The Coral Resorts
Reviews and Complaints

I will agree with most people. These guys do their job well. Suckered me in with $300 maintenance fees that turned out to be over $900. Tried to find original number. Guess what. This was all oral as well as we were stupid enough to believe they would sell our old timeshare within 6 months and then initial papers that said they promise us nothing. Yes, I would join any group that wants to put and end to this malicious bad business practices. Now we are stuck with two timeshares and I hate both of them.Have they ever sold anyones timeshare? I think not.

Not so much a complaint here, but a warning after what happened to us with this website and one other. We just bought with coral resorts last year and had some complaints. Foolishly we posted on here thinking that it would help, or get a result. Not only did it not get a result, but we used the salespersons name . Even though the site is based out of Latvia..or something, this does fall under libel and defamation of character in the US and Canada. We were slapped with a lawsuit within 2 months and luckily the salesperson accepted our apology, and we got out of it. If you notice not many people on here use specific names for this reason, it is an open and shut case for any lawyer. The resort actually made the salesperson aware of our complaint, and it's only a matter of time before they notify yours. Don't forget we all bought from the resort, the salespersons name is not anywhere in our contract, or anyones. That is what got is in hot water. Also, call the owner services, I know they are hard to get but they actually managed to work out our issues very easily. Now I have to complain about my OTHER timeshare in Westgate... Hope this gets to you before a libel suit does, they are not fun. I have contacted a few of you directly, and I hope everyone reads this now. Some friends of ours that posted on their Daytona unit were not as lucky as us and are paying more for the suit than they did for the timeshare. We know where you all are coming from, just be careful on these things, because the site will not let you take down your posts. Good Luck Everyone

Stay away from any time share. We were sold a bag full of lies from hilton head islands coral resort. I am looking to join anyone with a class action lawsuit to stop these thugs.
My e - mail is [protected]@msn.com

Hilton head island's dirty little secret

While multi-millionaires sleep late; walk the beach; play a round of golf; or cruise on their extravagant yachts -- there's a dirty little secret known mostly to residents of this beautiful south carolina coastal resort. There's timeshare fraud taking place on a daily basis, as unsuspecting consumers from far away states are fleeced for thousands of dollars.

There are a variety of ways timeshare companies lure intended victims to hilton head island. The primary inducement is the fact that hilton head island is frequently rated among the top vacation destinations in the united states. Who wouldn't want to visit the renowned hilton head island?

This initial temptation is soon followed by other enticements including cash back; money for dining; cruises; or other adventures. All of these make a 90 minute presentation sound like a very minimal price to pay for such a wonderful vacation at this luxurious and idyllic resort island community.

Yet most consumers are unaware of the shady practices of many of the timeshare peddlers at hilton head. In fact, many of the time share companies engage in outright fraud and nothing is done about it.

Specifically, the south carolina real estate commission has investigated coral resorts (Owner and operator of several hhi timeshare resorts) for multiple, continuous, and flagrant violations. But they have found "no violations" or wrong doing. So, the scams continue despite all the "locals" knowing the underlying truth: hilton head island timeshare companies are intentionally defrauding consumers of millions of dollars a year.

The timeshare industry seems to have a business model which depends largely upon two factors:

1) some consumers will default on their obligations. This may be due to financial circumstances, which prevent them from meeting their payments; or they default due to disgust with the fraudulent sales activities, which leaves consumers with far less than they agreed to or bargained for in their contracts.

The "bait and switch" tactics cause some consumers to make what might otherwise be considered a smart business move. In the event a business project is determined to be much less than expected (In terms of expected "return on investment"), then it's typical to not follow good money after bad. In other words, stop investing in the project.

Yet in the timeshare world, this only benefits the timeshare merchants, as they keep all monies already paid; pursue legal action to recover the remainder; and the property reverts to them. The consumer is left empty-handed, and the timeshare companies have yet more product to traffic to unsuspecting consumers (I.E. Suckers).

2) the timeshare companies have "deep pockets". They can easily defend themselves against any one consumer.

For example, while coral resorts claims to be a member of the hilton head island chamber of commerce, they have no acccreditation with the better business bureau, and on a scale of a+ to f, their rating is f.

