Attending time share presentation to get free vacation? Worth it? Catches? See my situation: (restrictions, cost)
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Most people I'm sure have heard of this. Time Share calls you to solicit. "Free hotel stay and airfare at such an such location, in exchange for attending 90 minute time share presentation, no obligation to buy"
Then if you can get through the 90 minute high pressure sales pitch, you get to continue on with your free vacation. They of course try all kinds of things to get you to buy.
Well I've got sales resistance that would put a brick wall to shame.
Now, you may be thinking it is unethical to take their benefits of the vacation with no intent to buy. Well, I agree. That's why I politely declined the first dozen times they called me, and told them to remove me from their calling list, which they clearly have not. And yes, I have verified through timeshare that it really is timeshare calling me and not a scammer.
So now I'm thinking, okay, I've given them several chances to stop wasting my time, time to waste theirs and have a free vacation.
The one they are offering now on the latest voicemail is enticing. 3 nights in an Orlando hotel and two 2-day passes to Walt Disney World, free round trip air fare on Jet Blue, from Richmond. Trip is for 2 in every aspect.
The reason this is enticing is I am a single Dad with an 8 year old daughter. And I have an online business and work from home and can take off anytime. So I can take my daughter on her first plane ride and on her first trip to Disney World to finish out her summer vacation, and it won't cost me a penny.
If I take their deal, we would arrive in the afternoon of Friday August 26th, and spend the 26th, 27th and 28th in the hotel and fly back on the 29th, all paid by timeshare.
My obligation, of course, is to attend the 90 minute time share presentation, which lasts from 7:30pm to 9:00 pm on the 26th, in a conference room at the Orlando Hotel.
The particular hotel has a child daycare and fun center that is open until 10:00pm called "The Pelican Club"
So what if I take their deal?
We get there, check in, then just before meeting time I drop my daughter off at the Pelican Club and head to the conference room.
If they start the meeting my asking us to introduce ourselves, I'll say:
"Well my name is Ryan, I am a 30 year old single dad here with my daughter, and we are doing this for the free vacation. See, I've been getting these calls soliciting the vacations for a while now, and timeshare has consistently refused to cease calling me. So I finally said "What they hey, I could use a fee vacation" So here I am, and that's why I'm here. There is NO chance of me purchasing a time share here today. I am here merely to attend, listen, and spend the next two days going to disney world with my daughter,m as per our agreement."
Make sure to check the fine print ... typically time shares are looking for married couples. Any time I've been approached, one of the first questions they ask is if I'm married, and when I say no, I'm suddenly not so interesting to them. There may be restrictions on the ages of who can be included on the free airfare, etc.
Agree about reading the fine print. If you are thinking about attending the pitch in your hometown, check to see if/when you can use the hotel and plane. Maybe not together, def. not during a peak period. The hotel is probably not that close to Disney and maybe not really in the city limits of Orlando, but the Orlando-area.
The time at the pitch is time you will never have again.
Well I've got sales resistance that would put a brick wall to shame.
That's probably the most important part.. But, the old adage.. if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is.
Hertfordshire is right as well.. Usually one of their first questions is "Are you married" and if not.. You don't qualify. Won't stop them from calling you back over and over again, but..
That's probably the most important part.. But, the old adage.. if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is.
Hertfordshire is right as well.. Usually one of their first questions is "Are you married" and if not.. You don't qualify. Won't stop them from calling you back over and over again, but..
I am divorced, in a relationship but will not remarry.
I have not been asked this yet, but what happens if I am and I simply say "Yes?"
Because very few people carry around a copy of their marriage certificate to be able to prove it. Do they just take my word for it?
Make sure to check the fine print ... typically time shares are looking for married couples. Any time I've been approached, one of the first questions they ask is if I'm married, and when I say no, I'm suddenly not so interesting to them. There may be restrictions on the ages of who can be included on the free airfare, etc.
I am divorced. What if they ask and I simply say yes? Do they just take my word for it? I'll have to find out about the fine print when I call them back tomarrow morning.
The 2 different parties that I know of who have time shares are wanting to get out of them badly. One a single woman says it's been a hassle trying to match time off, get in on a good season, and the horrible places they put her up with. The costs are not worth it. Trying to get out of the contract is impossible.
The other party a married couple say they have only gotten dirty places to stay and generally it's in the off season where they can get a place to stay. They have been trying to sell their time share for several years with no luck.
Both parties say just save your money, plan in advance where and when you want to go, and avoid all the timeshare hassles.
And if it sounds too good to be true, well you know that old adage....
It won't just be a 90 minute presentation. You'll be lucky to get out of there in 3 hours. My SO and I attended one of these during our trip to Orlando with the promise of free tickets to Disney World, so we thought "why not".
What an experience!
We were assigned a salesperson when we arrived, ushered into a large conference room with about 50 tables. Each table had a poor unsuspecting family and a salesperson. After the presentation and a tour of the facilities, we were ushered back into the room where the salesperson tried his best to convince us that this was an opportunity of a lifetime. Throughout his spiel I kept repeating and repeating that we were only there for the free Disney tickets.
After what seemed like an eternity, he gave in and went off to get his supervisor to sign off on his failed attempt to get us to buy into the scheme. Then along came the supervisor (the closer) and once again we were bombarded with more sales talk but much more intense than the original attempt. This guy was downright insulting when I told him I didn't like the idea of a timeshare, but preferred other types of holidays. Anyway in the end he gave up and we got ONE free ticket.
So do read every word of the fine print and be prepared to endure the most excruciating 3+ hours of your life!
It won't just be a 90 minute presentation. You'll be lucky to get out of there in 3 hours. My SO and I attended one of these during our trip to Orlando with the promise of free tickets to Disney World, so we thought "why not".
What an experience!
We were assigned a salesperson when we arrived, ushered into a large conference room with about 50 tables. Each table had a poor unsuspecting family and a salesperson. After the presentation and a tour of the facilities, we were ushered back into the room where the salesperson tried his best to convince us that this was an opportunity of a lifetime. Throughout his spiel I kept repeating and repeating that we were only there for the free Disney tickets.
After what seemed like an eternity, he gave in and went off to get his supervisor to sign off on his failed attempt to get us to buy into the scheme. Then along came the supervisor (the closer) and once again we were bombarded with more sales talk but much more intense than the original attempt. This guy was downright insulting when I told him I didn't like the idea of a timeshare, but preferred other types of holidays. Anyway in the end he gave up and we got ONE free ticket.
So do read every word of the fine print and be prepared to endure the most excruciating 3+ hours of your life!
When the 90 minutes was up, Why didn't you just pull out the paperwork of their offer and say:
"90 minutes is up now. Here is the paperwork of your offer, we want our free tickets, BOTH of them, right now as offered. We fulfilled our end of the bargain, you will now fulfill yours and pay for ALL of what you promised to pay, or, you refuse, and we can go to court. You've got til the count of ten to decide. 1....2...."
So yes, for me, it really WOULD be a 90 minute presentation. That's their offer, that's what I'm holding them to. I would be more than happy to stand up on a table, cup my hands over my mouth and announce to everyone there that Timeshare does not intend to fill their end of the bargain, then take my trip anyway and file in small claims court for reimbursement later. Or Timeshare can have their 90 minutes, hand over what they promised, and life is good. Easy way or hard way, their choice.
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