Festiva Development Group review: festiva resorts misleads consumers 58

Festiva is now refusing reservations from existing owners who have paid their fees, in order to force them to buy into their fraudulent club. How do they get away with ti?

We bought a week a the cabins at Green Mountain in Branson, Mo. You guessed it, owned by Festiva. They have changed what they have said several times, they are trying to pressure us into their new system of points by charging us 3495.00 but then because we have a yellow week, the salesman said it was still basically worthless and we would come begging them to sell us the points system. They were supposed to add hot tubs to all the units, but the money we paid "extra" on our maintenance fee didn't show up as hot tubs. Can we do anything about this company and is there anybody out there who knows how we possibly might get our money back? I have contacted the BBB, and Festiva maintains they are abiding by their contract, I have contacted the Attorney General's office and they sent me a nice letter and told me to wait 30 days. They have several complaints on file with them now, how many does it take to get action!

We signed (what a mistake!) with Festiva because their representative assured us they had a contact who could easily sell our other vacation club membership. He was just a realtor who would list it for a fee and NEVER do anything to see that it sold. Then, in early 2008 a local rep whio was hired top represent Festiva came to our Texas home and told us we would have to pay $3000+ to convert to Festiva's new system of points rather than weeks. We said no, and we told the rep (who was a Minister just trying to earn a little extra money) about all the deceit involved in Festiva's dealings. We own at Stormy Point in Branson but would happily sell, evcen at a loss, to get out from under this company.

My husband and I signed a contract with Festiva Resorts in Charleston, SC. It is a huge scam. They are horrible. I am seeking legal representation to try and break our contract we just signed Aug 2008. Do not ever sign up with any vacation club or timeshare. It's not worth it.

FESTIVA is a disgrace to the time-share industry. I am totally amazed that the honest time-shares have taken NO action to rid itself of this vulgar cancer.

The Attorney General Office did indeed file a suit against the Branson unit of FESTIVA but seems very few have heard 'the rest of the story!' Having lost over $13, 800 in a scam to have our existing 2-BR time-share sold for a predetermined amount and pay the difference, FESTIVA agents sold our 11 year old 2-BR time-share of e-bay for a few hunderd dollars and pocketed the money. We received nothing! The Missouri AG office deal is that FESTIVA must refund $0.75 on a dollar of money expended but nothing on the trade-in monies agreed upon! What a deal. Jesse James would have loved this deal: Rob a train and repay 75%, keep 25% and considered never to have committed a crime. By the way to people in Missouri, your AG is planning to run for Governor in 2010!

As for me and my family: We will NEVER visit Branson again as we have already lost too much.

FESTIVE RESORTS in Charleston, SC sold us a timeshare in summer of 2007. They said it would only take 20 minutes to go through the process to listen to their sales pitch. We were there for 3 hours listening to their bullcrap. We have asked them numerous questions regarding this timeshare and got nothing but evasive responses. We used our home resort with them for the first time last year. They gave us a room that was under renovation at the time. We got to the room and it was worse than a SUPER 8 hotel. We complained to them and they tried to put us in another room that was also under renovation. We talked and fussed and argued with them and told them this was totally UNACCCEPTABLE! What was they going to do to make it right. GET this...they told us the best they could go would offer us 3days and 2 nights at another on of their resorts. To only find out that we would have to go through another sales pitch again at this place. What a RIP off! We have tried NUMEROUS times to get phone numbers to touch base to talk with someone directly at their corporate office without avail. When we do call, we get a voicemail or busy signal. They are giving us so much run around and there is a lot of things they DID NOT tell us about before we purchased this timeshare. So basically we got SCREWED. However, if it takes us getting an attorney to get out of this contract; we will do so. I would NOT recommend anyone to buy a timeshare through FESTIVA RESORTS. They DO NOT honor or care about their customers or owners. Please take this advice before even seeking a timeshare with this SORRY. LOWLIFE so called resort and people.

