Timeshare Suit: Royal Oasis Owners May Be Taken To Court

Among those expected to be named in the suit are resort owner Driftwood Freeport, David Buddeyemer, president of Driftwood Freeport Limited, and Lehman Brothers.

The situation is leaving a bad taste in the timeshare owners' mouths and a terrible impression on the government of The Bahamas.

"We don't want it to come to this, but with no information forthcoming, it seems we have no other recourse," says one frustrated owner, who has yet to use her time-share since her purchase in 2003.

Fifteen months ago, the Crowne Plaza Golf Resort and Casino at the Royal Oasis closed down, reportedly for much needed repairs after Hurricane Frances in September 2004.

The closure forced the lay-off of some 1,300 employees and subsequently the timeshare arm.

With no word from the timeshare resort for several months regarding a pending sale or reopening of the resort, and virtually stuck with a timeshare point system that is useless to them, several owners are threatening legal action.

Darlene Barber from Stafford, Virginia, paid cash for her timeshare "points" in July 2004 and says unlike many she can't stop her payment.

"I didn't take a loan, I didn't make monthly payments, I wrote a check for $12,000," Mrs. Barber told The Freeport News yesterday.

Just four weeks ago, she received a letter from RCI stating that there was a hold on her timeshare points.

She said, according to the letter, the "management company" (Driftwood or Royal Oasis) had notified RCI that she had not paid her maintenance fees. But Mrs. Barber explained that she had never received a bill.

With her points being frozen, she is unable to take advantage of any other time-share properties like she had anticipated.

"Now we are out in limbo. We can't go anywhere because RCI says our points are blocked and no one will return my e-mails or my phone calls and so I'm out of $12,000 and can't even go on a vacation," she said.

After the resort closed, she was told the owners were rebuilding, but she said red flags started shooting up when she received the letter.

"That's when I started making phone calls and realized that Driftwood had abandoned everything down there," she said.

Now, she says she doesn't understand how Driftwood can have property all over the Untied States and elsewhere and still be running and totally abandon the people who have invested in their project in Grand Bahama.

The resort closed only two months after she bought her points, adding insult to injury.

She says the situation is upsetting and even admits it makes her want to cry at times.

"Hopefully, I would get my money back," said Mrs. Barber, who is willing to go all the way. "Whatever I have to do."

Some owners even took out loans to buy their time-share, while others have been making monthly installments.

A number of owners continued with their monthly payments out of fear they would lose their points, but they now question where the funds were going since the resort remained closed and their points have been frozen.

Owners Francis Becker and Diane Sgro of Vernon, Connecticut, say they had not been impressed with the timeshare unit's "unprofessional system" even before the hurricanes.

The couple purchased their points in February 2004 and Ms. Sgro says it has been chaotic ever since they returned to the U.S., trying to get through to the time-share unit.

"It's unfortunate that they were hit with the hurricane; however, all of this could have been handled more appropriately," she said yesterday.

Ms. Sgro revealed they were unable to use their points in the first year before the hurricanes hit.

While she is not saying whether they are joining in on the class action suit, she said they are going to take some action for the thousands they have invested.

"We're going to do what we feel we have to do to recoup our money and also make sure that others are aware of their unprofessional manner of doing business," she said.

Some owners also feel the government is not helping either and have made attempts to get their plight heard via e-mails and telephone calls, but to no avail.

One Alberta, Canada, father and husband, in a recent e-mail to Prime Minister Perry Christie, explained that they had such a wonderful time here, they invested in the Royal Oasis timeshare, but now they fear their investment is lost.

In fact, they were planning to send their daughter and her friends on vacation here after they graduate high school next year.

Still anticipating his return to the island to bask on our "beautiful" beaches, he beseeched the prime minister, "I would like to ask for your attention to this situation so that this can be resolved quickly."

To-date, there has been no word on the status of the resort or the time-share unit.