Couple sues Consolidated Resorts, Tahiti Village, Desert Club for elder abuse, exploitation, Posted by Robert Paisola

DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE LAWSUIT AGAINST CONSOLIDATED RESORTS AND TAHITI VILLAGE

Two purchasers of Las Vegas vacation timeshare properties say they were victimized by dishonest sales tactics and are taking the timeshare companies to court.

Las Vegas attorney Barry Levinson last month filed separate lawsuits over the deals involving timeshare operators Consolidated Resorts Inc. and Summer Bay Resorts.

In one suit, a Nye County couple claims they were exploited in violation of Nevada’s Elder Abuse law.

Robert and Ellen Gooden claim personnel at Summer Bay Resorts were supposed to be helping them sell their interest in a timeshare condominium project, but then tricked them into buying another project they had no interest in.

Summer Bay operates the Desert Club timeshare project in Las Vegas.

"While in the process of signing the necessary paperwork to effectuate the sale of plaintiffs’ interest in the subject condominium project, an employee of the ... defendants slipped in papers unbeknownst to plaintiffs which consisted of a purchase agreement for the acquisition of additional property," the lawsuit alleges.

The suit says the Goodens didn’t know they had agreed to buy another property until they received a credit card receipt in the mail noting the purchase; and they say they had been asked to buy the subject property a year earlier at a lower price but were not interested in it.

The plaintiffs say they were the victims of fraud, deceptive trade practices and were not advised of their right to rescind the deal until it went into effect.

The couple, who were ages 60 and 67 at the time of the transaction, also allege Desert Club and Summer Bay Resorts violated the state Elder Abuse law.

They say the sales person they were dealing with "took advantage of plaintiffs’ advanced age and lack of commercial sophistication to perpetuate an act of fraud." They say the defendants are liable for "damages for injuries suffered by older or vulnerable persons as a result of abuse, neglect or exploitation."

Officials with Summer Bay Resorts and Desert Club could not immediately be reached for comment.

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The second case involves Consolidated Resorts, a Las Vegas company that operates Las Vegas timeshares Tahiti Village, Tahiti and Club de Soleil; along with timeshare resorts in Florida and Hawaii.

Timeshare buyer Phillip Ramos, who lives in Clark County, alleges in the lawsuit that the only reason he bought an interest in two timeshare condominiums in Las Vegas is because he was assured by a Consolidated official that he could transfer the times he had purchased for use at other timeshare locations, specifically in Hawaii.

But after buying an interest in the Las Vegas timeshares, Ramos was told there was a lack of availability of timeshare locations in his desired travel destination of Hawaii.

The complaint alleges breach of contract, fraud and the use of deceptive trade practices by Consolidated. The suit also claims Ramos was not advised of his right to rescind the contract and did not discover the alleged misrepresentations until after the contract took effect.

Consolidated Resorts has not yet responded to the allegations and its policy is not to comment on litigation.

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Separately, a lawsuit pitting the Palazzo resort on the Las Vegas Strip against Consolidated has been quietly dropped.

The parent companies of the Palazzo and its shopping mall, the Shoppes at the Palazzo, filed suit last month in Clark County District Court against Consolidated, claiming it failed to open marketing booths at the Palazzo resort and owed the Palazzo millions of dollars in rent.

Attorneys for the Palazzo moved Jan. 14, six days after the suit was filed, to have it dismissed. There was no explanation for the dismissal and officials with both companies have declined to comment on the suit.

Steve Green, Wed, Feb 11, 2009 (2 a.m.)

Tahiti Village- Never Ever Buy From these People and Tell them To Go to Hell, Robert Paisola Investigates

Robert-

I tried for 4 days to reply at the bottom of the allexperts.com page, but it says you weren't accepting new questions.

So, I hope this is the right way to go about this.