We bought a timeshare at Stormy Point in Branson in June of 2007. Useage was to begin in 2008. In December of 2007 we bought another week so that we could have useage every year. When we went to use it in Jan. 2008, we were told we had given up our 2008 useage . What a bunch of BS! Our maintenance fees were waived for 2008 as a bonus for buying another week. We should never have to pay maintenance fees for a year we get no useage anyway! We took three other couples as referals and were told that we would get $50 per couple and $200 per couple if they bought. One couple did make the mistake of purchasing . We got a $50 check for that and never saw the other $150. We have tried to contact them several times and never can get anyone to call back. Can anybody help direct us to an attorney or any other agency to get us some satisfaction. Please email to fps2000@msn.com if you have any information on this. It would be greatly appreciated.

I think we all should go in together on a class action law suit. Maybe that would teach them a lesson. We purchased a timeshare a The Cabins at Green Mountain in Branson. in 2004, so we could get a honeymoon for our daughter. We got nothing we were promised. They misrepresented themselves & their product. Our free weeks were unusable & now do not exist. Further more, we have had to pay our maint. fees up front for the next three years plus pay for a week up front. Very deceptive & fraudlent billing prectices have been encountered. What we purchased is NOT what we now have. VERY, VERY unhappy & to sell now would mean taking a loss of over 50%. They have not responded to our dissatisfation.

My problem is that I can't even get hold of these people. This is the second year they haven't sent me a bill for the yearly fees and last year I took forever to get hold of them and gave them my new information. I have left messages and now I keep getting the msg. that mailbox is full in finance office. I am glad I found your website so now I know what is really going on with this company.

We bought through Festiva what was sold to us as a 'vacation package'. The word timeshare was never spoken in the 3 hours we were being scammed. I was actually told it was not a timeshare. Since rep knew we were not fans of Branson, this was a good lie on his part. Never in a million years would we buy a timeshare in Branson but here we are. Have been paying them thousands of dollars since summer of 2007 and now we are trying to take our kids places but we can't. I know now that we should have looked into this scam before we got sucked in. It was so fast and such a great offer how could u refuse. They did give us a free vacation in San Antonio, Texas at a Days Inn I believe. I am not positive since we were not there 10 minutes. It was a scarey neighborhood. Bars on stores around the corner even. Now that we know what we 'own' in their terms, we will do anything to get out of it. Turns out that we get 1 week every other year in Branson. After we pay maintenance fee of course. Hinesite is 20/20. Does anyone have any suggestions for us? We have 3 kids that have been looking forward to these vacation promises for over a year and now we have to disappoint them. We were even told we could deed this ownership (right!) over to our children. I would not curse my children with this.

we didnt buy a time share but we did buy a package to visit. When we tried booking they were over filled and we couldnt go or they would call and cancel on us. We asked for a refund and they would'nt give us one but they extended the time frame for usage. Well recently we tried calling to book our allowed days and all the phone number are no longer in service. I looked on line and oh boy the blogs and complaints on them were amazing. I finally did find a number that worked and they "supposedly" set up a room and dates and I would receive an email. Well its been a month and no email or phone calls or confirmations from them and they never returned any of our calls...Glad i never got sucked in to buy a time share. I and my husband feel bad for those who did.

I agree, with all your post. Equivest and Festiva members have a site for any complaints. You may want to visit that yahoo site. We are looking into legal areas for the group if we don't get resolution from Festiva. Would like to hear from all of you.

Wow! I am so sorry that their are so many negative statements about Festiva Resorts. I am an owner and haven't had any problems what so ever and my experience was wonderfyl. I no that anything man made will have it's flaws. I did some research and have discovered that their or less than 1% of unsatisfied customers with Festiva Resorts. Now, I find that to be amazing. I have visited other timeshare presentation and they all try to sell you something no matter what.

