The following are my true experiences when I went for a timeshare tour at Westgate Resorts, Orlando, Florida, on April 3, 1998. I have reported the experience to the Better Business Bureau and all other appropriate agencies.
My live-in boyfriend and I signed up for the tour through the internet - in exchange for a 90 minute tour, we would receive two free tickets to Epcot. We did have some interest in the resort, and let them know that we would take the 7:15am tour so we could go directly to Epcot afterwards, to spend the day there.
The woman sales agent was very pleasant. We had an excellent breakfast with her, and she went over her background and background of the resort. We listened and asked questions. It was almost 1:15 into the talk when we pointed out that we did have to get to Epcot, and would like to get on with the tour. She agreed.
We took a golf-cart tour around the buildings, looking at the lake and the pools. We went through a model unit which was truly nice. Big TV, appliances, you name it. It was a good option, especially with being able to let relatives use it, and exchange for other sites.
We went back to the main eating area and she gave us the price. It was far too much "down" for us, and the monthly payments were just OK. But our real problem was that we hadn't researched the industry at all. We didn't know if the prices were comparable, or how the industry was doing, or any of it. There was no way we were going to sign for this on just her world. So we politely declined, and explained our reasons. This is almost 2 hours into the interview.
She said we could think about it and decide tomorrow, but we'd lose a $2,000 signing bonus. We said that was worth it to us, to have the time to research.
She said she'd get her boss who might have other solutions. The boss came out to talk to us and cut the prices almost in half! This ruined all faith we had in their pricing scheme - how could the first price be good, if he could make these changes? He was changing financing systems, and giving different unit purchase options, and doing things like that. We said we were even more convinced now that we had to look into things.
He gave us the incorrect 'economy' sales pitch - "Interest rates just rose a point. I have information that they will raise another 3 points shortly. You have to get in now before that happens." In fact, shortly after we left the meeting my boyfriend's news service reported that interest rates had just FALLEN a half point.
The boss got nasty, saying that in addition to losing the $2,000, we also could no longer have friends come in on the "owner gets a bonus for friends who join" plan, because "obviously we don't want wishy-washy friends of owners who can't even decide when they want to buy or not in a timely manner". I said, but we like the idea, and by driving us away you make us see that we want a condo, and we'd end up buying someone else's instead of coming back to buy yours. He said, "So go buy someone else's" and stalked off.
We asked if we could go now, and she said, no, let me get *his* boss for the final interview. So we said, OK. He came over and said he wasn't a salesperson, he was a friend of the owner. He asked how things were going so far, and we explained that while the woman had been nice, the second guy had ruined the company's credibility and had been rude. That we would not buy because we needed to research the product.
He started trying to sell us even worse! We finally said, look, it's now THREE HOURS into this and we definitely do not want to buy. He said, but give me 10 minutes to explain how I can make this work for you. My boyfriend said, we've given you three hours, we are way over our agreed-on time limit, so no. The guys smiled and said, "I guess we're at a stalemate, then, aren't we". I was furious. I said, "I want my tickets and my $20 deposit and we want to go! We're here on vacation, it's now 10am and we're missing time we wanted to spend at Epcot.
He first pouted, then rolled his eyes and looked at the woman salesperson. "I see now, what you had to go through," he said to her. "These people were just awful, weren't they". He tried to stall some more but finally signed off on the form and we went to get our tickets.
My boyfriend and I made every attempt to be polite and civil. We didn't go on the tour just for the tickets, like many did. We actually wanted information on the system. But they promised 90 minutes and ate up 3 hours of our valuable vacation time, and did so in an extremely pressureful and insulting manner. I have never been talked to like that by a salesperson in my entire life.
I would recommend timeshares in general to anyone - it seems like an excellent way to have a vacation home. I would never suggest to anyone that they go to Westgate for this system based on my experience and on hearing the experiences of others.
Main Listing of Complaints about Westgate Resorts