ARRP Article: Time-Share Bandits

[JourneyOfLife]

This AARP article is about a scam going around... preying on time-share and vacation club owners that hope to crawl out from under (i.e., unload) that "exciting purchase" they made in the past. :oops:


The surprising part is some people fall for the same scam (variations of it) multiple times.




Time-share Scams: How They Work - AARP (http://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2017/timeshare-scams-how-they-work.html)

[kstew43]

wow........ seems so real.....If I was desperate to sell, I would of probably done the same thing.

[valuemkt]

well written and informative article in AARP .. The reference TUG: Timeshare Users Group .. I'd also add REDWEEK .. both contain a wealth of information on selling (and buying) timeshares on the resale market .. Annual Membership Fees are very nominal .. something like 15 or 20 dollars PER YEAR

[rubicon]

My wife sold products for an international company. she attended many sales programs including how not to sell.

We received an invitation from a Timeshare company and my wife pleaded with me to go with her so she could observe their method of selling.

Much to my pleasant surprise she was not only right as to how they would double team us but she was just about perfect to the words they used to sell us.

Now she said he is going to....Then when he comes back he will say....

Bravo! I said to Mrs Rubicon well played

[spk7951]

My wife & I owned a time share for 8 years and sold it in 2002. We still get two or three requests a month soliciting for us to sell our time share. Just to show how dumb those folks can be our mailing address has changed twice since selling the time share but they can not do a decent property search to see we no longer own that unit.

[784caroline]

Timeshares are not for everyone, and even for those that enjoy them, we know people that went overboard in buying 4-6 properties and now they are wondering what to do. The people that are most unhappy are people who did not buy from a hotel name like Marriott, Disney Wyndam or Hilton or people that even bought these properties but not in prime season hoping to trade. The problem got worst for many about 5 years ago when these developers stopped selling weeks but aggressively approached the weekly owners to trade them in for "points". Alot of people did this and it does afford them alot more flexibility...ie you donot necessarily have to use the entire week at one, but the downside is this way or ownership is much harder to understand for most, and you dont really own anything while the maintenance fees on the points can go up at a higher rate than if you owned the property. Flying to mexico, europe or even hawaii sounds great but over time it gets expensive to do this every year. Trading is an advantage but it comes at an additional cost and membership fee.

I would not advise anyone to simply attend a TS or travel presentation simply to get a $100 voucher or for a cheap vacation unless you know absolutely you are the type of Person(s) who can walk out of something they call a great deal.