Timeshare Relief, Inc.

[rickandcindy23]

I have to smile at Cindy's comment about buying a property from Timeshare Relief given her apparently rock solid ethics and "I care about timeshare owners" attitude. So, if you profit then everything is above board? Otherwise it's a scam? Sounds like timeshares sales person logic to me. In fact, you admitted to me that you were a real estate broker though denied selling timeshares. I doubt that highly. I too work sixty hour weeks and my "hobbies" do not get nearly as much as attention as yours. Real estate broker combined with your timeshare "hobby" seem to suggest an industry affiliation far greater than anything I've said or done and yet I'm the one who's suspect? Please. I don't buy your "helpful caring timeshare support group" approach for a minute. You're knee deep in it and you've got something to gain from all of this. BStieger implied it, I'm saying it outright. And I'll go so far as to say that I'd bet the majority of people here are involved in it a lot deeper than they'd admit as well.

So go ahead and slam me. Call me a fool, an idiot, whatever. You only end up exposing yourselves the angrier you get so be my guest. I'm done here. I have a completely timeshare free life to live.

First, I bought my $7,500 PAHIO @ Bali Hai week (that I still own and use myself and made no profit by buying) before I knew anything about your company. I have only been on TUG for 1 1/2 years. Rick and I bid on that particular week through ebay, our very first ebay purchase, two years ago after staying at PAHIO and seeing how nice it is. We bought a second week a few months ago from another ebay reseller recently and asked via email and on the phone, if this was Vacation Solutions, Resort Acquisitions, Time No More, or Timeshare Relief. I asked specifically if this was one of the postcard companies and he said, "No," and denied knowing anything about such companies. The deed said Vacation Solutions.

So I guess lying is okay with your company, even when confronted with a direct question. I love The Conch Man's signature phrase: "Don't argue with idiots, they will just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."

It still does not make sense that you would seek out a forum such as this to talk in favor of a company that YOU supposedly paid to take your timeshare. You as transparent as saran wrap.

 

[Miss Marty]

IMO

No Timeshare is Worthless...

 

[Spence]

IMO:Some of the comments and suggestions posted here on this thread are completing out of line and should be removed by the tug moderator.

Some of the comments and suggestions posted here on this thread are completely out of line and are obviously shill posts by people who work for TR, they should remain as evidence of their ethics. I had an entertaining morning, report forthcoming.

 

[Spence]

Timeshare Relief if you positively, absolutely want out of you timeshare

Everyone knows, I call ‘em as I see ‘em, and will continue to do so.

I got the post card, I called.

They do not buy or sell timeshares, they are a transfer company, and they have tax strategies that will get me a percentage of my money invested in my timeshare. Bring all my paperwork. Do you still use your timeshare? Are you the only owner?

OK, so I took the first appointment that they offered today and arrived 30 minutes early, the second or third to arrive. They had a table set up in the lobby. Filled out their Questionnaire, which wanted most of your personal info. People were scattered around the lobby at tables and on couches, etc. A representative then came around and read your questionnaire and asked you for your post card, wrote a big pink ‘G’ on it and gave me my GAS card. That was very upfront. Did they ever take the questionnaire away from me and file it, no.

I made the rounds, talking to couples that were waiting, talking about timeshares in general and outfits that want to pay you for your timeshare and sell you a vacation club. By the time I got to the second couple, they were on me like flies on honey, wanting to know what I was talking about, they’d been told that someone in the business was there to spread misinformation and disparage them. Couldn’t be me! See post #31. Most of the people were older as you would expect for a Friday morning, I expect the younger crowd to come on Sat/Sun.

At the appointed hour they ushered about 20 of us into a small conference room with video testimonials playing up front on the screen. Then Frank, a retired Marine, got up and told his personal story about how he owned timeshare and TR got him out of it, then he went to work for them. He introduced Sam who was the ringleader and a smooth talker, though he claimed to be an engineer by trade, like David MacMillan, one of the owners.

