Buy Owner Resort Marketing

My contract started in March 2010. One week later, nobody would answer the phone, not customer service or Thomas, who is the person that got me started with this company. In July 2010, a "real estate agent" that works with BORM called me and said there was an offer on my timeshare for $15,900. I accepted immediately. She said person wanted a CMA appraisal and it would cost $495. I was very hesitant because I have already gave this company $800 and they never answer the phone. Plus, they wanted personal bank check instead of credit card. Big mistake, but I did it anyways. Once it went through, I was never able to get a hold of this person. In fact, her phone was disconnected. To make matters worse, I was double charged. Eventually, they did refund that money. After that, her line was disconnected.

After three weeks of leaving threats that I will be suing them, I got fed up and left a message saying I wanted my $495 back because I still had not received the CMA appraisal. Of course, 4 days later I receive it in the mail. On the report, the date of the appraisal was dated 2 weeks earlier than the postage. Very interesting. This company is a scam and I will go with whoever to put this company out of business and get the money people are owed back.

On February 5, 2010, I signed a contract with Buy Owner Resort Marketing, Inc. (hereafter referred to as BORMI), Daytona Beach, FL 32118, to sell my timeshare: Fantasy Island II, a condominium, according to the Declaration of Condominiums and exhibits thereof, recorded in Official Records Book, all recorded in the Public Records of Volusia County Florida and all amendments thereto. The cover letter with the contract was from Kelly **, with whom I had had several very positive phone conversations prior to that date; but she no longer works there.

Since that date, no one answers the phone, just recordings. When I call any of the numbers, no one answers or I get a recording saying leave a message and we will return your call! And no one ever calls back. I called each of these numbers today, Tuesday, September 7, 2010, with the indicated response in parenthesis.

Then on March 2, 2010, I received a letter from Brittany **, customer service, regarding how BORMI was marketing our timeshare (she no longer works there).

On June 26, a Chris called and said that he had a buyer, but I needed to pay $495 for an appraisal so that they could complete the sale. Sounded bogus and we declined, saying the contract said that the buyer would pay all closing costs. On July 24, someone from the realty branch of BORMI called and left a message. We were out of town and we responded when we returned with the same results as the first offer.

The contract states that if BORMI has not sold the property by the 180th day anniversary date of the agreement, then when I send them a letter requesting a refund, they will send a full refund of $425.00. I sent the required letter on August 7, 2010; and as of today, Tuesday, September 7, I have heard nothing from anyone at BORMI, and they have not credited our credit card as requested nor they have send a refund check to my home address.

I am convinced that they will say, if I ever hear from them, "We did not get your letter or we did have a buyer for your property and you refused to sell it; therefore, the company will not refund your $450."

I have googled BORMI and there are dozens of complaints against them identical to mine. Someone should start a class action against them, get a refund for all of us who have been defrauded, and then put them out of business. There seems to be no system in place to deal with inter-state cyber crime, such as, what has happened to us. This is appalling that this company is still operating apparently unimpeded, scamming dozens of desperate and unsuspecting, innocent people and stealing their hard-earned money.

Both my wife and I are 80 years old, having just celebrated our 60 wedding anniversary. We are retired and beginning to have a very hard time financially. Our health care costs (Medicare, Insurance, etc.) are going up; our utility bills are skyrocketing, etc. While the amount Buy Owner Resort Marketing, Inc., owes us is only $425.00. We desperately need the money. Having been taken, scammed, defrauded is just not right.

I received several call from Debby, representing Buy Owner Resort and on 24th of Nov 2009. I signed a contract to list my time share for sale with Buy Owner resort Marketing for a fee of $1,048.00. Several weeks later, I received by mail a copy of the website listing of my time share. After several weeks, I called to speak with Debby and was informed that she was unavailable and that a message would be left for her to return my call. Mid Jan 2010, I receive my master card billing and noticed that two charge of more than $500.00 had been made to Florida Power & Light and a third charge for more than $150.00 to a cell phone company.

I disputed these charges and was later informed that an employee at Buy Owner Resort had used my Master card information to make personal payments. I have not been successful in speaking to a sales representative about my listing and have never received a call from Bay Owner Resort concerning my listing or express any concern about the charges to my card. At the end of the listing contract, I forwarded a request for a refund as stipulated in the contract. After two weeks, I called the receptionist and was informed that they never received my request for a refund. I sent a second request by registered letter and received a response that Buy Owner Resort had met their obligation and that a refund was denied.

During the listing, I did receive a phone call from a man claiming to be from Buy Owner Resort saying that a $3,800.00 nonrefundable deposit had been made on my time share and that I must immediately pay $500.00 by credit card to insure the sale is timely processed. I could not validate who this man was so I never paid the $500.00.

