Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club [LHVC] review: fraud and cheating! 261

Strike up another one!
I have a couple of timeshares with both RCI and Interval. Bookings I'm able to get are in something slighly better than a junk yard at best. I'm starting to get the impression that any timeshare is sold to 10 owners at a time for every week of the year. How is it possible that nothing is available EVER in any part of the geography on this earth?!
The disclosures on the documents are there, but they are so broad th ey don't hold water in court.
Timeshares through RCI or Interval are really a total rip off and would never recommend one to a friend, or an enemy for that matter. Save your money, take a vacation in a place that can meet your expectations.

I have had the same problem, and we should do something about it if we can't get our money back, at least do something to stop thier fraud, that way we may have a chance to presure them into paying us back
call Mary lou
at [protected]
Ethics Administrator
at ARDA
and report your case

My husband and I purchased 3o weeks deal 2 years ago. We haven't had a need to use it until now and when contacting customer service found out that the compay we signed up for was recently purchased by Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club.
I found it very interesting as we have not received any notice and there is certainly nothing in our contract about that. Now the Lifestyle holidays are trying to talk us into signing their contract. I am glad I came across these posts so I know not to.
A few months ago I was watching 20/20 and there was an episode about a group of people suing a company similar to Lifstyle but located in Mexico...and the company did give them their money back.

I agree that Lifestyles Holidays are full of misleading and not so honest tactics. Does any one now who and how to sue this compnay to get my money back? I live in Canada PLease email info on doing this,
Thanks!

I too am a victim. I traded in my time share that I purchased from Radisson Palm Beach Florida and mailed them the deed, when I got back to the United States. Now Raddison Palm Beach Shores has turned me into collections for not paying the taxes and maintenance fees. I faxed them the paperwork showing I traded it in, but they said the deed is still in my name. My mother passed away in April of 2007, then my daughter had her first born early and he had to have surgery at 5 days old. Then December of 2007 my oldest daughter passed away, so I have not really tried to resolve this, because I have had trouble putting one foot in front of the other. But I know I paid a lot of money for this and never received the two big catalogs I was shown that I could choose my vacation destination out of. Now I am told there are no catalogs! I can't believe nothing can be done about fraud! If anybody has any ideas, please email me. Thanks Robin Stogsdill

My Husband and I were approach by lifestyle Hoilday Vacation in the Dominican Rub, the sales rep´s were very nice at first and became extreme pushy and wanted us to sign a contract right away he told us we would have to make a decision now and pay half up front today. ( and the same to good to be true things mention above) We told him we could not decide now and would have to think about it. This is a big scam and I feel terrible for people who were taken advantage of.

Say No Thanks!

Folks ... VIP Lifestyle is a scam job. They are not honest with you right from the beginning. We sat through their presentation, and they quickly requested a 56% up front payment and the remaining to be charged monthly on our credit cards. In addition, if we didn't sign immediately, we were told that the prices would increase the following weeks. What legitimate business runs a scheme like this? They also refused to give us a contract copy to review for at least 3 days before committing to sign. Again, what were they afraid of? They showed a beautiful 2-bedroom apt in Cabarete, Dom. Rep. and claimed they owned the whole complex (from studios to penthouse) and promising to rent any of the rooms for as long as you wanted. The truth is they only owned one apartment in the whole complex and used it as bait to tempt unaware people to push their vacation packages. This is almost like a ponzi scheme. Some legitimate original owners in this complex are worried about VIP Lifestyles offices existing in their premises which might negatively affect their condo value. Look before you leap into this deal!

Hi All,

We are 6 people involved in the same fraud! We are from Spain and while spending holidays in the Dominican Republic got hooked by these Lifestyle representatives, promising first class vacation services, etc. After having signed w have tried several times to use our services, butalways the same answer: Nothing available! and with months in advance...We've tried to get in touch with them, asking for refund since the contract was not respected, etc, ...impossible. Finally I have found you facing the same problem. I refuse to accept this. This are basic consumer's rights being totally ripped-off. Please we are requiring some advice or hints from Spain. If you can tell us what to do, ...did someone get his money back? We feel upset with this issue and we are sure that there must be something to do!