I took notes but I’m not going to bore you with the blah, blah, blah that you would expect them to talk about, besides when I exited I think I left my notes on the table. OK, they talked about your kids being stuck with it, your ever rising MFs, a couple special assessments every 10yrs, your exchange company dues, your exchange fees if you do use it, the repercussions if you don’t pay your MFs, etc, etc. They were all over the Timesharing Today article that’s been discussed at length, a Newsweek article by Jane Bryant Quinn, and some stuff off the Wisconsin Dept of Ag website.

I was most interested in the tax strategy that I was told about on the phone, where all the timeshares go, what the cost and mechanics of the transaction are.

Let me say that this company does not sell a vacation club at this presentation, they do have a link to a vacation club on their website, why, I don’t know.

Why Timeshare Relief was started: To provide RELIEF to dissatisfied timeshare owners. Not only do our clients NEVER receive another timeshare assessment or maintenance fee billing, they are also provided with a financial solution that saves them money allowing them to break free of the "timeshare trap". Title transfers are handled by a professionally licensed, bonded, and insured title agency.

This is what they do.

Tax strategy. When they started talking about this, I pulled out DaveM’s advice and laid it on my desk. Big red letters Income Taxes and Timeshares

Sam saw this but didn’t miss a beat. He came out upfront saying that this may be an aggressive strategy but was all legal. He filled out the Schedule ‘D’ right there on the screen as an example. It didn’t matter if you’d ever made any money off of it… if you bought it thinking it was an investment, with that intent, then you could claim your $15K loss, or whatever, including developer cost, Timeshare Relief’s fees, any other fees you’d paid to one of those dastardly upfront fee companies, any special assessments you’d paid, all deductible.


TCS is the company they use for closing.

Timeshares acquired by Timeshare Relief are used by an event planning company for corporate events(conventions, executive retreats, corporate training functions, etc.).

This is their cover story for where the timeshares go. This magical event planner makes his money by booking events for Fortune500 companies and makes money, not on the TS, but on all the catering, event stuff….

When questioned directly about how they take title and how it gets out of my name, Monica said that title is taken by tadaa….. VIN Inc – Vacation Innovations Network Incorporated. Now we all know what VIN Inc does with them, don’t we?

I purposely put down one of my worst timeshares on my Questionnaire, one I’d paid $26 in 2003 from VIN Inc or maybe eMidSouth. I said there's no way an event planner could use this property. When questioned directly, Frank said that the event planner may not use my timeshare directly but turn it into ‘points’ to book a lot in one place. Oh, so the magical event planner has PFD and then breaks RCI’s rules using them for commercial purposes. Frank didn’t know anything about that. But Monica told me that VIN Inc takes title, they sell them on eBay, Frank didn’t know anything about that.

What about these tax strategies, I don’t believe them (While I don’t agree with DaveM about everything, like whether an HOA offering of Red weeks for an admin fee of $50 is ‘free’ or not, I do respect his opinions and agree with his tax advice). Frank said that TR would be glad to have their CPA talk to my CPA.

Let me see, aggressive tax strategies, shady event planners, and one other thing… they insinuated that the developer had some deed where they could go borrow money based on some sort of ownership of the resort and that my deed to real estate wasn’t really real estate because a bank wouldn’t lend me money on it. We all know why a bank wouldn't lend me money on it.

Near the end, Sam didn’t like me talking to the person next to me while waiting for one of their representatives, presentation was over. Six representatives had to cover ~20 people. He again said that he was on the lookout for this company insider, he flipped out this hardcopy Post#31 from Spence and said that this guy was coming to make trouble, see he’s a Founding Member of Sunterra, he started the company. I read the paper diligently and said I didn’t think that was the case. Well, he’s got 1417 posts on the internet, he must work in the industry. OK, have I made any trouble for you, the answer was no.

I’m not happy, obviously with their event planner story, is there an event planner, I bet there is. Tax strategy, yeah. These guys remind everyone about the bad stuff.

Do they turn around and sell them? No, not directly. Are they in bed with VIN Inc, what is their contract with VIN Inc?

What do they charge? If you have one TS, they charge 7x MF or $3495 whichever is lower. If you have more than one TS, lets talk.

