CenturyAlliance

I work for a recovery company, and our main clientele are Wyndham timeshare owners. Too many times, we speak to people on the phone and they are disgruntled due to the fraud and misrepresentation occurring during the purchase process. You CANNOT sell these back to Wyndham, nor can you sell them at all. Check E Bay they are selling for $1 because unless you take several lavish vacations a year, it does not pay for itself.

I urge you to reconsider.

nanabee

sassy cat
you will be handing over money as a charitable gift to this comany and if you are comfortable doing that then by all means buy it. you will most certainly not benefit from owing a timeshare. but it you have money to throw away every month then go for it - it will help the economy

marc johnson, i'm not sure i understand where you are headed in the comparison to a property, but a timeshare is a one week right to stay in a condo or hotel that you don't have any ownership in.

>>but much cheaper than owning a second home in a different location.>> but if you can afford to buy a second home in San Diego, Hawaii, Hilton Head, San Juan Islands, or Miami, etc you will reap bigger payoff years later when you sell it and YOU GET to keep the profits. There is no profit or gain from owing a timeshare.

nanabee

opps, meant to address my post to con brio (sorry sassy cat)

DebitNM

Thread is almost a year old. It was topped by a new poster, who has good advice, even though it is kind of an ad.

Navendano

Hi HELP PLEASE!! Me and my boyfriend took this but we regret about our decision..we read we can cancel the contract within the first 10 days..does someone knows which can be the consecuences? Are they going to charge more for cancelling? Im really upset please we need an advice!!

vjpblovesitaly

I think you need to contact the company you bought from. The consequences likely vary by contract.

marksublette

Alrighty, just signed up. The answer is yes and no. Before I signed up I went through all the sites and complaints and weighed this out. I did this from how a week after the presentation that we got on vacation in Panama City/Destin FL.

Here is the skinny. Most complaints you will find have to do with sales tact. This is not like buying a house it is exactly like buying a car. Negotiate.
The second most found complaint, which....PALES in comparison with the sales tact lot is that they are a bad investment. This is where it is up to you. I have six kids. Three hers three mine. I cost like $4,000 to drive to Disneyland for a week and stay in a hotel with two rooms. And nothing posh mind you. For me this makes sense. I have two resorts in Orlando. Hell I have enough points to stay in one for two weeks!!! Total cost" $3,284.24 with the trial version called "Discovery VIP".

Let me explain why I did not buy out right. Could not afford it. This was $349.00 down and $133.42 a month for 22 months, if I like it the money goes toward my purchase. If I don't? Heck not a bad deal for two weeks in a 3 bedroom deluxe.

The last complaint which was minimal, except for the people that get overly dramatic was....Maintenance fees going up. DUDE really!!!! Heck my HOA goes up. DUH.

So this is why I did it. Prepaid vacations every year for my family. A family that cannot afford it any other way because we are pay check to pay check. That is why our vacations are usually after the tax refund. Now all I have to do is worry about getting there, food and in the case of Disney World, Tickets too. After ten years the kids will be gone, this will be paid off, and me and my wife will LOVE it! When we die the kids get it and buy more points.

Tomsd

Hope you enjoy it. If you use it regularly - it can work - but I still say - buy a REPO for a fraction of the cost of a new one.

NeoPatrick

But marksublett, all your vacations for the next umpteen years will be spent at Disneyworld? How sad for you. There is a whole other world out there, but you're stuck in one place.

Tomsd

You can also "bank" and trade your week(s) to other locales - but that has become more expensive.

NeoPatrick

Exactly. But I guess if your life goal is to never see any place but Disney World, then the above plan is a good idea.

utahtea

marksublette, Both my parents and in-laws had time shares. They tried to GIVE them to the kids free. NONE of their children or adult grandchildren wanted them. My parents pretty much gave their two away to get out of the dues and my FIL wouldn't sell his for $2000 before the market crash so know he's paid more than that in annual dues over the last several years and no one wants to use it. Good luck!

Utahtea

sylvia3

oof. All these stories, especially utahtea's make a very good point. Don't buy them. Period. If you want to go somewhere, you can get a hotel or condo for a fraction of the price, no complications or commitments.

idyltime

Club Wyndham, in my opinion, is not to be trusted. Following a seemingly terrific vacation purchase program presentation from Club Wyndham, I bought into a "lifetime of vacations" through Club Wyndham and their affiliate RCI, "the world's largest and most experienced vacation exchange company". In this program, unlike traditional timeshares programs, you purchase points that are used, and refreshed annually, towards vactions at Wyndham venues, and other available options and services. A major sales pitch that was made was that, for a given year, unused points could be rolled forward and banked for future use up to three years. What was not explained to me and my wife at the time of purchase, is that the banking of points has to be accomplished by a date certain prior to the beginning of their effective year, and that there is a fee associated with the banking. Thus, if an owner wishes to bank their 2014 points for use in a future year, that decision has to be made prior to January 1, 2014. This encourages people who cannot forsee what their vacation plans are in the coming year to "bank" their points at a cost of $39 additional dollars. It wasn't until I attempted to bank my current unused points in October that I was informed of the timing requirement and cost, and that I had missed my window of opportunity which ended the prior March. I was advised by customer service that since I was unable to bank my points, that they could be transferred to RCI for future use up to for one year, and that there is no cost to transfer the points. Furthermore, it would be advisable to wait until the end of this year to make the transfer so that I would have the entire calendar year to use them. I waited until late November to make the request, only to then have it explained that while there is no cost to roll the points into RCI, that i would incur an additional fee of $209. to actually use the points.

