Ok, that’s worse than I expected!
4 Likes
Mrs. Bashful and I have owned a pair of timeshare weeks on Hilton Head Island for over 20 years. They are actual, titled, deeded property according to South Carolina law. They’re in the Marriott system, so they are really well run and maintained. We take family along and have sometimes gifted a week of vacation to others.
But we will never attend another sales pitch. No matter what.
I’d recommend TUG (Timeshare Users Group) forums and RedWeek for people looking to get the most out of the properties, as well as avoiding the discount stay offers and other approaches the sellers use. If you are tempted to buy, go to the resale market and see what they’ll actually be worth.
5 Likes
Oh, by the way, with our annual fee notices we always get a line asking us to contribute to the Lobbying organization ARDA-ROC. This is a collection of groups pushing for more owner-friendly policies - including Coalition for Responsible Exit.
3 Likes
My Wife and I were at a resort in the Dominican one year and the weather looked bad so we decided to sit through the timeshare (vacation points) presentation which involved a tour of the place we were staying and access to the “special” areas etc. When I pointed out to the person giving the sales pitch that his numbers made no sense, he had no answer. I said, " My vacation this week, all inclusive including flights was BLANK amount of money, you want me to pay double that, PLUS food costs ( that you refuse to quote me ) PLUS flights how does that make sense"? The pitch ended quickly after that, but I got a nice hat!
6 Likes
The video clips of that loathsome executive who was trying to rally his sales teams by assuring them that selling timeshares was “saving lives” like doctors, nurses or police officers and told them it was OK to lie was from the 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles. A must-watch film if you haven’t seen it yet.
And if you’re wondering “what kind of upbringing would turn someone into such a soulless, greed-driven monster?” the documentary answers that question too.
10 Likes
I went through one of these, telling the salesman that all we wanted were the free goodies, we were not interested in a purchase at all on constant repeat-and at the end, when he’s showing us the bogus numbers, I asked “don’t you feel bad, doing something so unethical? You’ve lied to us, tried to pressure my aging mother, made objectionable comments-is this really how you want to spend your life?” And he couldn’t admit that what he was doing was unethical. As long as it wasn’t illegal he was ok with it.
1 Like
Was the hat big enough for it to say “I went to a timeshare sales pitch and all I got was this stupid hat”?
My wife and I like to go to the same place almost yearly for a week or 10 days and have since 2011. But we’re not saddled with a timeshare. Though AFAIK, the condo development where we stay doesn’t do timeshares. I would assume if they did, they would be pushing a free Mai Tai and snorkeling or whatever on you when checking in and that’s never happened.
Bonus, the front office has a couple shop kitties that were strays that were spayed/neutered by the humane society and live there now.
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