Thanks in advance

oh my gosh the same happened to me when on Holiday in Dominican Republic it all seemed to good to be true as they show you round the resorts which i must say are amazing but lucky for me my card was declined! I hope you all get something sorted i have to find other ways of making money maybe just buy a villa in the republic and rent it out

we too have bought into lifestyle in the Dom rep and haven't had to many problems. I think the big problem comes when you buy at the lower levels which we did at first and try to book a villa as they tell you, you can and pay the extra service charge. This wouldn't ever happen I don't think but we managed to get a 2 bed appt which should have been two but they messed up and we ended up with 2 hotel rooms as well. they did however refund our service charges and gave us free entry to Ocean world. we upgraded to a small villa package last year and we booked and stayed in one Feb just gone. they did however try to get us to take hotel rooms before we left the UK as they had obviously over booked but I said NO! I think there are issues with the place and I would always book at least a year in advance, but we have even exchanged a week for a week in Spain in one of their sister resorts which I know is good!

I have been going to lifestyle for 5 years now and never have I had any problems. I absolutely love this place and all that work there. Everyone is so gracious and accomadating. It definitely pays to have things in black and white. I would definitely recommend lifestyles it is fabulous!

I cannot understand how anyone could recommend VIP as fabulous nor accommdating based on people's own wretched experience with this company. We were almost convinced until we scrutinized the contract (even though it was 'black and white') as the previous writer noted. Not everything that you need to know is on that contract. I also understand that it's very difficult to get reimbursed or even prosecute due to a questionable political connection to the Dom Rep government. You won't receive what you want booked for the time you desire despite paying way over 50% right from the start. Friends of ours to this day sadly regret their novice decision when they signed VIP's contract. Stay away, stay far away from this so-called dream vacation program.

BEWARE++++

info@newstartdot.com or fh24@netzero.net

VacationsFRBO.com Rental Inquiry for Property ID 31654‏
advertises renting a timeshare at Sosua bay resort or Hotel victorian in Sosua for
$330 week for a junior suite. LIes his ### off and books at HAcienda tropical in Cofresi.

I have been a member of Lifestyle Holidays for 5 years and each year it gets better and better. I go down there at least twice a year. I have never had reason to complain and would even like to mention that each year they give me an additional benefit to enjoy with my membership. When I first because a member they didn’t have the VIP beach, VIP World nor the Gourmet nor the heli or the Limo, but as they have been adding them on I get to enjoy them. They have big plans for the future and I know that I will get to enjoy these too. Dont try and ruin this for us, the complaints are from people that want more than what they deserve. They buy a small package for a few weeks but they expect to be able to have all the top benefits, what’s up with that? I paid for a Villa package because I want to be able to have the Villas I didn’t buy a Junior Suite package and expect to take a Villa away from a member that bought Villas. It doesn’t make any sense to me. You guys are not victims you just want something for nothing, this isn’t how the world is, this is just how we got ourselves into a worldwide financial mess. Stop your whining. I read all this stuff and would really like the world to know that there are many many of us that are so happy with this membership and have been for years now. Since people only write to complain I just wish that the REAL members would see this and write the truth, but I guess they are busy ENJOYING life.

I just returned from my 5th trip to Lifestyles Holidays Vacation Club. I go at least once a year and wish I could go 5 times a year. The place just keeps getting better and better. I have brought friends and family there on each of my trips to LHVC. Some of those people have been there 2, 3, and 4 times with me. This year I had 38 people with me and we were all in villas. The program does work. The Dominican people and the people who work at LHVC are so accomadating, friendly, and will do just about anything to make your stay the best ever. They have become like family. Mercedes, one on my maids in the villa, Dorca, Fatima, Maria and Ceasar at villa reception, Glenys, Jaihara, Ray, Alphonso, Zeke, the waiters, waitresseses and bartenders on the beach. Pedro, Orlando, Francisco, some of the maitre d's at the restaurants. Theresa, Indiana, Melanie, and Jeffrey some of the Vip customer service reps. Also, Yeimi, Nabila, Jackie and Anya in the office, have all welcomed me back each and every year. In fact to a person they say "welcome home" each and every year.
I understand about sales tactics as I have been doing timeshare since 1980 and this program works. You must buy a villa package though if you want a villa. Sure if a villa is available for a suite package owner you will get it but the place is so fabulous suite package owners need to go in off season . I would hope they would not take a villa away from me or another villa owner. You get what you pay for and the customer service will try their best to accomadate your needs. Soon, I will be making plans to return in November and then again next Feburary and all you complainers will probablly still be out there. The Happy, satisfied members of LHVC will continue to enjoy all the people, improvements, food and drink and sun and fun that the LHVC has to offer. Thanks

