael E. Marder

This is the Full File in Adobe PDF Legal Format












If you take a moment to download the 19 page document that is located above and here:

This is the Full File in Adobe PDF Legal Format


You will see that your company is claiming that some very senior employees in your Organization have been accused of serious torts:

You state" When an owner purchases a Timeshare Unit from Westgate, Westgate DOES NOT record any documents in the public records until the expiration of ten (10) days so that a purchaser HAS THE RIGHT to rescind ANY PURCHASE. After the ten (10) day rescission period expires, Westgate DOES NOT NOT RECORD ANY DOCUMENTS WHICH BEAR THE OWNERS HOME, BUSINESS ADDRESS, EMAIL ADDRESS OR PHONE NUMBER. An owner of a Westgate Timeshare unit is identified in the public records ONLY BY NAME and the address of the WESTGATE RESORT where the owner purchased an interest."

You further state" Defendant JOHN DOE, (Your employee(s) ) contacted Ana Garcia and Nicole Papanier, customers of Westgate who had already signed purchase and sale agreements. In the emails, JOHN DOE, made DISPARAGING COMMENTS about WESTGATE and advised Ana Garcia and Nicole Papanier how to rescind agreements with Plaintiff. The Emails were sent less than 10 days after Ana Garcia and Nicole Papanier had signed these their agreements with Westgate"

These comments in your public pleadings and our subsequent interviews with members of your staff (not Senior Management mentioned above) indicate that you have a policy of Prohibiting your employees from counseling the buyers whom enter into agreements with your company on how to follow their legal rights under State Code to Rescind any transaction that they make with your sales team "in the heat of the moment"

Further, we have been advised that you have a three step system to ensure that a customer DOES NOT CANCEL:

These are Raw notes from our investigation that we will be reporting on at a later date:

-Used to use Deja Wint and then in Nov 2007 switched to the MR system

" The contracts dept (appx 10 people entered - with only local data entered the information and the Deeding Department ( Villas 16-23 Employees ) One employee of the 23 personally entered One Million Dollars on books each month. This is typical. The industry avg cancel rate is 20-25 percent.

"We are told to do whatever it takes to keep "on the books" including ...

If contract is lapsed Past 10 days and if no full down payment or no first payment then all employees are PROHIBITED TO teach or inform victim purchasers how to to rescind contract.

In a search of all US County Court Records there is NO RECORD of ANY Foreclosure action against a buyer (victim) " We have been told time and time again that David Siegel will not foreclose, as he will simply keep the down payment and resell again and again and again. This is verified with the county recorders of the local jurisdictions.

All of this is also validated in the Deja Wint System/ MR System Data, and is used corporate wide to document all purchases with Westgate. The data in Deja Wint/ MR System Data, will clearly show that there is a common scheme or thread to defraud, as by reselling the same piece of property over and over, and by keeping all monies paid, by the purchasing victims, that the money will remain unclaimed and that the consumer will simply GIVE UP and that the BLANKET REFUSAL POLICY to refund money to buyers and to PROHIBIT employees from assisting the "least sophisticated consumers" in maintaining their rights will ensure continued profitability.

Think John Grisham's Movie 'The Rainmaker', in which he pits Rudy Baylor, a lawyer fresh out of law school, against Great Benefit Insurance and its lawyer Leo Drummond in a bad-faith claim lawsuit. What really made this book is the Black vs. Great Benefit case, and how an insurance company would bend over backwards to not get caught in its own lies.

This works because of the policy of the Deeding Department Agent not being able to file the legal deed , giving your company, Westgate Resorts, the ability to resell the same parcel again and and again.

"This is why we can provide credit to any warm body that shows, regardless of their financial situation, because we could care less if they pay"

Now, If no payments are made by victim for 6 months (on time ) then the paper can not be resold to banks. Siegel (sic) holds paper for six months and dumps it on the secondary market to the banks. "The aging is completely inaccurate, but nobody knows this, so the banks buy the high interest paper" (see Deja Wint/ MR System Data)

"We have three methods of collections internally"

1. Pending to Good --- in first 90 days if the victim buyer does not pay the down payment or any payment then the Pending to Good team will try to collect."

