| Ok, remember when we told you about the 10 Worst Timeshares in the World? Westgate Resorts was #1… the worst of the worst… … maybe because Westgate holds the record of the most sued timeshare company. In 2015, no less an authority than the United States Supreme Court confirmed it. It decided that the company uses high-pressure tactics on customers. Said it had to pay a fine of $500,000. Well, here is another example. A group of people in Knoxville, TN say the “Westgate Resorts business model invites fraud.” The lawsuit alleges Westgate uses “…a high-pressure scheme that involves convincing prospective purchasers to buy into its vacation timeshare program while failing to disclose material and legally required information to buyers.” This lawsuit claims: “Westgate sales agents pressure purchasers to sign a series of complex and misleading legal documents; only months later, when the new timeshare owners attempt to reserve vacation time in “their” unit, do they learn that Westgate sold them something entirely different than what Westgate told them they had purchased.” And this lawsuit highlights the Westgate Resorts Vice President Richard Siegel saying Siegel “…has been captured on video telling sales agents to “lie” in order to complete a sale: “You should own at least one week yourselves—and if you don’t, lie and say you do! Don’t let these people leave here without buying something! Something!” he said. “100% of the people we are talking to are—it’s not a nice word, but we call ‘em mooches. They’re coming in for a sales presentation on their vacation for a free gift. So we train our sales people on how to take someone greedy like that and get them to buy today. We do 100% of our sales on the first day . . . They will not buy today if they don’t get a ‘great deal’ [making air quotes]—if they don’t believe that they’re getting a great deal…. Timesharing you sell every unit 52 times because you sell it by the week.” Got a Westgate horror story? You can email it to the Westgate CEO, David Siegel at david_siegel@wgresorts.com. You can :cc in Jim Gissy too … jim_gissy@wgresorts.com. He’s a big Executive VP at Westgate. The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Jason Gamel is the President and CEO of ARDA. Let him know your feelings about Westgate. Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org. Or… here is a list ARDA published of its VIPs across all its member companies. Maybe you can find your timeshare company executive and ask their advice too! Tell us your timeshare horror story, too. Send it to us at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
