timeshare questions!

[bctbct]

OP no offense but you sound like you may fall for the temptation. Dont go.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Devine
If it sounds too good to be true . . . . thats all I have to say

/thread

 

[BooGiMaN]

i dont know if i could handle the uncertainty of a vacation where you have no idea of the quality of the hotel you will be staying at the meals etc. topped off by the inconvenience of a hard sales pitch.....to me a vacation should be enjoyed not being pressured to buy

plus if it ends up going south arent you out the days off from work as well

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: bctbct
OP no offense but you sound like you may fall for the temptation. Dont go.

11/17/07 - HELP! Got screwed into buying a timeshare! Any recourse?

Hi guys, as you may remember in this thread, me and the GF went to the seminar this weekend. That guy was TOUGH. I mean, you guys told me about the hardsell, but no later than 5 seconds through the door he already ripped off my pants and performed fellatio! I looked over to my girlfriend, but they already stuffed her face with haagen dasz and godiva. I knew I was doomed.

 

[vailr]

Timeshare Trap
How to get rid of a timeshare you don't want.
http://www.timesharetrap.com/

 

[RossMAN]

My wife and I have done a few of these and here's our experience.

Yes most of these "free vacation" offers are legit.

We visited the timeshare office along with 40 other middle aged and old fart couples all with that greedy ferengi look in their eye. The whole ordeal from walk in to walk out was about 2 hours. The first 1 hour 15 minutes are fine, they talk, show you amazing slide shows, offer you free cookies and soft drinks ... then you sit down with someone who puts RossMAN, PAB and CasioTech to shame (as if that's hard to do).

It's nothing but a HIGH PRESSURE/HARD SELL. They are really good at it and will not stop until you tell them NO about 100 times. The original price for a 2 week time share was around $18k they finally bargained down to $11k or so. After about 30 minutes of "No, I just want my free vacation." they finally called in a supervisor who offered to take another $2.5k off their price. OMG I said no again. My wife was on the verge of either laughing or crying, I was a man on a mission.

Finally we got our free travel vouchers. The fun doesn't stop there.

Travel is usually good for Tue - Thu, you don't really have a choice of airline/hotel but you can upgrade to a better hotel (if available) if you pay the difference. You will have to pay miscellaneous taxes, fees, surcharges, etc. our total fees was around $60 for 2 people. Not bad for free roundtrip airfare from Portland, OR to Las Vegas, NV and 3 days hotel.

We plan on doing it again this winter for summer 08 travel. We do it far in advance because the alloted dates/times fill up quickly for the high demand summer months.

Cliffs notes:
1) If you cave under pressure, DO NOT go.
2) Say no 1000000000000 times.
3) Enjoy your semi-free vacation.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis

Originally posted by: bctbct
OP no offense but you sound like you may fall for the temptation. Dont go.

11/17/07 - HELP! Got screwed into buying a timeshare! Any recourse?

Hi guys, as you may remember in this thread, me and the GF went to the seminar this weekend. That guy was TOUGH. I mean, you guys told me about the hardsell, but no later than 5 seconds through the door he already ripped off my pants and performed fellatio! I looked over to my girlfriend, but they already stuffed her face with haagen dasz and godiva. I knew I was doomed.

LOL I won't buckle! I swear! They'll have to sell harder than that!

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis

Originally posted by: bctbct
OP no offense but you sound like you may fall for the temptation. Dont go.

11/17/07 - HELP! Got screwed into buying a timeshare! Any recourse?

Hi guys, as you may remember in this thread, me and the GF went to the seminar this weekend. That guy was TOUGH. I mean, you guys told me about the hardsell, but no later than 5 seconds through the door he already ripped off my pants and performed fellatio! I looked over to my girlfriend, but they already stuffed her face with haagen dasz and godiva. I knew I was doomed.

LOL I won't buckle! I swear! They'll have to sell harder than that!

Stay strong and say no 10000000000000 times until you're blue in the face.

They are really persistent and good at what they do.

 

[FoBoT]

don't buy it
even if you wanted a timeshare, you can get them for 10 cents on the dollar on the resale market

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: boomerang
I'm a timeshare owner, so take this for what it's worth.

Originally posted by: RossMAN
My wife and I have done a few of these and here's our experience.

This is a big help - thanks for the input guys. I'm still not sure if the whole timeshare idea will be right for us, but at least I know what I'm getting myself into for the weekend. RossMAN I wonder if it's maybe even the same outfit - IIRC you're in Portland also. It's good to know that it could be some jenky deal where we have to go mid-week and so on and so forth. I'm not sure if that'll even work at all... just hoping for a free long weekend in San Fran.

