We often encounter people who have been fleeced by timeshare companies who ask: How can this happen? How do these timeshare companies get away with such deceptive practices? How are they not all in jail already?
The answer is short and bitter: the timeshare lobby—under the umbrella of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA).
See, there is a storied history of people pulling property-sales scams. Ever heard the saying, “If you believe that, I own a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you”? That’s based on a true story. But not all of these scams are outright cons of that sort—some manage to be upheld in the courts.
Timeshares may have begun in earnest as a means for people to share property ownership in a way that benefitted all. But from the get-go (which was only in the 1970s in the US market—this is one of the “youngest” forms of property interest in the law), enterprising vultures recognized this new form of property ownership to be flexible, soft. They realized it could be easily manipulated into whatever shape they wanted it to take. And they also realized that, if they did this thing “right,” they could sell that Brooklyn Bridge time and again, in week-long lots, and make loads of money in the doing.
But unlike George C. Parker (the guy who “sold” the bridge), these people would prefer to stay out of jail. Which means they need what they do to be as close to legal as possible.
And the easiest way to achieve that, at this stage in our nation’s history, is to form a lobby and flood the congresses of the various states with money and pre-written legislations benefitting the timeshare industry—to the consumer’s detriment.
The timeshare industry’s lobby is strong—to the tune of around $9.6 billion. And they push for anti-consumer bills stunningly often. In fact, earlier this year they were attempting to get a bill through the Florida legislature explicitly designed to make it illegal for anyone to offer consumers assistance with exiting their timeshare contracts.
Now, we’ll grant that there are some shady companies out there that are actually double-scamming people—so called “exit companies” that just take peoples’ money and run. (We’ll rip into those jerks in a later post.) Those guys made it easier for the timeshare lobby to spin this bill as being to consumers’ benefit (look at this press release which for all the world makes it seem like the lobby is working for the interests of purchasers rather than for those who did the selling). But this attempted law was overbroad, and the lobby knew it. They just wanted to keep innocent people chained to the contracts they tricked them into signing—by keeping them from getting legal representation.
Luckily, consumer-rights groups marshaled enough resistance to cause that heinous bill to die in committee. But you can bet that the timeshare lobby will keep trying to rob consumers of rights in order that their wealthy financiers may continue preying upon Americans.
Meanwhile, The People’s Advocate is here to keep up the good fight. We hold timeshare companies’ toes to the fire. We are dedicated to fighting the timeshare lobby one case at a time—and the best way to do that is by helping individuals tricked and cajoled into timeshare contracts to get out of them. Contact us today for a free information session on how we can help you.