# Help with new timeshare



## SRG1 (Apr 13, 2007)

Hello!
I really need some advice.  We just bought Tahiti Village in LV.  I know all of you probably understand what kind of presentation we heard and the whole process.  We were really sold on the emotional end of the deal.  Problem is we really can't afford it.  We were told several times that many new owners in our position went home and refinanced with their credit union for a low inerest rate so they could afford the payments.  They even took out the calculator and showed us what payment amounts would be like at what a "common" rate would be (based on our credit score).  We have good credit and assumed they were giving us reliable information. Our 1st payment (set up to be charged to our ONLY credit card) is due May 4th 2007 in the amount of $414.  We have since talked to our bank and found out we can not get a personal loan (or a secured loan on a timeshare) in the amount we need or at a good interest rate (we were told by the consolidated people to expect around 7%).  Our financial situation has changed in the 4 weeks we have been home and I am now on bedrest (with no income) pregnant with our third child.  I do not share these things to be negative or complain.  We would love to see this work out and take many memorable vacations with our children.  I just don't know how we will afford it!  My family has suggested we try and sell it back to the developer and take the loss of the downpayment and closing costs.  Is this possible?  I wish we could figure out how to make this work.  I just can't figure out how we are going to pay these payments (at 17% interest) and then afford to take even one weeks vacation. We spent our vacation savings on the downpayment.   I really don't want to be negative about this....I would really like to SEE a solution. We were naive and learned our lesson buying from a developer.  If anyone has any insight or advice I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!


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## BocaBum99 (Apr 13, 2007)

You won't be able to do what you suggested.  Most likely, you will need to sell the timeshare and net less than your payoff amount.  In other words, you can sell it now and you will have to make a big payment at closing to payoff the loan.


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## Spence (Apr 13, 2007)

SRG said:


> We have since talked to our bank and found out we can not get a personal loan (or a secured loan on a timeshare) in the amount we need or at a good interest rate (we were told by the consolidated people to expect around 7%).
> 
> Our financial situation has changed in the 4 weeks we have been home
> 
> My family has suggested we try and sell it back to the developer and take the loss of the downpayment and closing costs.  Is this possible?


If you own your own home, you might be able to take out a home equity loan.

You are beyond the mandated rescission period.

The developer has your signiture on a contract for big profits, they probably won't let those profits go, besides, they have to pay Allan Thick and Tanya Roberts and all those nat'l TV and radio spots, and all those 'free' weekends.


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## icydog (Apr 13, 2007)

Spence is right. The only way I know to get out of this high interest rate would be to take a home equity loan with a low (read lower) interest rate and pay off the timeshare company. Most anything the salesman told you about financing will be false. Sorry!!


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## JudyS (Apr 13, 2007)

Unfortunately, the developer is very unlikely to let you walk away from this deal.  It doesn't hurt to call them up and ask, but they will almost certainly say no.  If you were making monthly payments to the developer, they might be willing to deal if you were behind by a few payments -- maybe they'd let you go if you promised to pay the overdue payments. But since you are making monthly payments via credit card and not directly to the developer, this gives you even less leverage.   I suppose you could cancel the credit card, and then fall behind and try to deal with the developer, but I'm not sure if this would hurt your credit rating or not.



SRG said:


> ...We have good credit and assumed they were giving us reliable information....



If you have good credit, you should be able to get a "teaser rate" on a new credit card as low as 0%.  You could then transfer your timeshare debt to that new credit card.  When that teaser rate was up, you could transfer the debt again to another card that also has a teaser rate. 

There is also a company that offers timeshare loans at about 10% -- anyone here remember their name?


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## Dave M (Apr 13, 2007)

JudyS said:


> There is also a company that offers timeshare loans at about 10% -- anyone here remember their name?


Tammac Financial. Their current rate is 12.5%. As far as I know, they are the only entity other than developers that regularly makes timeshare loans.


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## rickandcindy23 (Apr 13, 2007)

Yes, timeshare salesmen and developers are always so nice when you buy, but when you want to give back the week, even at a loss of down payment and closing costs, they will not even consider taking it back.  

The developer is Consolidated.   I really dislike them as salespeople.  They manage their resorts well, but the sales staff is horrible.  They will not even let a resale buyer tour their timeshare resorts.  

