The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office has fined a Florida company at least $125,000 to settle charges that it used deceptive telemarketing and other practices to market and sale of timeshare vacation packages in the state.
Named as defendants were BlueGreen Corp., BlueGreen Resorts, BlueGreen Vacations Unlimited, Inc. and Great Vacations Destinations, Inc., all of Boca Raton, FL, Corbett noted.
Under the settlement, the defendants agreed to cancel contracts and pay refunds to consumers who have filed valid complaints about their timeshare purchases, Attorney General Tom Corbett said in a statement.
BlueGreen contacted consumers by phone and through kiosks at shopping malls, fairs, and festivals throughout Pennsylvania, along with the use of sales facilities in Hershey and King of Prussia.
Corbett noted the settlement applies to complaints by Pennsylvania timeshare purchasers that have already been filed with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, along with any new complaints filed within the next 30 days.
Also, BlueGreen has agreed to turn over all complaints involving Pennsylvania residents that were filed directly with the company.
"Many of the complaints filed with the Attorney General's Office involve consumers who spent between $20,000 and $40,000 on vacation packages they were unable to use," Corbett said in a statement. "This part of the settlement could result in more than $1 million in refunds to consumers, depending on the total number of additional complaints we receive over the next 30 days."
Corbett said the settlement also includes payments for consumers who were promised various "free gifts," including airline tickets, hotel accommodations, gas cards and other valuable prizes.
"For most consumers, the promise of a 'free gift' or 'valuable prize' turned out to be nothing more than vouchers or coupons which required other expensive purchases before they could be used, or were limited by massive "fine print" restrictions," Corbett said.
"As part of this agreement, BlueGreen is paying $125,000, which will be used to compensate people who were deceived about "free" prizes - so consumers who filed valid complaints will get a check for the value of the item they were promised."
Finally, Corbett said the settlement includes a special reward for each consumer who filed a complaint about BlueGreen's use of telemarketing sales calls that violated Pennsylvania's "Do Not Call" law.
"BlueGreen has agreed to change its businesses practices to eliminate future confusion about consumer rights involving timeshare purchases, to stop using misleading advertisements about free gifts or prizes and to make certain that any future telemarketing calls fully comply with our Do Not Call law," Corbett noted.
The Consent Decree was filed in Commonwealth Court by Senior Deputy Attorney General David Sumner.
