is hard to come by...

****NOTICE****

I can tell you that I have had nothing but empty promises for over a year.....I have read numerous postings from good people who paid for this so-called resort in good faith.....

I might also point out that our money was taken via wire which may or may not lead to wire fraud, bank fraud, and other areas of the interstate commerce act.

I want answers....

I want an explanation on the basil jones resort's expected opening...

If we do not receive official information on this resort by months end I have instructed my attorney to engage the authorities in my State, the FBI, and Interpol to discuss an investigation and charges in this matter.

Hi John: Didn't expect a serious response to my mere folly. And let me apolgize if my "humor" bothered you. I don't think it did. I feel badly about this Basil Jones situation. I got to know everyone at the Basil Jones organization this year. I agree that bad mouthing on this message does nothing positive and I wish you well in your pursuit. Take care: Bill

thank you....i think if the owners stick together we can clear this issue and get those responsible brought to justice or at least held to the fire....

John,

Not to make light of your situation, with which I symphathize, but to me it is truly amazing that so many people bought into this timeshare, in the vast majority of cases buying on e-bay without ever having seen the property and without in most cases even visiting Belize! I mean, this is a TIMESHARE, which most savvy people understand is about the easiest way to waste your money short of dot.com stocks ... and this is BELIZE, where there are few or no laws about such developments.

In my magazine, I've written editorials and articles against time shares and their negative impact on Belize. Who wants San Pedro to become another Cancun or PV with its mass of timeshare hucksters? But of course those who want to make a fast buck will keep on trying to develop these things, and there will always naive, hungry people who will be lured into trying to sell them, and there will be buyers who don't know the meaning of caveat emptor.

I took the time the last time I was in San Pedro, in August, to see this development. While the location is beautiful, it's a long way from nowhere, with no electricity or other services. The units are little thatch "tiki huts" built a few feet from the water -- you could see the water stains at the bottom of the doors. If they make through the next storm, I'd be real surprised.

My own personal view is that recently management has made a sincere effort to resolve the various problems, and when I was there in August they had actually paid some money to Graniel and had started to do resume doing some work, but that at best there is a long way to go.

You can talk all you want about the FBI, but first of all these the FBI has bigger fish to fry, and second, this is Belize, not the U.S. U.S. rules don't apply.

Good luck.

--Lan Sluder
Belize First http://www.belizefirst.com

Lan....you need to look a little better the next time you go up there.

They are 80 feet from the water....I know...because I told them where to start the front row....and the beachfront has a fairly good slope up. I'm sure the water stains you saw on the bottom of the doors was because of rain and the fact that some of the doors have not been stained and sealed yet.....gravity causes that.

They are not Tiki Huts....you make them sound like some kind of bamboo leantoo you would see on Gilligans island.

They are one bedroom concrete units complete with kitchen....tiled inside....and a 17,000 gallon concrete water tank buried 5 feet deep under each one.

Trust me.....it aint going nowhere.

While you may be pretty savvy on timeshare....you don't paint an accurate picture of these units.

Sorry....my two cents

Observation only - the BJR web site calls the units Tiki Huts?

Yes....it does.....but you are supposed to look at the pictures....and There are architectural drawings as well as progress reports that explain the construction.

The problem I had with Lan's description is that he said he saw it first hand.....and was not describing it accurately....which surprises me....as he is usually dead on center.

I can vouch for the solid construction. I've been up to the property on several occasions during construction. I'm not an employee, just a person taking a look. These "tiki huts" are SOLID and beautifully finished inside. I've seen them in all different stages of construction, concrete cisterns, concrete walls, ceramic tile floors, mohagany cabinets.
--Silk

I am simply looking for accountability and information on this issue...I think the owners deserve this....

How many owners are there?

Are you out there?

I used the phrase Tiki huts because that's the way the Basil Jones people describe them. Elsewhere in Belize they would just be thatch cabanas.

Graniels is/was doing the construction, so I'm sure it is fine for what it is, but I stand by my previous statement. I do not believe they are the kind of construction that would stand up to a hurricane. And I can tell you one thing, if I knew a hurricane were heading to San Pedro, I would NOT want to stick it out in ground-level one-story cabana that close to the water! If there have been engineering studies done that show otherwise, I will be glad to hear about them.

