Not breaking news as this happened Wed. July 13, but Orlando Florida police raided the office of H.E.S. Systems on East Colonial Drive in Orlando Florida.  Police were able to seize evidence that consisted of cell phones, computers, printers, dozens of boxes and bags of company records and $500,000 in cash was found in the office.  H.E.S Systems operated both a timeshare boiler room and credit card relief scam by charging people up front fees for services that were never delivered.  At the time of the raid, almost 70 employees were in the office who were all forced out of the building at gun point and each of their ID’s checked.  Police realized that 20 of the telemarketing employees were part of the State’s work release program for former inmates.

No arrests were made on the day of the raid and about two dozen employees could only stand and watch from across the street.  New trainee’s were charged $25/per day for 3 days of training and those fee’s would be taken out of their future commission checks.  H.E.S. Systems also operated under the name of  Worldwide Marketing Management.  Further investigation says that the businesses were not licensed even though employees tried to dispute the facts.

Florida public records show though that Worldwide Marketing Management is in fact a registered corporation in the state of Florida with both the principal business address and mailing address being that of 4401 E. COLONIAL DRIVE SUITE 203 ORLANDO FL 32803 which was where the raid took place.  The registered agent for that business is that of  H.E. Smith with Michelle Thieme being listed as the Vice President.  Worldwide Marketing Management corporation paperwork was filed on 9/28/2010 and is still listed as active.

The company is accused defrauding $8.5 million through both timeshare resale and credit card relief services that were never delivered.  On the timeshare resales side of the business, the sales pitch was your typical “We have a buyer lined up and ready to purchase your property, you just need to pay $xxx.xx”.  The timeshare owners were cold called and of course their was never a buyer.  The credit card relief side of the business would promise to help lower your interest rate on your current credit card(s) for a fee.  Once the person was charged, no services were rendered and the company walked away with the money.

Investigators on this case think they may have cut the head off the snake of the timeshare fraud business in the Orlando, Florida area with this latest raid.  They believe this office was the main headquarters for at least 20 other timeshare telemarketing businesses that have been either raided or under investigation in the past as all of the credit cards were processed at this location.  If this is in fact the case, either this company had a lot of “throw away” companies they were using, or were acting as a third party credit card processor for other timeshare resale companies which is illegal by the terms of their merchant account agreement.

If you have more information on this company, please post it here.

Recent changes to the website made the free timeshare classified listings section inoperable to signup for a free account.  The problem has since been resolved which now allows new users to create their free accounts along with existing users are now able to post their timeshare property for sale or rent.  This website is still getting new features added and bugs will be worked out along during the process.  If their are certain features you would like to see added to the website, please drop us an email on the contact page and let us know.

Just like the human body, we all need certain things in order to survive.  Things like food, water, shelter are all necessary to our survival.  The same holds true for a timeshare resale company, without certain necessities these companies could no longer survive as a business.  Today we are going to show you what these necessities are and just how important they are to a timeshare resale company.  Many timeshare owners who have been contacted by a timeshare resale company are unaware of many of the things we are about to uncover.  As always, we are here to educate the general public on the timeshare resale industry and how some of these shady operations are in business.

Timeshare Merchant Account

Without a merchant account, a timeshare resale company would be unable to process credit cards.  In come cases this can also include electronic checks that their merchant account would also handle.  Not all merchant accounts will process all four major credit cards, which are Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover.  Some timeshare resale companies have multiple merchant accounts in order to process all four of these major credit cards.  Another reason a timeshare resale company would have multiple merchant accounts is to lower their charge back percentage.  If they process 100 credit cards through one merchant account and receive 15 charge backs, their charge back percentage would be 15%.  However, if that timeshare resale company has 3 different merchant accounts, they would disperse those 100 charges throughout the three different accounts.

You may be asking yourself why would they do that?  The answer is simple.  It would LOWER their charge back percentage greatly which in return keeps them from having that merchant account frozen or even closed for good.  Each merchant account has a charge back ratio or percentage they would like you to stay under.  It could be as low as 3% or as high as 12%, going above the limited amount can run that timeshare company into trouble with that specific merchant company.  This is why MOST timeshare resale companies will run their sales through different merchant accounts to prevent their charge back percentage from getting to high.