I have very bad experience with listing my time share with Buy Owner Resort Marketing. Once I paid the fee, there was no communications from Buy Owner Resort. Damage to my credit as a result of the unauthorized use of my credit card. Payment of $1,048.00 to Buy Owner Resort with no effort on their part to communicate with me on efforts to sale my time share

On February 17, 2010, my husband, Michael **, and I were contacted by a Ms. Patricia ** who identified her self as an agent of Buy Owner Resort Marketing, Inc. of Ormond Beach, Florida (Their mailing address is Daytona Beach.). She offered her services to sell our timeshare property that is in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. My husband was assigned Ms. Patricia ** by Buy Owner Resort Marketing to be his agent for selling out timeshare. She referred us to the company's website, where we noted that they claimed to do thorough background checks on their supposedly experienced agents and were also licensed and bonded (with a copy of their certificate posted on the website).

Ms. Patricia would call at least every week or so, telling him that she had some promising buyers. Additionally, a man named Mark would occasionally call with similar information, claiming to be working with Ms. Patricia. Numerous times, my husband would return calls to Buy Owner Resort Marketing and others, include Mr. James**, who would answer the phone and say that Ms. Patricia was busy with another customer or ask him to hold while they found Ms. Patricia. And then, she would come on the phone, the phone that indicated Buy Owner on our caller ID.

Since he was calling the Buy Owner office and talking to a variety of people, none of whom ever said that Ms. Patricia didn't work there, and in fact, she said she did work there. My husband had no reason to suspect she was not a legitimate agent of the company nor that she had a criminal past.

Finally, during the last week of March 2010, she contacted him to say she had a definite buyer lined up for our timeshare and that the person was ready to go to closing but needed the funds within two days to go to closing. She knew very well that it takes three days for a check to clear, so when my husband pointed it out, she suggested he wired her the closing fee in the amount of $4,260.00 through Bank of America. He did have one earlier contract from her which stated that she would provide timeshare sales services (on company letterhead) but never got a contract for the actual sales transaction in March.

My husband wired her the $4,260.00. In addition, my husband saved several cell phone messages from Ms. Patricia and Mark, one of which she identified herself as a Buy Owner agent. My husband stupidly wired her the money on Monday, March 29, 2010, which she promptly stole. We have not heard from her since, and she never delivered any sales services, closing services, or otherwise on our timeshare. My husband has turned the voice messages/cell recordings over to the Arlington County Police Department as evidence against her. We have filed a complaint with the Florida Office of the Attorney General, who claimed that the company is already under investigation and also have filed with the Better Business Bureau.

We filed criminal charges against her through Arlington County Police Department in Arlington, Virginia where we live (as advised by an attorney and also bythe Florida authorities), hoping that they would then press charges against her. But they were unable to do so. Now we are hoping to be able to file charges in the county where the crime took place in Florida. I believe Deltona County, Florida.

It has been almost three months since we were scammed, and we have gotten very little assistance or action from anyone. There seems to be no system in place to deal with inter-state cyber crime such as what happened with us. This is appalling that his company is still operating apparently unimpeded, scamming dozens of desperate and unsuspecting, innocent people and stealing their hard-earned money.

Upon contacting Buy Owner and talking with one of its officers, James **, they were somewhat cooperative in giving us some background info on Ms. Patricia. But they also claimed to have fired her on February 19, 2010, saying thus they were not responsible for the return of our money since she was no longer an employee of theirs by the time we were scammed on March 29, 2010. We begged to differ and believe they were lying about her having been fired, because when we contacted them two days after having been scammed on March 29, Mr. James had Ms. Patricia on another line while still talking with us, apparently trying to get her to come clean and cooperate.

In addition, at no time did anyone from the company ever tell us that Ms. Patricia had been fired and that she could no longer be our agent or warn us that it was unsafe to trust her work. Furthermore, we have a saved cell phone message from Ms. Patricia dated February 21, 2010 (after they claimed to have fired her) that shows the Buy Owner office as the location of the call. At the very least, they are very sloppy in their hiring practices and are definitely not checking backgrounds of their new hires. And the more likely scenario is that the entire operation is corrupt and has been bilking people of their hard-earned money.

Glen, at Buy Owner Resort Marketing, who no longer works for the company, contacted me to get my business to rent out my timeshare. He contacted me daily to get my business to rent my timeshare. After sending payment, my timeshare was never rented and I was never even presented with an offer. I had four 10-day reservations already booked in Victoria, BC and Birch Bay, WA for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and Glenn assured me that he could get them rented out for me at a rate of $2,000 to $5,000 per reservation. I kept in contact with him, and when the opening ceremonies of the Olympics grew closer, I called Glen and told him I needed to cancel my reservations or I might lose my points, and he assured me he could get them rented. Well, I never got one offer, and since I had not canceled my reservations by the cancellation deadline, I lost about 20,000 points, or about 1 year's worth of points, monthly payments and dues.