Starting to reconsider even going to the seminar. I am the type who can buckle under the hard sell, but not for something like this. The point being that it'll be an uncomfortable experience even though I won't buckle... it's just a matter of figuring out if it's all worth a kind of brief yet free-ish vacation.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

Originally posted by: boomerang
I'm a timeshare owner, so take this for what it's worth.

Originally posted by: RossMAN
My wife and I have done a few of these and here's our experience.

This is a big help - thanks for the input guys. I'm still not sure if the whole timeshare idea will be right for us, but at least I know what I'm getting myself into for the weekend. RossMAN I wonder if it's maybe even the same outfit - IIRC you're in Portland also. It's good to know that it could be some jenky deal where we have to go mid-week and so on and so forth. I'm not sure if that'll even work at all... just hoping for a free long weekend in San Fran.

Starting to reconsider even going to the seminar. I am the type who can buckle under the hard sell, but not for something like this. The point being that it'll be an uncomfortable experience even though I won't buckle... it's just a matter of figuring out if it's all worth a kind of brief yet free-ish vacation.

No offense but I think you might buckle, they are that good and persistent. They start rationalizing "how much can you afford" like a slick car salesman would. A few times I almost gave into the temptation until I came to my senses.

If the timeshare office is in Vancouver, WA then yep it's the same place.

Good luck you're going to need it :thumbsup:

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis

Originally posted by: pulse8
My parents own a few weeks of timesharing. I think they made out pretty good with them financially. We used them to go on vacation for a week every year as a family of 4 for probably about $900 which is much cheaper than it would have cost for the places we stayed. It's also helpful now that my sisters and I are older because we can take them over and use them ourselves without putting up the initial costs.

Your parents could have done the exact same thing buying it on eBay, but for an 8th of the price.

Ebay wasn't around ~20 years ago.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Your girlfriend must have a pretty good credit score, I'm also surprised that they would invite a single person. That being said, yeah, go on, enjoy yourselves, my wife and I go on 2, or 3 of these a year, though we try to accept only the ones within driving distance. The presentation will be a, one, on one, with just you and the salesperson. You will be given a tour of the place, and then sit down for the sales pitch,(watch for the pen/pencil to come into play here, it's comical to watch, really). After you have said no, we aren't interested, and, you will be free to go, don't be surprised if they call the manager over to offer you the, *extra special, just for you, incentive package*. A couple of times we have gotten lucky, and the salesperson said, "you folks have no intention of buying , do ya?", nope, than heres your certificates, and have a nice stay. Don't expect this to happen to you though, my wife, and I are trained professionals.
BTW, we own 6 time shares, and we either use them,( own 2 in Las Vegas, where our son lives), trade them, ( just got back from 2 weeks in Spain), or rent them for up to $3000 a week,(you would be surprised what people will pay for a 2 bedroom, 5 star suite in Palm Springs for the Bob Hope classic).
Time shares ARE NOT for everyone, but they work for us.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

Originally posted by: boomerang
I'm a timeshare owner, so take this for what it's worth.

Originally posted by: RossMAN
My wife and I have done a few of these and here's our experience.

This is a big help - thanks for the input guys. I'm still not sure if the whole timeshare idea will be right for us, but at least I know what I'm getting myself into for the weekend. RossMAN I wonder if it's maybe even the same outfit - IIRC you're in Portland also. It's good to know that it could be some jenky deal where we have to go mid-week and so on and so forth. I'm not sure if that'll even work at all... just hoping for a free long weekend in San Fran.

Starting to reconsider even going to the seminar. I am the type who can buckle under the hard sell, but not for something like this. The point being that it'll be an uncomfortable experience even though I won't buckle... it's just a matter of figuring out if it's all worth a kind of brief yet free-ish vacation.

No offense but I think you might buckle, they are that good and persistent. They start rationalizing "how much can you afford" like a slick car salesman would. A few times I almost gave into the temptation until I came to my senses.

If the timeshare office is in Vancouver, WA then yep it's the same place.

Good luck you're going to need it :thumbsup:

It is the one in the 'Couv. Talked it over with the gf, and I think we're going to do something more productive and less stressful with our Saturday afternoon. It's been a good introduction though, and if I get to a point where I'm interested in a timeshare for reasons other than a free trip to San Fran/Reno/Vegas I'll know where I should really go to get one.

 

[cpals]

Bump... I'm interested too!

 

[Dr. Detroit]

The ptich will be excellent - the sales people they have are highly skilled and do a very hard sell on you.

Others who have agreed will have champgen popping and celebrations while you sit there and keep saying no.

