Manhattan Club Lawsuit

bruceg213 wrote:

ws57 wrote:

Who says only a handful are not paying? How do we know that a substantial portion or even all of the recent large increases in annual fees is not due to an increasing fraction of owners who refuse to pay their share?

sunildajs wrote:

Just to be clear to everyone, your annual fees are what they are. If people don't pay, they can't come after you for more at the end of the year. And as to who pays for the expense of keeping it? The fees were so overpriced and astronomical that no one is hurting in spite of a handful that don't pay.

ws57 It's clear you cannot or did not read the financial statements you were sent by the Manhattan Club. Actually, a reserve for bad debts is a listed expense and has increased somewhat year to year, but, while it has increased maint. fees a bit, it is hardly the main cause of the increase.

You assume that the financial statements are to be trusted.

WITH all due respect if many are not paying fees and salaries have to be met, etc than yes, someone has to pick up the slack. It would seem that shouldn’t be the case since they were renting out the units but I suspect they were pocketing those profits while putting the cost to maintain the units on the owners. When people don’t pay for anything in life be it timeshare maintance, medical bills, debt, etc Someone else always pays.

They can use all of their ill gotten gains to subsidize the ones that (I applaud) stopped paying. You know what? I donate the $17,800 that I PERSONALLY lost from selling my unit back for $200. I cannot BELIEVE that anyone is sticking up for this viper's nest! I wonder how many thousands of owners they scammed by buying back expensive units for $200? Boohoo hoo for them!

TO ALL TMC OWNERS,

this forum has become a "HE SAID, SHE SAID" debacle. has eichner made us turn on one another, among other crimes of mega-fraud and scamming committed by this greedy underworld personage?

each of us owners has his/her own motives for actions they have taken regarding TMC. to each of us, some actions seem legitimate, others, not.

fingerpointing at this time is counter-productive to our main cause: BECOMING WHOLE FINANCIALLY, THE CONCEPT OF WHICH WAS DENIED US BY AN ILLEGITIMATE SCHEMER AND HIS BAND OF THIEVES.

so co-owners, let's become UNITED in our quest for fair legal and financial treatment and concentrate on the REAL CULPRIT THAT HAS BROUGHT US ALL DOWN DUE TO HIS AVARICE AND GREED., IAN BRUCE EICHNER.

have a peaceful thanksgiving. UNITED WE STAND.

chris

Bruce, Whatever we think of other's contributions here, we try to be civil instead of calling people fools or questioning their ability to read financial statements. For your information, you might want to read the AOD on the Attorney General's website which, in paragraph 55, states that the actual bad debt at the MC was over $5 million in one year (2014) , as opposed to the $1 million in the budget. The way I read financial statements, that says lots of people haven't been paying maintenance fees. If you divide $5 million by an average of $2500, I get 2000 unpaid weeks. I think that's a cumulative number but it's still significant.

What do you suggest? If it is legal action, how much are you willing to put up front?

chrisv126 wrote:

TO ALL TMC OWNERS,

this forum has become a "HE SAID, SHE SAID" debacle. has eichner made us turn on one another, among other crimes of mega-fraud and scamming committed by this greedy underworld personage?

each of us owners has his/her own motives for actions they have taken regarding TMC. to each of us, some actions seem legitimate, others, not.

fingerpointing at this time is counter-productive to our main cause: BECOMING WHOLE FINANCIALLY, THE CONCEPT OF WHICH WAS DENIED US BY AN ILLEGITIMATE SCHEMER AND HIS BAND OF THIEVES.

so co-owners, let's become UNITED in our quest for fair legal and financial treatment and concentrate on the REAL CULPRIT THAT HAS BROUGHT US ALL DOWN DUE TO HIS AVARICE AND GREED., IAN BRUCE EICHNER.

have a peaceful thanksgiving. UNITED WE STAND.

chris

Amen Chris Lets all stay together Back and forth name calling and sarcastic answers do not do us any good God Bless

Those owners who pay maintenance fees regularly should sign-up and the signatures should be verified by TMC office who collects the payments. Let's try this method. My husband and I have never stopped paying! Marion and Reginald Amory

You can argue all you want, but you sign a legal document and you are liable, in order for this to work we need the following; A list of current owners that are paid up to date, that will give us a good idea of were we stand.... Also when they provide us with a list, if they will do so, we should request that all the monies should be put into a fund that will be manage by a reliable investment company and the fruit of the investment will help to lower the maintenance fees. If we divide the monies among the owners we will get pennies, but 6,500.000 millions will produce gaines and together maybe we will be able to enjoy, what we thought was a good investment. And this will also be attractive for Investors to buy the property and get a brand new management Co. Remember that two wrong don't make one right... Sara Roistacher, owner since 2000 in good standing.

