Complaint Review: Wyndham Vacation Resorts (Timeshare)

We took advantage of the rare opportunity to have some family vacation time within the US. We were in New Orleans LA where we crossed paths with a marvelous young lady (Wyndham Representative) who offered us free dinner, transportation to a free dinner and an 8-day/7-night vacation to sit in on a timeshare presentation. Easy enough. Right? It became the worst decision of our entire lives. So much so, we absolutely have zero intentions of even remoted entertaining the free vacation provided.

When we arrived for the presentation, we were asked if we were timeshare owners. We answered honestly, as always, and confirmed that we’d owned a timeshare (not Wyndham) since the 1990s which we absolutely loved. They promptly removed us from the room of other guests – presumably not timeshare owners. And, in hindsight, that should’ve been the red flag of deceit.

We explained that we didn’t need another timeshare after 20 years because they one we had worked just fine for us with two very active teens who were both on traveling teams. We further explained that when we typically find time to take vacations, it’s usually in the Caribbean for an extended weekend or at our timeshare home which is in driving distance from our home. We explained again that we didn’t need another timeshare.

We were promised an opportunity of a lifetime. We’d be able to purchase points that we could use for hotel stays while our children traveled from state to state to compete. THAT was what caught our attention. For one year, it would cost us about $3,000. We could use those points to defray the cost of our stay at the hotels when traveling to support our childrens' competitions??? We pay for hotel stays, anyhow, what could be the harm? And we get first preference as "perceived owners". We would get bumped to the top of any wait lists for booked hotels. That was definitely something we were interested in taking a further look at, but before we signed I told them that I only had a few days to glance the opportunity and had them confirm my email address to me to ensure they could read my handwriting. They confirmed multiple times by reading my email address back to me. So, they definitely had my email address. And I told them I’d be anxiously awaiting the link to sign in and peruse because if I didn’t like it, I would need to cancel. We were leaving New Orleans the very next morning and expecting to be back on travel with the children in multiple competitions over the next two months. So, the email (I told them) was crucial in this process. They confirmed they understood. This was very likely my biggest error in this entire process, in hindsight, because the email never came!

We called seemingly a million times over the next 30 days to every Wyndham timeshare number available on the internet, to no avail. We were placed on hold multiple times in hopes that the representative would find our name in the system or the appropriate department. Every time, we were bumped around repeatedly without any meaningful results….UNTIL it was “too late for us to cancel.” When we did get access into the system, we only had access to about 12 locations – mostly in the Midwest where our children do not have many competitions. And, now, nobody had any understanding of any product allowing us to use points at their hotels. THIS WAS A COMPLETE FRAUDULENT TRANSACTION. THEY SOLD US ONE THING, BUT DELIVERED SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT – SOMETHING WE OUTRIGHT TOLD THEM WE WERE NOT INTERESTED IN REPEATEDLY BECAUSE WE ALREADY OWNED A TIMESHARE WHICH WE COULD SWAP WITH OTHER TIMESHARE LOCATIONS. WHY WOULD WE SIGN UP FOR ANOTHER TIMESHARE??? THAT MADE ABAOLUTELY NO SENSE!!!!

We were promised for more than six months that they were investigating the matter and would get back to us in a timely fashion. They still have not! They lied! They collected a payment AFTER they were aware that we didn’t agree on the product and had reported the entire matter as fraudulent. 

They tried repeatedly to limit communications to telephone calls. I didn’t trust them anddemanded that all communication occur via email. The last email I received was on 11/5/18 from Senior Case Specialist Christopher Dzierbicki which stated, “I am reaching out to you to advise you I am still working on your case, and will be in contact soon with a further update.” This was my third email from this person. The first email from him was received on 9/3/18. And he was the third person I’d received an email from at Wyndham. It’s is 1/1/19 – more than six months after I was able to finally file a complaint, four months after Mr. Dzierbicki’s first email communication with me – and no resolution!!! And no intention on every resolving the matter.

Then, they placed derogatory remarks on our credit reports!!!! I have absolutely, positively NEVER had a derogatory remark on my credit report previously for not paying an agreed-upon loan. And, how dare them, drag their feet, lead us to believe the matter was being resolved….and punish us for their inefficiencies and questionable sales practices!!!! I am completely outraged!!!!!!! I want this promptly removed from my credit report, and any and all attempts to collect this fraudulent debt to cease promptly! And, there certainly better not be any reporting of this matter to the Internal Revenue Service because I’m going to report it as fraudulent and provide all of the email correspondence to support such! DON’T EVER TRUST ANOTHER WYNDHAM EMPLOYEE – EVEN IF AT A HOTEL BECAUSE THEY ALL REPRESENT THE SAME BRAND. SHADY PRACTICES COME FROM THE TOP DOWN!