I was there for quite a while, waiting and asking questions. I saw many people sign the paperwork and cough up their credit card, even the couple I first talked to in the lobby, what were they getting rid of? December OC, MD and July Barbados. The other couple I talked to left as soon as the presentation was over. The woman I sat next to didn’t have money or a credit card with her, she was negotiating her 182,000 FF points when I left.

I have a copy of all their contracts and paperwork and am glad to share, email me. Would I do business with them? Probably not.

Do they provide a service and is the service they provide legit? I believe it is. BBB rating. Their contract relieves you of your MFs immediately provided that everything was paid to date with nothing outstanding.

Do I agree with their premises, no. They claimed 4000 happy customers since 2002, website says 5000. It's gotta be more than that based on how many people signed this morning and the fact that they have four to five teams out every weekend. Normally four, but the response in the DC/MD area was so big that they had to add a day (Sun) and field another team to cover Charlottesville because of that. This team was Sam, Frank, Monica, and about three others. I asked whether Cindy or David, the owners hit the road anymore, and the answer was no. They must not be the only outfit that has a contract with VIN Inc. based on the number of eBay auctions.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Spence, they do these all over the country simultaneously. There are different company names, but they are related to one another. I have received three different postcards for our area within the last month. Time No More is my most recent, I believe. The reseller that I bought my week from (that LIED and said he was not involved with the postcard company) said that these people have huge numbers of timeshares to sell. He said I would not believe the number of weeks they have in inventory. I believe they probably do rent weeks they get from people, using that website because Vacation Solutions also has a resort website that looks very similar.

The event planning thing is just something they say to keep people from thinking that there is really value. They do not want to come right out and say they resell the weeks after that spiel.

Were you nervous? We have thought about going to these things and spy on them, but I would be nervous about facing crooks. It doesn't matter how attractive or smart they are, I am afraid of people who will keep me from talking to others about my timeshare experiences. They were obviously paranoid because they were expecting someone to give them a hassle and possibly thwart their attempts to get cash from people.

How many people actually did business with them? I am amazed that someone would be so hard up as to pay someone to take their timeshares off their hands. These are desperate people or plants by the company????? Do you think it would be a likely ruse to have one or two "plant" couples that agree with everything they say to create interest, then go to the closing table? I think that could be part of their con. It is a con.

I trust Dave M's accounting knowledge much more than some sleazy guy trying to make money off of me. No way is this going to be legally deductible. Nothing like inviting the IRS right to your front door by raising giant red flags that you are cheating on your taxes.

 

[Spence]

Spence, they do these all over the country simultaneously.

I thought I said that.

There are different company names, but they are related to one another.

You can believe in conspiracy, I do not.

I believe they probably do rent weeks they get from people

I don't think TR does, I think they do what they told me, transfer everything to VIN Inc.

The event planning thing is just something they say to keep people from thinking that there is really value. They do not want to come right out and say they resell the weeks after that spiel.

No kidding?

Were you nervous? We have thought about going to these things and spy on them, but I would be nervous about facing crooks.

No, I went to find out what there angle was and what they charge. To see what they told people and I wouldn't call them crooks. I'm not a crook because I've bought from VIN Inc.

It doesn't matter how attractive or smart they are, I am afraid of people who will keep me from talking to others about my timeshare experiences. They were obviously paranoid because they were expecting someone to give them a hassle and possibly thwart their attempts to get cash from people.

Capitalism is a wonderful and terrible thing.

How many people actually did business with them? I am amazed that someone would be so hard up as to pay someone to take their timeshares off their hands. These are desperate people or plants by the company????? Do you think it would be a likely ruse to have one or two "plant" couples that agree with everything they say to create interest, then go to the closing table? I think that could be part of their con. It is a con.

There were some couples and some singles, the 20 people probably represented ~14 interests. My bet, 10 of them signed.

I trust Dave M's accounting knowledge much more than some sleazy guy trying to make money off of me. No way is this going to be legally deductible. Nothing like inviting the IRS right to your front door by raising giant red flags that you are cheating on your taxes.

Maybe you don't understand my posts.

