At 08:54:27 PST on 07-28-99, Robert M. wrote:

>At 08:13:44 PST on 07-28-99, Rob Durling wrote:
>
>>At 11:45:55 PST on 07-23-99, joe capozzi wrote:
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>>>At 09:42:50 PST on 07-19-99, James wrote:
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>>>>At 18:03:04 PST on 06-26-99, Chris McA wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>We were also approached by telephone by someone saying they were from Swiss American Bank and that they were interested in buying our timeshare in Florida. They asked that we get an "appraisal" on the property before they would send us an "option to buy". When the "appraiser" contacted us by telephone, she wanted our credit card number to pay for said "appraisal" She said they would not accept a check "That's the way we do business". We reported the incident to the National Fraud Information Center in Washington, D.C. -- http://www.fraud.org.
>>>>>
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>>>james, continue to drag your feet. ask them for references of people who sold their timeshare. you will probably not get any. anyway please read my recent posting. State of Fla is pursuing criminal charges and I'd like to start a civil action against them. I'll email you something.
>>>joe
>>>>>BETTY: DID YOU EVER HEAR ANYTHING FROM FRAUD CTR IN DC? YOU POSTED IN MARCH IT IS NOW ALMOST JULY AND SWISS AMERICAN "BANK" IS STILL DOING BUSINESS SCAMMING THOSE APPRAISAL FEES. WE GOT A CALL THURS JUNE 24TH. I JUST EMAILED FLORIDA AG & CONSUMER SERVICES/COMPLAINT FORM. NOTHING YET.
>>>>>CHRIS IN SEATTLE
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>>>>>
>>>>I have just been approached by the same organization with guarantees of a sale at the price determined by the appraiser. Well oiled they are. The phone call was followed by a fax, then a call from a MRS representative who gladly provided me with the names and prices of three area appraisers but would only give the phone number for one. None of the appraisers could be located with any national organization. The appraiser I selected has called twice now. I've been dragging my feet to check everything out. I believe this is a scam operation, as I feared and will be reporting it shortly.
>>>>
>>>>James in D.C.
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>>>
>>Joe, I would like to be included in your E-mail regarding the civil action suit. We were dumb enough to fall for their sales pitch and actually paid $400 for an appraisal. It has been 5 months since we were contacted and I've called their documentation center everyday for 2 months. Today, I am composing a web page that will hopefully alert others of their practice. We were contacted by Resort Investment Trust with the exact same pitch. Check them out at www.reitrust.com Rob in NC
>
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>I was just adding another hit to this list. My mother owns a timeshare and received the same identical sales pitch! It sounded pretty swishy to me so I started to check it out and ended up here. Please include me if you hear anything further.
>
>Robert in San Antonio.
>
>I was also approached by this "organization" with offers to purshase my timeshare. After checking their website, returning their phone call and receiving a fax with their letter head, I followed through with contacting MLS who referred RCA who I later contacted which told me they sub-contracted the appraisal to World Certified Appraisers. Duh! I should have known then. I receive my appraisal in 7 weeks and sent a copy off to Swiss American and immediately receive an "Agreement for Aquisition of Purchase Option" in the mail stating the purchase will be maximized at 70% of the weighted appraisal value. I tried to contact my salesperson but the recording referred me to a number to cal to inquire about hte status of my resale. I couldn't get through to this number. Their website is gone. I found a re-issue of a Jan. article published by Timesharing Today Magazine about this exact scam. The article refers "us" to Stuart Hudson of the florida Department of Law Enforcement in Orlando; phone (407)245-0801.
Jay