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Original Message:
methods of payment (by Polina C.):
Hello everyone :)) I'm puzzled, and curious, maybe someone can point something out to me, which will change my perception of things. I do not own any timeshares, I only rent them. For the past three years we have been trying to understand the mentality of the owners who expect a full payment in advance without any guarantees to the renter. We have been fruitlessly trying to convince some of the owners we dealt with that neither of the two parties involved have a single reason to trust the other. We have been trying to explain that demanding a payment by cheque without opening your mind to other more secure means of payment is not conducive to business and is disrespectful to the buyer. We were lucky twice (that's how we ended up going to Harborside Atlantis), when the owners acted without emotional outbursts and accusations that we do not trust them. I mean, isn't that obvious? Business is business, and when we are conducting a three grand transaction, trust is the last thing that comes to mind when you deal with a stranger. We witnessed the consequences of rental fraud twice in Harborside. Both times renters were standing lost at the front desk after learning that their reservation was canceled at the last moment by the owner. At present, we are trying to reserve a unit for our friends - same story. PayPal is listed as the only option. We suggested Escrow, because PayPal only guarantees investigation within 45 days of a transaction (and we are looking for mid-August), but the owners are still uncomfortable. We are puzzled. It seems almost unnatural for a person in our days to expect a stranger to trust them with large sums of money without more or less solid guarantees. Wouldn't the chances of renting out drastically increase if the owners understood the reasons behind people's reluctance to pay upfront? We aren't expecting them to trust us either, but when we suggest Escrow as a mutually safe way they feel uncomfortable. Is there something perhaps that we are not aware of? Is there a method of payment that we haven't considered? Does anyone have any suggestions?