 

[Dave M]

Do they provide a service and is the service they provide legit? I believe it is. BBB rating. Their contract relieves you of your MFs immediately provided that everything was paid to date with nothing outstanding.

In spite of my strong words in this and other threads, I respect your conclusion, Spence. Your comment is similar to the conclusion Timesharing Today came to in its article after attending one of these presentations....

These people create a horrible economic result for some frustrated timeshare owners that simply want to wash their hands of ownership. Do they tell some lies? Yes. So do timeshare salespeople. So do car salespeople. Are the TR people crooks? Probably not, because there has been nothing discussed that would suggest their transactions are illegal. Most timeshare owners, however, would be much better served if they could find TUG before finding these people. But they don't find us.

Thus, for a very few people, they provide a service.

I overpay for some things in life because I am ignorant about those things (save the sarcastic remarks ) and can't be bothered or don't want to take the time to learn (PC stuff, hanging draperies, painting my bathroom, etc.). Am I being ripped off? Maybe. Are the people that take my money criminals merely because they charge a fortune compared to what it would cost me if I found a lower cost alternative or had the confidence to do it myself? No.

Just because we're knowledgeable enough to understand that there are much better economic alternatives available for most of TR's "customers" doesn't automatically mean that there is a criminal element involved with what TR does.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Dave and Spence, I agree with both of you on that point. As Bill pointed out, they say all timeshares are worthless, but we know that only a small percentage of timeshares are worthless. There are some that this company sells via VINinc and other resellers that are very valuable, like the Hawaii weeks we purchased.

I would still have to argue that any timeshare in any season will get you to Orlando, in a larger, nicer unit. I guess not everyone wants to go to Orlando, something that this Mickey groupie doesn't understand. There are lots of people who own blue and green weeks that are very happy with their ownerships and use their own weeks, year after year. Blue in the Colorado mountains is mud season, not much snow and not much warm sun. But some people just love to go in the off-season--no crowds and nothing to do but use the hot tub and relax in front of the fireplace, two staples for Colorado timeshares. Most of our blue/green weeks at Twin Rivers and Val Chatelle are happily being used by dues-paying owners.

 

[Spence]

At no time did TR say TS were worthless. Again, they appealed to the non TUG type people who never learn how to use their TS and pay year after year of MF with no vacations. They project out 20 years of MFs for you and don't even tack on inflation. Hey, $3495 looks pretty good compared to $10,000 and the spectre that your kids will have to pay it, too.

My stomach turns now thinking about the $50,000 developer price Sunterra TS I bought for $3500 from Ochoa, it even had curent year use which I rented out for $6000. I think about that handsome 75 year old couple in the back of the room.

 

[CaliDave]

At no time did TR say TS were worthless. Again, they appealed to the non TUG type people who never learn how to use their TS and pay year after year of MF with no vacations. They project out 20 years of MFs for you and don't even tack on inflation. Hey, $3495 looks pretty good compared to $10,000 and the spectre that your kids will have to pay it, too.

Spence, great posts in this thread.

I know at least 4 people that own pretty good timeshares. They will not take the time or have the patience to use them. year after year they pay MF's and do not use or trade thier weeks. I'm sure they have or will pay more than $3500 in MF's for time they do not use.

I have tried to help, offer advice, send them links. They either just don't get it or don't want to.

Look at vacations only or GMAC or whatever they are caled now.
They charge the buyer and seller on many transactions close to $1K each.
So for $2K, they might get rid of a worthless timeshare.

I think Spence provided a fair and balanced approach. While I would never pay someone to take my timeshare. I can see why an elderly person that has no knowledge or internet access, could be easily talked into it. For them it might be nice to have someone take it off thier hands.
I feel bad for these people, but no worse than I feel for many that pay twice the resale cost buying from developer. That's usually more than an instant $3500 loss.

Dave

 

[Spence]

Dave, send your friends to Timeshare Relief. For a set fee they will transfer the timeshare out of their name and relieve them of their responsibilities.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Spence, I have always felt a little guilty for having purchased those Hawaii weeks from ebay and the VINinc resellers. I had to start finding great deals on other sites, which has not been all that difficult.

