Lonestar Transfer also doing business as Lonestar Transfer, LLC located in Rockwall, TX is a family-owned timeshare exit company that has been in operation for over a decade.
First impression of the business website is the company makes an extra effort of ensuring that you get to know Bryan and Karen Holloway, the owners of the business, on more of a personal level which is a small detail often overlooked when designing a website.
If you have explored our other reviews, you know that we like to locate “who and why” on the company’s website quickly. Lonestar Transfer made this search easy.
The first part of the homepage includes a video of Bryan and Karen Holloway being interview by Good Morning Texas as part of Good Morning Texas’s Good Cents segment. Not only does the video provide a spark of credibility, but it also gives the visitor an opportunity to see and hear the owners describe why they went into business and the services the company offers.
The Holloways take pride in helping many of their local community members successfully exit their timeshare contracts which encouraged them to start their own business and eventually expand their services beyond Rockwall, Texas.
Wondering what it was exactly they were doing before they launched their company in terms of helping their local community, we discovered that before they started Lonestar Transfer, they had an advocacy group called “Timeshare Justice Incorporated”. We used several different search engines and were not able to locate any more information other than a bizarre rip-off report which does not seem to be credible as it did not provide any substantial information. Perhaps they had a formal advocacy group at one time and rebranded it to be Lonestar Transfer which does not alarm us.
In the video, the Holloways are honest in stating that Lonestar Transfer cannot help everyone as there as so many state laws and different timeshares so they request potential clients to contact their company to receive a free consultation to discuss specifics before broadly claiming the company can help everyone.
Keep in mind Lonestar Transfer can potentially help you even if you do not live in the United States as it depends on the location of the timeshare itself. We located one reviewer on Google who is Canadian, and she was still able to utilize Lonestar Transfer’s services.
After watching Bryan and Karen’s video, we explored the website’s “About Us” page and found more information about this husband-wife team and how they are not only the founders but are very much involved with day-to-day operations of the company. We are not able to locate any other information on the “About Us” page about who in addition to Bryan and Karen are on the Lonestar Transfer team. While the company does have LinkedIn profile, it is not active nor are any employee’s affiliated with the company page.
While the “About Us” section is not heavy on information, overall, the Lonestar Transfer website uses a basic layout while highlighting Lonestar Transfer’s two main services on dedicated pages and throughout the company’s website.
Under the main navigation, there are three additional links in the sub-navigation that link to two of the company’s services along with reviews.
Lonestar Transfer has two types of services that distinguishes itself from other similar companies by offering both timeshare title transfer and timeshare mortgage cancellation services.
To qualify for timeshare title transfer services, the timeshare must be paid off in full. If it is not, then the customer must use the company’s timeshare cancellation service first before being able to transfer the title with the company.
Timeshare Title Transfer Service
Lonestar Transfer’s timeshare title transfer service is described in a straightforward manner on the website. It involves transferring a timeshare property title out of the customer’s name to a third-party acceptance corporation.
This third-party acceptance corporation could be another person looking to obtain a timeshare for free. Or, it could be some kind of travel club company that will take the timeshare for free and add it to its travel club inventory.
If Lonestar Transfer operates nefariously, it could be transferring the timeshare to a “shell” company with plans to let the shell company go bankrupt. In some states, such as Florida, it is illegal for a company to let a third-party acceptance corporation (shell company) go bankrupt after transferring them a title. This practice is sometimes referred to as a “Viking Ship.” It is not verifiable whether Lonestar Transfer is involved with doing this as part of the timeshare title transfer services, but this was a popular method of timeshare cancellation in the past across the industry.
Many resorts have begun to recognize bogus Viking Ship shell companies and won’t allow owners to transfer their timeshares to these companies. For this reason, it’s unlikely that Lonestar Transfer is participating in this practice.
Timeshare Mortgage Cancellation Service
The timeshare mortgage termination service that Lonestar Transfer offers is also discussed on the website. The company mentions that timeshare developer sales staff often break consumer protection laws by misleading people or leaving out important disclosures when selling them a timeshare, which is grounds for contract cancellation. In other words, sales misrepresentations which seem to be common practice among so many timeshares.
Lonestar Transfer has an entire section of articles under the “news” section and the articles contain a lot of information regarding steps you can take on your own to cancel your timeshare. Of course, learning how to get out of your timeshare can be a daunting task and it is much easier when you are assisted by a service who has much more experience, but it is nice to see a large sharing of information for those who are wanting to learn more details about the timeshare exit process.
Some may not be aware but some companies, such as Wyndham and Diamond Resorts, have timeshare exit programs of their own, so we would recommend that you contact your timeshare resort first when looking to get out of a timeshare commitment.
Lonestar Transfer’s Marketing Efforts
When Lonestar Transfer first launched the business, the company relied on heavy marketing by advertising their services on popular TV and radio shows, including Fox News, Fox Business, Sean Hannity, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Michael Medved Show, KRLD 1080, WBAP 820am, 94.9 KLTY, 660 AM The Answer, and more.
Such popular programs are unlikely to advertise an illegitimate business, so the fact that Lonestar Transfer is advertising on these networks by these personalities gives the company some credibility. However, it should be noted that these programs don’t endorse the company, but rather just allow them to pay for advertising.
