I’ve read a few threads here about timeshare sales, and elsewhere, and I’ve encountered the idea that even people who go in knowing that buying timeshares at retail is a bad idea will sometimes be convinced to buy them. The claim is that going to timeshare sales pitches to get the goodies they promise to lure you in is the proverbial “picking up pennies in front of a steam-roller”. Sure, you make small gains for a while, then you slip up and get saddled with a bad contract.
I am skeptical of this claim. I can’t imagine what it would take for me to not take a day to think over a major purchase like that. Particularly when I know that, if I wanted to buy a timeshare (and I’m pretty sure I don’t), I’d be much better off buying it on the secondary market.
On the other hand, just like everyone thinks they’re an above-average driver, we probably all think that our sales resistance is higher than it really is. So maybe I’m fooling myself.
So, I’m hoping to answer this specific question: Have you personally, or do you know personally, anyone who bought a timeshare at a sales pitch despite being well-educated about what a bad deal that is?
as someone whos parents bought a thousand trails membership but didn’t finish paying for it thell promise the moon …its all fun and exciting on membership weekend
then its months later you realize that half the stuff they promised is 1 non existent 2 an occasional thing (usually during (membership weekends) or just isn’t as cool as youd thought it would be…
Not what you’re looking for, but I’ve successfully fought off two time-share high-pressure offers. I got a free meal out of one case and a free weekend at a resort out of the other.
The bad drama (“I gotta talk to my boss about this”) was an unexpected extra benefit.
I did. I was not completely well-educated about what a bad idea it was, obviously. I would never fall for it again (and won’t even go through the hassle for a free meal and a sunset cruise).
I am currently settling my parents’ estate. Although they were generally very conservative with their money, they fell for three time share sales pitches that I am currently trying to clean up. They actually enjoyed the timeshare while they were alive. The problem is that they are horribly hard to get rid of and the fees are criminal. I’m going to have to hire a special realtor to get their estate out of this mess.
I usually pride myself on sales resistance, but somehow I got suckered into buying an extended warranty at the dealership last time I bought a new car. The guy got me into another room away from my family, and started throwing a bunch of numbers at me, and I got confused, and said “I just want the cheapest payment” and somehow ended up signing the contract for the cheapest warranty instead. :smack: At that point I just wanted to get out of there.
So it’s not entirely absurd to imagine otherwise intelligent and fiscally wise people can get sucked into bad deals. Remember, a big part of sales, at least for some items, is about getting the customer to stop thinking about cold, logical math and numbers and get them into an emotional state. And timeshare salespeople who set up events for mass high pressure sales aren’t ones to follow rules or hold back when you start bringing up numbers or logic.
I was reading recently some reviews of third-party electricity suppliers who go door to door to get you to switch away from your local utility. Some of them record you on their ipads while talking to you on your porch, and even if you don’t sign their contract, if they recorded you saying “yeah, that sounds like a good idea” or something – just trying to be polite to salespeople who are often high shcoolers – they’ll count that as accepting the contract. Or maybe you agreed verbally but changed your mind when it came time to sign your name. Then you’re on the hook for hundreds of dollars in termination fees, or else lawyer fees to go after them. Sometimes it’s better to just eat the loss and hope you learned your lesson next time.
Well, this is embarrassing. They really sell the idea that the weeks are “exchangeable”
However, in reality, unless you plan well in advance (something I can’t usually do) it is impossible to get a week somewhere you want to go when you want to go there. I didn’t fully appreciate that (and they made it sound so easy). Also, they made it sound very easy to simply “rent out” your week if you didn’t want to use it and make money to boot. It’s been many years, but for some reason, that never worked out either. I think we went back to the place only one time after purchasing (but had a nice vacation) and never actually accomplished a trade or a rental. I will admit that for other people with different scheduling concerns, it might work out fine. (My in-laws, for example, go every year to some place they bought and probably have gotten their money’s worth)
We eventually sold it for 30% of what we paid for it, not counting all the fees we paid for 7 or 8 years.
only reason thousand trails stopped trying to get money from my mom was various lawsuts was filed against them and they lost
I know cause I got the letters asking her to join them and when tt called for payment collection I referenced them and you could hear the :“aww shit” pause and they politely said theyed contact us again …never did so I assumed they figured I joined one of them and was a lost cause
If I ever find myself at a timeshare presentation, my plan is to bring up e-bay on my phone and have them convince me not to purchase a unit off there for $1 (last time I looked was a few years ago, but there were dozens of timeshares listed at a $1 buy-it-now price at the time).
I just tell all high-pressure salespeople that I am in the process of declaring bankruptcy and I am just there for the free stuff because I don’t have any money. The don’t have a good counter for that.
I went to a timeshare presentation once - many years ago, and the intent of my attendance was solely to get the ‘prize’ (one of a range of fairly desirable goods including power tools, a microwave oven, etc) that was offered for my no-obligation participation in a ‘presentation’
It was, as everyone knows, not a presentation, but actually a high-pressure sales pitch, full of dishonest maths and spurious nonsense claims. I stayed strong and kept saying no, they tried wearing me down with their clever catalogue of arguments designed to defeat any refusal. I won in the end by pointing out the dishonesty of their costing examples, and repeating in an ascendingly loud voice that I had no reason at all to trust them, and that they’d given me plenty of reasons to distrust them.
They let me out after a few hours, and gave my my ‘prize’, which turned out to be none of the things actually originally listed (“sorry - we ran out of those”) - it was a bottle of very poor quality white wine.
Never again - but I did take away some valuable experience from the session. Nothing that requires that hard a sell can possibly be above board.
Sounds like me. Its not hard to resist if you’re not an impulse buyer and aren’t susceptible to being convinced just because a sales guy can whip out a bunch of numbers real fast and shiny like.
Lately have been getting phone calls now and then, asking how We like our timeshare? Except, we don’t have one and never did, and no plans to get one. I tell them that we really like it a lot, which seems to cause some sort of vapor lock on their part, so I dunno. They switched me to a “manager” and then I played around for a while. Talking into an empty coffee can gives a wonderful resonance to the voice, btw.
YEARS ago, my parents took us to the Ozarks to stay in a condo there. It was a beautiful area. It was some sort of timeshare deal. Dad knew enough not to bite, but we had a nice vacation out of the deal. On the way home, after the mandatory pep talk or whatever (I didn’t go) I’ll never forget my older brother, who must have been about 13 or 14, was crying in the back seat. “What’s wrong, Steve, why are you crying?” He didn’t want Dad to miss out on such a great deal that this timeshare obviously represented. LOL
I know a good one. Go in with your spouse ( you can work this with a friend, too ) and act very affectionate towards each other.
Then at some point you make your confession to the salesperson. You two are married, but not to each other. In fact, your respective spouses have no idea that you’re in Vegas ( or Orlando, or wherever ). You can have some fun with it. Start a giggly chat with the salesperson about how your husband thinks your at a convention in Scranton. Use a lot of double entrende and do a lot of winking and nudging. Promise her that as soon as he leaves his wife and marries you, you’ll be right back for that timeshare!
I guarantee I am 100% resistant to any sales pitch that I have not already decided to buy, Girl Scout cookies not withstanding. Once I have decided to buy, on the other hand, my limited negotiating and math skills almost always fuck me up.
