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Is This A Scam?

G

Guitarmom

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Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
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89
Location
Southern California
I got a call today from "Rental Office." When I asked who the rep worked for, she told me "Top Travel Locations." (No such company shows up on a Google search.) She said that through my Interval International membership, she has corporate clients who would rent my Getaway weeks from me. If I was interested, she could bring a rental specialist on the line.

I told her, "This sounds scammy." In the most shocked tone of voice she said, "What sounds scammy about this?" I said, "No one calls and offers you money." She then put her rental specialist on the line. He asked, "How's your day going?" Having just had a fasting blood test and not yet having been able to eat breakfast, feeling grumpy, I said, "Horrible. But go ahead." Oh my, his corporate clients want my II getaway rooms for conferences they're holding in Orlando, and they will pay me $2100 for each week I can rent to them.

Still operating on low blood sugar, I couldn't come up with appropriate questions, so I said, "You know how I said that my day's been horrible? I can't deal with this right now. You can call back another time." My husband was listening to all this and said, "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is." We agreed that I should hop on TUG and see what you all have to say.

Have you ever heard of "Top Travel Locations"? If this is a scam, what's the angle? I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
 
The thought is that you will pay them an upfront fee and they will rent out your Getaway weeks.

Of course, Getaway weeks are not rentable per Interval rules.

So you will lose your money.
 
Ah, I'll bet that's what would have happened. I hadn't know that we're not allowed to rent out our Getaway weeks, so thank you for letting me know this. The next time they call, which hopefully will be on a day when my brain is working better, I'll happily inform them of this roadblock!

After posting, I kept digging and discovered that there is a website for them ... established a mere ten months ago. Definitely not legitimate.
 
There is a reason they use vague wording such as “rental office” and “top travel locations” and that is because they are a scam. They don’t want you to know their real name because then it is easier to come to the conclusion that they are scamming people.

There are many, many TUG threads on this scam. Same scam, different names. Below is just one.
tugbbs.com

Grand Vacation contacted to rent bonus weeks

I got a call from: Grand Vacation 10 Fairway Drive Deerfield Beach, FL, 33441 Customer Service (888) 317-1059 They were offering to rent my "bonus weeks." I felt they had a little information, but asked questions to fill in the blanks. They wanted $1794 to rent out 6 weeks for me. They...
tugbbs.com tugbbs.com
 
Good advice, all around! Thank you all.

I guess I'm glad to have been grumpy when they called. It saved me from getting sucked into their expensive little fantasy rental world!
 
You should block them on your phone - any continued contact with them can ID you as an "easy mark," and then you will get lots more scam calls.
 
Guitarmom said:
Good advice, all around! Thank you all.

I guess I'm glad to have been grumpy when they called. It saved me from getting sucked into their expensive little fantasy rental world!
Click to expand...
You are not the only one. It doesn't matter what you own, deeds are public information. As already stated, anyone calls you about how to make money, exit your timeshare, or anything of that nature, it is a scam. You are about to lose your money.
These scams have several variants and the the companies operate with several names. No need to look them up. It is a scam.
Scam, scammy, scamity, scam!
 
They take your money and that is a common scam. They aren't going to give you anything back.
 
I would say that 99% of the calls we get are scams. I guess we really don't get them since they are blocked. Sad that this is what the telephone has turned in to.
 
Scamma Ramma Ding Dong.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
People ask about those phone calls almost daily on the various timeshare Facebook groups I belong to. After explaining how the scam works, I tell them that if a company wanted a bunch of units for a convention or corporate clients, they would deal directly with RCI to book them. In addition, RCI forbids renting out Bonus or other weeks (Last Call, Extra Vacations) that are not your own at your resort. Glad you didn't fall for the scam.


~Diane
 
What I love are scammy calls trying to get us to sign up for Medicare. My spouse and I are in our early 50s, so, in the rare cases when it’s a real person, we ask them why they are trying to induce us to commit Medicare fraud, lol!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Guitarmom said:
If this is a scam, what's the angle?
Click to expand...
They are a faux timeshare marketing company. They flat out lie on the phone about corporate renters, or your non-existent getaway weeks, just to obtain upfront fees. They then hide behind a fake company business model that supposedly markets your timeshare for sale or rent. They really are just scamming people for the upfront fee. The contract they provide says nothing about corporate renters wanting your week, only that they will market your timeshare. The scammers use this business model because they can literally steal money and get away with it. When someone complains, they just argue that they are providing a service for the fee - timeshare marketing. Investigators will say that it is a civil case, not criminal because it is a case of a consumer being unhappy with the services provided for the fee. This timeshare marketing business model is their get out of jail card. That is why so many scammers use this model.

The sad thing is that if any real investigation is opened they can easily determine that there are no marketing services being performed and the true business model is nothing more than pounding the phone for upfront fees.
 
It’s ALWAYS a scam.

Legitimate timeshare management companies won’t cold call you to rent your weeks and they certainly won’t ask you for any money up front. As mentioned renting getaway weeks is explicitly against the written exchange company rules. The first clue is the caller ID always says unknown.
 
amycurl said:
What I love are scammy calls trying to get us to sign up for Medicare. My spouse and I are in our early 50s, so, in the rare cases when it’s a real person, we ask them why they are trying to induce us to commit Medicare fraud, lol!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Oh, those were my favorite. I would respond with a shocked tone of voice and say, "I'm not NEARLY old enough for Medicare!" Oh, the embarrassment they'd express!
 
Thank you, everyone! I think that if I had to pick a day to be grumpy and unwilling to put up with nonsense, I picked the right one!

I really appreciate the heads up about where the call would have gone without my grump. Forewarned is forearmed!!!
 
Got my first scam call about renting out Interval International unused Getaways. I said no and they promptly hung up. Now I feel like a seasoned timeshare owner!
 
claraj said:
Got my first scam call about renting out Interval International unused Getaways. I said no and they promptly hung up. Now I feel like a seasoned timeshare owner!
Click to expand...

I have a friend who worked at a call center about 15 years ago.

She told me they have a "suckers" file -- people who will answer and talk to anyone who calls them.

Then there's the "normal working phone numbers" file.

And finally there's the "pervert/nutjob" file. People on that list don't get called.

So, the trick is to get on that list. My previous phone number was on that list, and we almost never were called. (Using a Peter Lorre voice and asking telemarketers what they're wearing works like a charm.) My current phone number gets 8 robocalls a day. I can't ask a computer what it's wearing. And the computer probably has no idea who Peter Lorre is.
 
claraj said:
Got my first scam call about renting out Interval International unused Getaways. I said no and they promptly hung up. Now I feel like a seasoned timeshare owner!
Click to expand...

A woman left a voicemail here - something about there is still inventory with RCI and II if I want to rent.....I don't answer.

I just received a text telling me Use Verification Code...####.... ngen-prd authentication. For a second I thought it was one of our utilities, National Grid abbreviated (did not have my glasses on). I had no intention of opening anyway. Did not request anything. Delete, delete.
 
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