This is how people get bitter about timeshare.  I know a guy who attends every timeshare presentation he is invited to.  He will go up to the ticket booths in Orlando, New Mexico, Branson, Hawaii, Williamsburg, etc., and ask what tours he can attend.  He goes on at least four every trip he takes.  He is trying to recover his purchase of ten years ago.  This is his revenge.  I think attending that many tours would be the developers' revenge on me.  I would not be able to take the abuse four times in a week.


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## Jya-Ning (Apr 13, 2007)

First, I don't have any experience about this type situation, although one time I am close to be called bankrupcy.  I also don't know anyone close enough to say what happe when in situation like that.  So it just MHO

I think you need to take a lot of actions.  And there will be no easy way out.  But you have to act as quick as you can don't delay.  

The 1st step is to figure out your financial outlook.  You know how much your income is at this moment, sounds like the 3rd child is unexpected, and I will assume it will take you maybe more than 6 to 8 month in bed.  So take a deep breath, figure out how much you need each month before even ge to this TS.

Then if there is any money left, go to a internet site, look at any mortgage calculator, find out, base on how much you can afford, what is the rate you have to get.  Home equity usually is 15 years, personal loan maybe 7 years.  They are easy to get when you are O.K. finicially, but close to impossible when your financial situation changes.  Don't forget you need to pay Maintanence fee also.

If there is no way to make ends meet, don't bother about refinance.  It does not make any sense to ask 2 or more people after you unless you are Donald Trump.  Especially when it is not their act to start with.

If that is the case, call a local legal help.  Ask what will happen when you have to default the TS payment.  What can they after.  Ask what is protected in your home state (home I guess), what is not.  And if you go in bankrupcy, what you will have to pay during the period you are in, and after you are out.

When you get these figure, you can decide if you want to protect your good credit.  If you can not meet the end, then it may not matter how good your credit are.  

Then, only when you get all these info, you should pay your card off and cancel your credit card, you can not afford it even if it is the only card you have.  And let the TS company know.  You need to talk to them, and prepare you may very well loss all your downpay, but you want to get out as that.  So don't get too emotion, but just tell them your situation, and seek to have them refund all the money as the starting point.  Being that they are still in selling, it may or may not happen.  Don't put yourself in bigger hole.  If they want to extend your credit, make sure you don't increase the total amouint, and they give you 0% with no payment for 1 year at least.   It is very easy to get when you are in good finacial situation and they are in sale's pressure, but I will image it may not be possible when you are in distress.

If not, they prepare yourself for bankrupcy, so you could get your three kids's live supported.

If, after you look at these figure, you can still afford, you will not go to bankrupcy, you still may want talk to the developer to see if they can take the stuff back with you loss all your deposit.

Otherwise you need to remember that chances are, your TS may not be able to get you even your deposit since you are selling them in a pressure situation like this, so the best way is to refinace.

If that is the case, home equity line or loan maybe possible, but may sure you will not face a missing payment, your home is not protect in situation like this, and with your health uncertain, it maybe greater risk.

There are a lot of credit card companies that give people with good credit 0% or low interest in exchange of transfer the balance, but you need to keep the payment, one miss and the interest may go to 24%.  Also, some may charge you some money as transaction cost.  However, in your situation, it usually take sometimes to process, and they may charge you 7% to start with with some high payment in front and make it all not worth at all.

Credit union does give out personal loan, and bank also.  With bank, I believe you will not get decent rate.

Check with the lender Dave M mentioned, but I am pretty sure they are in this for make money not charity, so they may not lend you anything.

Don't wait until last min to figure out.

Jya-Ning


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## SRG1 (Apr 13, 2007)

Thank you for all of your responses.  I appreciate your time and suggestions.  I have a feeling we will just have to suck this up and try and find a way to make it work. My husband joked about selling body parts...lol.  Now we are off to research how to utilize what we are paying an arm and a leg for.  The sales people said we could gift the "getaway" weeks.  I hope that wasn't a lie!  I know what all of our relatives are getting for Christmas .  I am confused about how our deal with consolidated is so different from the other companies.  We don't have points...or a set week.  Do you have a place on this board that explains this?  Is there anyone out there who knows the best way to take advantage of these "getaways"?  I called Consolidated and felt like they were playing the happy customer service game and giving me the run around.  Again I appreciate your time and suggestions.

Thankyou,
S.


