Cancellation of Timeshare purchase

[DavidnRobin]

The sales man was saying that Marriott would rent the unit out for you if you couldn’t use it and give you 50% of the rental rate. I was like wow that’s great. But once I started to look into it once we got to the room I couldn’t find that information anywhere. So I’m not sure if that was correct information or not.

Anything said verbally is not valid unless in the Contract - the Contract actually states this.

And congrats on finding TUG in time - too many don’t.

Also, we never sent our gifts back once we rescinded. I would keep it unless they ask for it back. It was a gift from them and not contingent on the sale going through.

Don’t sweat rescinding - Vistana will honor it.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

I resent it just to have peace of mind since the tracking says left with individual instead of the name of the person. I rather spend an extra $7.50 than $60000. Also definitely looking into buying resell. I didn't even know that was a thing until I found this website Tuesday night!

You seem such a cautious person I'm surprised Vistana ever managed to convince you to buy in the first place. Then again, I think back to the day we bought and I remember how persuasive they can be

 

[DanCali]

You seem such a cautious person I'm surprised Vistana ever managed to convince you to buy in the first place. Then again, I think back to the day we bought and I remember how persuasive they can be

Timeshare salespeople are masters at the sales craft. They will take the time to understand your background and desires, so they know what buttons to push to create a sense of urgency and make you think about 20 things at the same time, none of which having to do with the actual economics of the deal....

Think how great it would be in retirement!
You can enjoy the evening drinking wine and watching tv in the spacious living area while the kids are asleep in their bedroom!
Think how great it would be to have a kitchen and enjoy family meals together!
It's a small price to pay for priceless memories!
Your kids will remember these trips for the rest of their lives!
A 1BR would be great for you in the next 5-7 years but you really need a 2 BR because the kids will get older and bring friends!
Island view is great, but nothing beats oceanfront view and it's only $20K more! Look at these photos... Can you beat that view?
Everyone wants to ski on President's Day so you will never be able to book that unless you buy it as a fixed week - only $25K more, but then a reservation is guaranteed!
You can exchange your ownership to anywhere in the world!
You can trade for enough hotel points for 7 nights anywhere! (maybe at a Fairfield inn in rural Florida during hurricane season)
This is a deeded ownership - yours forever, and your kids will get to have it too after you're gone!
Don't worry about maintenance fees - they only go up 1%-2% a year!
How much money did you flush down the toilet on hotels in the past 15 years??? Let me calculate that for you...
Let me show you on our website that renting the week you like to travel costs $6000 - oh look, it's not even available if you were willing to pay that!
Let me show you why it really doesn't cost you anywhere near as much as you say it does...
If you calculate it like this, which is the right way to look at it, the cost per point is $X, not $XXXX - that's less than resale!
Prices are going up next month!
If you buy today, we'll throw in 200,000 points, and extra one-time StarOptions, and some vouchers to buy more points for virtually nothing! I'll have to talk my boss into it, it won't be easy, but I need to know if you're in?
Your old ownership is becoming obsolete, let us take the crappy week you bought from us 20 years ago and we'll sell you our newer points concoction for only $20,000! That's a 65% discount off the full price!
Interval is changing and the old way you exchanged will not work anymore - you really should consider upgrading! We have a special deal this month only...
No rush - think about it as much as you want while I grab coffee for 10 minutes. This is definitely our best offer, and it expires as soon as you leave the office!

This is just a small fraction of stuff we've been subjected to over the years. What's amazing that even after we fell for it the first time, found TUG and rescinded, we still often go to presentations and spend way too much time thinking that maybe what we're hearing is possibly a great deal after all.

But 10+ years after finding TUG and being much more informed we did end up buying from them for a deal that made a lot of sense to us at the time. And almost 2 years later I have no regrets. It may actually work out even better for us after the Vistana integration into Marriott, and that wasn't even part of the sales pitch of something we considered then.

I think they know that most people have buttons or a price that will cause them to pull the trigger. Often that is simply too much for the corporation to give up and a deal doesn't happen. Other times, they probably see it as a game or sport - how much do I need to offer (or how little can I offer) before this person strikes a deal?

 

[Yngonzo]

You seem such a cautious person I'm surprised Vistana ever managed to convince you to buy in the first place. Then again, I think back to the day we bought and I remember how persuasive they can be

Honestly I'm not entirely sure what happened. I think with so many things going on at the same time I confused myself. Even my husband didn't pick up on certain things until we got back to the room and I started to read over the contract. Once I started to write everything down and calculating everything myself I was like this is not what we signed up for. But I am glad I found TUG in time.

