They lured me in with lower maintenance fees

[FourJm]

I own free & clear 3 weeks Platinum at Grande Ocean. Purchased in 1992 & 1993. My annual maintenance fees are $5,700 plus $290. For Chairman’s Club. I am retired.
My kids don’t wish to take over the costs, I could rent bur I do use it.

So I’m staying at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach, went for an update lured w/ possibility of reducing my maintenance fees.

The salesman talked so fast & literately made no sense until another came in & said if I spent $19,000. I would reduce my fees to under $1,000. Per year. They showed me the pts chart -( Sheraton pts are different from Bonvoy pts which added to the confusion) but didn't say anything about buying back, at my own cost, most of my ownership & converting it to Sher Flex Ownership.

I have never been in such a confusing presentation in my life.

 

[5finny]

Hope you did not buy
If you post the details I am sure several members here can identify exactly the flaws in what you were offered
If you should have bought it is almost certain you should rescind
When you are tired of your Grande Ocean Plat weeks you will have no problem selling them They have real and significant value
If you leave them to your kids and they don't want them they can also sell them
If either you or they sell them make sure you either sell them yourself or use a reliable broker
Quick check of redweek shows listed prices start at $17,900
Even assuming that you have to come down from list these would certainly not be a financial drag on you or your kids (or at least not for long)

 

[Passepartout]

Beware of any 'trade-in' scheme. They REALLY don't want your 'old' TS contract. If you buy their 'new' one, you could well end up with both of them and a new mortgage to boot.

Jim

 

[VacationForever]

Sheraton Flex is worth zero in the resale market. They wanted you to give up your valuable timeshare, and then pay more for worthless Sheraton Flex. $5,700 MF for timeshare that gives you Chairman's Club is so worth it. You make money whether you rent the weeks out or Abound points.

I am at Chairman's Club and my MF is about $12K.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Sheraton Flex is worth zero in the resale market. They wanted you to give up your valuable timeshare, and then pay more for worthless Sheraton Flex. $5,700 MF for timeshare that gives you Chairman's Club is so worth it. You make money whethyou rent the weeks out or Abound points.

I am at Chairman's Club and my MF is about $12K.

This!

You have something extremely valuable, don't fall for this scam. And it is a scam. Fees on Hilton Head cannot be under $1,000 for three weeks.

You are in a good place with what you own. I cannot believe your kids don't want to inherit that. Too bad the status and points won't transfer to a new buyer.

Nothing they have is worth what they charge for it. I don't care where or what they are selling, especially if it's in Sheraton Flex. Total crap.

 

[TUGBrian]

is the second "trade in/down" scheme we have heard from marriott owners in as many weeks! Not a welcome change

I hope you were confused enough to not sign anything and if you did please rescind immediately!

 

[dioxide45]

Beware of any 'trade-in' scheme. They REALLY don't want your 'old' TS contract. If you buy their 'new' one, you could well end up with both of them and a new mortgage to boot.

Jim

This isn't really how it works in the Marriott/Vistana world. Unlike Mexico, they will take back your old deeds and convert them to their points product to resell them. THe reality is, that even if you get lower fees, you end up with an inferior product to the deeds you previously owned.

 

[dioxide45]

is the second "trade in/down" scheme we have heard from marriott owners in as many weeks! Not a welcome change

I hope you were confused enough to not sign anything and if you did please rescind immediately!

They somehow pull this scam off. I had someone contact me on Facebook who somehow got fewer points by converting their mandatory (may have been voluntary direct with StarOptions) Sheraton Vistana VIllages weeks to Sheraton Flex. In the end they had fewer points and higher maintenance fees per point. What a ripoff. I can't beleive these salespeople can sleep at night and I can't believe Marriott Vacations would allow such a deal to go through.

 

[WorldT]

Really true that people don't even know what they own. MF is based on how many weeks you own. If they are on separate contacts, you could just sell some weeks and keep some. If all on the same contract, sell all and buy the number of weeks you want to keep.
Word to self: Don't ever buy something you don't understand.

 

[Red elephant]

They somehow pull this scam off. I had someone contact me on Facebook who somehow got fewer points by converting their mandatory (may have been voluntary direct with StarOptions) Sheraton Vistana VIllages weeks to Sheraton Flex. In the end they had fewer points and higher maintenance fees per point. What a ripoff. I can't beleive these salespeople can sleep at night and I can't believe Marriott Vacations would allow such a deal to go through.

This is the new scam they are pulling. Give me your SVV or SVR weeks for Sheraton flex in order to lower your maintenance fee going forward. No mention of the fact that those 2 resorts are part of Sheraton flex as well therefore flex fees goes up as well.

 

[FourJm]

This is the new scam they are pulling. Give me your SVV or SVR weeks for Sheraton flex in order to lower your maintenance fee going forward. No mention of the fact that those 2 resorts are part of Sheraton flex as well therefore flex fees goes up as well.

