My Dad just called to tell me he's taking a timeshare tour to get some offer

[FLDVCFamily]

Who wants to talk me down off the ledge? I just lost my mind on my dad. He called to tell me that Choice hotels was offering some premium and passed him onto BlueGreen to book a timeshare tour. I just lost it. He said not to worry, that he wouldn't buy. I told him that EVERYONE goes in saying that. He doesn't understand how much they prey on people, and how they lie. I just kept insisting that he not go, that this is one of the few things in life that I feel very strongly about, etc. There is no offer worth having my elderly parents preyed upon by timeshare weasels! I think I have him convinced not to go, but now that he agreed they will probably try again to get him to go when he checks in...UGH. I'm not at all happy right now!

 

[Luanne]

Let him go. We've done several for various reasons and came out alive. And if for some reason he does buy, tell him how to rescind.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

Let him go. We've done several for various reasons and came out alive. And if for some reason he does buy, tell him how to rescind.

He can be swayed pretty easily IMHO. He doesn't think so, but I do. I don't think it's a good idea unless I'm there the first time he does one and I won't be there for this.

 

[Luanne]

He can be swayed pretty easily IMHO. He doesn't think so, but I do. I don't think it's a good idea unless I'm there the first time he does one and I won't be there for this.

So, you can continue to get worked up about it, but will it cause him to change his mind? How old is your father?

 

[FLDVCFamily]

So, you can continue to get worked up about it, but will it cause him to change his mind? How old is your father?

He is about to turn 77. And yes, good chance I can get him to change his mind...it seems like he's seriously considering not going. It helps that I rarely get worked up about anything. He knows I'm serious.

 

[silentg]

Stear your Dad to TUG. He could get a timeshare resale. We have gone to owner updates that were disguised timeshare sales. I feel we waste our time and the sales people because we don't buy. Too much time and pressure. My dear mother solved the problem of getting roped in at the resort. She stated boldly"Why would I want another timeshare? How many more years do you expect me to live?"
Boy, do I miss her
Silentg

 

[ronparise]

Not too many years ago I was able to tell my daughter what to do. As the years passed I didn't tell her what to do; I advised, then there was a long time when she asked for my advice.

Now she advises me. We haven't gotten to the point where she tells me what to do. But I gotta think I'm not going to like it. I bet your dad dosent like it either

My advice for what it's worth is to give him your best advice. "Don't go, but if you do, don't buy" but if he does, know what the rescission window is and help him rescind. Just don't make him feel foolish

Good luck, we old fools can be difficult

 

[theo]

He is about to turn 77. And yes, good chance I can get him to change his mind...it seems like he's seriously considering not going. It helps that I rarely get worked up about anything. He knows I'm serious.

The good news is that even if Dad attends, gets sucked in and signs on the bottom line, state law still provides a "cooling off" period to rescind (cancel) after contract execution. That right to rescind cannot be lawfully waived and you can "goose step" into the matter then, if necessary.

Depending on the individual state, the rescission period can be as few as 3 days or as many as 10 days. In any case, a salvageable situation.

 

[Iggyearl]

Isn't it amazing how the offer of a "free" trinket, be it a discount hotel stay, a dining card, or some cash makes us get weak in the knees. This might be a good experiment to see how your dad acts. He says he won't buy, so let him go. If those bastards in sales actually pitch a 77 year old guy, then they deserve a rescission. Just make him tell you right after it's over, so he doesn't get in over his head. Good luck.

 

[vacationhopeful]

I have had a few people around me who think if I own timeshares .. so should they.

One guy spent $25,000 on Wyndham points and then admitted he had problems reading the Member Directory. I reminded him, I told you NOT to go, to NOT buy anything and I did NOT want any points (basicly did NOT want to be beholden to him for the $25,000 worth of favors). He then went out and PAID an postcard exit company another $5,000 to get rid of his less than 6 months old $25K points purchase.

He was a retired elementary school principal ... who for years told me he was a genius and smarter than any other person he had ever met. And he is only 10 years older than I ... and under 65yo when he brought this timeshare.

 

[Passepartout]

Tell him that if he buys a timeshare at age 77, that would be grounds to turn him over to Adult Protection Services and have a Conservatorship put on his financial accounts for his protection. He has NO BUSINESS even entertaining such thoughts. This is absolutely inappropriate for a 77 y.o. person. Period.

Jim

 

[davidvel]

Isn't it amazing how the offer of a "free" trinket, be it a discount hotel stay, a dining card, or some cash makes us get weak in the knees. This might be a good experiment to see how your dad acts. He says he won't buy, so let him go. If those bastards in sales actually pitch a 77 year old guy, then they deserve a rescission. Just make him tell you right after it's over, so he doesn't get in over his head. Good luck.

