I know some people that bought a TS. The place was not bad, if a bit cookie-cutter. It was clean, it was big, it had a fully functional kitchen, and it was in a nice area. And they were always able to go there in August, which is nice because it’s in a beach community. (Cape Cod.) But it was a bit soulless, and for what they paid, they could have stayed at much nicer B&Bs in whatever towns they wanted to.
Right, then, thanks everybody. Reading through the responses in this thread, the people who seem to share my priorties/mindset agree that there’s at least something, of questionable quality or otherwise, to be had from this sort of thing if you can deal with the hassle.
I’ve called my best friend, and we’ve agreed to make a road trip out of it. Even if I end up not taking the trip offer, we’ll spend the day in Fredricksburg (there’s probably nothing much there, but we like it that way; two of my fondest memories were our trips to Delaware City and Frankfort, KY), so it won’t be a total loss. Plus, I get to watch the antics of desperate salespeople, which, as I discovered during my latest round of car-shopping in our current economy, is usually good for a laugh.
Don’t worry about me; I’m not buying a timeshare, I promise. I will, however, take Harmonious Discord up on his suggestion and post about my experience when I get back, if only for the benefit of future generations of vacation-seekers.
That’s what I would tell a lot of my potentials. ‘Yes, it’s a little bit of time on your precious vacation… However, you will be escorted around comfortably, get to hang out in a nice resort, fed a nice meal, and after a couple of hours you’ve just earned about $150 bucks or more worth of comps’. Sometimes even cash.
For people who are not at all interested in buying this can be an experience they don’t want to go on with because of the very pressuring sales pitch (and they know what they’re going to be hearing beforehand). It’s very difficult to send people on tours who have already toured in the past. But for some, who may have that tiny chance of possibly considering buying, they are open to it, and the pitch is something that is more informative than just a complete waste of time hearing what they already know.
I did one of these once, and won a fabulous, five-function LCD watch!
Of course, it was “five-function” only in the sense that telling hours, and telling minutes, are two different functions.
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I stole that joke from Dave Barry.
But I did “win” an LCD watch at a timeshare pitch. Yea, me!
I find it interesting that people are putting “won” in “quotes.” Does anyone ever “lose” at these things?
I mean, besides their time, dignity, patience, and money?
It’s an illusion to make people more excited about the whole ordeal, increasing the company’s chance of selling a timeshare, that is all.
It’s not like there are only a “limited” number of “winners” in these so-called sweepstakes/contests they have. Anyone who qualifies will be given a shot.
Scam.
An old roommate went on one of these and the cheapest prize was a “food processor”. It looked a lot like this. I’m not sure how you’ll be scammed, just certain that you will be.
Relevant and hilarious South Park clip. (to watch the full episode click “full episodes at the top”, season 6, 3rd from the left entitled “Asspen”)
Not a scam, usually, but whether it is worth it depends solely on you. We’re in the midst of booking a free trip to San Diego we got for listening to one of these things. The airfare is fine, the “free” hotel is, I suspect, going to be a fleabag, so we may get our own. In Vegas we stayed with friends who actually have time shares, and listened to a pitch - and for our trouble got tickets to O about 4 rows back. That was very worth it. Our daughter and her boyfriend went to another one and scored tickets for an okay but not as cool show.
I actually enjoy analyzing these pitches for holes in logic, etc. I have very good sales resistance. If you are the least bit worried about actually falling for it, I’d advise not going. Obviously they can afford to give away stuff because the snare a reasonable percentage of suckers, and they make tons on each sale. Buying the timeshare is a scam, kind of, the pitch isn’t.
I’m not buying a timeshare, and I’m not going to get myself scammed.
I also know how I generally react to people who tell me that they, for example, are absolutely going to use the Soloflex that they just bought, or are only going to spend X amount on a car and not a penny more, so I perfectly understand the reactions in this thread to that statement.
That said, I’m not buying a timeshare – or anything else, for that matter – and I’m not going to get myself scammed. I’ll post when I get back, which’ll be Friday night, to confirm this, and you all have my permission (not that you’ll need it) to mock me and scream “I told you so” from the hilltops if I should be mistaken.
And if your phone number is registered on the Do Not Call registry, you’ve just given them permission that you now have an established business interest with them. That means you are will to accept telemarketing calls from them, and possibly others if they decide to sell your number to others.
Hmm, you’re right. This could raise the number of calls that I have to ignore each day well into the double digits. I’ll suffer through somehow.
Out of curiosity, did you ever get any marks who were openly aggressive about disparaging your pitch – like just coming out and telling you to GFY or calling you a scam artist? How do you deal with targets who are hostile and don’t hide it?
I have two sisters and brothers-in-law who have timeshares - they love them, too. Timeshares can be a great thing if you’re the kind of person who likes timeshares. They’re not evil reincarnated. I think one of the dangers of going to listen to their pitches is that timeshares really can be very cool - Jim and I went and had a look at a timeshare in Radium Hot Springs in the Rockies where we frequently vacation, and it sounded so good it almost had us seriously considering it.
Whoa, whoa! All the hostility towards the timeshare program. My experiences have been a bit different, though I usually do ask for the terms to be explicitly spelled out beforehand.
In the past four years, I’ve enjoyed a week’s stay at a ski resort, a TV, a $500 VISA gift card, several theme park passes, countless hotel vouchers, a 3 (or was it 4?) day chug-around-in-the-ocean cruise, and countless other knick knacks from sitting through these kinds of presentations.
