Company Response
4/19/2024
April 19, 2024
To whom it may concern,
We appreciate your patience while we reviewed the consumer's correspondence. For her convenience, we will be sending Ms. Artis additional copies of any signed contract documents mentioned herein directly via email, as we are unable to upload them to this website. Please find our response below.
We truly regret to read of the medical hardships that the consumer is faced with and we certainly hope they may soon ease. We ask that you please advise the consumer that we remain at her service to address her concerns and assist her to the best of our ability.
Please allow us to briefly explain the consumer's ownership to her and some benefits she has as an owner. On May 31, 2007, the consumer purchased a Value-Season Week in a 2-Bedroom Grand Lockoff Villa for use during the Even-numbered years with the First Occupancy in 2008 at the Westgate Town Center Resort. We ask the consumer to please keep in mind that she purchased under the Floating Use Plan for reservations, wherein she does not own the use of a specific unit, but a certain unit type, based on availability. Therefore, she has the right to occupy her villa at her home resort during her current year and season of ownership without being charged additional fees. However, please advise the consumer that any reservations outside of her contracted usage rights are considered owner benefits (e.g., exchanges, split weeks, etc.), which are also based on availability and subject to the Westgate Resorts Internal Exchange terms and conditions. Additionally, we ask the consumer to please know that Westgate allows owners to book reservations up to eleven (11) months in advance of their desired travel dates to improve the likelihood of securing those travel dates. Further, please allow us to confirm that the consumer is the owner of deeded real estate as evidenced by her executed Warranty Deed document.
With respect to the consumer's concern about the maintenance and tax assessments and her claim that she feels as though Westgate does not replace anything at its resorts, it is important for her to understand that these assessments represent the only source of revenue available to pay the cost of maintaining her home resort. Please advise the consumer that upon review of her executed Contract for Purchase and Sale document, her signatures and initials confirmed that she was advised that the maintenance fees were estimated. Additionally, we ask the consumer to please know that the owners' association is responsible for calculating the resort's annual budget and dividing it equitably among all the owners so that each one pays their fair share of the costs needed to preserve the integrity of the resort's services while keeping the costs as low as possible. We ask that you please advise the consumer that if the cost of goods and services required to maintain her home resort increases, this increase to the budget is divided amongst all the resort owners so that each pays their fair share of the increase.
Regarding her request for Westgate to purchase her timeshare back from her, please advise the consumer that while Westgate may acquire properties from owners from time to time through upgrade sales, foreclosures, and the exercise of its Right of First Refusal (ROFR), it does not have a buyback program. Please advise the consumer that the ROFR allows Westgate to match offers to purchase a property from an owner under the same terms being offered by a third-party purchaser; however, this option does not constitute a buyback program.
While we appreciate the consumer's concerns with her timeshare ownership, we ask her to please understand that once the rescission period that she was provided at the time of the purchase has passed, it is at Westgate's discretion whether cancellation is warranted in any scenario where an owner is requesting release from their contract as a courtesy or when allegations of wrongdoing are brought upon Westgate but supporting documentation has not been provided. As such, please advise the consumer that her contract remains valid, enforceable, and it will not be cancelled. Although we are unable to cancel the consumer's contract, we ask her to please know that we want to help her in any way that we can.
We encourage Ms. Artis to contact our Account Services Team at 1-888-999-0101 for further assistance with her account. While they do not provide contract cancellation services, they are committed to helping her. They will explore options that may be available to the consumer to assist her with bringing her account current with her financial difficulties in mind. We appreciate the opportunity to be of service.
Respectfully,
Connor M., Executive Team
Owner Relations Correspondence
Westgate Resorts
correspondence_team@wgresorts.com
Cm/am
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