Manhattan Club Lawsuit

To complicate things further, those PURCHASERS who have stopped payments on mortgages and/or maintenance may no longer be OWNERS.

fibon wrote:

dennisc283 wrote:

There are about 14,000 purchasers of TMC. judging from the various facebook, redweek and yahoo groups, I'd guess that only several hundred or maybe a thousand are even aware of the legal proceedings...so getting a large group of purchasers to act in concert is not possible.

According to the MC Annual Budgets, interests sold =14, 872 which is calculated form amount of units =286 and number of weeks =52. Interestingly, the same numbers were used every year since 2006, except 2015 and 2016 where the number of units was shown 296. Like there were no sales/purchases or any kind of dynamics over the years. Owners were never informed how many interests on sale, number of buy-backs, purchases, etc. Tricks.

In regards to the number of OWNERS, it's a great MC secret which was not disclosed even to the AG so far. Though when searching public records, we can see lots owners who purchased 1 or more interests. On the other hand, MC was selling Triennials 1/156 interests and Quadrennials 1/208 interests and they did not report that in the Budgets.

Interests were also sold to different companies. How many interests are owned by 1 Owner-company in that case? Only Vacation Trust (Bluegreens) purchased 2520 packets (variety of interests) in 2011-2014 .

Therefore number of OWNERS might be 10 times more or 10 times less. We are in a such deep bs , literary equaled to slavery under MC crooks. More owners stop payments, the boat will sink faster.

Thank you that is very helpful. Do legal contracts need an exit option? How can there be no way out, is that a legal contract? I will be with a lawyer this weekend, I intend to get their view.

We had to do the same thing. Put in writing they are not allowed to use any payment method except a check, all other information should be deleted from your account. They will also try and tell you that you can't use your unit until you pay in advance. Just call reservations and don't mention anything and then you can get a date.

That's not true. Reservations will inform you that you must pay mtce in order to make a reservation, even though your mtce may not be really due until sometime in 2018. That has-been the case ever since we've owned in 2005. Dee

Thank you

You DO NOT need to pay 9 months in advance. My contract begins in September and because I wanted to book some rooms for my next use year I did need to pay. You would need to pay by the date your year begins or prior if you wanted to reserve rooms after that date. There are more than enough rooms to use and I'm guessing that's because they were forced to stop renting it to non owners. Owners should have no problem using the timeshare right now. I was able to make changes for dates this Summer (which has never been the case in the past). If you have an RCI account you can also deposit your weeks there to exchange for other places. And you can get 2-3 or more weeks for the value of TMC points. We are all feeling the rising costs of these increases which is not right, but part of that problem is all the owners in current years not paying. Now if more and more continue to default on their fees that leaves the rest of us to pick up the cost which is completely wrong in my opinion.

The statement that MC "stopped renting to non owners" is quite misleading. Check the travel sites. E.g. Booking.com offers ALL types of units for "Special condition, no prepayment needed, free drink", starting at $244 (I checked for the end of May - beginning of June). MC website offers 'special promotions" at 30% discount, etc.

MC is not in bankruptcy neither the club is losing profits though many owners stopped payments; therefore reference to the non-payments as a reason for raising fees is quite controversial. Another smart trick to doom naive believers. Check the MC budgets' numbers!

In 2008 MC Total Income was $28,868,306 (286 rooms, 14,872 interests sold)

In 2017 MC Total Income was budgeted at $47,009,535 (286 rooms, 14,872 interests)

For 2018 MC Total Income was budgeted at $ 49,069,387 (286 rooms, 14,872 interests)

Income was almost doubled in 10 years! When looking further into the budget numbers, it makes clear that non-payments are covered with renting to public. True, it's easier to make reservation because non-payments do not use their "deeded property". If all the owners will start paying again, we 'll get back to the previous experience - no reservations available.

anitab188 wrote:

