Who Buys A Timeshare?

Even though I was a timeshare salesperson for 5 or 6 years a very long time ago, I continue to be baffled by what I assume are relatively normal people who willingly hand over their credit card for a $20,000+ timeshare after a 3 hour high pressure sales pitch, for which they’re getting a theme park ticket. 

Then there are the ever increasing number of timeshare owners who pony up thousands of dollars upfront to a company that “promises” to get them out of their timeshare contract, despite the fact that these promises are as empty as those made by the timeshare salesperson. 

One of my followers on Facebook offers his thoughts on the subject. 

I reiterate that these are HIS thoughts, not mine, although I have to admit much of what he says rings true. 

Having sat through (and surreptitiously recorded) several “3 -4 hour timeshare sales pitches; the mystery is “why would anyone sit through bla bla bla ?”

The answer lies in “selection”. First the selected “rubes” are asked to produce a valid credit card or debit card as a form of ID along with a picture ID such as a driving license. No one with an IQ above a plank of wood does that “prior” to a pitch. So the process of “qualifying” weeds out the intellectual or intelligent. 

The second step is the “rube” does not have sufficient common sense to simply say “ no thank you” get up and leave. 

The third step is the monkey math. Timeshare salesmen/women are schooled in monkey math and how to defeat / by dividing and separating Mr & Mrs. NLP ( Neuro linguist Programming) is the manipulative language and phrases used to trap and close sales of worthless timeshare.

For the most part - the timeshare pitch relies on disguising the fact that customers are locking themselves into an agreement to pay annual (rising) maintenance for either a club term (usually 20 years) or for life. 

On top of that customers are paying thousands of dollars to join the arrangement. 

Customers need to know that ALL resorts rent out like regular hotels, ALL resorts are available to book without contracts. 

There are no additional benefits or special treatments for owners of timeshare other than the abuse of paying maintenance and other fees. 

Fourth step - hard pressure close - using “if you don’t like it - you can cancel it”. However one must cancel it using the strictest of conditions. Triple crossing the T’s and Quadruple dotting the I’s. Rubes are simple folk. 

The key ingredient is that cancelling must be done in a specific window of time in a highly specific manner. 

Exit companies work on the same principles as the other timeshare sales companies. “Anyone dumb enough to buy a timeshare will be dumb enough to pay upfront for an exit!”  

Thoughts?  Respectful comments are welcome. 

From Contract to Debt Collection-A Guest Post From John Collick

Today’s post is from John Collick  John is running for Congress in Virginia and to my knowledge, the only candidate anywhere who is including timeshare on their platform.  I’ve included John’s rather illustrious background at the conclusion of his Guest Post.  

From Contract to Debt Collection

By John Collick

If you walked into a new car showroom and saw a company’s motto, “We will say whatever it takes to make a sale” what would you do?  

Although there are rules of ethics for most occupations, we all understand that salespeopleoften exaggerate to make a sale; however,consumers can generally depend on salespeople to provide accurate information on which to make informed decisions. 

To fully understand the timeshare industry and its ability (and desire) to continue selling its memberships, you must understand the Timeshare Consumer Lifecycle, which has been explained as, “From initial contact through debt collection $$”  during a timeshare industry conference in Las Vegas, Nevada last year.

Now, knowing this, would you attend a timeshare presentation?

Over the past four years, I have met several coupleswho have purchased timeshare points – not deeded timeshares – after listening to salespeople who provided inaccurate, misleading, and sometimes complete fabrications to make a sale. These salespeople seemed honest, especially since they all made similar points.

Unfortunately, several of these couples have been financially devastated by timeshare developers.  Most, who have points, not a deeded interest, have experienced massive increases in maintenance fees every year, often as high as 25%.  They pay maintenance fees, although they own nothing that needs to be maintained. They are basically paying the salaries of the developer’s staff with these fees. To make matters worse, most could never make reservations for the vacations they wanted – although there’s plenty of availability if they were to make reservations with cash, rather than their points. 

When they can make reservations, members are often told they need to attend a meeting this week; it’s not an invitation but a demand. Many don’trealize it’s a sales presentation, since they’re told it’s an update. It always takes at least one day away from their vacation and rather than having a relaxing vacation, causes anxiety.

When a family purchases a timeshare, based on deception, it’s almost impossible to rescind the contract. When attempting to do so, the standard response from the developer is, “it doesn’t matter what the salesperson told you or wrote down…. You signed the contract.” Another common phrase is “You have no proof” when the customer accuses a salesperson of unethical or illegal sales tactics. 

There is no enforced ethical code for timeshare developers or salespeople to follow.  Potential customers must understand that timeshare contracts are not entered into in good faith by every developer.  Do not believe the sales staff; they will say whatever they need to make the sale. If they don’t let you have 24 hours to read the contract, simply walk away – it’s not going to be worth the fight.  

If elected to Congress, I will propose the following:

1. A 24 hour “cooling off” period offered before signing a timeshare contract. Timeshare sales presentations can last six hours or more. The buyer is told they must buy the same day. A rescission period is the time a buyer has to rescind a contract after signing. The rescission period varies by state.

2. If the signing of a timeshare contract is recorded, there needs to be a mandatory recording of the sales presentation, with copies provided to the customer. Sales agents often coach buyers on how to “pass” the closing session.

3. Eliminate perpetual contracts – no person should be allowed, wittingly or unwittingly, to agree to a perpetual contract with no secondary market.

4. Buyer to be provided with a single complete and understandable summary disclosure document and the reviewing of the document should be on the recording. Presentation of the Public Offering Statement should also be presented on the audio recording so that it is not buried in a stack of documents with the dismissal, “You can review these when you get home” or “No one reads this.” Despite initials acknowledging receipt and review, given the high pressure and long sales presentation, adequate time to review complex and lengthy documents is not provided. Buyers unknowingly initial that they have read and reviewed the POS when they have not. Most consumers don’tknow of its existence until asked to look for it. 

5. To alleviate buyers of timeshare paying more than those booking the same property at the same time online, units available for rent at timeshare properties should not be rented below 5% of the cost of the highest amount paid for timeshare ownership plus applicable maintenance fees. E.g. Week at Fun Times Timeshare cost $22,000 for 1 week of annual usage and maintenance fees are $1,000 per year, the cost per week is $1,100 + $1,000 for a total of $2,200 per week. This will encourage Timeshare Developers to ensure there are ample units available for members and an incentive to keep maintenance fees as low as possible. 

For more information about John Collick and the campaign, visit 

www.collickforcongress.com

Biography:

Mr. John W. Collick Jr. is a retired Marine First Sergeant, a retired Counterterrorism Expert and Immigration Officer and is currently a candidate for the United States House of Representatives.  He has over 35 years of Intelligence experience in SIGINT collection; Analysis and Reporting; HUMINT Collection Management; HUMINT Analysis and Reporting; IMINT Analysis; All-Source Analysis and Reporting;  Management of Intelligence Collection and Source Operations; and the duties of an Immigration Services Officer.

Mr. Collick has deployed onboard ships to places including Beirut (1984), Kosovo (1999), East Africa (1994), and the Caribbean on many occasions and has served as the Noncommissioned Officer-in-Charge of detachments with as many as 40 Marines and later, as an infantry company First Sergeant, with 225 Marines under his charge.

In 1997, Mr. Collick was personally selected by the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps for Intelligence to serve as the Cryptologic Training Chief and Foreign Language Chief for the Marine Corps, where he served one year before being reassigned due to being promoted to First Sergeant.

His personal awards from military service include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Arctic Service Medal, Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and Combat Action Ribbon.  He was also awarded the Navy’s Civilian Commendation Medal, for his role in translating documents and identifying previously unknown terrorists in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

During his tenure in the federal service, he served as the Senior Threat Analyst for the U.S. Coast Guard, Atlantic Area Command; as a Senior Intelligence Analyst and Watch Supervisor for the Department of Homeland Security, Indications, Watch, & Warning Branch; as the Supervisory Senior Intelligence Analyst for the Illicit Travel Section at Homeland Security Investigation, U.S. Immigrations & Customs Enforcement; as a Senior Intelligence Specialist at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); and as an Immigration Officer at USCIS.

Mr. Collick’s last consulting position was with the Department of Defense, working for the Celestar Corporation, as the HUMINT Issues Manager for Yemen. In this position, he was responsible for coordinating all classified activities concerning Yemen and U.S. interests in Yemen.

Mr. Collick graduated from Campbell University with honors (Magna Cum Laude) and from Northcentral University, where he earned a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in Homeland Security, with a concentration in transnational terrorism.

Mr. Collick was born in Weymouth, MA and raised in Abington, MA.  He is married to Lisa Marie Collick, originally from Lorain, OH; they have four children and two grandchildren.  They have resided in Hampton Roads for over 18 years and intend to reside there permanently.

Spin...Everyone Spins

You can’t make this stuff up. There’s this coalition that’s telling everybody they’re for timeshare reform. In reality, it’s headed by the same guy heading one of the largest self-proclaimed exit companies. The coalition sends out a tweet praising Holiday Inn Club Vacations saying it’s “one of the few resorts doing right by their owners and providing them with actual solutions for their timeshares.”

This exit company is legally barred from doing business with any Holiday Inn Club Vacation owner as part of a lawsuit. Something that’s not mentioned in the tweet. 

The industry will no doubt pounce on that fact..and rightfully so. 

In this confusing time, it’s imperative to understand that nearly every message can be, and is usually “spun”.  

Stay tuned. 

How To Remain In Control Of A Timeshare Sales Pitch

While a timeshare can be a good thing, more often than not, the sales pitch can make it seem as if the salesperson is in control.  The good news is that that's not true. You are in control, despite all the training that they've been through, no sales person can make you buy anything. 

I got my start in the timeshare business as a salesperson, way back in 2000. Since then, I've dedicated my work to helping people through the dizzying world of timeshare and to making positive changes within the industry. I'm pleased to report that I've been successful at the former and failed at the latter. The industry has made it crystal clear they have no interest in changing for the better. 

Let's start with a basic fact:  The industry believes that timeshare must be sold, rather than purchased and they play upon consumers' greed and hope of gain/fear of loss in order to sell as much as possible. That's actually good news for you!  No one likes to be sold anything, so right away, you should know that if you're interested in purchasing a timeshare, there are many more, much less costly options open to you than giving up hours of your vacation time to listen to a salesperson rattle on.  

The average price of a timeshare purchased from the developer last year was just above $21,000. More than half of that is eaten up in marketing and sales costs---someone has to pay for all those dinner show or theme park tickets that they bribe you with, right?  In most cases, that very same timeshare can be purchased on the legitimate secondary market, without all the distractions and noise commonly found at the sales center, for thousands less. In some cases, for $100 or less!  Don't you feel better already?

As with most purchases, knowledge is power. The less knowledge you have ahead of time, the more of a disadvantage you'll be at when you're confronted with a salesperson who is trained in telling you what they want you to know and not disclosing what they don't want you to know. 

There are 4 words that don't exist when it comes to timeshare matters. Understand and master them and you'll be in control and more likely to make wise decisions. 

FREE

Those free dinner show tickets or almost free accommodations, of course they're not free,  you give up hours of your vacation day in exchange for them. Additionally, that  free buffet breakfast you might get while at the sales center is a) assuredly built into the price of the timeshare and b) designed to make you feel obligated to buy. Don't fall for it. You're not. 

PERFECT

Any salesperson has been trained to solve a problem. In the case of timeshare, it's a vacation problem. If there's no problem, there's no sale. No matter what vacation problem they uncover, the timeshare they're selling will be the perfect solution. Except it won't. Nothing is perfect. 

ALWAYS

Who wouldn't like to always go on a dream vacations?  Who wouldn't always like to have their perfect accommodations just waiting for them?  Who wouldn't want to always be able to afford this dream vacation?  Once you start down this path, it's tough to stop. 

