A Few Words About Timeshare, Bitcoin, A Mouse and Unwarranted Trust

Every day it seems I read multiple emails and social media posts from frustrated timeshare owners who, in an attempt to “rid” themselves of an unwanted timeshare, have paid some company 3, 4 thousand or sometimes more only to be left with the timeshare and no answer from the company. 

It also seems that every day I see warnings from those who know what’s what, including myself, to not engage with these companies that seem to emerge from the murky depths with frightening regularity. 

The simple reason of course as I’ve written about extensively is that a timeshare contract is just that; a legal contract. A legal contract shouldn’t be entered into lightly and getting out of one takes someone with both a clear understanding of legal matters and a license to perform such legal matters, an attorney springs to mind. 

Nevertheless, these self proclaimed exit companies are raking in money at a rate that rivals Bitcoin’s valuation. I got to thinking how is this possible?  The exit companies I mean. Bitcoin is something I’ll never grasp. 

Here’s my explanation. 

Most, if not all of the owners who want out, bought their timeshare as the result of a 3 hour high pressure sales pitch while on vacation. I’d bet you a share of Bitcoin that those consumers who were savvy enough to purchase on the legitimate secondary market and saved thousands of dollars aren’t flocking to an exit company. Those high pressure sales pitches came with a bribe of some sort. Here in Orlando, pre COVID, it was usually a free or highly discounted theme park ticket. 

Now think for a minute. If you were offered a free theme park ticket to the theme park with a five foot tall mouse as it’s ambassador in exchange for sitting through a sales pitch on the virtues of opening a brokerage account so that you could buy a quarter share of Bitcoin, you’d be more than a little suspicious, right?  After all, what does the mouse have to do with Bitcoin?

This is where the trouble starts my friends. The hapless consumer doesn’t question why Billy Bob’s Super Duper Eastgate Resort-located just minutes from the mouse’s house (OK, technically 39 minutes at 4:00 am) is offering tickets to visit the mouse instead of say, four yummy steak dinners at the Tiki House on their own property. 

That’s the first step in unwarranted trust. No one questions it. This leads to more and more unwarranted trust, which I’ve discussed in previous blog posts, most recently where I warned consumers that the timeshare salesperson is just that and not The Oracle At Delphi. 

So now we have a consumer with an unwanted timeshare. Perhaps they feel that their developer and HOA are not to be trusted. Maybe they’ve been swayed by social media groups that do nothing but cry foul against the developer all day long because they failed to get anything in writing. Whatever the situation, they’ve been conditioned to place trust and thousands of dollars with those that don’t deserve it. 

Couple that with the fact that people who have been scammed or think they’ve been scammed will go to extraordinary lengths to defend their actions and do almost anything to make it seem as if they haven’t been scammed or more to the point, made a mistake. 

Think about this the next time you see something that, after thinking about it for more than a few minutes, makes no sense. Like a timeshare resort offering you anything other than cash or something on their property. The seeds of unwarranted trust are being planted. 

Not Exactly The Oracle Of Delphi

 Every day, without fail I’ll either receive a few emails or read several social media posts that contain the phrase “the salesperson told us.”

I could not generate a comprehensive list of what information was relayed to the consumer, but here are some examples:

>The maintenance fees would increase to over $3,000 unless we bought more points 

>The developer was going to go public  with an IPO making the value of the timeshare skyrocket 

>The developer is going to announce something in six months after which we won’t be able to give you this deal

You get my drift here. All too often, less than scrupulous salespeople prognosticate about things that they have no knowledge about in an attempt to persuade the consumer to purchase on the spot. 

Let me be brutally honest here:  The sales staff have absolutely no inside or secret information. None. Salespeople know exactly what their management team want them to know and believe me, it’s nothing about IPOs, mergers and acquisitions or some supposed new product. Remember, I was a salesperson and manager for over 5 years. 

I’ve yet to figure out how supposed rational people trust some stranger and fork over $20,000 or more without doing any research based on future events. Does a name tag make somebody an expert?

