Why Won't They Leave Us Alone?

[brp]

People here are talking about dong just that, but still being continually bombarded with calls and harassed to get parking passes, wristbands, etc. Your "solution" solves nothing for them.

Some are talking about taking this approach as their opening salvo. And, even in the cases you mention, lying and being snarky likely won't be any more effective at preventing this as it is usually different people each time. Given that likelihood, one gets to choose how one wants to approach this.

Cheers.

 

[davidvel]

Some are talking about taking this approach as their opening salvo. And, even in the cases you mention, lying and being snarky likely won't be any more effective at preventing this as it is usually different people each time. Given that likelihood, one gets to choose how one wants to approach this.

Cheers.

I guess I agree with others. Never, in many, many attempts of being polite saying no thank you have I experienced what you did--them ending the harassment. A simple white lie (if you want to call it that), like "spouse is not here to attend", ends it immediately. And even if your spouse is on the trip, the statement can be fully truthful.

 

[brp]

I guess I agree with others. Never, in many, many attempts of being polite saying no thank you have I experienced what you did--them ending the harassment. A simple white lie (if you want to call it that), like "spouse is not here to attend", ends it immediately. And even if your spouse is on the trip, the statement can be fully truthful.

Fair enough. If nice isn't working for you, I can see escalating. It's always worked for me, so no need to go beyond polite. Probably just a different approach to being polite that we're applying.

In my case, though, it would not even be a lie. "Spouse refuses to attend" is the truth

Cheers.

 

[fernow]

People here are talking about dong just that, but still being continually bombarded with calls and harassed to get parking passes, wristbands, etc. Your "solution" solves nothing for them.

The sun rises in the east. Timeshare salesman sell timeshares. (Which again, we want them to do).
If the sun rising in the east upsets me, I can howl at the moon or I can find a way to be OK with it and make my day pleasant. Mine, perhaps sadly, is the only solution.

You can change you, you cannot change them.

 

[GT75]

Which again, we want them to do

But just not to me.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

They have a job to do. I have never had anyone act rude to me. You get what you give. A simple "Thanks but we don't have time this vacation will suffice."

Personally, I like the idea stated above of a minimum for the $500 gift card or 250,000 Honors points. Who knows?

 

[pedro47]

Sales calls everyday because they receive a monetary incentive for scheduling a timeshare sales.IMHO.

My job is to said No and to unplug all the telephones in the unit. LOL.

 

[dioxide45]

A simple "Thanks but we don't have time this vacation will suffice."

Have you tried this with Wyndham? They don't take that answer quite so well. Though I haven't had them be rude, but they are VERY persistent.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@dioxide45 FYI...I have never stayed at Wyndham or Worldmark.

 

[dioxide45]

@dioxide45 FYI...I have never stayed at Wyndham or Worldmark.

Our experience with Marriott and Vistana is that a simple no seems to do the trick. They've been a little more persistent at Vistana Villages or Vistana Resort in Orlando. That said, if they are asking we are usually saying yes. I only say no to Wyndham to get them to pony up more gifts.

 

[cd5]

I just tell them I'm a director on the board (Embarc) and then for some strange reason, they don't harass me. I do get at least 1 call before I leave home, tell the caller I'm not interested and then no problem.

 

[x3 skier]

Not an HGVC owner but I was getting the deals for a stay at various properties if I listened to the Sales Pitch. Guess I've been to 10+ over the pat few years. 90 minutes of saying no was worth about a 50%-75% discount to the Rack Rate.

Last one was in DC and the Head Shark came in at the "close" attempt and asked why I was there if I wasn't going to buy. I told him, "You asked me to come and listen and I did". He said he was going to blacklist me and so far it looks like he did. Good ride while it lasted.

Apparently I spoke too soon. My email today contained an offer to visit a bunch of Hilton properties (again) for some ridiculously low prices. It didn't include DC, however.

I guess I was just in Time Out rather than Blacklisted

 

[davidvel]

Fair enough. If nice isn't working for you, I can see escalating. It's always worked for me, so no need to go beyond polite. Probably just a different approach to being polite that we're applying.

In my case, though, it would not even be a lie. "Spouse refuses to attend" is the truth

Cheers.

Just to clarify, I am always polite and nice to these people. I don't consider a little white lie to end their efforts to be rude or impolite. If they think your spouse is not there, they simply cannot sign you up. Then they can move on to showing you the restaurant discounts with the owner card. Simple and painless for all.

 

[geist1223]

We are already owners of multiple weeks with HGV. Every time we go to a HGV property and use our points, we get a ton of calls beforehand. When we get there, they harass us the entire time to go to their "owners update." That is what it is, I understand, and they have a job to do but they won't take no for an answer. We told them we aren't interested and then they call our room phone. After we don't answer that they immediately start calling my cell. Enough is enough!

Is there any way to opt out of the harassment? I used to work in the debt collection industry, which seems tame compared to how HGV treats lucrative owners in good standing.

Leave us alone and let us enjoy our vacation!

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

This is how they make Money.

 

[pedro47]

Apparently I spoke too soon. My email today contained an offer to visit a bunch of Hilton properties (again) for some ridiculously low prices. It didn't include DC, however.

I guess I was just in Time Out rather than Blacklisted

You are one brave individual.

 

[dayooper]

It's probably because I am 100% resale but we are very rarely asked to go and never harassed. The only time I was asked ore than once was in Vegas and it was polite every time. I have never been asked in any SC resort, but they always seem packed.

 

[brp]

Just to clarify, I am always polite and nice to these people. I don't consider a little white lie to end their efforts to be rude or impolite. If they think your spouse is not there, they simply cannot sign you up. Then they can move on to showing you the restaurant discounts with the owner card. Simple and painless for all.

