In December, 2008, in the midst of my wife's abortive attempt to divorce, she was contacted by Meridian's Russ Guderian, whom she referred him to me. With the family apparently breaking up, I decided to try and sell our Marriott timeshare, which Russ assured me was in great demand at top dollar ($20,000 plus). I tried doing due diligence on Meridian Marketing Group, both online generally and at the Florida AG's website, and found no complaints. We negotiated for over a month, during which I was repeatedly assured by Russ and his apparent deputies, James Taylor and Milos Kostic, that the fee was completely refundable, by check or back to my credit card, if they couldn't sell at a price I found satisfactory within a year (by 13 Feb 2010).
In January, when we finalized a contract and they sent it through with an email, I found they'd changed the terms to read that the refund could be through food and/or gasoline coupons. However, I certainly use both, and felt it unnecessary to argue that distinction. Through mid-2009, any time I wanted to speak with someone, I had no difficulty getting one of the three on the phone.
However, they never presented me a buyer's offer. From Feb09 to Feb10, I checked often for emailed and posted offers, but saw none. In Aug and Sep, 2010, I began trying to reach them to invoke the warranty. I sent, then re-sent, a polite letter, but it went unanswered. I called the old 'phone numbers, another revised by email on April 8, 2010, and whatever I got from the website, but they would no longer answer. All they had was a recording requesting a voicemail they said they'd return, but never would. I got email addresses from their website, and contacted first one, then all. The first time, I got back about a four-word response from a 'gtaylor' asking how they could help. My reply also went unanswered. Upon searching the Web, I found several complaints at a website called Ripoff Report, where Meridian had its own section. None of the names mentioned by complainants matched those I'd known. Nor had any of those I'd dealt with responded to my requests to call or email. Most of the complaints pertained not to timeshare sales, but to unfulfilled trip package arrangements.
There were four different addresses shown, all local to Orlando, but there were enough descriptive similarities that I'm sure it's the same company I paid. In Sep, 2010, I made a final effort to reach them, sending the same letter by certified mail, return receipt, to each of the four addresses. The letter was factual and polite, asking their cooperation. Three of the four were returned with addressee unknown. The fourth, the one shown on the website, was received and signed for, but never answered. |
