Escape Timeshare

We’ve been getting increased correspondence regarding Toyshare, a firm that operates in a manner similar to timeshares, only dealing with luxury recreation vehicles rather than lodging.

A Toyshare member pays thousands of dollars in fees in return for the option of using an ATV, RV, or even a boat ‘whenever they please’.

Expect a full article shortly detailing some of the problems users have had with this company, which some are now calling a scam.

If you have any experiences you’d like to share re: Toyshare please comment.

A caveat emptor to timeshare presentations for honeymoon or vacation trips. Resorts occasionally react VERY poorly to those that do not succumb to their pressures to buy a timeshare. We’ve seen reports of withholding prizes and freebies enough that we feel it’s a very real danger to those going to resorts blindly.

One report states:

This reminded me of a “family vacation” we all took to a timeshare in Palm Springs back a few years back. All of our kids were stuck along in a condo for a few hours while the adults took their tour of the golf course and other amenities. On our last day there, we all got together in a large conference room for yet another salespitch and a free luncheon. When the sales people asked “Who wants to buy?”, no one responded and so they didn’t serve us any lunch.

Missing a free lunch may seem laughable, but what will you do if it’s your honeymoon and the resort is insisting on charging you the full outlandish resort fees because you didn’t purchase a timeshare from them?

Edna writes:

We did one of the sales pitches when we were in Hawaii. Our entire party received money off the excursions they did, so it was a pretty good deal for all of us. I told the guy upfront that we are not buying, cannot afford it, and were only there for the discounts. He was cool about it.

Sounds like you got lucky and got a nice sales agent. Sadly, he’s likely out of a job now. These salesmen are under intense pressure to make sales.

Candace also survived, writing:

I took advantage of a free weekend a few months ago. It was totally worth hearing the pitch to receive two free nights at the resort, free tickets to a nearby theme park, and a generous voucher for dinner out. The sales guy was visibly disappointed and kept trying to push me to buy, but I think he also understood that their recruitment method is bound to draw a lot of people who possess no interest in buying. Just stay firm and say “It doesn’t feel right” - they don’t really have a comeback to that one!

While we’re glad you both survived, we wish to warn readers that more often than not the timeshare company wins in the long run. Many survive 2 or 3 presentations only to succumb during the next visit to unexpected pressure.

We’ll be fleshing out some of this info later on, but the FTC has issued a warning against unscrupulous timeshare scams.

The thought of owning a vacation home may sound appealing, but the year-round responsibility — and expense — that come with it may not. Purchasing a timeshare or vacation plan may be an alternative. If you consider a timeshare or vacation plan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC, the nation’s consumer protection agency, says it’s a good idea to do some homework.

Lim writes:

My wife and I purchased a timeshare through Bluegreen at Charleston, SC. We have 8,000 points
every other year. We soon learned that we didn’t have enough points to use the timeshare for an entire week.

Ouch! Many timeshare companies purposefully mislead customers into believing that their points will equate to a yearly vacation.  They neglect to inform the buyer that these points are often barely enough to reserve a not very nice room every two years, if that.

It continues:

We were definitely misled. We pay outrageously high interest to a mortgage company owned by Bluegreen, . No attorney was present at the loan closing. We were never
told about the maintenance fee, which is exorbitant, between the monthly payment and the maintenance fee I don’t know how much longer we can hold out. They told me i could sell the timeshare as easy as that once we thought we are not going to use it which is a total BS.

Wow, it certainly gets worse doesn’t it?  We recommend that buyers always use a credit card or other financing to purchase a timeshare.  The timeshare company is already giving you a bad deal on the property.  They hope to take the buyer twice by ripping them off on high interest financing which often carries a prepayment penalty.

And concludes:

We tried to sell our timeshare back to bluegreen, they refused, refered us to a real estate company (Pinnacle Vacations) owned by Bluegreen…I am paying Pinnacle $35.00
in since 2004. Nothing!! Hope we can do something about this.
There has to be something we can do. I am so much hopeless and sick about this thing going around and tricking others into it. My experiences i believe won’t be much different from other victims.
Thanks for putting my rant up.

We’re sorry to hear about the bad deal you got on the timeshare, on the bright side its influenced us to write more on how to dump a timeshare.

We’re big fans of pointing potential buyers of timeshares to eBay.  Most are surprised that timeshares sell for so little through auctions.  Some get suspicious that the low price is indicative of eBay offering useless timeshares unlike the ones sold via resorts for much more.