Look, timeshare is a wonderful product designed to give you a better vacation experience. Purchase it based on facts. Purchase it based on needs. 

But if you’re relying on some guy in a suit or some woman in a nice dress with a name tag that says they’re a vacation counselor who tries to get you to believe that they have some mystical insights into what’s going to happen in the future that they’ll share with you, you’re making a mistake. 

They’re timeshare salespeople. Not the Oracle of Delphi. And no, you can’t use your trial program to get you two weeks in Greece either. 

And Now For Something Completely Different

Yesterday was a great day for me, for consumers and for the timeshare industry. 

I’ve been working with ARDA leadership for some time on a document that would provide prospective timeshare purchasers with the starting information they need in order to make wise decisions. 

Yesterday, that document was revealed. It’s in a hyperlink in the body of this Press Release (https://www.arda-roc.org/arda-roc-commends-attorneys-general-fighting-timeshare-resale-and-exit-fraud) that talks about our working relationship. 

I owe a debt of gratitude to many people for getting me to this point. I hope I reached out to them yesterday and thanked them. I also owe a debt of gratitude to you, my readers, for having the faith in me that you do. 

I will continue to blog, speak, educate and consult without any restrictions placed on me. It’s important to have an uncensored, unbiased and independent voice out there and that will still be what I do. 

I’m certain that this is the first of many initiatives that will be unveiled in the coming months. 

In case you didn’t click on the press release and then the hyperlink to the document in question, you really should. I believe this may be the first time that the industry acknowledged that there might be some discrepancies between what is said during a sales pitch and what’s in the contract  BIG STUFF!

National Consumer Protection Week - Part One

 I’m anticipating a busy week. 

Here’s the first of two press releases to tie in with this important week here in the States;

http://m.digitaljournal.com/pr/4993289?fbclid=IwAR3MCmGyjU339BNPuuR2c2-To7tgK7MTY8GRpVRmO_ODezEvdhSD6BEjFqw

The Way Forward

I’ve been thinking a lot about how timeshare can and should reinvent itself. COVID has given all industries and all of us a once in a lifetime-hopefully-opportunity to reset. 

I’m under no delusions that anyone in the industry will heed my musings, but here we go:

Go Back To A Week Of Vacation 

Enough already with the seven million different point systems that the average consumer can’t properly understand or use. A week is easy to understand and easy to use. There’s no inflation. A week in 1985 is a week in 2021 and will be a week in 2034. The exception to this is DVC which has always been incredibly transparent in their point system. 

Don’t Pay If You Don’t Use It

I’m talking maintenance fees here. If the owner doesn’t use the timeshare one year, they aren’t responsible for the maintenance fees. Seems only reasonable. After 3 years of non use, the developer takes it back for a fee, provided of course it’s paid in full. 

Develop And Open Themed Resorts 

Not only will they be fun and imaginative, they’ll allow for target marketing. 

Have A Universal“Kelly Blue Book” For Timeshares 

Consumers need to know what the residual value of their timeshare is. This puts an end to the salesperson lying about increased value as well as the slimy resellers charging thousands upfront to list a week in Vegas for $163,900 as I recently saw. 

Institute A Buy Back Program Based On The Aforementioned“Kelly Blue Book” Values

I’m continually amazed that developers don’t understand the optics of not buying back their own product. It makes them look as if they’re hiding something and don’t believe in their own product. This also eliminates the entire self-proclaimed exit industry. You’re welcome. 

Name This “Kelly Blue Book” “Lisa’s Big Book Of Resale Timeshare Values”

And make it a pop/up book. Just threw that in to see if you’re paying attention. 

Develop And Institute A Universal Education And Licensing Structure

Every day I hear stories of lying salespeople. A universal education and license structure would allow for consumers to look up their salesperson, file complaints where and where warranted and deal with the bad people legally. 

Stop Marketing Those Inane 4/3 Mini Vacations Plus A $100 Dinner Certificate For $199

Has no one in timeshare passed a basic marketing class?  Timeshare isn’t cheap. Stop marketing it to people who can’t afford it. 

