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.
Selling My Timeshare is about educating the public about how timeshare resales work and what timeshare resale scams to avoid. If you have been scammed by a timeshare resale company, please let us know or search for them and leave your story.
