A question re: timeshare tours

[Zoemakes5]

As many of you are aware, we were going to purchase Fairfield resort time last weekend, but it fell through at the last minute. (Long story short, but the money that was supposed to be deposited into our acct. wasn't and we couldn't cover the deposit without it.....dealing with payroll as we speak!)
I like them though, very much. When we visited, the representative indicated that usually the company will give two days comp. in a room to get you to take the tour, or in some areas, free attraction passes.
So, my question is.....does Fairfield do that in Orlando at all? What do they do? How would I go about scheduling something? How soon after a previous tour can we do another tour? (Oh, and would anyone like to "refer" me so they get the ambassador points?)
What about non-Fairfield properties? Anyone know how they do it?
Also, we were told it was automatic approval for up to a certain $ amount (for us it was $50,000) if you could prove income. Is that consistent throughout the system, or just a special that was happening in my area? Or just with Fairfield?
Thanks all!

 

[HappyLawyer]

As many of you are aware, we were going to purchase Fairfield resort time last weekend, but it fell through at the last minute. (Long story short, but the money that was supposed to be deposited into our acct. wasn't and we couldn't cover the deposit without it.....dealing with payroll as we speak!)
I like them though, very much. When we visited, the representative indicated that usually the company will give two days comp. in a room to get you to take the tour, or in some areas, free attraction passes.
So, my question is.....does Fairfield do that in Orlando at all? What do they do? How would I go about scheduling something? How soon after a previous tour can we do another tour? (Oh, and would anyone like to "refer" me so they get the ambassador points?)
What about non-Fairfield properties? Anyone know how they do it?
Also, we were told it was automatic approval for up to a certain $ amount (for us it was $50,000) if you could prove income. Is that consistent throughout the system, or just a special that was happening in my area? Or just with Fairfield?
Thanks all!

I own at OLCC and i have not heard of this at all, it is my belief that most of the places there will work with you and let you pay your deposit over a period of time, my friend bought and she had a pay issue, her school disbursement check did not hit when it was supposed to and they worked with her at summber bay,

 

[Zoemakes5]

I own at OLCC and i have not heard of this at all, it is my belief that most of the places there will work with you and let you pay your deposit over a period of time, my friend bought and she had a pay issue, her school disbursement check did not hit when it was supposed to and they worked with her at summber bay,

Happy lawyer, you haven't heard of any of it (ie. the perks, etc.) or the way they wouldn't work with us? I was a bit upset. From the get go, we divided the payments up in two and they had no trouble with it. Unfortunately, we got home and found out that 7 months of backpay increase (they increased my pay but forgot to credit it to me) which was supposed to be in the acct. on Friday didn't get deposited, and the people at Fairfield were unwilling to work with us at all, basically saying they had divided it up into 2 payments already. I was bummed on more than one issue, but a big one for me is that they were doing a big 40th anniversary bonus and giving out 210,000 for buying Feb. through March. Now we've missed the cutoff, since I don't have the $$ in the acct. yet and by the time I do it will be too late. Also, as I understand it, you have to wait a period of time (I thought it was 6 mo.?) before touring again to get the "tour" advantages (payment of various stuff.)
The thing is, if we wait for 6 months, tour, and then purchase, we'll already be outside the window for getting Orlando booking when we need it. So, was looking at the idea of touring while we're down there, getting either a couple days lodging paid or some of our park hopper passes paid and then buying while were there.

 

[mbb]

I'm sorry that your purchase didn't work out quite yet..

Take this little extra time, and do some more reading though You'll be a timeshare owner before long, I think www.tug2.net has some great articles and good information that might help..and there may be someone on the referrals page that could help you get the Ambassador points too

HTH! And let us know how it all works out! Timesharing is a great way to vacation. Not for everyone, no, but great for those that can

 

[gjw007]

I would also like to suggest slowing down. The resort will still be there although I understand the incentive that you were looking at may not be. I'm gathering that you were looking to purchase from the developer and that they had a promotion. You might wish to look at resale as you will find the cost about 20% or so of what the developer sells it for. I think you might find that the resale purchase is a much better deal even foregoing the incentive.