Another reason a timeshare resale company would have several different merchants accounts is it gives them a backup if one was to be frozen or even closed down.  If they only have one merchant account and it gets locked up (money is frozen and will not be released right away) or even shut down for good, they would be in a world of hurt.  They could not pay their sales people the commissions they earned on each sale or pay bills.

Finally you have the problem of space, once you run out you better find another place to put your things.  When it comes to a merchant account, you are given so much “space” on your account to process with.  That space equals money, the more space you have the more credit cards you can process.  So with several merchant accounts you have a lot more space which gives you the means to process even more credit cards and potentially make more money.

Target The Merchant Account

The timeshare resale industry is high risk with all of the fraud that has been happening over the years, so getting a merchant account that will actually last is quite hard.  Industries like online gambling, porn, and pills are all considered “high risk” and only certain companies will process your credit cards.  Imagine if the timeshare resale industry was in that class of companies?  It would make it that much harder to even get a merchant account for that business to start.  Yes they are sales people and can talk their way around things like we are an advertising company, we do online marketing, etc. In order to get a merchant account, they bank wants to see a functioning website first before they will approve you.  Now, when a customers credit card is charged, why not display the website address on their credit card statement?  If it does not match up with the website that was filed with the merchant account it could cause problems for that timeshare resale company.  Plenty of other ideas to make this work, but we will save that for another day.

Timeshare Resale Leads

Timeshare resale leads are like any other lead, they contain contact information for the company to call.  That information can be just your name, telephone number, email address or more in depth to include your full address, resort(s) that you own, best time to call, etc.  These leads are like food for a timeshare resale company, without them they will starve to death.

In order for a timeshare resale company to make money, they need leads and they need them fresh on a daily or even weekly basis depending on how many sales people they have working for them.  The more leads they have the better, or so they think… Many timeshare resale companies use what is called in the industry as a “cold call list” or an “owners list”.  These lists are made of up names of timeshare owners which can be purchased through a list broker, timeshare resale company who has gone out of business or the illegal way of buying from a shady employee at a timeshare resort.  That shady employee steals the data and sells them to the timeshare resale company for them to call through.

Imagine if you put a wrench in a timeshare resale companies lead source?  Better yet what if that lead source started to dry up or even went away completely?  You guessed it, they would have to either resort to something else or close up shop since they have no new people to call and try to make sales to.

Sales People

If you live in a major city, grab your penny saver and their might be a good chance you will see an ad in there of a timeshare resale company promoting the great pay (Thousands per week).  The pay is only great if the company has good leads and merchant accounts that they are in good standing with.  Many timeshare resale companies turn and burn through sales people because either that person could not make any money, realized the job was a joke, the company was a scam or left to go to another timeshare resale company (which is very common in the industry).

Take away their sales people and you are taking another key piece of the puzzle away.  It does not matter how much money they can run each month through their merchant account or how many leads they can pass out to the sales people.  If their are no sales people to make the calls, no money is being made by the company.

Conclusion

Yes their could be other things like telephone lines, domain names, website hosting and office space.  Getting those problems fixed are a lot easier then the three mentioned above.  Why does law enforcement not target some of the key elements or act faster on how some of these timeshare resale companies operate?  Companies put themselves out of business after a good six month run, just to open up shop across town under a new name.  They rinse and repeat to keep the money flowing.  Target some of their needs and you truly could cripple not just the company, but the industry as a whole.

Found this on twitter this morning and figured it would be a good read for everyone and not just residents of Lee County, Florida.  The Lee County Sheriff’s Office fraud hotline has been getting numerous phone calls from residents who have been receiving unsolicited phone calls from timeshare resale telemarketing companies who claim to have a buyer for their timeshare property.

As always the complaints say that these telemarketing companies are promising great profits for their property in exchange for an upfront fee ranging between $200-$8,000.  8 Thousand dollars, are you freaking kidding me??? Many timeshare owners have already lost thousands of dollars from timeshare resale companies who have duped them into believing the hype they give over the phone.  As usual, they take the money and no services are ever rendered and in many cases the timeshare owner will never see their money again.

