Welcome to the start of another week and the last month of the year, coming this month beginning with Wednesday, we have a follow-up to the MacDonald Resorts Directors’ Report. This will be followed on Friday with Part IV: Wyndham v Carlsbad Law and Timeshare Compliance by Irene Parker. For the last article before Christmas on Friday, December 16, Irene will be publishing: Jury Awards FantaSea Resorts Timeshare Victims $1,069,284
In Wednesday’s edition, we reveal the behind-the-scenes Resignations of Directors, and who has replaced them. This is not just happening at MacDonald Resorts Ltd, just one small cog in a huge wheel, but it appears the same is happening at the many other companies that make up the “MacDonald Empire”.
The signs are all too familiar to us at AIT, visions of another Silverpoint-style series of liquidations look to be on the cards. What this will bode for the members, we don’t know, what we do know is they are going to be paying with huge increases in their annual maintenance bills.
Irene will end the week with another instalment of our court drama Wyndham V Carlsbad Law and Timeshare Compliance. For those who have been following this story, it has turned into a real “old ding dong” this week.
Moving now to a warning for our US friends, Benn Dover who runs the Westgate Timeshare Hostages Facebook Group and is also a contributor to AIT, was in conversation with one member regarding a “Cold Call”.
The call was from a “company” called Trade Council Associates, well, as our European readers will have noticed by the name, it smells of a scam, why? As AIT has reported on the “scam” operators in Europe, it is a name which will be extremely hard if not impossible to trace.
Enter the name into any search engine and you will get a whole list of “Trade Councils & Associations”, nothing that points to a specific company. In all the searches of various company databases we came up with zilch, nada, not a sausage.
The numbers we have been given also show absolutely nothing apart from the usual warnings of “Robocall & known scammers”.
The numbers are: 769-235-7519, 662-546-8210, 432 777 7026, 316 888 8473
As it was a “cold call” it is almost certain to be a scam, with the lack of information about the company and the warnings about the numbers we can safely say Trade Council Associates is a SCAM!
Now for some news from the Azure & Barclays action group, it seems that Barclays is responding to clients albeit very slowly. Although some more claims have been paid to those in the vulnerable category. BPF has explained to Ivor Williams, the group coordinator, that BPF has broken them down into three categories, clients who have had a refund offer sent, those who are to be sent imminently and those being processed.
Yes, this is good news for vulnerable clients, but come on Barclays, how long have you had to get this organised?
From what we have been seeing it has been a complete shambles, letters sent to clients saying one thing and signed by A, followed by a letter signed by B which is contradictory to letter A, then C gets involved and it all starts again. Or to be even more infuriating, no answer at all.
Unfortunately, large companies and regulatory bodies do not seem to have a clear policy on “Customer Service”, today it is non-existent. The reliance on “automated” responses, for emails and messages, is rife, do they actually read them when you send them?
We also have a situation where too many people become involved, and you repeat everything you have said and send more copies of any paperwork and evidence.
Telephone calls are the worst, the never-ending wait to be connected, and then you find that the person you want to speak with has been moved to another department. Yes, you have guessed it, they don’t know who has taken over their cases.
Yet when you look at rating sites for complaints, they seem to get good marks, there is actually a very good reason for this. These sites rate on the response the company gives, which will go something like this “Thank you for reaching out, we are very sorry to hear of your dilemma. Please get in touch with us using the customer service number on your contract.”
Now the fact they have “replied” gives them credibility, and their rating goes up, not on whether they have sorted out the problem. Yet another big con in keeping the consumer informed.
That is all for today, join us on Wednesday for more on the mysteries surrounding MacDonald Resorts.
We hope you all had a great weekend, Baby Dog slept through most of it apart from the occasional bout of the Zoomies.
David Hugo Barrett
we just got a call from Booking Trade Councils and Associates. Justin Wright said they represent Trade Bloc. wanted to book us for a 45-minute presentation re: a “group law suit” accusing TS companies of deceptive practices They say they will try to get back any maintenance fees and maybe the money we paid for out unit. My wife told him to call us back tomorrow. We found your write up when we engaged our search engine.
The phone number they called from was 417-709-5079.
I hope this information has some value.
David Hugo Barrett
Timeshare Insider
Thank you for the information, the names Booking Trade Councils and Associates along with Trade Bloc are names designed to make it impossible for consumers to verify them. Plenty of hits when searching, but none show them as genuine or point to a genuine company.
Candice
Just got a call saying there is a lawsuit against the Disney timeshare where they are telling members that they are sold out and are reselling the rooms to online travel companies and that we are paying maintenance fees 50% more then what they are charging those companies. He refused to give the a call back number or the location of this “meeting”. He just kep saying that the email confirmation will give me alll those details. I just had a gut feeling NOT to give my email or phone number which he kept insisting for.
Carrie Hancock
Just got a call from Trade Council Associates wanting to have us come spend 45 Minutes to provide information on how to get out of our timeshare. the phone # was 402.252.8752. Setting up meetings at the Hampton Inn in Lincoln NE next Wednesday, August 16th. I hope this helps as well.
Timeshare Insider
Thank you for the information, we will publish a warning at the end of Friday’s article with the new number.
Charles
Just got a call from trade Council Associates wanting us to attend a 45 minute meeting in Omaha on August 16 about a lawsuit against the timeshare company and how we will receive reimbursement of maintenance fees and can even get out of our timeshare.
Call came from 402-252-8752
Is this a scam question?
Timeshare Insider
It will most certainly be a scam, check this link: https://afterinsidetimeshare.com/monday-brief-us-scam-warning/
Nancy Olds
Thank you for this very reputable website! This same “business”, Trade Council Associates, will be arriving here in Henderson, Nevada the week of August 14, 2023. These associates will be staying here at the Hampton Inn & Suites at 421 Astaire Drive to con more vulnerable retirees out of their hard-earned $$! Your website warning any timeshare owners was immensely invaluable! I have filed a Federal Trade Commission report, and an FBI report, and I am attempting to get our local law enforcement to do something about this before all of these people are fleeced! I am retired from federal law enforcement and it disgusts me that these A-holes keep doing this from city to city and perhaps worldwide! Keep up with being “our better angels”!
Timeshare Insider
Thank you Nancy for the information, let us hope your local law enforcement are able to do something to protect the vulnerable.
Nancy Olds
Thank you for your support! This morning I contacted the detective for this case. He replied that he would need some victims from this
‘timeshare dispute” scam to make a case, in other words, have a crime(s) committed to pursue and arrest them! How can that be done if these scammers move around constantly? Do you have any victims who would come forward and speak with the police? I live in Henderson, Nevada, so the Henderson Police Department wants local victims. There may be some new victims in our town after
TCA gets through with them! Should I try to warn these folks on social media, as I did here before this event? Any creative ideas? I did file with the FBI, but their reaction time might be too late!