• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Some things Ive learned

mjta1234

newbie
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
Points
1
From dealing with owners as a travel agent I've pretty much drawn the conclusion that broken down it seems that only about 20% of all Timeshare purchase's are made as an informed decision, meaning people bought knowing full well that these things have Zero value in dollar amount on the resale market, Knowing its only a lifestyle upgrade, A future of memories, A product whose value comes from use and enjoyment.

The other 80% did NOT buy..... They were SOLD! and because they were too cheap to flip the $400 bucks for Disney tickets and walked out 2hrs later with a 25K piece of deeded time (in Central Fl anyway) They got hoodwinked into thinking they really owned something just because of a deed. They paid 25K with no clue that you cut that in half because some crazy amount like 40 to 45% of the sale price went to marketing and commission, then take 75% off that for depreciation...Ouch.. of course that revelation is in the sticky somewhere inside this forum but anyway with most of the stories I've heard, they are or felt lied to from the get go.

The Resort Sales tells them that what they buy only goes up in value, oh hey we'll buy it back anytime! just to make a sale and of course leave out the fact that only the maintenance fees ever go up, Come vacation time...Oh crap the kids soccer tourney is that week or things come up etc etc, now were paying on something we cant use, No their paying on something they dont make or take the time to use.

Now here comes the listing sites...In the beginning, Oh Sir IM sorry to inform you but what you own isnt worth anything...HUH!!!? No way I was told This property is worth this much and now they are going for this price new at the resort and if I cant get this much for it then I wont sell it, but you just told me you wanted to sell correct? ....UM Ok we'll list it for what you want....8 months later..They scammed me! I was lied to..or at least I felt like I was...sounds eerily familiar So the mind set with these listing sites became...

The dumb idiots dont know what they bought, they think these things are gold because of a deed to something they cant paint, cant hang a picture and cant even plant damn flowers out front so we'll cater to them, let em set a price we know it will never sell for.

Then comes the "We have a buyer" "We Showcase!" "All closing is covered!" "We advertise on Casey Casem's top 40!" and all the lies and misrepresentation as to what their really purchasing just so they purchase, because in the end if the listing sites were honest, customers wouldn't sign up. If that used car salesman said...yes this 2003 Chevy Venture is in great shape and low miles but this year 3400 series motor is notorious for pulling the valve train studs out of the aluminum head...would you still purchase? and the same goes for the resorts dealing with that 80% of the population that came for them free tickets.

Really whose fault is it that the dummies who handed over their CC's never looked at the website? Never really looked at the contract they had to sign and return stating they would get an AD on the internet, didnt have a clue that if these were so easy to sell online the resort would have done so from the start and forget the BBB where membership is bought and not earned, They bought advertising, same as if you put your timeshare in the local newspaper.... you pay up front with no guarantee although in the paper at least ya know what your paying for but anyway Its FSBO meaning that their job is done once that listing goes on the web, it says so right in all them dumb cheesy contracts.


It seems to me all these people didnt stop and think "if it sounds too good to be true" instead they got a case of P.T. Barnum where a sucker is born every minute. IM not at all happy that some schmuck took my Grandma for $899 and frankly Id like to hunt them down but whatcha gonna do? :( these people on the phones dont care about my Grandma or that her dog died yesterday, they just want one more on the board so they can go and feed theirs.


If in the beginning people knew they weren't going to recover their investment and these sites had great deals on there for a couple grand each then hey they might have moved a few even though the only real way to move these for anything more then a few bucks is a direct sales approach and if you cant compete with the resorts and the high pressure sales and on the spot financing then forget that option and forget posting a note at the resorts bulletin board for a unit priced to move quick when they need to sell 5 a day for top dollar, how long you think that note would stay up there? Although it has been done to some limited success I wouldn't place any bets on the bulletin board nor my 75% discounted 2 bed room.


Yes its hard for anyone who had no clue as to what they bought to stomach the fact they have to eat all that money, So these sites give them what they want... "The Hope of Gain".. its fleeting of course but for a brief moment they really think they made a good purchase decision, just like the day they walked out of that 90 min presentation.. I hear it all the time, people actually think their doing business with a legitimate company until 4, 5 and six months go by without a peep.


As an LTA I rent out some real nice properties for people But the tenants are not going to get into a fully optioned unit for $100 a night as I found out in the rental section, My customers shelled out some hard earned clams for the properties and I try and get as much of a return on their investment as I can. if someone only wants to pay $100 a night, Red Roof Inn is down the street people So when you add it all up $200 a night is not bad for a vacation in a unit that has everything, I have a Resort in Montana in late July and no way would I let it go for $700.00 for the week when I get $1600 no questions asked. People are still taking vacations despite what the media is trying to feed us because IM booking into July right now and although it is down a tad, its not a complete washout.


We pay for services up front all the time in life including all advertisement with no guarantee as well as doctor visits, we hope the visit will generate results but the doc comes in, lifts your arm, walks out and your sent out the door...hmmm it was my foot that was hurting.

So before folks on here start picking this apart, taking things out of context just to find an argument all IM presenting is this.....

"Buyer Beware"
 

DeniseM

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
57,668
Reaction score
9,088
Points
1,849
Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
So before folks on here start picking this apart, taking things out of context just to find an argument all IM presenting is this.....

"Buyer Beware"

Welcome to TUG! :hi:

You are preaching to the choir here - we are well aware of the perils of buying from the developer, and the resale scam artists.... in fact many of us have personal experience! :eek:

But....this is the most well-informed group of timeshare owners you are going to find anywhere, and you won't find too many of us getting stung twice.

Most of the regulars here are very happy timeshare owners who are making informed decisions and loving the life-style.

