As anyone who has tried to sell their timeshare knows, it is not easy. Nor has it been made any easier by the timeshare industry itself and the many "official" timeshare resale companies exploiting the problem.

The timeshare resale industry is populated by a large number of companies that skate a thin edge separating fraud from legitimacy. Such companies typically charge a substantial fee upfront to list timeshares for sale, while making little to no active effort to actually sell their listings. For people who simply want out of their timeshare-- for any of a number of legitimate reasons-- it often becomes an exercise in futility and frustration as they pay company after company to unload it for them, only to get no results.

Taking advantage of this situation is a new breed of companies that talk owners into paying them (the usual price seems to be $2,995) to take those unwanted timeshares off their hands. Though to my knowledge this is not illegal, if information we have received from consumers is correct the methods used by these companies could amount to fraud-- and that IS illegal. The quick spread of these companies indicates they are making lots of money at it.

The first such company we became aware of was Time-Share Collectors.

Time-Share Collectors LLC was incorporated in Nevada on August 6, 2003. Creighton J (Jay) Nady, (a former boxing judge) was the owner/president and Ken LaBossiere was listed as a "member". We've talked about this outfit many times in both the former and current incarnations of Street Talk (search http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/search.htm and/or http://streettalkblog.com ). According to State records, this corporation was dissolved on 9/6/2005.

At some point LaBossiere became associated with Timeshare Solutions LLC, and there has been some confusion about the name change since both companies did the same thing: held "seminars" at hotels in various cities in order to scare timeshare owners into relinquishing their timeshares (for a rather steep price). Timeshare Solutions LLC was incorporated by Nady on 10/21/2004 (who incidentally also incorporated Solutions in Time LLC on 12/28/05). This company was still active as of Jan. 29, 2006. Apparently the name changed, but the game remained the same.

Add to this confusing mix Vacation Solutions, LLC, a limited liability company which was incorporated 10/29/04 and revoked on 11/1/05. No member/officer names are listed online with this corporation, and as of Jan. 29, 2006 no new registration for that name was listed in Nevada. However, we have been advised that such a company exists, that it is owned by Michael and Denise Dunahay, and that Ken LaBossiere is telling people that he owns half the company. To date, that is all the information we have about the alleged current incarnation of Vacation Solutions.

Another company doing the same thing is Timeshare Acquisitions, LLC of 1048 Irvine Avenue # 422, Newport Beach, CA 92660 (this company was registered as an LLC in California 2/4/2005). This company had the misfortune to invite timeshare owner Judy Rulli to a seminar in Dec. 2005; Rulli is is the President and Designated Broker of Realty Concepts Unlimited, Inc., dba SmartChoice Timeshare Realty. She was outraged by the misrepresentations she heard during the "seminar" and promptly filed a complaint with the Office of the Arizona Attorney General and its Consumer Information and Complaints section. You can find information about that at this link: http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/global/sikes304.htm

What do these companies do with the timeshares they obtain? In at least some cases, once they have thoroughly trashed timeshare ownership and convinced people that it's a good idea to pay an exorbitant fee to get out from under that terrible obligation, they resell (and/or rent) those "horrible" timeshares to someone else. For instance, also registered to Creighton Nady in Nevada is Resort Travel Network, whose Web site ( http://www.resorttravelnet.com ) says "Timeshares are one of the best investments in your family you'll find when it comes to vacationing every year together. It has been proven that those who vacation more often lead healthier, happy and more productive lives." They even quote The Timeshare Beat to help promote how wonderful timeshare is (see http://www.resorttravelnet.com/saying.htm ) Their old Web site at http://www.resorttravelnetwork.net/ said: "DISCOVER THE MAGIC & JOY OF TIMESHARE LIVING".

Let me emphasize: under one company name he tells potential clients how terrible timeshare is, while under another company name he praises timeshare and resells it. Resort Travel Network sells these timeshares, by the way, DIRT CHEAP on eBay-- which contributes to the erosion of the resale value of timeshare. http://search.ebay.com/_...

In addition, according to our recent source about Vacation Solutions, once the company convinces owners to pay $2,995 (plus a $275 fee) "...the company will then allow anyone who signs a quit claim deed over to Vacation Solutions the opportunity to waive their annual maintenance fees, become a member of Vacation Solutions, and buy back vacation time from the company".

So they appear to be operating a kind of vacation club on top of everything else.

Back in mid-2004, an attendee at one of Time-Share Collector's seminars in Scottsdale, AZ claimed that Kenneth LaBossiere told her that Cendant "just bought all Sunterra Resorts" and she would be getting "at least two new assessment bills" soon. This was a lie.

In July 2005 we received this email:

"I attended a seminar today in Denver that [LaBossiere] presented. He said he has an office called Vacation Solutions in Las Vegas as well as Denver. He talked for 2 1/2 hours about Time Share Disclosures and about how corrupt the industry is in general. He then told the people they could give up their ownership to him if they would pay him $2,995 plus a $275 fee. This would free them from the headaches of maintenance fees etc. He in exchange would so generously let anyone who participated by signing a quick (sic) claim deed, become a member of Vacation Solutions and waive the annual maintenance. He also claimed a person could claim their loss on Schedule D."

In Dec. 2005 we received the following email:

"I attended a workshop yesterday at the Marriott Residence Inn in Tucson where [LaBossiere] used some strong, and somewhat convincing, scare tactics about the dire state of affairs in the time share industry. If his info is accurate every T-S owner IN THE WORLD should be up in arms and contacting their lawyer and/or BBB.

“[among other things] he said … developers will automatically update a timeshare when the time on it runs out so that the owner will have to continue paying maintenance for the new time period. Is this accurate, has this actually happened in any cases so far? Who can verify if this man is accurate in the info he is handing out?”

Way back in Jan. 2005 Street Talk received an email from Anchorage, Alaska wherein the writer alleged that LaBossiere was saying the same thing, so he has apparently been using that line for at least a year:

“…he said that it is now standard practice for owners to find that when the period of their time-share (T-S) ownership expires, the club automatically re-enrolls them free for another 20 yrs, without the owners consent, so that the owner basically can’t get out of owning the T-S and paying yearly maintenance fees and periodic special assessments until their estate is too depleted to keep paying. Seems a bit much (I hope!).”

We have to come to the conclusion that a company/person that, over time, allegedly includes so much misrepresentation and lies in their presentation is disreputable, to say the least. In the past, the FTC has come down hard on timeshare and travel-related companies for misrepresentation, and I suspect that were an investigation into this new breed of companies performed they might meet a similar fate. (See http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/archives/2000/ts/tsaug90.htm and http://www.ftc.gov/////opa/1999/08/triptrap.htm )

If it is not outright fraud, it is certainly a first cousin to it.