Long Lasting and Powerful Ether

It’s no surprise that I frequently look around Twitter to see what’s new in the world of timeshare. If you don’t already follow me there, I’m @LisaLooksAt. 

Oftentimes, those of us not engaged in timeshare selling wonder how consumers purchase a pricey timeshare without a good understanding of how it works, what the pros and cons of it are and/or the fact that many timeshares can be purchased on the legitimate secondary market for a tiny fraction of what the developer is charging; which can be a boon provided the consumer both understands and is accepting of the usage restrictions. 

On Sunday I spotted this tweet:

I just became a #WorldMark by #Wyndham #TimeShareOwner today 8.24.19 on my own!!! Yay, I mean I honestly am proud to say I own something besides my car! If I ever have no place to live, I can use always book my timeshare that can last me a few weeks lol 😂Perks of TimeShare

I decided to engage this person by asking a seemingly innocuous question:

Did you buy it from the developer or on the secondary market?

I received this response which clearly indicated to me that she did not have a decent grasp on what she purchased:

Hi, I’m not sure what that means. I would believe I got it directly from the them with my welcome box and they have like a whole sales department. I don’t know the difference

Trying to be helpful and perhaps open her eyes, I sent her this:

All I’m saying is that if you purchased it from the developer, most likely at the resort, you owe it to yourself to check out the secondary market. 99% chance you’ll find what you bought at a tiny fraction of what the developer charged you

Unbelievably I received this response which demonstrated more ether induced giddiness and left me with no doubt that when the ether wore off, say in a year or so, this person will become fodder for the multitude of companies who will promise her a way out of the financial joke she’s dug for herself:

oh gotcha, well based on what I was sold, I think it was explained clearly want I was purchased. Besides the purchase is a peace of mind that I have a place for family/friends to stay anytime as many times they visit me, w/o using my credits on my timeshare.

I have to hand it to her salesperson, this is some long lasting and powerful ether they pumped her with. 

Anatomy of a Timeshare Exit Scam

I pulled this complaint off the Internet. It’s against one of those self-proclaimed exit companies offering a 100% Money Back Guarantee. I’ve redacted the name of the company for two reasons:  First, I don’t need them knocking on my door and secondly, the names of these companies are pretty much interchangeable. Scam companies all operate the same way. 

How many red flags can you find in this tale of woe?

I let REDACTED NAME handle the process of relieving my time share with **** ***** ****** starting back in September of 2017. I chose them due to a 100% money back guarantee and 100% guarantee of relieving the time share with in 18 months. 

I mainly dealt with Anthony "Tony" D***** and at times Robert Mo****. I also spoke with two ladies, Jen and Amy. Over the coarse of time, I spent $44,880 with them and was guaranteed a $97,625.86 return. 

I have received nothing from anybody. They actually did relieve me of my time share, which where paid for, only was paying maintenance fees and membership fees. In stead of **** ***** buying back the time share deeds, REDACTED NAME became the third party and sold the two deeds, I have yet to receive and financials on these, I don't know what they sold them for. I have been told I have to sign a disclosure form about not discussing with the press, newspaper, etc. about the financial returns or anything to deal with **** ***** ******* before finalizing MBO and settlement. I called Tony two weeks ago to follow up on this he doesn't return my calls. I went out and found the complaints with the BBB on this company and realized I am not the only person going through the same thing. I tried calling them on Monday and Wednesday last week and no one would answer the phones. On Thursday last week, all phone are now disconnected. There is no doubt this company turned out to be scam artist. In order to be so convincing, they had to have real estate license and work for a timeshare company in the past to know everything they knew and to be convincing in the process. 

I don't know if you can get this resolved or not with these people. I don't know if they got caught or closed shop and disappeared. Please help if you can, all I am trying to do is get back what I have spent and a financial settlement on the sale of my two deeds if possible.

Here’s another one:

I entered into a agreement with REDACTED NAME to rid myself of a timeshare. I paid them $1500.00 upfront and was promised that all would be resplosed in 180 days. 

Since I have received numerous phone calls from a Robert M and an Anthony M proclaiming great progress has been made but they needed money for the closing, etc, SI I "studiedly sent them $14,000 plus for this. and to date. 

Anthony M has called me a couple of times informing me that I will be receiving funds in the amount ranging from $27,000 to 41,000. Nothing has happen. And no response to my emails or phones calls.

I know I’ve repeated this many times, but since people kept getting ripped off, I’ll repeat it again:  DO NOT PAY ANYONE UPFRONT TO GET OUT OF OR SELL YOUR TIMESHARE. There are legitimate ways of getting out of a timeshare that you still owe on, but it’s extremely difficult. 

If you don’t owe anything on the timeshare, I’m baffled as to why you’d pay to get out of it. Call your resort. List it for $200. Rent it for the maintenance fees. Anything but paying upfront. 

Take Control With These 4 Questions

Everyday, hundreds of thousands of consumers just like you, sit down across from a timeshare salesperson and give away most of their power just because they don’t understand the psychology of sales. 

I spent 5 years in timeshare sales and sales management and the first thing we were taught is this:

The person asking the questions is in charge. 

Think about it. If you go to the doctor, they ask the questions and you usually quietly acquiesce. But if you go to a big box store looking for a television, you ask the questions and you’re in control of the purchasing decision. 

The timeshare sales paradigm has remained largely unchanged for 40+ years. It’s built upon greed, guilt and control. Greed because you took the bait in the form of theme park tickets, dinner shows or good old fashioned cash. Guilt because you mistakingly believe you owe them something for taking the bribe. Control because the salesperson asks the majority of the questions so they can tailor the pitch and the offer to your needs. 