I wen't to a TrendWest one. The slideshows and video is gorgeous and the deal is pretty good. They break it down and it sounds great. They will hard sell on the financing and its a one time offer. Do realize these time-shares are bouhgt and sold on the open market and provided youo have cash and do not need thecreative financing you can be them for 40% lower than what the Sales people are offering them to you for.

Be patient and be very courteous, jst explain to them you are not an impulsive buyer and you need a few nights to sleep on it and you will gladly take all of their recomendations and brochures to consider it.

 

[EagleKeeper]

If you do not stay around for the complete presentation, you will receive no package.

After the presentation, you will get assigned a sales rep.
that is the time to no longer be polite; ask for the promo offer and get up and leave.

The more you delay, the more they will apply pressure on the "value".
There will be other suckers buying and they will attempt to get you to feel/feed the hysteria.
when you turn down the initial person, there will be at least 2 other people (possbily supervisors/managers) higher up to continue to attempt to wear you down.

These are pros; every excuse that you can come up with, they have been prepared for.
Do not attempt an excuse, just flat out NO THANK YOU, NOT INTERESTED.

 

[Rage187]

I'll do the math for you.

You will pay 1/26th of the properties value for 1/52 of its use.

I've sat through them before and once I start doing the actual math in front of them they give up. The last one in Vegas we got $200 cash for 30mins of a 90min presentation. I busted out the math and they gave me my cash and told us we should go. I guess they didn't want the people around us hearing what a 'great' deal they were getting.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Rage187
I'll do the math for you.

You will pay 1/26th of the properties value for 1/52 of its use.

I've sat through them before and once I start doing the actual math in front of them they give up. The last one in Vegas we got $200 cash for 30mins of a 90min presentation. I busted out the math and they gave me my cash and told us we should go. I guess they didn't want the people around us hearing what a 'great' deal they were getting.

Many timeshares are legitimate. They aren't the free vacations the illegitimate ones make you think you are getting. The best way is to get them resale.

My parents picked up a steal on the beach for only $7500 for the deed. Old lady's husband died and just wanted it gone. Other 'weeks' were going for up to $40k for lesser units.

The yearly I am not sure on...it's set in stone more or less with the management (Hilton or Sheraton is theirs).

It's a great place and I will be there for a few days at the end of July.

A gf and I went to one in Orlando in exchange for disney tickets (I forget if it was Disney for sure though). She lived nearby and it was a pretty nice place it seems. Their 90 mins turned into almost 4 hours from when the presentation actually started (which was about 1 hour or so late). It was 2 hours before even food was served (some takeout pizzas).

About 90% of the people there seemed like they wouldn't even have two nickels to rub together, let alone the $25000 per week minimum for a deed. The accommodations were great...

I noticed there was a separate group there looking at the top rooms...I am not sure how they went about doing that other than probably just calling and ASKING to be shown the rooms in return for nothing.

Also our free passes were only good for that same day. It was 3pm by the time we got out of there, we started at 9am. You go from one sales person to the next...I would never do something like this again, but it was an experience to witness.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Rage187
I'll do the math for you.

You will pay 1/26th of the properties value for 1/52 of its use.

I've sat through them before and once I start doing the actual math in front of them they give up. The last one in Vegas we got $200 cash for 30mins of a 90min presentation. I busted out the math and they gave me my cash and told us we should go. I guess they didn't want the people around us hearing what a 'great' deal they were getting.

You can't speak for all timeshares. There is a lot that factors in to the real ones like cost of similar rooms locally and availability. With a time share you know you always get your room.

It's like the condo vs apartment approach. However many time shares are just tourist traps. When I think of a time share I think of secluded and off the beaten path not Key West, Disney, etc.

 

[Rage187]

Don't forget you also have to pay maintenance on the place FOR LIFE. Thats right, even when it is paid off you will still be making payments. The last place we looked at charged $280 a year as a maintenance fee.

 

[0roo0roo]

if these things were so great they'd sell themselves.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Rage187
Don't forget you also have to pay maintenance on the place FOR LIFE. Thats right, even when it is paid off you will still be making payments. The last place we looked at charged $280 a year as a maintenance fee.

I don't think anyone would be clueless enough to think that maintenance would not be forever.

Usually the maintenance is FAR less than hotel stays would be for the week.

I don't know of many that financed their timeshares. I think if you have to do that then really time shares aren't for you unless there are very good reasons.

 

[JulesMaximus]

You guys realize this thread is 8 months old right?

 

[PepePeru]

would it help if you went in and just started speaking another language?

kind of hard to get the 'hard sell' if you act like you cant understand them.