Sounds good. I've never needed to resort to that, as a simple variant of "no thank you" works every time. But one should do that works for their situation.

Cheers.

 

[klpca]

About 10 or so years ago, my husband and two friends (from our fantasy football league) went to Vegas for a couple of basketball tournaments. It was my husband, my co-worker Marissa, and her roommate Pete. They were staying at a Wyndham timeshare in a 2 bedroom unit, Pete on the sofa bed, Marissa in one bedroom, and my husband in the other. I had warned him about the timeshare salesmen, but honestly, my husband is a bit of a joker so I knew that it was just an opportunity for him to have a bit of fun. When they asked him if he and "his wife" would like to attend he turned around and looked at Marissa, then turned back around and said "that's not my wife". Without missing a beat, the sales guy said "maybe your friends would like to go to a presentation". My husband looked over at Marissa and Pete then back to the guy and said "they aren't married either". At this point the guy was a bit speechless so my husband winked at him, then the three of them left to go to the unit. He couldn't wait to tell me how he had handled the sales pressure. There were no follow up calls. We still chuckle about it.

 

[Pennytx]

That’s hysterical made my night

 

[dougp26364]

I really have to go a different direction on this one.
A few seconds of your time for a courteous no thank you, how is your day going? versus the negative energy of worrying about a question you know is coming and you have no ability to change along with the time ( longer than the time to say no thank you) to impart the negative energy to a manager about something they also have no ability to change all for something you ultimately want to have happening.

You want them selling timeshares.

Sorry for the run-on sentence but as Mark Twain said: I’d have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have the time.

Typically this works. We politely say no and we’re done. Every now and then we get a VERY aggressive head hunter that won’t take no for an answer.

It’s unfortunate that modern day sales tactics can take a courteous response off the table. I use to have difficulty hanging the phone up on telemarketers. Unfortunately their negative energy was turning my positive energy negative. I finally learned to hang up. It’s the same with the aggressive timeshare head hunter. When a polite no thank you doesn’t cut it, their day can get ruined just the same as they’re ruining mine. I’ve learned to bite back when necessary.

 

[GT75]

Typically this works. We politely say no and we’re done. Every now and then we get a VERY aggressive head hunter that won’t take no for an answer.

I agree with your approach 100%. For many of our stays, there isn't a sales office at that location (ie. Valdoro Mtn Lodge, Embarc Panorama). So at these locations, you will never even be asked. For other stays, a simple and very polite "no thank you" will handle the initial and only request (ie. Fiesta Americana-Los Cabo, Sunrise Lodge). Now, for a few, I have always had an issue where the simple and very polite "no thank you" doesn't work (ie. Ocean Oak). I book Ocean Oak 2 times per year with 2 to 3 rooms booked each time. I don't like the concierge calling each room several times during our vacation after I have politely requested that they don't. That is the problem.

 

[dougp26364]

Some are talking about taking this approach as their opening salvo. And, even in the cases you mention, lying and being snarky likely won't be any more effective at preventing this as it is usually different people each time. Given that likelihood, one gets to choose how one wants to approach this.

Cheers.

I suppose it depends on how often one travels and how often those travels are with timeshare. We travel frequently and we’re nearly always in a timeshare. Generally a polite no thank you works. Many times I have to say it twice. If I have to say no a third time, like I did a couple of weeks ago, I’ll get more “creative” with my answer. Once they turn my positive energy negative, and that does happen on rare occasion, then their day gets ruined as they’ve ruined mine.

Keep in mind each system, and sometimes individual sales teams at various resorts within a system, train their people differently. Sometimes you get conditioned to be snarky right from the begining, like Pavlov’s dogs, because you’ve seen one to many aggressive head hunters. When we owned with DRI I had learned to be aggressive with my no right from the beginning. They had been taught very well in how to overcome objections and not take no for an answer. Their persistence could turn anyone’s positive energy dark by the time you walked away with your discount card and parking pass.

 

[phil1ben]

I bought resale and rarely get a phone call.

Another benefit of a resale purchase.............

 

[brp]

I suppose it depends on how often one travels and how often those travels are with timeshare. We travel frequently and we’re nearly always in a timeshare. Generally a polite no thank you works. Many times I have to say it twice. If I have to say no a third time, like I did a couple of weeks ago, I’ll get more “creative” with my answer. Once they turn my positive energy negative, and that does happen on rare occasion, then their day gets ruined as they’ve ruined mine.

Agree 100%. If I had to go beyond 2, it would not be fun. we travel extensively (30-40 trips a year), but most of that is hotels. Timeshares are 3-5 times a year. And two of those are DVC, where they never (in our experience) approach folks. So, 2-3 HGVC/bHC and never had to do this. But I would in a "third time" case.

Cheers.

 

[GrampaTim]

We are already owners of multiple weeks with HGV. Every time we go to a HGV property and use our points, we get a ton of calls beforehand. When we get there, they harass us the entire time to go to their "owners update." That is what it is, I understand, and they have a job to do but they won't take no for an answer. We told them we aren't interested and then they call our room phone. After we don't answer that they immediately start calling my cell. Enough is enough!

Is there any way to opt out of the harassment? I used to work in the debt collection industry, which seems tame compared to how HGV treats lucrative owners in good standing.

Leave us alone and let us enjoy our vacation!

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

We are sent to the concierge to get discounts and the “pitch”. I remain polite and say at this stage in our life we will not be investing in any more timeshares. If there is a follow up, I explain the last update we attended did not go well for HGVC. Then I switch the conversation to another, pleasant, topic. Since others are present to check in, the subject is not broached again. The room calls are computer based and I ignore them. It’s never an issue thereafter, and we always have a great time.

My suggestion: be nice, be firm, and do it in the presence of other guests.