Trista Blanchard expected sun and fun on her recent Dominican Republic vacation. She wasn’t prepared to spend $45,000 on a timeshare — or for the nightmare that followed.
Here’s what she says happened to her:
We recently stayed at the Lifestyles Holidays Vacation Club in the Dominican Republic as a rental member of a guest. We attended a very aggressive sales presentation that was augmented by lots of free alcohol (a bar in the sales office and champagne on several of the property tour stops) and unfortunately signed for a $45,000 membership in the club, paid in full by credit card. The application for the Bank of America credit card was provided by the sales person, faxed in by them and opened, with a full charge of $45,000. During the sales presentation, Bank of America was mentioned several times, and the credit applications given were also Bank of America, the bank’s logo is also on the landing page of the Lifestyle Holidays Web site.
The next morning we woke to reality and requested a cancellation, only to be met with aggressive sales and increasing “benefits” of membership offered. By the way, our assigned customer service representative cannot get us back into the resort due to full capacity for over a full calendar year, even if we wanted to go. We returned home on March 30th and immediately contacted Bank of America, who advised us to send a cancellation request via certified mail. I did that and also sent an email that was acknowledged by Lifestyles that same day.
After communication from us daily requesting an update of our cancellation request, we were finally told on April 8th that the escrow company associated with Lifestyles has declined our cancellation request, and our only option would be to re-finance 50 percent of the original cost with them at 0 percent interest. We again declined and requested cancellation. We continued communication with Bank of America and once we received the final denial of refund from Lifestyles, a credit dispute was opened for investigation, but of course no promises are made for the final outcome.
I’m no expert on the law of the Dominican Republic, but something tells me there should be provisions against signing a contract under duress (for example, when alcohol or other mind-altering substances are involved) as well as a lemon law that gives consumers a “cool down” contract rescission period. (Mexico has such a rule.)
Unfortunately, the Fair Credit Billing Act doesn’t apply to her situation, because the purchase didn’t happen in the United States. But that doesn’t mean Blanchard is out of luck. Bank of America can’t just insist that she fork over $45,000 — or even half that amount at zero percent interest — without doing due diligence on her dispute. And even then, she can refuse to pay her bill and fight the bank in court.
If Bank of America doesn’t step in and nullify her contract, I will contact the bank on her behalf. But I think the bank will probably side with her.
If both companies give her a final “no” then I’ll probably be in contact with them as part of a bigger story on timeshares that I’m planning to write. I hope it doesn’t come to that.
In the meantime, for all of you planning to visit a resort any time soon — watch for the alcohol-fueled, aggressive timeshare sales pitch.
Or put differently, don’t drink and sign.
Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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