Your worst timeshare presentation experience?

[dmarcin]

Good for You Perry. Well said. I totally agree and am looking for a way to stream line the process. There has to be a way to reduce the time between the greeting, tour and the gifting process. Ninety minutes or bust!!!!

 

[carlbarry]

I got suckered into time share presentations a few times, but here's my worst:
I bit on a bargain set of vacations from Ramada. My first vacation was in Ft. Lauderdale. Had to drive to Weston for the pitch. The salesman told me to NEVER buy in Orlando, as there were too many places there to be able to trade; buy in Weston, because people are dying to come there to golf!
A few months later I took the next leg of my vacation, to Orlando. I was then expected to go on yet another presentation. I told the saleslady that I would never buy from them, because they lied: the material I received (and I brought a copy with me) said clearly "a" presentation at "a" resort. "A" means one, and I already went on one. I also mentioned that I had just bought a timeshare on Ebay, for $100, for Star Island.
She was polite, said no sense wasting everybody's time, I could get my voucher without the sales tour. I said, where's my free Disney tickets I was promised? She replied, not without the tour. So I took the tour!
It was very pleasant, as there was now no pressure, because there was no way I was buying. But it did last 3 hours! At the end, she went through the motions. Then the (elderly) closer came in. Gave me the presentation, said, "This is where you ask where you sign." So I told him I was mad at the lie, and besides, I just bought on Ebay. He then politely said I got a great deal, but there was probably a catch. Also advised me to ALWAYS buy in Orlando. I laughed and told him what the Weston salesman said!
Then the "management" guy came with the "survey." Asked me some questions, "Is the main reason you didn't buy price?" I said yes, I just bought on Ebay for $100. He looked at me, blinked, and said, "If you bought for $100, I guess I can't sell you anything, I'll escort you out."
End of story is: I wrote to Ramada about their misleading offer. A few weeks later I received a letter informing me that my entire $199 cost would be refunded! So I guess I did better than all the people who were outside the timeshare "office" screaming at salespeople, "You lied! I didn't know this was for a timeshare!"

 

[swift]

I think our worst was a Shell Vacations presentation in San Francisco. Talk about high pressure sales. After going through the pitch and us turn them down they would shake our hands, bid us good bye and tell us they would be right back with our free gift. Only instead of the gift it would be a new closer coming in to try one more time. I think we went through 7 salesmen before they finely cut us loose. :annoyed:

 

[AwayWeGo]

Hey -- That Sounds Semi-Familiar.

I bit on a bargain set of vacations from Ramada. My first vacation was in Ft. Lauderdale. Had to drive to Weston for the pitch.

The Chief Of Staff sprang for 1 of those -- $200 for 2-night stays in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, & Puerto Vallarta.

We skipped Puerto Vallarta.

We combined Ft. Lauderdale & Orlando -- flew from here to FLL, rented a car, drove to Rockledge FL for a visit with my aunt & cousin, then drove on to Orlando. Accommodations for our 2-night Orlando stay were in a dinky & oldish Ramada motel off I-4 way out at the Rt. 27 exit. The timeshare tour was at Vacation Village At Parkway, which was extremely nice & which actually opened our eyes to the desirability of timeshare vacationing -- except that the price was way over anything we would be willing to pay.

After that, we drove down Rt. 27 & back to Ft. Lauderdale, checked in to some forgettable accommodations (Ramada Inn, I think) & took a timeshare tour -- Vacation Village At Weston, I think, which was also extremely nice, but not in a location we could envision ourselves going for repeat future vacations. We were imprinted on Orlando.

Later on, we did the Las Vegas part of the deal & actually stayed at the timeshare they were trying to sell us -- Ramada Vacation Suites Las Vegas (later renamed Las Vegas Leisure Resort & later still Summer Bay Las Vegas). Las Vegas is a long way to travel for just 2 nights, so we made our own reservations in Henderson NV for a couple more nights & turned the event into a real nini-vacation. All I remember of the timeshare tour is that there was 1 room where they took people who already own timeshares & another for non-owners. Also, the timeshare seller said 10% percent of the prospects buy. After we said No Thanks to the timeshare(s) they offered us,their last-ditch pitch was for a special "employee discount purchase price" which they could offer that "1 time only" because it was for their "last remaining close-out unit" at their other timeshare in Reno NV. We said No Thanks.

We had a nice time at all the places we stayed. We learned something about timeshares & timesharing. The experience planted a seed. In fact, what we saw on a highway billboard after completing the high-pressure Orlando tour for Vacation Village At Parkway opened our eyes to the availability of resale timeshares, & the rest is history. Click here for the complete story. (More than you may care to know.)

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

 

[carlbarry]

I went to the Ft. Lauderdale leg first, and was subjected to the Weston pitch. When I got home, I looked up that timeshare on Ebay, and found that they were going for--hold on to your hat--$1! Imagine buying the "huge bargain" in Weston for $11,000, and finding out you overpaid by about $11,000!
As for the delay in getting the gift, the first presentation I went to, about 15 years ago--before I had even heard the term timeshare--was at a shopping center here for the Rank Organization (remember their British movies--opened with a guy hitting a gong?). Are they even still in business?
Anyway, I was promised a pocket LCD TV. When they finally let me into the "gift room", they flashed the TV at a counter, but said, "You can choose any of these other gifts." So I looked around the gift-lined room, and almost chose a wireless phone. Then I realized the gimmick--all the gifts on display were worth $20-$30, while the TV was worth $125! They have it ALL figured out! So I went back to the counter and said I'd take the TV. The guy looked a little surprised, shrugged, and handed it over.

 

[wcfr1]

My worst was my most recent, Summer Bay in Orlando. I knew it wasn't going to go well when the sales rep started off by saying early on he just wanted to be our friend and he didn't really care if we bought or not.

Well we didn't and he was no longer our friend.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I have been thinking of this thread fondly the last few days.

There are a few salespeople who posted on this thread, and I was thinking how nice we are to everyone who posts here, even when it is obvious that there are motives for their posts. Yes, it would be nice if all of your prospects, or your husband's prospects, bought a timeshare, but that is fantasyland, and that is somewhere in Disney, not in the real world.

There are those of us who are really curious as to why people we respect on this board would buy a Marriott from the developer, and I am one of those people. I wanted to know why people would pay that much and thought those points had to be the key, so I wanted to hear more about them. I just found out from a relative that the point levels, and what they would do for us, was all a lie too. I found this out 2 1/2 months later, so it's a good thing we walked away. I guess we couldn't take a trip for two to Australia, flight and accommodations included, every-other-year.

I won't be attending any Marriott sales presentations in the future, rest assured, because my impression was disappointing, to say the least. The lies were so many, my husband keeps reminding me of them, just as we are preparing for our next stay in Orlando, at the Marriott Grande Vista. He says, "No sales tours," and I agree wholeheartedly. I am going to make a point of telling the front desk, "NO SALES CALLS," and if you wake us up in the morning, expect rude behavior this time, because polite obviously doesn't work for some people.

 

[AwayWeGo]

How To Tell They're Lying.

I just found out from a relative that the point levels, and what they would do for us, was all a lie too. I found this out 2 1/2 months later, so it's a good thing we walked away.

Their lips are moving.

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