Legends timeshares still can't be traded

VERNON-Legends Resort timeshare owners feel as though they have been caught in a vortex of confusion and disappointment since Resorts Condominiums International (RCI) suspended trading privileges for timeshare owners who had not already "banked" their week. In the jargon of the timeshare world, "banking" is the term used when the owners of a share trade time in their resort for time in another resort in the same network. Most owners consider trading privileges the chief selling point of timeshare ownership. RCI is the network through which Legends shares were traded. Spokesman David Jimenez said RCI is working with Metairie, the company that owns Legends, trying to find remedies. But until Metairie brings the public areas in the resort up to acceptable standards, RCI will not book people into and out of Legends. "RCI will honor the booking of any timeshare owner who already has banked his or her time before July 29, when exchanged privileges were suspended," Jimenez said. Al Warrington, chief operations officer at Legends, last week said that shares could be traded and blamed the suspension of privileges on problems with new computer software. After a timeshare owner called The Advertiser-News to report that RCI told him he could not trade his share, Warrington acknowledged that RCI is no longer handling bookings for Legends timeshare owners. But, he said, if owners want to exchange their Legends timeshare week for a week at one of the other resorts in the Metairie network, he will work with them on an individual basis to help them trade. Meanwhile, local families who bought timeshares at the resort are left wondering just what their investment is worth. One woman said that she had used an inheritance to purchase her timeshare unit about five years ago. "At first it was wonderful. We were told we were free to use all the amenities and given discount coupons for the restaurant," she said. "We could use the indoor and the outdoor pool, either of two restaurants, go to comedy hour and enjoy dinner and dancing. We were so happy that we even traded our one-bedroom unit for a two-bedroom unit." "This year, the outdoor pool closed in July, and so far as we know, never reopened. The restaurant remains closed. The indoor pool doesn't appear to be cleaned very often, and the whirlpools don't work. All we heard were promises, none of which ever were fulfilled," she said. The woman went on to describe grandiose assurances she says the current Legends owner made, including a promise to redecorate the indoor pool like a Roman bath and the outdoor pool like a German chalet. At one point, she said, the gym was leaking and waterlogged, and the ceiling was falling down. "Fortunately, we had banked our week before RCI suspended trading privileges. But we spent $10,000 for a week every other year, and we're afraid we bought nothing but a hotel room that we can't even sell." Another Sussex County timeshare owner said he feels very angry. He had not banked his timeshare week before July 29, and now RCI will not allow him to trade. But Legends still is charging him $600 maintenance fees that he feels are going into a dark hole, and he says he has lost all faith in the truth of their promises. "It's such a shame," said one timeshare owner. "A lot of disappointed, angry timeshare owners are out there, and no one knows what to do."