Is timeshare a scam?

[iftravel]

If college is a scam, timeshare is definitely a scam. They share many similarities

1) overpromising and ideologizing
2) too expensive for what it offers
3) only a few can get the value out of what they pay
4) many people end up having a lot debt they cannot afford

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Long Island Iced Tea is a scam too. Pro sports too. The list goes on, using those 4 criteria

 

[TolmiePeak]

If college is a scam, timeshare is definitely a scam. They share many similarities

1) overpromising and ideologizing
2) too expensive for what it offers
3) only a few can get the value out of what they pay
4) many people end up having a lot debt they cannot afford

Then why do you have so many timeshares?

 

[iftravel]

Then why do you have so many timeshares?

Good question. Perhpas a better argument is the industry (retail sales) is a scam but some timeshares not. Say college as an industry is a scam but certain education is not. Feels like a turning point here for college education, particulary in an AI era.

 

[TolmiePeak]

Good question. Perhpas a better argument is the industry (retail sales) is a scam but some timeshares not. Say college as an industry is a scam but certain education is not. Feels like a turning point here for college education, particulary in an AI era.

The biggest scam is AI itself.

 

[easyrider]

If college is a scam, timeshare is definitely a scam.

Neither are a scam but both are riddled with scams, imo.

Bill

 

[Passepartout]

If college is a scam, timeshare is definitely a scam. They share many similarities

1) overpromising and ideologizing
2) too expensive for what it offers
3) only a few can get the value out of what they pay
4) many people end up having a lot debt they cannot afford

If you think college (education) is a costly scam, try ignorance. Education is a tool. If you don't know how to use the tool, it can be costly.

Timeshare can save travelers money, but timeshare is an unwelcome cost for non-travelers. That's why they are marketed to people who are already at a resort. That's also the reason for the cooling off period when new buyers (if they're smart) can read all about what they were sold, and stop the sale at no cost or penalty. Again, it comes down to using that education tool to read all available information you are presented with.

The scam part is the difficulty in parting with the TS when it becomes a burden. When I get to be Emperor, I'll proclaim an open marketplace not unlike a used car market for people to sell and buy their vacation ownerships.

Jim

 

[easyrider]

The scam part is the difficulty in parting with the TS when it becomes a burden.

One of the largest problems with owning a timeshare, imo. I've asked people at resorts what their exit plan is. Most have never heard of an exit plan.

Bill

 

[jp10558]

If college is a scam, timeshare is definitely a scam. They share many similarities

1) overpromising and ideologizing
2) too expensive for what it offers
3) only a few can get the value out of what they pay
4) many people end up having a lot debt they cannot afford

Geeze, sounds like our medical system in the US too. I think what we're seeing is you can certainly get scammed, but I'm not sure the product itself is a scam. The concepts are different than say "follow the queen" which is a scam because the slight of hand means you literally cannot ever win. IDK where gambling falls, but seems like more of a scam than the others to me in that at best you may get a short period of entertainment for a LOT of money.

I tend to think in general a lot of these things are surrounded by scams - like companies wanting to get worker training paid for by everyone but the company. Or companies using college as a "simple filter" instead of actually becoming good at hiring. These ideas are scams IMHO because they end up (often) hurting the company and everyone else too. Timeshare Exit companies that ask for an up front fee are a well documented scam.

Even for timeshares, the main problem IMHO is people not understanding what they're buying and therefore not understanding there's a resale market. This makes the math difficult to work out (though not impossible).

 

[TolmiePeak]

One of the largest problems with owning a timeshare, imo. I've asked people at resorts what their exit plan is. Most have never heard of an exit plan.

Bill

Based on what I've read on here if I can't give away my timeshares or have the companies take them back I'm just going to stop paying.

 

[Brett]

If college is a scam, timeshare is definitely a scam. They share many similarities

1) overpromising and ideologizing
2) too expensive for what it offers
3) only a few can get the value out of what they pay
4) many people end up having a lot debt they cannot afford

College wasn't a scam for me.
My timeshares were free but I had to pay maintenance fees
.
But yes, the timeshare "exit" companies are definitely a scam

 

[easyrider]

Based on what I've read on here if I can't give away my timeshares or have the companies take them back I'm just going to stop paying.

Sounds like my plan, lol.

Bill

 

[easyrider]

Geeze, sounds like our medical system in the US too.

Definitely scamy in some ways but better than most, imo.

Bill

 

[TolmiePeak]

Sounds like my plan, lol.