Tips To Avoid Timeshare Resale Telemarketing Scams

1. If a company is cold calling you out of the blue promising top of the line service, along with the rest of the bullshit they spew out of their mouth’s then hang up the phone.
2. If the timeshare telemarketer is promising they have a buyer waiting to purchase your timeshare property, hang up the phone.
3. Does the timeshare resale company want any money upfront for their services?  They will, so hang up the phone.
4. Avoid the high pressure sales tactics.  A real business will want you to think about the decision and consult with others, timeshare resale company will want your decision as fast as they can get it.  If they are pressuring you with today only sales, “my manager says we can do this one time for $$$$” HANG UP THE PHONE!

The answer is simple, if ANY telemarketer calls you out of no where offering you things that sound to good to be true, chances are they are to good to be a true so ignore the hype the tell you and simply hang up the phone.  What are your thoughts on how timeshare telemarketing companies abuse not just the phone but the person on the other end?  Do you have a funny story regarding a telephone call you received from a timeshare resale company?  Post it here so everyone can get a good laugh!

Darnell Disroe, 38 of Boynton Beach, Florida was sentenced in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to 121 months in prison, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $1.1 million for his role in a timeshare resale telemarketing scam that collected money from 615 timeshare owners across the country.  Others involved in the timeshare scam were Michael Starace, 42, of Lantana, Florida who was sentenced in January to 18 months in prison on one count of mail fraud and ordered to pay $23,723 restitution.  Michael Lentine, 32 also from Boynton Beach, Florida was sentenced in January as well to 51 months in prison for one count of conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud and ordered to pay restitution of $249,432.  The sentence for Darnell Disroe cam Monday by Stephen R. Wigginton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

Real Timeshare Marketing Scam

The three men operated a company called Real Timeshare Marketing which was named in a multi-count federal indictment returned July 21, 2010, by a federal grand jury in East St. Louis, charging them with conspiracy and mail fraud.  The timeshare scam had originated in South Florida, but targeted timeshare owners across the country.  Real Timeshare Marketing would call these timeshare owners with the promise that a buyer had been found for their property.  Charging fees of up to thousands of dollars for closing costs, marketing fees and related expenses.  Timeshare resale victims were from 46 states and Canada, all who fell for this scam and handed over their money in hopes of selling their timeshare property.

Timeshare Resale Scams

This should be a perfect example as to how some of these timeshare resale companies operate.  When you are promised a buyer that is waiting (most cases their never is one) or charged a large upfront fee then avoid that company like the plague. If the timeshare resale company truly had a buyer waiting, they would take their fee out  AFTER the sale of your timeshare has been made.

Timeshare Relief is based out of Torrance, California and does business under several different names including Transfer America, Transfer Smart and a marketing company called Aston Marketing Group (which is now dissolved). Timeshare Relief claims they will take your timeshare out of your hands so you are no longer responsible for the maintenance fees or monthly fees if you are still paying on it. However, they charge a LARGE up front fee for their services, upwards of $4,000 from some websites we have read complaints on. More on those later, here are screenshots taken from the California Secretary of State’s website showing different business names they use and notice how all of them are owned by the same person.

Timeshare Relief Business Listing

Transfer Smart Business Listing

Aston Marketing Group Business Listing

As you can see by just these 3 images taken from here, each business is owned by the same individual, with the same business address.  Why would a reputable timeshare relief company need to go by different aliases?  Now we understand the Aston Marketing Group is not involved with timeshare relief or timeshare recovery, they are a marketing company that handled the web design, SEO, online marketing and PR services for Transfer Smart which are all owned by the same person.  We will dive deeper into Aston Marketing Group on another day.