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## FlyKaesan (Apr 13, 2007)

Is your week Floating week?

Learn how to reserve in the HOTTEST week and rent it out.
Use Getaway to vacation.

Get FF miles credit card and try to get some points by paying off.


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## Spence (Apr 13, 2007)

FlyKaesan said:


> Is your week Floating week?
> Learn how to reserve in the HOTTEST week and rent it out.
> Use Getaway to vacation.
> Get FF miles credit card and try to get some points by paying off.


Have you had success doing this?  It's not something I would recommend.


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## gjw007 (Apr 14, 2007)

rickandcindy23 said:


> I know a guy who attends every timeshare presentation he is invited to.  He will go up to the ticket booths in Orlando, New Mexico, Branson, Hawaii, Williamsburg, etc., and ask what tours he can attend.  He goes on at least four every trip he takes.  He is trying to recover his purchase of ten years ago.  This is his revenge.  I think attending that many tours would be the developers' revenge on me.  I would not be able to take the abuse four times in a week.


Cindy;

I cannot imagine doing this.  After my timeshare tour with Summerbay, I have sworn off timeshare tours as it was too high pressured.  I can't imagine Westgate, which has a poor reputation for its timeshare tours, being worst than Summerbay's and I am amazed considering the condition of the unit (Villas at Summerbay, something that they knew about and mentioned that they send people off the street into those units and not owners) that they would even think that I would consider purchasing there.  I agree with you that it would be the developers' revenge, not mine.  The other factor is that is that it wastes my vacation time (I took the Summerbay tour with the idea of recovering the housekeeping fee since I was on points and less than a week - what a mistake!).


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## rickandcindy23 (Apr 14, 2007)

Gary, we didn't take the timeshare tour when we stayed at Summer Bay last January.  Now I am glad we didn't.  Marriott Horizons tour was pretty high pressure.  We stayed at Cypress Harbour and were called every day.  Finally I relented, remembering how easy our Marriott tour in Branson was (our one and only before this one).  The lady didn't even want to show us a unit because it was a cold morning, but she kept us for over 2 hours.  I told her I knew about ebay and she kept trying to get us to buy.  I might as well be talking to a wall.  Finally Rick said, "we are going to buy DVC."  (The 15-year anniversary sale was still going on at $86 per point and we talked about it constantly that trip.)  She had no comeback for that one.  She called when we got back from our trip and asked if we bought DVC.  I said we did, just to get her to stop calling us.   

Fly, I don't think you can get FF miles in balance transfers.  Which company would allow that?  

Getaways are available to everyone and have absolutely nothing to do with Consolidated or Tahiti Village.  The best place to learn about Getaways is right here, or on the II website.  You should have an account soon.  It's easy to search for them and there is great availability at most resort areas.  It is against II's rules to rent them out, but you can give them as gifts.  They are not free!  I don't see how giving them away would help your plight.  The salepeople are such liars.   

Timeshare has a very bad reputation.  It is obvious why people feel that way.  When I told a mortgage broker (I am a Realtor/broker) recently that we own 17 weeks of timeshare, she was unimpressed.  She probably thought I am a sucker of some sort.    I don't think you can consider 17 weeks of timeshare as an asset, even if 6 of them are in Hawaii.


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## icydog (Apr 14, 2007)

Jya-Ning said:


> There are a lot of credit card companies that give people with good credit 0% or low interest in exchange of transfer the balance, but you need to keep the payment, one miss and the interest may go to 24%. Also, some may charge you some money as transaction cost. However, in your situation, it usually take sometimes to process, and they may charge you 7% to start with with some high payment in front and make it all not worth at all.
> 
> Credit union does give out personal loan, and bank also. With bank, I believe you will not get decent rate.
> 
> ...


 
Hi Jya-Ning, I copied a little of your post to save space but I wanted to thank you for all your excellent advice to the OP. It was kind of you to think the problem out and to offer her some concrete advice and sound wisdom. I am not in the same situation but I learned a lot from your post. You are indeed an assest to the TUG forums and I respect your insights very much. Thanks.


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## Gracey (Apr 14, 2007)

I agree, Jya-Ning's post are always enlightening.


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## Jya-Ning (Apr 15, 2007)

SRG said:


> I have a feeling we will just have to suck this up and try and find a way to make it work. My husband joked about selling body parts...lol.  Now we are off to research how to utilize what we are paying an arm and a leg for.  S.



