Timeshare rip-off

[icydog]

I was just on the hotels board and there was a post from someone who bought Vistana Resorts hoping to get DVC. Getting into DVC was her only reason for buying the timeshare. She feels cheated and very upset. It seems that this timeshare doesn't even trade on II and therefore she has no chance to get it. Her salesman told her she could trade freely into DVC.
Pretty sad story. I am so glad I lucked into buying DVC in 1992. I had looked at other TS and even bought one ( turned it in the next morning for a refund)but when I saw DVC metioned in a magazine I bought sight unseen on the phone. We were so thrilled when we got to OKW and saw how lucky we really were.
I really feel sorry for this person. She seems to have no recourse but to use the Vistana and like it or lump it. Here is a link to the thread:
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=389350

 

[anniet]

Awwwww, man....that's too bad. It looks like she's new to DIS too bad she didn't come over here first and ask questions.

I wonder what she paid for it and if she can sell it at not much of a loss?

 

[mickeyc]

A lot of people fall victim to timeshare presentations. Many people make decisions at the presentations because they are told it is a one time deal. If you know what you want prior to going to a presentation it may work out for them. Try to prepare as much as possible before attending an offering. At least you will have a knowledge base in which to make a decision. Most people don't realize that they can buy resales at significantly less than buying from the developer.

There are magazines and websites, includiing this web location, that provide a wealth of information concerning timeshares. I would recommend that anyone who is considering buying a timeshare go to www.tug2.net. This website provides a wealth of information in all aspects of timeshares. Also, a magazine titled Timesharing Today is also very good.

A final thought if you want to stay at DVC locations consider purhasing a resale at a reputable resale company or directly from a the seller. There are some trades such as DVC that are not easy to trade into.

If you are not satisfied with your purchase you can always consider selling. Unfortunately, it maybe less than your original price. It is not wise to purchase one Orlando resort to trade for another. I hope things work out for this person.

 

[DebbieB]

I have a neighbor who owns at Vistana. They like staying there. However, everytime he goes, he leaves my name for a referral! So they call me and offer a deal to come down for their presentation. One time I said I own DVC, they hung up on me!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

That same thing happened to us! IN 1997, my husband and I took the DVC tour. We were young, had a 10 month old baby, and had just purchased a townhouse. So, the price of DVC really scared us. We loved the idea of it, and LOVED the tour of OKW, but we could not spend that kind of money. We got home from our vacation, and a few months later, we get an invitation in the mail to tour a timeshare on Cape Cod. They offered a free weekend getaway ( a joke) and dinner for two. So, we said what the heck. We thought the DVC presentation was nice, it wouldn't kill us to look at this place. We went in there fully intending to say no, just give us the free weekend and dinner thank-you-very-much. Our big mistake? Telling tyhe sales person how we just toured the Disney Vacation Club, AND telling him how we didn't buy because the price was too high! (notice how I mentioned we were young) Well, he jumped on that like a vulture. He went on and on how we could trade out to Disney EVERY YEAR if we wanted to ..and just think, we were not spending as much money for this timeshare as we would of for Disney. He got us, hook,line and sinker. It was true, they were in II and RCI, he even showed us OKW and Vero Beach in the book. So, like fools, we signed. The first thing I did as an owner? Tried to trade out to Disney. Guess what I found out? It is next to impossibe to get a Disney resort through an II trade. Some people on this board have mentioned actually meeting people on vacation who got their week at Disney through II, I am here to tell you, those people struck GOLD. In the 6 years we have owned our Cape Cod timeshare, I have NEVER been able to get a Disney Trade. OK, ONCE there was availability at Vero Beach, but we wanted WDW. So we didn't take it. But not since then has Vero even been available.

I feel bad for the woman you are referring to. It sounds like the salesperson really duped her. Especially if the resort is not an II member. She may be able to take legal action. In our case, we were not lied to. Unfortunately, we just had important information withheld from us, like YOU CANNOT GET A DISNEY TRADE. LOL

If there are lurkers on this DIS board thinking about spending less money on a non-Disney timeshare for the sole purpose of trading out to Disney..I say to you DON'T DO IT. We have had some nice vacations with the timeshare we own. We found out the Poconos is a nice place to take a family vacation. We just have not been to Disney with our timeshare, and that was why we purchased it.

 

[never2L8]

We had the same thing happen to us at Westgate Vacation Villas.

We were told we can trade up to BWV, which I love, at any time.
After we purchased they told us that wasn't correct and the saleswomen was wrong and that they would speak to her.
OK, so give me my money back!!! Fat chance!!!

Although Westgate isn't all that I would sell it in a HEARTBEAT, and buy a big add-on at BCV.

JUst my 2 cents.

PS- Anyone want to buy a timeshare at Westgate. LOL

 

[Cruelladeville]

That's too bad for that woman, especially since her Vistana decreased in value once she made her first payment! If she had done her homework, she would have known that older Vistana's are selling for $4000, sometimes less, and she could have at least made a better deal on it thru resale. My sister bought Marriott, and even she hasn't been able to trade in, not even to Vero. She thought the same thing when she bought in, fortuneately Marriott has many nice places to trade to within their company. That's why you buy where you want to stay!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I feel very bad for her and her husband.
I am not a timeshare expert, but from what I understand DVC is very hard to trade into. I guess "buy where you want to stay most" applies to more than just the DVC resorts.
How much do you think this timeshare costs? Are the savings large enough to take the chance of not being able to trade for DVC?

I hope everything works out for them....

 

[Dean]

As noted Orlando resorts outside DVC don't hold their value well at all, just too many good resorts. Vistana is actually pretty nice. With their points option, it can be fairly flexible as well getting into St. John or Atlantis. While Vistana trades with II now in addition to RCI, due to the area block, she can't request DVC. Now you know why I post such cautions about timeshare sales people. Even for DVC guides, I'd be cautious.

