Talk:Timeshare tour

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This artical can be true for some timeshare companies. Please search for Wyndham Vacation Resorts and their affilates. I've been on several different presentations expecting not to make a purchase. Wyndham was the only one that made since to me, my family and the lifestyle changes I plan to make. So I made a purchase using their creative points system. If the timeshare business has put a bad taste in your mouth like it once was for me, try booking a presentation with them. I think you will see for yourself how different it is versus traditional timeshare and their salespeople. I am a new Wyndham owner because of the presentation at the Williamsburg, Virginia resort. The points based system for traveling is amazing, flexible, affordable, healthy, and sensable when it comes to lifetime of travel time with family and friends. Read below, then read this again.

This page sounds very sympathetic to the timeshare industry and their salespeople, especially at the end. I won't edit it until someone confirms this. Please advise.

It tries to appear neutral, but you can tell it's written by someone from the industry, just like the Timeshare page itself. There is a nice "Pros and Cons" section, but no sections for Controversy, Criticism, Illegal Sales Practices, or Fraud Allegations. There is no mention of the numerous cases were people have been, using customer-friendly english, scammed by the timeshare sales reps and the companies they represent for tens of thousands of dollars (Google "mexican timeshare fraud", "Mayan Palace scam" etc). This is especially true of a lot of timeshare companies operating in Mexico (though they may be based in the US). TripAdvisor and the like have comments from a lot of people, specifically complaining about unethical/borderline illegal, high pressure sales - look for Avalon hotels for example. You can just pick lie after lie that people are told in order to get them to buy timeshare - beginning with stated rental values (inflated three- and fourfold), ending with illegal waivers of 5-day cancellation right. There is much more fraud going on in the timeshare industry than this article leads you to believe. Sure, there are good apples too, but much like in MLM schemes, sales reps have no problem with lying, especially when you can't easily come back and hold them responsible - mexican vacation for example.

While it's not illegal to make false claims, a contract signed as a result of false claims would likely be voided, provided that the plaintiffs can prove that false claims were made and can demonstrate the duress. And duress there is a lot of - these 90 minute tours last hours for many regular folks who are not "professional tour takers", and there are lots of nifty tricks prepared for them. "We have a special unit, it was just returned, it's reduced to half price. It's only $12,000" (bull, it's just a next pitch); "These units rent like crazy for $2,000 a week - here, call this independent person and ask them" (no, if you actually manage to rent them, you'll collect less than your maintenance fee); "You can easily exchange your weeks with thousands of other resorts {shows you a colorful book with vacation properties all over the world}" (you can, but exchange will be more expensive than going to these resorts); "The timeshare value will grow" (timeshare values fall, selling is a headache). Yada yada yada. Has anyone asked why a good deal needs so much effort to sell?

The bottomline is - timeshare companies sell you time at their resort wholesale, at retail prices. The only way they can do this is by inflating apparent value of their resort - that being the purpose of the time share tour. But you're paying tens of thousands of dollars for "right to use". Unlike fractional ownership, you don't even have any stake in the property. The funniest thing is - you can't even cancel the contract (according to the contract, if you terminate, you're liable for remaining amount + half of original value). Talk about making money out of thin air. When enough people are scammed by the timeshare industry, I won't be surprised to see class action suits against some of these companies, just like it happened with MLM. 69.107.55.121 06:23, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

-I have attempted to further balance the article out. I'll get to work verifying sources shortly. -Becky