Look like your situation is better than I thought.  If that is truely the case, then here is one thought that may help you increase your cash flow until you can work again

Check your husband's W-4, play with it.  If your 3rd kids is expecting to come out this year, and with reduced income, you should be able to get more deduction.  It is time to ask Uncle Sam to help.

Watch your credit card balance, make sure it does not go up every month but go down or at least keep the same.  Otherwise it is very hard to get out from the hole.

You may want to shop on eBay for kids clothes now.  DW do that all the time, it is much cheaper.  Plus she like the hunting, but it may not be good for the baby.

For the TS you have, if you can rent it out, rent it out.  If not, if there is an exchange company already establish and you already paid it through your MF, put it to exchange company, the deposit does not take money, you have 2 year to use it.  If not, put it to Dial-An-Exchange www.daelive.com  The membership is free, you have 3 year to use it.  Usually, these company will require at least 2 to 3 month to put it in, so it may not possible.  Then check with family members, and ask them to pay.

To rent it out, use the following 2 sites
1. www.vacationtimesharerentals.com
2. www.craiglists.org

Both sites are free of charge.  You should not put it on any site that need charge at this moment.  Craiglists only has 7 days, so you need to update it every week.  And make sure you use their eMail and not put your own eMail. Don't expect too much, since this is your first time, check with these site and redweek, myresortnetwork, tug to make sure your asking price is in the range but don't pay them if they ask you to pay before you can see their ad.  Read the link  http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43.   Gateway vacation depends on where it come from, if it is RCI/II's you can not rent it out to public and expect more than just a return of Guest certification, if it is from resorts, you can do that.  If it is between you and your relative, it is between you and your relative.

Jya-Ning



icydog said:


> Hi Jya-Ning, I copied a little of your post to save space but I wanted to thank you for all your excellent advice to the OP.



Actually, I learn a lot from the members in the BBS I participant.  Just in this thread, I believe I have learned from everyone that replied, so I just repay my debt. 

Jya-Ning


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## SRG1 (Apr 16, 2007)

Ok....so I don't think we will have to file bankruptcy yet.  We will just be living on beans and rice until we can get this paid off.  We owe $25,000...dang do I feel like a sucker!  Our van didn't even cost that much! If I take out the equity in our home and then need to sell (we are active duty Army)  I will not have enough to pay a realtor.  I have thought about the 0% interest on balance transfers for a new credit card.  I have a hard time believing a card company will give us $25,000.  The card we have now is $17,000 limit ($0 balance) at 12.9%  only 4% less than the mortgage. The biggest issue is I can scrape together the money for the payment by cinching our belt really tight.....but I need the cash flow to apply extra payments or we will be eating rice for 10 years....and that is NOT a joke.  I already buy used clothes, clip coupons, budget, recycle, we don't have cable tv or any extras....so well I just feel stupid for not understanding what we were getting into and for getting caught up in the moment.

So these getaway weeks.....I would (will) have gotten as many as I wanted to pay for as a II gold member!  So I can use 15 or 20 instead of 12??  If that is true I feel really lied to. I also have these vouchers for 6 other vacations thru a different company that I have 6 years to use.....they seem a little worthless to me right now.

Thanks for the info on renting out the week....yes it is a floating week...yay!  One saving grace.

My hope is that the yearly fees won't raise to high amounts in the coming years....that's the other thing killing me!  Once I own it it will still cost me $350/year to use it!  At least that is cheaper than the $1,000 we paid for 5 days in a VERY nice hotel in April.  We had never been on vacation before and that was the best deal I found.

Thanks Again
S.


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## icydog (Apr 16, 2007)

*Maybe it's better to cut bait and sell?*

Why don't you sell it. I know you will lose money but you will be out from the debt quicker. In your situation with having to decide between food and vacation it seems an easy choice. Even if you get 50% back you will only have 50% left to pay off. I wish there was a way I could wring the salesman's neck. He knew your situation and he didn't care if you ate or not as long as he got paid. What a scoundrel and he probably goes to church every week and thinks he is an upright citizen. I have been in sales my whole life, and my daughter is in sales now, and neither of us would ever put our pocketbook before our morals. I am terribly sorry this happened to you.


