Upfront Fee Thieves and Parasites --- some legislative progress...

I have often stated here, truthfully and accurately, that while the parasitic and deceptive practices of "upfront fee" advertising companies are certainly unethical and despicable, they are NOT actually illegal (...regardless of whether or not you accept or like that fact...).

Well, the state of Florida (surely the world capital for these types of upfront fee parasites) has recently implemented legislative changes which may spell the beginning of the end for some of these thieves. This legislation is only state wide (i.e., only applicable to timeshares WITHIN Florida). FEDERAL legislation is really the only true permanent, national solution, but this is at least a start...

Effective July 1, 2009, commercial Florida timeshare resellers must disclose the ratio or percentage of the number of timeshare LISTINGS to the number of timeshares actually SOLD during each of the previous two years. All costs for listing and advertising (such costs are often virtually NOTHING for the upfront fee parasites who do nothing more than establish a useless, obscure web site on the Internet) must now also be disclosed.

This legislation applies to ANY telemarketer, direct mail or Internet / email reseller offering resale advertising services. However, it does NOT apply to developers, management companies or exchange companies (none of which are actually the problem anyhow --- at least in terms of the "upfront fee" parasite game).

The new statute provides for penalties up to $10,000 for violators. It also has provisions for requiring restitution (no, it is NOT retroactive to any date before July 1, 2009, in case you're wondering about that). Some of these lying upfront fee parasites who falsely claim non-existent "sales successes "may now think twice before making their phony, outrageous claims about "waiting buyers", "conventions looking for your timeshare" and other such fabrications and nonsense.

Since most of these upfront fee parasites NEVER actually sell a single timeshare --- and actually exist ONLY to collect "advertising fees" from ill-informed, unsuspecting and /or desperate would-be sellers, this particular change in Florida law should help to expose some of these thieves for what they really are. With luck, some of these maggots will now be put right out of business --- or voluntarily choose to suspend or dissolve their operations. We shall see...

Unfortunately, Florida timeshare statutes apply ONLY to timeshares located in Florida AND apply only to solicitations made to Florida residents. But despite these jurisdictional limitations, this is still a GOOD START to at least BEGIN to drive these lying "upfront fee" scum right out of existence. If this type of legislation is helpful and successful in combatting the problem at the local level, then such laws may subsequently become adopted at the Federal level, to become applicable nationwide. I hope that the "upfront fee advertiser" blight on the timeshare landscape will ultimately be eliminated completely.

It's about time .... hopefully the Florida statute will have a domino affect to other states ... I honestly don't know how they have gotten away with their thievery all this time since they are purely out and out scam artists.

jayjay wrote:

I honestly don't know how they have gotten away with their thievery all this time

No disrespect intended, but you "honestly don't know" because you do not have a sufficient legal background with which to fully comprehend the required elements of a crime. These upfront fee parasites, on the other hand, have certainly learned along the way where that "fine line" is, and they have constructed their business model to fall just short of crossing the line and actually breaking any laws.

Bear in mind too that this new legislation does not actually mandate any changes in the actual practices of the upfront fee parasites. It merely requires them to now report and openly disclose their "selling success rate" (which, in many or most instances, is likely ZERO).

In any event, these upfront fee parasites are now finally getting into the legislative "crosshairs". Because of the statistical preeminece of Florida in the timeshare world, other states tend to look at what Florida is doing, so the walls may now begin closing in upon (and ultimately crushing) these upfront fee parasites one by one, simply by requiring them to OPENLY ADMIT AND REPORT that they never actually succeed in selling any timeshares. Once this fact becomes more widely known and understood, the house of cards will tumble down on its own. I hope that someday each and every one of them will be GONE FOREVER....

ken1193 wrote:

jayjay wrote:

I honestly don't know how they have gotten away with their thievery all this time

No disrespect intended, but you "honestly don't know" because you do not have a sufficient legal background with which to fully comprehend the required elements of a crime. These upfront fee parasites, on the other hand, have certainly learned along the way where that "fine line" is, and they have constructed their business model to fall just short of crossing the line and actually breaking any laws.

Bear in mind too that this new legislation does not actually mandate any changes in the actual practices of the upfront fee parasites. It merely requires them to now report and openly disclose their "selling success rate" (which, in many or most instances, is likely ZERO).

In any event, these upfront fee parasites are now finally getting into the legislative "crosshairs". Because of the statistical preeminece of Florida in the timeshare world, other states tend to look at what Florida is doing, so the walls may now begin closing in upon (and ultimately crushing) these upfront fee parasites one by one, simply by requiring them to OPENLY ADMIT AND REPORT that they never actually succeed in selling any timeshares. Once this fact becomes more widely known and understood, the house of cards will tumble down on its own. I hope that someday each and every one of them will be GONE FOREVER....

In regards to the last post. I dont agree completely with, the thing is with people these days is that they pay anyone who tells them what they want to hear. They dont take the time out to do their research. Dont go off of review websites, anyone can write a review. Look at how long that company has been in business, and the type of compies they deal with. Make them show you proof. Then just maybe, you wont get scammed. But dont complain when someone calls you out of the blue, stating a company you've never heard of before. hey tell you all these great thing that their going to do, you give them your credit card. Then your out another $500.