While timeshares are rarely an economical purchase, most of the timeshares offered on eBay are the exact same as the ones offered for thousands more through resorts.

Arty writes:

We purchased a great 3 bedroom unit in Orlando,Florida as a floating week lock-off timeshare oneBay about 5 years ago and a decent 1 Bedroom timeshare unit in Arkansas with points last year.

We used an auction sniper to make a last second bid and won both auctions for a good deal less than we’d expected to pay, we got these units for less than our maximum bid so that felt good.we that we sniped in.

We were able to choose our own closing service for the timeshare purchase and went with one we were familiar with in order to buy the Orlando property.

The Arkansas purchase required that we use the seller specified closing service agency, but the fees for that and further information was prominently displayed on the auction listing so we knew exactly what we were going to pay on both, and were able to decide what to bid accordingly.

We’re glad eBay worked for you Arty, and it’s good to see that you knew exactly what you were getting into and what you’d pay before buying, a luxury which, due to high pressure sales tactics, timeshare buyers frequently do not enjoy.

A visit to Orlando will often result in a tourist being offered free, or reduced price tickets to Disney World in return for attending a ‘90 minute’ timeshare presentation.

Often, these presentations will turn into a 5 or 6 hour long high pressure sale experience in which the purchase of a timeshare is equated in importance to a life or death decision.

Most people give in, which is why these resorts are able to offer free tickets.  The real cost ends up being much more than one would pay just to get into Disney world in the first place.

Mark writes us on his experience with timeshare presentations:

Timeshare hounds nearly got me twice, in the small space of 7 days.  Fool me once, shame on them right?  Fool me twice shame on me.  They really work you, and the second timeshare presentation often goes worse than the first.  They break you down.

Fortunately for me, I managed to rescind both timeshares and receive a full refund in time.  I saw the light, and strongly recommend that others BUY TIMESHARES RESALE!

I like the advice you give about always researching a timeshare no matter where you buy it.  Simple research revealed that both timeshares I nearly bought sold for less than 10% what I paid for them.To make a long story shorter; after my narrow escape from retail timeshares, I’ve researched and purchased two prime-time weeks, one following another, on eBay from a wonderful resort ( via separate auctions) for about 3% of the scandalous sum the sheisters tried to scam me into spending on their timeshare.

We’re glad you pulled out alive, and with your wallet somewhat intact.  Researching prior to buying a timeshare, even a seeming deal on ebay is key to making good purchases.

A large amount of the mail we receive here at Escape Timeshare is from people purporting to be timeshare owners that are ‘perfectly pleased’ with their timeshare purchases.

Considering that just about any timeshare can be purchased on the secondary market for 30% of its retail cost, we tend to discount most emails as being from timeshare promoters or masochists that genuinely enjoy greatly overpaying for luxury vacations.

We do occasionally see the stray email that stands out as being from someone that is genuinely pleased with their purchase and may have at least gotten a fair deal.  For example, Johnathan writes us:

You really cannot write-off all timeshares as bad deals.  I found a single bedroom unit in Puerto Vallarta roughly ten years ago that I purchased for $150 from a co-worker that was sick of maintenance fees on a place she could never find time to visit. 

Mexico can be a bit of a trip for some people who sometimes decide to just let their units revert back to the resort.  She was about to do so when I offered to buy it for a song.  She had spent nearly $20k to purchase it.

Many timeshare owners are surprised to learn about assessments. Simply put, if the timeshare needs renovations, disaster repair, or to simply pad the managing corporations bottom line, timeshare owners will often be assessed a large lump sum fee.  These can sometimes span several years.

The fees can vary in size, but are generally at least $1000. If you don’t pay the assessment you will be denied access to your timeshare. You will still have to pay your maintenance fees or face collections or foreclosure.

Assessment can particularly hurt if you own multiple units in the same complex.

Imagine owning in Wyndham Santa Barbara…owners in the resort were recently hit with a ’special’ assessment for last couple of years to pay for hurricane repairs.  So much for insurance huh? The entire assessment on a single-bedroom unit totaled $1488.

Perhaps the worst part of an assessment is that it completely destroys a timeshares already low resale value.  Often, even after an assessment has been paid, resale values remain low as future buyers are scared of another assessment in the future.