On March 23th 2009 while on vacation in the Dominican Republic at the Lifestyles Holidays resort (as a rental guest of a member, we paid the member for the week’s stay) we attended a sales presentation for membership in the vacation club of the resort. After much alcohol (they kept the glasses full of alcohol and served champagne at several tour stops) and high pressure sales, we signed a contract and two credit cards through Bank of America were charged with high amounts.

We immediately the next morning expressed regret, but again experienced high pressure sales.

Immediately upon our return home I contacted our assigned customer service representative, Vance Paul, via email and requested a full cancellation. He attempted to give us alternative financing options, but we declined fully and requested a full refund and cancellation, confirmed with email. I also contacted Bank of America on this day and spoke with Reggie in billing disputes who stated I should send immediately a certified letter via postal mail requesting a refund, which I did.

I then exchanged several emails with a Mr Rountos, who again tried to offer us financing options, but I have always responded with a firm request for cancellation.

The email arrived today from Mr Rountos completely denying our request to cancellation any portion of this membership and it’s fees.

There is not any reference to cancellation terms in the contract.

I have requested contact information beyond Mr Rountos and have not been able to receive anyone additional to contact.

The stay at the resort was just average. My daughter was covered in bug bites, we could not ever find seating on the so called VIP beach due to overcrowding, could not make restaurant reservations due to over crowding, and the villa? Can you say COCKROACH?

STAY AWAY FROM THIS RESORT AND THEIR ###

I actually cannot believe that a few comments on this website promote this unethical company. Me and my wife have been thru their pounding presentation earlier this year and immediately sensed VIP's persistent and cloudy information. This was confirmed to us when we asked to see a 2-BD apartment in Cabarete and were always told that none were available. Of course none were available ... we later learned that those 2-BD apartments were not part of VIP's available rooms - a lie from the start. The complaints on this website are legitimate and should be taken seriously. Those few who have experienced ecstasy then lucky you. There are far too many honest people that I spoke with who backed up my assumption that this business venture is just plain fraud. Seriously take heed because you won't be able to cancel anything, and that's why we hesitated in signing anything. Nothing is up-front with this gang. This is not whining as someone mentioned, but a a very real misrepresentation to what was verbally and contractually provided.

My wife and I were casually walking around Ocean World in Puerto Plata when all of a sudden a guy in company uniform signaled us to come this way and talk to him. That's when he lured us away from Ocean World premises and drove us in a golf cart pretending that he's giving us a tour and kept insisting that it's part of Ocean World package.

Please, please watch out for people walking around in Lifestyle Holidays uniform and stay away from them!

Over at the Life Style resort the sales person begged us to give him money, he said "any thing, just give me anything..."

I swear to God I will never visit Ocean World again!

I was with a friend down by Sosua Beach when were approached by a guy in a uniform that wanted to show us Sosua by the Bay Hotel. We thought ok it might be a nicer Hotel so we went with him. We got to the Hotel and they gave us free beers, and then came the sales guy.

This guy was something else, showing us the rooms treating us like buddies. I am born and raised in New York, so i figured something is wrong, no one is this nice. He goes on to the whole presentation about the no monthly fee timeshare and how i can book with just 3 days advance notice and in red zones it would be 3 months. Calls his boss and tells us great news one of his Gold clients is getting a divorce and they need to sell out, so he can give me their contract for a low price of 20k.

I felt rushed so I decided to mess around with this guy a little bit, I ask him if i do sign up and become a member, can i bring girls i meet at bars into the suites? His answer sure. I then asked him what if i wanted to bring three hookers in his villas? His answer; Sure no problem. I told him that i was into throwing all out orgy parties where i invite couples and local girls and mostly hookers and we party all nigh with cocaine and marijuana.

