Problem Solver: Timeshare Company Offers Refund

These days we’re all looking for a good deal and some needed rest. So when one Upstate family won a chance to get discounted hotel rooms they jumped at the opportunity. But little did they know they were being pushed into a sales pitch that cost them thousands of dollars. Dianne Derby helps them get through their dilemma in this 7 On Your Side Problem Solver.

Quanisha Savage is always on the lookout for good deals. But she says she got sucked into a bad one when her husband won an offer on the radio for a discounted hotel room in Myrtle Beach.

“We get there and check in and they tell you you have to attend this orientation thing about timeshares,“ said Savage.

She says during the 4 hour orientation session she was pressured into buying a $6000 timeshare with Westgate Resorts.
“I was very tired and wanted to just get them out of my hair and it did sound like a good deal,“ said Savage.

Savage says hours after she signed on the dotted line she decided to cancel. She says she has phone records showing she called the company that very same day. She also has records showing she called several other times to try to cancel but they wouldn’t let her do it.
“No one wanted to help me, no one wanted to talk to me, they transferred me here and transferred me there so I was stuck,“ Savage said.

She says she searched for the information for how to cancel but couldn’t find it in her packet. She says it wasn’t until two weeks later that the company e-mailed the documents confirming she had 5 days to cancel.
“These are the 5 documents that were missing,“ said Savage as she pulled out the documents she claims she received by e-mail. At that point it was too late and she hadn’t done it in writing.

Westgate Resorts told us they were in their legal rights to hold her to the contract. But in an e-mail to us Westgate Resorts’ David Siegel said, “...Since we have to service our owners forever we don’t need to have an unhappy one like Ms. Savage. Let her know that due to your efforts (if you want to take the credit) she is getting her refund.  We are a good company and certainly don’t need any bad publicity.“

Good company? Not according to the Better Business Bureau’s Kathy Barrett. She says Westgate Resorts has an “F” rating.

“It’s just like in grade school “A-F” and Momma never was happy with an “F”,“ Barrett said. “F” is unsatisfactory.“

For Savage it’s proof that getting complaints addressed with Westgate Resorts was a job she couldn’t handle on her own.
“I really appreciate that News Channel 7 has something like that that can help citizens in the community when they’re getting pushed around by a company,“ she said.

The Better Business Bureau also told us this month the government ordered Westgate Resorts to not call telephone numbers registered with the National Do Not Call Registry. They say the company has been ordered to pay a civil penalty of $900,000. To read more click here.