TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Caravanseri owners win??

As a member of TOCA, these people are the only individuals who will receive the benefit of their condo usage and any monetary penalties given to the group. Too bad but it was broadcast to every person to join the group but most indicated that it was a lost cause.

BUT ... If the verdict holds up on appeal -- others can get counsel and go to court since a precedent will have been set! Highly likely they (new litigants) will succeed, at lower cost...

I am just curious when all the court litigation is finished and the court rules for the Caravanseri owners. What is the expectation of service the owners will receive? The Alegria owner has been sued ( and probably ain't happy)and now has let Caravanseri owners stay in the now hotel. I am guessing the Caravanseri owners will now have to start paying MF'S. So will the Caravanseri owners get top notch service? Will the MF's stay the same? Will there be no special assessment fee's? I am just finding it hard to see any pluses for the Caravanseri owners winning. The only thing I see would be a plus would be Algeria returning the purchase price that the Caravanseri owners paid. And Algeria loosing this round would set a president to keep them in litigation for years.

Just my $.02

SXM??? Wendell

"Service" or lack thereof is a good question, but you raise an even more interesting question to me----what's to keep Alegria from tripling the AMF???

I was thinking the same thing. Increased MF's and a special assessment for all the improvements they have done sounds like something that will probably happen. Not a great situation to look forward to. Winning this might not be a winning thing.

Wendell, the same thing went through my mind when I first read the verdict.
Who's to say they will keep the rooms up? Towels, paint, kitchens, appliances, mattresses? Service(s) to them vs the hotel guests? I can see them wanting to make your life miserable.

Sort of like "be very careful what you wish for" All good points Wendell and highly likely IMHO. Just sayin

Will be visiting SXM and Alegria at end of the month.

I will let you all know....

Hello again all,

Just a few points for further clarification. TOCA has 2 petitions percolating before the SXM court system. The injunction petition, heard and "won" by TOCA last week addresses the issues of the ongoing denial of access to our units & requests damages caused by this continuing denial (alternate accommodation/lodging costs, legal fees, etc.). Last weeks "win", if not appealed by Alegria, must grant us immediate access to our units UNTIL our merits petition (the main case) is heard before the court in early 2016. The TOCA membership fully understands the consequences/ramifications of returning to a resort where we are not welcome and social media sites have already informed audiences that current "winners" (Marty & the Dream Bar) continue to be harassed. As well, it is reported that owners in the A building (not timeshare owners) have received notice by Alegria that their fees will be substantially increased. All of these serious concerns have been expressed by our membership as we move towards the main case procedure & are clearly addressed/dealt with in the upcoming main case. In the meantime, we wait to hear if Alegria will appeal the decision and the Board will formulate a plan of action, in collaboration with our attorneys, to grant our owners access to their units as per the injunction ruling. Even in the event of an appeal by Alegria, the injunction ruling must stand (or Alegria faces hefty fines for its violation) until their appeal is heard before the court.

Regards,
Carol Anne Lee-Desmarais
(president of TOCA)

So, now it's low season and how many that are affected by this will show up before 2016. 2016 MF's will be due before then along with back MF's up to that point to keep current as in the contracts. All I see is more bad money and emotions going towards a bad end result. I have no dog in this fight but looking in I see nothing good for the owners in the end.

However, that's making the assumption that Alegria accepts the fact that they are servicing timeshares, and are ready and able to handle the accounting, billing, etc.
Did they bill for 2015, or keep track of who paid or didn't? Would they have records that you were in arrears, if their position is that they aren't timeshares any longer?

I would assume that the people that signed the letter sent money in and they kept track of it. I would also assume that since this has been in the courts they also kept up on these timeshare owners records in case a decision went against them. If I was Alegria I would have all records at my disposal and up to date until everything is settled and put to bed. Just make sense for a business in this situation to do.

One of the things I learned a long time ago is never, ever assume anything. The facts speak for themselves.

