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I did one in Mexico once. Partly for the freebies, partly because I had never done it before and was curious about the hard sell process.
Westijeff in post 17 describes my experience pretty well. The salesman started with some soft questions that you will answer yes to. Do you like to go on vacation? Do you like to be treated well? Do you like to save money?
Followed by a tour of the property, more softball questions. Can you see yourself by this pool? See those people on the beach, doesn't that look great? Wasn't that a great breakfast you had at our restaurant? Wouldn't it be great to live this lifestyle all the time?
The entire time the sales guy avoided any questions related to cost. We will talk about that later, it all costs less than booking through normal methods, look at the parrot, isn't that an amazing bird?
Eventually they lead you back to the sales area, a bit more chit chat, some more softball questions, like isn't it a wonderful property?
Eventually they work to the pitch. For only $30k, you can buy into the timeshare and get a certain number of nights. Great price, you can leave it to your children, use the time at other properties, stay anywhere in the world, yadda, yadda. Sign here and it is yours. You will own a portion of this property.
I asked a few questions, because they were shifting documents back and forth, mixing contract paperwork with marketing materials, shifting to some other document that claimed to give airline discounts for timeshare members, etc. They kept saying that they would explain it all after I signed.
Nope. Tell me about the maintenance. Wasn't there something about maintenance? What do I get for that?
Well, that is a pretty minor cost. Just a few hundred a year. Might go up a bit over time. Not limited to inflation, or a hard cap. Actually, no limits at all as to how much they might raise the maintenance.
Ok, how about the booking fee? You said something about that? I have to pay a fee to make a booking for time that I own?
Yes, but it is minor. Only $200 or so to stock your room with alcohol and stuff?
Oookay. Does the room cost anything?
Just $150/night or so.
Wait. I pay $30k up front, a few hundred a year for maintenance, up front for alcohol, and I still have to pay $150 a night to stay here?
Yes, of course, but that is a greatly discounted rate. Our normal rate for this hotel is $400/night, so you save $250. That more than pays for the food.
Wait? Food? How much?
Well, that is another $?? daily. Depends on which food plan you want.
Ok, so let me get this straight. $30k, maintenance, alcohol fees, nightly rates, and daily costs for food? When do I get to see the great deals?
At this point the sales manager gets huffy, tells me that I do not appreciate the great offer that they are giving me, and I obviously do not understand math (I work with big budgets daily at work, including amortized cost. Not a problem for me). He then proceeds to start scribbling figures on paper, showing how much I save vs doing a vacation on my own.
He included airfare in the self-vacation, didn't bother to include it as a cost in the timeshare vacation. He escalated annual vacations for inflation, and did not bother to do it for the timeshare. He kept omitting things like the annual maintenance, and made a few math 'errors' that inevitably reduced the cost of the timeshare by a huge amount.
My wife, who is not good with math, was completely confused. I spent my time correcting his errors, pointing out his omissions, and generally having a good time.
I pointed out that we had agreed to 90 minutes, we were now at 100 minutes, and we would like our free stuff or I would start talking to the couple at the next table who were asking for pens.
Guy got all red in the face, told us we were making a huge financial mistake, but he could not help people who didn't understand finance. Gave us our stuff and stomped out of the room.
I dont plan on buying, I just have to sit through the presentation to get the discount
We once sat through a presentation and it was excruciating, I kept asking questions that irritated the salesman and he tried to pressure and guilt trip and was manipulative. As others have stated they are sharks,I nicknamed our salesman tommy the tongue because he wouldn’t shut up as he circled our table and was ready to bite my head off. Never again.
I used to sit through things like this all the time in the 80s and 90s, scoring concert tickets, dinner cruises, a free night in a hotel, that sort of thing. I sort of enjoyed the sales pitches (even the hard ball ones) and touring the properties was interesting. And every once in awhile I liked the presentation enough to seriously consider it.
But times have changed.
Just a warning, the days of free gifts for the price of listening to a sales pitch are mostly over. The high pressure sales techniques have been ratcheted up quite a bit, to the point of being thuggish.
