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Betrayed by AARP

That’s a good move. We’re you able to tell them why?

Dave
 
I just scanned through their reviews on BBB. Their 39 A+ ratings are based on good reviews that look like they're all written by the same person. Weirdly consistent glowing praise for their amazing service. The 4 complaints sound more familiar. Owners paid an upfront fee and never heard from Timeshare Advocates/Wesley Financial Group, LLC again. It looks like they want at least $4,000 cash/PayPal upfront (but will kindly set up payments for you).
 
We don't like AARP for many reasons and this is another one. It is in lobbyists' pockets and now crooked timeshare "relief" companies can make it to their magazine because they paid for the ad. They have no ethics.

We became AARP members for a year to buy my LTCI insurance through them about 10 years ago when we knew nothing about AARP's ethics. When we moved, the insurance broker insisted that we bought AARP membership to get on their Medicare drug and supplement insurance plans. They gave my husband tier 2 rate on the supplement insurance because of pre-existing condition. We decided to go with a Medicare Advantage plan. We bought AARP membership for 5 years and when it lapses, there goes our membership as well.
 
I do not like AARP either. I hate being solicited thru the mail three to four times per week to enrolled in their medical plan and their AARP membership. If I have not responded in ten years or more. You would think that would have gotten the message by now.

I have asked them to remove my name from their mailing list. No results.
 
LannyPC said:
Colour me naive but, what is AARP? :shrug:
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American Association of Retired Persons. It's a membership club for people over age 50. Discounts and "deals" for older adults. They have a huge agenda, not all of it benevolent, but that's the negative side of their organization. Enormous government lobbying group. According to the organization, it had more than 38 million members as of 2018 - at ~$15 a year, that's a lot of bargaining power. When I turned 50 I was given a year's membership. I tried, really tried, to use it, but I never found anything that was better than I already had, or that I could get elsewhere. I never renewed the membership after it expired. YMMV. https://www.aarp.org

Dave
 
There are two sides of AARP, the for profit side of the house that people pay membership to, the other side is non-profit AARP Foundation.

I volunteer with the non-profit. A lot of volunteers do not agree with the policies of the profit side.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
that is truly sad...

years back AARP actually published a useful article that mentioned the TUG forum as a place to go to get help...it was so popular the site saw 2 to 3x the usual number of visitors for months after the article came out.

I can only fathom how many folks will get fleeced for thousands of dollars by reading that given the target market of AARP magazine (ie those who truly do have timeshares they wish to otherwise get rid of)
 
People trust AARP. I do not, but people will get taken by this company.
 
I do not have a AARP membership but I will suggest everyone who does take the time and write a letter to explain how dissapointed you are that they allowed the ad in their publication.
 
DaveNW said:
That’s a good move. We’re you able to tell them why?

Dave
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Yes I did, in the online form for canceling membership. The email response I received didn’t mention my reason, though; obviously it doesn’t matter to them.

TUGBrian said:
that is truly sad...

years back AARP actually published a useful article that mentioned the TUG forum as a place to go to get help...it was so popular the site saw 2 to 3x the usual number of visitors for months after the article came out.

I can only fathom how many folks will get fleeced for thousands of dollars by reading that given the target market of AARP magazine (ie those who truly do have timeshares they wish to otherwise get rid of)
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That’s what I think too. The most telling part of the ad is in the lower right corner, where they promise to pay you $500 if you refer someone who becomes their client. Tells very clearly that they make a lot of upfront money.

I’m concerned about other misleading/incorrect information AARP disseminates too. Recently they presented one of their quizzes re flu shots. It was from 2012 and hadn’t been updated so contained a lot of just plain wrong information. I wasn’t the only person to comment on that.

bogey21 said:
I have no love for AARP for the same reasons many of you enunciated. But I very much like receiving their publications so I pay my annual dues which I recoup with the discount I get at Denny's using my AARP card...

George
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We never used the discounts - either they were for places we don’t patronize for one reason or another or for places that give Senior discounts regardless of AARP membership status. I did use their reward points once to buy something from them but really could have gotten the same thing from Amazon for the same price, I just wanted to find a use for the points!
 
VacationForever said:
I do not agree with both sides, for profit and non-profit. The government lobbyist agenda gives me the greatest heartburn. It is not bi-partisan.
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And that is the nicest way that can be said. Delicately stated, VacationForever.

FWIW: it is understandable that an organization like AARP should advocate on causes (issues) important to senior citizens. But AARP's focus should be exclusively on those issues.
 
When AARP is deciding what products to endorse - medical plans, car insurance, life insurance, etc - the final determative factor is how much the Company will kick back to AARP.
 
It doesn't seem like it was too long ago, but it kind of is, on my 50th, some one bought me an AARP membership. I thought that some of the benefits might be really good but nothing really panned out regarding travel.

Bill
 
TheHolleys87 said:
We never used the discounts - either they were for places we don’t patronize for one reason or another or for places that give Senior discounts regardless of AARP membership status.
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That kind of reminds me of some of these travel clubs that claim that clients can receive huge discounts on traveling which will pay for themselves eventually down the road...only to find that these "discounts" can be booked on Priceline or Expedia or that the travel opportunities are for essentially mud weeks.
 
When my wife and I joined AARP, we thought they were a benevolent society specifically for seniors. At the time, we were unaware that they were a lobbying group that is on the opposite of almost every issue that is important to us. We believe in free minds and free markets. We have since cancelled our memberships and joined American Seniors instead. They actually have some useful travel benefits such as Trip Beat Vacation Rentals.
 
Has anyone gone with Wesley Financial Group? What was the experience? Just reading how there process works, they give you a free consultation, review your situation to see if you are qualify and they say you pay nothing if they don't successfully get rid of your timeshare. i want to know how these groups work, so i would to hear from anybody that has gone this route.
 
TheHolleys87 said:
I opened my new copy of the AARP magazine to find this full-page ad on page 5. I cancelled my membership.

I also cringe every time I hear an ad on my radio station by a timeshare exit company that paints such a bad, even dishonest picture of timesharing.
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GaryD said:
Has anyone gone with Wesley Financial Group? What was the experience? Just reading how there process works, they give you a free consultation, review your situation to see if you are qualify and they say you pay nothing if they don't successfully get rid of your timeshare. i want to know how these groups work, so i would to hear from anybody that has gone this route.
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Do a Search of this forum for Wesley Financial Group. You'll find a couple of threads that are pertinent. Here's one:

https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/wesley-financial-group-llc.171348/

Here's another:

https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/wesley-financial-group.260925/

And the most recent:

https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/wesley-financial-group.283529/

In the last one, note particularly @tschwa2 's comment re the guarantee that they'll get you out or you won't pay. And note that while most timeshares aren't worth very much on the resale market, Wesley promises to give you a $500 referral fee if you send one of your friends to them. I doubt they got that $500 via actually selling other people's timeshares.
 
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