The look on this face was priceless, he said "Yea sure as long as no one complains about the noise."

At that moment i knew it was a scam, I thanked him and walked out.

Hi Everyone, I just recently became a victim, they promised to buy my timeshare and haven't done so. Its only been one month but I do not trust them and I am speakign to a few lawyers as we speak. I am from the dominican republic and will not stop until I get my money back or until they purchase my timeshare. I do love the hotel and what they offer but if they do not purchase my timeshare soon I will find a lawyer. I am from there so I will find someone. I only bought it if they were going to buy my timeshare and it does say so on my agreement. The law if very tricky over there but I will not rest until I get either 1) my money back or 2) they officially purchase my timeshare.

does anyone have any updates on this? I will keep you updated on my issue.

my husband and i also bought into this scam whilst on holiday in dr.we were given an excessive amount of alcohol at the time, we did sign up although we could hardly see what we were signing due to intoxication.we asked to be moved to the resort for the remaining week of our holiday which they did, put us in a villa down by the beach, we thought fanastic until that night, oh my god!i was eaten alive by mossys the whole villa was full of them and the next morning we were left our breakfast, along with the resorts whole population of cockcroaches.i packed my suitcases went straight to vip reception and told them if i wasnt moved i was going home, they said they had no other villas free(we bought the villa package 52 weeks top package), so i sat there nearly all day refusing to move and definitly not going back to horror villa, eventually they found us a lovely villa just up the hill (with a golf cart).that was 3 years ago we have tried to book again several times for dr and sister resorts with no luck.i have consulted a solicitor for a refund and was told there is nothing we can do due to different laws.he did say that if we didnt keep up payments then they might take us to court, that way we might have a leg to stand on.we have not made a payment for 2 years now and only had 1 e-mail saying we are behind with our payments.we are not paying another penny to them they are a rip off company.we did put half down and paying rest over 10 years, i know we probably wont get our money back but they certainly arent getting any more of our hard earnt cash! julie england.

Has anyone used this lifestyle holidays vacation for all inclusive options with aruba?

I am trying to set it up and for the price they are offerring is way too much. $150/day per person for all inclusive!

I can find this same option for the same price and possibly less! Please provide any other issues that have happened. I am really thinking about getting my money back for my wife and myself.

Communication is freaking horrible!

To those who boast of excellent treatment as a V.I.P. member with the villa membership, let me set you straight. I AM an owner of the "PLATINUM" membership and it was the WORST thing my husband and I could have done. We are supposed to have access to villas at any time (I understand holidays are tough). Guess what? I requested a villa for the month of June 2010 and was told they are all booked! I made this request in September 2009, 9 months prior. I have listed my villa on VRBO because they assured us that we would have availability whenever we requested (which was one of the reasons we purchased the membership). 9 out of 10 requests have to be turned away because there is no availability, even when I make the request more than 6 months in advance. Of course they also told us that they would purchase our existing timeshare and did not so we are still paying the maintenance on that. If there is anyone out there that has made any progress in resolving this criminal behavior on the part of this resort from hell? I have made several requests to the customer service department to have someone in authority to contact me and I am still waiting...
MARY

Thank you to all of you who wrote something about this timeshare, fraudulent timeshare. We almost got got into this. Thank God for da iPhone that as da salesman were hypnotizing my wife and I with his speech, full of promises, we were able to research da company and came across this website with all ur complaints, read it to the salesrep, and walked out. I wanted to share this with you to let you know that your complaints have been heard and thanks for looking out. Stay away from direct buy as well!

JUJUFISHY,

Good for you. Wish we had done the same, but now we are in a sinking boat with this company.

