| Going on a cruise sounds like fun! Ocean breezes, good food, lots to see and do. Paying for a cruise? Definitely less fun. The crafty folks at Westgate Resorts have figured this out too. In fact, among the 4,256 pages of complaints against Westgate in the Florida Attorney General’s office, we’ve found several cases where Westgate agents used the promise of travel benefits – like offers to cover the cost of a cruise — to seal the deal on a timeshare sale. Unfortunately, despite a variety of empty promises, it turns out Westgate doesn’t like paying for cruises any more than you do! Brad, from Visalia, California, found out the hard way after attending a Westgate sales presentation. “After 9 hours of extreme pressure sales and promises, I was offered a timeshare contract with benefits which included opportunity to book my cruise at a cheaper rate than I already had, as well as use 1,500 travel credits ($1 per credit) to pay for my cruise in full.” “At the time of signing my contract I was informed the benefits would not be available for 90 days due to escrow and other contractual time frames. At the end of the 90 days I attempted to book my cruise which was the same price I already had.” And how did that go? “I attempted to use my 1,500 travel credits to pay for the cruise and was informed I could only use a max of 50 per use.” So…not very smoothly it would seem. We told you Westgate doesn’t like paying for cruises! “This is not what was promised.” No kidding. At that rate, Brad would have to take 30 cruises just to use up the 1,500 travel credits he was promised. “Other travel benefits I was promised did not work as indicated. The other benefits would cost additional fees if I wished to use them. Again, not as described in my sale.” We’re beginning to detect a pattern here. “After this discovery I tried to cancel my contract with Westgate only for them to tell me I had a 5 day cancel period. I was not informed of this at the time of purchase.” “This cancel policy is inadequate considering I cannot use any benefit for 90 days.” “I have tried for over a year to get my contract cancelled with the timeshare now sending me to collections.” It sounds like there are still some choppy seas ahead for Brad. Meanwhile, Westgate CEO David Siegel seems to be just sailing on by at his customers’ expense. Let’s rock his boat a bit by emailing him at david_siegel@wgresorts.com and asking him to stop promoting travel benefits that customers can’t use. And maybe we should shoot off a signal flare about Westgate’s tactics to alert Jason Gamel, the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. You can email him at jgamel@arda.org. Or you can find the contact information for your timeshare company’s leaders in this list of ARDA VIPs and let them know. Has your own timeshare company set you adrift with travel benefits they don’t fulfill? Let us know at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
