Another Newbie got by sales pitch.

[whynotzoidberg]

Hello all! My wife and I just returned from one of the Grand Vacations offers. I was not aware of it before the trip, but there obviously was a sales pitch during our stay. My wife and I agreed to say no under any circumstances, but, between her assuming we'd just say no and not knowing about it myself, we didn't do any research and possible mistakes were made. We were sticking to our plan of saying no the whole time, but the whole idea of the HGV environment sounded like something we'd take full advantage of. After briefly explaining how the points, RCI, and other portions of the program works, they gave us a few offers. We said no to all these, but they asked what they'd have to do to get us enrolled and I told them something that costs under $200 a month plus the original 10k bonus points. Well, they delivered and we were honestly interested so we accepted and signed up for two HH Amex cards to take advantage of a total of 150,000 bonus hilton points by using it as the down payment from the two separate cards.

Then regret set in, I found this site, and I feel a little more at ease. I think that I have time to rescind the offer and it seems like Hilton is respectable and will honor that in a, mostly, timely fashion. But now I'm interested in this whole program and I just want some insight on their offer versus what people here would suggest I do. I haven't done a ton of research first, mainly because I thought it would be better to post and get answers as I may rescind the offer in a short amount of time. Thank you for all the people who contribute here, I did get a lot of quick questions I had answered just by reading the stickies and some posts after our offer.

I will detail the overall deal below, but first some details on how my wife and I normally vacation. We're not very luxury obsessed people and will pretty much make any accommodation work. We travel with our 2 year old and plan to have more children in the next few years. We do not have a crazy amount of disposable income, but could make this ~$200-300 a month deal work. We normally get 2-3 weeks off per year, have 1-2 smaller week long trip each year, and a larger (cruises, visit family for a week, etc) week long trip thrown in there every other year or so.

So the offer they ended up making me was:
2,560 HGV points every other year (even) for $9,750 for a timeshare at Las Palmeras with $291 yearly maintenance fees and $754 in HOA fees every other year. They offered to put it all on the credit cards, but I decided to go with their crappy financing and refinance later as I didn't want to tie up the credit card and then have to pay 20-25% in CC interest after the first year. After the $2,000 down payment to trigger the 150k HH points, we have $8,4241.44 on the loan. They threw in 10k bonus points as well.

How bad was this deal? Is a property with points every other year worth it? Any additional information you would give to a newb or point me in a specific direction to learn more about this program and how to make sure we use it to its fullest? ie Why is this program worth it?

 

[dioxide45]

Bad deal of course. You can buy a resale week that comes with a lot more points every year for less than the near $10K you just paid. Certainly rescind...

 

[RX8]

Rescind. It’s a horrible deal. It’s not just looking for the cheapest cost per month with timeshares. What they sold you was the bottom of the barrel, least desirable package they were able to sell you. It has negative worth on the resale market meaning you would have to pay a new buyer $1,000 or more just to entice them to take it (and that is assuming you don’t have a loan on it).

Rescind, take your time to study up and look for resale to get the most bang for your buck.

My last advice, don’t buy a timeshare if you have to finance it. It is a huge financial commitment even without the financing (with the ever increasing annual maintenance fees). If you finance, or put on a CC and just pay the minimum, you’ll be adding to your annual commitment. Using your estimate of $200 to $300 a month for this timeshare, that is up to $3600 annually before maintenance fees. In this case, for a small amount of points that is only going to give you a few nights during prime travel season (even worse if you want a one or two bedroom unit). If you have to finance, you would be better off renting a timeshare rather than owning.

 

[letsgobobby]

it

Hello all! My wife and I just returned from one of the Grand Vacations offers. I was not aware of it before the trip, but there obviously was a sales pitch during our stay. My wife and I agreed to say no under any circumstances, but, between her assuming we'd just say no and not knowing about it myself, we didn't do any research and possible mistakes were made. We were sticking to our plan of saying no the whole time, but the whole idea of the HGV environment sounded like something we'd take full advantage of. After briefly explaining how the points, RCI, and other portions of the program works, they gave us a few offers. We said no to all these, but they asked what they'd have to do to get us enrolled and I told them something that costs under $200 a month plus the original 10k bonus points. Well, they delivered and we were honestly interested so we accepted and signed up for two HH Amex cards to take advantage of a total of 150,000 bonus hilton points by using it as the down payment from the two separate cards.

Then regret set in, I found this site, and I feel a little more at ease. I think that I have time to rescind the offer and it seems like Hilton is respectable and will honor that in a, mostly, timely fashion. But now I'm interested in this whole program and I just want some insight on their offer versus what people here would suggest I do. I haven't done a ton of research first, mainly because I thought it would be better to post and get answers as I may rescind the offer in a short amount of time. Thank you for all the people who contribute here, I did get a lot of quick questions I had answered just by reading the stickies and some posts after our offer.