I am a member and yes they misrepresented regarding the timeshare and on the contract it says you cannot sue for misrepresentation. I kept contacting them daily to see when they will purchase it from me. I told them I will not get the membership unless they buy my timeshare off my hands. I told them I was still making payments on them. It turns out that they do not buy your timeshare from you if you have a balance on your timeshare account. They left my price the same for the lifestyle membership of what i purchased with the deduction of my timeshare. They told me since I have a balance I have to sell the timeshare on my own. Before I got this membership I went to a company to sell my timeshare and they charged me 700 to list it on their site. I took it off their site b/c of lifestyle. The company now is charging me another $450 and I told lifestyle since they told me they were taking it off my site then they have to give me $450 or deduct that from any payments I owe them. They told me that the $450 will be a credit so when I travel they will deduct it from there. They were willing to work with me regarding that. Now that I look at it, for me it makes more sense to sell my timeshare on my own I will get more money then just to transfer it to lifestyle. I am traveling there in June with my membership, I did want the villa however the villa is booked and I called recently but they do have two bedroom apartments.

I will post again after June to let you know how my trip went. This is the first time I go as a member and sleep over. They also have a new contact person which is very quick to answer all my questions. I think the biggest complaint in this company is because of timeshare owners they are not clear at all.

The fact that the contract says can't sue for sales misrepresentation makes it hard to sue however make them work with you and sell your timeshare through a company and tell lifestyle to deduct what you paid that company so they can credit your account. The credit however can only be used when you book but at least you don't feel like you lost your money.

I really enjoyed the day i spent there when I went it was amazing hotel, and the food was excellent and so was the entertainment. As far as the timeshare well they worked with me and gave me a credit so at least they worked with me.

My mother had seen Lifestyile advertisement on TV and said that might be what I was looking for. So I called a she told us about the procedure and how it would be so easy and possibly go to work the next day. Need I say more, I did not go to work the next day. I went about a week later. I was in pain but I had expected some. I cleaned all the wounds the way I should, took the antibiotics, etc. I noticed that I was not getting better. I kept getting a scabby area in an area on my neck where there was no cutting and it kept getting bigger. I had lipo suction done on my neck area. The infection came through the skin it looked like it. My ears did not want to heal, which I have pictures. I called and went in. They treated me like I was deceased, did not want me to get near people. They prescribed me clindamycin strong antibiotic. I asked why I was getting this infection and no one would give me a direct answer. I asked if it could have happened during the surgery but they said nothing like I never asked the question. I was rushed out of the office as fast as they could get me out. I was also told the person had over booked the day I had the surgery and that they were totally swamped that day. I was suppose to have my appointment a week later but they called me early so I am went in a week early. If I had of waited, I believe that I would not have gotten the infection due to them rushing through the procedure. They did me wrong and I would never recommend anyone to them. My mom thought about it and told her not to even think about it. I had recommended a friend at work to go and took it back, told she does not want to do that. I have been contacted for my mother once, told them she will not step foot into that place. Money is all they are interested in and do not care about the person, if you want to feel like a piece of meat and spend your money then go. It has been a year since I had this procedure and I am still upset about what happened, but they won’t let me see the doctor which I had asked to see the first time I went and called a couple weeks later and said that he could was too busy at this time but someone else could help me. WELL, I did not call back.

My husband and I just returned from the Dominican where we stayed at Lifestyle. We were FORCED to go thru the sales pitch or not receive our VIP tickets for the party. After finding out that they wanted $75, 000 and $999 rental of the "Villas" we certainly were not in that market. After we declined we were treated SO poorly and hounded daily to go back and talk to the sales rep. Me accidentally bumped into driends that "own" and they have to book a year in advance for just a suite and can't ever get into any of the other promised sister resorts. The food was horrible at best and the hospitality was non exhistent.

IVE JUST RETURNED - AGAIN FROM LHVC! THIS IS THE 2ND THIS YEAR, ON TOP OF THE 6 TIMES LAST YEAR, I WILL ALSO BE THERE IN JUNE 2010, AUG 2010, AND DECEMBER 2011, THE REASON BEING, I USE MY MEMBERSHIP, I BOOK LOTS OF HOLIDAYS AND FRIENDS, I DONT ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE THAN I PAID FOR, WHICH WAS A 5 BED VILLA PACKAGE PLATINUM. I SM FLOWN IN, PAMPERED, HAVE AREAS WHICH ARE JUST FRO MEMBERS TO VISIT IE: THE NEW BEACH! I HAVE SAID IT BEFORE, AND I WILL AGAIN... YOUR COMPLAINTS ARE DUE TO YOUR OWN MISGIVINGS ABOUT THIS RESORT, AND THE FACT THAT FOR MOST AMERICANS COMPLAINING IS PART OF THE HOLIDAY. GET OVER YOURSELVES, AND ENJOY IT INSTEAD OF BEING WINGING AMERICANS ON TOUR!

