It seemed like a good idea at the time. The timeshare sales agent was very persuasive and it all sounded good to you. But then, after you had signed the contract written by an attorney for an attorney to understand to make the timeshare your own, the doubts began to cloud your mind. Deceptions and lies were discovered. Inequalities seen. Perhaps hardships were experienced. Whatever the reason, you desperately want – no, need – to be rid of your timeshare contract. You are not alone in your quest. Many people are experiencing the feeling of being trapped in a timeshare under circumstances that they cannot control.
Following is a listing of some of the thousands of stories that we at _____________________________have heard over the past few years. The stories below depict actual notes from prospective clients who were experiencing their own timeshare nightmare. Do you see yourself among them?
Their maintenance fees doubled after the company was acquired by another resort. We can’t sell it because they fail in their fiduciary duty to “owners” by reducing the value of the membership with ever-escalating maintenance fees and poor maintenance of their properties. Assessment fees of over thousands of dollars. If we don’t pay the fees we’ll be turned over to a collection agency and our credit will suffer. You quickly find that there is no value in the timeshare properties. They simply bilk their members for the ever-increasing fees. They get to turn their properties into nicer units and high property values for their stock holders while the owners pay the bill and we get nothing in return but a headache.
“When we purchased our timeshare the sales rep told us we would be able to have him rent out our timeshare for us and we could make money off of it. Our plan was to use that money as extra income as well as help to pay off the timeshare. I have been trying to contact the sales rep for over a month and have been unable to. The only reason we decided to pay as we had the option to make some money off of it by renting it. After looking online I’m not even sure if that is allowed for them to rent it out for us. The mortgage and maintenance fees are a strain on our budget.”
“We purchase our unit in 1998 and have since completely paid it off. We are in our 70s and have no extra income to pay such a huge Maintenance Fee.
“I have had a timeshare for several years. Two years ago I was told by a timeshare sales rep that if I would upgrade to Gold status my maintenance fees would be frozen and would never go up. Needless to say, another Lie. I am 70 years old and on a fixed income. I also financed the last points I purchased. Going where you want to go is almost impossible. I found out a few years ago that there were no units available at one of their timeshares. Looking on the internet I found that there was plenty of availability if you wanted to rent one directly from the resort. I would like out of my contract as well as the loan.”
“We have a timeshare and were flat out lied to when we signed up. We were told that we could sell our timeshare back or they would take it back for free. When we called obviously that program was not longer available and we were instructed to read our contract which states services maybe added or removed at the developers discretion.
“I own points through my timeshare resort. I initially bought 2500 points and found out quickly that this wouldn’t allow for much of a vacation, so they talked me into purchasing an additional 2500 points. This still isn’t enough to have a real vacation. The maintenance fees went up after I purchased the second set of points and they continue to increase every year. I owe about 20k on the “mortgage” @ 17.75% and would like to get out. We haven’t used the timeshare enough or been pleased when we did.”
“I have a timeshare on which I owe nothing on the contract and I am current on my dues. I want to get out of the contract because I am not able to use my points, everything is always unavailable, yet shows available on the internet if you pay cash.
“My husband and I purchased our timeshare in Branson in 2008 and have regretted it ever since. The timeshare is paid for, but, as you know, the maintenance fees are ridiculous. They started at $800 but after two assessment and increases the last couple years they are over $2700 a year and we have paid over $8000 in assessments in that last couple of years. Every time we go to Branson, we must call the front desk at all hours of the night because we can’t sleep due to thin walls. We can hear every sound coming from the rooms next to us. This happens every single time. Of course, we were told during our presentation that the rooms were soundproof and well insulated. We want to get rid of it, but don’t know how.”
“You have heard our story many times. We were vacationing in Myrtle Beach SC last July., went to a sales presentation, and bought points with a timeshare resort. It was (as always) many hours of high-pressure sales. Later, we learned that we were told many lies and important information was not given to us. My husband and I are well educated and usually smart when it comes to these things. We cannot believe that we were so trusting and fell for this. We paid $22,750 for the points and later almost $2,000 for maintenance fees. This is a nightmare. When we started to gather info online, we learned that we truly had made a horrible mistake and that there was no way to undo this.
