| Ah… Westgate’s greatest hits. Just like on a diner jukebox, you can flip through all of them in one place. Just go to the 4,256 pages of complaints against Westgate Resorts on file in the Florida Attorney General’s office. High pressure sales tactics that gobble up vacation time…and wear down customer resistance. Rushed signings and hidden documentation that prevent customers from reading the fine print. Decreasing inventory available to owners despite the ever increasing annual assessments that owners are required to pay. The types of complaints about Westgate seem endless… …but all reflect one common attitude: a complete and total disrespect for customers. Customers like Arlena from Lithonia, Georgia. Arlena might not even have filed a complaint if Westgate had bothered to show – in the immortal words of Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin – just a little respect to Arlena and her husband. “This has been our experience with Westgate: We went on vacation in 2018 and got a great deal. We had to attend a promotional meeting to get that good deal but we agreed to a 90-minute presentation. That turned into about 4 hours.” Talk about a lack of R-E-S-P-E-C-T! “The salesman made several offers to us, very expensive, which we declined. Then he left. When he came back it was to offer us gifts and a credit card for the down payments if we signed that day.” “We gave up after this time and made the cheapest purchase we could which was an every other year plan…” So, Arlena and her husband were chained and bound to their new timeshare. But that wasn’t enough for Westgate. “This spring we went again and again had to attend a meeting. The salesman told [us] we had gotten a bad deal and only ‘half’ a timeshare and he would get us the other half. We refused this!” Way to stand up Arlena! “He got mad and left us at the table.” Call him Mr. Pitiful! But he was just the opening act. “A manager came and went over the whole business again only she wasn’t so nice. She said she would refund the down payment and give us a cruise.” “She got very angry when we still refused and threw papers on the table. Not a professional thing to do.” We agree. She should have tried a little tenderness on the weary owners instead. “That was insulting and we decided at that moment we wanted nothing more to do with the timeshares or Westgate. We want this canceled and money refunded.” We wish Arlena luck…but knowing Westgate that might be wasting time. You know who needs to show Westgate owners more R-E-S-P-E-C-T? D-A-V-I-D S-I-E-G-E-L. He’s Westgate’s CEO and president. We can email him at david_siegel@wgresorts.com to let him know the show he’s running at Westgate needs to change. Jason Gamel too. He’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC, and they’ve been playing back up for Westgate for a long time now. Jason’s email is jgamel@arda.org If your timeshare company has you singing the blues, use this list of ARDA VIPs to contact its leaders and tell them to change their tune. Getting no respect from your timeshare company? Let us know at info@timsharefacts.com PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