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## winger (Apr 16, 2007)

will the young lady even get 50% back?  Marriotts get this, but only due to artifically propted up priced due to ROFR....I give it 40% at best.





icydog said:


> Why don't you sell it. I know you will lose money but you will be out from the debt quicker. In your situation with having to decide between food and vacation it seems an easy choice. Even if you get 50% back you will only have 50% left to pay off. I wish there was a way I could wring the salesman's neck. He knew your situation and he didn't care if you ate or not as long as he got paid. What a scoundrel and he probably goes to church every week and thinks he is an upright citizen. I have been in sales my whole life, and my daughter is in sales now, and neither of us would ever put our pocketbook before our morals. I am terribly sorry this happened to you.


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## Jya-Ning (Apr 17, 2007)

Sometimes, even if you only get 20% in return, you still save 20%.  

But, if you want to sell in one or 2 weeks, you will be lucky you can find a buyer.  To get any significant amount, you have to take time, and it is very likely 2 to 3 years.  More likely, *since this is a public forum, you will get eMail from some scam that wants to sell for you and claim they can get the money back for you, and want you pay x amount in front.  And if you do that, you will never see your money again*.  So make sure you know if you saw any eMail that claim they can sell for you for big amount, you put them into spam.

If you can wait to sell it at 2 to 3 years, you probably will be able to manage it at that moment, and your little one will be 2 years old, and very likely you can expect to be able to work at least part time in another 2 or 3 years or at that moment, so your finacial situation should be better and make it no reason to take all the loss at this moment.

If you really try to sell it now, you may only get $2000, then you need to get the rest of the money at the time of settlement.  IMHO even Marriotts will only get you that amount.  If you can get the rest of money, it makes no sense to take that loss.  However, with Marriotts, or Disney, people will suggest you talk to them first since they present themselves value the image as well as their bottom line.  With all other developers, I think you need to figure out all your options and consequences before you talk to them.  

You are with Army?  I have no idea how US military work.  Does it provides some certain legal consult that will not cost you leg and arm?  If so, you need to bring all you paper work to the legal consult and check to see what your option is.  And also ask what will happen when you go into bankrupcy.  The law has changed last year, I believe even when you file bankrupcy you will still need to pay all your debt eventually, so it is not someplaces to go.  However, I believe you will not pay any interest during that period, and it may not need to be paid at all, at least that is what my state government did to me when my saving and loan closed and they are the insurance backer.  And it take 3 years to pay me back my money while I have to pay my car loan and credit card debt.  But it is long time ago (and really not the similar case) and I am not lawyer or work in that area at all, so you need to talk to a professional first.  But you need to know the consequence before you talk to developer to seek if you can return the product to them.  That is the reason you need to make sure your finacial situation first then talk to legal consult, then talk to them (developer).  If Army does not provide such benefits, then it usually is not worth unless you know who to talk to.  Otherwise, you will find you just pay some guy/gal some money who has little idea than you have.

If the ARMY does not provide these support as I thought, try read through this site
http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcycourts/bankruptcybasics/chapter13.html#work

This probably the worse you will get into.  And they just change rules last year so people will not just run away from their debt.  *That does not mean you want to be there*, but it gives you some idea if you want to talk to the developer to return your TS.  And knowing they are still in selling and probably can sell it again.

But if you like me which once pay something will be very hard to get rid of it until it become too late, then you proably will want to check the other financial method.

I looked at some Army's credit union internet site.

I think I saw their personal loan interest is 12.9% and if you have some share saving to back it up, it will become 4.8% or 3.8%.  Which will close to 7 or 8% since you only get 5% interest.  I don't think they will give you that much (25k) to work unless you have same amount of saving with them.  Plus, it needs to pay back at 3 to 5 years instead of 7 years usually TS will charge you, so it is not help in your cash flow situation.  But I think you need to talk to your credit union to figure out how much they will give you.  Don't talk to any payday loan.  Look to me they are more scam type of deal.  From your 1st post, you seems has talked to them already.

Since you have no balance on your card, call your credit card company, tell them you saw these wonderful transfer your balance with 0% interest fly, ask them if they can match, and what will be the initial rate, for how long, and what will be the transaction cost, and what will be the rate after the initial, and what is the max they will willing to give you, and if they can extend your credit, .  But don't do it unless you get all your balance transfered, and follow up rate is less than 12.9%.

