Timeshare Scam!! Anyone of you in it too?


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siron

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Mar 18, 2002
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Hi guys, thought I ask around every possible places I can come across. Anyway what happened is summarized in the story below. What I really want now is to END this sh*t once and for all. Wondering if anyone of you is in this same sh*t as me?

Here it is....

MY TIMESHARE EXPERIENCE WITH ERI (THE SCAM)

It was a fine day that my phone rang out of no reason from a caller I don't even know, " Hello Sir, firstly I want to congratulate you for being a lucky winner of 7 rolls or film and a pair of exclusive watch, but you have to come down personally to collect it over at our office at Orchard, but you have to sit down and listen to us for about an hour." I asked how did you managed to get my number? The caller claim that under the Mobile operators in Singapore, that they did some survey and got my number, I was like" What?? You mean M1, Starhub and Singtel can give number out like that? Anyway then I thought why not going down listen to some presentation wouldn't hurt and further more I have free gifts.

So I went down with my girlfriend, went to the reception, check my name, and a friendly lady came out and greet us, talk to us in a very professional ways, in no time she was like a friend to us! She told us to enter the room but reminded us to switch off our phones. Sited down she introduce someone to us, I think it was her boss. Anyway tidbits and drinks were served to us, making us feel comfortable. So there she go, sharing with us all the holidays resort that they deals with, it was easily a 4 or 5 hours session that we had to sit through. Her boss joined us and talked to us too. Anyway they put it in a way that was so good. They were very persuasive. I wanted to leave but they kept holding us back. Promised us that this thing can even be an investment that it will NOT depreciate in value that I could sell it away when I wanted and make monies from it. It was a long day, we were very tired, we thought okay, we might be interested if the price is good. But it was $19,000!! We were shocked!! Then they told us payment can be very affordable, that they could work out an installment plan for us that we can easily afford!! But They we were have to put a deposit $3000, But we said we could not come out that much, but the lady said, let me check with my boss, she went away for a while and returned and said, you guys are very lucky!! For you we can take just $1000 as deposit!! I told them I needed time to consider this. But they kept holding us back and said, its only for today that we can offer you this, not even tomorrow! Tomorrow will be a different price and I can tell you it would be higher!! After being in the office for a long 5 hours or so, our minds was like Okay. Since that we signed,13th of April 2002. That was the time I know things were all wrong.

How stupid was my then girlfriend and myself to actually sign on the dotted line and that stupid bell rang!! Gosh I must have been so stupid then!!

Anyway we realized this is nothing but a scam, we called them up and wanted to cancel the so called membership, but they said we can't as stated in the contract!! I was like what!?? I can't?? Is there such a clause in the contract!?? We were not even aware of that! When we bought that thing, we thought we could sell it off!! That was what we were told!! But on the phone, he said only when you paid up in FULL. I was so pissed off!! I even told them we were willing to for-go all that we had paid!! But he said, you must understand, what you are paying was only 20% of the whole ownership, we had to source out the other 80% for you from investors. If you were to give up! what happen to the 80% upfront paid for you!??Anyway lastly he said that its in BLACK & WHITE as signed by us in the contract. Sigh....Anyway we didn't want to let this be a burden to us, so we actually lower the installment from $300 a month to $150 a month. We knew it was going no where but we were so helpless. So we continued to pay the $150 a month till somewhere we decided that was it!! We do not want to carry on anymore, especially after reading so many bad publicity towards this timeshare scam. Enough is enough. we are not going to let our hard earned money be wasted into something that we don't even use! Or I put it CAN'T even use. So we defaulted the payments from 03rd July 2002 onwards.

On the15th August 2003, we received a letter from ERI stated that if we do not make the payments within 7 days, they would pass this case to their legal department and we would be deal with in accordance with the contractual terms. We choose to ignored.

On the 28th September 2004, we received another letter from ERI stating that " Please be informed that you have been in arrears of $16,200 being the total outstanding amount due for the purchase of the said agreement." And that if we do not pay in FULL or PARTIAL payment from us, they would not hesitate to instruct their Legal Department to institute the legal proceeding against us to recover the monies due to them.

I really want to put an END to all these nightmare, I can choose it ignore it once again, but I know that someday it will still be resurface. Thus I am desperately seeking help to end this nightmare, furthermore I am no longer with my partner whom I signed this agreement with.

And I heard that CASE cannot do much regarding this issue although there had been countless complaints against Timeshare companies.

Please do help me and end this once and for all.

Thank You.
Steven
 

hmm... do you still have a copy of the contract which you signed? :think:
 

vince123123 said:
hmm... do you still have a copy of the contract which you signed? :think:
Yes I have... sigh. You have any advise on this?
I really want to stop all these nightmare... Ok their sales tatics and all juz pissed me off so badly!! and that that fake info that they told us!! Man!!
 

vince123 shld be able to help you. : )

went to such a talk b4, total bullshit, and recently kena another of such call..haa..

isit emperor crap?

as for the law thingy, you can claim you signed on the account that you and your wife did not read through all the details on the contract and were coerced into signing just 'to get out of there'. a contract must be reasonable and fair. if you're really goign to be charged, there shld have had been precedent cases to compare with.