As of this writing they have 173 complaints over the past three years and 39 complaints in the past 12 months. The bbb describes one of these complaints as serious, with 14 complaints not being resolved, and another 9 complaints resulting in a failure by coral resorts to respond in any manner whatsoever. The bbb did say that 132 cases had been resolved with bbb assistance.

What's the implication? Well, my math seems to suggest that there's a 76% chance of resolution for those who contact the better business bureau. I guess that's not bad, but it seems far too short of the real solution.

I think it's time to assist all consumers who've been defrauded, not just those few who have reached out to the better business bureau. Further, it's necessary to prevent similar fraudulent practices going forward. This would seem to suggest a class action lawsuit involving thousands of property owners, with recovery of all monies lost and punitive damages as well. Or perhaps it's too late for that and a full-blown criminal investigation is in order.

All of this comes as such a great disappointment to me personallly, and i feel victimized by the entire hilton head island community, as well as beaufort county and the state of south carolina.

My timeshare purchase at coral resorts' island links came in late 2010, many years after the south carolina legal system became aware of the criminal activites of several hhi timeshare resorts. The failure of the legal system to protect consumers by issuing injunctions, against the likes of coral resorts, to cease and desist their predatory behavior has me perplexed to say the least.

I have always had great respect for the community of hilton head island and i've held them in high regard. It has been difficult for me to realize that i've been victimized, and that the community of hilton head island allowed it to happen. It's much the same as someone being mugged, robbed, or raped in the presence of other citizens, who calmly walk away or turn their backs while the crime is being committed.

Nobody wants to get involved. They say, "it's not their business". But what they really fear if they speak out or help the victim is retribution of some kind from the criminals. In this way criminals are allowed to take over neighborhoods or cities. In certain extreme cases, entire societies can be corrupted by organized crime behavior.

Is that what's going on at hilton head? Well the latter case would be an exaggeration, but the former is entirely possible.

How can the community of hilton head island and the state of south carolina do absolutely nothing about the fraud being perpetrated against consumers? Is it necessary for sled (South carolina law enforcement division} to come in and shut down coral resorts? Is it necessary to take away all the personnel in handcuffs, while loading trucks with files, computers, and other evidence?

The existence of fraud is overwhelming and undeniable. Yet the prospect of a class action law suit now seems almost insignificant. Maybe it's too little -- too late. Things have probably progressed to the point that the fbi must get involved and the perpetrators sentenced to many years in federal prison. This might well turn out to be the largest real estate fraud in the history of south carolina.

It's all such a shame really, as i still find it hard to believe that hilton head island, my beloved vacation destination, has participated in a crime against me and my family - or - at the very least stood by while we were being robbed. It's feels as though i've been betrayed by a best friend. If i could ask some questions of the residents and businesses of hilton head they might sound something this:

Why? Why have you allowed me to be robbed after all these years of friendship? Hasn't it been enough for me and my family to come and spend our time and money in your community? Is it necessary or permissible to knowingly allow thieves to rob us while you stand by idle and unconcerned? Is it really enough to prevent petty crimes, while allowing wholesale, white-collar crime to take place in the heart of the community?

Shame on you my friend! Your betrayal cuts at my heart like a dagger. I'm still in shock, amazement, and disbelief. It's truly surreal.

I've tried to deny that my good old friend would betray me in this manner. Yet the truth is inescapable. I'm not sure if i want to say good-bye yet to my good, old friend. But i do want the world to know what's really going on at hilton head island. Contrary to the businesses and residents of the area, i feel an obligation to let everyone know about hilton head island's dirty little secret.

Totally screwed us over. Told us that the contract had only what we talked about but it had nothing about what we talked about. Sidney Karp was our Sales guy and Sheldon Stanhope was the verification Officer. These two "Sales Professionals" verbally misrepresented the deal. They presented a deal and then when it came time to sign the contract, told us, not to worry cause all that paperwork was what we went over verbally. We were promised a week in July if we bought and now guess what...nobody will return our calls. They keep telling us to call back to see if there is any cancellations. RCI practically laughed in our face when we called regarding a cancellation. We were also told we were buying into an annual deal...nope...turns out to be an every 3 year deal.
Do not take a vacation with these crooks. Sidney and Sheldon are lying in wait for you to come and you will regret it. DO NOT BUY. DO NOT EVEN GO ON THE FREE VACATION.

