DW Deceptive Business Practices
Westgate Timeshare Resort Issues
Date of Incident: 1/23/2004
Lisa, I am forwarding an email I sent to Westgate Resorts today about my negative experience with them. If you would like, please post this on your site so that other people may read it. Anything we can do to get the word out about this company will hopefully keep some other person from purchasing thru them!
I have never encountered what I feel to be such deceptive business practices in my life until I attended a timeshare presentation at Westgate Resorts in Gatlinburg, TN on December 05, 2003. It all begins with my wife and I trying to leave the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Pigeon Forge, TN and being "cornered" by one of your ropers at the exit door. She offered us free tickets to the Ripleys Aquarium in Gatlinburg as well as a free 2 night stay in Gatlinburg, saying "I'm pretty sure you have a year to use it." Also included in the offer was a free lunch. All this in only 90 minutes.
We decided to attend because we actually are interested in purchasing a timeshare, having recently attended a presentation thru a different resort. After going thru all of the typical analysis on how much we can save by purchasing a timeshare we were offered to see a unit. It was during the tour of the unit that I really became irritated by the salesperson. First of all since my wife has a potentially debilitating health condition he tried to play on my sympathy and act like it was my "duty and responsibility" to provide for her by purchasing this time share. I then pretty much automatically ruled out purchasing at Westgate. By this point we're about 2 1/2 hours into the presentation.
After letting him know of our decision back at the sales center, he brought the next person out whose responsibility is to attempt to sell a "sampler" package. According to her, we could stay at any of the Westgate Resorts during the B-season for 7 days during the next 2 years and by purchasing the sampler package we would also "lock in" the price on a timeshare unit. Also included would be complimentary membership in the I.C.E Gallery allowing us to stay pretty much anywhere we wished for around $149.00 per week. Since Kiawah Island S.C. is our favorite vacation spot my wife and I asked her several times if it was possible we could visit there for the $149.00 low rate. She virtually assured us that if it was more expensive it "shouldn't be much more" and then proceeded to tell us about her travels to Florida for no more than $199.00 per week. She flashed the RCI Community Guide in front of us several times and we asked if we may go thru RCI in booking time on Kiawah since Westgate or I.C.E. didn't have any properties on Kiawah. We were assured we could and the rate would be as low as $149.00 weekly. Due to my work schedule it was going to be hard to use the 7 day stay within the next 2 years so she agreed to extend it to 35 months. Well the deal seemed too good to pass up then so my wife and I decided to purchase the package. During the signing of the paperwork, any questions that my wife or I had were seemingly answered very very quickly and she kept pushing the paperwork back in front of me to sign. (Should have been a red flag but I guess by this point I had visions of going to Kiawah Island and saving money) Upon leaving we were given very little information on how to book vacation time, I asked the sales lady several times about the RCI book and was told it would be arriving in the mail. It's not January 23, 2004 and I still haven't seen it.
Upon receiving our free aquarium tickets I saw that they expired in less than 2 months if not used. Hmmm, detect a little more deception here, we were led to believe we would have a year to use them by the roper at the restaurant. Also after reading the paperwork we signed I saw where she had noted that since she was extending our time to 35 months there would be an additional $1500.00 to lock the price on a timeshare unit, if one was even available. Funny, nothing about this was mentioned during the presentation!
It's now January and we have tried calling I.C.E. to book vacation time in October for South Carolina. First of all we're told we're not even in their system, that apparently Westgate has not forwarded our information to them, and second we were told there was nothing available in October for South Carolina, North Carolina, or Virginia. I can understand that since I understand it's on a space available basis, but we were led to believe that there would be no problem in booking time. I called Westgate today to inquire about the membership #, and after being transferred to three different phone #'s I was told that the information would be faxed to I.C.E. so they could get us a membership#. When I asked about when we would receive the information from RCI, the representative I spoke with told me that RCI was only available to timeshare owners, not people who had purchased the sampler package. I guess your sales reps resort to fraud and deception to get the sale. Admittedly I did loose my temper with the lady on the phone after being told this and while complaining to her about being misled she hung up on me! HECK OF A WAY TO TREAT A NEW CUSTOMER !
During the final presentation the lady told me that by the information we gave her on our vacation habits we were going to save a lot of money. I fail to see how I am saving money by spending $911.12 ($595.00 financed at 17.75% plus $200.00 deposit) on purchasing this package to spend 7 days in Gatlinburg when I can book a cabin (during the offseason that your package requires us to stay) for a lot less than $911.00 !!! Then when checking with I.C.E. I found that the cheapest I can find in pretty much any location on the east coast is $269.00 per week. So much for $149.00 per week.
I feel like we have been extremely mislead and lied to by your presentation people in Gatlinburg. Pretty much the sole reason I agreed to purchase the sampler package was to be able to take "cheap" vacations at Kiawah Island thru RCI which I was led to believe I would be able to do. When David Siegel quotes " I'm sure you'll find that a Westgate Resorts vacation is an experience you'll remember forever!" he wasn't lying !!! Unfortunately I'm going to remember the hassle this has became for a LONG time.
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