Bill

When get into my 70s/80s I really don't care if my credit score goes down or if they threaten me.

 

[VacationForever]

Slow news day...

 

[chapjim]

Sounds like my plan, lol.

Bill

I'm just gonna die.

 

[easyrider]

I'm just gonna die.

I wonder how many timeshare weeks you will own at that time. I've thought about it and there is a chance that I would have between 14 and 22 weeks in 3 memberships.

Bill

 

[chapjim]

I wonder how many timeshare weeks you will own at that time. I've thought about it and there is a chance that I would have between 14 and 22 weeks in 3 memberships.

Bill

Don't have that many weeks per se but if the calendar for the rest of 2025 holds, DW and I will have been away from home 49.04% of the year.

 

[easyrider]

Don't have that many weeks per se but if the calendar for the rest of 2025 holds, DW and I will have been away from home 49.04% of the year.

Nice plan Jim. Where do you go ?

Bill

 

[chapjim]

Nice plan Jim. Where do you go ?

Bill

This year mostly up and down the East Coast, Florida Panhandle, and Tennessee (daughter, SIL, and two granddaughters).

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Nice plan Jim. Where do you go ?

Bill

When

This year mostly up and down the East Coast, Florida Panhandle, and Tennessee (daughter, SIL, and two granddaughters).

I thought @easyrider meant when you completed your exit plan
[" I'm just gonna die " ]

LOL

 

[chapjim]

When

I thought @easyrider meant when you completed your exit plan
[" I'm just gonna die " ]

LOL

I am 100% certain that I'm going up, not down!

 

[montygz]

If college is a scam, timeshare is definitely a scam. They share many similarities

1) overpromising and ideologizing
2) too expensive for what it offers
3) only a few can get the value out of what they pay
4) many people end up having a lot debt they cannot afford

Thanks in part to my college education, I learned how to do research and now get excellent value out of my resale timeshare.

 

[rickandcindy23]

College is somewhat of a scam, depending on the job you get after you get out. If you get a job that others have that did not get a degree, you have now wasted a bunch of money for no reason.

A school that teaches the subject matter is more valued than a school that goes off on a tangent with indoctrinating students.

Timeshares bought from a developer sure feel like a scam. Once you purchase a timeshare, the exit companies come after you with a vengence to help you get out of it. We all know of the many scams that are perpetrated on timeshare owners.

Ironically, the salespeople sell you on the product by talking it up and the exit companies talk the product down. Both sides say, "Your kids will inherit it." Is that irony or what?

Who has the best argument? Why did you buy it?

Data mining is truly a thing, my BIL did that, and AI will help those Data Miners to find us in all of the databases. Laws should protect people from these scams, but it's such a small number of people who fall for them, they are like a speck of dust in a dirtpile.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Don't have that many weeks per se but if the calendar for the rest of 2025 holds, DW and I will have been away from home 49.04% of the year.

Rick is trying to get the gazebo built. It's a fantastic structure, so much detail, lots of color-matched white paint to the columns and handrails, which are vinyl, building it from scratch, all by himself. 16 feet, 8 sides, Trex decking on top of the substantial subfloor. It's coming along but the building department is going to close out his building permit if he doesn't get it done by the end of October. He is under a lot of stress, which makes his back hurt.

It's a huge project, probably the most difficult he's done with all of the detail. He built a garage, which is 24 X 36 in the back yard when the kids were still in elementary school. He needed a bigger workshop and the two-car garage wasn't enough for our cars and his working space. Then he added onto that 10 years ago to make more storage space.

The goal is to create less work in the yard eventually. There will be pavers around the gazebo with patches of artificial grass with the pavers. So much work, but when it's done, less grass is good, less dirt is good. The pond is another big project. So glad we have a plan for it. The old pond was leaking.

Our trips have caused significant delays in his plans. It's become a sort of eye-raising banter, you could call it. Rick says to friends and family who inquire of the progress, "I would have it done by now, if we didn't go on so many vacations." Then an eyeroll toward me. It's all in fun, until I realize that it's really causing him stress to leave his project again. If we go with the kids and grandkids, he loves those trips, but the others, not as much.

My dearest friend just laughs when he says it. I see her three times a week between church, Bible study and Wednesday church activities. My brother gives the raised-eye look to Rick, knowing how Rick is really feeling. My brother does hardscapes. He knows how difficult projects like this are. His crew won't even build a pergola, let alone a gazebo.