You DO NOT need to pay 9 months in advance. My contract begins in September and because I wanted to book some rooms for my next use year I did need to pay. You would need to pay by the date your year begins or prior if you wanted to reserve rooms after that date. There are more than enough rooms to use and I'm guessing that's because they were forced to stop renting it to non owners. Owners should have no problem using the timeshare right now. I was able to make changes for dates this Summer (which has never been the case in the past). If you have an RCI account you can also deposit your weeks there to exchange for other places. And you can get 2-3 or more weeks for the value of TMC points. We are all feeling the rising costs of these increases which is not right, but part of that problem is all the owners in current years not paying. Now if more and more continue to default on their fees that leaves the rest of us to pick up the cost which is completely wrong in my opinion.

Disregard, Thank You.

The worst forms of TMC "ownership" are the "Flex/Split Time" contracts ( Bi-ennial,Tri-ennial & Quad-ennial). I believe that these are a major cause of the frustration and dissatisfaction that you read about in these posts. In 2008 I was talked into purchasing a "Tri-ennial" after I balked at buying a normal defined week 7 day a year contract. These "Flex/Split Time" contracts were pushed by the TMC sales team and were severely oversold and came with restrictions as to what time of year you could book time. Don't expect most major holidays and the month of December. In an effort to rid myself of this burden in 2014 under the direction of a lawyer I stopped paying the remainder of the "mortgage",maintenance fees & "mass tax"billings. In 2014 also the NYS AG began an INVESTIGATION of the TMC (NOT A LAWSUIT) .For the past 3 years to date nothing can be done ( sales,foreclosures,etc) with TMC until the completion of the investigation. I still receive a monthly statement from TMC which I promptly forward to the lawyer. The statement is mailed from a TMC office in Scottsdale,Az. and the TMC financial services office are located in E. Stroudsburg,Pa. most likely to evade some NYS regulations. FYI: There is a clever statement printed on 2 of the "mortgage" documents that says "THIS CONTRACT IS IRREVOCABLE". I've heard that this statement is called a "PERPETUITY CLAUSE". Does anyone know why this was necessary to include on the paperwork?? Other than to trap you into this forever. Even worse: Was this legal ??

since its inception TMC HAS DONE VERY LITTLE THAT IS CONSIDERED "LEGAL". your quote: "Other than to trap you into this forever. Even worse: Was this legal ??" i have strong doubts that it was legal. this issue leads me to deeply wonder why the legally-trained-and- versed nys attorney general, eric schneiderman, is letting his case against TMC last, till now, OVER 3 YEARS. can anyone explain why this case is still in court and not settled to TMC owners' benefit?

This much is true. I started getting harassed 9 months in advance and at one point and I changed my card #. After that I always sent a check for the full amount 3-4 weeks before the due date. I told them to stop emailing me and calling me, they would not, and assured me that they had EVERY RIGHT to call me all year. I would put the phone by the radio every time they called and I would leave it there. This caused them to be furious at me. I finally was able to get them to buy it back for $200. An $18,000 loss.

MC greed is unlimited. On the top of the Flex/Split Tri-ennials & Quad-ennials and renting out, MC sold Deeds for undivided interests in various fractals with numerous types of Timeshare Periods, such as:

- 0.60% - 0.59% - 0,63% - 0,92% -0,98% - 0.103% -0.118% , etc.

Time periods for such interests were also subdivided into smaller fractals like 22W, 48W, 6M, 8M, 16M, etc. Include your imagination how much time a piece of MC's air might be re-looped and sold to bring profit!

These Deeds were sold to individual owners via Vacation Trust (Bluegreen) in 'packets'; about 3200 such packets were sold in the years 2011 thru 2014 . How that's possible to satisfy all the owners? That's going to be a problem forever. It could be resolved only if and when a number of owners (a great one!) will be discontinued.

