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Diamond Resorts International Club Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it engaged in deceptive high-pressure sales tactics to sell timeshare contracts.
Plaintiffs Gisele Fournier and Rejean Fournier of Riverside County, Calif., claim they obtained on an unknown date a “membership” with Diamond Resorts that would allow them to acquire timeshare “points” that they could redeem for accommodations at various resorts.
In July 2015, the plaintiffs say they contacted a Diamond Resorts sales associate to express their dissatisfaction with their membership. Specifically, they complained that they were not able to secure accommodations on the dates and at the locations they wanted.
According to the Diamond Resorts class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs were advised to upgrade their membership to “platinum” in order to receive superior customer service. They were also told to attend an “update” meeting to have their concerns addressed.
The meeting did not provide the Fourniers an opportunity to air their grievances, according to the Diamond Resorts class action lawsuit. They claim they were pressured again into purchasing a membership upgrade and were reportedly mocked by Diamond Resorts’ agents because they did not bring a credit card to the meeting.
According to the Diamond Resorts class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs “felt bullied, manipulated and intimidated into signing a new contract upgrading their membership with the Defendant.” They claim that the agents’ high-pressure sales tactics caused them “a great amount of stress, embarrassment and humiliation” and that they felt they could not leave the meeting unless they signed up for a membership upgrade.
Their credit card was allegedly charged $2,000 for the membership upgrade, and the upgrade caused their monthly membership dues to nearly double, according to the Diamond Resorts class action lawsuit.
Despite paying for the upgrade, the Fourniers say they did not receive the services they were promised and sought to terminate their membership. When their attempts at cancelling via phone and online chat were unsuccessful, they sent a letter in August 2016 informing Diamond Resorts that they were terminating their membership and cancelling all future reservations.
After they mailed the letter, the plaintiffs reportedly received a monthly loan statement with an invoice date of Aug. 22, 2016. This invoice stated a balance of $813.77 with a due date of Aug. 12, 2016. This statement indicated that payments received after the due date would be subject to additional fees.
According to the Diamond Resorts class action lawsuit, the statement indicated the Fourniers owed a “Principal Balance” of more than $45,000 and that they had paid at least $6,000 toward interest fees.
They subsequently sent more letters informing Diamond Resorts of their intent to terminate their membership but Diamond Resorts repeatedly denied the requests and claimed that the plaintiffs would remain contractually obligated to pay the fees. They continued to receive letters demanding payment. These letters reportedly contained “confusing, conflicting and misleading” information about their membership.
The plaintiffs say they received harassing phone calls from Diamond Resorts even after they asked the company to stop contacting them.
The timeshare sales class action lawsuit accuses Diamond Resorts of violating the Truth in Lending Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the California False Advertising Act, the Consumers Legal Remedies Act and the California Welfare and Institutions Code.
Diamond Resorts is also currently facing a class action lawsuit alleging it targets older consumers with abusive sales tactics.
The plaintiffs are represented by Amir J. Goldstein of The Law Offices of Amir J. Goldstein Esq.
The Diamond Resorts Timeshare Membership Class Action Lawsuit is Gisele Fournier, et al. v. Diamond Resorts International Club Inc., et al., Case No. 5:17-cv-00911, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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113 thoughts onClass Action: Diamond Resorts Pressures Buyers into Timeshare Contracts
PLEASE ADD ME to this class action please for being lied to and scammed about our timeshare.
Please add me. We were tirelessly bullied once Diamond Took over ownership of our timeshare. We were told our current points, which were sizable, would not get us any guarantee even if booked 12 months out. We noticed the massive decline in availability and inability to book. Further, our exchange value dropped substantially due to the Diamond take over. We were told uncles we spent another $30k, we basically were holding a worthless ownership and unable to exchange into Diamond properties. This goes on and on but we refused to buy more and were then thrown out of the sales office and bullied further.
Please add me and my parents to this class suit.
I have been a Diamond member for over $20 years and I’m still in debt. I’m interested in joining this class action.
I need to be added please!! They are the only reason I can’t buy a home for our family. They have lied time and time again. They kept is there for over 8 hours on v day!!! Our daughter got hurt while in the daycare area. We were feed lies about selling weeks and benefits.
please add us to your class action suit
ADD ME TO THE SUIT
I need to be added to typos PLEASE we have been fighting them for 4 years now!! Major scam!
PleaseAdd me to this class action lawsuit
Please add me to this suit.
Please add me. I bought this sampler with 15,000 points back in 2017 and I converted to an ownership In March 2018. Since then, I’ve had nothing but problems with this company. They lied about everything. The temporary gold membership that was given to me for 1 yr and half could not even be used the first year in 2018 because your membership level is only attached to your loan. My loan wasn’t into affect until feb 2019 meanwhile I paid the entire year in monthly payments towards the down payment of the loan as well as the Barclays card payments. In total I’ve spent $8000-9000 for the year of 2018 and couldn’t go anywhere. And now that my actual loan is in affect, there is nothing available for the dates I want to go and/or location wise. Therefore I will lose out on the whole gold membership bullshit they tried to sell you along with this program. Then the interval free week certificates they claim are free never are. They cost $200-300 for the week, you can not stay less than the full 7 days and they have an expiration date on the certificates. Also, I tried to call and ask how many points it would Require for me to go to Jamaica or Barbados. I was told there were no location in Jamaica then after a pause the rep told me there actually is but it’s only in May or August (which I didn’t want to go either of those times) and that it required an all inclusive meal plan. The rep said it would Be 7,000 points and $1100 for the 7 day meal package. And the same for Barbados in December 2019 but at $6600 points still with the $1100 mae requirement.
I called the resort (all seas resorts Barbados) and not only is it $740 for the week to stay there, they don’t even have all inclusive. It is A full self maintaining kitchen because of the all inclusive restriction. So wtf is up?!
I can actually book this trip myself out of pocket and pay less and use no points, rather than using 7000 of my points and giving DRI $1100 for a meal plan that doesn’t exist. What am I paying this for? Straight scam!
Please add me to the suit!