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No victims, only volunteers.... (by KC):

ramons wrote:

Thanks for the info. I will read and hope to sell my time share eventually I did not enroll in Interval `cause It`s another way to take money legally. Now I insist if a salesperson lies it can be called scam or even fraud. I guess it`s easier to get away with that in a place where the economy is so good. So I see Florida found a way to let scams and fraud be legal it`s just the way they say and do it. I worry about these things!!

I must respectfully disagree with a few of your statements. Interval International (II) is just an exchange company. II "exchanges" timeshare weeks for member owners, for a fee --- nothing more. However, people who expect to swap their tiny studio unit in Orlando for a spacious 2BR oceanfront suite in Hawaii will ALWAYS be disappointed --- that exchange just ain't ever gonna happen! That fact doesn't reflect badly on II, which seeks to make "like for like" (equal) trades for member owners. So, "good stuff gets other good stuff" and "junk gets only other junk" in trade. Seems pretty fair to me.

The "lying timeshare salesman" problem is certainly NOT in any way confined to Florida (nor is it limited to timeshares either, for that matter). The problem is simply that most people do not understand the very important difference between verbal statements by a salesman (which mean absolutely NOTHING legally --- not in Florida, not anywhere else). Talk is only conversation. The written contents of a signed contract, however, mean EVERYTHING. If something is not in writing within the contract, then that "something" simply DOES NOT EXIST AT ALL in the eyes of the law. Too many people just listen, all starry-eyed and dreaming of vacations, to all of the happy babble and exaggerations of a salesman, not even bothering to read the contract to see for themselves that it may actually contain NONE of those "promises" and may actually state (in writing) completely opposite information. By the time they discover the true facts (i.e., what is stated in the contract), by then they have already signed on the dotted line. This is exactly why "right of rescission" (cancellation) laws were created some years ago --- to give people time after a purchase to change their mind and still CHOOSE to void the transaction, just as they CHOSE to sign the contract without first reading or understanding it. However, if people won't even bother to read a written contract within a week AFTER signing it (when they should have read it start to finish right on the spot in the first place), what can be done? How can you help people who won't even help themselves? In this matter, there are no victims --- only volunteers...

Read, learn --- and sell your timeshare on your own. Unless it's just junk to begin with, you CAN sell it on your own if it's competitively priced at current market value (which can be approximated by just looking at completed eBay sales of comparable weeks). I've sold several of my timeshare weeks myself within just the past year. Good luck.