I provide just two samples of 'packet' sales (out ~3200), public data could be found in ACRIS under CRFN 2012000159988 and CRFN 2013000394906.

gerards23 wrote:

The worst forms of TMC "ownership" are the "Flex/Split Time" contracts ( Bi-ennial,Tri-ennial & Quad-ennial). I believe that these are a major cause of the frustration and dissatisfaction that you read about in these posts. In 2008 I was talked into purchasing a "Tri-ennial" after I balked at buying a normal defined week 7 day a year contract. These "Flex/Split Time" contracts were pushed by the TMC sales team and were severely oversold and came with restrictions as to what time of year you could book time. Don't expect most major holidays and the month of December. In an effort to rid myself of this burden in 2014 under the direction of a lawyer I stopped paying the remainder of the "mortgage",maintenance fees & "mass tax"billings. In 2014 also the NYS AG began an INVESTIGATION of the TMC (NOT A LAWSUIT) .For the past 3 years to date nothing can be done ( sales,foreclosures,etc) with TMC until the completion of the investigation. I still receive a monthly statement from TMC which I promptly forward to the lawyer. The statement is mailed from a TMC office in Scottsdale,Az. and the TMC financial services office are located in E. Stroudsburg,Pa. most likely to evade some NYS regulations. FYI: There is a clever statement printed on 2 of the "mortgage" documents that says "THIS CONTRACT IS IRREVOCABLE". I've heard that this statement is called a "PERPETUITY CLAUSE". Does anyone know why this was necessary to include on the paperwork?? Other than to trap you into this forever. Even worse: Was this legal ??

i am a MC member that livesout of state. it has been my understanding that if you did not live in NY state you could not participate in this suit. is this still true?

thanks e.j.rossi

hi ej2, no one is a "part" of this lawsuit since it is not a class action event. the nys attorney general, eric schneiderman, brought TMC to court as part of his job to help stamp out fraud, lies, ultra exorbitant maintenance fees, et al concerning timeshares IN NEW YORK STATE, and the fraudulent administration of TMC. IF schneiderman wins the case (which has been in court for over 3 years!!!!!) owners of of weeks at TMC MIGHT be entitled to some of the benefits of victory over TMC in this litigation. NO ONE KNOWS WHEN SCHNEIDERMAN'S CASE WILL BE SETTLED. IT HAS, IN MOST OF TMC OWNERS' OPINION, ALREADY BEEN IN COURT EXCEEDINGLY LONGER THAN NECESSARY LEAVING US ALL BEWILDERED AS TO HOW TO PROCEED IN DEALING WITH TMC OWNERSHIP.

keep in touch.

ejr2 wrote:

i am a MC member that livesout of state. it has been my understanding that if you did not live in NY state you could not participate in this suit. is this still true?

thanks e.j.rossi

Next court hearing was scheduled for June 29, 2017 at 2.30 PM.

0451536/2014 - SCHNEIDERMAN, IN THE MATTER vs. EICHNER, IAN BRUCE

Justice: RAKOWER, EILEEN A.

I spoke to the Manhattan AG's Office and told them that as an Individual born and raised in Manhattan I was very disappointed in the way they are conducting TMC charges. On June 29 I look forward to witnessing their standing up for integrity the way they did with Trump.

Kindly keep your political views out of this website. This is not the appropriate forum for making snide political comments.

Has anyone tried using resort release

I heard an ad on the radio for them...

I was working with a different company, Resale Closings. They were able to release me from two of my three contracts for a fee of $500 each plus the resort termination fee of $300 - $500. According to them, the Manhattan Club would not allow the contract to be released at any price. In the end, I decided to keep all three timeshares, at least until I can get out of TMC completely.

Wow, do you think you have a REAL property there? It's a timeshare and not real property. You will never be able to sell it let alone give it away. Things you must tell a buyer... That the contract legally binds heirs, successors, and assigns to inherit all financial and legal obligations under contract. That timeshare developers and their management companies can add, delete, modify, terms, conditions, and usage rights without the owners’ consent… Did the salesperson explain to you, the resort has; RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL which is often confused FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL? -GA- Well they do that on purpose. RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL means the Resort can legally reject any buyer, for any reason and the Resort will just deny the sale forcing you to keep it anyway.