Rarely a day passes where I don’t receive an email or read something on social media from a frustrated consumer claiming they were bullied, strong armed or even coerced into attending a high pressure sales pitch while on vacation.
Mysteriously, they fail to mention or even acknowledge that they accepted one or more bribes to attend the sales pitch.
Let’s set the record straight here:
> If you accept whatever the developer is offering in exchange for your time, then you weren’t bullied into attending. These bribes can be a discounted stay, theme park/dinner show tickets, sightseeing tickets, cash or even a certificate for future travel.
> If you’re using all or part of a trial or sample package you previously purchased, you are required to attend a sales pitch. The entire premise of these programs is to give you a taste of the timeshare and then try to get you to purchase the whole enchilada.
> If you don’t accept any bribes, or not using your trial program, you’re not obligated to attend a sales pitch.
> There’s no such thing as a mandatory owners’ update or resort overview.
> The resort is legally obligated to disclose the minimum amount of time you are required to attend the pitch in order to receive the bribe. If you stay 6 hours, that is completely your fault.
I’m certainly not condoning those slimy sales people who try to keep you at the sales center for hours on end while constantly berating you for not buying the “deal of a lifetime” or worse, lie to you about the need to upgrade. I’m also not fond of the laughably named concierge staff who hound you from the time you check in with offers of cash or tickets to attend the pitch.
Knowing your rights and obligations will help you have a happier, less stressful vacation. Exercise your rights and abide by your obligations.
1 comment:
Yes, you are correct, technically the sales reps do not bully and do not physically force people to stay, but something that many people do not understand is that after spending a full day listening and trying to comprehend what you are being told it mentally wears a person down. Not just physically but mentally too. Especially those that end up making a purchase, which only adds more draining hours. Timeshare sales reps understand this and use it to their advantage by dragging out the process. The more time put into the presentation, the longer the potential buyer stays, the more likely they will purchase. Then what happens is our brains try to preserve energy and filter out information that is being thrown at it and this can lead to bad decisions. The sales reps also work off the FOMO effect, the fear of missing out. They are told that this is a one-time deal, once in a lifetime deal, they will never get another chance. The FOMO effect can cause physical stress and the need to listen, what is it I will miss out on. They are torn, they want to leave but they do not want to miss out. So, you need to understand that when people complain about being bullied and feel like they were held, hostage it is a perceived reality. It is real to them because of how it made them feel. This perceived reality should not be taken lightly because even though they are not truly being beaten up, the sales reps are not using ethical practices. And the situation is worsened by the lies and information they fail to disclose. The Sales Reps misrepresent the timeshare industry and yes, they can be pushy! No one should feel bad coming out of a sales presentation but the lies and the failure to disclose pertinent information only adds to that feeling of being held hostage and in a way, it is those lies that make the perceived reality an actual reality because people that ended up buying were unable to escape the lies.
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