Festiva Development Group review: festiva resorts misleads consumers 58

Not sure what will come of me this year. I had a guy come to my house to pressure me to switch to points for $3500.00. He didn't tell me the cost until wasting my time for 1 hour. Then he got upset, saying I would eventually convert, but it will not be for the "generous" offer given above. Something like $6000. Whatever. While the managers previous to Festiva were Peppertree and then Fairfield, my maintanence fees never went up more than $20 each year. NOW, it went up over $50 the first year they "owned me" and $104 last year. I still haven't received my bill for this year..scared to see what it will be. Then I tried to contact RCI to bank my week but can't until I pay the maintenance fee... yeah, I know, but when is the bill coming? FYI- NOW what RCI has done with us color/fixed weeks people is make each week worth a point/power system when you bank your week. Trying to figure out how your value is determined is a mystery to me. So if anyone has any advise... please share. They are damned determined to make us switch to points... DON"T pay for this... seems like a rip off to me.

My wife and I bought in with Equivest in nov 2000 and basicly was told a bunch of lies from get go fron the salesman Jerry Gilly we was told we would get a deed and that this was not a timeshare. Well we have never gotten to go where we"ve wanted to go and have had to settle for whatever now Festiva owns and tried there scare tactics with us. We requested to give it back we owed nothing and was told we could not give it back, then we get a new bill in the mail for 300 and some odd dollars that the letter stated would have to be paid every year for 3 years and then we still have the maintenance fees on top of that. I am in the process now of talking to Sen Heath Shuler about this matter to see if we can just shut this ripp off company Festiva down atleast in North Carolina. We need relief in this matter.

we are sorry to see you have concerns with your ownership. Please send us your contact information to comments@festia.travel and I can have a manager review your account. We look forward to the opportunity to address your concerns and answer you questions.

I feel the same as most of you. Is there any way I can get any $ out of my timeshare and NOT pay anymore? I just want OUT. My husband & I bought this "great" deal in Charleston this past July. We've regretted ever since. Please let us know what we should do. We don't want to pay anything but don't want our credit damaged. Thanks...rgownbey@aol.com

I am really nervous after reading these posts concerning Festiva. We owned fixed week at Banner Elk for 15 yrs, and took the same vacation every year, and made the most of it. For the last 3 yrs, we just simply ignored the messages from the sales staff, and done our thing. In Sept. 2010, we agreed to give them an hour to show us the points system, so we could understand it, and we ended up spending 5 hrs. The rep told us that the maintenance fees would continue to go up, and they were 90% plus converted to points, and we would eventually convert too. I offered to sell them our fixed week, for way less than we paid, but they declined, and we wrote them a check for the required conversion, then on top of that our maintenance fees tripled. We always pay them for what they say we owe, whether we agree or not, but our last vacation to Banner Elk was horrible. They moved us because there was no reception on the TV, but we have complained about that for the last 5 yrs. We are currently planning a trip to the beach area, and my hope is that we dont have any issues like the poor folks that we have read about. I would like to know how many actually converted. I felt like we were pressured into this, and had to buy our LIFETIME of vacations, ALL OVER AGAIN.

Please send us your contact information to comments@festiva.travel and I will have a customer service representative contact you to address your concerns. We look forward to hearing from you.

In March 2007 I purchased a Festiva timeshare in Charleston, Sc only because a special travelcard promised discount trips around the world . I gave $2300 downpayment, made 13 payments @ $312 each and 2 $500 maintenace fees in 1 year. And never was able to access travel card or website. It was under construction according to Representative from Festiva. I tried to get a refund to no avail. So I stopped payments in hope of this turning into a legal matter that would be taken into SC court. To this day I have never heard from this company, or received any refund of my $7000.

JRS2508,

I am not aware of any such card ever existing, however I may be able to help you if I could research your account and see what took place. We take customer service very serious and would like the opportunity to answer any questions you may have. Please email us your contact and account information to comments@festiva.travel.

If anyone is starting a class action suit on this let me know. Please. We are in the same sitation as everyone else. Got suckered into buying something we have never been able to use. We really need out. Can't afford the payments anymore and its starting to damage my credit and they are harrassing me on my cell phone and at work. We have NEVER been able to use the points and were told everywhere we called that festiva doesn't own any of the resorts they rent a spot during certin timeframes and book from that. But none of those timeframes are during times anyone actually wants to vacation there. Please contact me here if anyone is starting a lawsuit. I live in Louisiana. What I don't understand is how this is called a mortgage when there is no tangible property attached to it.

why would you put down a payment of over 30%? or is that a lie?

This thread is a joke.

We visited a Festiva Presentation in Portland, Maine. The pressure was very high. My husband and I just did not have the money that they wanted. It was "sign today" or this offer will NEVER be given to you again. We did end up buying a weeks vacation deal. There were specific dates that we could take the vacation. However, when we went to book our vacation in the Bahamas, there was nothing available. We tried New Orleans, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Missouri. All unavailable. I asked what they did have available. Rangeley resort. We paid all that money for a vacation 20 minutes from home. Unbelievable. No refunds. We had to take it. I am so glad that we did not sign for the big deal. I DO NOT RECOMMEND FESTIVA---Scammers!

mainebuttassfly you do have up to 18 months to book the thing... it is spring break and they prob aren't going to put freeloaders up at resort during peak times... sorry thats just the logical way i like to use my head but i guess you dont have the capacity to do that.

My husband and I purchased in Myrtle Beach last year. We spent over $15, 000 on this crap and had an uneasy feeling from the start. We should've known! They NEVER answer the phone and do not care if you get to go on vacation at all. I hope Festiva goes bankrupt!

United States

Hi, I have a time share unit or points thru Equivest at Blue Ridge Villas in North Carolina. Recently we have been taken over or managed by Festiva Resorts. We have had several presentation opportunities with Festiva which we attended in thier effort to convert us to The Adventure Club. This process of converting was going to cost several thousand dollars which we would not even consider.
There lastest attempt to get us to convert is a 990.00 dollar conversion cost to the Adventure Club in which by my appraisel is not as flexible as the contract I have with Eqivest. They have what I call a scare tactic within the package. They have noted that Eqivest has a dwindling membership which is going to amount to larger maintenance fees and special assessments.

I have several questions to anyone that is knowledgeable about this subject:

Is Equivest going to go under because of dwindling memberships and defaults?

Is the fact of much higher maintenance fees just a threat or reality?

Is Festiva a time share resort that I would want to be a part of?

What is the fate of Equivest Owners if the membership does go under?

Should we hang on to our Equivest contract to the bitter end?

Any advise on this matter would be appreciated,
john

Festiva doesn't care if you can feed your family, I got out of my timeshare with those crooks. Feel free to email me, if you are doing a class action there is lots of info out there. bunnyhop58@cheerful.com

Is there anyway to cancel Festiva?