A class action lawsuit says that Wyndham aggressively markets its timeshares and unfairly profits from customers by requiring them to assign their timeshare interest to a trust, from which Wyndham benefits.
Plaintiffs Carolyn Nolen, Windy Kelley, Cara Kelley, and Paula Litton claim that they all have timeshares with Wyndham.
Allegedly, these customers, along with every timeshare purchaser, are required to assign 100 percent of their timeshare interest to Club Wyndham Plus, a program governed by the terms of the Fairshare Trust. In turn, the trust is reportedly controlled by Wyndham.
The Wyndham class action claims that Wyndham does not disclose to customers that the Fairshare Trust is the Fairshare Vacation Owners Association, a corporation controlled entirely by Wyndham. The terms allegedly indicate that the only beneficiaries of the Fairshare Trust are the individual timeshare owners and Wyndham.
Because the trustee is reportedly controlled by Wyndham, and Wyndham profits from the trust, the trustee — Fairshare Vacation Owners Association — profits from the trust, in violation of Arkansas law.
According to the customers’ timeshare trust class action lawsuit, Wyndham violated Arkansas Trust Code, which requires a trustee to administer the trust solely in the interest of the beneficiaries, and dictates that a “trust and its terms must be for the benefit of its beneficiaries.”
The Wyndham class action claims that the Trust Code states that trustees cannot profit from the trust, even if they did not breach the trust in profiting from it.
The timeshare holders argue that the Fairshare Vacation Owners Association’s Board of Directors has the right to change any program or feature of the trust at will, even if these changes are against the best interest of the customers.
During the time period at issue in the Wyndham lawsuit, all three members of the Board of Directors were Wyndham members, and they were able to make changes to the trust even if those changes were not in the best interest of the timeshare holders.
In the words of the timeshare owners, “to gain control over the Fairshare Vacation Owners Association and the Fairshare Trust, [Wyndham] or its affiliated entities appointed its own executives and employees to control the actions of the Trustee.” Allegedly, this led to “tremendous” financial benefits for Wyndham and affiliates.
The Wyndham timeshare class action lawsuit argues that Wyndham’s control of the trust is absolute, and that the company is violating their fiduciary duty to timeshare owners.
The timeshare owners go on to argue that Wyndham requires timeshare owners to pay fees that cover the costs of administering and operating the trust, which only financially serves Wyndham, not the timeshare holders.
Wynham has previously faced claims that the timeshare company misled consumers about its services, and unfairly profited from consumers.
Do you have a timeshare? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.
The timeshare holders are represented by John A. Yanchunis and Patrick A. Barthle II of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group; James M. Terrell and Rodney E. Miller of Methvin Terrell Yancey Stephens & Miller PC; and Bradford D. Barron of The Barron Law Firm PLLC.
The Wyndham Timeshare Trust Class Action Lawsuit is Carolyn Nolen, et al. v. Wyndham Vacation Resorts Inc., et al., Case No. 6:20-cv-00330-PGB-EJK, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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342 thoughts onWyndham Class Action Lawsuit: Hotel Unfairly Profits Off Timeshare Owners
Over 100,000 dollars wasted…
Add me to the class action…
Wyndham is a fraud abuse system all the way.
Help ??
Add me to the class action…
Wyndham is a fraud abuse system all the way.
Help ??
Please add me to your list and keep me informed. I have over 20 years of experiences like are described here on these comments. I can’t understand how a company can keep operating like this and the government not do anything to stop this deceit , lies and plain. old thievery!!
