Original Message:
THE INSIDE SCOOP - I am a Time Share Super Pro (by Monroe E.):
The INSIDE scoop from a pro Time Share salesman
Until retiring a few years ago, I sold timeshare for Vacation Internationale and for Trendwest ( Worldmark by Wyndham ) for 19 years. When I began in the early 90's, it was a big hit. Vacation Internationale was the ONLY points system on the market and it was a more flexible way to own and use timeshare. Then Trendwest copied the idea flat out, called them "credits" and went to town building resorts everywhere and opening sales offices all over the place. But thats not what I am here to tell you about. Here's whats really going on from the sales perspective. The time share company first solicits you in to see their presentation by offering you anything from a free radio to a trip to Vegas for example. The first rip off ! The trip to Vegas is all but unusable as it is loaded with restrictions and add on fees. You MUST travel mid week for example and the hotel you'll be staying at is almost always a dump. Oh, you want to bring the kids, upgrade fee. You want a nicer accommodation, upgrade fee. You want to stay an extra day, HUGE upgrade fee. Oh and lets not forget that they are not available during the desirable times of the year as well. Good Luck trying to ACTUALLY USE one of these certificates. Wyndham actually calls them "mooch bait". The timeshare companies actually have this down to a science. They rely on you NOT USING the certificate which costs them very little this way. If you do use it, its called "Breakage" and then it costs them plenty. So its a total conflict of interests. Less then 3% of the "free" certificates actually ever get used. The vast majority of them wind up on top of your refrigerator till they expire. And if you do actually go, you will be required to attend ANOTHER timeshare presentation when you get there. BEWARE what they DON'T tell you. Thats the marketing end of the timeshare business and it is a HUGE industry. Just getting you into see a presentation is a very BIG business in itself. Its full of pressure, lies, mistruths, and loopholes and is never ever designed to be in your benefit what so ever.
Then comes the presentation. As a salesperson, you will be trained to lie, thats right LIE, mislead, deceive, embellish, prey on emotions and did I for get something … oh yes, HIGH PRESSURE ! You will be mislead about quality of accommodations, or lets just say "exaggerated". You will be totally mislead about availability and you will be HIGH pressured into making an emotional decision without respect for your need or desire to do any research. You'll be told that if you don't buy TONIGHT, you won't get the same "deal" thereafter. What a rip that is !!!!! They clearly want to make you emotional and to make errors in sound judgement. I will go on record for this. My project directors told me time and time again on a bad night ( low sales ), or if they needed to hit a higher bonus level, To use the T.A.F.T. theory of sales which simply means TAFT = Tell Them ANY FU----G THING, just get the sale. They know full well that if given an opportunity to research, you'd surely find that the same deal can be had on the aftermarket for around 1/3 the price. Dissatisfied owners are selling and bailing out all over the place. Resales are available on Craigs List, your local classified in the news paper, as well as on Ebay and from a splinter industry called the resale market. Many of which are owned by the same company that sold you the overpriced time share to begin with.
Here's what NOT to do.
Don't EVER make a first day buying decision at the presentation ! Let me repeat that … DON'T EVER MAKE A FIRST DAY BUYING DECISION WITHOUT SLEEPING ON IT AND DOING A LITTLE INVESTIGATING FIRST !!! If its such a good deal, then why can't you have the right to think about it over night ? Get out of the ether of the sales presentation, go home and think about it. Add up ALL the costs of ownership such as the cost of the time share you are considering, as well as the huge interest you'l be paying on the loan. The annual fees, the assessments, the housekeeping fees, the booking charges, the cost of membership in an exchange company such as RCI, the usage costs of an exchange company if you actually try to exchange your timeshare. For example, RCI charges about $90 a year just to be a member, then they charge around $200 to exchange your week ( if they had something to suit your needs, HA ). Do the math here … $400 a year annual dues for the time share for an average week, $90 for the annual dues to the exchange company ( now you've spent $500 or so whether you use your week or not ) then if you make an exchange, add in another $200 and you are up over $700 for your week. Add in the interest on your loan, the loss of interest on the money you've given them as a down payment, the fact that your"investment is depreciating rapidly ( timeshare goes down in value year by year NOT UP ) and for the same money or much less, you could have rented a week anywheres on earth any time you wanted in a rental timeshare or bed and breakfast or what ever you like and NOT be tied to jumping thru the hoops of the timeshare system.
Don't get ripped off, stay far away from timeshare presentations !