 

[Yngonzo]

Timeshare salespeople are masters at the sales craft. They will take the time to understand your background and desires, so they know what buttons to push to create a sense of urgency and make you think about 20 things at the same time, none of which having to do with the actual economics of the deal....

Think how great it would be in retirement!
You can enjoy the evening drinking wine and watching tv in the spacious living area while the kids are asleep in their bedroom!
Think how great it would be to have a kitchen and enjoy family meals together!
It's a small price to pay for priceless memories!
Your kids will remember these trips for the rest of their lives!
A 1BR would be great for you in the next 5-7 years but you really need a 2 BR because the kids will get older and bring friends!
Island view is great, but nothing beats oceanfront view and it's only $20K more! Look at these photos... Can you beat that view?
Everyone wants to ski on President's Day so you will never be able to book that unless you buy it as a fixed week - only $25K more, but then a reservation is guaranteed!
You can exchange your ownership to anywhere in the world!
You can trade for enough hotel points for 7 nights anywhere! (maybe at a Fairfield inn in rural Florida during hurricane season)
This is a deeded ownership - yours forever, and your kids will get to have it too after you're gone!
Don't worry about maintenance fees - they only go up 1%-2% a year!
How much money did you flush down the toilet on hotels in the past 15 years??? Let me calculate that for you...
Let me show you on our website that renting the week you like to travel costs $6000 - oh look, it's not even available if you were willing to pay that!
Let me show you why it really doesn't cost you anywhere near as much as you say it does...
If you calculate it like this, which is the right way to look at it, the cost per point is $X, not $XXXX - that's less than resale!
Prices are going up next month!
If you buy today, we'll throw in 200,000 points, and extra one-time StarOptions, and some vouchers to buy more points for virtually nothing! I'll have to talk my boss into it, it won't be easy, but I need to know if you're in?
Your old ownership is becoming obsolete, let us take the crappy week you bought from us 20 years ago and we'll sell you our newer points concoction for only $20,000! That's a 65% discount off the full price!
Interval is changing and the old way you exchanged will not work anymore - you really should consider upgrading! We have a special deal this month only...
No rush - think about it as much as you want while I grab coffee for 10 minutes. This is definitely our best offer, and it expires as soon as you leave the office!

This is just a small fraction of stuff we've been subjected to over the years. What's amazing that even after we fell for it the first time, found TUG and rescinded, we still often go to presentations and spend way too much time thinking that maybe what we're hearing is possibly a great deal after all.

But 10+ years after finding TUG and being much more informed we did end up buying from them for a deal that made a lot of sense to us at the time. And almost 2 years later I have no regrets. It may actually work out even better for us after the Vistana integration into Marriott, and that wasn't even part of the sales pitch of something we considered then.

I think they know that most people have buttons or a price that will cause them to pull the trigger. Often that is simply too much for the corporation to give up and a deal doesn't happen. Other times, they probably see it as a game or sport - how much do I need to offer (or how little can I offer) before this person strikes a deal?

OMG!!! Everything you wrote is exactly what the sales rep said. I think what tripped us up even more was the fact that he was drilling how our current ownership is going to be crap and not worth much of anything. But glad I found TUG and was able to process our cancelation in time.

 

[DanCali]

OMG!!! Everything you wrote is exactly what the sales rep said. I think what tripped us up even more was the fact that he was drilling how our current ownership is going to be crap and not worth much of anything. But glad I found TUG and was able to process our cancelation in time.

They have to do it that way. If one sat down and analyzed the numbers (like you did after you signed the bottom line) it is almost impossible to justify the cost. There are probably "more correct" and "less correct" ways to look at the numbers, but the economics of these deals are typically so bad that, no matter how you try to look at it, a developer purchase can rarely be justified. It works only in the "fuzzy math" world of salespeople and even they will often steer you away from looking at their numbers because they probably know how senseless they are.

The only way they can sell this to an average, uninformed person is to get people to act on emotions rather than common sense - memories, family, legacy, status, exclusivity, prestige, urgency, fear, regret, etc... whatever it takes. People often make mistakes in the stock market when emotions are involved (greed/fear), and this is not much different.

Be thankful that you found this site and sat down to do the math. Unfortunately, many people are not as lucky. That is probably why 1 out of 5 commercials I hear on Sirius XM in my car is for timeshare exit companies...

