The Timeshare Beat: Jerry Sikes; Bad News

Bad News

“Bad news stimulates him to act”
- William Shakespeare -
Henry IV, Part 2

In late 2004, September 8th in fact, a CBS’s 60 Minutes story reported that (based on recently uncovered documents) President Bush received preferential treatment in the National Guard. After much outcry from Congressional Republicans and other media sources, CBS News (on Sept. 30th) concedes it could not verify the authenticity of those documents. January 10th, 2005 MSNBS’s Dan Abrams interviews CBS CEO Les Moonves with respect to this story and its aftermaths:

DAN ABRAMS, HOST, 'THE ABRAMS REPORT': Mr. Moonves, what went wrong.

LESLIE MOONVES, CBS PRESIDENT: It was such an overzealousness to get the story on the air that the experts weren't authenticated, the documents weren't authenticated, and I don't think they checked out the sources sufficiently.

ABRAMS: Is CBS ready to say we got it wrong?

MOONVES: Oh, there's no question about it... The panel, wrote a very in-depth report of 225 pages, and in my statement about it, which said we were unfair and inaccurate at certain points in time throughout this.

“ABRAMS: Do you think it was purely journalistic errors? Do you think that if there had been journalists, producers, with a more conservative bend at the helm that the result might have been different?

MOONVES: I don't think it had anything to do with whether they're conservative or liberal or Republicans or Democrats. I don't think producers checked appropriately. I don't think they vetted the report. Forget about political bent. I don't think it had anything to do with it. I think it had to do with not doing their jobs.

Clearly MSNBC considered the reporting errors by CBS News and/or 60 Minutes with regard to the allegations made on the September 8th report to have been headline news and thus sent one of its top correspondents (Abrams), to inquire of CBS’s CEO (Moonves) “What went wrong?”

Mr. Moonves used these terms in his answers: over zealousness, documents weren’t authenticated, sources not checked out sufficiently, unfair, inaccurate at certain points, journalist-producers not doing their jobs.

On January 25, 2005 MSNBC News reported the following:

TOP 5 TRAVEL SCAMS

Insider tips on how to avoid being a victim

By John Frenaye, Tripso.com

Travel columnist

Special to MSNBC.co

Scams are all around us and unfortunately, travel scams tend to be near the top of the heap. It seems that for every legitimate travel offer there is one that isn’t.

According to the National Fraud Information Center, the average loss to fraud in 2004 was $803 per incident — up from $468 two years before. While travel is not at the top of the fraud list (that is reserved for online auctions), it is number two in frequency of complaints. Be sure to steer clear of the folks who are only out to separate you from your travel money.

Don’t be a victim of these 5 top travel scams.

4.Timeshares

People marketing timeshares are slick. They are not afraid to lie, cheat, or steal to make a sale. Most timeshare offers are made while you are already on vacation and your guard is down, but many are from contest entry forms where you fill out a form while waiting for your Chinese take-out. Very simply, never agree to a meeting or a presentation. Ask that any information be sent to you. Once in a presentation, you have put yourself in physical and fiscal danger. A client of ours just returned from Mexico where he thought he agreed to extend his stay to try out a timeshare. When he returned, he found that his credit card had been charged $37,000 and he was a proud new owner of a timeshare — Spanish contracts tend to be confusing if you are not fluent in the language.

While there has been no outcry from Congressional Republicans and other media sources about the story presented above, Reporter Wry of this column was dispatched to interview MSNBC.com’s Charles Tillinghast General Manager/Publisher and Dean Wright, Editor in Chief. As with his interview of Dr. Ihava Big Ego in With Regard to Ego, Wry was required to submit his questions of both the Publisher and Editor of MSNBC in advance. What follows are the questions submitted.

Recently a CBS News/60 Minutes scandal caused a political uproar and media feeding frenzy led to several top CBS News executives/producers losing their jobs. When asked by Dan Abrams of MSNBC “What went wrong” the CBS/CEO Les Moonves responded with this statement: “It was such an overzealousness to get the story on the air that the experts weren't authenticated, the documents weren't authenticated, and I don't think they checked out the sources sufficiently.” In light of this situation what is the MSNBC position on authenticating ‘experts’, their documents and their sources?
Do you feel that CBS News/60 Minutes was justified in terminating or asking for resignations from several of its executives/producers that they deemed responsible for that debacle?
Does MSNBC have a policy that requires verification of allegations made in stories it puts on the air and if so would the individual or individuals who allowed unauthenticated details to be broadcast be facing the same fate as those executives at CBS News?
The CBS News/60 Minutes story regarding President Bush was deemed to have been politically motivated, based on supposed ‘experts’ and documents that weren't authenticated. It defamed only one person, the President. Would MSNBC publish a story provided to it by a supposed ‘expert’ that reported documentation, which defamed a whole industry and thousands upon thousands, if not millions of people without authenticating that source, or the documentation?
Is either of you aware of the MSNBC story that aired on January 25 of this year written by a John Frenaye titled Top five travel scams?
In that story the writer attributed many of his allegations to an entity known as The National Fraud Information Center, are either of you familiar with this organization?
In that story the writer provides a link to the National Fraud Information Center web site titled The National Internet Fraud Watch Information Center. What would be your comment if you became aware that using the search function on that web site no Top five travel scams list could be found?
Would you be surprised that the only mention of timeshare on this web site is under the heading of Telemarketing Fraud; sub directory Telemarketing Fraud statistics, sub-sub directory January - June 2004, sub-sub-sub directory Top Ten Telemarketing Scams, sub-sub-sub-sub directory #9 Travel/vacations 'Offers of free or discount travel that never materialize', sub-sub-sub-sub-sub directory Travel Fraud Tips item #2 (as follows):

Know exactly what's included. A "free" or incredibly cheap trip may have hidden costs. For instance, the cruise may be free, but you have to pay to fly to the departure point and stay in a hotel at your own expense. Or you may have to endure a long, high-pressure sales pitch for a timeshare or travel club membership as part of the trip.