I agree, we are should get files together and bring them to the law. They are really a crook of all this. THis is rediculous I have to go through all this after you paid everything full. I just went to BBB NC, the personnel their said the did tried to take them to court and festiva itself been file bankruptcy and change their name thats why they still continue do their business. I hope we can get them this time. Guy please let me know when you guy doing this i'm sign up to bring them to court.

I am an owner with Festiva and have owned with other companies as well. I find these sites and those whiners on it hilarious. All of your complaints could have been resolved if you had simply read through the fine print and cancelled within the cancellation period. But no...you spend thousands of dollars frivously without doing your homework...and now its Festiva's fault. I imagine you are as angry as I am that a bunch of ill informed people signed mortgages they could not afford and have caused our economy to go into the crapper. Well did you ever stop to think that perhaps you have done the same thing here? IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE...IT PROBABLY IS. Geez guys all of the info you need is in your paperwork...ever think to read it before it was too late?

Festiva Resorts is more than willing to address all concerns from members, owners and guests. Please send all complaints in writing to:

Festiva Resorts
ATTN: Owner Services
One Vance Gap Road
Asheville, NC 28805

We appreciate it when owners and guests contact us directly so that we can address the problem.

We are members of Wyndham and have been for almost 30 years. We bought a fixed week under Fairfield Resorts and converted to point about 10 years later and enjoyed every minute of it. About 3 years ago, Fairfield was bought out by Wyndham and we still love it. Not all timeshare is a rip off.

We would like to invite members to the Q&A section of our blog at http://festivaresorts.wordpress.com so that we can directly address any questions or concerns you may have.

Of course, you can also e-mail ownerservices@festivaresorts.com any time and they can assist you.

They told you that you needed to buy points...but you knew everything right? How can this be? Was the salesperson right after all? You need to buy enough points to get where you want to go and if it is a major travel time, you need to book it on Jan 1 of that year. The problem is not with Festiva, but rather with the older owners of a failed system who are trying desperately to hold on to the past. There is a reason why everyone has been trying to help you to convert to a points program...because it works, unless you are too stupid to understand it.

Sincerely,
Fed Up With Idiots!

Dear All,

We just signed with Festiva in Feb. 09. We are in the same city as out unit, New Orleans. We will use our site for swimming, lodging and driving them crazy if I don't get what was promised. I will sit at their front door and discourage people from purchasing.

We purchased Festiva to be able to use Interval for short stays for Hurricane Evacuation.

I trust this will work out.

TCJ, New Festiva Owner

I am seeking to file a class action law suit against festiva for utilizing misleading and fraudulent sales tactics. I live in New Orleans and am curious to know if one must live in the same state as others who are interested in filing a suit against the same corporation.

Ethics;

If you contact us directly with your name, contact information, and the specifics of the sales tactics that you encountered (the date, time and name of your salesperson if possible), then we will certainly do all that we can to research the situation and come to a solution. If you do not wish to post your personal information in a public forum, please message me directly or send an e-mail with the information to comments@festivaresorts.com. We take it very seriously when our customers are not satisfied, and we will do everything that we can to work with you towards a solution.

My Wife and I had purchased a unit in Branson a few years back. The first year we were unable to use our week and did not bank it.(our fault) The second year we traded for a place in Orlando with no problems at all. The only complaint I have is the maintenance fee's going up. If there are 50 owners per cabin the fee's should not go up every year due to the fact that everything is new and you are splitting the bill between 50 other owners. I feel we are being taken advantage of.

www.vogroup.net

Mr. Burkholder;

Increases in maintenance fees are directly related to the increases in operating costs and expenses including taxes, property/building maintenance, utilities, housekeeping, etc. When you receive your invoice, it will include a breakdown of your maintenance fee so that you can see where each dollar is going.

There is more information on maintenance fees in the FAQ section of our website, www.festivaresorts.com.

The maintenance fees at Stormy Point and many of our other resorts are relatively low in our industry. According to a study done by the vacation ownership industry's non-profit organization ARDA, based on surveys conducted by Ernst & Young, the average maintenance fee in 2008 in the U.S. was $646.