 

[Doug Wolfe]

I don't know how long she has owned the time share, but Florida and other states have laws giving you a certain amount of time to bail out of a time share.

Otherwise, she should contact the Attorney General in the state of this timeshare. Florida?

The AG's are politicians who have to get re-elected, and they might be willing to jump on a case of an unethical sales practice. Just a thought. (I am a bar stool lawyer, who knows absolutly nothing, again just a suggestion!)

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Doug Wolfe
I don't know how long she has owned the time share, but Florida and other states have laws giving you a certain amount of time to bail out of a time share.

Otherwise, she should contact the Attorney General in the state of this timeshare. Florida?

The AG's are politicians who have to get re-elected, and they might be willing to jump on a case of an unethical sales practice. Just a thought. (I am a bar stool lawyer, who knows absolutly nothing, again just a suggestion!)

Yes but it's just a few days. Seems like it was only 10 days or so for FL.

 

[adamak]

I feel very sorry for her, and the more I read about stuff like this, the luckier I feel being a DVC owner. We bought in after 1 presentation, no DIS board research, nothing. We were very young too, just married, moved to NYC, DH in school. I don't know what we were thinking. DH says DVC will be our wedding gift for each other. And that would give us an incentive to stay married for the next 40 years.

It's too bad that Disney is "allowing" such advertisement. I think she should alert Disney also about the situation.

 

[icydog]

Originally posted by adamak
It's too bad that Disney is "allowing" such advertisement. I think she should alert Disney also about the situation.

Disney Knows I'm sure. They sell to lots of people who have been swindled by other TS offers. Many, Many people buy into Disney AFTER buying another timeshare. It is too bad but it is not something Disney can change. I posted about the Poconos Ts who guaranteed me access to the Boardwalk if I bought their TS. I knew better by then but when I was first looking, before DVC, I would have believed them. I still go to presentations just to get free rooms or prizes but when they hear we already have DVC they start selling against it. For example, did you know that DVC doesn't allow you to....... and my TS does? The only ones that have had a good deal is Marriott's properties. If I didn't own so much DVC I would buy Marriott just for the access to so many beautiful resorts in a less costly manner. Marriot is cheaper than DVC and has fabulous resorts and allows you to trade into fab resorts. When I suggested we buy a Marriott TS to my DH I think he turned red. NO MORE TIMESHARES. We just bought an additional add on at Vero. We now own at OKW, BWV, BCV and Vero. He won't even consider another TS company since attending so many presentations and knowing they are bare face liars.

 

[Minybear]

We had been to many timeshare presentations. I told my DH if we were ever to afford to buy into a timeshare it would be DVC due to we loved disney vacations. Even though the timeshare salesman was really pressuring us to buy into their timeshare I stuck to my guns and said "NO". When we got to where we could afford to buy into DVC we bought into it.

I am sorry that the poster was told bad infomation .

 

[Pig Pen]

You get what you pay for....

I paid big bucks for DVC and I am sooooo glad!

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by Pig Pen
You get what you pay for....

I paid big bucks for DVC and I am sooooo glad!

Not Necessarily- I took a timeshare tour prior to DVC and it was twice as expensive as my DVC and I am CERTAIN it wouldn't have been half as good.
Thankfully I had the good sense to say no.....10 times, before they figured out I was serious!

Sometimes you pay big bucks and still get ripped off- it's just a case of buyer beware!!!!!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Well I bought a resale with Vistana back in '94 and I'm very happy with the resort. My 2 bedroom villa is beautiful and I can internally trade (no extra fee) to their beach resort (directly on the beach with full ocean views) in southeast FL.
I also am a DVC member and extremely happy with this purchase. We bought here for the various perks of staying onsite. So we feel like we have the best of both worlds. If this woman bought into Vistana with the sole purpose of trading into DVC then that was just plain silly and she was lied to by her sales rep. It's a shame. Vistana is affiliated with both RCI and II.

 

[MELSMICE]

We also waited until we could afford DVC before buying any type of timeshare. We had talked about it numerous times, knowing we could afford 2 or 3 weeks at another timeshare for the same amount of money as buying into DVC.

However, I am in love with Disney & DH knows that. He knew I would never be happy - even if I was told we could trade into DVC. Even though it is more expensive DVC is first class, much more flexible & has many options.

It's too bad for the person that was given bad information. It really stinks to be lied to & taken advantage of. Maybe they can sell their Vistana & put the money towards a DVC purchase.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Sell their Vistana - haha!! I stupidly paid $9600.00 for a bi-annual, can trade to World golf village and PGA Village in Pt.St. Lucie, its a 2 bedroom floating time weeks 1-52 - no blackouts, I received an offer for 1250.00!!! For it. The killer is the dues, its about $680.00 for dues, so I pay $340.00 every year because its an every other year unit, but then they hit you with $99.00 a year for II and to belong to the Starwood Point System, that turns the unit into 65000 starpoints, then allows you to trade all over, but it doesn't get you very far, for my 65000 points, we got a 1 bedroom for 6 nights at the Atlantis, it was over Presidents week, so not bad, but it becomes, $860.00 in dues!! That is hefty if you only use the Vistana resorts, which you can rent for almost nothing!!!

 

[Geubux]

We looked at Myrtle Beach (3MILES from the beach), Virginia Beach (twice), and Williamsburg, VA before we bought at disney. Disney was $4000 less than the cheapest! The one sales lady told me I would have trouble trading for anything else since Disney wasn't on the beach! LOL. True, I don't own it forever, but my doctor told me my chances of living forever are pretty slim, unlike me! Too bad people buy at their first presentation.