I know I’m The Timeshare Crusader. I know I’m a passionate advocate for consumers in all things timeshare. I know I can not tolerate lying by timeshare sales staff. I know. I know. I know.
But I also can’t tolerate consumers abdicating their responsibility and just making stupid choices no matter how clever, masterful or deceitful the sales people are.
This issue was recently brought to my attention. I have no doubt that the sales staff lied. But at a certain point you have to wonder if the consumers were on some nifty mind altering drugs to believe this stuff.
Owner indicated that they wanted to take advantage of the developers’s voluntary surrender program, which they were eligible to do since the timeshare was paid off. All they had to do was fill out the paperwork and pay $1,000 to the developer. Instead, they willingly handed over $12,000 because they were told that in order to take advantage of this voluntary surrender program, they would have to purchase $12,000 in additional timeshare points.
Now think about this for a minute. They weren’t looking to sell back the timeshare, they were going to have to pay $1,000 and then voluntarily surrender their ownership. This isn’t the case where they owned a house built in the 1970s and The Property Brothers convinced them that they should spend $40,000 on upgrades so that they’ll be able to sell the house for top dollar.
They wanted to give back their timeshare because they didn’t use it any longer. Instead, they bought $12,000 MORE because the salesperson said it was the only way to do so.
Another play on this came in last week. A couple was told that they had to upgrade to the highest point level this developer offered in order to take advantage of the voluntary surrender program. The same voluntary surrender program that is clearly outlined on the webpage when you log in as an owner.
The couple is now both crying and crying foul to anyone who’ll listen as they can’t afford the additional timeshare that they purchased and are facing foreclosure.
Don’t misunderstand me for a minute; these sales agents need to be thrown out and if I had my say, financially punished. This is deplorable. But in my opinion, the consumer bears some responsibility for this. The larger question is this: What is it about timeshare matters that opens the door for so much shenanigans? People are getting ripped off at all stages, from being mislead into thinking its only a 90 minute presentation that turns into 4 hours, to not understanding what they are buying, to being coerced into buying more in order to accomplish what they want to do on vacation and finally to being fleeced when it comes time that they want out.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I bring up the questions. Let’s hope the industry is fixable.
