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

Hello,

I am an apprentice at a New York law firm and am responding to the above postings about LHVC. Our law firm is investigating the conduct about which you are complaining in your posts. If you would like to learn more about the work that we are doing on our end and would like to discuss your experiences, please do not hesitate to contact me at your earliest convenience. My phone number is [protected] ext. 133, and my email is monyuck.yu@balestriere.net. You can also contact Laura Sayler at laura.sayler@balestriere.net.

Thanks,

Mon Yuck

Hi

I bought a Penthouse suite vacation plan from Lifestyles and I agree there were many promises made verbally like we would have access to the golf carts when we visited and once asked I was told that this would be only if they are available. The recent problem that I have run into is that the PO box for the Sun Trust Bank in Atlanta has been closed and my last payment was sent back to me. I have written twice to Lifestyles and have not had any response so if someone knows the new address where we are to send our monthly payment, please let me know/
Lucie (lucielabreche@msn.com)

Wow, I did not know there are so many complaints about LHVC...well glad I know now! Please send me an email and I know the whole works as seen from the inside while at LHVC guys. Of course I am not a victim, but I have alot of information to share.

For the platinum supreme guy, yes! I guess you would get a villa if you have a big 60-100 thousand dollar package. But I would not be surprise if you where the owner of lifestyle or a hired employee to post good comments about LHVC in this complaint section.

¨OOH GEEZ! I DONT KNOW WHAT LEVEL OF MEMBERSHIP YOU ALL HAVE, BUT I--MMA PLATINUM PAAACKAGE¨

Dude! you sound like you work there! You even have the upon AVAILABILITY at the end. People! you want to know the truth? well email me at iknowthetruthlhvc@live.com---funny thing is I will problably get an email from a spy of LHVC B4 I receive one from a victin...Oh well

Thanks!

I am interested in information concerning the Lifestyles purchases. Could someone who purchased please let me know the name and address of the company in the British Virgin Islands and the escrow offices in Florida.

Any and all information would be appretiated.

Jacci

jrpull@yahoo.com

We recently visited the resort and sat through 5 hours of hard pushy sales presentations.

The contract is not worth the paper it is written on.

The company listed office is in antille's.

The legal system is based on british virgin isles. You would have to fight this in court in the virgin isles.

They did not sell it to us, we looked at Brasil and Russia and have an eye for a scam!

same thing happened to me and my husband... lost a lot of money because of lies and misrepresentation. Nothing but lies, and scams. 15ooo dollars down the drain.. do you know they charge for a continental breakfast here in the US when you use one of the "sister resorts".. it falls under the all inclusive category, under sister resort fees in the contract... 20.09 cent per person for a bagel and a coffee.. I dont know about ya'll but Ive never been charged for a continental breakfast. That made the hotel 10 dollars more than if I had just booked myself without the Lifestyle membership. Not to mention they were suppose to "buy " my Timeshare from us, even though it had a balance, (which they were fully aware of) because we talked about over and over and over again. They looked me straight in the eye and lied and we (as in my husband my myself) are idiots for believing them and not having the contract changed. I really think we should do something about it. I want to go to Dateline, 20/20, anywhere that will listen to my story and the fact that I got swindled out of 15000 dollars. If anyone is interested in helping me in my quest to set all of these wrongs right, please please please contact me at iamsweetenuf@yahoo.com (my name is Angie) Im ready to take these people down!

iamsweetenuf@yahoo.com

All these complaints are true. We fell victim of this Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club in Aug. 2010. We wished we had read any complaints before. The salesperson lured us into signing a contract by misrepresenting a lot of things including the all inclusive fees, free transfers to sister resorts and thousands of five-star hotels around the world. All lies. When we sent emails to Nicole for revision of contract or cancellation, she never responded to our emails. We tried to dispute through Bank of America but were told that we had no recourse because all verbal promisses were reduced to a paper contract which we signed. Bank of America also told us that we should have asked for cancellation policy before signing the contract and have it put in writing. What a world! Could someone help to put an end to this tip of rip-off business.