I will detail the overall deal below, but first some details on how my wife and I normally vacation. We're not very luxury obsessed people and will pretty much make any accommodation work. We travel with our 2 year old and plan to have more children in the next few years. We do not have a crazy amount of disposable income, but could make this ~$200-300 a month deal work. We normally get 2-3 weeks off per year, have 1-2 smaller week long trip each year, and a larger (cruises, visit family for a week, etc) week long trip thrown in there every other year or so.

So the offer they ended up making me was:
2,560 HGV points every other year (even) for $9,750 for a timeshare at Las Palmeras with $291 yearly maintenance fees and $754 in HOA fees every other year. They offered to put it all on the credit cards, but I decided to go with their crappy financing and refinance later as I didn't want to tie up the credit card and then have to pay 20-25% in CC interest after the first year. After the $2,000 down payment to trigger the 150k HH points, we have $8,4241.44 on the loan. They threw in 10k bonus points as well.

How bad was this deal? Is a property with points every other year worth it? Any additional information you would give to a newb or point me in a specific direction to learn more about this program and how to make sure we use it to its fullest? ie Why is this program worth it?

it is so bad

 

[TUGBrian]

grats on dodging a 10,400 dollar bullet!

enjoy spending a fraction of that on the resale market and getting even more points!

 

[dayooper]

I agree, it’s a horrible deal. High MF’s for the points and a useless amount of points. With what they sold you, that can only get a studio in the low season for a week. With a child now and maybe more some day, that would be very difficult to use. Rescind that and start looking on the resale market. For around $6000 (or less), you can get a platinum 2 bedroom (11,200 points) with just slightly more MF’s.

 

[Talent312]

Highway robbery.
Get out now, and look at what you can buy resale here in the Marketplace, on Redweek.com, sellingtimeshares.net and judikoz.com. Resale buyers won't get "Max" benefits (not all that) or be counted toward elite status, but they get every other benefit of retail buyers.

 

[GT75]

Rescind now (agree with the advice already given). This then gives you time to research and determine what TS (if any) system would be best for you.

 

[HuskerATL]

You have received good advice from folks. Rescind and follow the directions in the contract. Look at the points information in the TUG sticky about points and you will notice for that number of points, you can't stay in most places or only a fraction of the week. There are much better resale deals that will cost you much less but, you won't get into Max with resale unless you are lucky. It has happened but probably because of luck.

 

[HuskerATL]

Here is the TUG link, https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/2023-hgvc-hcny-hgv-max-club-rules-and-fees.347868/ . Look at the disclosure guide for points, that is attached to one of the posts in this thread. You will see that most resorts have a minimum one weeks point requirement that is more than your 2560 pts. 2,560 points is a studio in gold season for the resorts that actually have a Gold season studio, even some gold season studio are more than 2,560 and some properties don't have studios so what that means, is that you would have very limited use with those points and have a really bad deed that you would have a challenge giving away. When folks on here are looking at good deeds, they are looking at maintenance fee/point of less than 0.10 but yours is 754/2560 = 0.29....really not good so not only would you be buying a deed with too few of points to be usable, you can't use the whole whole HGVC/HC system, and your paying much more than others who can. Rescind now by following the directions in the contract and then ask questions in this group, read the stickies, get to know how the points work, and think about what you need/want, then start looking at a resale. Folks on here can provide thoughts about what is good and bad, who to buy from, and the process...so just ask.

 

[whynotzoidberg]

Thank you all for the information. I will be rescinding the offer, studying up and checking out the listed marketplaces. I appreciate everyone's feedback on this and glad this place exists to have a concrete answer so quickly after our mistake.

Is there a good rescinding template for HGV floating around for this or is a simple letter sent with the required info sufficient? I read the rescission clause a few times and it looks like I have 15 days. Today is day 4 and I plan to have it faxed and sent via certified mail by eob tomorrow to avoid any complications.

Again, thank you for the wonderful info. I really like the idea of the HGVC system and plan to use it within the next few years, but I obviously have quite a bit of homework to do before I purchase again.

 

[Passepartout]

Absolutely rescind. This is not a usable product for a young family. You are overpaying for something you will be disappointed with.
But there's more. The rescission will cancel the purchase, but NOT THE CREDIT CARD(S) you applied for. You will need to also cancel that account, and since that was used for your down payment, you'll have to keep it open until the refund pays off the balance you agreed to. Most likely there will be an adjustment to your credit score due to applying for more credit. After the card account is cancelled it will settle down, but expect that to take at least a couple of months.

You're young. You expect to add to your family. This is not the time to be adding luxury goods to your life. Timeshares are luxury goods and should ONLY be purchased wholly with cash and disposable income.

