TSH From a Previous Westgate Employee - It's a Scam
Westgate Timeshare Resort Issues
Date of Incident: 11/1/2003
I do apologize for your experience at Westgate. I just quit there after a few years of selling timeshare. I must say, the tour is never 90 minutes. 90 minutes is only for the loud, boisterious type that start a scene in the middle of the sales room yelling " I want my tickets, its been 90 minutes." Timeshare salespeople are trained to keep the client there until they say "yes." Our trainers teach us that when a client says "no", its because they don’t "know" enough about the product yet. There is an extreme amount of pressure on us to sell. Westgate brainwashes its salespeople into believing that money is everything and that its always the salesperson's fault if they do not make a sale. I think that’s why so much pressure is instilled in the client and why Westgate has a reputation of being the "pressure cooker" or "boiler room" of all timeshare resorts in the area. On top of a sleugh of lawsuits from owners and salespeople, I am surprised that Westgate has not been shut down for their practices after all these years in business.
Imagine you and your boyfriend never signing up to take the Westgate tour. Lets say you and your boyfriend were staying on Westgate property for a week to getaway. You would still be checked in by a salesperson and they would set up a day and time for you to do a sales presentation, although you don’t know it’s a sales tour AND you wont be given any free tickets. You are deceived into believing you have to do a "maintance report." And if you don’t do this mandatory "maintance report" your credit card would be charged!! So one morning, on your way to Disney, you and your boyfriend stop by guest services to report your maintance issues, where your greeted by your sales person and taken into the very same sales room you were in in 1998. You are asked briefly about any mantance issues in your condo and forced into a presentation. Well guess what. This happens every single day at Westgate. And I don’t understand how they continually get away with deceiving the public like this.
I am glad you spoke up about your experiences. Timeshare is a good product for certain people. People with money to spend that would normally spend their money in upscale hotel rooms and do vacation a lot benefit from this. Did I feel like a scam artist selling this product for $20,000 when I know the client can go on the internet and choose from a huge selection of resales at ridiculously lower prices, yes. At Westgate, I dealt with clients that wasted their vacation time to save a buck by going on a sales presentation and could generally not afford a $20,000 product. But we as timeshare salespeople are trained to make these people believe they could afford this product because of its rental and investment potential, said in a few different words of course. But after becoming more educated in my own product, Ive realized that many of these clients default after realizing that this timeshare isnt so easy to rent out or sell. Westgate developer gets to foreclose on their condo, take back the salesperson's commission, and resale the very same condo to another potential victim for more money. Its all just a scam and I am very happy to have gotten out of the industry and I just want to say a quick note to newbies in the industry. For those of you who enter this industry without prior knowledge of timeshare, the training department will pump you up and get you excited and teach you how to pitch people. They will train you to "insinuate" to these clients that timeshare is an investment and is a great resource for renting out and making money on it. But you must understand that these types of pitches are for the people that cant afford timeshare. It does not benefit you to lie to people because once this client defaults, Westgate is just going to take your commission right back from you. The only person that benefits from this is the developer of the resort. And for those of you who come into this industry and pitch investment and rental knowing darn well its all a lie, you are a scam artist and you are the very type of people that gives timeshare and salespeople in general a bad name. But sadly, you fit right in with the other con artists that Westgate employs. Guys, if you want to save money on tickets and go to take a tour, make sure you or someone in your group is assertive enough to demand your tickets at the 90 minutes mark. They take advantage of people everyday, theres no reason you cant take advantage of them for discount tickets!
All Westgate problem reports are submitted via email by the actual
person who participated in the timeshare incident. Submissions are not
edited in any fashion. Names are not shown for privacy reasons.
Main Listing of Problem Reports with Westgate Timeshare Resorts