# going to my first timeshare presentation :)



## tracie15436 (Jul 4, 2007)

After years of saying no...I'm finally going to a timeshare presentation.  Why?  Well mostly because I'm curious.  I see the resales on the resort in question at 9500-15000 - mostly because it is fairly new.  I want to see what all the fuss is about as one of my friends just recently bought a ts at a different location.  

Based on I've read from these boards I believe  I'm prepared with resale values, I know how to say no, and I have a valid excuse for not purchasing from the developer.

Can you tell me if there is anything else I should be prepared for?

I'm looking forward to enjoying the resort and getting some hands on knowledge of the timeshare world.


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## falmouth3 (Jul 4, 2007)

They are very experienced and will try all sorts of ways to get you to say yes.  You may be insulted, you may get the sob story about how they don't get paid if they don't make a sale.  They may try the razzle dazzle, and try to confuse you with numbers that don't really add up when you think about it.

You may also be surprised at how fast the asking price may come down.  Years ago we got roped into a presentation without knowing what it was going to be.  TS didn't fit our vacation model at the time and we said no.  It was easy because we really didn't spend more than a day or two in any location on our vacations.  We learned quickly how much "fat" there was in the asking price when the price fell several thousand dollars in a few minutes.

Just be very firm in saying no.

Sue


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## AwayWeGo (Jul 4, 2007)

*Twista-Twista-Twista.*




tracie15436 said:


> I have a valid excuse for not purchasing from the developer.
> 
> Can you tell me if there is anything else I should be prepared for?


Be prepared for unrelenting arm-twisting pressure to _buy-buy-buy_ from people to whom _no_ excuse for not purchasing can ever be valid.  

Be prepared for sales person no. 1 to soften you up, get to know you, talk to you about your family & your vacation goals & all that, & then turn you over to The Closer, who will say, "Tell you what I'm going to do," & offer you what looks like major serious discounts below any other prices you've been shown by sales person no. 1 -- including alternate-year 1BR units, off-site units, & I don't know what-all. 

The Closer is the person who has to sign off on your gift chit, so the sooner The Closer catches on you're not buying, the sooner you're out of there with your freebies. 

After The Closer gives up on you, be prepared also for a Quality Control Representative or some similarly titled personage to ask how things went during your sales presentation, & in the process of that be prepared for Mr. or Ms. Quality Control to offer you an enticing _Try Before You Buy_ deal, good for a week or so of timeshare resort use with the added kicker of letting you apply 100% of your trial package cost to the purchase of 1 of their timeshares.  (_Try Before You Buy_ is not cheap.  I think 2, possibly 3, of our "used" [resale] timeshares cost less than the price of _Try Before You Buy_.  So it goes.) 

There might possibly be some outstanding full-freight, big-bux timeshares out there for folks to buy straight from the timeshare companies.  But somehow I doubt that, bigtime.  Click here for a recent rant on that subject. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## oregonguy (Jul 5, 2007)

I went a few weeks ago, and it was my first presentation as well. I knew what to expect, I've read about them. I also am not an impulsive person, and knew that I wasn't going to be talked into anything I didn't want. When we started, I was upfront and said that I was intrested but wasn't planning on buying that day. They said keep an open mind, and I said no problem (as I try to anyway, though it wasn't going to be open enough to buy that day) - I asked lots of questions, some that had to be answered by others, but they did a good job. At the end, when they were probably expecting a sale (as I was genuinely enthusiastic and interested) I told them I wasn't going to be buying today. They didn't take that answer easily, and 15 minutes went by where I explained to them that I wasn't impulsive, and that if it really was a one time offer to get all that stuff, then I was prepared to lose the deal of the century if it meant I had to make a decision on the spot. I told him that it wasn't the money necessarily (though I knew I could get cheaper) or the interest, but that I wasn't prepared to make such a decision without thoroughly researching it - that I invest in property, and that I would never make a decision to purchase a condo right at the exact time that I viewed the property. I want to review the CC&R's, and more importantly think about it. He kept saying that if everything lined up, I should just go for it, and I reminded him of my lack of impulsiveness. He actually turned to my wife and started to work on her, but I told him he was barking up the wrong tree, because of the two of us, I was the one that was more impulsive and likely to buy on the spot. At that point, he realized he wasn't going to get a sale. I told him he was a good salesman, but that he wasn't going to get a sale today. I told him if he could offer me the same deal and gave me 30 days to think about it, I might consider it. He gave me his card, said he would call me (he hasn't yet, and it has been about 2 weeks) and that was that.


