An article published on 29 July 2019, in the Niagara This Week by Paul Forsyth, highlights the plight of one senior couple who are trapped in their timeshare. They purchased their first unit at Carriage Hills Resort in 2001, this gave them one week every two years, then purchased a second unit in 2006 which allowed them to stay each year. But now they are unable to travel and are locked into the contracts and see no way of escaping. To read the full article please go to the link below.
Mr and Mrs Game are both in their eighties with Mr Game has had open heart surgery and can only drive locally, his wife is legally registered as blind and is unable to drive. This means that they are unable to use the timeshare even for exchanges.
When they first purchased they were very happy with it as it and said “it was a good system”, but for the past six years they have found that it has become a complete burden. Their annual maintenance fees are now over $1.400 up from the original $400 when they first purchased, this is now a severe drain on their finances.
They have tried since 2013 to extricate themselves from the timeshare with many letters to the Resorts Vacation Owners Association but to no avail.
According to the CHVOA newsletter of 2018, they stated: “continues to look for exit strategies for owners.” But have also said that “no exit from ownership at this time except to find a buyer on your own for your deeded ownership.”
There is no resale market as there are more timeshares for sale than the demand for them. So this along with no established exit strategy leave these elderly people along with hundreds of others in a trap to which they can see no escape. Even just to stop paying the annual maintenance is not an option, as the CHVOA will and does chase for unpaid maintenance and will send in the debt collectors.
Carriage Hills is one of two resorts along with Carriage Ridge which was originally owned by Shell Vacation Club but now owned by Wyndham has also been in the subject of many complaints. These have been published on the website Inside Timeshare in their Tuesday Slot and their Friday’s Letter from America. So far that publication has received over 100 hundred complaints from elderly owners who also feel trapped.
All articles published by Inside Timeshare on this subject can be found at the following link.
https://insidetimeshare.com/?s=carriage+hills