Thanks much for posting these complaints here. We need to get the whole world aware of this Lifestycle Holidays Vacation Club and its rip-off business dealings and hopefully someone someday will stop it from further victimizing other innecent people by cheating and deception.

I read each of the complaints you guys wrote and I was more than shock. It seems like I am the latest victim for this bull [censor] membership. I went to DR punta Cana Be Live resort during the thanksgiving, and got approached by lifestyle holiday sales person. I try to ignore them, but as you guys know, it was very hard. So, I signed the contract for 15weeks 25yr junior Suite membership. And, I 've been charged down payments with my credit card right away at the resort. Although I signed the contract, I was feeling very uncomfortable. So, I started to look up online for the reviews. Obviously, I saw so many bad reviews for this membership. I decide to cancel it right next day while I was staying at the resort. I was very aggresive for cancellation and they were keep saying that their headquarter handles all the cancellation process, so there is nothing they could do at that point, which doesn't make sense at all. Anyways, I asked for cancellation document with their sign on it for my reference. And, I also voice recorded the things that they mentioned about the cancellation policies and their rules. They told me that they will return the full amount within 7 days, which I doubt about it. I have enough evidences to fight for this bull [censor]. Let's get together to have our money back.

I don't buy stories about bullied into a sale. the problem you are encountering is not with LifeStyles, it's with RCI. Next time when you make an investment think about getting all the facts up front.
I've had my Lifestyles membership for 4 years and have been amazingly delighted at how wonderful they are.
You just need to know what you want.

Been a member for one yr and just went on my second trip to Lifestlye in DR. Bought in with a jr suite membership with the option to upgrade. We stayed at the Presendtial Suites and everything went as planned. We had a la cartes every night and access to all areas with shuttles to and from the airport. I did book this back in October so maybe thats why everything went so smoothly. However, I wouldn't buy into something like this if I was a last minute vacation shopper; why would you? I was an RCI member first and chose to sell it to Lifestyle and join their club because booking anything with RCI was a hassel in every way and their fees were going up every yr. Lifestyle has no fees! You pay for the accomodations you want. For those who are concerned that your RCI purchase from Lifestlye won't go through, I can tell you mine did.

I have recently upgraded my membership from Gold to Platinum. We had been a gold member for three years. In the past we have gotten very nice villas for our vacation. I come here to stay in the villas since anywhere else you can stay in suites. I like my space when traveling. We came this Jan. with our 5 children, adult ages and one teen. I requested a 4 bedroom villa since we were gold members. We were taken to our villa number 4M. They took us out of the resort down the road to Ocean world and up a hill to this villa. It was dark, no lighting, decorated horribly with and inch of water on the bathroom floors, on two of the bedrooms leaking from the ceiling, not to mention the odor. We immediatly drove all the way back to the resort on a golf cart down busy roads with cars and trucks, truly dangerous. I refused to be in that villa and was relocated to the only other villa left which was 28A next to the Mexican restaurant and some rooms above the store. We did stay there that night but again a worn down old villa, poor furnishings, dirty! I spent the next two days trying to get moved but was told by my rep and managers that they would move me if they could, but the villas were booked solid for the week. Also, was told that if there were many Platinum members they are given the premium villas over gold members. I do understand that they should get preference since they did pay more for they'r membership. We were able to upgrade to Platinum from a buy out while we were there. We again met with our customer service rep, vip reps and the managers all of whom were very honest with us. I told them I will never stay in a villa like the one I was in again and was told that from now on I will only get the premium villas. If you are clear to your rep., what you expect they will work with you. They did not try to tell me something to make me feel better, they were very honest with me. When we signed the upgrade to Platinum, we were completely sober, we read line by line with the sales persons to make sure we understood exactly what we would be getting and what I would'nt be getting. I am comfortable that we now have the package that we need. I have always been happy with my experience at Lifestyle except with the villa we got this year. All the other years we were treated very well and never had a problem with the villas. My only complaint is that there are some older villas that need some TLC. My customer rep told me to email with suggestions. she said they are trying to update some of the older villas but that this year it slowed because of an unusually rainy year. I will send suggestions regarding this issue. Otherwise I will continue to go back and enjoy Lifestyle!

