Grammarhero I have to support what Braindead said about about schemes starting small and ballooning into a big mess that eventually leads to owners losing benefits and having more restrictions to deal with. We who are long time owners have seen this happen repeatedly,
Fredflintstone is talking about people who have fallen on hard times or are in situations beyond their control and we have sympathy for those people. However that is not what is the crux of this discussion and you are very conveniently using it to hide behind his skirts on this. Unless you are such an incompetent lawyer that you can't get anyone to hire you or would someday do something that would get you disbarred there is a minuscule chance of you ever being in that situation.
You once told about a client of your MIL's who you made an offer to buy their timeshare that offended them. You saw yourself as being realistic because resale timeshares have very little value compared to the purchase price if people bought from the developer. While that is often true there are a lot of people who do own something that is worth a lot more than $1, $100 or even $1000. So ask yourself did that person and many other people here on TUG see you as your saw yourself? As the helpful individual offering to take it off their hands? Or did they see someone attempting to take advantage of an owner who wants to get out and knows nothing. Like many things it is about perceptions.
You didn't start this thread to help people who found themselves in situations they hadn't planned on or couldn't have forseen. You started this thread to brag how you got what you have so cheaply, can use it for a couple of years to get vacations at a low cost to you then dump what you have before you have to pay the all maintenance fees on the points you used in that final year. You were touting it as a plan everyone should be as smart as you to emulate but it still falls under the category of a SCHEME. Based on what many of us here on TUG have seen and experienced it has the potential to walk down that road of being just one more scam with fallout that we will all pay the penalty for when you a long gone.
The timeshare wisdom long promoted on TUG has never been to buy a timeshare to get in and out. It is that you buy timeshares with the plan of being able to use them for a number of years to come. Many of us found that the longer we owned and the more we learned that we saw the need to readjust our portfolios. That what we started out with wasn't that great or no longer worked for us. Many owners over time have gone on to build portfolios that got them a lot lower maintenance fees or sometimes paying higher maintenance fees to be able to secure stays where they loved going at specific times of the year. However that is not what you are suggesting nor promoting in your posts.
There are a lot of long time TUG members who are saddened to see what the Wyndham threads are turning into. Reread schoolmarm's post. Set your hubris aside, accept that you have chosen to follow or be swayed by some very poor mentors and moving forward learn from the people who actually have something of value to teach. Hopefully some of those people who rarely post or stopped altogether because of certain individuals who have turned the Wyndham forum into a chat room for their own entertainment and a joke will start posting again. You may have learned some things that can be helpful to others but you are stepping way over the line in attempting to seemingly promote yourself as reliable source on all things Wyndham/timeshares. Please don't insult people's intelligence by playing games with denying it, making excuses or hiding behind others.
You may have an issue with accepting being corrected or maybe it's just the way some people go about correcting you sets your back up. Everyone has those moments. We may not like the person saying something or how they say it but that doesn't make them wrong. Nor should it be accepted as justification that we are right. Your experience with owning is limited at this point nor are you even using what you own so people are going to take exception to what you are doing and saying. I believe your intent is to be an asset to TUG. and given time I believe you have the potential to become what you see yourself as now being.
I've been given my share of free passes, especially in my early years on TUG. I was, as I should be, corrected when I got things wrong. I can accept that because life is too short to be offended or threatened when or how you get corrected. I kid about telling Ron P. that I could be a hater because he knew the directory so well. Even now I frequently have to look things up on the Wyndham website to make sure what I'm posting is correct. Nor were all my opinions always correct or well received even when they were correct. The point of sharing opinions is not just to convince other people you are correct but to give others the opportunity to either add their endorsement or demonstrate how you aren't correct. Maybe you got part of it correct and with what that other person adds now everybody has more correct information to have a better grasp on something. Getting things wrong and making mistakes, learning by trial and error, is undoubtedly a valuable learning tool. There is no shame in being wrong, the shame comes when you refuse to learn from it.
With the coming of a new year and a new decade maybe you could ask for and be given a pass to start over on a new foot if that's what you want. If that is what you choose you will find support from the people who truly have the best interests of the other owners and TUG at heart.