Timeshare Relief Complaints

You may view this thread on complaints board where several people have complained about Timeshare Relief, Transfer America, Transfer Smart because they are all the same company. Timeshare Relief uses post cards as one form of advertising to timeshare owners.  These post cards offer to “relieve” them of their timeshare property and often times would invite them to a seminar where sales people will pitch the service.  The service is not free, charges can go as high as $4,000 from what some have said.  After being charged, some people have complained that Timeshare Relief has done nothing, not returning phone calls, being denied a refund and getting the run around. Sound familiar to you?  It should, as you know with timeshare resale scams, avoid any company that charges a large up front fee to do anything.  Why would you need to pay someone thousands of dollars to take your timeshare from you when in some cases they do nothing?  Yes Timeshare Relief has a list of timeshare properties they will not touch as the demand is so low they can do nothing with them.  Other timeshare properties that have a higher selling point will be pushed on Ebay for as little as a $1.  Not every client of Timeshare Relief is so lucky though…

Timeshare Relief Settles With Vermont Attorney General

You can read the full write up on the attorney generals website by going here.  It states that between 2007-2010 Timeshare Relief held seminars on 8 separate occasions to solicit timeshare owners to transfer their property over to them.  This would relieve the owners of any maintenance fees, taxes and other costs.  These seminars were being toted as the Guaranteed Timeshare Relief Solution, which many consumers thought that the company would pay them to “relieve” them of their timeshare.  When in fact it was the complete opposite and these consumers were charged $91,000.  The state of Vermont said this was deceptive trade practices, sued Timeshare Relief and won.  Restitution of $91,000 was to be paid back to 28 people along with $50,000 fine to the state of Vermont.  You can also view the Assurance Of Discontinuance that was issued by the state of Vermont.

Would you want to do business with a company that was sued by any Attorney General?  Especially for deceptive trade practices on multiple charges, that alone should raise an eyebrow as to how the company treats timeshare owners.

Do You Have A Complaint?

If you have a complaint you would like to make, please leave your comments below.  This will give the public more awareness of the complaints against some of these timeshare relief companies that are more about getting your money then actually helping you get rid of your timeshare property.

Orlando Florida police raided 9 different timeshare resale offices in the Orlando area on Wednesday and taking 17 people in for questioning.  The locations and business names have not been disclosed, however one company that was raided was that of Jams Management.  Orlando police did say that all 9 companies are related and may be related to other timeshare resale companies being investigated.  Investigators with the Economic Crimes division of the Orlando Police Department took away boxes of papers, computers, dry erase boards and other non disclosed boxes of evidence from these timeshare resale companies. Two automobiles were also seized and brought in as evidence from one timeshare office. No arrests have been made, but Orlando Police say that can change in the near future. Just how much money these timeshare companies were making is unknown at this time.

Timeshare Resale Industry Hit Hard

If this is not an eye opener to the state of Florida showing just how bad the timeshare resale industry is, then we do not know what is.  These timeshare resale companies move from office to office, changing names, websites, phone numbers to try and hide their identity to keep operating.  They collect upfront fee’s calling them various things from marketing fees, advertising fees, appraisal fees, and more to keep their merchant account happy and not lock them out from processing credit cards.  Not to mention by making these changes as often as some of these timeshare scam companies do, they hide in the shadows and continue to prey on innocent timeshare owners who are truly looking to sell or even rent their timeshare property.

If and when more information is available regarding the timeshare companies involved in these raids, we will post them on the site.  You may view images of one raid that took place on Lake Ellenor Drive at WFTV’s website.

RCINow or better known as Resort Connection International (RCINow.com) is another timeshare resale company that has scammed many timeshare consumers out of their money.  On their website RCInow.com they list their headquarters at the City National Bank Tower in Los Angeles, California.  The funny thing is their is no business license or corporation papers filed in California for this company.  The address listed is

515 S. Flower St. 36th Floor
Los Angeles, California 90071

That address is nothing more then a virtual office that is rented from a company by the name of Regus.  Basically if you want an office address, but do not need a real office you can rent one from them for a monthly fee to make it your business address.  This is not illegal, just a way for companies or individuals to look bigger then they really are.  Resort Connection International was doing just that, here is a screen shot right from Regus website, we have outlined the office address and monthly pricing in red.

