This Is Not Hospitable, Or Acceptable

Imagine you arrive at your timeshare resort, tired from a few hours in an airplane or a car trip. You just want your room key, get to the room, drop your bags and have something to drink. 

But instead of the check in process being welcoming, you’re hounded by the woefully misnamed concierge/hospitality staff pressuring you to sign up for an update/resort preview before you get your keys and/or parking pass. 

You may be tempted to write something like this:

Is there a way to check into a hotel without spending 20 min being harassed to go to owner update? The last two times we’ve checked into Los Abrigados Sedona we left registration feeling frustrated and upset by very aggressive and borderline rude agents trying to get us to do owner updates making us feel stupid for not wanting to get the most out of our timeshare..this last time she said Diamond was going through financial issues they needed to share with us as well..it is ruining the start of our trips. We’ve heard “I guess you just don’t want to save money so your the ones missing out”. This last check in when my husband finally got firm with no after 20 min. Asking for our room key she said “geez I’m just trying to have a conversation with you”. Any advice for easier check in I’m listening.

If work at a timeshare resort and allowing or worse yet, instructing your employees to hound your guests like this, you need to stop...like immediately. This is the antithesis of hospitality. How would you feel if you were treated to this nonsense?  There’s a way to invite guests to a sales pitch...this isn’t it. 

Eliminate Your Timeshare...Now With Magic Beans!

I know by now you’re sick of hearing about COVID-19. I myself involuntarily flinch anytime I hear the phrase “social distance” or hear yet another story of an unmasked consumer wrecking havoc in a store. 

But, just because you’re fed up is no reason to let your guard down. In fact, it’s more important than ever to stay alert to timeshare related fraud. 

Even in “normal” times, timeshare owners are consistently being solicited by any number of self-proclaimed exit companies promising, yet almost never delivering on their promise to get you out of your timeshare, get your money refunded and provide you with magic beans. 

Today however, it’s much worse. The sheer number of these firms, which in actuality are nothing more than a few people with a bank of phones, is astonishing. Each day I come across at least 2 or 3 new ones. 

What’s behind the sudden increase?  For months now, timeshare salespeople have been furloughed, laid off, fired or at the very least experienced severe cut backs. Many of these salespeople have access to owners’ lists; replete with full information on you, what you own, how much you own, how much you owe, your annual maintenance fees, etc.  All of this information comes in handy when they contact you.

Now, I’m not saying that all salespeople are doing this. I’m not saying that their current/former employers condone or even know of this. But facts are facts-owners’ lists are fairly easy to obtain by any enterprising person with time on their hands and bills to pay. 

Do not be fooled. There is no easy or simple way out of a timeshare contract. You do not need to buy more timeshare so that you’ll somehow qualify to either sell it back to the developer, deed it back to the developer or get a refund. 

So, unless you’d like to pay several thousand dollars for empty promises and a handful of magic beans, do not engage with anyone on the phone, email, messenger, etc. no matter how much information they have about you and your timeshare. 

If you’ve been approached by one of these scammers, let me know so that it can be reported to the authorities. 

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.