wasmi.net

The way the timeshare works is 1) You buy your week(s) and 2) You pay your yearly maintenance fee. Sounds simple, right?
Well, it would be if the bloody company had its information straight.
We received the invoice for the yearly fee on December 26th. It is due on January 1, 2007. The invoice says to mail a check to the address listed.
Great. We live in the United States. Now I know that the original company (the timeshare resort we purchased at) has many American owners, as they told me so when we were considering purchasing. However, this new, bigger company that now owns the Estate has many resorts all over Europe, but their membership is primarily British. They did not provide any information on directly transferring the money to their account. They just assumed that everyone would be sending in a check.
I therefore went to my bank with the intention of purchasing an international check or money order to send them. My bank advised me that this was not a practical option. By the time the check arrived in England, the exchange rate will have changed and the amount of the check might not be sufficient to cover the fee. "You'd have to send them more than you owe in order to be sure to cover any fluctuation in the exchange rate." A far more practical way, she said, would be to electronically transfer the money directly to their account. Just like we did when we purchased the timeshare from the agent.
I emailed the only email address provided on both the resort website and the bigger company's website. I emailed twice, once on December 26th and once on December 27th asking for the information to transfer the funds.
I received no response.
Remember, this fee is due on January 1.
I finally called the number provided on the invoice today. It connected me to the larger company. I told them who I was and what I needed. The woman on the other end said she would get the information for me, and put me on hold.
When she came back on the line, she told me, "I'm sorry, but we don't have that information for that resort." She added that the entire accounting department was out of office until January 2.
I asked her to transfer me to someone who did have the information that I needed. They transferred me to the resort in question. When the front desk answered the phone, I told her what I needed. She said, "I'm sorry, but everything has to go through the Big Company."
I told her, "I just talked to them. They don't have the information. They transferred me to you."
I still do not have this information, and the fee is due on January 1.
I feel like I am trying to deal with a company being run by the Three Stooges.