We just came back from staying a week at Westgate Villas.
Last year while we were staying at the Comfort Suites, a timeshare booth offered money to us to take the Westgate Villas tour. I didn't take the tour, my best friend did and she loved it so much, she bought right on the spot.
Well, they offered us a deal for 6 days 5 nites in a 2 bedroom for 439.00, it included some Pirate dinner tickets. This was a good deal to us, so we took it. I explained to my husband we would have to take the timeshare presentation to get this rate he said no problem. A week before we left I added on 2 more nites, which cost me 129 per nite. That didn't include taxes which we had to pay on arrival, 63.00.
I'm going to post in detail about our experience this past week at the Resort, so look out for it.
Our presentation took place on August 27th at 10:30. We arrived at 10:20, checked in, at exactly 10:30 our representative came out, his name was Veejay Latchman he was a dark complexion man from the Caribbeans. Well Mr. Latchman came up to us in his impeccable suit and had on a flashy gold watch and flashy gold rings on his fingers. I guess that means he's successful. We had my son who's 12 and my husbands nephew who's 9 with us. He said they have a childrens area, could the children stay there while we talked. It was very nice with tv's and video games. My son didnt want to stay, but my nephew did. They had more kids his age anyway.
He offered us breakfast. I had fixed pancakes and sausage in our villa, so no thanks lets just get on with it. We were in a large room with other suckers, I mean people. The room was very noisy and at times I couldn't hear Veejay talk. They would call out the names of people who were buying "We would like to welcome so and so from Montreal to the Westgate family" and everyone would clap for the poor person. I guess that made them feel special.
Veejay blew smoke up our butts by telling us we weren't like these people, we were special VIP guests and these other people were off the streets staying at a Motel 6, trying to get free passes or money, whatever they were offered.
Veejay started his presentation by giving us some background information on his personal life and then showed us his portfolio. Well this man had a Masters degree in Medicine and a Bachelors in Science, he told us he use to be the head of some hospital. He said he has been with Westgate for six years now and when he first came the other sale reps laughed at him because he was from the Caribbean and they didn't think he would be a good salesman. He told us he was the no. 1 salesman on the floor and showed us all these certificates he received from the Westgate owner. He said he has lunch with the owner every quarter, showed us pictures to prove it and told us we were in good hands, he would get us a good deal. He excused himself and left the table for a few minutes. I guess he shows his degrees to impress people. It didn't impress us. In fact, it made us more suspicious. Me and my husband looked at each other and said well if he has all these degrees what in the world is he doing selling swamp land. We just started laughing and making jokes about this guy. We also didn't like what he said about people staying at a Motel 6, maybe that's all they can afford. Everyone doesn't have degrees. STRIKE ONE
He came back and asked us how were we enjoying our stay. I ran down the list I had in my head. I didn't feel safe on the property. We were in Villa GGG3, right off 192. There was no security, no gate, no nothing. Anyone could come on the resort whith no problem. A couple of times the shuttles we used, used this entryway instead of going thru the front of the resort. Veejays answer to that was "we are under construction so the back of the resort is open for the trucks and construction crew" Ok, Fine.
Next, we took the kids to the gameroom Saturday. It was about 9 at nite. Well out of 10 games, 2 worked, the rest was out of order. It was very dark down there. I had went to the ladies room, when I came back my husband said turn around, a group of teenagers where hitting and rocking the out of order games, stealing tokens out of them. I grabbed my kids and said let's get the hell out of here. As we were going up security was going down. I told Mr. Veejay I wouldn't be comfortable letting my kid go to the gameroom on his own. He had nothing to say about that except, I'm sorry for the incident.
He then explained how timeshare works, if you travel every year for one week, which we do, how much money you would save investing in a timeshare. We absolutely agreed with him on that one. We spent about 800.00 on accomodations alone, add that up over the next 30 years and that is a lot of money. OK Veejay, you're making since, give us a price. 16,600.00 for a 2 bedroom unit.
My husband looks at me since I'm the one on the internet and knows how much you can really get for a timeshare. I shake my head and says no that's to high. He tells me thats not to high for a red week and yawdah, yawdah, yawdah. he goes on and on. STRIKE TWO
I says excuse me, but I'm a member of the Timeshare Users Guide and I know how much a timeshare runs for. I have done research, so please be honest with us. I told him I can go online and get a 2 bedroom here for 5,000.00, or less if I'm lucky. He told me those people have paid for there timeshare and now they're making a profit by selling. Well duh, isn't that what you're supposed to do. He was getting a bit pissed with me at this moment. He said let me see what I can do, he left the table and came back with this other person who I guess is one of the big wigs their. He shakes our hands and begins with "I here you're" Look before you go any further, lets cut the crap "WHERE ARE THE RESALES AND THE FORECLOSURES?" By this time my husband and son is enjoying the show. He tell's us they don't have any.
We start to stand up and my husband says 16,600.00 at 17% is too much for a timeshare. Veejay says in a sarcastic voice "if you want a nice place you have to pay for it or you can always stay in a Motel 6." STRIKE THREE
Why did he say that? First of all, we are african-americans and we're not rich we work hard and save hard for our vacations and we know what we can afford. When I got through running down what I thought of his precious 4 star Westgate Resort to him he had nothing to say. The other guy shook our hands and told us thanks for coming. Veejay didn't shake our hands, like we cared, he told us to wait here. Another person came over and told us we can come back next year by paying so much a month yawdah, yawdah, yawdah.
We said No Thanks. Signed the declined offer and left.
When I looked at my watch, it said 12:30, so 2 hrs wasn't bad, I've heard of presentations being longer.
Well that was our presentation, hope this helps you in your decision. Personally, what you're paying is a good deal for the resort, 5 Min. drive from Disney, 20 Min from Universal and the free activities were nice. We went paddle boating (very relaxing at 9 in the morning before the sun comes up), bike riding (the bikes are the same ones they used in the Wizard of Oz) my husband said all we needed was a basket and toto. I mean the chains were rusty. But it was fun. The boys played basketball. They enjoyed that.
Jacuzzi in your bedroom. I bought bubble bath, me and my husband stayed in that thing after a day in the parks and had wine and watched TV while the kids went to the pool, very relaxing.
Hope I helped, any more questions I'll be happy to answer.