NEVER

'The timeshare will be a pre-paid vacation plan!  Your cost will never go up!"  Sounds great. Unfortunately, it's a lie. Don't fall for it. 

Another thing to remember is that the person asking the questions is in control. The salesperson will ask you many questions during the 'Discovery' part of the sales pitch. That's fine. Let them do their job. And then, voila YOU start asking the questions!  I've identified 19 questions you must ask before purchasing a timeshare. Shoot me an email at lisaschreier617@gmail.com to find out what they are. 

3 Ways Timeshare Could Be Better Post-Pandemic

The current worldwide pandemic has upended nearly all industries and hospitality has been hit especially hard. By some accounts, upwards of 70% of the timeshare workforce has been laid off or furloughed. It will be months, perhaps years, before the industry gets up and running again and many timeshare resorts will not survive. 

All is not lost however. I believe that this is a crucial time for timeshare developers. Those that are both nimble and not stuck in the past will thrive. Here are 3 ways the timeshare industry could be better after the pandemic:

1. OPCing will become obsolete. It will be impossible to maintain proper social distancing while hawking free dinner show or discounted theme park tickets to a wary public. Developers will learn, as every other industry has already learned, that target marketing using traditional advertising channels is the best way to attract consumers.
2. Packed sales centers will become obsolete. The days of consumers sitting across tiny round tables from the salesperson in a room full of hundreds of other tiny round tables will be over. This is good news, as timeshare never really was a one size fits all sales proposition. Asking consumers to spend $20,000 or more on a product that has a perpetual contract requires more finesse and more individual attention than those sales rooms ever provided. 
3. False promises of “today only pricing” will become obsolete. No one actually believes in this myth anyway, so it’s long past time for it to be retired. Because the sales process will no longer be held in large, over-crowded sales centers as discussed above, developers will be forced to provide more time for consumers to understand the product and reach a purchasing decision without forcing a false sense of urgency. 

In addition to these 3 significant changes, nimble developers will begin to change the way they communicate with owners and prospective owners alike. Owners in particular, will not easily forget how developers and exchange companies communicated and treated them during this crisis and will reward those good guys with their continued loyalty. The bad guys...they’re not going to be able to withstand the one two punch of a prolonged financial crisis coupled with owners abandoning them. 

It’s Time For a Reset

As I’m sure you do, I have quite a bit of time on my hands and I’m looking through social media posts for timeshare related material. 

What I find is post after post from consumers, many of them timeshare owners, angry about the way they were treated at timeshare sales presentations. The complaints fall into one of these categories:

1. Took longer than the promised 90 minutes
2. The salesperson wouldn’t let them leave
3. They were kept there without food...many of them claiming that they had a medical issue that required them to eat at a specific time
4. They were not allowed to read anything that they were forced to sign
5. They were not allowed to think about what they were buying, but forced to make a decision on the spot

Now, I’m not suggesting that people make this stuff up. It happens more often than it should and there’s absolutely no reason why it should be encouraged or even allowed to happen. 

Having said that, it occurs to me that in each of these cases the consumer gave up their power and abdicated their responsibility. 

These sales pitches are, for the most part, completely and 100% voluntary on the part of the consumer. No one forces you to attend. The resorts offer a bribe in the form of cash, meals, tickets for something, etc. in exchange for you sitting through a sales pitch. Voluntarily. 100%. No one has a gun to your head. No one has slipped some drug into your coffee or cocktail that your drinking when you encounter the OPC on the boardwalk. 

And once you’re there, again, you are the only one with any power over the situation. 90 minutes are up?  Get up and leave. You’re told you can’t read anything you’re signing. Get up and leave. Have to eat at 2:00 but the salesman tells you no?  Get up and leave. What do you think us going to happen?  Are they going to call the non-existent timeshare police to bring you back?

