| Webster’s Dictionary definition of hostage: Someone held by one party in a conflict as a pledge pending the fulfillment of an agreement Would it be too strong a word to use…say to describe how timeshare clients feel when faced with high pressure tactics used by sales agents? Timothy from Taylor, Michigan doesn’t think so. Read his story in the 4,256 pages of complaints against Westgate in the Florida Attorney General’s office and we think you’ll agree. “I decided to take my grandchildren to Sea World in Florida. I responded to a Facebook advertisement from Westgate Resorts for a one-night stay.” “This promotion included seven Sea World tickets for $500. After checking in, we were informed the promotion required us to attend a 60-90-minute sales presentation the following morning at 8am.” “After a prolonged wait, we were finally greeted by our sales representative…She did her best to explain the membership but would change the subject whenever we tried to ask questions.” “Eventually, we told her we weren’t interested at this time. Regardless of our wishes, she continued her sales pitch. I finally stopped her conversation to tell her our family, most importantly, our grandchildren, were waiting for us to return.” “She seemed startled by my remark and said she had to get her manager to release us.” “We were taken back by her comment, as we should be able to simply get up, thank them for the conversation, and head to the door. Unfortunately, this was not the case.” Were Timothy and his wife being held against their will? “The manager…arrived at our table. For the next five hours, he used every tactic in the book to keep us there, until my wife finally had enough of this hostage routine and left.” And why didn’t Timothy go with her? “It was at this point, he told me, ‘If you get up and leave, we’ll charge you full price for the Sea World tickets as well as your stay.’” That sounds more like a threat than a sales pitch! “The only reason I decided to move forward with this purchase without my wife being there, is [the agent’s] assurance that Westgate would buy it back, and I had 90 days to cancel if I wasn’t satisfied.” “In addition, he also told me the maintenance fees never increase and I had unlimited use of the resort each year.” “None of this information was remotely true.” We’ve heard that before. “Since the purchase, I tried to book a resort and was transferred at least 10 times to different Westgate representatives who were either rude or clueless.” “Finally, I was able to talk to a representative who told me the truth about my purchase when I tried to cancel the contract. They confirmed I was deliberately lied to and only had a ten-day buyer’s remorse period.” “The factual information contained in this letter and confirmed by a Westgate employee is proof I was a victim of deceptive and unfair trade practices.” At the very least, is sounds like it. And we would say that Westgate CEO David Siegel should put an end to the hostage taking at Westgate. Let’s ask him to do that by emailing david_siegel@wgresorts.com. We would hope that Jason Gamel, the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC, would agree that hostage taking is bad for business. Let’s make sure by emailing him at jgamel@arda.org. If you want to find some peace of mind with your own timeshare company – or give them a piece of your own — you can find the contact information for its leaders in this list of ARDA VIPs. And, of course, you can share any timeshare tales of terror with us at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