It does not appear that Lonestar Transfer is continuing with heavy marketing and we were not able to easily locate any current advertisements, endorsements or articles with the sources named above.
Lonestar Transfer does have a YouTube channel with some videos available and by pure accident, we were able to locate one of their website pages that also lists endorsements although the page is not accessible from the main navigation so perhaps, while still valid endorsements, the company has decided to simply tuck them away.
Some recent customer reviews have mentioned hearing an advertisement on the radio or talks shows, Rush Limbaugh specifically. No other radio stations or talk shows have been named.
Even with this added credibility, we like to recommend working with companies that offer a low up-front fee escrow payment option, so the timeshare cancellation company is only paid in full after the timeshare is cancelled.
Lonestar Transfer offers a 100% Money Back Guarantee which means there are some costs or all costs, that need to be paid up front. While this sounds like a great offer and a promise to ensure success as it means a win-win for both parties, there are always exceptions and unexpected situations that may arise. You may or may not get your money back if the company is not able to successfully exit you from your timeshare obligation.
With a no up-front fee escrow payment option, the payment is only released to the timeshare exit business upon the successful cancellation of the client’s timeshare contract, preventing the company from disappearing with a customer’s money.
Using such a payment option is the best way to ensure protection from fraud.
Learn more about escrow and why you should care here.
Lonestar Transfer Reviews
Online reviews of Lonestar Transfer are very positive.
On the company website, the reviews are easily found. You will find reviews easily as reviews are located on the front page of the site along with customer pictures. The website also offers a separate page that features many testimonials from happy customers, but the pictures of the reviewers are missing, making it difficult to determine if those reviews are real or not.
However, because of so many reviews on the website, we did a quick check to see if there were any duplicate reviews on Google and found a couple and it does seem that while not all had pictures, their Google usernames and profiles seemed to depict actual people.
For example, here is a review from “Debra H.” from the website:
And the same review on Google:
Seeing proof that they are actual reviews and not “paid”, helps to give more credibility to the reviews.
In terms of off-website reviews, overall, reviews are positive.
As of 2/16/2021, Lonestar Transfer (Texas) has a 4.9 (out of 5) star aggregate rating on Google with 274 reviews. We sorted by lowest rating and found that one reviewer only provided 1 star but wrote a great review. Ooops!
In the company’s other “1 star rating”, it appeared the reviewer never became a client.
We also noticed another set of Google reviews for a “Lonestar Transfer” located in Murrieta, California where that location has 11 reviews and a 5-star rating. It is possible Lonestar Transfer has a satellite location so when reading Google reviews, be sure to search for “Lonestar Transfer, Texas” to locate reviews for the main headquarters.
On Facebook, Lonestar Transfer has a 4.8 (out of 5) star rating.
The company also has a 4.95 (out of 5) star rating on Better Business Bureau (BBB), and as of 2/16/2021, have received 594 reviews and only 3 complaints. We were not able to read any more details of those complaints as they all have been closed.
In terms of BBB reviews, surprisingly the company received several reviews daily and on consecutive days while on Facebook, the company has not received a review in over 9 months. We would typically expect to see more reviews on Facebook than BBB however we are not sure if Lonestar Transfer encourages one over the other.
Lonestar Transfer Costs Of Services
The Lonestar Transfer cost is not available on the company’s website due to the individualized nature of the services the company provides.
However, one customer posted on July 27, 2016 on Redweek that the cost charged to her by Lonestar Transfer was $3,495. She did not specify whether this was for the company’s timeshare transfer or mortgage cancellation service.
Another source mentioned that Lonestar Transfer’s fees were equal to 3 years’ worth of maintenance fees and we were also able to locate a review where a former customer stated that for the “cost of 2 years’ worth of maintenance fees”. Another reviewer mentioned the fees were “lower than other companies interviewed”.
The best way to get an estimate of the Lonestar Transfer cost of services is by taking advantage of the free consultation as mentioned on the company website.
How Long Is The Process
Like most companies, Lonestar Transfer does not provide an exact timeframe it will take to exit your timeshare, however most reviews discuss a 3–9-month length of time and seemed to be surprised at how quickly and smooth the overall process was.
We do not have any other details in terms of location, complexity, or specifics of their case so we would recommend taking advantage of Lonestar Transfer’s no-obligation consultation if you decide to explore the company’s services.
Lonestar Transfer’s 100% Money-Back Guarantee & Concluding Thoughts
As mentioned before, Lonestar Transfer offers a 100% money-back guarantee.
While such guarantees appear to provide safety to the customer, the best way to guarantee 100% protection from scams, which are rather frequent in the timeshare exit company industry, is to work with a company that offers a low up-front fee escrow payment option.
We do believe that Lonestar Transfer is a credible company and did not discover any information to make us believe otherwise.
However, a low up-front fee escrow payment option allows for money to be placed in a third-party holding account that is only released to the business once the company has successfully accomplished the services agreement.
This is better than relying on a money-back guarantee because it does not allow a company to receive any money before the agreement has been fulfilled, giving customers protection if the timeshare exit company should go out of business or be unable to fulfill their promises for any reason.
Learn more about escrow and why you should care here.
If you still have questions about cancelling your timeshare, please fill out our contact form, give us a call or engage in our live chat.
