| “Always be closing.” That’s the mantra of every aggressive salesperson. And that mindset has led to some…well, let’s try to be polite… …“highly creative” promises… …made during infamously long, high-pressure timeshare sales pitches. We’ve come across some jaw-dropping examples of “creativity” from Diamond Resorts agents while reading through the 2,170 pages of complaints against the company in the Florida Attorney General’s office… …but this one from Thomas and Suzanne of Livonia, Michigan pretty much wins the prize. “My wife and my daughter’s family went to Orlando in March 2019 for the start of a three week vacation. At this time, we attended a presentation in which we were coerced into buying into a point system time share, which we thought we were actually trading for our existing time share week. We have owned the existing week for appx. 25 yrs.” “We had to return the next day to sign another form for the credit card approval. Then we had to return a third day for the remaining information concerning the trading of our time share for points for the Diamond Resorts vacation club.” Now “trading” is the key word here. Thomas and Suzanne couldn’t afford both their old timeshare AND the new vacation club points because they “are in our late 70s and on a fixed income…” “We were assured by [the sales agent] that the transfer of our existing time share would be traded for the new point system and it would be an even trade.” Now, here’s where Diamond got really “creative.” Thomas writes that when they asked about the new point system, “We expressed interest in taking a river cruise to visit Poland. We were told that Diamond Resorts owned the Norwegian cruise lines, and they were sure we would be able to work out something.” Spoiler alert: Diamond Resorts does NOT own Norwegian Cruise Lines! Now THAT’S quite the whopper! And here’s another one: Diamond didn’t “trade” Thomas and Suzanne’s existing week for the new point system. Now they’re stuck with both. “We’ve been under stress and anxiety because of this situation, which we feel wasn’t presented properly and that it exploited the elderly.” That’s a bona fide true statement…but, of course, it didn’t come from Diamond. Seems like Diamond has gotten too creative. Let’s ask Mark Wang if he agrees. He’s the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, which purchased Diamond Resorts in 2021. His email is mark.wang@hgv.com We wonder what Jason Gamel thinks of Diamond’s “creativity.” He’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Let’s email Jason at jgamel@arda.org Worried about how creative your own timeshare company has gotten? You can find the contact information for its leaders in this list of ARDA VIPs and let them know. And if you’ve got an even bigger timeshare whopper to share, let us know at info@timesharefacts.com PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
