| Have you heard this word, “gaslighting”? We wanted to be sure to use it the right way, so we looked it up in Webster’s Dictionary: Seems it was the “Word of the Year” in 2022. Gaslighting n.
Okay… yes… the second one is actually from the Timeshare Facts Dictionary. But after reading about how Westgate treated Duran of Effingham, South Carolina – and his wife – we think you’ll agree Westgate’s actions were the textbook definition of gaslighting. We came across Duran’s story in the 4,256 pages of complaints against Westgate on file in the Florida Attorney General’s office – and it’s a doozy. “My wife and I were visiting the Westgate Town Center Resorts in Florida.” “We were invited in for a mandatory timeshare owners update meeting.” A sales agent began selling them on an upgrade but… “We repeatedly refused offers by [the agent] stating that we were paid in full and didn’t want to start the process all over again.” “He said that if we did not move into a new ownership, because the VIP levels were changing at the resort, our ownership would become obsolete. Useless, in fact. He never told us we were grandfathered in, as we later found out.” Altering perceptions of reality? Check! “Something else we found fishy about this whole ordeal, was they told us that we had been contacted already through the mail and that they had left a couple of voicemails regarding the maintenance fee increase. We didn’t remember receiving anything like that.” Causing the victim to question their own memories? Check! “[He] told us we had been offered an opportunity to make this upgrade at an extreme discount because we were existing owners, to avoid the maintenance fee increase, but that we hadn’t responded to the offer and that it had expired.” “He had us write a letter to corporate and went in the back for 15 minutes and said he would call them up to get the deal reinstated.” “He came back out and acted like he had saved the day and gotten this great offer back on the table for us to take advantage of, but we had to do it today, this was a one day only deal.” Creating a dependency on the perpetrator? Check! “After very much pressure we signed a contract against our better judgement which has resulted in hardship for us.” Loss of confidence. Check! “We are in financial TURMOIL. We can’t afford this!” Uncertainty of one’s mental and emotional stability. Check…and…check! Now THAT’S a pretty clear case of gaslighting, don’t you think? Let’s see if Westgate CEO David Siegel agrees. You can email him at david_siegel@wgresorts.com Perhaps we also should find out what Jason Gamel thinks of Westgate’s gaslighting ways. Jason’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. You can email Jason at jgamel@arda.org If you want to find out whether your own timeshare company approves of gaslighting, use this list of ARDA VIPs to contact your company’s leaders. Have you or anyone you know been gaslit by a timeshare company? Share your story with us at info@timesharefacts.com PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