If Alegria had good business sense, it would have settled with the TOCA members outside of court before it got to this point. And, newspapers, not only on the island but in the States, and social media throughout the world would not be reporting negatively against Alegria. Unfortunately, Alegria is now faced with the probability that, if TOCA wins the final case, they will be in court for many, many years to come.

It takes two opposing parties to negotiate, and it's not too late to do that. But, it takes both sides willing to talk ... if settled out of court, no precedent has been set.

Sandy

Good evening,

For those enquiring as to whether or not they can now join the TOCA association, the advice of our lawyer is NOT to accept new members. For those who wish to retain legal counsel, either privately or forming an association of their own, we highly recommend Lexwell legal firm. We have been extremely satisfied with the level of professional legal service that we have received.

We wish you all the best of luck in whatever you choose to do!

Warmest regards,
Carol Anne Lee-Desmarais
(president of TOCA)

Of course he would want that. Starting over with a new case, more dollars. But then again new members might muddy the field.

I am going to make a wag and say that Aleriga is not happy and will make life miserable for the people who won the suit. It might be in their best interest to propose to Alerigia that they will accept a return of the money that they paid for their condo perhaps with interest, and they will walk away. Both sides are at each others' throats and I can never see them kissing and making-up. This way the owners can go elsewhere or no place at all and not have to fear reprisals by Alegria and Alegria will be rid of this monkey on their back and treat the property as they see fit.
I'd be interested to see what the owners think about this proposal.

January - I like the idea. All I have ever wanted since this rediculious saga began was the money back that I paid for the unit so I can go elsewhere. It is unjust to have had so many people who bought into a promise (many of us pre-construction) just have to walk away with nothing. Had they done this from the beginning I probably would have even considered buying again somewhere else on the island....now, not so much......

Good afternoon,

The members of the Board for TOCA will host a conference call over the weekend and will make a final decision as to whether or not to accept new members at that time. If YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED ALEGRIA'S LETTER and wish to join our association please contact me as soon as possible at our email address: [email]tocagroup@gmail.[/email] com

Best regards,
Carol Anne Lee-Desmarais
(president of TOCA)

Good evening everyone,

It is with pleasure that the members of the Board for TOCA (Timeshare Owners at Caravanserai Resort) will be accepting new members. If you have NOT signed Alegria's letter, you may contact me at tocagroup@gmail.com and I will provide you with the necessary information.

Best regards,
Carol Anne Lee-Desmarais
(president of TOCA)

Good afternoon,

TOCA (Timeshare Owners at Caravanserai Association) is continuing to accept new members (those who have NOT signed Alegria's letter) until October 15th at the latest. If you are interested in joining our group who are fighting this travesty before the SXM court, please do not hesitate to contact me at: tocagroup@gmail.com and I will respond to your enquiry within 24 hours.

Best regards,
Carol Anne Lee-Desmarais
(president of TOCA)

Does this mean no fines for Alegria (for now anyway)?

Alegria fines suspended

Good afternoon,

TOCA is the association that was formed one year ago by owners at the Caravanserai resort who have had their long lease agreements illegally nullified by the new owner Alegria.

We have been advised that we may continue to accept new members who have NOT signed Alegria's letter. For those who have signed the letter, we are referring you to our legal firm (Lexwell in SXM). Any enquiries to our email address will be responded to within 24 hours and you many contact us at:

tocagroup@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

Best regards,
Carol Anne Lee-Desmarais
(president of TOCA-Timeshare Owners at Caravanserai Association

The link didn't work for me?

Yup, The Daily Herald did some web changes. Carol's link (1st post) to McD's robbery suffers from the same fate.

Well, crap, any link to a story in the DH no longer works. New domain name as of yesterday, I guess.

Are any of their stories still there? Could we go back and fix and re-link? Oh, I guess not, as our ability to edit our own posts disappears after a while doesn't it......bummer! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/hammer.gif" alt="" />

Weird..I edited the post to give the new link but the edit vaporized....

Let's try again

Alegria

The old stories are still there, I think, but you have to go in and manually search for them. It would have been a lot more work for the DH to do, but they could have automatically linked it to the new address, I think.