** Purchased a one week 3 bedroom Coral Resorts timeshare 5 January 2011, trading in a bi-annual studio condo Timeshare at Planet Hollywood / Westgate in Las Vegas NV and an annual 2 bedroom condo Timeshare at Summer Bay in Las Vegas NV. The 2 timeshares being traded were supposed to be listed with Resort Solutions Inc. for immediate sale. AS OF THIS DATE RESORT SOLUTIONS HAS NO INFORMATION FROM CORAL RESORTS TO LIST THESE PROPERTIES. They did get, in error, a request to list the timeshare we bought at Coral Sands!
** Our salesman, Phil, and verification officer Spencer at no time verbally indicated we were NOT trading our 2 LV timeshares and assured us that they would take care of the immediate sale.
** We request your assistance on correcting this sales tactic which appears to have left us owning 3 timeshares!
** Is our next step in resolving this problem the nearest Better Business Bureau or is it the nearest District Attorney's Office?

Coral Resorts at Hilton Head and Island Links are some of the best Resorts on Hilton Head Island, SC and the East Coast USA. I just love Hilton Head and the great cul-de-sac resorts. The problem with timeshare anywhere, is that people do not read the contract entirely and do not listen and ask questions and get answers in writing. You have to get everything in writing when you do business, that is the problem. And than you can eliminate the "you said this, no you said that" you can just show the paper that says what was agreed upon. I personaly love Hilton Head Coral Resorts, they tried to sell me extra stuff, because this is what they do. I don't blame them, but I both what I wanted only and I'm very happy. Love Hilton Head. I would suggest everybody interested in timeshares on Hilton Head, SC to go on a presentation with Coral Resorts and learn from themselfs. Is no obligation to buy anything, nobody is putting a gun to your head. Thank you, and read the contracts or proposal before you sign anything and complain after that it wasn't what you understood. As different people understand different things.

I would strongly advise anyone interested in purchasing vacation rental property or access to it to completely avoid the above companies. Even though they claim not to have association, they do, at least in that, unhappy customers of Coral Resorts are spotted & "invited" in to get out of their deal, only to find they have purchased something else. In both cases, what the salespeople say is VERY different from the legal details of the ownership. These are very saavy salespeople, who do NOT have your best interests in mind!
If anyone else is interested in pursuing legal action against them or doing a PR campaign do alert potential buyers, let me know by posting after me & give me a way to contact you.
Signed,
Ellen

I was stalked by a guest for 48 hours until I could catch the earliest flight out, forgoing my entire week vacation. Reba Management was unwilling to assist me in a way that would ensure my safety at their resort when other room locations were available. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which Reba Management responded to in a letter implying that my story was fictitious so that I could be upgraded to a stand alone “cottage.” This is completely untrue! I requested on two separate occasions within 24 hours of checking in that I be relocated to a location that this man would not find me as he was stalking me, trying to enter my room, repeatedly running to my car door when I entered the parking lot, and standing outside my living room window. The front desk staff was rude and unconcerned and informed me that I could be downgraded within my resort location. I didn’t care, as I only wanted to be safe. When I pulled into the parking lot again, he ran to my car door. When I wouldn’t open the door he began motioning me to get out of the car. The maintenance men witnessed this and intervened. Within 15 minutes of being in the downgraded unit the man was standing at my living room window. I called the front desk again. Again, I was told there was nothing they could do to accommodate me. Because the man clearly had targeted me, and Reba Management was unwilling to assist me in a way that would ensure my safety when other options were available, I changed my airline ticket to the next available outgoing flight (an additional $300, as my ticket was nonrefundable). I lost my entire week of vacation, the exchange cost of the resort and the additional costs to change a nonrefundable flight. Reba Management was unwilling to compensate me or reimburse me in any way. Furthermore, their reply to the Better Business Bureau indicated that I was simply trying to get an upgrade. Regardless of how Reba Management replies to the complaints posted, what is most important is that they have an “F” RATING WITH THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU.

