For many years we have owned timeshare weeks at
Sapphire Beach Club Resort in Sint Maarten.
We and thousands of other Sapphire timeshare owners
all pay annual maintenance fees that by contract must
be used to pay for required maintenance and
renovations of the resort.
Clearly, expenditures on maintenance are not being made
as required in all timeshare contracts. Timeshare owners
know this all too well, by virtue of the long-standing deterioration of
furniture and appliances in many units and the general
condition of the resort. The Resort developers are not complying
with the contract they have signed with Sapphire timeshare
owners.
RCI, Resort Condominiums International, the timeshare
trading company that normally enables Sapphire timeshare
owners to trade their weeks for stays elsewhere -- and allows
owners at other resorts to trade into Sapphire -- many
months ago severed the trading relationship with Sapphire.
That move resulted directly from numerous complaints
about Sapphire received by RCI from both Sapphire timeshare
owners and from owners at other resorts who expressed great
disgust after trading into Sapphire. RCI for more than two years
has allowed no trades into or out of Sapphire because of the
deplorable condition of the property. Government inspectors
have confirmed many violations from building codes.
The hotel continues to deteriorate every year. Often, nothing
works -- elevators, air conditioning, water in apartments that
has scalded some of us, unhealthy pool water, leaks, flooding,
mold and mildew in our apartments ...and countless issues with
decrepit or non-functioning appliances, filthy or non-working
Jacuzzi whirlpools, and much more.
Many of us have pictures proving the validity of these complaints.
When we try to complain to the Verdiers, in the rare times when
Jean Verdier is there, he (the father) pretends not to speak English.
Usually he refuses to see timeshare owners in his office.
His son, Philippe, who is now supposed to be in charge, seems
never to be present -- or at least timeshare owners are told that
when we seek him out. As a result, we are reduced to sending
emails or letters which no one bothers to answer. This horrible
mistreatment of timeshare owners must stop.
Years of requests for audited financial statements from Sapphire
have never been answered, which fuels the widespread belief on the
part of timeshare owners that their hard-earned funds are either
going into the pockets of the developers or to their numerous projects
on other islands and not into the contractually required maintenance of
timeshare units at Sapphire.
But if we refuse to pay our maintenance fees, we risk losing the weeks
we have bought. We do not receive what we paid for and are reduced to
posting public complaints in petitions. We hope St. Maarten courts allow
this sale instead of the continued abuse of Sapphire Resort timeshare
owners, which worsens the already tarnished image of St. Maarten
timesharing and gives yet another black eye to St. Maarten as a
desirable location for warm-weather winter vacations. We hope the
courts hear our plight and solve these long-worsening, totally
intolerable problems.
Timeshare owners:
Full Name, week owned, phone number*, home city/state/country*,
email address