We are Darrel and Pamela W., and we have been loyal owners since 2002. When we first went to a presentation, every room had huge posters showing beautiful places around the globe, lots of them contained families obviously thoroughly enjoying themselves. You all made WorldMark by Trendwest look like the savior of the American family. The vacation locations were gorgeous and the idea of “owning” these locations and being able to use them whenever we wanted was irresistible. The sales representatives took time to “get to know us”. He asked us when was the last time we took our kids on an “unforgettable vacation”. He made us feel that we were letting ourselves and our kids down by not enjoying some of the spectacular places we’d been shown. We told him it was too expensive and he agreed, he told us, however, that making payments throughout the year towards a vacation made much more sense than trying to come up with the cash right before vacation time. He brought over a manager who spent hours trying to convince us that we could “squeeze” this cost into our budget. We, unfortunately, were worn down and feeling disappointed about the idea that we have not been doing enough for our kids, so we bought in. We bought the minimum purchase of 6,000 credits and were hounded with phone calls until we upgraded to 7K and so on and so forth until we got to where we are now. We upgraded because we felt that we had to in order to make the membership useful. At the last upgrade, while we were in Las Vegas, they asked us if we had any future vacation plans (we should have kept our mouths shut) we explained we wanted to take our family to England soon (and then the high pressure sales tactics and lies came flowing) they said with Platinum we’d get to go virtually for free. Because with Platinum we could ‘save’ a year of credits and even ‘borrow’ a year of credits and have 192,000 to use for airfare and car rentals and with RCI and Novasol we’d get a room for free. At this level, is when we started to discover all the lies. Here are just SOME of the lies that we were told by the sales reps: At Platinum, you CAN use credits every year for airline tickets, car rental, etc…but you CANNOT save credits or borrow credits – you ONLY have the current year’s credits to use. You can’t rent credits except through WorldMark by Wyndham…I tried to do that in May 2019 and they told me they only pick a few of the “most desirable” locations to do that with and it’s a “first come, first serve” situation. I would have to try again in January 2020. They told us we could use Novasol for accommodations in England…Novasol does NOT EXIST in England. Because WorldMark doesn’t have anything in England. We were told we could get RCI in England – they didn’t have anything available ever. And there were no places within 50 miles of where we wanted to be. We were told that WorldMark would buy back credits (to resell) if we ever needed to (or wanted to) do that but we’d only get about half the going rate per credit. When my wife lost her job due to COVID, we tried that and found out that WorldMark DOES NOT do that. We have been very unhappy and dissatisfied with WorldMark because of this latest fiasco. Especially finding out that they don’t take back any of the credits as we were previously told. I called WorldMark on this and was told that by them wouldn’t do anything for me regarding buying back credits unless my credits were already paid for…I told them that 35,000 WERE PAID FOR AND WE OWNED THEM FREE AND CLEAR…but apparently, when we signed to buy an additional 29,000 to get us to all the benefits provided at the Platinum level, they put ALL of our credits under the new contract. We were forced to take out a hardship on my wife’s 401k just to make ends meet when she was laid off. We were not informed EVER that WorldMark considered all of the credits we paid for already to be “rolled” into our new contract. We were lead to believe we owned those outright. We were put in touch with Tracy Miller in the Owner Care Department back in early April 2020 and we discussed just canceling our most recent contract and getting our money back due to the misrepresentation we feel occurred. We NEVER heard from her on this. Ever. In fact, the only time I heard from WorldMark was when they wanted money from us. In August 2020, after months of waiting for Tracy – we finally got in touch with Mark from Owner Care. Mark denied our cancellation request and stated that in order to have the most current contract canceled, we need to contact Tracy Miller again and that she was the only person we could speak to about this case. We did reach out to her SEVERAL times and essentially she never had the decency to contact us back. In October 2020, we were finally put in touch with Rosa Ojeda in Owner Care. When dealing with Rosa, she had some of our history and asked for some background. I tried to be as concise as possible but still get the details in. Long story short, she said that out of six contracts with them, I’ve only disputed the last one because it tied my old paid-off points in with the new contract?? Then she said it had been that way every other time so why dispute it now? I told her the new contract should have been ONLY for the 15K points and the 14K points tied up in this last contract because the other 35K points were paid off, free and clear, we “owned” them outright and should NOT have been tied up in this last contract. And if they hadn’t been “tied up in this last contract” we could have sold them to pay off our bill and still been left with our original 35K, and would owe nothing. She said, “It doesn’t work that way.” I said it would have been nice if someone had explained that to us at the time of signing because I would never have agreed to do that. All she could say was that it was our own fault for not knowing that. Not once did she acknowledge that we were given the wrong information or important details were left out of the information we were given. Not one person we spoke to tried to help us understand or move forward in a way that made sense. We feel we were shut down by everyone at this company. At this point, we want all of our money back that we spent so far on ownership credits… and the reason is simple. Obviously, we don’t OWN anything!!! If you take all the credits we supposedly “owned” and put them back “under contract” so that we can’t sell them…then we don’t actually own them. We feel we have been so scammed at this point. We have invested so much money into something we don’t really own and have done so for many years. And no one at this company has the decency to work with us? Their website says, “WorldMark was created to offer a vacation ownership option flexible enough to accommodate ever-changing lifestyles…Taking care of WorldMark owners is this travel agency’s only mission.” However, we have found the complete opposite to be true and we are no longer going to pay a company that doesn’t have the decency to address these very real issues. They finally sent us a letter saying they deny any wrongdoing just a few days ago. Please add us to the lawsuit.