Does anyone know the status of The Manhattan Club Timeshare Association, Inc ? Is Eichner still the President of the Board ? For those of us who still wish to enjoy using TMC timeshare, we cannot change the direction TMC is heading until we have a voice and exercise our right to vote.

Debt may be run up by lack of revenue or BAD MANAGEMENT. My bet is on the bad management.

Good points; I will try to remain civil in the future.

This idea may have merit!..(Keeping settlement whole)

Would someone please post the following information:

- Name and contact information for the person in AG Schneiderman's office who currently is the point person for this case - Links to all pleadings, judgments and other documents relevant to this case.

Thank you.

Absolutely my husband and I are with you!

The Amorys

Chris, you are absolutely right! NONE of us can judge another person and what he/she chose or HAD TO DO. NONE of us knows ANYTHING at this point about how this will turn out so unfortunately we have begun to turn on each other. I'm not sure Eichner is smart enough to have a hand in that but it's what we've reduced ourselves to. And EVERYONE on this blog has the right to vent and ask for/wish for/predict what he/she thinks is going to happen but you know the old saying...."it's not over until the fat lady sings" so I guess we'll have to just wait it out and pray for the best.

Read the settlement...many are 'out' including him

viviens2 wrote:

Does anyone know the status of The Manhattan Club Timeshare Association, Inc ? Is Eichner still the President of the Board ? For those of us who still wish to enjoy using TMC timeshare, we cannot change the direction TMC is heading until we have a voice and exercise our right to vote.

Hi Mary,

There is no case. There never was a case. All attempts at bringing a civil suit were dismissed. And I doubt individuals can bring a criminal complaint. There was an investigation by the NYSAG which has been concluded and settled. You can find the settlement document on the NYSAG website by searching "Manhattan Club AOD."

As far as any other info goes, you need to wade through this blog. If you think 175 pages is too long, thank the people who felt entitled to share every thought and feeling they had. To the extent it helped communicate among owners to bring pressure to bear on the AG, it was helpful. But for the most part, probably 125 pages out of 175+, it was unfocused, personal and not helpful in resolving the greater issue. You judge.

Despite many suggestions, the settlement is not going to be changed. Unless another way is found to "claw back" assets from the MC sponsors, no one is buying back MC units, not the new management company, and certainly not the current owners. No matter how good the ideas may be, the matter has run its course through the system. We are now waiting for (1) the appointment of an administrator to distribute the funds over the timeframe specified in the AOD and (2) the selection and transfer of the management of the MC to a new management company.

Then we'll see what comes next.

I keep telling everyone that still owns (mine was bought back for $200), that Small Claims Court is effective at getting some of your money back. It is also a big nuisance to them to have to provide a lawyer each time. The only caveat is that there are limits for how much you can sue for. These limits change from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. You can find out how much that limit is, at your individual county and sue for that. They have to send a lawyer TO YOUR court, and defend there. If we all do this, it will be a big pain in the tukus to them, and each individual may even get something out of it. Even $5,000 or $10,000 would be an improvement to what we have now. As I have used the Small Claims Court, you have to show up prepared with documents, any emails that were sent to you especially, any that might describe the wonderful investment this property would be, the possibility of using it on individual days, as needed. The original brochure, would probably show many advantages that then turned out to be unavailable. If anyone has evidence that the days they wanting were not available to them, but then available on Travelzoo.com ...well, that would probably be spectacular. In the Small Claims Court, the threshold for proof is lower as the mediator understands that the litigants are not lawyers, but just some wronged individuals. I have won every time I went. I felt wronged during 2 car accidents and was successful in getting my claim met. Unfortunately, we cannot sue because when we sold back, our closing papers stated specifically that we cannot sue them. If anyone wants to do this, please contact me and I can walk you through it.

Let me rephrase that. No one will be buying back MC units at anything near what they initially sold for. I’m sure there will continue to be buyers at $200.