Hilton Head Hospitality, LLC, Hilton Head Guest Services, vacationplay.com. Hilton Head Hospitality is the best co. to book your vacation with. Hilton Head Hospitality/Hilton Head Guest Services, Coral Resorts offers a wide range of vacation options, some include a timeshare tour if you want to pay almost nothing for your vacation or you can pay a discounted price for your vacation and not go on any timeshare tour, but still get most of the perks and discounts that you can use on the Hilton Head Island while you vacation. Hilton Head Guest Services, Hilton Head Hospitality, LLC, vacationplay.com tell you up front everything and do not lie to you. If you got charged $200 on you timeshare tour vacation on Hilton Head, that is because you did not respect the agreement of attending the tour or you attended the tour but your spouse did not or you did not stay till the end of the tour. The Hilton Head Hospitality/Hilton Head Guest Services/Coral Resorts sales people are friendly and they only show you the resort and of course they would like you to buy, but if you don't, that is OK, it is not mandatory of course. Hilton Head Guest Services hope you had a fabulous time with them and on your vacation on Hilton Head and spread the word about the Coral Resorts offers. A Hilton Head Hospitality, LLC, vacationplay.com sales person can tell in the first 5 min if you are interested or not so it would be non-sense for them to pressure you if you're not a buyer. But Hilton Head Guest Services, Coral Resorts respect that and give you gifts. Everything people say in this comments and complaints is not true, because they either did not listen at all what they've been told, or they ignored everything and payed smart by trying to get the cheap or free vacation, but not do the timeshare tour. That's always the case, people want everything and don't want to do nothing. If you are that kind of people, than just book a discounted vacation at minimum price that only Hilton Head Hospitality/Hilton Head Guest Services/Coral Resorts can offer you, being the biggest vendor on Hilton Head Island and you won't have any reason to complaint. Thank you and have the best vacation ever.
I say chose Hilton Head Hospitality, LLC, vacationplay.com, Hilton Head Guest Services for your next vacation on Hilton Head Island, SC.

