ok, got my earnest dep back
Now here's the story... (first of all, please remember, we are VERY new to this whole process, so it has all been learn as you go) anyway...
I started doing some research online, and determined you could buy from Marriott, or from a private owner. So I started calling people. Sales people at Marriott, private owners, resale brokers, just trying to get details for our family to make an informed decision.
During our conversations with Marriott sales people, one sales person said ( I cannot remember for the life of me what his name was) that "this is a good ole' boy's network, and I would always be flagged an external member" . But it went on from there. Another salesperson we spoke to , Jim kept telling me that if we bought from a resale, we wouldn't be in the"program". "The Program. The program." He threw that term around many times, but I never got to what "the program" was. When I tried to ask, he said, "if you had taken the time to go to the sales presentation..." I wasn't told that my stay was contingent upon going to the presentation. He was a very pushy, very slick sales person. That to me is very off-putting, and I told him as much. As someone who was once in hotel sales, I would never have treated a client that way, no matter how desperate I was to make the sale. I would never in a million years buy from him, and I don't care what he was selling. I hung up with him and went to my resale contact.
My resale contact had a platinum oceanside for $23,900. No marriott rewards, but he seemed ok, very reassuring so we said, yes, send us the contract.
Within a day of this, I got a call from salesboy Tom. Tom was the very first person I had contacted. I thought it was amusing he mentioned, "I guess we've been playing phone tag." When I had called him on a Monday, and it wasn't until Thursday that he ever called back once. but I let it slide. I liked Tom. He seemed honest and forthright. I asked him if they had had any reacquires, he said no, we rarely get them, but I will keep you in mind. He did say though, that he would check from his owner's pool and see if there were anyone who wanted to sell. I said, "you mean a resale?" He said, "yes." I said, "well, is there a difference between buying resale vs buying direct?" He said "No, with the exception of the Marriott rewards points, there is no difference." He said he would keep an eye out for reacquires. I didn't expect to hear back from him.
But amazingly, one "just popped up." He called me back a few hours later to tell me a "once in a lifetime opportunity" had just come up. OK, I'll bite. "A platinum oceanside for $27,900, with all the bells and whistles, "the program", the marriott rewards points, you will have a person at marriott vacation club always there to work with you etc etc etc." OK. This felt good. He seemed honest, and forthright, someone I could work with. Someone I could sign with. "ok, let's do it" I said. Except oops, wait a minute, I'll be right back. "oops ma'am, I am so, so, so sorry. I quoted you the wrong price. I am so sorry. It is actually at 15% discount, not a 20% discount."
But, ok, we swallowed the extra couple thousand for the "piece of mind" as Tom put it. And said yes. Send us the contract (note, we have not signed ANYTHING with anyone yet).
So he did. I called our resale person to explain why we decided to go with Marriott. We got the contract, signed on the dotted line, sent in our earnest deposit, and were happy clams. Or so we thought.
The next day we received an e-mail from our resale contact. He threw in some sour grapes, mentioned that we had went back on our original agreement (we had not signed anything), BUT, he was able to lower the price to $22,900 for the oceanside, OR an oceanfront for $29,900. That is $265 more than what we were going to get an oceanside for from the Marriott.
So I called Tom and told him this, $30,000 for platinum oceanfront. I asked him if they had any reacquires for Oceanfront. No, he said. I told him we are having a hard time not taking this. He agreed. Interesting though, his tone changed. He started mentioning "the program", "internal vs external owners", he even said that he had spoken to an external owner who felt like a "second class citizen at the Barony." I reminded him of our first conversation, that he had said there was no distinction, and he said, "well, that wasn't part of my original "presentation"." There you go.
We felt we were not being dealt with very honestly. So, we decided to rescind with Marriott, and we told Tom as much. This did not sit well with either of us. We called our resale contact back, and told him we wanted the oceanfront. He said he will send us the contract on Monday. Is this all a done deal now? NO!
Friday night around 7:30, while I am making a late dinner for my family, I get a call from Jim. I must tell you, he is really the LAST person I want to talk to, but I listen. "Mrs. C, this is Jim . First of all, I want to say congratulations on your purchase with Tom." Thanks, I say. "Tom is telling me you have a resale person who is breathing hot and heavy down your neck." "You know", I say, "All I want is a week at the Barony for my family. This whole process is getting ridiculous." "Did Tom tell you the story about how we got that reacquire?" I was very abrupt with him and told him I didn't have time for another one of his (Jim's) stories, frankly, I need to get dinner on the table (Jim likes to start his presentation with "let me tell you a story." ) I don't want stories, I want facts. And honesty.
So, he decided to try a different tactic. He said to me, "well Mrs. C, you should know that at that price (oceanfront at $29,900) Marriott will absolutely exercise their first right of refusal and buy that property back, and you will be left with nothing." I said "You know what Jim? everyone wants my word in writing. So I have to ask for the same. If Marriott absolutely is going to exercise their ROFR, then I need it in writing. I can't operate with woulda's, shoulda's and coulda's. I need it in writing. If you send me such letter, then of course I will buy with Marriott, because I don't want to lose my purchase." He told me that was a different department, and they weren't open until Monday. I said fine, you can send it on Monday. That was essentially the end of the conversation.
Sunday night, again around dinner time, Tom calls me. First he pretends he knew nothing about my conversation with Jim. I told him, I know you called Jim and had him call me." He said, "No, I didn't call Jim." "Really?" I say. He said, "no, he was sitting here right next to me and I asked him to call you, so I didn't call him. Jim and I work closely together." ah, semantics. I said, "Did Jim tell you what he told me?" "Yes, he said he reminded you about the ROFR." I said, "No, he TOLD me that Marriott would absolutely exercise right of first refusal at this price. I told Jim to put it in writing." It was not a pleasant conversation. I was not friendly with him as I had been in the past. I explained to him that having Jim call me to attempt to be his "closer" did nothing more than end any chance of me ever buying from him. I told him I thought Jim was a jerk.
We hung up the phone, and that was that. Until of course, vacdoc reared his ugly head on this very thread the next morning to disclose to everyone how much we were going to pay the resaler. We backed out of that deal too, and believe me when I tell you, that is an ENTIRELY different set of deceit.
Well, that is it in a nutshell.