CaliDave is thinking of www.timesharesonly.com This is the GMAC site that I used to purchase my last and final week.

 

[rickandcindy23]

You know what is kind of ironic (and funny)? My mother-in-law is completely unaware of the value of her Rockridge I blue rotating week and assumed that the value would go up and not down. When my father-in-law passed away two years ago, she started telling people about her timeshare and had a young couple she knew stay there for a week, just to try it out. The units are really nice, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, very large and in Breckenridge. Anyway, the couple just bought the week for $4,500. She was disappointed that she paid almost that much for the week years ago. I said, "take the offer." I am helping her with a quitclaim deed.

So here is a person that loved her purchase from 22 years ago and knew it had to have value, so she found a buyer. It was partly her attitude, which has not been tainted by the internet, ebay sales, this site, or any other negative that would have her believe that the week is worthless. Timeshares are worth what they are worth to the owner.

I thought this would be a great place to share this story of my cute little mother-in-law, enthusiastic about her one timeshare week. She asked what I thought it was worth two years ago, I told her I had no idea because she loved it so much and had great memories (I couldn't hurt her feelings). When they didn't use the week, they went to Mexico, Las Vegas, Southern California, Utah, Orlando and she just thinks timeshare is a magical thing. She had no idea her week was a poor trader because that was not her experience, though very limited.

Did she rip off this young couple? Not really. Maybe some of you would think she did. The resort is selling the same week for $546, the cost of the maintenance fees for the year, so they are basically giving them away. But I didn't tell her.

 

[johnv]

That's a very nice story. I'm glad your MiL found a good buyer.
Having read what came before I'm not surprised my "fiery" oratory was roundly dosed. I hoped...but...should have known better. Most heated battles must burn themselves out.
I didn't read most of what was written in response. I don't have that much time. Digested though. That's the nature of a business consultant.
I'd like to clear up a few small misunderstandings. Contrary to Jya-Ning's reply, I never implied that all timeshares faced a zero to worse resale value. In fact, a casual perusal of any resale site would prove otherwise. That's it.

I looked up a statistic at RCI that stated almost 5 million timeshare weeks are located at US resorts. In comparison, the sort of weeks being discussed here in relation to this timeshare relief company is minuscule. One of the posters mentioned a figure of 4 to 5 thousand. That's less than a tenth of a percent of the total market...a drop in a downpour. As Bill4728 (a moderator) mentioned, there are probably a few green weeks out there where owners will have to pay to have it taken off their hands.
If 4 to 5 thousand isn't a few compared to 5 million, I don't know what is. My timeshare knowledge is comparatively small, but factoring in obsolescence, conversion rates, as well as new construction, I'd bet there are probably a few more of these green lemons out there and still more to come. It's unfortunate that some owners face this situation, but from a business point of view, this model would appear to service an existing market niche that isn't going away any time soon--regardless of how long and hard you argue.

 

[rickandcindy23]

John, I certainly was not offended by your comments.

This thread was supposedly going to die away after the last post on August 9th, but lo and behold, it appeared again out of the blue and brought back to life by some who continually defend Timeshare Relief. Perhaps this thread will disappear again. I hope not. :whoopie: Let's keep people informed as much as we can about the true value of timeshare.

 

[Jya-Ning]

It's unfortunate that some owners face this situation, but from a business point of view, this model would appear to service an existing market niche that isn't going away any time soon--regardless of how long and hard you argue.

Agree, it is unfortunate. However, everything people owns, when it comes to time needs maintain or fix, already will come to situation like this. That is one of the reason people like renting instead of owning.

But since this thread is in Tug, so anyone read it has already come here, so, the question is is it worth to do it by paying other's something like 7 times MF (or $3,000), or just stick around, try to dig some info, and see if as an owner, after adjust to the reality, if you can find ways to enjoy your purchase, or to sell it yourselves without too much effort.

And I am pretty sure, if you are willing to put some effort by searching the internet and just come to this site to read through this thread, the other part is not that difficulty.

Jya-Ning

 

[JoeMid]

It amazes me that, what appear to be, shills continue to post. They seem to think that a moderator has some sort of validity, ha! From everything I can see, Spence, has given them a resounding stamp of approval in his matter of fact style.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Joe, I see why you think that.

