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Re: I worked at a timeshare SCAM....I want to tell you about it.

[Q=jayjay] ... that's been reiterated over and over in these forums [b]you should NOT ever pay an UPFRONT FEE.[/b] [/Q] I agree the idea of paying an up front fee is bad. Where is the motivation for the company to get your unit rented? Please bear in mind though that newpaper classifieds are payment first, ad is published after - and few people complain when their ad doesn't result in the item selling. I think the problem with timeshare rental listing companies is they spend too much effort (and make flase promises/statements) to get owners to list and too little effort getting customers for the owners. What would be nice is a company with a small up front fee to list a unit, then they market the listing to find a customer and take a commission after. The owner then doesn't have to deal with customer inquiries and the company has a lot of motivation to get the unit listed. If the unit doesn't rent, there could be some type of compensation back to the owner. I'm not saying the company should refund the initial small up front fee, but perhaps a partial refund with the opportunity to list a unit later without the initial fee? A lot of timeshare companies list units for owners for free but they take a large fee of 30-50% and they don't notify the owner when the unit is rented. They also don't guarantee the unit rental until after the customer arrives, which in some cases the customer cancels or doesn't show up and the owner loses the revenue without having any control.