The last time I went to a time share sales presentation, the salesman became very loud and nasty, and inferred that we would be arrested for fraud if we didn't sign up (the inference being we had broken the law by deciding we would not buy before he began talking with us). It was lucky that I happen to be a very strong minded person, and that I happened to have my badge on me. While not a police badge (I'm fire/rescue) when I pulled it out that got his attention and "amazingly" his supervisor needed him to do something else and we were allowed to leave.
I guess he was worried I might have called my friends at the police station (and guess what, I did. As well as the BBB. That level of pressure crosses a line, IMO.)
After our little tour we came back to the main building and basically sat at a table in this massive room filled with tables and suckers and salespeople all trying to desperately get folks to buy in.
Why go thru all that hassle when a simple, “No, I’m not interested, but thank you for a lovely presentation.” works just fine?
Now, if the OP has thought about a timeshare and is truly interested in what they’re selling, then yes, they should educate themselves; however for free points and a discount stay? Nope
I just recommended it as fortification in case the OP was subjected to the hard sell and needed ammo to resist. I'm pretty sure a high % of people go in planning to sit through it and not buy anything but enough change their minds to make it worthwhile for the timeshare company to offer the freebies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fishbrains
I did one in Mexico once. Partly for the freebies, partly because I had never done it before and was curious about the hard sell process.
<snip>At this point the sales manager gets huffy, tells me that I do not appreciate the great offer that they are giving me, and I obviously do not understand math (I work with big budgets daily at work, including amortized cost. Not a problem for me). He then proceeds to start scribbling figures on paper, showing how much I save vs doing a vacation on my own.
He included airfare in the self-vacation, didn't bother to include it as a cost in the timeshare vacation. He escalated annual vacations for inflation, and did not bother to do it for the timeshare. He kept omitting things like the annual maintenance, and made a few math 'errors' that inevitably reduced the cost of the timeshare by a huge amount.
I love it- wish I'd been there to watch! Pretty sad, though, to think that people like your wife, who can't follow the numbers as easily (and I'm sure they were thrown at you hard and fast) could get suckered in.
I'm flying into Cabo San Lucas next month- will be interesting to see how many timeshare sellers there are although I'm heading straight to a cruise and then straight home from the ship.
So a few summers ago and I take my family and my brothers family on a trip to Disneyworld, I have a dvc timeshare. My sister in law tells me that to thank me for the gesture she's going to take the family out to dinner. OK, sounds nice right? wrong, she takes us to a timeshare presentation, one of those all you can eat deals. well I get there and they immediately ask me to fill out forms which I refuse. I tell them I already own a timeshare and am in no way interested in getting another one. that I am a guest of someone.
He say's "no problem", we have dinner, a sad "Hawaiian" theme entertainment and some carnival games where you win fake money to supposedly put down on your purchase. As I get ready to leave, that's when the hard sell starts. Of course the guy gets really upset when he realizes that I have no interest and am not buying a darn thing. I remind him that I informed him flat out of this before I put so much as an ice cube in my mouth
I was seriously pissed at my sil. My time on vacation is way to valuable.
I get offered these things all the time but I always refuse to go. My idiot brother in law got roped into one of these timeshares in FL and can't get out of it. He is the typical sucker these sharks go after. My sister refused to pay for any of this and he's paying for it with his own personal savings. Lol what a Dumba$$.
I am a member of the Hilton Honors reward program and I just recently received an email from them for $199 for 3 nights in Orlando or Las Vegas and 15,000 points. To get that rate you have to book it before March 5th and listen to a timeshare presentation.
Actually many years ago we did get a good price plus show tickets for listening to a time share. Yes, it was Hilton and no they are not particularly high pressured. In fact we listened to more than one. Finally we bought into the time share offer, but only cause we wanted to and love the convenience of knowing we would have a place to go on vacation. Just be prepared, it will be a couple of hours out of your vacation and you will need to know the words, no thanks but it was worth it.
We went to a couple other ones that were much pushier. That turned us off big time.
And they end up buying and regretting it the rest of their lives.
My advice: Don't bother.
only if you have no will power. Otherwise it can be worth the few hours and let me assure you,not everyone who buys a time share regrets it.
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