Free Vacation Certificate Comes with Fine Print

We’ve all gotten them – nice looking certificates that arrive in our mailboxes – usually at the end of winter when we’re starting to dream of spring break – advertising for a free vacation. Some certificates include lodging in a hotel or timeshare resort for a certain number of days and nights. Other offers include airfare or a cruise, or provide one complimentary ticket with the purchase of a second. Some certificates include discount coupons for restaurants, tours or attractions in the resort area.

Your momma taught you there is no such thing as a free lunch, right?  True here, too.  To start with, many require a non-refundable processing and handling fee or a refundable deposit of $50 to $100 to reserve a vacation offer.

But that’s not all you need to watch out for:

Read the rules carefully. Do you meet the required conditions, such as age and marital status or income level?

Determine all costs involved in using a vacation certificate. It will be your responsibility to pay for anything not specifically mentioned.   Will you be expected to pay for:

Hotel, timeshare resort or other lodging? Meals?

Transportation from your home to the resort? Do you have to travel to a distant location before the company pays for “free” travel?

Transportation from the airport to the lodging accommodation?

Additional fees for the peak tourist season? When is the peak season? Are there any port taxes when visiting a foreign country?

Remember, timeshare presentations are often long, grueling and difficult to walk away from.

Timeshare Presentations – Don’t Get Mad, Get Even

Recently, we heard a complaint from a person who had gone to a timeshare presentation and who had enough strength to say no to the many offers.  Yet, once it was obvious that the person would not buy, the timeshare salesperson had a near tantrum, yelling and eventually walking out of the room.

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon practice of timeshare salespeople.  It is a last-gasp tactic that creates guilt and disorientation to the prospective buyer that in a small number of cases could cause someone to buy.  The outburst could also stem from an attitude that the salesperson wants to ruin the day of the prospect because he/she did not purchase.

It will certainly leave a bitter “after-taste” from the timeshare presentation that may cause a person to never attend another timeshare presentation – which is the result that timeshare salespeople would want – keeping away people that will not buy.

In the end, the salesperson probably isn’t thinking about tactics or reasons for doing things.  He probably is just immature and stressed about not making the sale and not making the money that he needs to make.  So, he takes out the frustration on the person in front of him.

So, here’s some advice if you find yourself in this situation in the future.  First, there’s no need to escalate the situation by getting angry yourself.  If you can talk to a person or two nearby, ask for their opinion on what just happened.  If they agree that the salesperson acted unprofessionally, write down their name & number.  You can use a witness when writing a complaint to the company.

Also, take your experience and share it with as many people as you can.  The worst thing that can happen to a timeshare company is having no prospective buyers in the room for a presentation.  No one likes being treated poorly and unprofessionally.  Even people who might buy will be turned off by unprofessional behavior, so spread the word.

Timeshare Relief Telephone & Online Presentations

Although many people like to meet personally with our traveling team of friendly and expert consultants, there are times when it is not possible to meet face-to-face.  So, being the forward thinking company that it is, Timeshare Relief developed a system for people to not only listen to a presentation but to see one as well with their computers sitting in the comfort of their own home!

Each participant in our online presentations is provided a personal host who is also a timeshare expert.  The hosts will call before the presentation time to give each participant instructions on how to be part of the presentation.  Afterwards, every host is available to answer questions and review what Timeshare Relief can do to help with their timeshare(s).

These presentations are provided for free, but we do request that participants keep their assigned time slots as they are limited and the company does have many timeshare owners who want the information.

Timeshare owners who wish to be part of the online presentations need only call the office at 1-866-797-0535.

Timeshare Relief On Its Summer Tour

If you’ve been waiting to meet with one of our timeshare consultants, be sure to do it this summer. Timeshare Relief will be close to your home town this summer. We’re planning trips throughout the United States and Canada. We have never done SO much traveling before and we LOVE meeting with timeshare owners regardless of whether or not they want to get rid of their timeshares.

The goal at Timeshare Relief is to help those owners who want out, but also to educate those timeshare owners who do not know much about the timeshare industry. It’s important to find out what governmental agencies have released about timeshares like warnings and statistics. There are plenty of 3rd party documentation that our research team has discovered that all timeshare owners should know.

To see when our summer tour will come to a nearby city, please contact us at 1-866-797-0535. Our friendly staff would be happy to assist you. Sometimes phone lines are busy. If that is the case, we apologize and ask that you call back later.

Timeshare Relief Live in Your Area

This weekend our expert consultants will be meeting timeshare owners who are looking to get rid of their timeshares.  This will be an educational seminar for many timeshare owners who are unaware of the glut in inventory in the timeshare resales marketplace.  There are also many items in timeshare contracts that owners rarely examine until they are pointed out at the seminar.  The consultant teams will be in 7 states this weekend June 4-8: Arkansas, Alaska, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.