Timeshare Help Source is another company that may be able to help you get out of a timeshare. They are located in Colorado Springs, CO, and have been in business since 2018.
Timeshare Help Source Website
At first glance, Timeshare Help Source seems to have a strong online presence, with a well-designed website that’s clean-looking and very easy to navigate. It mostly consists of a Home page, a section on their processes, a blog, and a Contact page. Their links to their social media platforms — Twitter, Facebook, and Medium — show that they are very active online in general.
However, once we started reading the website more closely, we came up with more questions than answers. The Process section is particularly interesting: Timeshare Help Source outlines here the steps they take to help people with their timeshares, in essence, but it is not clear whether or not they are actually helping people exit their timeshares. The steps they list are as follows:
- “Step 1: Discovery. Just like every timeshare contract is unique, every timeshare owner is unique. Unique in your needs, wants and desire for your family. The goal of our discovery process is to figure out your specific needs.”
- “Step 2: Education. Our certified speakers will cover all new & pertinent information regarding the current state of the timeshare industry. This is where you will have a chance to take notes and even ask questions afterwards.”
- “Step 3. Seminar Results: Our job is to help you leave our seminar more knowledgeable and with a plan. A plan on how to achieve what your family needs out of your timeshare, not what your timeshare needs out of your family.”
This language is pretty empty as far as describing a timeshare exit process. If you are trying to get out of a timeshare, you already know that your situation is unique, as well as what the timeshare industry is like. We are not really sure what attending a seminar has to do with getting out of a timeshare or addressing your contract and fees. It sounds like a situation that would simply require more payments from you, toward an unclear objective or end result.
The rest of the website is unfortunately devoid of details as well. There is copy speaking to Timeshare Help Source being owned by Charles Hearn on the Contact page, something that we easily verified. However, looking up Hearn’s background led us to discover that he is also the owner of a company called Hearn Media, LLC. Visiting Hearn Media’s website showed an entirely different photo of him to the one on the Timeshare Help Source website, and furthermore, that Timeshare Help Source is actually featured as a client on the Hearn Media website.
This led us to look into whether Charles Hearn has operated Timeshare Help Source under different names, or owned other businesses of a similar nature. True to form, we found that he was the owner of a company called Colorado Land Corporation from 2019 to 2020, at which point the company went first into noncompliance and then into delinquency.
From this we can conclude a few things — first, that Charles Hearn’s online presence is entirely constructed to fit whatever image he thinks would be profitable (for example, by using stock photos instead of pictures of himself); and second, that Timeshare Help Source is certainly not what it appears to be. Unfortunately, though, many timeshare exit companies use tactics like this, and create a seemingly robust online presence in order to appear legitimate when they are far from it.
Timeshare Help Source Reviews
The trend of Timeshare Help Source’s online presence continues with different sources of reviews. Timeshare Help Source is accredited with the BBB, and has several positive reviews there. They are also well-reviewed on Google and have one 5-star Yelp review. We found an abundance of PR-style articles about them as well in our research, all of which used similar language to these glowing reviews.
However, the few complaints Timeshare Help Source has with the BBB are quite resonant. One states:
- “I do not and have never owned a timeshare yet Timeshare Help Source continues to contact me regarding selling my timeshare. I was mailed an event invite recently which was followed up by a call to my cell phone from one of their representatives. I advised the representative that I do not own a timeshare and asked her to remove me from their calling/marketing list. She told me “that’s not how this works” and refused. I asked again and then hung up. Keep in mind I should have never been called as my number is on the FTC Do Not Call list and I have never done business with this company nor inquired about their services. Please help educate this company regarding the FTC Do Not Call guidelines as well as just good business practices in general. I have also reporting this violation to the FTC.”
The second is a follow-up to the first:
- “I am rejecting this response because: I was asked by the company to provide more information regarding the complaint but I was only provided the options to accept or reject the response. My response: In addition to the mailing and original phone call that prompted my complaint I have received at least 2 other calls from the same third-party marketing company, one later that same day and one the following morning. I answered but because they use an auto-dialer and no representative immediately responded I hung up. To add to my complaint the third-party marketing company contracted by the business is spoofing their phone number to make it appear as the call is coming from a local number which at the least is an extremely unprofessional way to conduct business and at most is illegal to do. … Also why I can understand the companies attempt to distance themselves from the third-party marketing company I sure hope they understand that to the consumer they are effectively one in the same. Regardless of their status as an contracted company the original company is still responsible for ensuring they abide by all laws and should be held responsible for any issues that arise due to the third-party’s ignorance of the law. If these calls continue I will be seeking legal remedy.”
The main reason we are including these complaints, even though there’s only a few, is the use of cold calling as a sales tactic, and the high likelihood that this third party is connected with Timeshare Help Source. Approaching clients with promises of getting them out of a timeshare is a huge red flag, one that cannot be ignored even amidst what appears to be a body of positive reviews. The problem with this dynamic, of course, is how easy it is to fake positive reviews and rely solely on them for reputation management. Usually they are sufficient to evaluate a company as trustworthy or not, but the complexity of this situation cancels that out.
In addition to all of this, we found an interesting post on Reddit by someone named Brandon Gebhardt, which was essentially a promotion for Timeshare Help Source. It’s especially interesting because there is no employee with that name listed on Timeshare Help Source’s website, but the user photo is quite similar to the stock photo used for Charles Hearn.
This user’s posts do not really speak well to Timeshare Help Source having an honest approach. They’re advertisements, simply put, and are generally of this nature:
- “When looking for a timeshare exit solution look no further than Timeshare Help Source! The only timeshare exit company that is accredited by the Better Business Bureau with not a single negative review. Timeshare Help Source doesn’t even have a review that is under 5 stars!”
His profile bio is not much better:
- “I help unhappy timeshare owners exit their timeshares at Timeshare Help Source.If your looking for an exit solution Timeshare Help Source is the #1 timeshare cancellation company in the country.”
These outlandish claims and rather empty allusions to positive reviews are worthy of skepticism, and they definitely undermine the image that Timeshare Help Source seems to desperately want to emit. Fortunately it is clear enough that the tone of these posts is impersonal and advertise-y, and there was one Reddit user who responded in kind; while most of that thread was removed, what’s still visible is telling enough.
Timeshare Help Source Cost
Costs are not addressed anywhere on Timeshare Help Source’s website. Generally speaking, when it comes to timeshare exit companies, we always suggest finding out cost amounts ahead of time, and getting information on whether or not you can pay through escrow. You can learn more about why escrow is important on this page.
Timeshare Help Source Summary
While positive reviews and BBB accreditation are important, they aren’t everything, and if a timeshare exit company can’t give you information about how they’re going to help you, their promises and presence are virtually meaningless. It is incredibly easy for someone to build a nice website as a front, and then never deliver on their promises. While the reviews do not speak to this (yet), we really do not have a good reason to recommend Timeshare Help Source based on what we could find about them online.
Fortunately, while operations like Timeshare Help Source’s are a bit too common, there are legitimate timeshare exit companies out there. We make a point of reviewing and featuring those that are trustworthy, so people like you can stop being saddled with maintenance fees and overwrought contracts. To explore our list of recommended timeshare exit companies, you can visit this page.