I NOT ONLY BOUGHT, I HAVE ALSO SOLD IT TO 14 OTHER FAMILIES... WE ALL MEET THERE ONCE A YEAR AT THE SAME TIME, AND ITS FABULOUS, MY ONLY COMPLAINT, THE HELICOPTER SHOULD BE A BIGGER ONE, TO HOLD ALL THE VIP PLATINUM GUESTS THAT JUST ADORE BEING FLOWN IN BY HELICOPTER, TO A RESOT THAT JUST GET BETTER EACH YEAR... BIGGER BIGGER BIGGER - BETTER BETTER BETTER!

I CANT WAIT FOR THE 18TH APRIL 2010... AS IM OFF AGAIN FOR A WEDDING, JUST A CHEEKY LITTLE WEEK, BOOKED 4 DAYS AGO... NO HASSLE, I THINK YOUR PROBLEMS ARE ALL SELF INFLICTED.

ENJOY THE MOANING... STOP RUNING IT FOR 99% OF THE MEMBER THAT ENJOY THIS FANTASTIC RESORT.

DAVID - UNITED KINGDOM!

My family travelled to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic April 1, 2010. We stayed at the Lifestyle Hacienda Resort. On April 3rd we met with representatives from Lifestyles to learn more about their vacation resort membership. We spent 3 hours with the representative from Lifestyles named Jacinto.
Jacinto and his manager handed us a book titled Interval International. They informed us that purchasing a vacation resort membership with Lifestyles gave us full access as Premier members to their entire sister resorts in the Interval International Resort book. They sold the membership to us based on their guarantees’ of no black out days, no peak holiday travel concerns and with a 3 month lead time, they would guarantee us reservations at any of the resorts in the Interval International Resort book. The only sister resort directory we had ever discussed was the Interval International book, which I have in my possession.
We repeatedly asked for confirmation that any and all of their properties were available to us with the 3 month lead time. The representative even went so far as to boast about getting a member a room in Vancouver, Canada a week before the Olympics, that is how good they are. We agreed to join the membership--- Platinum . Immediately upon our return I contacted Nicole in their customer service department to make a reservation at a resort I found in the Interval International book that we brought home with us. The resort was in Key West Florida. We wanted to travel October, 2010. Nicole directed me to the Lifestyle web site where she told me I would find a list of their sister resorts. This astounded me to say the least because at no time during the contract negotiations were we told of any sister resorts other than those listed in the Interval International book. I accessed the Lifestyles web site per Nicole’s direction where I found nowhere near the quantity or quality of resorts that were promised to us during the contract negotiations. We were handed a book during the contract discussions titled Interval International with literally thousands of 5 star resort options, but then when it came time to make a reservation we were directed to a web site which featured 1/3 of the offerings and nowhere close to the quality we were guaranteed.
This is a classic case of bait and switch, which is a form of fraud. Lifestyles lured us in and convinced us to join their vacation membership using the Interval International resort directory. They made false promises and guarantees’ of availability. When it came time for us to book reservations we were offered a room 2 ½ hours north of Key West, Florida in a one star motel. I complained to Nicole from customer service that this is not what was promised us. Nicole informed me there might be some type of confusion or misunderstanding with the Interval International relationship, and she transferred me to a man by the name of Vance. When I expressed my outrage to Vance on the bait and switch technique he proceeded to tell me, and I quote “I don’t think there is anything we can do to make you happy .” Offering me a one star motel hundreds of miles from where I was interested in staying, is not what was discussed and agreed upon during contract negotiations. Lifestyles intentionally misrepresented themselves. They knowingly made a material misrepresentation that we relied on and based our contract on. We immediately informed Nicole, via email to cancel our contract and refund our deposit in full based on misrepresentation and fraudulent claims.