90 minutes is a low-ball estimate–if you plan to say “yes!” to everything, then sure, 90 minutes is about right. But you have to throw in more time for them to rebuke all of your "no"s, so look at spending at least 2-3 hours there, once you factor in “chair time.” Chair time is usually the period at the end of the tour/presentation where they whip out the big book of financing options and show you how you can get THIS wonderful property for just $10 per year, nothing down today! Okay, maybe not so cheap, but by the end of the book, it always feels like they’re paying us to buy the property. Not that I’ve ever bought anything–I go for the freebies.
It’s worth my time, IMO, because I’ve found them to be very flexible in when they’ll schedule you in. Just go in with low expectations–you can figure that you’ll be leaving with something, just not a car or a boat or a trip to the moon.
The cruise was date-restrictive, but the dates fit in with my planned vacation time already that year, so we opted for that over more ski passes. The hotel vouchers are usually date restrictive, as well, but it works out for me, because I can fly at my leisure. The ski resort wasn’t restrictive at all, IIRC, plus we got some lift passes and such thrown in once we were there.
It’s all about what you make of the experience. If 2-3 hours of your time isn’t worth the gas it takes to get there (which you can usually get thrown in), then I can see being negative about it. But, IME, it’s nowhere near “scam” territory.
I am not saying the Timeshare is a scam, it’s the “drawing for a new car”. Generally, there is no car, it’s a cash prize of around $25000, and they take names for a few years and there’s some doubt if there really is a real “winner” or the prize just goes to someones Brother-in-Law.
If you want to be contacted re a timeshare, sure, that’s fine. Timeshares are hard sells, and you can often buy then aftermarket for pennies on a dollar, but they usually aren’t “scams”. But the “drawing” to get you to submit your name is IMHO a “scam”.
http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/InPerson/MajorPerson/time_shares.htm
*Common Sales Practices Used in Time Share Sales Pitches
Holding contests then not informing consumers they must listen to a lengthy sales pitch before receiving their “prizes.” Misrepresenting the facility’s physical condition, market value and resale or exchange potential.
Making oral promises that are omitted from the written contract and including fees and obligations in the contract that are never mentioned orally.
There are certain common traits and techniques all timeshare salespeople employ, all with the purpose of “closing the deal - today”. Tomorrow does not exist.
The presentation is all about misdirection and distraction. The music, for instance. It’s loud and festive. It’s supposed to put you in the mood; but it also conceals the conversations at the next table. Another purpose of the music is when they turn it down, you really notice the silence – to announce another new owner (sometimes fictional) joining the program. The other way they have called attention to new owners is to open a celebratory bottle of champagne…What You See…
Evergreen Resorts, a company which markets travel and camping clubs and sells lists of potential customers to other marketers, deceived consumers by displaying a truck it never intended to give away. The brand-new pickup truck appeared in malls, fairs, and recreational shows as a major draw prize award.
They would call consumers who filled out the entry slips and congratulate them, saying they had “won” if they attended a sales presentation for travel, camping or timeshare services or memberships. Attendees found they won a secondary prize, not the truck.
And although they advertised that a truck would be given away yearly, an investigation revealed that no trucks were given for two years and then only because the Attorney General was contacted. Even then the truck finally awarded was not the same as the one displayed.
Expecting to receive the new four-wheel drive, fully-loaded Chevy truck as displayed, the winner instead got a stripped down basic model, priced about half, with no 4-wheel drive, no radio, no carpeting, no clock, no tilt, no aluminum wheels, no extras…
Key Inducement
Through direct mail and telephone solicitations, American Campgrounds offered consumers a chance to win a a Chevy Tahoe or $25,000 in cash in their “If The Key Fits, Drive It!” contest and a trip in their “Carnival Cruise for Two” promotion.
Instead of an actual chance at a major prize, each person who made a reservation and traveled to the campground received an inexpensive watch and a vacation certificate providing only lodging, which was subject to limited availability and conditional upon attending a high-pressure time-share sales presentation.
"*
http://www.thetimeshareauthority.com/tag/timeshare-scam/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Timeshare-Presentations:-Scams-or-Opportunities&id=26984
Rather like my fascination with Scientology or cults, I’ve always been tempted to sit through a “hard sell” something to see if I’m vulnerable to hard sell techniques.
But since I don’t know, I’m not willing to try.
Rather like my fascination with Scientology or cults, I’ve always been tempted to sit through a “hard sell” something to see if I’m vulnerable to hard sell techniques.
But since I don’t know, I’m not willing to try.
I’m amused at all the people who think this is a “scam.” Have they ever been to one? This is just classic timeshare marketing. Yeah, maybe some of the prizes have restrictions, and some sound better on paper than they are. But the deal is, a lot of people are persuaded by their sales tactics, so they make a bunch of sales, so giving away the trips/gifts/etc. is well-worth the traffic into their presentations. Of course, they have deals with the trip/gifts/etc. providers – it’s not like they are paying retail for the gifts. With one sale they probably make enough to fund the gifts of a lot of the people who don’t buy. I say go if you like any of the prizes offered. At one timeshare presentation we went to, the guy even said, “Hey if halfway through you know you’re not going to buy, I’ll give you your prizes and you can go.” The rationale for that is so he can start talking to someone who really might buy. We decided to do the whole tour (though we didn’t buy a timeshare) so I don’t know if he really would have let us cut out halfway through w/o a fight. We got a bunch of stuff but the usable stuff included movie tickets, and plane fare + 3 days’ hotel to San Francisco (we haven’t used the trip yet, so sorry, I have no info on that).
On timeshares, there is this web site including message boards, with tons of info from buyers, that makes a great case for buying a timeshare on the resale market (they never appreciate, despite what the salespeople may tell you…buying from the resort is like driving the new car off the lot). If/when we do buy a timeshare, we’ll be buying resale.