View Full Version : Timeshare presentations a "great deal"?
scamhammer
22-12-2003, 03:25
I have spent a little time on this forum now and have seen nothing about the ubiquitous timeshare sales deals.
Some American neighbours here spent the first day of their visit at a timeshare presentation so that they could afford to go to the parks.
I spotted the other day a couple allowing a timeshare salesman at a booth to drive away with their credit card. Hopefully, they got it back.
Can anyone suggest what other scams timeshare sales people might be involved in?
florida4sun
22-12-2003, 05:23
There are no scams in the time share deals. Timeshare is very strictly licensed. the rules are clear. You get your 'gift' for 90 mintues of your attention. Usually you will get 2 one day tickets for 90 minutes of your time. Now if someone has gone to the expense of travelling here and booking accomodation and then has to waste their time to get 2 free (single day) tickets. It just doesnt add up to me. Why on earth waste your vacation time being sold to buy some over zealous sale person.. I would sooner put my vacation off until I could save the $100 to buy two tickets.
We did one of these years ago. It was much longer than 90 minutes, more like three hours before we could get away, We were bombarded with salesmen, each one getting more aggressive. They tried ever trick in the book from "come on, you're wasting our time, you cant afford this" to "Im on commission and not making a living, please help out". A guy who was obviously a plant who was "just passing through" came over and told us how wonderful it all was. He was so fake and contrived it was laughable. We did get our tickets as in the end they gave up on us in disgust. But you have to be really hard and stick to your guns as you could easily get sucked in particularly if you are the sort who cant say no. When I wa a CAB advisor in the UK, I dealt a lot with people coming back from Spain and the Canaries who had bought timeshsres they didnt want and couldnt afford and were desperately trying to get out of it. The sun goes to peoples heads!! Not for the feint hearted. There are easier ways to earn a few bucks.
Julie,
We also went on one of these years ago to the Orange Lake just to be nosey as our friends were going there later in the year. The prices they were asking were disgusting but they said it was because they were so good. I told them I could buy a cheaper week and still get to stay in the Orange Lake by exchanging[}:)]We got removed from our presentation because hubby said in a loud voice what a con it was - ie you don't get free holidays for life as you'd more than likely be taking a loan to buy the place. We were given our Disney dollars and told thank you and goodbye.[msnsmile2]
A couple of days later we went to one at the Polynesian Resort and the lady trying to flog us a week gave us the wrong info. she gave us the lower price first, then upped it, rather than the other way around.:( This resulted in a very annoyed hubby who demanded to see the supervisor. We were taken to a private room and voiced our complaint. Needless to say, the supervisor was not best pleased with the sales lady. She asked us how much we'd be willing to pay for a week, so we told her $5000(it was 1.9 to the pound then). Funny, she came up with the offer of a 2 bed townhouse in West Palm Beach. Without seeing the resort we bought it (purely for exchanging) and you could almost see the supervisor rubbing her hands with glee when she asked if she coould prepare the finacing. Her face fell when hubby got out an American Express card and said "No thanks, I'll pay with this".[msncry]
We've also been to a presentation in this country as our gift was a cruise to and from the Bahamas and 4 nights, 5 day hotel accomodation. We actually got escorted out of there by 2 big burly minders for saying much the same thing about the financing. One poor young woman on the table behind us burst into tears as she'd just signed on the dotted line without realising what the actual cost would involve. The person who handed us our gift smirked as she told us it didn't include the flights. Her face was a picture when I told her it didn't matter as we had 2 free flights courtesy of Northwest Airlines.:D:D:D
Funny, after that little episode we stopped receiving any invitations[msnwink]
Jacqui
Nice one Jacqui, great that you could work the system to your advantage:)
I went along to one in Malta a few years ago, it must have been their first time cos they gave
you the free goods on your way in (200 fags and bottle of Vodka each). So we got our goodies
and sneaked out half way through.
It's nice to beat them at their own game
:D
We avoid them like the plague now though
The one we went to was Westgate. I believe if you are determined to buy one of these, the Disney Vacation Club is better than most.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by florida4sun
There are no scams in the time share deals. Timeshare is very strictly licensed. the rules are clear. You get your 'gift' for 90 mintues of your attention. Usually you will get 2 one day tickets for 90 minutes of your time. Now if someone has gone to the expense of travelling here and booking accomodation and then has to waste their time to get 2 free (single day) tickets. It just doesnt add up to me. Why on earth waste your vacation time being sold to buy some over zealous sale person.. I would sooner put my vacation off until I could save the $100 to buy two tickets.
[/quote]
Unfortunately you are wrong. There are scams in the timeshare industry/deals. And those companies who do scam people will eventually be brought to justice. Those who scam me will most certainly be brought to justice.
heathercobbett
04-08-2005, 12:02
If you do go,tell them at the outset that you have precisely one hour (or whatever was agreed)from the time of arrival and you will be expecting to leave then and no later,also tell them that you would not sign anything without running it past your financial advisor.If you are determined to buy,consider a resale,but remember that you will pay high yearly costs whether you use your weeks or not.
The first time we went out after closing on our villa we went to buy some tickets and came across one of these windows saying cheap tickets. Being completely 'green' we asked if there was a catch and was told there was no catch and all we had to do was pay for them. We were in the process of sorting out what we wanted when I was taken ill. I was still recovering from major surgery and was very lucky to have even been in Florida. The owner of the kiosk said I could sit inside whilst the others went across to Walgreens to try and get me some temporary medicine. While sitting inside another group of people asked the kiosk owner which time share was involved and was told which one. When the others came back I quietly communicated this to Stuart and we promptly said I did not feel well enough to sort this out at the time and would come back later, so yes, there are some slightly less than truthful people out there. Another good reason to book tickets in advance if possible and from this site because you get genuine tickets at good prices. We did not know of the existance of this site before our trip.
farawayfan
22-11-2005, 00:01
The last time we were in WDW in 1989 it poured on our first day and for want of something to do we went to one of these timeshare presentations. We came away happily with 2 2-day passes which was great at that time as there was only MK and Epcot and we were only there for 5 days. At that time we didn't know about buying tickets in advance so we were happily going to buy our tickets when we turned up at the park gates - saved us a lot of money.
Buying tickets in advance at the OV site is a great saving. http://www.park-tickets.com
We own at Westgate and wish every day we didnt! We bought at a very low price in 1991 but the maintenance charges and exchange fees are ridiculous and thats if you can actually get anything on exchange. We found it very shabby when we went this year (villa had guest in)all they wanted to do was sell you more they hound you constantly. Dont fall for it. We were amazed how many people were looking round and the deed signing room was full every day
Cruella DeVilla
23-11-2005, 15:21
Steve as mentioned before we were held hostage there and they really go for the hard sell, it's disgraceful really. Luckily Andy is strong and told them we would not do it without sleeping on it, it all turned a bit nasty and they kept us waiting forever for our tickets and transport back. Would not recommened it at all. (www.park-tickets.com offers great deals).
You don't even get the same unit each year and could end up with something with not a very nice view. We never had any intention of buying as we took an instant dislike to the guy, who was English and a stereotypical Arthur Daley!
We stayed at Westgate Towers, the carpet was badly stained all the furniture chipped, the bedding didnt fit, no view at all. Not a pleasant experience bet the "show apartment" doesnt look like that but they cant sell them quick enough looking at the numbers signing up. Not a patch on the villas we all own and in comparison work out much cheaper!