While none of this is illegal in the sense of consumer fraud (Club Wyndham reps assure me that this information is spelled out somewhere in the volumes of (fine) printed materials they provide, it is smarmy and misleading, and certainly not forthcoming. A customer service supervisor informed me that at the time of the sales presentation, the representatives do not have time to cover all of the fine points of the contract. When I responded that, since the points banking and rolling forward for future use (you can upgrade and take a BIGGER vacation!) was a key point in sales pitch, and a decision factor for me that I thoroughly discussed with the sales rep, and that the costs and restrictions appeared to have been purpoosely omitted from the conversation, the supervisor had the unmittigated gall to say that when you buy a $30,000 car, the salesman doesn't explain how to operate it.

Club Wyndham seems to be using sleight of hand to gain sales, add costs, and is less than forthcoming in its marketing presentation. I received no satisfaction from my interaction with Customer Service or CS supervisor.

If presented with the opportunity to buy in to Club Wyndham, knowing what I now know, I would run away, quickly.

marcjohnson

Remember, we're talking about a Wyndham timeshare point system . I read a lot of post and all timeshares are not the same. There are also the old fashioned week system that people keep buying that died in 1990. Why people keep buying timeshare at location out of country that they can't afford to use puzzles me. Buy the point system with an exchange and you will get your money back but make sure your home resort is always a place that you want to visit often. Now let's talk facts: a timeshare is not an investment. I bought a timeshare and I still love mine. now to me a timeshare is way cheaper then owning a vacation home or renting a 5 star hotel any day if you buy the right package. I would never want to invest in a vacation home because to me it does not make since. What's dumb is buying a vacation home like people on HGTV when you can't vacation much and your not their much. lol I am a real estate investor and property manager and maintaining a second home on a different time zone is a money pit. not to mention the cost on interest on a loan and closing cost. A bigger gamble is hoping that a vacation home will appraise for more over the years. With this housing market I would rather bet on a timeshare than a mortgage than can cause you to go under.I don't work for a timeshare company but re-sale changes all the rules for new owners. I don't expect to get money back for a timeshare that's why I paid pennies on the dollar for mine. Check (Ebay) now if you would like to lose big money try to finance a luxury property through a bank pay 3 times the cost over 30 yrs and have the market tank after you buy that across country and not to mention having repair that over 30 yrs paint, ac, flooring, roofing , pluming, windows and pay that huge mortgage. A timeshare will always win on a resale market if your vacation a lot weeks at a time. Numbers don't lie lol

marcjohnson

Ok, excuse the grammar errors, but check out my point of view. Resale timeshare vs owing a vacation property. Time share cost max 2000.00, 130 mo hoa , vacation home best location any where $ 300,000 to 1,000,000 dollars with possible hoa fees on top of that. How long will it take to get your money back out of a vacation vs your repair cost and bank interest. Now of course this is about vacationing not investing and a lot of readers are getting this topic confused on the post. Now if your thinking on investing I would not buy either choice lol but hands down vacation timeshare are always cheaper for bigger families. my mother went to Hawii for one week 7000 nothing to show for it. I could go for 3000.00 and we live in the same location. Not to mention saved enough money to take five more trips that same year with my system at different locations. why a timeshare because visiting the same spot is flat out boring!!! And when your tired of it , resale on ebay for pennies on the dollar back to a new owner. ( their stock price is high because most people like it, but their blogs are bad because people thought it was an investment

sylvia3

Comparing owning a vacation home to a time share is false; that's what they use to get you to buy. The comparison to a 5 star hotel is also spurious. (If someone spent $7000 on lodging for a week in Hawaii, that's $1000/night; I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell to them. BTW, spending $428/night is also unreasonable, in my opinion, when you could probably get that same place for 1/2 the price.)

"And when your tired of it , resale on ebay for pennies on the dollar back to a new owner." And THAT makes financial sense HOW?!

marcjohnson

We're talking total cost for the whole vacation. What some people are forgetting is the s.f you can get for a big family. People use them all the time for family reunions. Try to book a a lot of hotels for your family vs several 3 bedroom suites at a resort which has on sites activities vs a crapy hotel room on Priceline.In my option their equal to five star hotel if your traveling with kids. Now if it's about upscale romance then your looking for something al little bit different. I understand people have different options it's like investing in real estate vs buying stocks or just paying off debt. We'll the only way to really tell is if you try all three strategies.

Tomsd

The biggest bunch of hooey is how much money you are going to save by buying a timeshare. Pure bunk. Take the money you are going to pay for the timeshare - down payment plus interest - including the yearly HOA fees - and put it in the bank - and then google away to find a deal on where you want to go.

There are always deals out there - it just takes some checking.

sylvia3

"We're talking total cost for the whole vacation."

Even more nonsensical, then. The costs associated with any vacation, other than those of lodging, are going to be the same.
And any time share square footage can be equaled by a condo or even house rental.
Sorry, pushing these things as cost effective is simply, as Tom put it, hooey.