When I posted my TRUE experiences at Westgate Resorts in Orlando Florida of April 3, 1998, I got hundreds of email messages from readers all over the world that had similar stories.
On October 16, 2002, I received an email message from a "Westgate Employee" (I cannot verify this of course, he/she used a hotmail.com account). The employee had this to say:
Hi, I was just reading your page. I find it very interesting. You say you toured back in 98? Hmm, interesting. Westgate Lakes doesn't offer 7:15 tours, only 7:30 and 10:30. I read how you said things worked and find some of it rather unbelievable. First off, I work for Westgate, so I am a little impartial. Let me explain what you went through. The first person was your sales agent. Her job was to sell you the timeshare. She is to pitch the product to you as best as she can. Once she sees that you don't want to buy, her job is to get your "objection". In your case, it was a little of a credibility issue and also a financial issue. Once she has that objection, it is her job to get the second person. That person is not really a supervisor of any kind. That person is called a T.O. Their job is to get you to buy. They have a long track history with the company at persuading people to buy and hence that is their job. They make $200,000.00 per year doing it. Their job, in other words, is to overcome your objection you gave to the first person. The reason they can drop prices so drastically is because the company figures that selling a timeshare unit for little money is better than not selling at all. Something is better than nothing idea. Anyway, the first price they gave you was not a bad price at all, the second price was just an incredible one. The third person does not usually come out, that is an actual supervisor. They are not a sales rep. I read the stuff you claim they said - I find it impossible to believe that any employee of our company would say any such thing about any guest behind their backs or otherwise. As a mater of fact, I flat out think you made it up because you are angry about the pressure they put on you so you thought you'd add another layer on. You and your boyfriend are what we refer to as an NQ, or Not Qualified. That means that you don't qualify for our packages. In other words, we don't expect you to be able to afford timeshare because you are not married. Also, your comment about people just buying because of pressure - now that you have left the tour and had 4 years to research, you should really correct your statement because as you should have learned by now, per Florida law any sale of real estate, such as timeshare, can be cancelled up to 10 days after purchase with no penalty to the buyer and YOU not having to deal with the Westgate reps. Are you familiar with the term "slandering"?
Note that he (or she) doesn't apologize at all for the experience. Instead, the letter takes the "It all must be untrue, it all must be a lie, you're slandering" attitude. In fact, slander is spoken lies. Libel is written lies. And since all of what I have written was the exact truth of my experience, documented only moments after it occurred, there is no case for libel. Read More about Libel if you wish.
Here is my response.
Believe me, that was all written down in my notebook in the parking lot when we finished with the tour. I am a professional travel writer. We most definitely went on a 7:15 tour. Maybe it was a special time they set for us because we wanted to get into the park early, but that's when they had us come in. I suppose the second person could be a "T.O", but our sales agent *told* us it was her supervisor. I can only go by that.
I am an adult. I have a child. I know how to deal with salespeople. I went into it expecting pressure. I'm fine with pressure. I have managed people professionally and dealt with layoffs and other stress situations. But I swear to God or whoever else you wish me to swear to that these people were VERY ABUSIVE and completely out of line. It was the nastiest sales situation I have EVER been in in my entire life. What I wrote down is EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAID. I did it RIGHT after the event so that it was CRYSTAL CLEAR.
This is exactly what happened. My boyfriend and I are both programmers and make VERY good money. We could have VERY easily have afforded this. We did not because we were amazed at how nasty the people there were.
And lest you believe this is a one-in-a lifetime situation, I have over 100 email messages from other people who have had very similar things happen to them. I was always intending to post them, and if you really are going to take this naive view of the company for which you work, perhaps I shall. To claim that I'm lying when your company destroyed a vacation of mine is just incredible. Maybe I should send someone in with a tape recorder, but I believe that's illegal. In any case, I can't force you to believe me. But I am a professional woman, who writes for many magazines, newspapers and books. My credibility is my life. And I swear that every sngle thing in that page is 100% true.
As far as your law claims, I have had many people talk to me about the abuse and legal threats they got from Westgate when they tried to cancel their timeshares. I will be sure to post those messages as well.
My TRUE experiences at Westgate Resorts