The same holds true for the Resort Connection International office they list in Miami, Florida.  You can see here that it can also be rented from Regus for a monthly fee.  The Denver office is the same way, however the Daytona Beach office that RCINOW used was a real location and the actual headquarters of the sales staff making all of the phone calls.

Resort Connection International Corporation

The corporation was actually setup in Colorado by C.R.E.A.M Inc which the owners listed are the same as Resort Connection International.  You can view the records here and see more options at the bottom to find out the true names of the people listed on the corporation documents.

Resort Connection International Scam Operation

First thing was the Daytona Beach of RCINow was labeled as Telif Communications from the outside, however inside was the entire sales staff that was making the phone calls soliciting timeshare owners to purchase their timeshare resale service.  They were not licensed in the state of Florida to do business, they had no telemarketing license (which is illegal to cold call consumers), they were allowed to say whatever they wanted to on the phone which included some of the following:

• Pretend to be RCI themselves, work hand in hand with RCI to make a quick sale.
• Use fake names which is illegal to do.
• State that a buyer has been found for the timeshare property in question.
• Promise a sale or rental in the next 30-90 days.

The above details show that Resort Connection International operates a timeshare boiler room, with the sole purpose to make money by any means necessary.  They use owner lists which are obtained from an inside connection at certain resorts or which can be purchased from database companies who sell this information to telemarketing companies.

Resort Connection International BBB Record

As of this post their current BBB rating is an F with 16 complaints that have gone unanswered.  You can view the BBB rating for RCINOW by clicking here.  The BBB listing is out of Los Angeles California with James Dawkens listed as the owner with a business start date of 4/10/2010.  This is why it is important to always look up the BBB rating of ANY timeshare resale company that contacts you.

Resort Connection International Uses Fake Testimonials

When you do a search for Resort Connection International Complaints, you will see several different complaint boards where positive feedback has been left for the company.  You can see in the example below.

You can click here to view this actual page from complaintsboard.com and then click on the person’s name in blue that left the positive feedback.  You will see only 1 or 2 posts and the only activity being of praising Resort Connection International as being a great company offering timeshare resale services that deliver.  Complaints on a timeshare company can add up and really hurt a company when trying to make a sale because the potential customer will more then likely look up the company and search for  any complaints on them.  By creating these fake comments, they are trying to make themselves look like the best timeshare company in the world.

Resort Connection International Complaints

Between running a boiler room that allows you to say anything over the telephone in order to make the sale, charging timeshare owners between $500-$2,000 for their timeshare marketing service, using virtual offices across the country to make themselves look much larger then they truly are please be warned of the possible scam that resort connection is running.  Do not be fooled by what they promise, remember if it sounds to good to be true…it probably is!

If you would like to leave any feedback regarding Resort Connection International please do so below so everyone else may read your experience with the company.

Free timeshare classifieds should be the first place a timeshare owner should look to when trying to sell or rent their timeshare property.  Their is no cost to the individual for the exception of the time it takes to place your free ad.  Some classified websites may require a small fee in order to list your advertisement, example being Ebay.  Ebay is pretty much a household name and for that reason one of the first places many people will turn to when trying to get rid of their timeshare resort.

I Do Not Know Where To Start

This is probably one of the most common excuses people will use, as they either do not know where to begin.  The internet is a very powerful selling tool if used correctly.  Each year more and more companies are spending their marketing dollars online as opposed to the “old school” offline approach with newspaper ads, telephone books, signs, etc. Going digital has been the way for years and people understand just how powerful the internet can be for a sales tool.

Craigslist should be your first stop as it is free to post your timeshare property for sale or even an advertisement to rent it out.  Is your resort located in a vacation hot spot?  Do you own during a week of special events in that location?  If so, then you will want to make sure you post your resort in the city where it resides first and do so on a DAILY basis.  You can also post an ad in other city locations as well.

Ebay is not free, they will charge you to post your timeshare advertisement on their website as it is an auction site and not a true classified website.  Many timeshare owners who are looking to get rid of their timeshare and no longer want to pay the maintenance fees will list their property for as little as $1 just so they no longer have to deal with it.