Hi Everyone. I brought into the Lifestyle Club in April 2008. I was staying at the resort and was conned into taking our membership, I was upgraded for the final week of my holiday which was great. But i Paid £3000 UK pounds for 40 Weeks over 25 Years and that was for a Juniour Suite. When we were sold our package we were told that Lifestyle Holiday would be able to get us cheap flights from the UK that we would not normally be able to get. We were quote £150 Per person. I have never returned to the place and have tried to sell my package through the re-sellers system and have not heard anything back from them, it has been a nightmare. I know there are people who have been conned out of more money and it is very worrying that 3 years after i was ripped off more people are still reporting this.
I dont have the knowledge to take legal action or the time to do so but i really do think that everyone should get together and take some action. I have set up a group on facebook so we can all have an area where we can speak amoung ourselfs to discuss how we can recover our money and warn other people. PLEASE PLEASE JOIN AND TAKE ACTION. AND SPREAD THE WORD TO ALL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS RIP OFF. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_201007589912440

Please!I don´t speak English, but I understand a little, I need to know about Lifestyle vacation club, creo que he sido estafada, pienso que debemos unirnos todos para lograr que se haga algo al respecto, no sé si entenderan lo que les escribo, necesito que alguien me responda, se los pido y a Benbarratt, le doy toda la razón, UNAMONOS EN CONTRA DE LOS ESTAFADORES.
Thanks!migdwena@hotmail.com

Laura Sayler
BALESTRIERE FARIELLO
225 Broadway Suite 2900
New York, NY 10007
Direct +[protected]
Main +[protected], ext. 133
Facsimile +[protected]
laura.sayler@balestriere.net

We were guests of a VIP member the week of 3/1/11 to 3/8/11 and we had the time of our lives. We did have a reservation for a crown villa but we booked the busiest time of the year (Independence week). They offered us the Presidental Suites with a free week next year and a refund. We got a golf cart for the week and limo to and from the airport. I believe some of the negative feedback people are leaving is due to the fact that they are not willing to be flexible. The accomodations we stayed in were the nicest my wife and I have ever stayed in. How can you help not being happy in that climate and picturesque views anyway! We have already booked for next year.

LIFESTYLES SALES PEOPLE LIE! THE COMPANY HAS TO KNOW! THANK FOR NOTHING KELVIN!
Seems like a lot of people are being told the same thing over a lot of years so there is no way the company doesn't know what is going on as well as condoning it! We were told that they would pay off and take over our timeshare if we bought their gold member villa package. Now their telling us they are not buying ours but we are stuck paying for theirs. I think the government needs to get involved and put a stop to U.S. citizens being taken advantage of with out right lies and fraud. Everyone should get together and start a class action lawsuit against them. Even if we lose we might be able to get enough publicity to prevent anyone else from having to go threw the same thing we all are. If anyone wants to try this please contact me via e-mail. chiefyaple@yahoo.com Thank you.

a mi no me paso lo de ustedes y haora lo estoy disfrutando mucho soy miembro vip

i am have a victim of lifestyles holidays also, how can i salvage some of my money ?

Nosotros fuimos engañados por los vendedores y por el propio conttrato, despu{es de un año aún no tenemos nuestra asociación a interval international como figura en al contrato.
En los sister resort generalmente no hay disponibilidad y ofrecen otra cosa muy diferente a lo solicitado.
Cuando se acepta, en mi caso al menos, me alojaron en algo como una villa que no llegaba ni a tres estrellas y la pasamos realmente mal y nos sentimos "estafados"
Cuando pedí la cancelación del contrato me lo negaron, como no podía ser de otra forma.
En resumen: una estafa TOTAL, avisemos a nuestros amigos que vacacionan en la hermosa Rep. Dominicana que NO SE DEJEN ENGAÑAR

I agree with all of above. I propose to arrange for multiple lawsuit.
One year in advance i booked 2 villas for my 60th birthday. I got confirmatin and paid in full. Two months later I was told that I am getting only one 4 bedroom villa.
I am Supreme Platinum member of this "resort". Nothing but problems!
Anyone who is interested in suing them please write me vrmss@mail.ru
Vladimir Rabinovich

