Many Florida timeshare sale and rental companies under fire
By NIRVI SHAH nshah@MiamiHerald.com
Florida has launched a war against the timeshare resale industry, announcing Thursday ongoing investigations into 17 companies, as well as a lawsuit against one company.
In 2009, complaints about timeshare resale companies overtook mortgage-related complaints reported to the Florida attorney general.
The attorney general also filed suit against South Daytona-based ResalesBuyOwner.com, its third suit in recent months against timeshare resale companies. Allegations against ResalesBuyOwner.com are that the company forced customers to pay up-front fees for services that were never provided. The company charged customers' credit cards even after they decided not to do business with ResalesBuyOwner.com, the suit says.
The office has also filed suits against American Marketing Group and Hicks Inc., both based in West Palm Beach.
Some 17 companies, many based in South Florida, have been subpoenaed because of complaints about deceptive business practices. Customers have said some of the companies failed to honor cancellation policies, misrepresented the services they would provide and failed to comply with some parts of state and federal telemarketing acts. They include:
• Executive Timeshare Marketing in Tamarac.
• Coastal Timeshare Solutions in Boca Raton
• Worldwide Resorts Direct and Worldwide Marketing Solutions of Palm Beach, doing business as Worldwide Timeshare, in West Palm Beach
• TS Luxury Group in Lake Worth
• C&G Marketing Associates, doing business as Premier Timeshare Solutions in Palm Beach Gardens
• Nationwide Marketing Solutions, doing business as Magnum Advertising Services in Lake Worth
• International Resort Solutions in Lake Worth
• E.A.T. Sales in Boca Raton
• Euroamerican Timeshare in Boynton Beach
• Transatlantic Timeshare in Boynton Beach
• Seabreeze Advertising Corp., also known as SBA Corp. in Daytona Beach
• Timeshare Market Pro in Davie
• International Marketing and Finance in Wellington
• Gold Crown Property Management in Dunedin
• Vacation Property Resales doing business as BUYATIMESHARE.COM in Tampa
• Timeshare Only in Orlando
• PFS Concepts, Inc., doing business as US Vacation in Largo
Already, the state has settled with seven timeshare resale companies, including about $100,000 for customers of World Timeshares of Deerfield Beach; about $90,000 from Timeshare Travels of Boca Raton; $36,000 from Preferred Vacation Resorts of Clearwater; $26,000 from D&D Vacations, doing business as United States Property Services, of Largo; about $37,000 from S.F.C. Group, doing business as TWA Resale, of Orlando.
On Thursday, the state noted one of its largest settlements with a timeshare resale company. Virtual Group of Orange County, which goes by the name Realty Trade, has paid $800,000 in refunds to customers and will pay $500,000 to customers who request refunds in the future.
The best way to avoid timeshare resale scams is to avoid uninvited solicitations from telemarketers that call out-of-the-blue. To ensure that timeshare resale buyers can easily locate your timeshare it is recommended that owners of timeshare wanting to sell seek out the company they choose to assist them with the process. By doing this the timeshare seller can verify the advertising presence of the company. It is also recommended that sellers inquire about timeshare buy/rent offers, actual completed timeshare resales, and what additional services in addition to marketing/advertising are provided.
Read our CONSUMER ALERT for more insights and advice about protecting yourself from fraudulent, scam-related timeshare resale practices.
FL AG Investigates Timeshare Resale Telemarketers 
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