Festiva sued by owners, backs down, regroups to try again!

Sandcastle owners, you are not alone. The more one looks, the more one finds that shows a pattern of behavior repeated in one resort after another.

TimeSharing Today Magazine has been quoted here before. With their permission I am reprinting contributions to their Mar/April 07, and May/June 08 issues.

In the Mar/April 07 issue:

Owners unite!

Festiva Resorts recently purchased the Atrium in Sint Maarten and proceeded

to ask timeshare owners for a huge special assessment. Festiva owners have a

very unique contract that does not allow Festiva to take these actions,

but the corporation tried to just ignore it and impose excessive fees without

any prior communication with owners.

The contracts only allow maintenance fee increases up the island’s CPI (4%

in 2006) and do not permit any special assessments. Currently, approximately

200owners have refused to pay anything in excess of the contract allowance

and have taken Festiva to court on the island.

As the court date approached, the resort attorney informed us that Festiva

agreed to abide by the contracts as written and we do not need to pay the

special assessment or fees above the island CPI. Nor will Festiva attempt

to prevent anyone from using the resort. To fight this battle we contributed

$50 and still have around $11,000 in the account for further legal action,

if necessary, as it appears Festiva will try to get the island court system to

amend the contract at some future date.

Other owners can still join this action and avoid paying the extra

monies and help increase owner input to resort improvements.

For further details, contact Rowie Percoco at RowieP@aol.com.

Dan and Terri Shields

And in the May/June 08 issue:

Call to Atrium owners

Timeshare owners of the Atrium in St Maarten continue to battle with Festiva

management over special assessments. Since Festiva purchased the Atrium

several years ago they are claiming very large operating losses and have

reduced expenditures to improvements. They then issued bills with very large

increases in the yearly maintenance fee and added a large special assessment

completely ignoring the owners contracts that limit maintenance fee increases

to the island CPI (approximately 4%) and do not allow special assessments.

Now Festiva is trying to collect large daily fees per person from

all those who visit the Atrium. These fees are not allowed in the contract either.

There are now over 500 owners who refuse to pay the special assessments.

When the owners went to court, Festiva signed documents agreeing owners

needed to pay only the amounts required in their contracts. After more than a

year of fighting, our legal fees have amounted to about $20 per owner and we

have not paid any of the special assessments or the elevated maintenance fees

beyond the island CPI.

Our use of the facilities remains the same. We are also asking the

courts to return the extra monies collected from those people who joined our

group after paying the higher fees. But Dutch courts do not allow class action

suits so we only represent those owners who join our group.”

However, while our actions have forced Festiva to form an advisory

committee, that committee has no power and has been ignored. We seek

some veto power regarding expenditures and collections.

A review of Festiva’s financial documents has revealed that much of the

special assessment money has gone to Festiva’s operating account and not

into the capital improvement fund for the Atrium. Now Festiva has entered

the Dutch courts to try to amend our contracts and claiming only a small

minority are fighting management direction. Of course, we have no way

of contacting other owners for their support as we do not know who

they are. The larger the number of owners who are in

our group the greater the odds of success so we are renewing our efforts to

contact all owners. Please join us.

For additional information, contact Rowie Percoco at

rowiep@aol.com.

Dan Shields

Editor’s note: We have not received any response from Festiva to our

request for comment.

There is Help for Unhappy Contract Signers

http://www.theownersadvocate.com/

The usual warning goes out to all readers: This and any other website should be vetted for credibility. In fact , what we have learned about websites should be practiced with anyone or any company working to get your business. So you should make sure that the person or group is legitimate, and trustworthy before doing business with anyone!!!!!!!!! On the web, in person, on the phone, or at Sandcastle.

The folks at the above website look to me like they can be helpful even for those whose contracts are older than the "cooling off period" or the "three day cancellation" time frame. Go to the site and read, research, ask your questions. I got great answers to questions asked.

When I heard about a flyer that had been circulated at Sandcastle in mid-August, that, according to some in the sales group, it constituted grounds for a lawsuit by the sales people against the distributor, I obtained a copy and asked for professional opinions about it.

The unanimous response, from attorneys and timeshare industry experts, was that the content of the flyer in no way obstructed anyone's business: It is well within the free speech rights of the producing individual/s ; that it didn't even express an opinion; that it merely advocated for owners to educate themselves before signing a contract; that one has rights to cancel a contract; and that timeshare week owners have rights to meet and talk in common areas, about whatever they please, and that they can put that in writing as well.