I'm surprised that Basil Jones can get hurricane insurance. There is, after all, a reason why Belizeans traditionally have built raised homes and why modern hurricane-resistant construction calls for reinforced concrete and other construction details which give protection against hurricanes.

You can look in Placencia at which buildings stood up to Iris -- a few of the old colonial houses and, even more so, well-built modern structures such as Inn at Robert's Grove.

Sandshaker, 80 feet sounds about right, which I consider pretty close to the water, given that the Belize government owns 60 feet above the high-tide mark.

At any rate, to me construction isn't so much the issue as the fact that people actually bought these sight-unseen.

--Lan Sluder

Hi John,
I am an owner and there are quite a few of us. there is an owners board on yahoo.

ooops I just went there to pick up the URL for you and noticed you've found it.

Are you a TUG member?

TUG???? what is it? no i am not...

John,

TUG is Timeshare Users Group. Lots of good information.Volunteer group on the net.
I can't get my machine to copy the URL just now but a search will get it for you.

sweetbird

I've kept this in my e-mail archives. Thought it would interest you..........
Re: Basil Jones Resort
Date:
Mon, 11 Sep 2000 09:26:20 -0400
From:
"Gary Carlson" <gmcarlson@snet.net>
To:
<tanakadesigns@home.com>
References:
1
Good Morning,
I assume you got my email address from ebay or from the B.B.. I too saw the same letter sometime ago, and I was a bit confused with its content. I purchased my timeshare unit(s) back in October of 99. At the same time, I also purchased 2 other unit weeks for my friends, for a total of 3. I have spoken with the developer, Adam, many times with great results. He is quite nice.
In march of this year, I went to Ambergris Caye, met Tammy in the resort office, who was nice enough to arrange boat transportation for us out to the area. The land had just been cleared a week prior to us being there. I took many pictures while there, and even shot some video. Since then, many changes have taken place. I emailed some of my pictures to Adam, and told him to feel free to use any or all of them. I have noticed them in some of his ads, and even on his web pages, that he is still using them. Smile!
Had rokyhilz done their homework before going to A.C. they would have
realized that the only way to the resort is by boat, right now! Yes when I was in the office, out back were 5 or 6 computers for "hire" to connect to the Internet. Some vacationers like to check email while away. I did.
Actually, I emailed my wife upon arrival, as she stayed at home and let me go and check things out. Many islanders have the need to "connect" but don't have the resources.

I too, found that none of the "locals" back in March had any idea about this resort, and most of the locals have no idea on what a timeshare is?? I met a young man while on the island. I happened to be staying at the Banana Beach Resort, but took a short walk over to the Royal Palm Resort. Another RCI resort on A.C. After chatting with the young man about my purchase, he informed me that he knew Adam. He name was Steve Drummond, President of destiny resorts, The Royal Palm. He gave me glowing reports both about Adam, the Resort, and RCI.

I hope that I have answered some of your questions. I must tell you, I am just getting out of work, as I work the 12- 8 shift, and I am a tad bit
tired. I must close the letter now, but I DO look forward to hearing from
you soon. I will include a few links for you. but you probably already have them Let me know what you think.


Gary Carlson
units 1,2 3 all week 7
and
1 week floating all on the Basil Jones Resort.

Tammy's email address, She is very helpful and hard working.
timeshare@btl.net

Resort pix http://www.zing.com/album/?id=4294258449

Adam's email address timeshare@email.skytel.com

Resort Web Page http://www.glentree.com/


----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael K. Tanaka" <tanakadesigns@home.com>
To: <gmcarlson@snet.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2000 11:44 PM
Subject: Basil Jones Resort