My husband and I bought into Tahiti Village 11/06, I think it was the day right after we got married, which was also my birthday. My husband originally wanted to go just to get the "free" perks---and when you fill out all that detailed paperwork, well, needless to say, the seller/promoter that was working with us made a complete fuss over us and gave us the royal treatment. We were initially turned down after having ran a credit check and me giving them a credit card w/insufficient funds. But they were able to fanagle the paperwork and "work out a deal" so to speak. We had both filed for bankruptcy [me 13 and husband 7] in the early 2000's. After this, every single month after that financially we went downhill.

Bought Grandview back in early 05. At least we have a deed and the HUD for it.

Also have Moon Palace, Cancun ... only to find out we don't really own anything-- $20K-some later--that's almost all paid off.

I just asked for the contract and the deed [after 1 year of not receiving it] from Tahiti.

I just recently had to pay about $1300 to get caught up with Tahiti-- found out that $800 of that I had to pay was 2/3 of it was over due maintenance fees, and 2-1 time fees, a transfer fee [ what the heck am I transferring? I only paid for 1 year [that I had to pay for] with Interval International, and a general fund fee [I thought that was what maintenance fees were for]. And I had to pay for Feb and March. Tahiti Village is relentless in collecting--- after being only 1 day late, I started getting phone calls--and I made the mistake of answering 1 of them--- more than 10 times a day. I made sure to tell them they were calling a cell phone number, which is also a work phone number [for me it is the truth, I don't have a landline], and not to call here. It didn't work. I have collected 85% of their incoming calls by answering them and immediately hangning up, so I have documented proof of the harassment.

I appreciate it when you say to take care of family first--- but we both have government jobs, and when they both threaten court if we default [both being Grandview and Tahiti Village] we can't have that on our records--much less wages being garnished--or even face termination.

I am currently not working, in a heated battle in a denied work comp case, and my husband is working 80+ hours a week just to keep the major bills paid. Our tax refunds have literally flown out the window, $10K to catch up on past-due bills, including our home mortgage. I also am going to be having major surgery first part of April, where I will be wheelchair bound for 1/2 a year.

We just want out of this headache. We've learned our lesson--- we never used either one of them, and have no intentions of doing so--we can't even use Grandview as our week falls during a very busy time for us at work and we have no chance of getting vacation during that time.

We've tried just offering them back--- they can keep the $ already invested. Won't happen, even with my "story". I'd be hauled to court for default and have to pay the difference between what they could re-sell it for. {I've seen both properties listed on eBay for 1 penny--and not sell :( }

I only wish I would have known about you earlier--- we would have never gotten into this mess. I see I'm not the only one though. I'm glad you're out there, fighting for us, exposing the dirtiness that timeshare people do to get a $.


I hope this is enough information.
Thank You--All the Best

Amy Smith

Beware, The Tahiti Village Strikes Again, By Robert Paisola

Dear Sir
I've been looking for help and came across your site. I'm not sure you can help me but, maybe, you can point me in the right direction. I apologize for the length of this email but, from reading your site, I know you ask for details.

In July of 2005 we met some friends visiting from England, in Las Vegas. Our hotel had a booth in the lobby offering free tickets to a show for sitting through an hour's presentation ... well, you know the story and you can guess what we went through during an 'hour's presentation' that lasted over 4 hours.

We had just put our home on the market and, because of the booming real estate market, thought it would sell immediately, we'd pay off the time share after the sale and be fine. You know what happened to the real estate market immediately thereafter. It's been 3 years and our home hasn't sold.

At the signing the notary, lawyer (whatever she was)... kept telling us not to worry about the high interest as we could 'always get a mortgage loan at a much less rate' once we got home. This, of course, turned out to be less than honest as no one (reputable) will lend on a time share.. but who knew that at the time? Nor can we sell it and get what we've paid for it or anything even close to that. There seems to be a glut of timeshares for sale. Turns out you can't sell it if it's not paid off. It's not like selling a home.... another less than honest sales pitch. It doesn't qualify as a second home either.

