Time Share Resort Pitfalls

Discussion in 'Trip Planning and Travel Concerns' started by dangerzone66, Mar 1, 2010.

  1. Wink

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    The thing with any of the timeshare schemes is you have no control over the cost after you buy into it.As with the extra fees for sewer hook ups and golf cart fees.That way they can say there yearly dues are low when making there sales pitch.Also one of there sales pitches is that you have it when you retire.Right now with the golden age pass you stay in Fed. parks for half price and in my state of Florida over sixty five or handy cap you you can camp for half price if you live in the state and as they re do the parks they are making most of them full hook up.We go to one that even has a pool and cost $14.00 a night plus tax.They are going up some as they redo them but still at full fee of $28.00 dollars is still a good deal with sewer hook up.

    We camp a week or more a mouth and it still would not be a good deal as most have limits on how many days a year you can camp.There is also camping clubs that you can join for a small fee that will give you up to half off at some privet camp grounds.

    I just added up our next 50 days camping and it is less than fifteen dollars a day average $14.76 That is with water and 30 amp at all and full hook up at about a third of them.
     
  2. kdfarmer

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    We have had similar problems with Gettysburg Resort. We have tried numerous times to camp there but are always told the campground is full. I haven't been able to get in on a holiday in years. We pretty much gave up trying and haven't stayed there in a couple of years. They called tonight and threatened to turn us into a collection agency for being two quarters behind on dues for a campground that hasn't had camping sites open for us to use in the last two years. Though a membership park they allow non-members to camp there and take up the sites. They have a large volunteer staff who stay or live there causing the campground to look like a seasonal campground (100 lb fuel tanks, large covered piles of firewood, permanent steps, lots of junk on the sites etc.). In the winter there are a lot of camping units/trailers in the camping sites hooked up and vacant as the campground allows the use of the sites as winter storage. The staff was never friendly when we did stay there. If you want to get in touch with us – we use aol.com
     
  3. Skymessenger

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    Sorry you going through all this mess. Several years ago my wife and I received an invitation to go to Florida to a certain campground to stay for three days and two nights free of camping. The catch to this deal was for both my wife and I to sit through a "Sells Pitch" to join their resort. With free camping we agree to go through it.

    I can not remember all the details but it was going to be costly for our pocketbooks. They kept telling us how we would be saving money if we joined them. I just couldn't figure it out. They were a new resort and they have a resort in Tenneessee which we could camp at for free. We had to paid I believe $350.00 per-year for maintence fee. Yet, we can go anytime and stay up to two weeks of free camping.

    It SOUND interested but there was something fishly about it. I just didn't have peace about it. So we decided not to get involved with them. They kept pushing and pushing (Which I hate so much!) for us to buy into their membership. Once we said no, that is what we meant.

    Anyway, a few years later we were camping in the area. So went to see the resort. It was no longer there! It is now a Grocery Store. The campground is no where in sight.

    I just hope these types of Resorts that cares more about getting people 's money will be closed. I truly hope you will be able to get your money back. Hang in there!
     
  4. dangerzone66

    dangerzone66
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    Hello everyone,

    Thanks to all of you who shared your comments and similar experiences in your replies. :)

    It is almost a year after all the fussing and fighting went down, and I finally can relate the way it all ended up working out. I would like to say we succeeded in getting our money back, but that is not the case. :angry:

    The PA BBB had no luck trying to persuade the resort, and deferred all efforts to the NC BBB. The AG in both states declined to get involved. The NC BBB was only able to work out a deal after 4 months of negotiating with the resort, that, as stated by the resort manager in a letter to the agent at the BBB, was "to give us the lifetime membership not because it was warranted by the situation or because we were mislead into believing we actually had purchased a lifetime membership, but in order to keep their good standing with the BBB." The agent from the BBB forwarded his letter to us. That was the final straw. We were so tainted and insensed by this comment, that we had no desire to ever stay at their resorts ever again! We never did receive an actual letter from the resort indicating we were upgraded to the lifetime membership. We did however continue to receive the bills for the maintenance fees, even though at that point our 3 year trial was up. We figured they were just doing their usual and were slow to catch up on what was going on, so we ignored the bills. After a year of maintenance bills, two weeks ago received a letter stating they were taking us to collections unless the bills were paid immediately, plus a $125 penalty fee. My wife called them, actually spoke to the financial manager of the resort (the one I could never speak to, for some reason), and explained that since we didn't pay anything past our trial membership, and had not received anything in writing regarding our upgrade to lifetime membership as he had proposed, that we assumed our membership had run out, and we were done. This apparently was not the case, and the only way we could get out of paying an additional $500 was to fax them a letter stating that as of April 2010 we no longer wanted our membership and would like to cancel it. He did send a reply that we were cancelled as of that date afterwards, with no additional charges, but we had already lost thousands on this deal. Not to mention the aggravation and frustration we had to put up with while dealing with them and trying to work this out. We even spoke with an attorney about a lawsuit, but he told us it would cost us just as much as the membership did to try and get the money back, because of the interstate business thing, regulations, and having to file in North Carolina. We gave up at this point.

    So now we are a bit poorer, but wiser, and will never be roped into one of these schemes again. Hopefully others will read these words of wisdom prior to venturing into one of these types of resorts, and steer clear of these fork tongued devils and their wiley ways. There are plenty of nice clean resorts around this great country of ours without having to be a member and roped into staying at one or two places all the time.

    Thanks to all for the supportive words and happy trails! ^_^
     
  5. Florida Native

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    Unfortunately this sort of thing happens all the time in Florida on time shares. It was an expensive, but valuable lesson learned. Wait about 6 months and then go in there and shoot the SOB. In the time share business around Orlando, these "financial managers" have hundreds of cases going at once, in house lawyers, and tremendous egos. They play of the very edge of the law and are the modern day snake oil salesmen. Just be glad it is over.
     
  6. jan-n-john

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    Seems to me this whole thread points to a simple rule of living. Any time somebody is asking you to pay up front for a promised future service, particularly use of some facility like a time share, run the other way. No matter how good they make it sound, their interest is always to get as much money as possible now, and pay out the least possible in the future. They always have a much larger financial interest in their scheme than you do, so have hired lawyers and marketing people to make sure they will come out ahead, not you. It is their business, not yours, and you will never win--they are the slick operator and you are the rube. When all is said and done, it is highly unlikely you will have benefited enough to have made the up-front payment worthwhile, partly because they will have liberated the maximum number of dollars from your pocket and given back the least possible, and partly because everybody's situation changes over time and few find they can actually use these facilities as much as they thought they would.

    Better to keep your money now, and pay as you go in the future.
     
  7. FosterImposters

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    QUOTE(jan-n-john @ Apr 2 2011, 05:35 AM) [snapback]25748[/snapback]

    Better to keep your money now, and pay as you go in the future.


    Thats the very same reason I cringe at the "extended warantee insurance" concept.
    But that's another thread all together. B)
     
  8. Wink

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    All timeshare camping or condo is a bill that you have for life that you have no control over how much it is unless you just stop paying it. :( You are not the fist to get sucked in by a timeshare sales man.They are very good at what they do as most professional thief`s are. :angry: :ph34r:
     
  9. 0p3nsrc

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    Practicing a bit of thread necromancy..

    Registered just to say "thank you" to dangerzone... I was just at a "local"-ish RV dealer for an open house, and Outdoor World/Gettysburg Battlefield Resort had a thing there. My love for registering for any contest in front of me filled out a slip.

    I got an email earlier today from them, that I had a camping voucher. I was excited, having just bought a pop-up camper for my family. I could tell that the email was written by a bot, so I knew the "free" camping was given out en masse.

    I called the 855 number without thinking, and the guy gave me the typical spiel about the place and what I needed to do for the offer. Seemed odd, so I told him I needed to discuss it with my wife first. Instead, I took to Google. Glad that I did, too. You saved me from a wasted 2-hour trip down to Gettysburg..

    Luckily, I used my Google Voice number to call them, so I can block their numbers as they call me....
     

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