I personally see value in Blue weeks. My mother-in-law is one example of a person who truly believes that any timeshare has value. To her, when her week fell during a particularly snowy month and skiing was still going strong, that was not a good time to be in the mountains. She liked the peace and quiet of the mountains in the between times of fall before snow and spring before summer. She thinks that a ski week is worth less than her blue one.

There truly are people who value any timeshare. It is all about the attitude of the owner. It was my MIL's attitude that allowed her to brag up her resort to everyone who would listen. She asked me the retail value of a townhouse in Breckenridge and I told her that one Val Chatelle whole-owned unit sold for $374,000. To her, selling her timeshare week was not anywhere near its truth worth. Of course, we all know differently. I wish I didn't.

No timeshare resort sits completely empty at those times of year that we consider as bad weeks and bad traders. If you have a large unit with lots of bedrooms, it feels a lot more valuable than something smaller. There truly are people who think their timeshares are valuable and would argue with all of us on value.

Hey, right now the mountains have huge amounts of snow, all the ski areas are opened early for business, the others are opening on 11/1, Wednesday. What a great thing for those blue week owners who bought their weeks for $1 on ebay.

 

[BillR]

I got one of those postcards, too. I wonder where they get their mailing lists.

RCI probably sells the list to them!

 

[Spence]

Originally Posted by Carolinian
I got one of those postcards, too. I wonder where they get their mailing lists.

RCI probably sells the list to them!

While that is a distinct possibility, many resorts and resort chains have valuable lists and often employees are to blame. The 'right' answer is, of course, all the deeds are a matter of public record.

 

[chemteach]

All the lambasting of these companies just makes me wonder about self-rightousness. On TUG, we all talk about how awful developers are, how people should discover TUG before purchasing timeshares, and how we can help people figure out what to do with their timeshares. I've spent hundreds of hours studying the industry to figure out how to best purchase timeshares, how to get great exchanges with my tiger weeks, and how to analyze my actual costs for each week I use. But ultimately, the use I get from my timeshares is partly due to taking advantage of people who don't know better how to use their timeshares. It's people like my friends who own Sands of Kahana and never use their prime weeks that make people on TUG able to get great trades. Unfortunately, most people who purchase timeshares don't know how to use them properly, or they can't plan a year out to call at 6am to get the prime week that they want with their floating week resort.

I've always felt that the companies like Timeshare Relief are providing a service to people who are clueless about the industry. If people are happy to get rid of their timeshare by paying money out, you can't fault the companies that do this for them. Of course, their tactics seem to be heavy-handed, but isn't that how most of the industry works with timeshare sales? If people didn't keep buying weeks that most of them wouldn't sooner or later realize they couldn't use the way they had hoped, there would be no market for Timeshare Relief to keep running these seminars. The fact that they seem to be expanding shows that there are unfortunately far too many people who see their timeshares as a hassle, and not the dream they had originally bought.

And no, I don't work for Timeshare Relief. I've been posting on TUG for several years now...

I'm not saying TR is perfect - there are obviously flaws! But there is clearly a market for charging people who are trying to get rid of their timeshares but don't know how to do that efficiently. It is unfortunate that with the newspaper articles that have come out in the last few years about TUG, that people have not spent the time to get onto TUG and figure out how to start using their timeshares effectively.

It does take a lot of time to learn about how to use/buy timeshares effectively, and many people are not willing /don't know how to take the time to do that.

Edye

 

[ira g]

All the lambasting of these companies just makes me wonder about self-rightousness. On TUG, we all talk about how awful developers are, how people should discover TUG before purchasing timeshares, and how we can help people figure out what to do with their timeshares. I've spent hundreds of hours studying the industry to figure out how to best purchase timeshares, how to get great exchanges with my tiger weeks, and how to analyze my actual costs for each week I use. But ultimately, the use I get from my timeshares is partly due to taking advantage of people who don't know better how to use their timeshares. It's people like my friends who own Sands of Kahana and never use their prime weeks that make people on TUG able to get great trades. Unfortunately, most people who purchase timeshares don't know how to use them properly, or they can't plan a year out to call at 6am to get the prime week that they want with their floating week resort.