TimeshareHelper is a free classified site that puts you in complete control over your ad.  Registration is free and you can post as many ads as you like.

Timeshares123.com is also a free timeshare classified website where you can either list your property for sale or rent.

Tug2 is probably the biggest and most well known timeshare forum and marketplace, it has been around for years and built a good reputation on offering information and resources in the timeshare resale industry.  The website however is not free, they charge a yearly membership fee of $15 to use all of the features.  That price is just over $1/month so we listed it here under the free timeshare classified section.

Here at Selling My Timeshare we also offer FREE timeshare classified listings with no strings attached.  You control everything from the sales price, rental price, descriptions, etc. down to communicating with any potential buyers or renters.  Remember, all it takes is a little bit of time and some descriptive words to put a classified ad on the internet.

Use Any Free Classified Website You Find

Do a search for free classified website and you will get pages and pages of results of other classified websites you can use to list your timeshare property.  The website does not have to only tailor to timeshare resales, most classified websites have a real estate section that you can use to your advantage.  Yes it will take some time for you to actually go through and sign up with all of the different websites, but it is costing you either a few dollars (like Tug2) or is completely free. You can even use the same information regarding your timeshare property on multiple different free classified websites to save you a lot of time.  The more you advertise your property the better chances you are giving yourself to seeing an actual result.  With many timeshare resale companies that charge large upfront fees and deliver next to nothing, you are saving yourself a lot of money and will produce better results by utilizing free classified websites to your advantage.

Do you know of other free or cheap timeshare classified websites?  If so, please post them here for everyone else to use in an effort to better help them sell or rent their timeshare property.

Vacation Property Services located in St. Petersburg Florida has been shut down by the FTC.  This was just another timeshare resale boiler room preying on timeshare owners who did not know any better.  The FTC stated that thousands of unsolicited phone calls where made by Vacation Property Services dating back to 2006.  Back in 2007 and 2008 the same company had settle with the Florida Attorney General to stop these practices that the FTC had cited.  The unsolicited phone calls made between 2009-2010 were made to people on the national Do-Not-Call list, which when broken is a federal offense.  The typical timeshare sales pitch used by Vacation Property Services went something like this:

We have a buyer lined up to buy your timeshare property, it will only cost you $xxxx!

Another story we found on a complaints board went as followed

I have a buyer.” He claimed that Vacation Property Services had sent “the buyers” on a week’s vacation to my property and had given them a “virtual tour of RCI” (resort association). The “buyers, ” he said, had offered $15, 000. “You could counter-offer, but I wouldn’t. That might scare them off.” He told me I’d incur no costs except for deed and title, for $702.

The investigation into Vacation Property Services is not being done by just the FTC, it also include the United State Post Office, Florida Attorney General, Florida Department of Agriculture as well as the St. Petersburg police department.  So you can expect to hear a lot more about how this company operated, how many victims they had lied to regarding their timeshare resale services and what fines they will have to pay along with even possible jail time.

As you can see Vacation Property Services was running a boiler room to get the sale by any means needed.  Timeshare resale scams and fraud are on the rise due to the bad economy and people are desperate to sell or rent their timeshare property.  Some of these companies are literally fly by night timeshare services.  They will setup a business for just a few months to only close the doors, relocate and do it all over again.  If you are a timeshare owner, you need to be aware of how some timeshare resale companies will try to scam you out of your money by any means they can.  Do your homework first, look the timeshare resale company up online to see if a lot of other consumer are complaining about the service and possible scam or fraud.  Ask for legal documentation to be sent you to by certified mail, check with the BBB to see how they are rated.

If you have been scammed by Vacation Property Services or another timeshare resale company that you feel was a scam or fraud, please leave your story below for everyone else to read and warn them to stay away.  Fighting timeshare resale fraud and scams starts by educating timeshare owners first, before they start being solicited by a possible fraudulent resale company that is only out for the money.  Not all timeshare resale companies are a scam, their are companies and individuals out there who truly can help you sell or rent your timeshare.  However, Vacation Property Services is/was not one of them.