As far as rescheduling, I think you can reschedule the timeshare tours anytime but most timeshares will not give you the incentives if you appear within a certain period of time. OLCC, as an example, won't give you the incentitives if you show up for the second presentation within 6 months (I learned this one from experience as I had went to a presentation during my August trip, they called me to set up a visit during my December trip, and after I got there they told me that they should never have called me as the incentives weren't good for presentations done within 6 months of each other - I did get a free breakfast and a close look at the River Island contruction). Some resorts will also limit you to 2 presentations with the incentives and will not give incentives for presentations beyond that. So there are some variations.

Edited to add: The incentives that I am referring to are the tickets, cash, etc. that they use to get you to attend the presentation. The other incentives such as unit price, I'm not sure about although DVC has a limited time for its offer (discount per point) for those who attend a presentation whereas those who inquire about it and talk to a representative via the telephone have no time limitation (other than the length of the promotion) on the offer (discount per point or current incentive).

 

[spiceycat]

for Fairfield you NEVER want to buy from the developer....

go sign up for this site - it is on Yahoo's group
www.yahoo.com
Fairfield-Deals-AngelEngland

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Fairfield-Deals-AngelEngland/

she has some nice deals for Fairfield points....

here are some more resalers
http://www.resort-property.com/points.html

another group on yahoo
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fairfield-Resales-jefffudge/

here is another one
http://www.timesharing2000.com/fairfield_timeshares/

with a resale you can offer less than what they are asking.....

these are the same as the one you looked at - promise.....

the only difference is resales are generally 60% to 90% less than buying from a developer....

 

[Zoemakes5]

I appreciate everyone's feedback! An issue for us is the automatic approval. We needed that, as last year while I was on disability we got in trouble with our credit scores and can't even refinance our second mortgage. We had been looking at a WDW vacation next Spring when we went on the tour (honestly for the free meals they offered us, since we didn't think we'd qualify at all, and to find out about future, because we really felt we'd do this in the future, parents own at Marriott but are more restricted.)
We got in at an every other year plan where we would get 210,000 points every other year, but with a bonus of 210,000 for the first two years that gave us VIP status. We had hoped to look at resale points after that point to bump us back up to VIP status later. We assumed (maybe incorrectly?) that we could use our resale points to get to VIP status.
This seemed like a really good fit for us, as we got REALLY low maintenance costs, we do one big vacation once every other year and then long weekends here and there, the price per month worked for us, and they had automatic approval.
They actually called us back today from the corporate office and they are offering to let us work out the payments of the deposit, and some other stuff, to get the sale to work out. Still looking at the proposition in it's entirety, but looks fairly good.

 

[swilshire]

There are so many inexpensive ways to get into timesharing, that I would never recommend buying anything you can't pay cash for. By the time you add up the original purchase price, finance charges, and annual maintenance fees, you could rent some very nice places to stay and still be money ahead. It would also require less advance planning and give you more flexibility to cancel.

Note that I'm not against timeshares at all. I own several and love using them. But I bought them all at really good deals. The numbers just wouldn't add up if I had bought any of them from the developer.

You're received good advice above. Do some research and find the entry level that works for you that you can afford now. Or wait a couple of years until your financial condition is improved.

JMHO.

Sheila

 

[Kay7979]

It sounds to me like the deal falling through was a blessing in disguise. As others have said you can always buy timeshare points, or weeks, resale for a fraction of the cost from a developer. Most people kick themselves for years when they spend full price needlessly. Especially if you have had financial difficulties, it is wise to get everything back on track before thinking about buying a timeshare. Maintenance fees can be a real burden if you run into financial difficulties again, so take your time and shop around. I own three weeks of timeshare, two at resorts in Hawaii and one in Orlando and all three weeks combined only cost $11,200. I am sure you would be paying several times this much from a developer.

 

[FireflyfromMI]

I own at Fairfield Cypress Palms in Orlando. We bought through the developer and I'm sorry we did now. We could get the same thing for so much cheaper through resale. Please follow the links you got and research this a bit more before you decide to go ahead with your deal. The yahoo site for fairfield is really good and so is Tug2.net.

The one thing you should know about buying in Florida is that you have to pay property taxes too. If you buy in a different state you don't have too. The only way you should really buy in Florida through Fairfield is if you want to trade back into that specific resort every year. If it's something you just want to go to once every few years, you should still be able to get there then anyway. The Orlando area is saturated with resorts and they are among the easiest to get in trading.

I have never regretted buying a timeshare, I just regret the price I paid for it! Most people that have bought one through the developer once don't ever make that mistake again.

Good luck with your decision.