We're glad you found TUG in time to reverse a REALLY unfortunate decision. Get that rescission letter written (a simple and concise letter will do) and mailed. If you are still at the resort, unplug the phone. Nobody you want to talk to will call on that phone. Stay away from the sales office.

Good luck to you all.

Jim

 

[HuskerATL]

Each property rescission process is different. Some provide a template in the contract and you just sign it, then send certified mail to the address show. Others do not but you need to put your names, contract number, location, dates, etc. with the info that you want to rescind. I have never heard of a 15 day period but send now. Most are between a few days to a week. Send certified to address listed. If they list an email, send to it also but send via certified mail also.

 

[whynotzoidberg]

But there's more. The rescission will cancel the purchase, but NOT THE CREDIT CARD(S) you applied for. You will need to also cancel that account, and since that was used for your down payment, you'll have to keep it open until the refund pays off the balance you agreed to. Most likely there will be an adjustment to your credit score due to applying for more credit. After the card account is cancelled it will settle down, but expect that to take at least a couple of months.
---
Get that rescission letter written (a simple and concise letter will do) and mailed. If you are still at the resort, unplug the phone. Nobody you want to talk to will call on that phone. Stay away from the sales office.
Good luck to you all.

Jim

Thank you for the info Jim. I think we're both planning on keeping the two cards and using one for all of our purchases rather than the CC we use now. We already have two purchases that will replace the 1k on each card to still qualify for the 75,000 points per card. It makes sense if we're going to live in the Hilton ecosystem some day to also rack up the HH points. Or is this not worth it? We have good credit and use our existing cards responsibly so managing another card is no problem for us. All of the major purchases we need in life are taken care of at the moment (house, cars, etc).

Each property rescission process is different. Some provide a template in the contract and you just sign it, then send certified mail to the address show. Others do not but you need to put your names, contract number, location, dates, etc. with the info that you want to rescind. I have never heard of a 15 day period but send now. Most are between a few days to a week. Send certified to address listed. If they list an email, send to it also but send via certified mail also.

Understood. It seems like the quick and dirty is just to put all of the required info on paper and send it. I will do that and probably fax + send via certified mail as those are the supported methods listed in the rescission clause.

 

[TheDude]

Highway robbery.
Get out now, and look at what you can buy resale here in the Marketplace, on Redweek.com, sellingtimeshares.net and judikoz.com. Resale buyers won't get "Max" benefits (not all that) or be counted toward elite status, but they get every other benefit of retail buyers.

I was at an owner's update yesterday at the Elara. My sales guy said that resale buyers are going to lose more benefits and I will either need to "legitimize" at least one of my resales or buy a retail timeshare to keep the benefits. He was saying down the road I will only be able to book at my home resorts. Then he proceeded to tell me that this would be my only chance to "legitimize" my resales. I didn't bite and he wasn't too happy. Hey, at least I have $150 in Visa gift cards for putting up with his sales pitch. We were out in 30 minutes.

 

[amycurl]

Here's basically what you need to send in a rescission letter:
I/We are rescinding our purchase contract #XXXX made on YYYY date; the includes the rescission of the associated financing contract #ZZZZ
We look forward to receiving the refund of our down payment promptly.
Yours

whynotzoidberg and spouse​

(Make sure that everyone who signed the purchase agreement signs the letter--this is CRUCIAL)

You can fax it, if you want, but you MUST send it Certified USPS, so you have a receipt with the date. It's worth the $5. All that matters is when you mail it, not when they receive it. And HGVC won't mess around with that.

HGVC is the most resale-friendly, hotel-branded timeshare system out there. There are better packages out there, once you do a little more research and reading here.

Welcome to TUG!

 

[Talent312]

I was at an owner's update yesterday at the Elara. My sales guy said that resale buyers are going to lose more benefits and I will either need to "legitimize" at least one of my resales or buy a retail timeshare to keep the benefits..

Udder hogwash.
There may come a day when they limit benefits for future-resales.
But: "Why buy a TS from you, if you're gonna make worthless to sell?
-- That's why they haven't done it, and probably won't.
.

 

[GT75]

My sales guy said that resale buyers are going to lose more benefits and I will either need to "legitimize" at least one of my resales or buy a retail timeshare to keep the benefits. He was saying down the road I will only be able to book at my home resorts.

Standard salesperson lie.

 

[PigsDad]

I was at an owner's update yesterday at the Elara. My sales guy said that resale buyers are going to lose more benefits and I will either need to "legitimize" at least one of my resales or buy a retail timeshare to keep the benefits. He was saying down the road I will only be able to book at my home resorts. Then he proceeded to tell me that this would be my only chance to "legitimize" my resales. I didn't bite and he wasn't too happy. Hey, at least I have $150 in Visa gift cards for putting up with his sales pitch. We were out in 30 minutes.

Just for reference, the first time I heard basically the same message (need to "legitimize" my resale) was circa 2010. The lie is as old as the hills.

Kurt