I have been a Club Wyndham owner for at least 8-10 years, and they call their high pressure sales “member updates” and come short of forcing you to attend one just to get your parking pass when you check in at a resort. I don’t mind the first 20 min or so where you might get some new information on a new resort, or a new benefit, but when that group presentation is over, GET OUT FAST! that’s when the sales people take you to their desk, go over your membership and no matter what they see , something is always WRoNG with your account, or you are not signed up for the latest benefits – its always a lie! They lie to you about anything and everything on your account and tell you they can “fix” it when you pay $50,000 for 150,000 more points. I usually will right down the sales person’s name (usually on their name badge) and write down their lies. At times when they left me alone, I even called the place that they told me there is a problem with (RCI, Wyndham rewards, etc) and they usually get mad when they return, seeing me on my phone and have called me “rude” for being on my phone when someone is trying to do their job. They once told me i had a “RED FLAG” on my account, because I purchased points, but did not fully pay for my purchase. I got mad and stormed out, but not without calling Wyndham Owner Care at 1-866-698-3568. They appeared to be VERY agitated with the sales person’s lie to me. When I get up and walk out telling the sales I’m not buying anything new, they act like why was I wasting their time??? Hello, your concierge desk basically forced me to make a appt to show up . Talk to that department. The sales guy also kept asking me the same questions over and over after I answered him twice with the same answer, I just shook my head and stayed silent. I should have answered “what answer are you looking for” It’s a shame their sales department makes a living on lies and high pressures, as their resorts are outstanding, and the service I always receive it amazing. I am not understanding why they use this deceitful practice to get people to buy their product? Fortunately my partner and I don’t fall for their lies, although they can be pretty believable at times, but we time the meeting, and get up and go after our required 60 min just to get our gift card, or what ever they bribed us with to attend. I use to feel guilty about doing this , but sometimes I can collect over $200 worth of items within 60 min and walk out the door. I no longer feel guilty as they did trick me when I first became a member and told me lies that got me to sign on the dotted line. I figure now they owe me a few hundred every time I go on vacation. Maybe if enough people did this, they would change their practices and realize they are not getting people to sign on and buy more points. When you are offered a “gift” for attending an “update” if you know you can walk away in 60 min without believing them, make sure you don’t accept the first “gift” offer – Say “no” (they really don’t take no for an answer anyway) and they will usually come up with more free bees to get you to say “yes” – If you are an owner, the best gift is rewards points. When you are with a sales person , you are told at the group meeting to write down any questions you have – When I was a new member I did this, and after several hours, I realized they don’t answer ANY of your questions. Next time I go, and if I do these update, I will keep asking the same questions over and over until the 60 min are up – PLEASE DO NOT EVER hand over a credit card or your drivers license to the sales person – They make a photo copy of it !!! and sometimes play games that they gave it back to you, when they did not. You do have to show these 2 items when you check in at the “update” but if the sales person asks you for it when you are with them , act like you are searching for it, then act like you forgot what you were searching for. If they ask again, act like you are searching for it, and then act like you cannot find it – say I think I left it at that desk that I checked in or I think I dropped it. Do not give these sales people any personal information. Do not give them your owner login to your Wyndham acct. IF you really want to know something about your account, call Owner Cares, or call the Reservation line. Whatever you do, do not believe one word the sales tells you – Write everything down, and leave after 60 min. if you think you wont get your promised “gift” just go to the desk where you checked in for the “update” and request it. I do that many times. If you wait for the sales person to give it to you, you will be there all day!! Make sure you keep a copy of what was promised to you – there have been several times where I was promised $150 in an Amer Express gift card, before the meeting, and then they try arguing with me that I was promised something totally stupid like “moose-bucks”. and lastly, if you have high blood pressure, it is best not to attend these “updates” . Hope this has helped someone – and I hope those of us that have been lied to get some compensation.
In November 2020 my husband attended a Wyndham meeting, supposedly, to change our contract, saving interest on the money we are currently paying om our contract.
Early January 2021 we received a bill for double what we have been paying.i called to ask about it and was told to look over our contract. We were not given a contract nuts thumb drive. There was no contract on the drive. We explained how the agent lied to us about the contract but the lady on the phone swore that couldn’t be true then ask I read he the contract on the drive but there wasn’t one there. January 27, 2021 we received a contract in the mail stamped “copy” although it was not a copy of we didn’t get a first contract.
At this point, I am trying to do a deed-back/surrender program as I can not afford to pay them anymore. And is I have new medical issues which prevent me from travelling and I have medical bills.
I never paid late, always eat, but when I missed February payment they call my house threatening collections. I’ve paid them well over $30,000 but I can n longer afford it.
Please keep me updated:
There should be a law against these lying, timeshare companies. I used to stay at their hotels but after my experience and my credit report dropping 68 and 74pts, I will NEVER stay at their hotels.
Please add me
Sign me up
I’ve been a Worldmark by Wyndham for years. I started with the minimum of 6000 points and then about 3 years ago I got talked into making a purchase of 4000 more,.
I was never explained what the total amount was going to cost me & everything was done on my phone. They knew that and sent me documents to sign & just keep saying go to page .. and sign.
It wasn’t until later that I realized how much after the monthly payments I finally started to question how much the entire loan was for, for the 4000 points. It turned out to be $10,000! I took out a personal loan to pay it off as quick as I could, and then when I finally got a settlement check I use that to pay off the loan. and with the monthly payments of almost $100 a month I can’t even go anywhere so it’s pointless. Please put me on there.
Please add me to the list
How do I get added to this lawsuit?
Please add me to this. Happened in Orlando Florida 2020.