A friend was just emailed that she had won a 4 day, 3 night vacation to any of a list of destinations around the Caribbean (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica). She has to attend a local presentation one evening next week, and she is responsible for taxes on the value (which is 1000-1200).
Anyone ever heard of these people? Is this a legit “prize” or would she be subjected to an aggressive timeshare presentation while actually there?
A thousand dollars in taxes? Is that a typo? In what universe do you pay a thousand dollars in tax for three nights vacation?
Does this free vacation include air fare and hotel? An of course the presentation will be a timeshare boondoggle where they will try to make it very difficult for you to say no.
I think the value is 1000-1200, so the taxes would be much less.
This does sound like a Timeshare presentation.
Not worth it if so. Not only will the badger you, you will end up on sucker lists, and the “free vacation” will be more or less worthless. Its a scam, more or less.
I’ll take option 2.
If she didn’t enter a contest then she didn’t “win” a prize.
Oh, whew. Sorry. Never mind…
ETA: I had a friend who sat through one of these “presentations” and he said they were angry with him when he kept saying no. He actually felt threatened.
Got it in one.
If one thinks about it, however: how does one ‘win’ a contest they never entered to begin with? If it’s a contest, why would attending some sort of presentation be a requirement to receive the prize? Who, in general, just gives away vacation packages to random strangers for no particular reason?
It’s not a scam per se, but the idea is that if you (generic ‘you’ here) want the vacation, you’ve got to sit through a hard-sell timeshare presentation.
Whatever they say the vacation is worth, it’s surely worth a good bit less. And it almost certainly won’t include airfare, just a hotel room when you get there.
Because you have to pay for your own airfare, a lot of (I’m guessing most) people who sit through the timeshare pitch, won’t actually cash in on the vacation.
It’s been awhile since I ‘won’ one of these not-so-prizes. But if I did, and I thought the prize was potentially worth the hassle of attending, I’d tell them I wanted it in writing ahead of time just how long I had to stay, starting at what time, to qualify for my prize.
It IS a scam. There is no prize.
You will have to sit through a presentation, which is very much like being interrogated by the police. only fake-friendlier. I sat through one. They had me talk with several people, each of whom did not seem to understand that even if I had the money to buy what they were hawking, I wouldn’t. I may have told the last guy to go fuck himself.
Then you get to ‘prize’. When they explain the way you have to get the prize (so many rules and regulations and dates not available) …then you just walk out before you get arrested for assault.
Classic timeshare sales presentation. If you say no, be prepared to row your way back home across the Gulf of Mexico.
OK, did a few minute’s research, and it’s not a time-share outfit, but pretty close in concept and general sleaziness. Apparently what they do is sell bulk vacations; that is, you pay up front (several grand at least) for a package of seven-day stays in various places. It appears the up-front fee covers accommodation only; travel, meals and any amenities are extra.
As mentioned above, you have to sit through a (no doubt high-pressure) sales pitch in order to claim your ‘prize’, and you will have to put up with very limited departure dates and a whole bunch of fees if you actually use it. I wouldn’t bother.
Yes, it’s a scam.
Yes, it’s a scam.
YES! YES! YES! IT’S A SCAM!!!
Now tell us what you really feel.
I might have believed you if you’d made the font just a little bigger. As it stands, I remain unconvinced.
It’s a scam, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun. Psychologically, hard-sell tactics are fascinating. If the most sales pressure you’ve ever received is at a car lot or furniture store, where the biggest pressure point is “I can only guarantee that price today,” you should definitely check one of these things out.
And I don’t mean go and be a douche, just go, decline their offer, and accept your prize. The pressure is intense. Oh, and watch the people who do bite; they’re fascinating, too.
No-do not go. These people are pros at beating their victims into submission, and you are just an amateur. If you don’t go there is no chance for you to be ripped off, but if you do go there is a good chance they will wear you down. Do you think they haven’t encountered people who think they can sit through the presentations just to get the “prize” before?
Timeshare. Scam. BTDT. Not a bad idea in principle, but you’re much better off doing a little research and buying off someone else’s rash decision. I’m talking at a 10:1 rebate.
That’s true. If you want to buy a timeshare just look for those sites where people are trying to get out of theirs. I’ve heard of some people getting pretty good deals.
And man, those sales pitches are good. My wife almost fell for one and I had to talk her out of it.
This.
That is why, in the unlikely event that I was ever tempted to go to one of these things, I wouldn’t go without a written statement beforehand of exactly how much time I had to put up with their pitch before I could claim my (undoubtedly not-so-great-a-) prize, and leave.
But as long as they’re the ones who get to decide whether you’ve stayed long enough to have ‘won,’ you’re screwed every which way.
Thanks, all!
I did some googling, and my friend did as well. Apparently it’s not officially a timeshare, which means that the kind of rights of rescission people have with timeshares are NOT applicable with Sundance. As in, you sign while there, and you’re stuck with no recourse; a true timeshare is more like a real estate deal where you have 3 days to cancel or some such.
As I told my friend, she couldn’t afford that free trip. She called to cancel the info session and they were pressuring her hard to reschedule (she did not).
I know people who do timeshares are are very pleased, but they went into it knowing what they were looking for. One family has 3 kids with autism and for them, the ability to have a specific place to stay was good. The other, a couple, had a 2-weeks-every-other-year thing in the Caribbean, an area they love to visit.
For me? Nuh-uh. We’ve actually done 3 timeshare-type visits and come away OK from 2 of the 3 (dinner tickets and Sea World tickets from one, a cheap portable TV from another); the third was for a campground, the 2 hour pitch lasted 3.5 hours, and we had to pay a “processing fee” for the “free” gift. Sigh. We were nowhere near tempted by any of them.
For what it’s worth, we had just been to a big travel show at the convention center in DC, so this wasn’t completely out of the blue.