Never underestimate the power of guilt and shame to pull wallets from pockets.
-RNATB, longtime Orlando resident and former timeshare seller and telemarketer.
You have a way with words. Have you ever considered a lucrative career in timeshare sales?
I realize this is a zombie, but it’s a timely one for me.
My dad owns a time share and has asked me if I want it willed to me when he dies. He gave the points to me last year, my wife and I used them to stay at a very nice Chicago hotel on Michigan Street. It was no hassle and easy to book.
So is it worth taking on when someone else has already bought one? I understand there are annual “maintenance fees” or something like that, I don’t recall the amount but it seemed reasonable.
Thanks.
I once went on one of these sales presentations in Vegas.
Once they started the pitch my husband and I would make our “confession”
“Yes, we are married just like we said.”
“But not to each other” giggle…giggle
“And our respective spouses don’t even know that we are in Vegas.”
This always shuts them right up and you still get your free stuff if you push for it…
I will say the last time we sat thru a timeshare speel one of the questions they asked is how many other speels we have sat thru.
BTW, someone above said they would only sell to white people. From my experience some of these outfits target non-whites, especially new immigrants because they are unfamiliar with these things and trust whites. So try and warn any new immigrant friends you have.
When I was younger, for years, my parents would routinely get a free weekend at a resort in the Poconos in exchange for the timeshare presentation. It was a great little “free” vacation and my father was always going to say “no thank you” at the end. Somehow though he stayed on the list. I think it was because the pitch/timeshare/whatever was always slightly different, so they were hoping to catch him this time!
One year - probably the 4th or 5th year in a row we did this - I remember they came back early from the presentation (usually it was like a 2-3 hour thing, but they were back in 30 minutes or something) and told us it was the same people and pitch as the year before. I suspect at least one person had been there for a while and recognized either him or the last name. My father said that they basically saw them when they checked in, asked if he was at all interested (he said no of course) so they just gave up and decided not to waste everyone’s time and let them go - with the warning “we’re going to take you off the list and you won’t be invited back”. Which my parents didn’t care about at all.
Until 6 months later (we usually went in the fall, I think this was in the early Spring) when they did it again… (that one was the last one though).
Great Zombie thread. I think I’ve enjoyed reading every time!
I have a question that maybe you guys can answer for me.
Isn’t there a type of time share where you place your unit in some of type of co-op or group where you can basically stay anywhere else where OTHER people have done the same thing?
i.e. I put my timeshare unit up for availability in Orlando and someone in Myrtle Beach does the same thing basically allowing me to not be stuck in one location year after year.
What are some of the pros/cons of that type of setup?
Prove it. I call bullshit.
I think the real problem is getting rid of it. You can check e-bay and see there is no resale market for them. You have to pay those maintenance fees forever or find some way to abandon it without taking a big hit on your credit rating.
You revived this thread just to defend your industry, and in the process gave it bad PR, and this thread another chance to spread more tales of woe about telemarketers.
Way to go, dude.
What it’s really going to cost:
http://timesharegame.com/all-inclusive-fees-can-multiply-your-costs/
As a former enforcer of Florida laws, this is the Felony statute we would use against those of Orlandian’s ilk:
[QUOTE=Florida Statute 787.02]
(1)(a) The term “false imprisonment” means forcibly, by threat, or secretly confining, abducting, imprisoning, or restraining another person without lawful authority and against her or his will.
[/quote]
A couple of years back, SWMBO and I bought a Hilton timeshare. We did it as a business decision. Since we go to Las Vegas and Orlando every year, having the timeshare available to us helps smooth out the cash flow instead of having a massive hotel hit every couple of months. In addition, we write it off as a business expense for the school.
And they always give us free stuff when we go there. Especially Vegas. If I want show tickets on the cheap, the concierge knows the magic phone numbers to call. Last time we went, we got to see Jeff Dunham for half price and they were good seats, too.
It was worth it for us. Might not work for others.
Thank you. I don’t think that applies in this case, but more investigation is definitely warranted before I agree to be given this thing.
How do they keep you from leaving? I mean, they don’t physically restrain you, do they? Or lock the door and hide the key? I’m trying to wrap my head around that.
My time share story…Ivylad and I were selling our home near Charleston, SC. We were wandering downtown through the market after the closing and were grabbed by a time share who wanted to share with us the wonderful properties in the Orlando area!
Where we are currently living. :smack: Ivylad and I snorted at him and moved on.
There are some great anecdotes here about how to get to the conclusion of the pitch, I will lend my strategy that we’ve successfully used in Orlando and just outside Sturgis (don’t ask). The first time that the sales person mentions the word “investment” stay focused on that word completely and refuse to budge from it. “You mentioned investment and that is what I’m interested in. I would like proof of its being a good investment. I want 4 pieces of information please: 1. The last sale from a time share owner to a new time share owner and not from the company itself. 2. Its original purchase price or contract. 3. Any other example of a sale from a previous owner to someone outside of the company. 4. Its original purchase price. These four documents should be easily retrievable from those filing cabinets right over there. You find them while I make out my check. You sold me already on what a great investment opportunity they are- I presume you have the documents easily accessible for me to view to demonstrate the investment opportunity. I work in banking, all I care about is the rate of return if this is an investment.”
In one case we filled out a check for the amount and handed it to the salesperson and said, we will sign this if you can show us a single example of a positive return for a time share owner and reseller. If they come with real numbers or documents (highly unlikely), calculate the rate of return and include the annual fees in that calculation- simply state that for a $xx,xxx dollar investment, I expect better than 1% return. But we’ve gotten the opportunity to say, “so our money isn’t good enough to buy one. We want to buy one, but you won’t let us. No we don’t want to see it tomorrow, if you can’t produce any evidence of a positive return on investment in 2 minutes, you are (1) terrible at bookkeeping and we don’t want to give you our money, (2) the examples are few and far between and thus hard to find, or (3) it has never happened” Both sales pitches were done in under 30 minutes with our being asked to please leave.
They never got heated or ugly (we kept the claims of false advertising about being good investments), and we got through all three levels of people in 5 minutes each! My brother and his wife walked out of their pitch 3 hours later and asked, “how did you get out of there so quickly? What did you say that got them so annoyed?” We even continued actively waving at the pitchpeople for the remaining days at the resort.
But but… You’re still interested in buying a timeshare, right?
It is nothing short of providential that the two of you showed up and registered on the same day to shed some light on this. Thank you very much.
If this thing is resurrected a third time, evil things might be loosed upon the world…
Verily, I say unto thee: Evil things are already loosed upon the world…and they have taken the shape of timeshare salesmen.
The end is nigh!