And that nowhere on this site or in any related or linked site could you find any mention of any of the allegations concerning timesharing used by John Frenaye in the story which defamed a whole industry that you allowed to be broadcasted?
In his story, John Frenaye stated the following: “While travel is not at the top of the fraud list (that is reserved for online auctions), it is number two in frequency of complaints”. Would it surprise you that when the Federal Trade Commission released its list of Top 10 Frauds in August of 2004 that Travel was not even mentioned?
What is your reaction to Mr. Frenaye citing his source of information being The National Fraud Information Center where the only mention of ‘timeshare’ is in its Telemarketing Fraud sub-heading and more specifically its Telemarketing Travel Fraud Tips when his defaming statements have nothing to do with Telemarketing Fraud?
Did Mr. Frenaye provide MSNBC with any other documentation that would support his allegations that “people marketing timeshare are slick. They are not afraid to lie, cheat, or steal to make a sale.”?
Did Mr. Frenaye provide MSNBC with any other documentation that would support his allegations that “Once in a [timeshare] presentation, you [the consumer] have put yourself in physical and fiscal danger” or was that statement just intended to sensationalize his story?
Did Mr. Frenaye provide MSNBC with any other documentation that would support his hearsay allegations concerning some anonymous client that was duped into purchasing a $37,000 timeshare and didn’t know that his credit card had been charged that amount until he returned home?
Mr. Frenaye cited one source document (the National Fraud Information Center) and we identified (in a prior question) that one of its sub-directories (Travel Fraud Tips) was the only place in that source document that mentioned ‘timeshare’. Were you aware that one of the other ‘Travel Fraud Tips’ provided therein was to ‘Pay with a credit card’?
Mr. Frenaye indicated that this anonymous individual was a client of his firm and that he was staying in a Mexican timeshare for the purpose of ‘trying it out’. Do you think it odd that Mr. Frenaye would book one of his clients into a Mexican Timeshare Resort on a vacation package that required that client to attend a presentation where the documentation about the deal was in a language that the client did not fully comprehend?
Do you think it was odd that Mr. Frenaye would put his firm's client in ‘harm's way’ and then expose that valued client to ridicule in his story or is it possible that this ‘example’ was simply a fabrication for the purposes of making an unsubstantiated point in his story?
Do you think it possible that Mr. Frenaye fabricated the entire point about Timeshares in his Top five travel scams story in order to deflect attention from his own profession which he indicated were directly involved in four of the five scams in his story? And finally…
Do you, MSNBS, intend to follow the lead of CBS News / 60 Minutes and conduct an internal investigation into your own executives / producers for “not doing their jobs” with respect to ‘authenticating experts & documentation” and “over-zealousness to get the story on the air”?

FINAL THOUGHT

While I was as upset as the publisher and editor of the Timeshare Beat with Mr. Frenaye and his exposé on Timeshares, I am even more upset with the ongoing ‘thread’ on Street Talk containing comments from timeshare insiders who seem somewhat proud that they are expert at ‘scamming’ those who sit down across the closing table from them.

Those in our industry that practice such scams and those in the management and development of Timeshare / Vacation Ownership Resorts that condone such activities will surely kill the goose that has laid the golden egg. I do hope that you have saved the majority of your ill-gotten gains because you will need them when you have succeeded in destroying Timesharing. The following are three of the quotes from those who contributed to that thread…

"As someone who owns more than 10 timeshares and has attended more than 25 timeshare sales presentations during the last 5 years – MSNBC is correct in its allegation that the timeshare industry is full of pitfalls, misinformation, and downright fraud. Out of the 25 sales presentations we have attended only 3 timeshare sales reps were factual and never misled us – ALL were Marriott salesreps. Out of the remainder, 10 sales reps were ignorant in many areas of timeshare ownership, especially using exchange companies. The remaining 10 or so were misrepresenting facts and flat out lying. This is a horrible track record for the timeshare industry that can easily be verified by doing a scientific poll on this web site. The timeshare industry should mandate that every person attending a timeshare sales presentation be given a booklet explaining terms, conditions, and rights that they enjoy BEFORE the presentation."

From another…

“My opinion is that the industry will see a shakeup so severe that less than 20% of the current developers will survive. And Sales by 'trick, scheme or device' will have to cease and desist.”

And another…

“And of course ARDA, the shill for the developers and the good old boy network, piously touts its "Code Of Ethics"--and does nothing but pay lip service to this vaunted empty promise while the offending resorts and salespeople continue blithely on. If ARDA would actually enforce their code of ethics instead of merely back-slapping itself, collecting membership fees and holding self-congratulatory conventions, honesty and truthfulness would be much improved.”

In my mind both the MSNBC and most of the Street Talk thread are bad news. I am glad that my Pop taught me to think, feel and act differently...

JS 2/05