What I’m trying to point out is that when this pandemic is over, that perhaps it’s time for consumers to do reset of their behavior which will force timeshare developers to do their own reset. You have the power to change the entire industry paradigm

If this awful viral outbreak had taught us anything, it’s that tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Rather than waste 90 minutes of your precious time in exchange for two dinner show tickets, enjoy your vacation time. It may be the last one you take

Anatomy Of A Resale Scam

I’m reprinting this with TUG’s approval, which is where it first appeared. This should be required reading for all timeshare owners. These scammers are good. They know what buttons to push and when to push them. Remember that many of these resale scam artists got their start selling timeshare, so they learned enough about the industry to sound extremely convincing. 

We could really use your help on this one. I've read through a lot of other red flags/scam messages on the forums but I haven't seen any advice for if you've signed a sales agreement and then realize it's a scam.

A little background on our situation. We were cold called (which should have been red flag #1) and then offered far more for our timeshare that what we paid (should have been red flag #2) from a buyer (should have been red flag #3) interested in obtaining controlling ownership of Vidanta resort in Nuevo Vallarta. We were told that no money would be needed up front and that their commission fees would come out of the sale from the escrow account. So far this seemed reasonable. They even sent us the Citibanamex bank account statement - which we called and confirmed that the account is valid and that the money was in it. We did not provide the amount to CItibanamex when we called, and they told us what it was which matched the statement. They also provided us their realtor sales information which was confirmed with the Pennsylvania board and everything, again everything seemed legitimate. Then the kicker comes in, we would need to pay a tax and establish a Mexican ID to conduct the sale, which would be a reimbursement after the sale but we would need to pay that now or go down to Mexico and deal with this (that should have been red flag #4). At this point I said that we were told no money would be needed up front and now we have to pay these RFC Tax Payer ID "taxes" ($5430 - funny how others have been about the same amout). Now is when we felt this was a scam, and a good scam at that. We also noticed the website addressed changed through this process as well as e-mail addresses - as we've dragged out the whole process for almost 3 months now. We were provided with 2 satisfied clients, but can't tell if they're in on it, we're going to assume that they are at this point.

The problem is, as I've stated at the beginning, that we signed the sales agreement, and in it there is a clause which states that if we decide to cancel the sale (breach of agreement), we would be responsible to paying their commission - 4% ($2812.40). We've already spoken with an attorney and are prepared to go to court if necessary, but has anyone else been in this situation? If so, what did you do? Did you have to end up going to court? Did you just ignore them and they went away? Did you just stop taking their calls/block their calls? Did you tell them to go away and that you weren't going to be sending them any money? Did you end up having to go through with a court ordeal? We told them that our bank would not wire money to Mexico. We have a follow up call with the same attorney this coming Wednesday, but would love to hear if anyone else has been in our stupid situation that we put ourselves in.

While we did sign the sales agreement, we never signed the escrow documents, so this is the only point that we got to.

They have sent a cancellation letter saying that we need to pay the 4% but they can't do this before the closing date, so we're not too worried about that as they have already sent quite a few with wrong information.

Before we ever got started (around June 2019), we tried doing research, but nothing came up - only now am I finding others saying this is a scam starting around September 2019.

If this does go to court, we will prove that they knowingly committed fraud and then we will be counter-suing them for wasting my time. We will also be reporting them to the BBB, the state attorney general (Pennsylvania), as well as the Federal Trade Commission (which is where we did find some info starting around September 2019).

We don't want to get rid of our timeshare at this point, as we do use it, we just want these people to go away and are willing to fight it.

Players involved in this (if it is even their real names/companies):

James Adams

Real Estate Broker

Ace Properties LLC

1701 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

(267) 678-0104 x375

William Canzino

Escrow Officer

1913 Capital Group LLC

403 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11249

(917) 745-3729

We appreciate your advice and expertise in advance. We will follow up as information comes along for anyone else that's in our situation and shut these scam artists down once and for all.

Thank you for listening to us.

Incredible, isn’t it?  What’s troubling is that after this owner received a bunch of responses all saying it was a scam, there was still enough doubt in their mind to continue to ask questions and be concerned about the “4% fee.”

Keep in mind that if you receive a cold all or other form of contact regarding your timeshare, the chances are 99.9% that it’s a scam. With rare exception, there’s no buyer for your timeshare as evidenced by the tens of thousands of listings for $100 on the internet.