Wish we had read these comments before signing. I will not bore anyone with what was previosly stated. We paid $30, 000for a 4 bedroom villa, after turning in four other timeshares we owned. Hard sale, lots of promises, tried to leave several times but we took the bait. We returned to the sales office one hour later to request a cancellation and were told that it was the week end and we could not even request a cancellation until Monday morning at 9:30. I was hopeful until I read all of these posts. LB from Miami

Hi all,
Sadly, I too am a victim of this fraud. My parents have bought a membership for the whole family at the Lifestyle Vacation Resort. They have put a down payment of $3, 500 last month. ( September 2011) They have been told that if they travel to the Caribbean, and all inclusive is available, members of the VIP package will get them too. All they have to do is buy the membership equaling in $12, 000 paid off over years and pay additional $200 a week for a studio. When I tried to book a trip for my parents, I was told that if they want an all inclusive hotel, the rate is $200 for the studio, plus a $110 per person per night for all inclusive fees. Funny, I guess they forgot to mention this little catch when my parents were buying this package. Their papers, and resort members' website are shady. Nothing is black on white and this is how my parents have fallen for this scam. Be aware people.

Is there any way to get the money back? my parents spent $3, 500 so far.

I have also been a victim of this fraudulent company. My Boyfriend and I purchased the membership almost 2 years ago and have yet to go on a trip through them! We are now trying to book our honeymoon for the end of the summer and still are not having any luck (we have been trying to book for summer 2012 since the beginning of this summer 2011) We are at the point where we want to put a hold on any and all payments from this company in hopes to get out of this membership with no more lost money. Has anyone successfully cancelled their membership? if so please point me in the right direction so I do not loose any more money to this company.

ANDISI
I would stop sending any payment if you finance through them. If you live in the states then they probably will have to take you to court and recoup what you owe. It's a situation most of us wish we could do.

I purchased a junior suite at LVHC in Puerta Plato in March of 2012. After reading some of the compaints is there anyone who has had a pleasant experience on rebooking a junior suite. Does the hotel charge $55.00 per person for all inclusive which is what we were told numerous times by staff. Please email roger_bryls@yahoo.com

Yes that would be the All inclusive Fees Not the hotel room fee . I bought a Junior Suite too and they told me The all inclusive fee would be half price for Members. And yes you would have to pay a Fee of $199.00 for service fee for a one bedroom Junior Suite.
I am thinking for going to Punta cana BE Lives resort. which is a Life style resort. and the Junior suite with meal would be $199.00 a weeks plus a members only all inclusive fee of $65.00 /per day per person. Hope this Helps Joe

I purchased a junior suite at LVHC in Punta Cana in July of 2012. After reading some of the complains is there anyone who has had any luck in getting their money back from them? I planning to stop sending any payment to them since I finance through them. I live in the states then they probably will have to take me to court and recoup what you owe. I wonder what are my chances? I think I can argue my point and make a stop payments on my credit cards and get a refund on my deposits. Does anyone have try this way? please email me with any suggestion at angelfig2@yahoo.com

We too are in the same situation. We ( so far) have been able to stop the monthly withdrawals for the payment, but are out 20K that we put down on our American Express card. We did file a complaint twice with AMeX, but they have chosen to side with LHVC. AMEX's legal department has totally ignored our attorney. Will not take his phone calls even. We are more upset with American Express currently. All their ads says they have their customer's back. Not so much! Seems AMEX is more on the merchant's side than on their own customer's.

I too have ben scammed. Same story. I would love to be included in any actions taken against them.
Scott Clement
sac@cure4cancer.org

Would like to know if anyone slipped and fell at Lifestyle Resort and it resulted in surgery?

Hi all, we first purchased in January 09 then were persuaded to increase our level to the Platinum Supreme with a total cost $90k. We were informed this was the highest level and we would be automatically upgraded to the top level in the event that a higher level was introduced. We were sold the villa request option and since returning 4 times we have yet to get the villa requested. In fact a meeting with customer services on Monday revealed that we will never get the villa of our choice ie any of the new villas which are now reserved for shareholders...funny we have seen several groups living in these villas over the last few days wearing gold bands! More lies again. The rep then pesters us everyday to take us to the members tower for our "welcome pack" which is a ploy to get us in front of the sales staff. The reps tell us they don't get their $20 bonus if we don't go! What a scam. Legal intervention to expose this scam and to force lifestyle to deliver on contractually agreed conditions would be a massive plus!

