A few weeks ago, I dropped my name into a mall “Win A Car!” box on a lark. Normally I never do such things, but hey, flights of fancy and all that. Yesterday, I got a call informing me that I won one of four top prizes, as well as a free trip to Florida to be used anytime in 2009. All I have to do is come by their offices for a 90-minute meeting first. Now, I know enough about these things not to get too excited. That “meeting” is going to be a high-pressure timeshare pitch. I’m not worried about that; I’m a cynical sonofabitch with plenty of work experience at saying “no” for an hour and a half, and I’ll have even less of a problem doing so after the 2.5 hour drive it’ll take me to get to their offices.
The odd part is that they did specifically say that I had won something (which, as I understand it, they generally don’t do), and further explained that I am guaranteed one of four things in addition to the trip: the car, a Caribbean cruise, a cruise to a destination I don’t remember, or a $500 Visa gift card. In theory, I should be happy about this, since it seems that I’m guaranteed a free $500 for my troubles. As it is, I’m a bit skeeved out by it; I can’t figure out why they’d give 500 bucks to every schmo who shows up for this thing, which has to be a decent number of people. Sounds…scamtastic, really, but I can’t figure out how.
So, really, there are two things I’m looking for. First, I want to know what’s up with them telling me that I’ve won something. Second, I’d like opinions from anyone who’s actually been on one of these timeshare trips: how the accomodations are, whether there’s another sales pitch involved, etc. Armed with that information, I will decide whether it’s worth schlepping my ass up to Fredricksburg to deal with these people or not. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
Eh? What pit would that be? I’ve known people who have gone on these timeshare-pitch exursions and had a good time; just never under these specific circumstances and never to Florida, hence this thread.
I’m not buying a timeshare, if that’s what you’re talking about. If you don’t believe that, then I ask that you just humor me.
My husband ‘won’ just that sort of contest a couple years back. He had put his name into a drawing for a free trip to Vegas at a baseball game, and was called about a month later with the good news that he had won. The only catch was that he had to go out and tour the local timeshare resort. The tour was interesting - and scarily persuasive - and it was definitely a hard sell. We held our ground, but it was fascinating to listen to them answer every reason we had not to buy into their program. We had to say repeatedly that we had no money and no intention of going into debt for this thing before they let us go.
As for the prize - we did get a voucher for a free trip to Vegas, but it was very restricted, you could only fly on certain dates at certain times, it didn’t include the hotel stay, and we would have had to pay the airfare taxes ourselves. We threw it away. We did get a $20 gas card and two free movie tickets, though.
If you go, do not take your credit card or your check book. They make buying a timeshare sound like the most natural and smartest thing you could do for yourself and for your family. If you’re just going in to an office and not touring a property, it should be easier to resist. And be prepared that the prizes will not be as great as they sound, though you still may get something out of it.
Oi, I should have seen this coming, but let me head it off at the pass. It’s not a scam, at least not technically. I legitimately entered a contest, I didn’t win, the organizers sold my name to a marketing company, and they in turn are offering me a vacation for listening to a timeshare pitch. I’m not buying a timeshare. I haven’t and won’t give them any personal info beyond name, address and phone number.
I appreciate the good intentions of those who’ve replied thus far, but I’m well aware of what the overall situation is. I’m not going to get myself scammed. All I’m asking for are opinions on the specifics of this particular deal from those who’ve had similar experiences.
ETA: Thanks, Lily, that’s exactly the sort of advice I need.
Similar experience: sucked into a timeshare presentation. Don’t go. The amount of time wasted in the presentation and sales pitch and trip out to the condos was SO not worth the reward. *Don’t bother. *Your time is more valuable than any crap they can give you.
Hey, why the sarcasm? If you have a specific reason I shouldn’t do this, do tell. The people I know (three of them, one couple and one single guy, if it matters) who’ve done this sort of thing have all given me the same advice thus far, which is that free stuff in exchange for saying “no” isn’t a bad deal if you know how to play your cards.
I’m open to conflicting arguments on that point, of course, if there’s any substance to them. Hearing about actual experiences, direct or otherwise, may well dissuade me. Cryptic comments implying that I’m stupid for considering it, probably won’t.
I once had a roommate who got himself into some dire financial straights. A timeshare place offered him $5,000 cash just to show up. After he listened to the pitch, they told him that he didn’t qualify for the cash, but they gave him a BBQ grill instead. It was probably worth about $25.
It’s not difficult to know how to play your cards. Just don’t sign anything.
Could you possibly get something for nothing? Yes, you can. Is it unethical? JMHO, but I have no problems taking things from thieves.
A few years back, I got suckered into attending one of those things. The free gift was a weekend vacation in one of their units. We were all for taking their free stuff, but by the end of it we ended up refusing it. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
I once worked in lead generation for a timeshare. My role never provided me any exposure to the actual sales pitches used. Although I was paid $50 per lead about 20 years ago, allegedly none of my leads ever bought a timeshare, or I would have gotten $150 bonus. I say allegedly because I would have no way of knowing, and my employer was a bit sketchy. I put those numbers in there to give you a sense of how they value leads. Also, to illustrate that a lot of people do resist the sales pitches, and that those who do buy are generating a lot of profit for the sellers.
My guess is that you will “win” some type of highly restricted cruise that may also include additional pitches for the timeshare. Listing the Visa giftcard last makes that seem like the low-end prize, but doesn’t necessarily mean it is.
Some of the leads I generated were probably happy enough to take the tour and get the vouchers and coupon books. Others no doubt regretted it. If you are as hardened as you say and feel you could get some value out of a highly restricted cruise that might also have a sales component to it, you might as well go.
We probably go on one timeshare presentation a year and always get cool stuff. Trips, gift cards hotel stays and the like. We always do one in Vegas because we get free hotel rooms for the next trip. (neither of us gamble nearly enough to get free rooms from the comp cards or anything)
If you don’t want a timeshare just say no to their offer, don’t answer any questions you don’t want to and have a good time watching them spin. Then take your stuff and go.
Righto. I know you weren’t calling me stupid, it’s just…well, the here’s the best way I can think of to explain it. You know the feeling you get when you call tech support, and the first-tier guy tells you to make sure it’s plugged in, and check your connections, and make sure the software’s installed, and so on…and you know he’s not doing it because he thinks you’re an idiot, but because a lot of people who call in with the same problem probably ARE idiots, and they need to be told to check those things; hell, it probably resolves 90% of those calls…and you know that you’ve already checked those things, and that you really aren’t a fool, but there’s no way to communicate that convincingly to the tech support guy because any old fool can say that he isn’t one?
That’s the feeling I’m getting from some of these responses.
I really should have seen it coming, and it’s my own damn fault. That said, I’m also getting some great information, so keep it rolling, and I’ll take the Tier 1 anti-scam support in good faith from here on out.
My wife and I made this a game one year. We went to 5 pitches and would actually call and negotiate even more prizes than they were offering, usually extra gas money to make the trip and an extra day in whatever motel they were letting us stay at. We always got the gifts, yep restrictions galore and pretty soon all the phone calls just dried up. We were amazing poor that year and really had a pretty good time. Nope, never bought anything, but did get a week at St. Thomas, airfare included.