2. If No Success is made at this level, the the file is returned to the Original Closing Officer - if in 90 days a victim buyer is 10 days late on any payment then the Closing Officer must collect the payment himself or herself or "we do not get paid"

"Closing officers are required by David Siegel to have $50.00 to $150.00 per day WITHHELD from pay to cover high cancellation percentages."

"On all pending to good accounts percentage. 99 percent of officers loose 50 to 150 per day because of PENDING NUMBERS" (see future story)

3. Collections Department - Used to be called The Now Team - Customer Service is what they call it, but it is Collections.

We used to have "The Win Back Team: - the purpose of this team is to win back the lost business and to get accounts reactivated... to WIN BACK BUSINESS"

Based on the above comments and the lawsuit that you have filed wherein you are planning to depose a former employee, we at the timeshare chronicles are concerned about what YOUR OWN EMPLOYEES ARE SAYING. We are concerned about the failure to deal fairly with the public in not only Florida, but in Las Vegas. You can read our stories on the horror that our clients experienced in Las Vegas.

The bottom line is that we want answers. We want to know what you are intending to do as a corporation to deal with all of the names that have been entered into the Deja Wint System / MR System Data that are unhappy. We want to know how many people simply "lost" the money that they paid you and received nothing. We want to know WHY you prohibit your employees from helping your customers understand the laws of rescission. We want to know why The Mother in Law of your Senior Executive was hired, and why 6 qualified people were terminated. (story to come)

Mr. Siegel, this is not a game of smoke and mirrors.

This is real life and real people are loosing money because of the games that your company is accused of playing. The court records from around the country and the confidential settlement agreements executed between your company and employees, victims and even victims of sexual abuse are now available for the public.

The bottom line is .... WHY? Just for a big house?

We hope that you take the time to respond.

Regards,

Robert Paisola
CEO
The Western Capital Foundation

-If you are in a similar situation and need assistance, please watch the video at WesternCapitalMD.com and visit WesternCapitalVIP.com

LEGAL NOTICE:

This commentary is protected media commentary and is protected by the first amendment. If you want to sue The Time Share Chronicles for posting this, then, we suggest that counsel review this statement at our sister site, SeminarWatch.com

WESH NBC Daytona Beach / Orlando
WBBH NBC Ft. Myers
WFTX Ft. Myers-Naples
WFTX FOX 4 Ft. Myers/Cape Coral, FL
WTVX UPN 34 Ft.Pierce/W.Palm Beach
WCJB ABC Gainesville
WOGX FOX 51 Gainseville/Ocala, FL
WJXX ABC ABC25 Jacksonville
WTLV NBC Jacksonville
WAWS FOX 30 Jacksonville
WJXT (Ind) News 4 Jacksonville
WPLG & Click 10 ABC 10 Miami
WFOR CBS Miami
WTVJ NBC Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
WSVN FOX 7 Miami, FL
WZVN ABC 7 Naples/ Ft. Myers
WFTV ABC Orlando
WKCF Orlando
WESH NBC Orlando
WKMG CBS Orlando
WOFL FOX 35 Orlando/Lake Mary, FL
WMBB ABC Panama City
WJGH NBC Panama City
WPGX FOX 28 Panama City
WBPG Pensacola
WEAR ABC Pensacola/ Mobile
WFGX (Ind) Pensacola, FL / Mobile, AL
WWSB ABC Sarasota
WTXL ABC News 27 Tallahassee
WTWC NBC Tallahassee
WTLH FOX 49 Tallahassee/Midway, FL
WFTS 28 Tampa
WFLA NBC Tampa
WTTA WB 38 Tampa
WTVT FOX 13 Tampa
WFTS ABC Tampa-St.Petersburg
WMOR Tampa-St.Petersburg
WTSP Tampa-St.Petersburg
WPBF ABC West Palm Beach
UPN33 UPN 33 South Florida
WTOG UPN 44 St.Petersburg/Tampa
WPTV 5 West Palm Beach
WFLX FOX 29 West Palm Beach
WPTV NBC West Palm Beach
Posted by Robert Paisola at 12/24/2008 09:48:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: . siegel, david a, david siegel westgate, mexico timeshare fraud, robert paisola, timeshare chronicles, westgate resorts