The Palm Beach Post has recently reported that Attorney General Bill McCollum has filed a lawsuit against a Palm Beach Gardens based company due to alleging deceptive trade practices involving the business of timeshare resales. The lawsuit was filed on January 19th of 2010 in the Palm Beach County Court.

American Marketing Group LLC targeted timeshare owners by using telemarketers to entice them, telling them that they have a buyer that is very interested in buying their timeshare property. The company then requested from the timeshare owner a hefty upfront fee for the title and deed transfer. The company also promised the timeshare owner that their timeshare will be sold within 120 days, and if the timeshare was not sold within the 120 days, they would guarantee a full refund of the entire upfront fee.

However, the contracts the company provided were completely different from what timeshare owners agreed to over the phone.  The contracts never said anything about providing a refund.  The company telemarketers made false promises over the phone, just to get the upfront fee from the timeshare owner.

When the 120 days expired, no refunds were provided and customers started to get anger.  Then in November of 2009 the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division in West Palm Beach began an investigation into the company due to the numerous complaints.

According to spokeswomen, Sandi Copes, the Attorney General’s Office received about 80 complaints concerning the deceptive trade practices involving this company.  The Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida has received 107 complaints from this company that has an “F” rating with them.

The lawsuit is brought against the company and its owner William Biossat.  The lawsuit seeks to have a permanent injunction on the company to prohibit them from engaging in any type of timeshare resale business in the state of Florida or out of the state involving Florida businesses and residents.  The lawsuit also requests a full restitution to all their victims, as well as civil penalties and reimbursement for the costs and fees of the investigation.