When I called the company, Glen was either not available or did not return my calls, then I found out that he was no longer with the company. I spoke with Erica about the situation, and she assured me she would follow up with me, but quickly went on maternity leave. Then I spoke with Michelle who seemed to be understanding and she sent me a refund request to be filled out. I have filled out the request and returned it, and I have called about 8 times asking to speak to Michelle, and leaving my name and number for a return call, and never get a call back.

Along with never getting a return call, I have been unable to leave a message as their answering machine has been full. What kind of company is this that during working hours has an answering machine taking calls, but there's no room to leave a message. I spoke with another representative today Christy who said she would look into the situation, discuss it with Michelle, and get back to me today. Again, no return call. Then after about 10 calls in for Michelle, I was able to speak with her and she said she didn't have the authority to make a refund decision, when a month ago she stated she was a supervisor. She said she would talk to the owner, Mr. Holmes, and get back to me within the hour. That was three days ago. Again, I spoke with Christy, who is the same girl I spoke to on Friday and who never got back to me as promised.

She said she would speak to the owner and get back to me yesterday before 6 pm and gave me "her word". No call. Then today I called and again spoke with Christy who yelled across the room for Michelle, as if she were in her own home, then put me on speaker. Now they are both only "customer service representatives" and have no authority. I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager or even the owner and Christy said that she doubted that they would even call me back. Enough! All I want is for them to refund me the $499 that I paid to them for their service, which they haven't given, and return it immediately. I wouldn't trust them to do business on my behalf at this point if they did have an offer. These people are a scam!

I was contacted in February 2010 by Kim ** regarding resale of my timeshare property. I told her I did not have the money and she told me she had interested parties for my property and she was able to get between $49,900. I put her off at first, but she continued to contact me every week. I finally agreed to sign in, as she told me to give her 1 week and let her try to sell it. I paid her $1,500 for the resale service. I gave her a week then requested my money back. A man (Tony) called me and told me that they are working on selling my property and I asked him if they had any one buyer interested. He said they have potential buyers every day and that if the property is not listed, it would never sell. I told him I wanted my money back. I did not believe they were going to sell my property.

The next day, I received a call from Kim ** who said she had been out sick and apologized for not getting back to me sooner, but that she had a buyer who was dealing with the financing company and that they wanted my property. She said they needed to provide something to the financing company but that they had advised her they could provide the info. She said that if I reneged on the agreement that she could not do anything for me and that if I agreed to continue that she would contact me with the buyers name and phone so I could speak to them.

I agreed to continue and waited to hear from Kim. She had also said she would keep in contact with me, weekly, to let me know how things were going. I have never heard from her again. I have called her number listed above and left messages, but to no avail. I signed up with them in February 2010 and finally in April 2010, I received an email with a listing of my property for me to review. I have not done anything with it. This company manipulates people into thinking they have customers interested in their properties, takes your money and leaves you in the dust. I am very displeased. I lost $1,500.00 on a promise to sell my time share.

I was contacted in January 2010 by Patti P regarding resale of my property. I told her I did not have the money and she told me she had interested parties for my property and she was able to get between 20 to 25,000. I put her off for about 1 month, in which time she continued to contact me every other week or so. I finally agreed to sign in February, as she told me to give her 1 week and let her try to sell it. I gave her a week then requested my money back. A man (Tony) called me and told me that they are working on selling my property, and I asked him if they had any one buyer interested. He said, they have potential buyers every day and that if the property is not listed it would never sell. I told him I wanted my money back I did not believe they were going to sell my property.

The next day, I received a call from Patti P who said she had been out sick, and apologized for not getting back to me sooner, but that she had a buyer who was dealing with the financing company and that they wanted my property. She said they needed to provide something to the financing company but that they had advised her they could provide the information. She said that if I reneged on the agreement that she could not do anything for me and that if I agreed to continue that she would contact me with the buyers name and phone, so I could speak to them.

I agreed to continue and waited to hear from Patti. She had also said she would keep in contact with me, weekly, to let me know how things were going. I have never heard from her again. I have called her number listed above and left messages, but to no avail. I signed up with them in February 2010, and finally in April 2010, I received an email with a listing of my property for me to review. I have not done anything with it. This company manipulates people into thinking they have customers interested in their properties, takes your money and leaves you in the dust. I am very displeased.

I have been unemployed since November 2009 and had told them that I could not afford to pay them. Patti assured me she had interested parties in my property and that in her words if I give her 1% of trust she will earn the rest. She has definitely failed to earn my trust and I am further in debt which may result in my losing everything and having to file bankruptcy. This is a fraudulent company.