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## geekette (Jul 5, 2007)

Decide how you want to handle their lies.

Sometimes I let them think I believe them, and other times I make it clear that I know they are lying.

If you are actually interested in this property, expose the lies and push for the truth.  Sometimes the sales people don't actually know the truth.  Treat everything they say as suspect unless you know it to be true.

Good Luck!


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## grest (Jul 5, 2007)

And you won't believe how tempted you might be!
Connie


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## AwayWeGo (Jul 5, 2007)

*Amen To That.*




grest said:


> And you won't believe how tempted you might be!


Shucks, 1 time down in Orlando FL, the Celebrity timeshare sales guy kept on adding so many more _Free Celebrity Cruises_ to the timeshare deal he was offering that for a while there I was afraid The Chief Of Staff was going to whip out her checkbook. 

Pretty soon she caught on that by _not_ springing for a full-freight timeshare, she would save so much money that she could buy luxury cruise tickets the regular way & still come out miles ahead financially. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## johnmfaeth (Jul 5, 2007)

Remember that the sales type is paid to sell you something that will lose 20% to 90% of it's value the second the ink is dry.

All con men are friendly and smile a lot...


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## talkamotta (Jul 5, 2007)

You might want to get an idea of what resales cost on this particular timeshare....
That will make *no* much easier.  


Hope the gifts you are getting are worth your time.  I have gone to 4presentations 1. I bought   2. I got real good gifts 1. Mazatlan Sea Gardens, they picked us up in an open air taxi and took us to the grocery store.  My boyfriend thought they were so nice and wonderful and they promised all kinds of gifts, so he wanted to go.  So that one was to educate him.  

One of the real good gifts timeshare presentations,  was when the boyfriend and his dad went to the sales office/activities director???   and they both signed me up for a timeshare presentation because I know how to say "no".  At least I got to go deep sea fishing for free and a luau for 1/2 price.   

My kids have gone to timeshare presentions and they have the perfect answer.  "My mom has too many and she lets us use them for free".  :hysterical:


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## tracie15436 (Jul 5, 2007)

Thank you ALL for the advice.  I've been reading on timeshares for years now and just haven't had the nerve to attend a presentation.  After reading on TUG for some time, I feel that I am armed with knowledge and ready to go see what all the fuss is about.  I'm not much of an impulse buyer - I'm a major researcher - which is why I waited so long to even walk into a presentation.  I appreciate that you shared your experiences with me.


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## DeniseM (Jul 5, 2007)

1)  Take a list of resale prices from the resort with you.

2)  Know exactly what the difference is (rules, points, reserving) between buying resale or from the developer at the resort, so they can't convince you that you will lose out by buying resale.  *If you aren't sure - ask right here on TUG.

3)  Don't take your credit card or check-book.

4)  Make sure your spouse is going to present a united front with you.

We bought our first timeshare more than 10 years ago in Tahoe.  After we got home, my spouse rescinded.  (Now I wish we owned that one!)  So, when we went to a presentation in Hawaii, 5 years ago, I could have fallen out of my chair when my husband agreed to buy a very expensive TS without discussing it privately with me.  (This was before TUG.)  I'm fine with it now, because it got us into the wonderful world of timesharing, but make sure your spouse will stand firm.


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## DaveNV (Jul 5, 2007)

Tracie, I was in Hawaii in May, staying at an independently-owned TS in Waikiki.  The "activities director" at the resort offered us freebies we were going to buy anyway in exchange for attending a sales presentation at another facility.  I figured free was free, so why not?  I have all the sales resistence in the world.  

It turned out the presentation was held by Consolidated Resorts, and was about their new phase of the Tahiti Village TS in Las Vegas - a pretty far cry from Hawaii.  The presentation itself was low key, and it wasn't very hard to convince them I wasn't about to buy their TS in Las Vegas while I was vacationing in Hawaii.  Even the Closer wasn't that persuasive.  She finally admitted defeat when I started mentioning TUG and the low eBay resale prices for the TS's I already owned.