ERI will not be able to get away with those crap man. and the unlimited rolls of film crap, really total bullshit!hahaha, and a free designer watch, cash converters would only take it for $2!!!!hahahha

its just a doomed idea from the start.

there'll be more timeshare/MLM-like of activities coming up soon. just be more watchful in future.
 

Be aware if you're already on a timeshare and looking to offload. There're many "brokers" out there who charges a fee to help you sell with no success guaranteed. The way they operate do not inspire confidence.
 

Now that thing is I can't do anything, really is hopeless, dunno what can I do or what should I do, that is why I am trying to ask around. vince123 can help me? Errr he is a Lawyer? or is in this sh*t like me? Pls advise? Thanks!
 

mpenza said:
Be aware if you're already on a timeshare and looking to offload. There're many "brokers" out there who charges a fee to help you sell with no success guaranteed. The way they operate do not inspire confidence.

encounter 1 'broker' who claim that they will not charges any fee but the buying price is darm low.
Offer 20% of the price that you had pay for the timeshare.
 

Yep, don't trust brokers. Heard that some will charge you a subscription to help you sell your share and then they just keep holding it off so you keep paying the 'subscription'. :nono:
 

Stay alert guys.

Most of the time, these chaps are very charismatic and have a way to sweet-talk ppl to sign up for things that they do not need WITHOUT the use of pressure and hard-selling tactics.

Older folks will call this kind of stuff "Gong Tao" (or Black Magic for the Hokkien uninitiated). I prefer to see it as a mind easily swayed due to lack of alertness.
 

Hmm, this free film thing sounds familiar. More than a year back, a chap called me up saying I won 7 or 12 rolls of Konica film and ask me to go down to collect and listen to their talk. But since I don't use Konica film and I am blatantly against all these "listen to us and you get your freebie" thingies, I rejected it outright.

Be careful of lucky draws too. One of such telemarketers tried to convince me that I'd won through a lucky draw I've participated a year before the call..... (nice try).

Regards
CK
 

I don't think they will ever bring you to court. But if you want to recover your money, I guess you should hope that they starts the legal proceeding. I been there once, I think it's easy to find plenty of proofs that can void a contract signed there. However it's just I think, and I'm not a lawyer. :)
 

My hearts goes out to you. Wish you all the best in settling this. ;)
 

This thing has been going on for many years and I've always wondered how come people still fall for it. Apparantly, the news somehow didn't spread. So, everyone, pls tell your family/friends abt this and avoid this.
I also received a couple of calls telling me I've won this lucky draw and that, and made appt to go down for the collection... but I always fly their kite... ;)

siron, hope you managed to resolve this...
 

Everytime I get such calls... I slam the phone down immediately.. hope it helps...
 

Oh no, siron, i hope you can get yourself out of this mess soon. I do not have the legal expertise in helping you out. But i do hope this thread serves as a reminder to all you out there that these things are very prevalent in our society and we should be alert and aware of these pple. They hire young sweet talking girls (could be guys) to sweet talk you and use 'designer watches' as gifts to lure you. They sit you through hours of sales talk and are INCREDIBLY and INCREDULOUSLY persuasive and persistent in their approach.

My personal take is that they have quite a good concept on this time sharing thing, but the way they market it is really bad... i think its so bad that I think it should be made illegal. From the moment they call us on their mobile (how did they get it in the first place??), to the lies that they conjure about helping with the instalments... its all feels so.... if I may put it.. ILLEGAL. They tire you out with their relentless persuasion to buy a share. I mean what kind of sales talk is that? Can you imagine a salesman refusing to have you leave until you buy his product and all the time you are just being nice enough to hear them out. In this case, there is no need to be nice. As soon as they call you on your mobile telling you that you have won someting, hang up.

Please please, as what nuts put it, share this information with your friends and relatives...
 

It seems that CASE has had a good history dealing with the firm you signed up with, why dont you try approaching CASE to help you out first? Its cheaper that way, only S$50 to join them. I would recommend you go that route first and see if they can help you out. If that doesn't work, then let us know again and then explore the next alternative options.

siron said:
Been to that site already...its good but there's no respond at all.... sigh
 

At the age of 42 I have seen the time share scam come and go about four times. It seems that about every six to seven years they are out. I don't know if this has anything in relation to the seven years it takes for bankruptsy to clear off someone's records, but it makes me wonder.
If you are on the phone with them again, record the conversation. Tell them you are recording it. Ask for supervisor and keep going up the ladder until you get the "Owner". Always state that you are recording the conversation for legal purposes.
If that doen't work, send a signature required demand letter to meet with top official in charge. State on demand letter that failure to respond resolves any dispute or state that failure to respond voids any previous contract, "signed or implied".
I don't know if that will help but at least you will rattle them a little instead of them rattling you. :blah:
 

When you receive such calls ... just say you are a student ... and they'll put down the phone immediately ... :p
 

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