I've always felt that the companies like Timeshare Relief are providing a service to people who are clueless about the industry. If people are happy to get rid of their timeshare by paying money out, you can't fault the companies that do this for them. Of course, their tactics seem to be heavy-handed, but isn't that how most of the industry works with timeshare sales? If people didn't keep buying weeks that most of them wouldn't sooner or later realize they couldn't use the way they had hoped, there would be no market for Timeshare Relief to keep running these seminars. The fact that they seem to be expanding shows that there are unfortunately far too many people who see their timeshares as a hassle, and not the dream they had originally bought.

And no, I don't work for Timeshare Relief. I've been posting on TUG for several years now...

I'm not saying TR is perfect - there are obviously flaws! But there is clearly a market for charging people who are trying to get rid of their timeshares but don't know how to do that efficiently. It is unfortunate that with the newspaper articles that have come out in the last few years about TUG, that people have not spent the time to get onto TUG and figure out how to start using their timeshares effectively.

It does take a lot of time to learn about how to use/buy timeshares effectively, and many people are not willing /don't know how to take the time to do that.

Edye

These are my exact thoughts. We have people on this board who complain about developers, companies like TR and how people are getting ripped off. Then these same people are thrilled that they are able to have gotten a terriffic buy from TR. These same people who are the loudest complainers are so happy that their relative was able to sell a dog week to an unsuspecting young couple for many times what the unit is worth directly from the HOA. Seems to be a double standard and talking out of both sides of their mouth. No I am not applauding TR and feel that they are pushing the envelope re: their honesty and truth, but many people are thrilled to get rid of their ts at any price.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Who are you talking about?

Ira, you are being unfair in your assessment of my posts.

Anyone who reads my posts about my 79-year-old mother-in-law would know that she had no idea she was selling what you are calling a "dog week." Value is in the eyes of the beholder. She felt that her week is deeded and should have gone up in value in 22 years. After all, her house has gone up in value over 10 times in 30 years. She was expecting to at least double her investment and because she didn't, she almost did not sell. The young couple are friends of hers and went with her to stay in the unit ten days ago. What is so terrible about an innocent, I would even call her naive, selling her week to a friend for that price? She has no internet access, no way to judge the value except with her attitude about the week, which she believes has value. Believe me, this happens all the time. People really do pay too much for used weeks. It is ridiculous for you to treat my posts as if I am some sort of a crook, along with my entire family.

Rick and I purchased a week from Thomas Ochoa about a year before I joined TUG. I had no idea I was buying a week from a company that tells people that timeshares are worthless and the fees will never, ever stop. If I would have known, NO WAY would I have bought a week. Then I bought another bargain on ebay from a seller who told me OVER THE PHONE that he was not with the postcard companies. Liars and conmen, that is what these people are. I stand by it.

Just because people on TUG have a skewed idea of timeshare and buy weeks on the resale for almost nothing does not mean that it is not valuable. I will never knowingly buy a timeshare from these scumbags again.

 

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I will never knowingly buy a timeshare from these scumbags again.

Cindy, Where do you think outfits like Holiday Group get their TS from? I think it's from trade-ins where a developer takes the unwanted TS for a discount off the developer price tag, but it could also well be from what you call postcard companies, wheter it be a TR or one of the many that sell the mark a vacation club membership that provides no benfit that the individual couldn't find on their own if they were saavy. Developer, independent post card company it's all part of the not so nice end of the TS business. Without developers there would be no TS, without postcard companies there's be a much smaller and fractured resale market. I'm going to have to say that I will continue to adjust my portfolio buying from whatever public source can offer me the price I can justify/afford.

 

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Edye, Ira, You've probably said it more eloquently than I ever could, but TR is not high pressure. They give you your freebie before you ever step foot in thier room, they pitch their service with stories and 'facts' that a person has to decide if they believe them or not or if they want their service. There is no high pressure and the people are not like Massanuten or even the average TS salesperson.