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM FESTIVA RESORTS! Please read the contract! We have been owners in Banner Elk Peppertree Resorts for 20 years. We are DEED OWNERS. We just vacationed this past week. We were called and harassed for several days by the sales staff to speak with us about converting to the points. We met twice and did sign to convert. My parents are also DEED OWNERS .Festiva signed us both over for a small fee of $5800.oo . We still had some worries and read the contract over with my lawyer. My concern was with the 40 years roll over. READ # 15 in your contract (RENEWAL RIGHTS). It said you have the option to extend the membership term for an additinal 10 years if the owners notifies the club in writing at least 12 months prior to the EXPIRATION OF THE PURCHASER'S MEMBERSHIP TERM. THE COST TO RENEW AND EXTEND WILL BE EQUAL TO THE STANDARD ASSESSMENT PAYABLE BY MEMBER AS OF THE TIME MEMBER RENEWS OR A COMPARABLE AMOUNT DETERMINED BY THE CLUB AT SUCH TIME. WHAT WILL THE AMOUNT BE IN 40 YERAS?

I asked the Project Director about this statement. He said I did not read the contact correctly which means my lawyer did not as well. MR. M said that statement refered to the maintenance fees. The maintenance fees are discused in # 7 of your contract. The word Maintenance is not in # 15 of your contract. I hate to think what is going to happen when the renewal fee is due.

We decided to revock the contract. You have just 5 days to do so # 16 in your contact, you must respond with a written letter. After cancelling the contract we were treated very nasty by the Project Director and his staff .
I WILL NEVER SIGN OR HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH CONVERTING TO THE POINTS AGAIN. I will take the phone off the hook from now on when I visit the resorts to have a quite vacation. We as owners shoud not have to deal with this every time we take a vacation.

SOUTH CAROLINA

I have been an owner with festiva for 6 yrs and have enjoyed every minute. My salesperson was Tim Railsback which was very professional, he answered alot of questions so we would understand exactly how to use it.There is alot of info that you need to understand and its done quick. But it was worth the extra time we spent to read and understand exactly what we were buying.It has been a true blessing to be able to go on vacations with are children something that we will always cherish, not that we couldnt have taken them places but festiva offer places an vacations that the whole family loved something for all to enjoy and experience

South Rocks;

I am sorry that you've had trouble with your membership. I have forwarded your comments to our Owner Services supervisor, but in order to better assist you please send an e-mail with the first and last name on your contract to comments@festivaresorts.com with the best way to contact you, and I can have the appropriate person contact you directly tp resolve your issues. We are certainly willing to help as we hate to see any of our owners or members unhappy.

My wife and I live in Maine, and when walking through the mall we saw a stand that said win a free trip to Foxwoods, I filled out the form and was called up by Festiva and was told I won a free three day and two night stay if we come to this presentation, so we showed up with our 4 week old child since she wasn't taking the bottle yet (she refuses, but we will get her to take it), and filled out their forms and showed identification and showed them we had a credit card and then sat there for 15 min and then they told us that we can't go on the tour because we had our baby with us, oh and we don't get our free trip either.

Festiva Resorts is a rip off and the raffle is fake. Do not go anywhere near this place, oh they also pass themselves off as the "Adventure Club" in Portland Maine.

We traded 2 weeks at OBBC, 1 week at The Atrium and cash (of course) for the Adventure Club. The salesman promised lower maint. fees. We recently received our bill for 2010 and WOW $3, 727.50. Festiva must be nuts. I called to verify that the bill was correct. The lady I talked to said that a lot of owners had defaulted on their loans and the paying owners had to make up the difference. Sounds too much like the federal government to me.
Double D

Douglass K.,
I'm sorry that you had a negative experience at our office in Maine. There are certain qualifications that all guests must meet when taking a tour in order to receive a prize or be entered into a raffle, and i will be happy to put you in touch with someone in our Marketing department in Portland to clarify this. Please write to comments@festiva.travel with your name and the date of your tour, and we can have someone look into your situation. Also, the Festiva Adventure Club is our vacation club product and that is consistent at all of our sales sites. Further, the raffle is legitimate if qualifications are met and a presentation is completed. At the last raffle drawing over the summer, Chad Bevins of Scarborough, Maine, won two 2009 Ski-Do snowmobiles with a trailer.