I was wish I had read these comments before purchasing the timeshare. I was scammed too.

Please tell me it's a lie I just purchased with my family ...

The grand buffet in fayetteville ga is a terrible place to go. Every time I went there I always have problems with their customer service. They are rude, they assume that they know better the you, the have lied to me and when I ask to speak to a manager it either a he or she and the supposedly manager is never there.

There is no info online as to who founded the place or who owns it. And when the try to tell you to let them hear your complaint or leave a number they ignore you the minute they dont like what you hear and somehow the number you left for management to contact you just got up and walked off. They were rude to my 8 year old son and they seem to discriminate against color.

Every time an african american come in they play that hip hop music and treat them like kings but if someone hispanic or white comes in they get treated like cattle, just brushing them off.

Never will I refer any one to that restaurant again and never will I go back there again.

We have also been scammed. We purchased in 2009 and paid over 80k for the gold membership. We called over 14 months in advanced and when we arrived we were put off property in a dump! It was horrible it was someones villa with dogs and horrible conditions. I had to fight to get my family into a villa on the property. It was not anything better. The sink in the bathroom leaked, not even beds, no one would help. I complained and they just ignored me. It was a totally bait and switch. I wish we can't stop these thieves. They were quick to tell us if we upgraded we could get a better villa for 30 k. Why would I pay more money when you can't even delivery on what you promised . I would also like to jump on to the class action lawsuit as well . My email is kbeetlestone@att .net

I'm also included in this scam, has anybody contacted Laura Sayler from that law firm, who has posted earlier in this site about starting a class action suit against Lifestyles. I'm curious to see what status that is at now, if at all.

All the negative comments are spot on. The positive comments are by people paid to do it. Nothing they tell you in the sales presentation is true. I have been trying to get a refund for five years. I am trying to get on dateline tv to expose this fraud as well as bank of America that backs them.

Thank you all for your comments. My husband and I were offered at a discount someone else's package who had just returned it. We were even told that some of the Life Style members rent out their weeks and make up to $100, 000.00 a year. Besides, they would be transferring our two time-shares as part of the deal.

We had even already given them our credit cards. My husband then decided to ask to use their computer and there he found this page which we read out loud to them. We asked for a cancellation of the transaction as we had not signed anything yet.

They still tried to convince with the helicopter to the airport, the upgraded lodgings, the extra VIP restaurants etc. We said NOPE and walked out.

Firstly i would like to know if we are all talking about the same company.Is it 4Lifestyle (ABN [protected])(@classicholidayclub.com.au) in our case. On of those promotions where scratchies are offered in shopping centers and you could win a price.
Well my husband convinced me to go and see what it was about. I picked the holes in their presentation from the start, and was ready to walk out. Seeing this a higher level sales woman came over and after a lot of talking convinced my husband that the way to go would be a "Trial Membership" which would intitle up to 3 holidays, 2 international, 1 domestic for AUD$1795.00. To see if we like it. They promised we can go anywhere we liked.
That was 3 years ago. I have been trying for a year now to find somewhere to go but nothing has ever been available. In the last 2 months I have intensified the search giving the dates and places, again nothing available. I gave them an open calender with a list of places and i said i would take whatever. They came up with some God forsaken places 3 hours from an airport taking 2 days to get there with multiple flight changes and the expense of the air fares per person was more than the holiday. For 7 days stay we would have to forfeit the first day because the flights do not marry up with check in day and have to forfeit the last day as there are no flights out, or be further out of pocket by having to book an independent night somewhere else. Out of 7 day stay you may be lucky to get 5 days. Check ins are on Friday and check out on Saturday.This trial membership expires March 2014. So far it has been an absolute nightmare. I am still trying to get some resolution to this and will keep you posted on the outcome.