Victim Location 93004
Total money lost $5,500
Type of a scam Travel/Vacations
While on vacation in Cabo, we attended a presentation by Vida Vacations. During the presentation, Vida sales representatives said Vida would take ownership of our timeshares and pass them on to a 3rd party company, to sell them, even though at a loss, and they would use it as a write-off. The sale would be possible despite the $18,000 balance on one of them. The sale would be easy, thus releasing us of our two timeshares with high HOA fees. Unfortunately, these details were not part of the signed contract.
Upon returning home, Timeshare Resale Market contacted us via e-mail, as expected. Over the phone, they said an upfront fee was required but that we could pay even more if we wanted to keep the equity from the sales. Equity? They stated the timeshares could sell for $6 a point. So, we paid a higher fee for the transaction. Upon researching the sales of timeshares, we discovered they can’t even be given away. They have relatively no value and are generally sold for very little so that the seller can get out of paying the annual HOA fees.