With 17% interest 7 year term 414 monthly payment, I believe you still own 20k

Then you need to use mortgage calc to see how much you will pay monthly if you combine both together.  I think you may get 16,000 from credit card and 4,000 and 4 year term from your credit union to pay off your mortgage, if both is 12.9%, you will be close to to $390 (assume you pay your credit card off in 7 years).  Not much, but can allow you eat health rice.  However, if your credit union is similar to my first credit union, they sometimes will have personal loan during X'Mas time with interest close to 7% with 1Year or 2 year payment.  You maybe able to get more from your credit card.

I think once you figure out all the consequences, you should then feel confortable to talk to the developer, if you can be out, that is great, if not, you can try to reduce your payment then, and survive it.

II gateway you can not rent out.  There are quite a lot discusstion talk about II gateway and what it can pull.  I have no idea since my resort is with RCI only.

The other gateway you need to look closely even the small print.  I believe they may require whoever take it go through another sale presentation, that you may not want to give to anyone unless they know what they are doing.

Jya-Ning


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## icydog (Apr 17, 2007)

Jya-Ning, Can she dispute this through her credit card company (if she used a cc to pay for the timeshare). We have done that with great success, not with a timeshare but with an equally unscrupulous travel agency. As soon as I filed the dispute they paid me back. It also worked with Priceline on a vacation my daugher couldn't get to because of the ice storms on the east coast. All the airlines didn't fly and there was no way she could have occupied her rooms. Priceline said she did and after four weeks of haggling back and forth we cancelled the charge with Mastercard. Lo and behold we got a refund the next day.


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## Jya-Ning (Apr 17, 2007)

..........


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## Jya-Ning (Apr 17, 2007)

I don't think the purpose is trying to avoid the responsibility.  They did sign the post under no influence (otherwise, they can try to void the contract).  So there will be no reason to dispute.

And unfortunately they did not re-read the contract they sign until now.

So to call credit card company and try to dispute, what can one dispute?

However, situation does changes.  From what I read, I am pretty sure if she does not need to rest in bed, she will manage to pay.  But unfortunately it is not the case.  and need to be resolved.   In this case, she has to talk to the developer and try to get them take the whole stuff back.  The goal should be to stop the loss.  There is no reason to assume deveopler will really want to drag her in this especially if they are selling.  Given chance, everyone wants to be good guy.  However, I believe one need to know all the options and possible consequences before talk to developer, especially since they do allow their sales push people into situation like this.  And she know if there is a chance they will try to take advantage.  So if developer thinks they can push her around or give her some stuff that does not help in the long run, she can now know it is bad offer and says no, and know she still can survive fine.  Just in case it is a bad developer, she can protect herself fine.  The reason I perfer to talk to a legal consult is so that she will know what to get from devloper to make sure if developer say today, "fine send us the deed and we will see", she can reply say " we will need you to send me signed form X and Y according to NV law".

Jya-Ning


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## icydog (Apr 17, 2007)

There could be a whole subset of lawyers that would do nothing but challange timeshare contracts. It could be a cottage industry. My daughter and nephew are both lawyers. What an untapped market there is in this.


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## drolly (Apr 18, 2007)

icydog said:


> Jya-Ning, Can she dispute this through her credit card company (if she used a cc to pay for the timeshare). We have done that with great success, not with a timeshare but with an equally unscrupulous travel agency. As soon as I filed the dispute they paid me back. It also worked with Priceline on a vacation my daugher couldn't get to because of the ice storms on the east coast. All the airlines didn't fly and there was no way she could have occupied her rooms. Priceline said she did and after four weeks of haggling back and forth we cancelled the charge with Mastercard. Lo and behold we got a refund the next day.





icydog said:


> There could be a whole subset of lawyers that would do nothing but challange timeshare contracts. It could be a cottage industry. My daughter and nephew are both lawyers. What an untapped market there is in this.



I know I'm a noob on this board and don't exactly have the clout to start an argument (on top of the fact that I don't want to hijack this thread), but come on.  I agree with Jya-Ning on this one.  There really isn't anything to dispute.  It's a legal contract.