The bullying and intimidating tactics people tell me about at Sandcastle are just that, bullying and intimidation. They are bothersome and annoying and disturbing of the owners right to peacefully enjoy their time. Threats by a salesperson to call a sheriff to take away an unhappy non-buyer of the point system are empty. Just as an individual, you cannot call a sheriff to take the salesman away either, although you may have been clearly mistreated and possibly threatened.

There is still due process in this country, and no one can revoke your Constitutional rights just because they "say so". There are also procedures that anyone and everyone must follow to lodge a complaint or press charges. These procedures protect us all....victims and possible-perpetrators alike. In time, when the system works, the victims prevail and justice is served.

But the people, the victims, must take actions on their own behalf.

Make your notes, file your complaints, do your research, and work to get your contract canceled if you feel fraud was involved. You will be helping yourself and Sandcastle.

Seek your own attorney for legal advice, join a group that is taking action, and/or check out the following site:

http://www.theownersadvocate.com/

....and stay tuned here........

File an FTC Complaint

The following was submitted to me by a motivated, concerned Sandcastle WEEK owner:

The FTC has a website (as well as the MA AG) to file complaints against businesses that engage in fraud, deceit, misrepresentation and/or high pressure sales tactics. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml

From their site: "The Federal Trade Commission is the nation's consumer protection agency. The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection works For The Consumer to prevent fraud, deception, and unfair business practices in the marketplace."

If anyone feels that their dealings with NEVS, LLC, Outfield Marketing LTD, Festiva Resorts LLC, and/or Festiva Resorts Adventure Club has been fraught with any of the above issues - fraud, deceit, misrepresentations and/or high pressure sales tactics, you are encouraged to file a complaint with the FTC also.

The website and complaint link will be provided at the end. Once you click on the complaint form you will have to answer certain questions to progress - such as is this in relation to identity theft Yes/No, you will then have a choice of business type - pick other, click next, enter the type of business for example: Timeshare Marketing, Timeshare Developer, hairdresser!!!! or whatever you wish.

You will need to provide the company name/address etc. and the representatives name and position if you have it. If you can't complete all fields, leave them blank. Some are listed below.

You will reach a box to type in your complaint, limited to 3500 characters = several paragraphs.

Then you have to complete your personal contact page.

Once you submit the complaint you will get a confirmation number and an email as well.

The link is:

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Click Consumer Protection – then on the line below – click File Complaint. This will bring you to the page to complete an online complaint - you then have to click the box on the upper right to get to the initial form.

You may file complaints against more than one business, but you must file a separate complaint for each. You must have dealt with that business personally. If you were given a price enter the amount. If you paid for any product enter the amount on the next line. If you paid no money - leave it blank or enter zero. You may still continue with your complaint.

Please keep track of your experiences. Write down what you can remember. Write down promises, guarantees made, phrases used to pressure you, threats of any kind, deadlines that did not come to pass, etc. Pay special attention to what you were told and what is different in the contract. Make notes of the differences: What were you told before buying into the Festiva point system, what have you learned after signing that is not the same .

Outfield Marketing, Ltd. 135 E. Hickory, Denton, TX 76201: 940 566 5127

Principal: Mark Monroe

Sales agents: Greg Hughes, Frank Rose, Marty Guthrie, Kim Guthrie, Mike???, Kevin Hanson – list is incomplete.

New England Vacation Services, LLC PO Box 2487, 93 Hawes Avenue, Hyannis, MA

Developer/Trustee Clifford Hagberg No phone # listed

Email address: nevmsllc@gmail.com

Festiva Resorts Adventure Club Members Association

One Vance Gap Rd

Asheville, NC 28805-1227
(828) 254-3378

Herbert Patrick Jr., 1 Vance Gap Rd, Asheville, NC

Tobias Weiss

Donald Clayton

Yvette Smith

I am NOT asleep

Dear Sandcastle owners (and friends, and spies),

I have a good deal of news for you. Many of you have visited Sandcastle this summer and I have received numerous reports about that.

Things are moving forward on numerous fronts.

My day to day time has been tilted towards my business recently, but I have been gathering info and I have much to tell you.

Please activate an account here and you can get notices of updates.

Stay tuned...much to come very soon.