Better Business Bureau has warned the public of a timeshare liquidation company for not honoring their money back guarantee. The Springfield News-Leader reports that Travis Dibben, owner of Escape Resolutions, has been the subject of 32 BBB complaints in 20 states. The BBB has given the company an “F” for their business practices.
The average price of a timeshare is $20,040, and this price plus additional fees over time often drive people to opt out of their timeshares. In the case of Escape Resolutions, clients told the News-Leader that the contract promised to free them of their timeshare obligations within one year or they would receive their money back.
But when it came down to this, Escape Resolutions did not refund the payments.
One client told the BBB that she left messages and would not receive a call back, according to the BBB press release. Dibben, however, told BBB that his company switched to a new phone system, which caused these communication issues. He also said that not all clients qualify for this money back guarantee and that the “first available usage” of the timeshares are not until January of the following year.
“You miss one person’s call and all of a sudden you are seen as being a scam company in this industry,” he said.
This case is just one of many cases in an industry full of scams. The Federal Trade Commision returned over $319,000 to consumers earlier this year after Management Forum Inc., also known as Vacation Property Marketing, asked clients for registration fees and falsely claimed to have a list of potential buyers.
And this practice is all too common. BBB President and CEO Michelle Corey said in the news release that timeshare contracts are especially complicated and businesses tend to offer easy outs that turn out to be scams.
“Trying to get out of a contract is never an easy process,” she said. “This business is selling a quick fix when there may not be one.”