But, this is America and it's based off of stuff like this where people can complain their way out of pretty much anything.  No offense to yourself or your daughter, but that's exactly the reason priceline offers their own travel insurance.  When you bid or buy on priceline, all the fine print clearly states there's no cancellation and/or you pay regardless of whether you actually show up or not.  If you want to pay a few bucks extra, you can cover yourself in case you can't make it for some reason.  What is there to haggle?  Just because like 99% of people you declined the travel insurance and then something came up where it would've been useful you deserve not to pay?  Join the club, live and learn.  I think I'm on priceline's side on this one.

I think timeshare contracts are an untapped market for a reason.  Timeshare contracts are pretty well versed in making sure there are no loopholes to get out and to protect the company quite well.  When probably 95% of sales are impulse/pressure decisions, I'm sure they've got their paperwork in order for when people realize what they've signed and committed to.

Alright, I'm off the soapbox


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## icydog (Apr 18, 2007)

I' m not in dispute with you. I just feel very badly for this young mother. When I read they have never been on a vacation before, and this salesman took advantage of them because they were having a nice time, it makes me upset. I feel sorry for her. She mentions not having enough food for her babies. I think if there was a way out of this contract, which I doubt there is, then she should be appraised of it. I don't have a solution but I think Jya Ning covered a lot of different solutions some good and some not so good. I merely offered another. 
As far as my daughter's room goes. I left out a lot of the facts. There was a gigantic ice storm on the East Coast. There was NO way she could get here. I called the hotel and explained the situation. The front desk manager asked my permission to rerent the room since she was inundated with people stuck in NYC because of the ice storm. I said she could rent it, which she did. She also gave me the number of Priceline disputes because i didn't have it. I fully expected all the money to be returned. But she, the hotel in NYC, had been prepaid by Priceline and they didn't want to return that money. PL agreed with us. They thought they had been cheated and they persued it but the hotel wouldn't back down since they had a fully paid charge from PL. It was only when I gave PL the name of the manager with whom I had spoken, and the time and the outcome of the call to the hotel, that PL stepped up their investigation. Meanwhile my husband stopped payment on that charge (when the front desk manager hung up on me and on PL) since we obviously were getting nowhere. I just thought it odd that it was reconcilled only one day after we stopped payment. As soon as we found out that PL had refunded our money we stopped the dispute. So there are extraneous circumstances that do not involve insurance but do involve been bilked.


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## drolly (Apr 18, 2007)

icydog said:


> I' m not in dispute with you. I just feel very badly for this young mother. When I read they have never been on a vacation before, and this salesman took advantage of them because they were having a nice time, it makes me upset. I feel sorry for her........
> 
> 
> As far as my daughter's room goes. I left out a lot of the facts. There was a gigantic ice storm on the East Coast. There was NO way she could get here. I called the hotel and explained the situation. The front desk manager asked my permission to rerent the room since she was inundated with people stuck in NYC because of the ice storm. I said she could rent it, which she did. She also gave me the number of Priceline disputes because i didn't have it. I fully expected all the money to be returned. But she, the hotel in NYC, had been prepaid by Priceline and they didn't want to return that money. PL agreed with us. They thought they had been cheated and they persued it but the hotel wouldn't back down since they had a fully paid charge from PL. It was only when I gave PL the name of the manager with whom I had spoken, and the time and the outcome of the call to the hotel, that PL stepped up their investigation. Meanwhile my husband stopped payment on that charge (when the front desk manager hung up on me and on PL) since we obviously were getting nowhere. I just thought it odd that it was reconcilled only one day after we stopped payment. As soon as we found out that PL had refunded our money we stopped the dispute. So there are extraneous circumstances that do not involve insurance but do involve been bilked.




I feel badly for her too, although I will say that once you've heard the "I was pressured into timeshare sales" story 1000 times, you start to be desensitized to it.  And for the record, I'm not trying to be a keyboard cowboy here.  My wife went with her family to get a wedding dress.  Ended up buying a dress because A. everybody else liked it and she kinda liked it and B. the salesperson said it was a trunk show and this designer's dresses were only this price for this weekend.  Lo and behold, a week later she's still looking and finds another dress she likes better.  She complains that she was "pressured" into the sale and that the saleslady told her that even if she decides she doesn't want it, she can always resell it on ebay (sound familiar?) and get her money back (and just like timeshare, resell even on an unused dress is definitely not retail value).  I basically told her the same thing....yeah it sucks, but live and learn.

As far as the priceline thing, I take it all back.  Sounds like you're definitely in the right.


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