by Cheri Becker on October 13, 2011

As reported recently, Florida State Attorney General Pam Bondi is aggressively pursuing unscrupulous timeshare scams in Florida through investigations and stated that tougher laws are needed to better protect consumers and combat the growing problem of Florida timeshare scams.

In an article published in the Orlando Sentinel, Bondi stated that Florida is home to more than two million timeshare intervals that consumers have purchased. Unfortunately, vacation timeshare resales fraud is the number one consumer complaint received by the Attorney General’s Office. In 2010, Bondi’s office received more than 12,000 complaints about timeshare resales fraud — more than the next four highest-complaint categories combined received by her office. Since January of this year, the office has received 6,863 complaints regarding timeshare resales scams.

The most common time share scams related complaints received by her office include: false claims regarding selling your timeshare scams is that a specific buyer is ready to buy the timeshare property once the consumer signs a contract and pays an “upfront fee” to handle the sale; deceptive claims that the timeshare property will sell within a certain time period; failure to honor stated-cancellation policies, including refunds of the required upfront fees; and misrepresentation of the services provided to consumers.

Bondi joined forces with Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner and Rep. Eric Eisnaugle to unveil a legislative initiative that is designed to protect consumers from Florida timeshare scams.  Gardiner and Eisnaugle are filing the Timeshare Resale Accountability Act, a bill prohibiting the marketing practices that many timeshare resale scams companies are using to entice consumers. The proposed bill calls for tougher civil penalties when companies engage in unfair and deceptive trade practices.

Under the proposed legislation:

• A timeshare resale advertiser may not misrepresent a pre-existing interest in the owner’s timeshare.

• A timeshare resale advertiser may not mislead a customer as to the success rate of the advertiser’s sales.

• A timeshare resale advertiser may not provide brokerage or direct sale services.

• A timeshare resale advertiser must honor a cancellation request made within seven days following a signed agreement.

• A timeshare resale advertiser must provide a full refund by a timeshare owner within 20 days of a valid cancellation request.

• A timeshare resale advertiser must not collect any payment or engage in any resale advertising activities until the timeshare owner delivers a signed, written agreement for the services.

• A timeshare resale advertiser must also provide a full disclosure statement printed in bold type, with no smaller than a 12-point font, and printed immediately preceding the space provided for the timeshare owner’s signature.

• A timeshare advertising agreement must be put in writing.

• A company that violates these provisions has committed a violation of the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act with a penalty not to exceed $15,000 per violation.

I hope this goes through. In the meantime, NEVER pay an upfront fee to list your timeshare for sale!

Check out my book, The Truth About Timeshares to get more in depth information, as the secrets of the timeshare industry are revealed!

If you’ve experienced trouble trying to resell your timeshare, or would like to warn others about a specific listing company, Leave a comment below!