> Are you an owner at this resort. We bought 2 weeks about a year ago, and read some of the feedback e-mail on
www.zing.com/album/review.html?id=4294258449
I was somewhat concerned about the letter written below. Have you had any updates on the Resort. The Basil Jones Resort web site www.glentree.com/introduction.htm
says "Newly Revised Plans!" Do you know what's happening with the
construction?
> We'd appreciate any info that you have.
> Thank you
> Anita & Michael
>
> rokyhilz (rokyhilz@aol.com) Wed Jul 19 2000, 08:34am PT
Hello! we are one of the proud preconstruction owners for a week each year at the resort. We recently came back from belize, and loved it. We traveled as far north by golf cart, and ran into a dead end. We traveled far north by boat, well past Journey's End, andstill no sign as to where the resort is going in. We were there in June, so should have seen the dock in progress....Could anyone give me an idea where it is exactly on the map? Also, to hear others(locals and recently moved in, have not heard of the resort, and have had pretty funny
responses as to what Basil Jones is exactly. One local that had a
business right by the office(where Tammy works .....Hello Tammy!!)
said that Basil Jones was a Internet company! LOL!! others
said, there was no way on earth that the resort has a chance of
being built in 1/2 a year, or even 2 years for that matter. Adam, what
are your responses to that?
Anyway, we have full trust and hopes that everything is going along well for your builders. Things do seem like they take FOREVER to build there considering the equipment available, but if there's a will, there's a way, right??

Also received this e-mail today:
Subject:
Basil Jones Resort
Date:
Fri, 02 Nov 2001 15:23:17 -0600
From:
Belize Information <vacation@travelbelize.org>
To:
tanakadesigns@home.com
Greetings from Belize, "Mother Nature's Best Kept Secret"

Ambergris Caye was not affected by the hurricane. Basil Jones Resort is still under constructions and has not open for
business as yet. If you need additional information, kindly contact us. Thanks for choosing Belize.

Sincerely,

Colleen Gillett
Information Officer

There is an update on the Basil Jones Resort on: http://www.glentree.com/progress.htm
It says that a new corporation has taken over the project.
What do you think?

sounds like "buffalo"in manzanillo,mx.
great scam artist

Hello All,
I just found out BJ is not open. I've been emailing Gary Carlson for 2 weeks now with no response. I have already purchased airline tickets (over $2100) for my family and we're supposed to leave in 2 1/2 weeks. What do we do??? Please email me directly at bketornow@home.com if you have any info for me. Thank you.

On the bottom of this page are several links to sites about Ambergris Caye. I clicked on the Belize Business Directory & e-mailed everyone from newspapers, politicians, construction companies, travel agencies,etc, with the situation about Basil Jones Resort. Hoping someone with some current info about what's going on there will e-mail back or at least investigate what's going on. I figure the more people who know what's going on there the better. Let's get an e-mail campaign going & see if ANYONE there can or will help us!
AmbergrisCaye.com Island San Pedro Town HELP! Visitor Center Goods & Services BelizeSearch.com Message Board Lodging Diving Fishing Things to Do BelizeNews.com Maps Phonebook Belize Business Directory
*************************************
If anyone would like to e-mail me directly I would be happy to be active in helping to resolve this issue any way I can: tanakadesigns@home.com

[This message has been edited by ati2d (edited 11-04-2001).]

Subject:
RCI [T20011103003X]
Date:
Mon, 5 Nov 2001 10:16:29 -0500
From:
feedback@rci.com
To:
<tanakadesigns@home.com>
Hello,

Thank you for your e-mail.

Our records indicate that the Basil Jones Resort has been disaffiliated with RCI effective 10/29/01. RCI and its affiliated
resorts are associated via affiliation agreements; we do not own or manage the resorts.

We have been notified that the link below provides owners more information on the situation:
http://www.glentree.com/progress.htm

Regards,

Kathleen McGinnis
RCI Internet Team


If follow-up is necessary, please keep this message intact with your reply.

-----Original Message-----


Sender : tanakadesigns@home.com
Tracking Number : T20011103003XZ782191
Pool : AM-Complaints
Sent to : "Complaints@rci.com" <Complaints@rci.com>
Date : 11/2/01 10:29 PM
---

Email: tanakadesigns@home.com

City: San Marcos

State: CA

Postal Code: 92069

Subject: Complaints-Resort Issues

Additional Comments: DID YOU KNOW THAT THE BASIL JONES RESORT IS BELIZE IS OUT OF BUSINESS & THAT THE OWNER HAS
TAKEN OFF WITH ALL OF THE FUNDS????