| We’ve shared timeshare horror stories featuring… …torturous sales tactics…. …frightening fee increases… …inescapable contracts. And now we have a ghost story, too. Really. It comes from Ruby and Ronald from Racine, Wisconsin. It wasn’t buried in a crypt, but it did take a bit of digging to find it among the 4,256 pages of complaints against Westgate in the Florida Attorney General’s office. “We were approached by solicitors offering a free breakfast if we were to attend a meeting for Westgate Resorts.” “We had about 2 or 3 different individuals approach us during the presentation who offered us different deals. They made it seem like it was the deal of a lifetime, and if we didn’t accept that day, it would cost much more next time.” Ruby and Ronald chose to deal with the one who promised to be their “personal” rep, but he “stepped away from us for almost half an hour, and when he returned, he said it was because so many people wanted to buy these ‘amazing deals’ that they were very busy.” “Just as he came back to our table to sell us more, he was once again interrupted, but this time by his phone. He took this opportunity to tell us that we would always be able to reach him and gave us his personal and office numbers.” He also gave them lots of assurances. “He said we would easily be able to exchange our unit because everyone wanted to travel to Florida for Disney World.” “We would be paid top dollar especially because we would have a 3- bedroom unit year-round.” “Our rep briefly explained maintenance fees to us, and how we could eliminate them by getting referrals.” “Because of how great they made it sound, and how much money they said we would save, we decided to move forward with the membership.” “This dream quickly turned into a nightmare once we returned home and realized our maintenance fees were subject to increase at any time.” “Not only that, but there were actually many additional fees we were never told about! If we wanted to travel anywhere other than Florida, as he suggested, there would be crazy fees!” “We then tried going to our bank and refinancing the loan as our rep told us we could, and we found out this wasn’t true.” Ruby and Ronald tried calling their rep, “using the personal phone numbers he gave us, but we were never able to get a hold of him.” That’s right…he ghosted them! “At one point, we called Westgate directly and were told he didn’t even work there!” They had been…wait for it…ghosted by a ghost! “It was then we also found out that this membership is only an ODD year contract! So, we could NOT use it every year a promised!” “Because we were not told all the facts, we now own a membership based on complete lies.” Truly, a nightmare. Makes you wonder how someone like Westgate CEO David Siegel can sleep at night. Ask him yourself. His email is david_siegel@wgresorts.com. Someone else who should be unnerved by Ruby and Ronald’s story is 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. 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 |