In July my wife, Shelly and I, took a tour of Island Links in Hilton Head, SC. The resort is beautiful and we were interested in discussing terms of a time share purchase. We returned to the office of Coral Resorts with the sales rep that gave us the tour and began the sales negotiation process. We were there for hours. As a matter of fact, the sales rep missed his afternoon appointment because of our discussions. We asked a lot of questions and the salesman repeated himself over and over again to assure our understanding and when we finally agreed on a purchase price, I completely understood what he had told us. The problem is, what he told us was completely false and what looked like a great opportunity to own a time share at a quality resort at terms we could afford became a horrible deal with ridiculously different terms and dollar amounts that will prevent us from utilizing our home resort. In fact, we could be forced to allow Coral Resorts to foreclose, ruining our otherwise perfect credit.
We were given a starting price of just under 12000 dollars plus a maintenance fee of 900 dollars every three years, for a week (7 days) in a three bedroom suite at Island Links. Included, was a round of golf for four people each day, cart not included. With this week we get 21333 points with RCI that will give us the ability to trade our week to RCI for a weeks’ vacation anywhere in the world, as long as it is an RCI resort. Since Island Links is a gold resort and has the golf included, even RCI’s best resorts would only require a transfer fee of up to $175.00, but there would be no upgrade fees due to the value of our home resort. I asked if that included all inclusive and the salesman replied that it does. (Don’t know if that is true, I read that there are meal plans that have to be purchased). Also included in the price is an additional, untradeable week at our home resort called a “Developers Week”, along with several other perks such as, a Travel Club giving discounted travel to its members. The travel club is for one year and we would have to pay to renew it each year. I will get into more detail as I review the misrepresentations/lies of the salesman, all listed below.
The first issue began during the negotiations. When we bulked at purchasing at the opening offer, the salesman went to his manager “to see what he could do” with the asking price. When he came back to the table, he gave us a new offer. The manager would lower the price by buying back our Developer week. As an owner of a coral Resorts (for us Island Links) time share, we are entitled to an extra week per year at Island Links Resort. As stated above, this week is known as a “Developer Week”. The salesman explained that each year in January, we can decide if we will use the Developer Week that year for an additional maintenance fee or let it go back to Coral Resorts. I asked if the maintenance fee is the same amount each year, which is $300 and his response was “yes, it is 300 dollars”. He also explained that if we made a decision in the first couple of weeks in January, we would be able to sell the developer week back to Coral Resorts, but we would need to act fast because they only buy what they know they need and the rest that get returned, they don’t pay for. Next, we were asked if we planned on another vacation to Hilton Head in the 2010 calendar year. Our answer was” no, we won’t be back in 2010. So, the great news is that we can return our 2010 developer week right then and there, and the money for that week would reduce the selling price of the time share.
Now, here is the misrepresentation. While speaking with a Coral Resorts “owner services” representative named David, I am told that the developer week starts at $800 to $1100 and up depending on the week and room. So who knows what it actually is? This is huge. The developer week was one of the main reasons we purchased. It seemed reasonable that we would pay 1 year’s maintenance fee ($300) for the use of the week. It does not seem reasonable to pay $800 or more for that week. This lie was a big influence to our buying decision. To make it worse, when I asked David about selling the developer week back to Coral Resorts, I was informed that Coral Resorts does not buy developer weeks. He then gave me a phone number for a clearing house type service that I can offer the week to. After a little research, I discover what he didn’t tell me. I would have to pay the maintenance fee first, than offer the week to the clearing house. The clearing house would than charge me to offer my week to others and there is no guarantee that it sells. Again, a lie that influenced our purchase decission.
The second issue has to do with the maintenance fee. We were told upfront that the maintenance fee will be $900 every 3 years. During our negotiations, I told the salesman that we do not want to pay a large, $900 fee. It always seems to come due at a time when you just don’t have it. Instead, we would prefer to pay the $300 fee yearly. We didn’t think this should be a problem because the salesman broke the three year amount (900) into a one year amount (300) often during his presentation. There was no hesitation on the salesman’s part. No thinking about it, nothing. He just agreed, as if it is done all the time. Later, during negotiations, the salesman was trying to get a commitment from us. I told him that I don’t want to pay all this money to purchase a time share and then turn around and have to pay the maintenance fee right away. His response, No problem, you will not have a maintenance fee for your first year of ownership. This sounds as though the problems are solved!
The first week of December, just 4months after paying for the time share and 1 month after getting our RCI membership and points, we receive a bill for more than $900. I make several calls to owner services, getting a different persons voice mail each time, but no one to talk to. I then find a number for the business office and call that number. I leave a message again. Finally, a woman from the business office returns my call. She informs me that the salesman has no right or ability to change the term of the maintenance fee. I told her about the one year wait before the fee was to be charged and she quickly replied that this bill is for Jan. 2011, I purchased in 2010, so it is a different year. I informed her that I was not told “no fee for the calendar year in which I purchased”, I was told “no fee for the first year” and as everyone knows, a year is 12 months, not 2. Her reply, I understand how you feel, but it can’t be changed. The next day I received a call from David, in the owner services office and he also admitted that we cannot have what was promised. Again, the salesman had overcome our objection with lies!
Another misrepresentation has to do with RCI. We were told that we get RCI points each year with the payment of the maintenance fee. The sales rep completely tied the 2 together. It was sold as one package deal. We now find out that RCI also has a renewal fee that must be paid on top of the Coral Resorts maintenance fee. Never mentioned, not once! And this keeps going higher and higher in price.
I can honestly say that there is no way we would have purchased at Coral Resorts if given a truthful, honest presentation of the facts as they actually are.

We are not new to timeshares. However we were grossly mislead (okay I will not sugar-coat it) we were flat-out lied to during the timeshare presentation. The maintenance fee is more than double what we were told it would be. Additionally we were told that they Timeshare Parters was purchasing our existing timeshare and that at closing the deal would be a wash. Months later we learned that all that Timeshare Partners is doing is listing our timeshare, and there are a dozen other identical ones listed there as well (with quite a wide variation in listing price). I am fighting mad right now and not certain how to proceed. Rest assured that I will not sit by and do nothing. As I see it my options include finding an attorney to contest the sale based upon verbal misrepresentation and/or picketing the sales office over the Memorial Day Weekend. If I resort to the latter, please consider this an open invitation.