Caveat Emptor should be seared into one's brain but, alas, it is not and we pay the price for out naivete!

We've been paying our $435.95 monthly by credit card .. which is now maxed out and our yearly maintenance fees of $598.00. The deposit was $2,899.00.

In the meantime, my husband retired for health reasons, he will be 69 in March. I am 65 and also 'retired'.

We live on our social security which, in my case, is the bare minimum as I was a stay-at-home mom for most of our married life (46 years, 2 mos) and worked only occasionally. John also gets a small disability pension for his service in Viet-Nam and a $300.00 pension from the Post Office. Altogether we bring in about 2800.00 monthly.

Because of a second mortgage we took out to remodel the house and get it ready to sell, our mortgage payment is over $3,000.00 a month.

A friend recently hired John to help him with his business and he brings home +/- another 900.00 a month but we don't know how long this can go on and we're still 'in the hole' each month.

We've used up our entire life savings keeping us afloat until our home sells. Now we simply cannot afford to continue to pay on the time share but we don't know what to do about it. We were late paying last month and we've now missed Feb.'s payment. The collection calls come daily.

John did speak to someone who called and told her we couldn't afford to continue and we might just have to walk away from it and take the credit hits she threatened would follow. Then she started screaming at him, yelling 'Just who do you think you are, etc." and he hung up.

The daily calls have been so bad I'm afraid to answer the phone. Today a man identifing himself as 'an attorney for Consolidated' left a message on our answering machine demanding we contact him immediately. I know it will be an exercise in threats and intimidation and, frankly, neither of us can take it either physically or mentally. We are stressed out to the max. We just don't know what to do or who to turn to.

I'm hoping you will be able to offer some advice. I know we were foolish getting talked into the time share but we thought we'd be fine and the entire family would benefit in it's use. The two bedroom could be used by any or all of us. This was not to be however. The events I've described above have kept us from even using it once. One of my sons used it once but it wasn't 'free'. Fees still had to be paid. Guest fees, etc. Never really did understand that.

I realize that, at our age, we should have been smarter but...Can you offer any advice?

Respectfully,
Elaine

Tahiti Village and Consolidated Resorts Does it again, This time with the WRONG PERSON, Robert Paisola Reports

Dear Mr. Paisola,

I hope you can help me.

5 years ago, my husband and I got roped into buying a timeshare from Consolidated Resorts (Tahiti-Las Vegas) through many misrepresentations and high-pressured sales.

They threw in all kinds of extra incentives including 5 FREE TRIPS to our choice of locations worldwide. The catch - we had to buy the airfare THROUGH THEM - which cost more than the actual trips, we would later find out.

We bought a 1-bedroom, every other year for $8,995.

After we agreed on a price, they said they need a down payment of more than $2,000. We paid it.

2 days later we got cold feet and called and asked to cancel the sale. They said the person we had to talk to was not in but someone would call us back. No on called and when we called again once we returned home they said it was too late.

We financed it for 14.9 percent - BUT our sales people swore up and down that since this is a deeded property that we own, we can refinance through our own bank for a lower interest rate. Our bank, of course said no, since they have no recourse to repossess.

So, we have been paying our $160/month for 5 years... thinking we must be paid off soon, we called to check on our balance (we never get any statements) and they said we still owe $4,952. I asked how that is possible and they "mentioned" the $1.98 finance charge - PER DAY!!!! We have been paying $60 per month for finance charges per month on top of the interest!!!! They NEVER mentioned this as we would have never agreed.

And, they claim we owed $8,995 AFTER the down payment. This was NOT our original agreement.

I am beyond sick over this entire thing.

By the way, we have NEVER spent even a single night at Tahiti. The thought of it makes me want to cry. We also pay nearly $200 in maintenance fees every year.

Can you please offer advice as to what we can do???

I have lost more than a few nights sleep over this and I just want out.

Thanks,

JULIE