And since you posted a very lengthy opinion, you have to understand that others may want to respond with their's....it's the nature of a BBS...
 
Last edited:

AwayWeGo

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
15,687
Reaction score
1,630
Points
699
Location
McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
Resorts Owned
Grandview At Las Vegas

[triennial - points]
The Voice Of Experience & The Voice Of Supposition.

Some things Ive learned
Your timeshare Nightmare Scenario sounds authentic & fact-based -- as though we're getting it straight from the Voice Of Experience.

Contrast that with this completely hypothetical Nightmare Scenario, which is purely a product of the imagination based on insights gained from TUG-BBS.

Notice many similarities ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

nazclk

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,867
Reaction score
6
Points
38
Location
Fresno, CA
Things to learn

Great post for someone looking at TUG for the first time. Otherwise I think we have beat this poor horse into soap. :hysterical:
 

geekette

Guest
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
10,777
Reaction score
5,531
Points
848
I bought first from the developer and think maybe calling us dummies and idiots is not the way to endear yourself. But, you are free to call us whatever you want. I learned long ago what you just posted. But I'm not calling you names.

Instead I'm enjoying what I bought. Not so dumb.
 

Talent312

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
17,462
Reaction score
7,277
Points
948
Resorts Owned
HGVC & GTS
My complaint is that you failed to correctly attribute the quote, "A sucker is born every minute," which was not said by P.T. Barnum. See the entry at http://www.bartleby.com/66/19/5619.html for an explanation.
 

calgarygary

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
1,025
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Great post for someone looking at TUG for the first time. Otherwise I think we have beat this poor horse into soap. :hysterical:

To bad their first post was removed for offering professional services. More and more often it seems that first posters are arriving here not to learn or share but with a hidden agenda.
 

Robert D

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
1,912
Reaction score
100
Points
424
Location
Austin, TX
"We pay for services up front all the time in life including all advertisement with no guarantee as well as doctor visits, we hope the visit will generate results but the doc comes in, lifts your arm, walks out and your sent out the door...hmmm it was my foot that was hurting."
[/B]

I'm a little uncertain about this paragraph. Are you suggesting that timeshare owners should be willing to pay an upfront fee for selling their TS? If so, I strongly disagree with you. Yes, you pay upfront for a lot of things in life but most all of the stuff I pay upfront for are services that vendors have demonstrated an excellent track record of providing results for after they get my money. Very very very few of TS sellers who demand an upfront fee end up performing. In fact my opinion is that most are in the business of collecting upfront fees, not in the business of selling timeshares.
 

bogey21

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
9,455
Reaction score
4,662
Points
649
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
What I've learned is that there is a choice between high end (Marriott, HGVC, Hyatt, Starwood, etc) and the low end smaller resorts which can be bought for around $100, have lower MFs, and location (they were often there before the big boys moved in). Since I only need a 1 bedroom unit, these low cost, location, location, location resorts are for me.

George
 

mjta1234

newbie
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I'm a little uncertain about this paragraph. Are you suggesting that timeshare owners should be willing to pay an upfront fee for selling their TS? If so, I strongly disagree with you. Yes, you pay upfront for a lot of things in life but most all of the stuff I pay upfront for are services that vendors have demonstrated an excellent track record of providing results for after they get my money. Very very very few of TS sellers who demand an upfront fee end up performing. In fact my opinion is that most are in the business of collecting upfront fees, not in the business of selling timeshares.

I only mentioned that, due to I kept seeing only the words..never pay up front, as you can see the part I wrote about newspaper ads...then i went on to say at least with newspapers..you know what your going to get for the money..$40 bucks a week to list it..that is all, but im sure theres more traffic in local newspaper then listing it on "happycloudtimeshareresale.com"

Buying a billboard to advertise your plumbing bizz does not mean results will be generated. Advertising is a gamble always has been, always will be. I have yet to see anyone take these on paid on back end to any degree of success in recouping even a fraction of what was paid for it and we all know that so with that known, its not worth the effort for most

The listing companys are in the buisiness of collecting upfront fees to list your timeshare on the internet, the claims that it will sell are over the phone...not in writing correct?... I Know its shady, I also Know that once again if people were more informed before they shelled out all that money just to never use, To pay a site upfront at least knowing what they were getting and knew where the site came up on a search engine so they at least had a snowballs chance and priced to walk away insted of trying to recoup their entire investment which is a big problem and these yokels cater to them... once again the hope of gain comes into play so there always plenty of blame to go around.

As far as my first post on here about someone looking for a manhatten club rental, I posted I could help which I could until i found out theres a dollar limit of $100.00 a night and for Red Roof Inn prices during New Years in NYC I
cant help so it was best it was removed if it was..no hidden agenda here bud.

One reply said I called someone an idiot..go back and reread I said the MINDSET of these listing sites is that they think all timeshare owners are.

Yes opinions are always welcome but people always need to re-read something before they post and that goes for me as well for not seeing the $100 a night limit on rentals before I made my first post offering to help in the rental section, Reading and Comprehension are two different things

I bought some nice properties for less then 1 and 2K after closing cost etc on a couple of these sites but you have to really dig deep within all those 30K OBO listings so for 3 people it worked..prolly the only 3 in history :hysterical: but thats not my problem.

[References to poster's business deleted.]

[mjta1234 - We welcome your participation on TUG, but please don't refer to your business services in your posts. Others may perceive it as a solicitation of business. Also, regarding your post that was deleted- On the Last Minute Rental Board there are requirements for what information must be listed in your post, whether you are offering or requesting a last minute rental (see the posting requirements at the top of that board.)-DeniseM Moderator]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Top