As an aside, what I found most fascinating about the whole process was when the activities director told me Consolidated Resorts pays the wages for the staff at the little independently-owned resort, in exchange for them referring a few select guests to the CR presentations each month.  Business must be pretty good for CR, since they didn't seem to care all that much whether we purchased or not.

Looking forward to hearing your report of how the presentation went.

Dave


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## falmouth3 (Jul 5, 2007)

My DH will always say no to spending money.   

But he always lets me do all the talking. :ignore:   No problem there!


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## tracie15436 (Jul 7, 2007)

*Resort Presentation Went Well...*

Thought I'd give and update....
The presentation went well.  I didn't buy .  Resort was nice, people were nice (up until the end), and I learned a little more (my whole point for going).  My husband - who has no idea about the ts world went with me and it was interesting to hear how he interpretted things differently than I did.  Anyway, after Level 3 came in they finally let us go.  They pretty much threw our gifts at us and kicked us out the back door.  Funny.  

I really wanted the salesperson to upsale the resort, but unfortunately my 2 hours (yes - I can't believe it went that long - especially after I gave him my resale spreadsheet) were spent on how wonderful it would be to trade my resort instead of how wonderful it would be to stay there.  Ironic.

So...once again...thank you for all of the advice.


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## falmouth3 (Jul 7, 2007)

I hope you got some nice goodies for your trouble.

Sue


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## PeelBoy (Jul 7, 2007)

Nobody said this.  Hmmmm?!

Walk away.  Period.  As an adult, can you walk away?

I have gone to many presentations.  Not interested in the gift - not worth the time during my vacation.  I went out of curiosity how other resorts/systems operate.

If they give me my gift, fine.  If they don't, so be it.


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## tracie15436 (Jul 7, 2007)

*And the prizes were....*

I consider my time pretty valuable so I'm not sure if the prizes = a good use of my time; however, I honestly went for the experience (as strange as this sounds).  Anyway, I received 2 nights hotel and knottsberry tickets certifcate (my cost around $80) and $50 GC to target, etc.  Both vouchers with conditions (of course).

I gained knowledge but I don't think I got the full experience... I wanted to find out why so many people buy from the developer - as I have not purchased yet.  What is it that makes someone plunk down thousands of dollars?  A dream?  Excitement?  The 2 free airline tickets they offered me if I purchased immediately?  What ever it is, I guess I'll never know...now that I have found TUG and know a little bit more every day.

I was also considering buying on the resale market - which now I probably wont - didn't like the area


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## DeniseM (Jul 7, 2007)

tracie15436 said:


> What is it that makes someone plunk down thousands of dollars?  A dream?  Excitement?



The number one thing that makes someone buy from the developer is lack of knowledge/experience with timesharing.  (Guilty as charged.!)


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## taffy19 (Jul 8, 2007)

tracie15436 said:


> I consider my time pretty valuable so I'm not sure if the prizes = a good use of my time; however, I honestly went for the experience (as strange as this sounds). Anyway, I received 2 nights hotel and knottsberry tickets certifcate (my cost around $80) and $50 GC to target, etc. Both vouchers with conditions (of course).
> 
> I gained knowledge but I don't think I got the full experience... I wanted to find out why so many people buy from the developer - as I have not purchased yet. What is it that makes someone plunk down thousands of dollars? A dream? Excitement? The 2 free airline tickets they offered me if I purchased immediately? What ever it is, I guess I'll never know...now that I have found TUG and know a little bit more every day.
> 
> I was also considering buying on the resale market - which now I probably wont - didn't like the area


For us, it was pure emotion when we bought from the developer. It may have been the resort itself with the lush surroundings or the beautiful location and we wished we could live there all year long but Denise said it best with her statement here.



DeniseM said:


> The number one thing that makes someone buy from the developer is lack of knowledge/experience with timesharing. (Guilty as charged.!)


 
Where was your timeshare presentation where you didn't like the area? 

What did you think of the timeshare presentation in general? Did you catch them lying to you or leaving important facts out? You were lucky to come here first so you were well prepared.


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## tracie15436 (Jul 8, 2007)

Great questions Emmy!

I got to see Cibola Vista in Peoria AZ.

My timeshare presentation started off pretty low key - every one was very friendly (of course).  I walked in... said "I really just want information" and hinted that I wasn't buying but there strictly for knowledge on the resort.  I'm sure he gets it all the time.