Yes this along with a tirade of confusion & fastvtalking as he tried to figure me out….alot of negative assumptions about how my deed was written with respect to inheritance and you can’t split the weeks up to sell etc. All bull.

You need to know your ownership before you go into these meetings. You are a target!
I was sized up as an older widowed woman.

This meeting was the worst of any I have attended over the years. Bullying, negative assumptions, gang-up, with a finale of 2 ridiculous offers.

 

[Red elephant]

Yes this along with a tirade of confusion & fastvtalking as he tried to figure me out….alot of negative assumptions about how my deed was written with respect to inheritance and you can’t split the weeks up to sell etc. All bull.

You need to know your ownership before you go into these meetings. You are a target!
I was sized up as an older widowed woman.

This meeting was the worst of any I have attended over the years. Bullying, negative assumptions, gang-up, with a finale of 2 ridiculous offers.

That is exactly what happened to me at Sheraton Vistana Villages. Then he got nasty when I refused.They are getting so desperate now to sell their shitty points.

 

[VacationForever]

At Lakeshore Reserve, the salesperson said that maintenance fees of my Grande Vista week is going to sky rocket while DC points MF don't go up. I called out her lie right away, that DC points MF is an aggregate of all underlying deeds and it has a ton of shoulder season weeks, yielding fewer points which then translates to higher MF per point, and that there are properties that cost alot more in MF like Aruba. She then nodded her head. She tried a different angle that if I don't use my Grande Vista week anyway, then I should trade it in for more DC points. I asked why would I do that? A Grande Vista week can be locked off for 2 trades in II back into other Marriott properties while DC points cannot even trade back into a Marriott property in II. We were out of there in 30 minutes.

 

[cubigbird]

We are also seeing reports of this posted on social media. Sounds like the new spin coming from sales, probably in response to maintenance fee increase complaints. Sales always has a solution!

 

[rickandcindy23]

I can imagine Rick's reaction to a pushy, angry salesperson.

 

[davidvel]

Yes this along with a tirade of confusion & fastvtalking as he tried to figure me out….alot of negative assumptions about how my deed was written with respect to inheritance and you can’t split the weeks up to sell etc. All bull.

You need to know your ownership before you go into these meetings. You are a target!
I was sized up as an older widowed woman.

This meeting was the worst of any I have attended over the years. Bullying, negative assumptions, gang-up, with a finale of 2 ridiculous offers.

What date did you buy? Have you rescinded? You need to act ASAP.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I own free & clear 3 weeks Platinum at Grande Ocean. Purchased in 1992 & 1993. My annual maintenance fees are $5,700 plus $290. For Chairman’s Club. I am retired.
My kids don’t wish to take over the costs, I could rent bur I do use it.

So I’m staying at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach, went for an update lured w/ possibility of reducing my maintenance fees.

The salesman talked so fast & literately made no sense until another came in & said if I spent $19,000. I would reduce my fees to under $1,000. Per year. They showed me the pts chart -( Sheraton pts are different from Bonvoy pts which added to the confusion) but didn't say anything about buying back, at my own cost, most of my ownership & converting it to Sher Flex Ownership.

I have never been in such a confusing presentation in my life.

They lied. If you are still inn your rescission period, go to the post office and mail a rescission letter immediately.

 

[dansimms]

I own free & clear 3 weeks Platinum at Grande Ocean. Purchased in 1992 & 1993. My annual maintenance fees are $5,700 plus $290. For Chairman’s Club. I am retired.
My kids don’t wish to take over the costs, I could rent bur I do use it.

So I’m staying at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach, went for an update lured w/ possibility of reducing my maintenance fees.

The salesman talked so fast & literately made no sense until another came in & said if I spent $19,000. I would reduce my fees to under $1,000. Per year. They showed me the pts chart -( Sheraton pts are different from Bonvoy pts which added to the confusion) but didn't say anything about buying back, at my own cost, most of my ownership & converting it to Sher Flex Ownership.

I have never been in such a confusing presentation in my life.

If you are only paying that amount as a Chairman benefit level, that is about as well as you could passably do ! It looks like you only pay about 40 cents per Abound Point in maintenance fees ! That is great! Similar to Marriott Grand Residence fees.

 

[rickandcindy23]

At Lakeshore Reserve, the salesperson said that maintenance fees of my Grande Vista week is going to sky rocket while DC points MF don't go up. I called out her lie right away, that DC points MF is an aggregate of all underlying deeds and it has a ton of shoulder season weeks, yielding fewer points which then translates to higher MF per point, and that there are properties that cost alot more in MF like Aruba. She then nodded her head. She tried a different angle that if I don't use my Grande Vista week anyway, then I should trade it in for my DC points. I asked why would I do that? A Grande Vista week can be locked off for 2 trades in II back into other Marriott properties while DC points cannot even trade back into a Marriott property in II. We were out of there in 30 minutes.

You are way too enlightened to be a victim of the lies. This is such a perfect answer.