My husband and I made a huge mistake in buying a timeshare from RCI last year. First of all, we found over the course of a few months that we had been grossly mislead and lied to by the salesman. One of the biggest complaints we have against RCI is that we were promised to have no maintenance fees until 2011. period. He repeated this numerous times. Well, by February of 2010 we received a past due bill for unpaid maintenace fees, fees of about $900.00, also attached was around $2, 000 in late charges! This was the FIRST notice, we had not received ANY phone calls, letters or any contact concerning maintenance fees to be paid at that time whatsoever. We, unfortunately believed the salesman, so this was quite shocking to us. And what did the rep say when we called to dispute their obvious mistake?.."well ma'am, your contract states..bla, bla, bla" so in the end what is the purpose of RCI having salesmen if the product they are selling does not match what you are told you are getting? This is only one of the many misrepresentations we were told by the salesman. Another is the"free" developer weeks..don't be fooled, they come w/ a very high maintenace fee as well that must be paid upon reserving, which he failed to mention. So if we would like to sell the week, we would have to pay out an enormous fee then hope someone would want those dates. Now I have some questions, if the company is so "great" why do they have to mislead people so grossly about their product to get customers? why aren't they just upfront about everything..w/ nothing hidden? why make the contract so vague that you need a lawyer to decifer it for you?umm..maybe b/c it's not that great after all. perhaps they are just thieves w/ a business license. Just look at the complaints against them on the BBB. They have had several lawsuits against them. We never had a "new member consultant" contact us, we had to contact them to find out when our points would begin to go into effect. So please, anyone looking into buying a timeshare..DON'T do it..do your research, you will find it is not a "good deal." Just ask Dave Ramsey, he's an expert on investments and he does NOT recommend timeshares. We wish we would've known the truth behind them beforehand.
We had already paid off the cost of the timeshare w/in 2 months of the purchase date. We were not expecting to pay any more dues until 2011, so we were determined that they were not getting any more of our money since they had lied concerning the fees among other things. So we typed up and sent them a letter of all our concerns, informed them we wanted all monies refunded to us and to have our contract voided. Ultimately, we contacted a lawyer, he typed up a letter demanding that we get a refund and that our contract be voided due to misrepresentation. He contacted us just the other day with good news, RCI's lawyer is mailing him our refund check next week and our contract is being voided. So if anyone has had a similar experience, just know there is justice out there, don't give up and don't give in.
Praise Jesus

My husband and I had purchased a time share from Coral Resorts in December, 2008 and we stupidly trusted these people. At that time we viewed the property (Island Links) which we later learned we would have little chance of ever staying there but we thought OK we would just use our RCI points but we later learned we could book through Expedia for less money and did not even need these points however we were so stupid we upgrade our package to 3 weeks in December, 2009. When wer first purchased the package we received an inventory and toured the property. We paid in full by March of 2010 and received our Deed recorded in our name at no extra cost so everything was still OK. We were told by an "attorney" that came to the table that as long as we paid full amount when billed it would be considered same as cash.

When we upgrade the package in December, 2009 there was no attorney present, we never saw the property and no inventory of what we were buying was included with our purchase. Wish we had read the compaints before we sunk more money after bad money. We now cannot get our Deed recoreded without pay some shyster attorney's in Charleston (Harris & Whaley) ADDITION MONEY. I keep being quoted some garbage about "Cashing Out" with in 45 days. We paid the balance in full as soon as we were notified that it was due - no interest, no fiancing with check made out to "Coral Resorts" for the full amount. We are now told that we have to pay an additional $161.00 plus to record a worthless piece of paper. I so wish we had researched this on line before we trusted these people again. The guy that me with us "Steve Detuch" insisted that it would be fine to pay when were billed which we di in full.

I cannot believe that there is no some avenue to get relief from scams such as this.

I have talked with some one there on (2) occasions, all I got was the Cashed out phrase over and over. Some guy name David told me on Monday, 7/26/10 that we would research and get back to me - today is 7/27/10 and of course I never heard back from him.

I guess our next best thing is to pay them a visit which we plan to do soon. We are both in our 60's and really feel like this is one of the worst scams out there so all of you beware...

Linda Cox