A consumer recently contacted TCA to talk to us about a timeshare scam that she believes is rife in America. The consumer received a cold call inviting them to Vacation Village Orlando Resorts Berkley (also Berkley Group, they are all one company). They were offered a holiday package for $299, with accommodation, tickets to Disney and promises of bonuses for recommending others.
They were told they had to attend a 90 minute presentation. They visited the salesperson first thing in the morning as they thought ‘we’ll get this over and done with and then have the rest of the day’ they were given breakfast and treated incredibly well. They were then taken on a trip around the area. They were shown where the superstars lived and the glamorous holiday lifestyle they could be living.
At this point they started to wonder how long this was actually going to take. They were taken back to the resort and sat down discussing their holiday options. They compared normal holidays and what they would pay, and the massive bonuses they would have having a timeshare holiday, a beautiful resort, hot tubs in their rooms and all the gorgeous amenities at the resort.
The salesperson went through a presentation for a 1 bedroom, 1 year bi-annual unit, the price started at $30,000 and the couple said errmmm nope! They left them sat there for over an hour and came back with a manager and offered the deal for $20,000, again the couple said no. They were then left for another hour and they came back again and offered them a unit for $9,990 – they were told they had a unit that had foreclosed, but that it was just for them, however they had to buy today!
They had been there for over 6 hours at this point and felt like they had been trapped by the sales persons wear-down tactics. They decided to sign to get out of the presentation. They were told that they would help them with the down-payment and finances.
The down payment and additional fees were discussed and they had to pay $1437 as a total deposit. They were given a worksheet that broke down all the costs and fees.
They went home and realised what they had gotten themselves into. They didn’t even really understand how to use the timeshare.
They were then invited back to an owners meeting, which they went to a year later. They were told that what they had bought a year earlier was now no good. They were told they had to upgrade to a point systems, otherwise they were just losing money and couldn’t use their original purchase. To upgrade they had to pay $12,990 (this was the lowest offer). They were told they could go anywhere at any time!
They called to book in a holiday and were told they would have to pay an additional $2000 for the booking and to buy additional points, even though they had been sold a two-bedroom apartment! Shocking when they had already paid so much money already.
They were invited back by the corporation again to another owners meeting. And yet again they were told that what they had purchased was ‘junk’ again. They started to get upset and got up to leave. They were told if they left they would have to pay $300 a night for the resort they had been invited to! This is similar to bribery! They were told they had to purchase more points as what they had was not enough for what they thought they had bought. This couple have been well and truly bamboozled and lied to by this company. They have been taken for fools and abused by the timeshare organisation. They were told by the salesperson that they could rent their timeshare to make some money, however when they got home and went through the small print it states very clearly that they cannot rent their timeshare and that this is not an investment opportunity.
Luckily this couple have hired a lawyer to help them in their fight against this organisation however, there are sharks out there that will take advantage, wear you down, lie to you and abuse your good faith. If you feel like you’re being bamboozled you probably are. Watch your backs and make good choices.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk