They just want your $$$$.
Speaking of scams.. It should also be illegal for the salespeople at timeshare companies to say any of the following things I have heard from them at 90-minute sales presentations..
1. When you can no longer use your timeshare you will easily be able to recover your initial purchase cost by selling it.
2. There are lots of reputable companies out there that will help you sell it.
3. If you have trouble selling it you can always sell it back to the timeshare company.
Lies, lies, and more lies, with the intent of deceiving the public into making a timeshare purchase, which the salespeople know you will not find out are lies until it's well beyond the 10-day grace period to negate a sales contract.
I don't see how the timeshare industry can sustain itself when the business model is based so heavily on deception of the public. With the internet, it will become more widespread about how deceptive they are, and their ability to make sales will decline until their only hope to stay afloat will be raising the maintenance fees for every owner.
One of the best analogies to buying a timeshare is buying a gym or fitness club membership with a huge non-refundable initiation fee (aka purchase price), and an annual membership fee (aka maintenance fee) which goes on indefinitely. Even if you want to terminate your membership, you can't. Timeshare ownership is more like a gym or fitness club membership in which you are stuck paying ever-increasing annual club membership fees even if you can't use it.