It’s quite easy to reverse this paradigm. Ask the questions. Here are 4 questions you need to ask your salesperson before the pitch even begins:

1) Are you licensed? Ideally you want the answer to be YES. At the very least, your salesperson will be taken aback by this question. Want more control?  Ask to be paired with one who is licensed. Yes, you can do this. 

2) Can I record your entire sales presentation? Again, ideally you want the answer to be YES. If it’s NO, continue asking questions. Why can’t you record it?  Are you hiding something?  The idea here is to put the salesperson on notice that same old, same old will not work. 

3) How long will this take?Remember that you are only obligated to stay for the amount of time listed on the “invitation” or whatever you signed when you agreed to listen. If the salesperson tells you something different, or waffles on the answer, do not agree to even begin. Get this clarified and let them know you’re setting an alarm for that exact time. Again, yes you can do this. 

4) Are you going to send in another salesperson or a manager at any point?  When I was a salesperson I never used a manager or anyone else to finish my sales pitch. In the business it’s called “going front to back.”  Why would you want to spend 90 minutes at minimum with someone who isn’t qualified or authorized to finish things up?

None of this is meant to give you carte blanche to be rude to anyone, lest you misinterpret my point. The point is that you have the power to take control of the sales pitch with a few carefully thought out questions. 

So are you going to take control or cry foul after buying something you don’t understand after a 5 hour sales pitch?  It really is your choice. 

Where Do You Get Your Timeshare Information From?

Where do you get your information from?  

Remember that ANYONE can start a social media or blogging site. ANYONE.  

Here’s the informational heading for a blog that I recently found:

Welcome to my blog which offers growing exposure for your travel needs. Some of the followers include Actors, Actresses, Authors, Editors, Dr.'s and Realtors and Travel Lodges, Bed and Breakfasts, Hotel, Motel, Inns, Campsites, and more. 

Does this sound like someone you’d feel comfortable with getting any advice, much less timeshare advice from?

She puts this at the top of her blog:

Buy Timeshare, Rent Timeshare, Sell Timeshare,Timeshare Deed Trade Ins, Timeshare Mortgage Cancellations, Timeshare Giveaways, Campground Memberships, Travel Club Memberships.

Her last “post”, which was nothing more than a listings was this gem:

Westgate Grand Villa Townouse 4 bedroom 4 bathroom Lock out unit Bldg# 5600 & 5700 Annual Use Sale Price: $39,999

What’s my point?  My point is that you need to be selective in where you get any information from, including timeshare information. I include my own blog in this. I’m not THE EXPERT and I don’t pretend to be.  I write what I know and when I’m wrong, I’ll admit it. 

More importantly it’s been my experience in being involved in the timeshare industry that anyone who buys, sells, rents, or promises to get you out of a timeshare is not the best place to get unbiased information just as the timeshare salesperson at the resort is not the person you want to rely on for unbiased information. 

Sadly, most experts aren’t. Don’t fall into their traps. 

You Want Timeshare Change? Here’s How

After reading yet another sob story from a consumer who said among other things:  

>he was kept at his sales pitch for 5 hours, 

>he was under the impression that he was buying one thing when it turns out he was buying something different,

>the monthly payments increased and maintenance fees magically appeared in between the sales table and the closing office

I’m again floored.  

He rant started this way:  I just left Florida recently and of course to get my free gift went to the diamond resort presentation that was supposed to last 120 min and lasted 5 hours at mystic dunes resort in Orlando...

I swore I was not going to comment on these type of posts any longer, but here’s what I said:

I am a long time consumer advocate focused on timeshare issues. I do not condone any misrepresentation or lying by any developer’s employees or agents. 

Having said that, when will people understand that there is no such thing as a “free gift”?  When will people understand that when you agree to the sales pitch in exchange for your “free gift” you are only obligated to stay the length of time that’s in writing?  Yes, it’s in writing because it’s the law. 

The system that is in place is in place because it’s working for the developers. Once consumers stop accepting the status quo and the “free gifts”, the system will be changed.

This Isn’t A Property Brothers Show People

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. 

An Open Letter to the Timeshare Industry

Dear bigwigs and not so bigwigs, I hope that at least one of you answers this letter, even anonymously. 

Here’s the question:  Why do timeshares in the secondary market have such low value compared with the original purchase price?

Let us assume that Joe and Mary purchase one of your timeshares for $20,000. They use it annually and pay all the maintenance fees, even when you increase them. 10 years go by and they don’t want it any longer. They are disheartened to find out that similar timeshares have only managed to sell for $1,500.  

Joe and Mary will now do one of three things; a) they’ll fall prey to a scammer who will promise that they can sell it for $20,000 because its real estate, for a $6,000 upfront fee, b) stop paying the annual fees and be faced with a foreclosure and everything that goes along with it when you start legal proceedings or c) end up selling the timeshare for only $1,500. All three of these options will have the effect of negating the positive experiences Joe and Mary have had vacationing and you can bet that they will not be recommending timeshare to anyone. 

You, on the other hand could have offered to buy back Joe and Mary’s timeshare for $15,000 (actually you could buy it back for $20,000, but I’m feeling generous today) and turn around and sell it the following day for $30,000 as that is what you’re charging now. There has been no depreciation on the timeshare because Joe and Mary faithfully paid what you billed them every year and you maintained the unit and the resort...you did, didn’t you?

Joe and Mary will not fall prey to any scammers now, because there’s no need for them to even exist. Joe and Mary feel good about their purchase and their years of vacationing at timeshare resorts and are likely to recommend this way if vacationing to their friends and family. 

Why don’t you do this???