MONTPELIER, Vt. (Legal Newsline) - Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell has secured more than $91,000 in consumer refunds from a California-based timeshare company that allegedly violated multiple Vermont laws in arranging to repurchase timeshares.
Timeshare Relief, Inc., will also pay the state $50,000 to settle claims that, on eight occasions from 2007-2010, representatives of the company solicited consumers in Burlington to transfer ownership of their unused timeshares, relieving owners of timeshare maintenance fees, taxes and other costs.
The meetings were advertised by Timeshare Relief in mailings inviting citizens to find out about the "Guaranteed Timeshare Relief Solution." Consumers who met with the company did so with the understanding that the invitation meant that the company would offer to pay for their timeshares.
Consumers, however, had to pay several hundred to several thousand dollars to transfer ownership of their timeshares, Sorrell claims. This, Sorrell says, was a deceptive trade practice.
Timeshare Relief, through June 2008, also failed to comply with a Vermont law that requires specified notice of the right to cancel a transaction be given when goods or services are sold at a transient location, Sorrell says.
Under terms of the settlement, Timeshare Relief will offer 28 customers who allegedly did not receive proper notice of their right to cancel an opportunity to cancel the transaction within 10 business days and get all of their money back. The company will pay up to $84,000 under this provision.
Another 28 customers will be sent a check in the amount of $250 to compensate them for the time and money spent traveling to attend the company's presentation.