wimmerlady
newbie
As with 90% of posters I've seen so far, we purchased our first timeshare without visiting TUG first. What a tremendous mistake! It was the usual song and dance: at Lawrence Welk Resort (Escondido / San Diego) we were certain we would not buy, but we were sucked in by the mind-games about what a good deal we were getting, and the cell phone blockers in the office prevented us from doing any research when we were there. We had been enticed to the presentation by the promise of baseball tickets, without planning to purchase a timeshare at all, and we scoffed at the $69,000 pricetag for the rooms (which were admittedly very nice) they showed us. Every time we declined one offer, they would return with another offer, all incorporating various "discounts" and special offers: law enforcement discount! VIP discount! free plane tickets! free cruises!
When they finally presented us with an offer of less than $20,000 that was spread out with payments under $300 monthly for 100 payments, we started to get excited, and somehow we purchased. They charged a downpayment of $1800 to our credit card.
We were severely uninformed, especially because we had never done any timeshare research before, and something told me to do research that night. I found TUG -- I am so grateful! -- and spent several hours perusing the forums that night! Definitely the buyer's remorse kicked in immediately when I searched online and found deals online and on TUG for pennies on the dollar. We were so disappointed, but I found several extremely helpful guidelines for how to go about writing a recission letter, which I wrote the next day. On the fourth day, we sent a fax to the number in our contract, as well as a certified letter, with 25 pages of documentation (copied from our contract and documents we had signed). I've redacted our personal information here, but this is the letter we sent, after taking parts of several suggested letters by TUG members:
My question is, how long before we can expect to see our deposit returned? I received a confirmation report on the fax, as well as a signed return slip for the certified mail. Several users reported that Lawrence Welk representatives called them after similar letters, trying to dissuade them, but no one has contacted us, and our credit card reports that there has been no cancelling or refunding of the charges. Should I send another nastygram? I want to avoid calling, because everyone we spoke to there was an extremely smooth talker and although we plan to purchase a time-share at some point, guided by TUG and with extensive research, that office was the lair of satan, filled with gorgeous people who could talk you into ANYTHING. I do not want to get on the phone with any of them! What is the next step? Should I get a lawyer? They signed for the certified letter on the 7th day, which means that not only did I get it post-marked in time (the 4th day), they received it by fax on the 4th day and it was physically in their hands by the 7th day.
Any advice?
Thank you so much to all of the members who took time to share their experiences. You helped us feel empowered to write a competent recission letter, and I am so grateful.
When they finally presented us with an offer of less than $20,000 that was spread out with payments under $300 monthly for 100 payments, we started to get excited, and somehow we purchased. They charged a downpayment of $1800 to our credit card.
We were severely uninformed, especially because we had never done any timeshare research before, and something told me to do research that night. I found TUG -- I am so grateful! -- and spent several hours perusing the forums that night! Definitely the buyer's remorse kicked in immediately when I searched online and found deals online and on TUG for pennies on the dollar. We were so disappointed, but I found several extremely helpful guidelines for how to go about writing a recission letter, which I wrote the next day. On the fourth day, we sent a fax to the number in our contract, as well as a certified letter, with 25 pages of documentation (copied from our contract and documents we had signed). I've redacted our personal information here, but this is the letter we sent, after taking parts of several suggested letters by TUG members:
My question is, how long before we can expect to see our deposit returned? I received a confirmation report on the fax, as well as a signed return slip for the certified mail. Several users reported that Lawrence Welk representatives called them after similar letters, trying to dissuade them, but no one has contacted us, and our credit card reports that there has been no cancelling or refunding of the charges. Should I send another nastygram? I want to avoid calling, because everyone we spoke to there was an extremely smooth talker and although we plan to purchase a time-share at some point, guided by TUG and with extensive research, that office was the lair of satan, filled with gorgeous people who could talk you into ANYTHING. I do not want to get on the phone with any of them! What is the next step? Should I get a lawyer? They signed for the certified letter on the 7th day, which means that not only did I get it post-marked in time (the 4th day), they received it by fax on the 4th day and it was physically in their hands by the 7th day.
Any advice?
Thank you so much to all of the members who took time to share their experiences. You helped us feel empowered to write a competent recission letter, and I am so grateful.
. Of course, when we signed up at the OC Fair to "preview" we really had no intention of purchasing that day. We did not feel pressured at all, but thought we were getting a good deal. Tips/advice please. 