Shadoe;
I will be happy to have someone contact you to further explain the maintenance fees and how they are calculated. Please write to us at comments@festiva.travel with the name on your account and I will have someone get in touch with you.

Festiva Resrts has change there name to Festiva Hospitality Group, same people that stole you money before! What do you think about a company that has ripped off so many people that they had to change there name?

Paul Reds;
We have always been operating under the company name Festiva Hospitality Group, and we have started using that name in place of Festiva Resorts as part of our 10 year anniversary initiatives this year. If you have any specific questions or concerns, we are more than happy to help you reach a resolution. Please contact us at comments@festiva.travel.

Please get in touch and tell me when we can talk.I have been a owner since 1985.I got abill the other week about more money plus fees. Thanks Steve Holcomb

My wife and I purchased a timeshare at Stormy Point 3 years ago, and are visiting as I write for our second time. Everything that we were promised was done. We absolutely love Stormy Point and look forward to our every other year visit. The people that work here and those to whom we placed our reservations have been nothing but professional and nice to talk with. I agree with earlier emails in that you must read and understand what you are getting into. We were wondering whether the property would suffer any disrepair since our last visit. It is just as attractive and welcoming as we found in our first visit. I am sorry to hear that some have not had a good experience with Stormy Point. That is unfortunate because we have been bringing our grown children and their spouses along with my 89 year old Mom and we have had a restful and relaxing time. Oh, the maintainance fee is somewhere between 4 and 5 hundred which is not too bad either. We did experience a tiring pressure sales presentation to switch to points last time but we just said, "No". I like the fixed week. It works for us. Perhaps some of the others who complained needed to be able to "just say no" and they would not be in the fret that they are in today.
Wayne from Dallas...

As for the yahoo group site for Equivest/Peppertree owners it seems to have disappeared. Ihave found one named http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Peppertree-EquivestOwners/ A little switching of wording. Have not been excepted yet so not sure if ligit. Wonder what happened to other. Seems originator "settled" his concerns with Festiva. New site with flipping of the name? Festiva ploy? Contact the North Carolina Attorney General's Office? [protected], Deborah Ahlman [protected] You may also want to try the NC Real Estate Commission [protected] They used scare tactics on me also, calling my home and at their resots. One even stated that they had already converted 90% of Equivest inventory to Festiva and that the rest of us would be stuck paying all the expenses of the club if we did not convert and there would be little inventory available to use. Maybe if enough people complain about Festiva's scare tactics to the NC Attorney General's office and NC real Estate Commission, Festiva can be forced to refund the money and return owners and inventory to Equivest/ Peppertree Vacation Club. I am sure most who have converted have found the Festiva Club not near as good as Peppertree and only did so out of fear or deception. Why else would you pay thousands of dollars for a less flexible vacation club?

Correct site for Festiva complaints, call to action and discussions http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Peppertree-EquivestOwners/ as of 7/31/10

I backed out within the grace period... sometimes i am so smart i shock myelf! Festiva is a SCAM as is most of these vacation deals.

I am yet another frustrated Festiva Resort timsehare owner, who was pressured into selling while on vacation n the Bahamas, I never visited my timeshare, just saw photos on the wall! I live in Louisiana and have yet to take one trip, nothing available, unless Im willing to spend more money, I want out! I plan on filing a complaint with the Attorney General Office. If there is a class action, please count me in and provide contact information. These people are rip-off artists and not at all as they appear during the presentation, and No I have not been able to get assistance with how to get out from under this rip-off!