VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla — A Volusia County couple has been trying to get rid of their timeshare since 2017. They got desperate and hired a timeshare cancellation company, but instead of getting help they got burned.
“We wound up doing it. To this day I regret it,” Jeff Lamey told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal. Jeff Lamey and his wife Sandy spent nearly $11,000 with the timeshare exit company and are still stuck with the timeshare.
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After buying their first timeshare in 1984 through Westgate Resorts, Jeff Lamey thought it was great. He and Sandy used it a lot while they both served our country in the military.
Jeff Lamey said, “Through the years, we really enjoyed it. We used it in Italy, we used it in Austria, Germany, up in Canada.”
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They later even upgraded to a larger unit. It was paid off in 2011, but as the years went on the fees went up and they found it harder and harder to book.
He said, “I actually one time asked, ‘What do you have open?’ ‘We have Idaho. That’s it.’”
In 2017, they’d had enough and reached out to Westgate Resorts.
“And said, ‘Hey, we’d like to get rid of the timeshare. Would you buy it back?’ My answer was, a flat, ‘We don’t do buybacks,’” Lamey said recalling his interaction with Westgate Resorts.
For the next five years, the Lameys continued to pay maintenance fees and tax. For them, it was thousands of dollars down the drain. Then in 2022, they were contacted by TS Relief Group, a company that promised to help them get out of the timeshare. It even came with a “100% Money Back Guarantee” to get the timeshare contract cancelled within 365 days.
According to Lamey, “They go, ‘Oh Westgate is who you have it. We deal with them all the time.’”
But after paying $10,969 to TS Relief Group, the action the company tried to take was shut down by Westgate Resorts, which had the right of first refusal on any deal.
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And after a year, Jeff and Sandy Lamey wanted TS Relief Group to honor the money back guarantee, but they said it never has.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is suing TS Relief Group claiming the company made misleading or false statements and used high-pressure sales tactics to lure customers in, but failed to deliver.
“Many of them are fly by night and all it takes is a cell phone and client list, which can be purchased,” said Brian Rogers of Timeshare Users Group.
Brian Rogers’ father started Timeshare Users Group or TUG in 1990. It’s a consumer advocacy group here in Florida that helps timeshare users. It offers warnings about timeshare exit companies.
“You can run this scam for six to eight months and collect hundreds of thousands of dollars before anyone catches on,” Rogers said.
So, what can you do if you want out of your timeshare?
“You do not need to pay a third-party company to get out of your timeshare contract,” said Jason Gamel, President of the American Resort Development Association. ARDA represents more than a thousand timeshare resorts.
Gamel said, “We always recommend first and foremost people go to their timeshare company, their timeshare developer first because many of them have free or low-cost programs.”
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Westgate does now have what’s called the Legacy Program that appears to have started in 2018 to help owners relinquish their timeshares. The Lameys claim after they paid $50,000 for the timeshare and around $25,000 in fees and attempts to get rid of the timeshare since 2017, Westgate’s Legacy Program demanded another $3,000 to take back the timeshare. It’s something that Westgate could then re-sell.
Jeff Lamey said, “So, we’re stuck with something that we can either pay for the rest of our lives, because we can’t give it to anybody. What happens then? They’re going to foreclose it on someone that doesn’t exist because they’re dead.”
Many people in Timeshare Users Group had luck getting timeshare companies to come to the table by stopping payments, but you may want to talk to a lawyer before trying that. Westgate Resorts told Action 9 it recommends owners start by speaking with the timeshare developer like the Lameys tried and said it would look into their specific case.
Here’s a link the exit information with Timeshare Users Group: How to Get Out of a Timeshare | Free Timeshare Exit Options
Here’s a link to Westgate Resorts Legacy Program information: Legacy Program by Westgate Resorts
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