How to get out of a timeshare sales presentation quickly?

[jasontugaccount]

Great advice Jim.



What I have found to be successful is to be polite, smile, and say "No thank you". When pressed, I say with a smile. "You are undoubtedly a great sales person and an outstanding employee. I'm sure you are one of the best your boss has. Unfortunately for you, you have me today, and I'm not evenly remotely interested in buying. Zip, Zilch, Nada, Not Happening. I hope you have a good rest of your day and best of success in your future sales efforts." Upon hearing this, the sales rep goes and gets the Manager. The manager either says, "I hear you are not going to do anything today, please go to X and they will give you the award for attending." or "I hear you are not interested in purchasing, can I ask why?" Me with a smile "Certainly. I have no interest in further vacation interest. I can't even use all that I have. But I appreciate the information provided by <name of salesperson> and I understand why <sales person> is such a fine employee. What do I need to do to wrap this up? Thank you for your understanding." I have found the kind approach, no interest in further vacation experiences, and a smile to be the best way to end the presentation early.

This sounds like a great approach. Thanks @kupool and @Passepartout !

 

[dougp26364]

The easiest and quickest way to get out of a presentation quickly is to just not go in the first place.

In your case, it’s going to depend on the adversarial nature of your salesmen. There are those who want you out of the room so they can move on to the next presentation or go home earlier. Then there are those with nothing better to do who see you as a mooch and will do their best to make your life as uncomfortable for as long as possible.

Perhaps you get the guy who just wants you out. As soon as they realize you’re not buying, they’ll sign off on you and you’re gone. Perhaps you get the salesman with a bad attitude and he’ll do everything possible to turn you inside out for 90 minutes, just for sport and to teach you his lesson of nothing is free. Then there’s the newbie salesman who is forced to run on a track and you’re stuck no matter what stunt you try to pull.

We’ve had all sorts over the years, including one who was about to whoop my ass and had to be pulled away by the sales manager. It really doesn’t matter what you say or do so much as who’s across the table.

Consider the time spent as part of the cost of the cheap deal you received. Either that or stop going and pay your own way. At this point in our lives, if we’re not offered $300 for our time, we don’t go,it’s just not worth it for us. There is the rare times I want to see something or ask a few questions, but those are few and far between.

The last presentation we went on was with BGV at our home resort in Breckenridge. We get the same salesman every year and we purchased our current unit directly from him. He know us and he knows we have everything we need/want from his resort. He knows there’s nothing he has to offer us, so we spend the time catching up on family, he shows us current pricing on larger units because he has to and we go our merry way with $150 off our MF’s. We’ve gone because we enjoy catching up, he knows we’re not purchasing but thinks we’d be fools to not take the developers offer to take $150 off our yearly fees and it’s quick and painless. However, last year he told us because of health issues, he was retiring and moving. Last year was our last year of updates at this resort. $150 isn’t nearly enough to get me out of bed for a full court press with a salesman we don’t know.

 

[jehb2]

“No, but thank you for the information.”
”No, we just don’t want to”

And do not offer ANY kind of reason why you're not interested.

 

[isisdave]

"Well after my last bankruptcy, when I got out of prison for fraud, I ...."

I actually told one "My parole officer says I am not allowed to buy any timeshares" and he apparently believed me.

 

[billymach4]

Aside from not signing up in the first place.......

You and your significant other should load up on tons of Beans, Cabbage, soda, club soda, hard boiled eggs. Gassy foods.

 

[Wingo99]

I didn't have printouts, but I told them early into the presentation when he asked why wouldn't I buy that if I were to get a timeshare it would be on resale. He acted like he didn't know what that was, so I just pulled a random eBay listing for a ton of points at one dollar and said thats how I would buy in. My presentation was done a half hour early and I walked away with my freebies.

I stayed talkative. We were in Hawaii so I got a lot of excellent recommendations for things to do there at the same time. Nice guy, got a lot of tourist info. He knew he totally lost me as a customer so he completed what his bosses required him to do, and could tell he was only going through the motions. Your guy might turn into a jerk though, had that happen once at a campground timeshare- yes that is a thing.

I fell for the pitch once, and this site gave me what I needed to rescind successfully.

 

[jasontugaccount]

My presentation lasted 90 minutes. Here is how that went down:
* Paperwork said only adults need to attend the presentation. But they told me to get my kids when I went to check in. I argued and they insisted it was policy.
* Any time during the presenting if they asked me if I could see myself back there, I just said I wouldn't be back because someone just lied to me to attempt to sell to my kids even though the paperwork said only adults need to attend.
* When asked what our favorite vacation was, someone thankfully said camping. When he asked me how much those trips cost, I said "about $200 for gas and groceries".

He didn't try hard after that. He said said he was going to take us to see a room but offered us the quick version instead, which we gladly accepted.

 

[jasontugaccount]

Oh, one more moment that was hilarious to me.

Salesman: you must really love this area. How did you pick it for your vacation?
Me (this is a true story): I was booking a business trip and had a necessary lay over here and the ticket was actually cheaper to add a few days so I thought I'd find a cheap accommodation and do that.
Salesman (dumbfounded): you really only came here because it was on the way to another place where you really want to be?

It ended pretty quickly after that conversation.

 

[jasontugaccount]

If anyone is interested in what Sandos offers, I asked no questions so I cannot clarify much, but their first offer was $11,xxx for 500 points membership which they said gives you 210 nights over 15 years and they offer to finance that at 3% interest with a low down payment and monthly payments around $100. I believe your right to use ends entirely in 15 years. This package has 4 weeks black out over major holidays. Apparently I sounded very disinterested and they started with the cheapest plan.

I have no idea what maintenance fees are, but you are on the hook for $120 per person per night all inclusive fees when you use it.

Their second offer was a "trial" which if I recall correctly was around $4,xxx and gives you a right to use 60 nights over 5 years. They wanted $750 down for this one.

 

[Bodie]

I took a cheap stay at Sandos Playacar in exchange for 90-120 minutes of a sales presentation.

What tactics are best to make that end as quickly as possible?

My working plan is to refuse to engage with them. I.e.:
Sales: how often do you like to travel?
Me: I'm not willing to tell you anything about myself. I will not buy anything or speak and plan to leave in 120 minutes or less. Please finish your presentation as soon as possible.

Too blunt? Anything better?

Just be polite. You knew the rules when you signed up for a discounted trip. There’s enough rudeness and incivility in this society without adding to it.

 

[Carolinian]

When I owned a few weeks in South Africa, I liked to mention what I paid there in m/f's and casually ask if their m/f at the resort I was touring was much more. That usually ended a tour pretty quickly.