That's not to say timeshares are necessarily a bad idea. We now own more than we can currently use... and are looking to add one "last one". But one has to be an informed buyer, aware that there is a resale market, and still do a lot of homework in order to be able to at least somewhat justify it economically.

 

[Yngonzo]

So I just logged into my Vistana account and this is what I am seeing. Our original contact number is no longer in there and the projected number of points for that VOI is no longer showing (originally 67100 point per year). What I am seeing now is the new contract number (which we sent our cancelation letter in for) there and the projected number of points populating. SO I continue to sit tight or should I be reaching out to someone?

Contract was signed on Jan 18
Cancelation letter sent via certified mail on Jan 19
Received by Vistana on Jan 20

 

[DanCali]

So I just logged into my Vistana account and this is what I am seeing. Our original contact number is no longer in there and the projected number of points for that VOI is no longer showing (originally 67100 point per year). What I am seeing now is the new contract number (which we sent our cancelation letter in for) there and the projected number of points populating. SO I continue to sit tight or should I be reaching out to someone?

Contract was signed on Jan 18
Cancelation letter sent via certified mail on Jan 19
Received by Vistana on Jan 20

Can't hurt to call Owner Services... Ask to speak from someone from "Resolution Services" since they tend to be more knowledgeable and have been there longer.

 

[Yngonzo]

UPDATE:

I just received our refund to our credit card for the deposit we put down. Thank you TUG!!!!

 

[stan0832]

It's been about 13 years since we were in your situation and found TUG. I remember the "sick to the stomach" feeling to this day since it ruined half of a lovely Kauai vacation. Congratulations on saving a lot of money! Now you can learn, study and decide what works best for you as an informed buyer. 15 years ago we owned nothing and now we own 10 timeshares and expecting to buy one "last one" in the next 1-2 years

As long as you followed the instructions in contract you should be ok. They won't keep your money if they get the letter in time.

I am not a lawyer, but the letter seems good. I would just mention that you are "exercising my right to rescind and cancel my timeshare purchase". Be clear about that intent, the names on the contract, and the contract number which is probably in your purchase documents (not sure if points have a contract number, but weeks do). I see you used "Account Number" but not sure what that refers to. You should try use numbers that are on the purchase contract specifically, and not a Bonvoy Rewards number for example.

I probably would have sent an additional copy to them via Fedex - it's just an extra $15-$20 for extra peace of mind. I never trust USPS and they proved it again to me last week - Certified "Priority Mail" from FL to IRS in Austin, TX took 7 days...

View attachment 45515

We made almost the same purchase for almost the same reason; TUG member - should have known better. After two days, we decided to rescind and sent the certified letter such as yours per the instructions provided with the contract. We also contacted their Customer Advocacy at 800-860-9384, and Ray verified that our letter was received and action on the refund underway. The full refund was received a couple weeks later. I found their process honorable (if you followed the rescind directions properly) and with no sales push-back.

 

[Larry M]

I’ve tried to get it [Westgate timeshare] away to a family member and no body wants it. At this point we just us it to visit Orlando. Once my daughter turns old enough she doesn’t want to go to Disney they we will probably just let it default. We own it outright and just pay MF

If the Westgate unit is a fixed-week, contact the "association" and ask if you can simply deed it back to them. Sometimes this works. Worked with me for a Wyndham unit that was bought by the MIL in the 1990s and turned back by me in 2010.

Also take a careful look at your contract. The developers don't want to be stuck maintaining these units forever, so most have a "sunset date" at which the members must vote to keep the association operational. If the vote fails to pass, the association is obliged to sell the property and divide the proceeds among the paid-up owners. I have one of these that's sunsetting early. I paid $1500 for it, expect to get back several times that amount.

 

[Grammarhero]

@stan0832

We hope your rescission went well. Mind sharing how much you'd save with rescission? As half of tuggers initially bought developer TS, there is no shaming.

 

[Grammarhero]

We made almost the same purchase for almost the same reason; TUG member - should have known better. After two days, we decided to rescind and sent the certified letter such as yours per the instructions provided with the contract. We also contacted their Customer Advocacy at 800-860-9384, and Ray verified that our letter was received and action on the refund underway. The full refund was received a couple weeks later. I found their process honorable (if you followed the rescind directions properly) and with no sales push-back.

@stan0832

We hope your rescission went well. Mind sharing how much you'd save with rescission? As half of tuggers initially bought developer TS, there is no shaming.