| Life can throw us curveballs. You don’t always see it coming. But from what our readers tell us, timeshare companies make it hard to recover when life takes a turn. In presentations, sales reps say, “you have options… to rent, to sell…” … but then there is nothing about this in the contract. Definitely NOT in the fine print. Gabe told us: “I became gravely ill with a stroke, then discovering thyroid cancer same week. After getting pressured in into timeshare, I was immediately hit with 1k maintenance fee following month. I had trouble paying because of my stroke, but Westgate only wants the money. They called at all hours, attempting to collect debt. I ended up retiring, and not getting a paycheck for a year. I tried getting out, they kept telling me ways to keep the timeshare. I kept telling them there is no way we can afford to keep it.” Then James wrote: “Shortly after our purchase I lost my job. We were told that we would have 30 days to cancel our purchase but it had to be done in writing. We did this quickly and were even notified that they had received our letter. They never did anything about it so we called again and they scheduled us for a meeting with an account specialist. This person missed our meeting and we kept trying to reschedule but were ignored. I have spoken with many people since then and continue to receive the run around as to why the account isn’t closed. At this point we have lost all faith in Blue Green. We can not afford to make the payments let alone go on vacation. This has been an extremely stressful situation and we feel as if we are being scammed out of thousands of dollars.” “I have been trying to get out of the Timeshare with Westgate. I’ve been waiting on the hardship letter from them for two weeks and they won’t send it!!” wrote Sheila. Myrna’s note broke our hearts: “Why Westgate does not want to release me when i paid the amount full ,.? Its been years since I asked them. I never used their resort. I am old and retired…money is tight and had accident on my right leg “ torn ligaments” I cannot walk a lot, stand long hours. and just want simple life .I can provide with my medical history and now i have a forthcoming cataract surgery on both eyes. WESTGATE PLEASE RELEASE MY CONTRACT. BEFORE I DIE. I WANT TO ENJOY THE REST OF MY DAYS WITHOUT YOU IN MY LIFE. I WANT MY NIGHTMARE BE GONE.” EK shared this: “I enjoyed using it for almost 30 years, then came time for me to think about trying to get rid of it because I was retired and on a fixed income. And that’s when the nightmare began. They said they had a program that they offered for hardship cases. Exactly what mine had become. But for some reason I was denied even though I was caught up with those over inflated HOA fees. They refused to work with me at all other than giving me some advice on what I could do. Such as rent, sell or pass it off to someone else. Of course no one would take on that headache.” And from Christine: “I am now retired and do not travel anymore. I have paid thousands of dollars trying to sell or even give my timeshare away to get rid of the exorbitant maintenance fees but have had no luck. I have asked them to take the units back, which have been paid off, and they will not. They are a bunch of crooks and liars.” The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Jason Gamel is the President and CEO of ARDA. He may have some good advice about what the timeshare industry suggests for owners who have fallen on hard times. Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org. And Michael D. Brown. He’s a good person to ask. He’s not only the Chairman of the Board at ARDA, he’s also the CEO of Travel & Leisure Co., a Wyndham timeshare company. You can email him here: michael.brown@wyn.com Tell us your timeshare horror story, too. Send it to us at info@timesharefacts.com. PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