Make Timeshare Resorts Available Only To Owners

If a family can stay at a timeshare every single year for less than the owner pays in maintenance fees, there is ZERO chance that they’ll ever buy. Would you?

These are just some ideas. I’m sure you have your own. Let me know how you think timeshare can thrive in the coming years. 

A Word About Timeshare Sales Pitches

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. 

Everything But The Tooth Fairy

No doubt about it...this post will anger a lot of people. However, I think it’s important to address the two 800 pound gorillas in the room. 

Let me start by with a condemnation of any lies told by any timeshare salesperson. They are a menace to everyone, do enormous damage to the industry and should be thrown out of the industry, if not prosecuted. 

Now, to the gorillas in the room. 

Gorilla Number 1-The easiest way to eliminate this menace is for people to stop attending sales pitches and stop buying timeshare until they check out some of the outlandish claims below. 

Gorilla Number 2-The outlandish claims below are so easily refuted that it strains my brain to think that anyone would believe them without so much as a cursory Internet search. 

Despite what some people would like you to believe, not every person who fell for one or more lies is a 90 year old disabled person. These are relative healthy, in charge of their mental faculties and no doubt walk into a sales presentation with a smart phone capable of more calculations than a roomful of computers that helped send men to the moon in 1969. 

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to fall for any of these lies. No reason at all, unless they also believe in The Tooth Fairy. 

I’ve redacted the developers’ name in the list below because sadly, many developers are guilty of these lies. 

Limo service from airport to the resort

Because we are not silver we can't see all of the resort options 

We could use points to pay maintenance fees

That at silver status you get to choose your room

That the conversion ratio for cruises was much higher then it really was

That we could rent out nights out through a rental agency that worked with the developer for a large profit

That inventory in Hawaii was almost sold out(that was over 10 years ago)

That the value of the ownership would increase

Failed to disclose the special assessment for the water intrusion that they were aware of before we bought but we had to pay

That this investment will groe

When you sell you will get most of your money back.maybe a profit

That you could use points to book these amazing hotels in NYC, and all over the world using points but failed to disclose the huge number of points needed

Book a week and then the developer will pay you to use the week for free deals for prospective owners 

Pay the maintenance fees with points-didn’t tell us how many it took to qualify

That you can use points to pay for your maintenance fee

We were told the timeshare room off the pool would be “Splashes Restaurant “ for owners to enjoy.  25 years later and it’s still restricted to timeshare presentations

That we can bring our dogs to any of the locations

If we became platinum, then after 3 years the developer would buy out the 90K equity that we had paid into membership

If you don’t want the points in a few years time no problem just sell them back to us

Being told I only needed 5000 points as I could book all my holidays at half points

They told us that our maintenance fees would go up to $70,000 in ten years if we didn’t move our points over to the elite program. We pay less than 3,000

That I had lost my equity in the time share but could get it back if I upgraded

I was told it would cost me $82,000 to convert to the new contract.  If I didn't I was told my maintenance fees would be $30,000 a year in 5 years

I could easily refinance for 1.2%

That we could sell our points and get out in the future

That we could reimburse unused points for checks for 'travel outside of diamond' and use it to pay our maintenance fees 

We were told that points were just like real estate

When we refused to give our SS number to the salesperson and we finally gave it since she promised they would not run a credit check. Our credit reporting company later informed us that they did run a credit check on each of us. 

We’d have no cost valet parking at the resort

Sample/trial points would never expire

I was told I could sell back.    When we decided we didn’t need the timeshare anymore we were told the only way to get out was to convert to points first then we could sell back

I was told if we upgraded to silver that the maintenance fees would go away

That we could use our points right away —at least two days after signing. We tried a month after but no points available

Incredible isn’t it?  

If you’re angry, I’ve done my job. Well, the first part of my job. In the next month or so, I’ll be unveiling a new partnership that will go a long way to preventing these lies from being told and believed. There’s a caveat to this of course; consumers need to understand that they, not the salespeople or the developers have the ultimate power to bring about change. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to see if The Tooth Fairy has been spotted around here.