About 20 min into the presentation he starts talking about how great it is to trade the property ...I really wanted him to sell me on the property...not sell me on interval international - which is totally what they did there.  The 9 min movie was strictly on II - nothing about the resort which was odd for me.

Then he gets to the point where he says and I quote "After 20 years...if you decide you want to sell it, you can easily make back 1/2 of your investment - plus look how much you've saved".   I stopped him right there hoping to cut to the chase and showed him the resales that I pulled from the internet (thanks to Denise and all of the other tuggers).  He said "where did you get this?" like he didn't know about resales. ---> side note - my hubby believed that he didn't know...I think otherwise. Then level 2 came over and said "where did you get this?, I'm gonna buy it...but the CV has ROFR and this property won't go for the $5K it was listed for"...etc. etc.
I said...yup it looks like a pretty good deal to me.  The mood shifted at this point.  He commented that I know more than 50% of people who have timeshares...a fact that makes me a little bummed for the other people in the room.

To make a long story short...they gave me some numbers which I know were pretty low for the developer based on some other posts I saw. I said no about 4 times - then they got nippy (my hubby said level 3 muttered somthing under her breath that wasn't very nice - I didn't hear it) and pretty much threw me out the back door...yes, the back door - not the front door. I have read that this happens so I thought it might be typical.  I don't care.
I think it was a good experience anyway.  

***about the resort***
The rooms were beautiful!  The problem is there is only 1 pool built, the rest of the fun stuff will be built between end of 2007 - around 2009 including a lazy river.  Nope I didn't believe it would be build by the end of september like they said ( I have a little experience with pool builders to know there is no way that lazy river is going to be done in 2 months at its current stage) have horses - which is a huge selling point for them.  Pretty low maint fees (around $300 for 1bd).

Downfalls...simply too much promised and far to many changes since original plan to make me confident that what they say is what I'm getting.  There is only 1 pool.  the lazy river is supposed to be for the owners, but I find it quite interesting that it right next to the hotel they want to build there (so we all know its really not being built for the owners).

Also - up north in Peoria - if you don't like the lake or horses, well..you've got about a 10 min drive to a grocery store (no big deal), but about 30-45 min before you get to any cool activities like the cardinals stadium, movies, etc.  

I really don't like the area where CV is - but I loooove Arizona in general.  That's why I was looking for a ts here since I could have a vacation close to home if I wanted one or I could trade.


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## AzMin (Jul 8, 2007)

I live in southern AZ. We recently went to a TS presentation at Hyatt Pinon Pointe in Sedona to see if maybe we'd want to buy something close to home (it's a 5-6 hour drive for me to get to Sedona). We didn't buy, mainly because while Sedona is beautiful, I asked myself if I'd want to come here for a week at least every other year and the answer was "no". If you're looking for something in AZ, try checking out a TS up there. 

To get a discounted rate, I originally went to the Hyatt website and filled out the form for more info. A couple weeks later, I got a certificate for a 2 night stay in a studio for $69/night. 

I listened to the 90 min presentation (yes, it only lasted 90 minutes and it was very low key). We spent more time touring the resort than looking at numbers or listening to sales promises. I had done my research on Hyatt and liked their system but frankly, it was so low pressure that I didn't feel the need to bring out any resale figures. 

They didn't make us uncomfortable when we said "no, now that I'm here, I don't think I want to keep coming back to this area enough to buy a TS". They started to mention trading but stopped when I told them what we already owned and that we buy to use, not to trade. 

Additionally, for my time I got a $100 spa gift cert and a $100 cert to spend on dinner at one of 5 really nice restaurants in Sedona or to use toward a helicopter ride. 

Min


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## RumpleMom (Jul 8, 2007)

I have vowed to always take a notebook to a ts presentation.

The salesperson writes figures on a piece of paper, scribbles over figures, the price drops when you say no thanks...
the paper becomes a mess of writing.

In the future when something is said I will be writing it in my notebook and asking the salsperson if this is what he/she just said.  Then I will decide to call them on an out right lie or not, but I will have a better record for information than just my memory.  I know nothing is binding in what they say, but maybe fewer lies will be said.


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## Courts (Jul 10, 2007)

RumpleMom said:


> I have vowed to always take a notebook to a ts presentation.
> 
> The salesperson writes figures on a piece of paper, scribbles over figures, the price drops when you say no thanks...
> the paper becomes a mess of writing.
> ...


*Excellent!*


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