Thanks for posting that Pam, that was really interesting reading, I've also bookmarked it.
Timeshare still does have a very bad reputation in the UK because of these 'holiday clubs' the article focused on, I myself have recieved many of these phonecalls telling me I've 'won' a holiday and know loads of people who get them regularly. I do also know a handful of people who have gone to these presentations to claim their 'prize' and have instead been faced with a good few hours worth of pressure sales (usually following some free alcohol
).
I only know of one person who actually managed to claim the holiday they 'won' and it ended up costing them more an ordinary holiday would have, they were literally 'hounded' by sales reps even ringing them in their room to sell their holiday club to them. They have more incentive in Europe as the 2 week cooling off period after signing a contract doesn't apply, so if they can get a drunken signature on a contract then there's no way out.
And that's how it has such a bad reputation in the UK because the majority of people hear the words 'timeshare' or 'holiday club' and that's what they think of, they don't know the difference.
If ever we tell people that we own a timeshare, we generally get pitying looks as they assumed we've fallen for some conman's speil and have been duped out of thousands of pounds! Even if we explain that it's run by Disney, the perception is often still that there has to be a con somewhere!
I have to admit when we first looked into
DVC we were also looking for the 'con' as that really is the way of thinking here. We were waiting for the pressure sales, to be hounded by phonecalls etc. We really did have a pleasant surprise, hence becoming members.
I'm really surprised at just how many DVC members there are in the UK and can't help but wonder how many more there would be if awareness was raised.
A very happy UK member