Not only that, but the companies favor people who want "something for free" as these are the best marks.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

Tell him that if he buys a timeshare at age 77, that would be grounds to turn him over to Adult Protection Services and have a Conservatorship put on his financial accounts for his protection. He has NO BUSINESS even entertaining such thoughts. This is absolutely inappropriate for a 77 y.o. person. Period.

Jim

Yikes! I wouldn't say that to him! I agree that it's inappropriate for them to be pitching to a 77 year-old couple, but you know that they'll use the "you can hand it down to your heirs" crap. UGH. He is only entertaining thoughts of the "freebies" they are dangling, not of buying...but isn't that how most marks start out for these timeshare weasels? They wouldn't offer the freebies if it weren't effective a good portion of the time.

FWIW, my dad owns DVC so he knows what a timeshare is. What he doesn't get is that DVC holds it's value (well, it has thus far more or less), but other timeshares absolutely do not. I told him that if he goes, he shouldn't say one word about owning DVC. Can you imagine what a fabulous mark he becomes if they know that he paid up for Disney (albeit on the resale market, I insisted on that at the time at least!). I don't think he even took a DVC tour so this would be his first timeshare tour. UGH.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

Isn't it amazing how the offer of a "free" trinket, be it a discount hotel stay, a dining card, or some cash makes us get weak in the knees. This might be a good experiment to see how your dad acts. He says he won't buy, so let him go. If those bastards in sales actually pitch a 77 year old guy, then they deserve a rescission. Just make him tell you right after it's over, so he doesn't get in over his head. Good luck.

There is some merit in this. Hopefully he just comes out with the "freebie" and the sense that that wasn't worth 2 hours (or more) of their vacation time. It's really weird...in the past something like this wouldn't have interested him. I'm not exactly sure what the sudden allure is.

 

[MuranoJo]

Ron's got the best advice, above. I'd take it easy--heck, 77 isn't THAT old or mentally fragile (I hope).
I'd bet there's a good percentage of 70-somethings on TUG who are still whooping it up traveling and visiting timeshares all the time.
Remember, today's 70-year-old is yesterday's 60-year-old. People are more alert and active, in general, then they were some years back.

Mind you, I'm just trying to protect us future generations from generalizations, LOL.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

Ron's got the best advice, above. I'd take it easy--heck, 77 isn't THAT old or mentally fragile (I hope).
I'd bet there's a good percentage of 70-somethings on TUG who are still whooping it up traveling and visiting timeshares all the time.
Remember, today's 70-year-old is yesterday's 60-year-old. People are more alert and active, in general, then they were some years back.

Mind you, I'm just trying to protect us future generations from generalizations, LOL.

LOL!! True! He's not mentally fragile lol...he's also just not used to dealing with 2 hours of weasel presentations. He thinks it's a 2 hour movie about timeshares?? I told him that feature length movies aren't that long. There may be a movie, but there will be plenty of face-to-face weasel time in order to wear them down. Soooo not worth their time and not worth even a small risk that they'll cave.

 

[cubigbird]

This might be too simple, but if you are so afraid he may buy, can't you also attend with him? There is nothing suitable for developer TS sales reps to be selling a long term contract to a 77 year old. The break even on usage is well past life expectancy.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The thing with older parents, being 62 myself, is I really don't like to get advice from my kids. Our son has made some disastrous financial decisions in his life.

Anyway, Christine, my fear would be that your dad will not tell you that he bought something. That is my fear. And you and I both know that Foxrun is a great trader that people are giving away. Cindi from TUG and Foxrun's Yahoo group is giving away a week 31 right now, which is prime summer. That week will pull 2 bedrooms in Orlando at the Marriott resorts during Christmas, and my niece was able to get summer at the Key West Hyatt with a week 16. Those weeks are very powerful traders. Bluegreen is a great system, but to get that kind of trading power, it would cost many thousands of dollars. People are giving away Foxrun.

 

[x3 skier]

Everybody's different. I know 75 year old people who are basket cases while I'm building an airplane to fly myself around, among other things.

The advice regarding giving good counsel and then see what happens is the best. Just a simple piece of paper that shows what you buy the same thing for vs what the weasels are selling is enough to convince anybody not to buy or to rescind if they get sucked in. If you can't go with your Dad, show him before he goes what the relative costs are including the "infinite" maintenance fees.

Cheers

 

[HudsHut]

I have the same fear as Cindy.
Your Dad is going to attend.
He will be bullied into purchasing.
He will then be too embarrassed to tell you he bought in time to rescind.

 

[Jan M.]

From attending the presentations and taking the tours we've enjoyed some great freebies and learned something about how other timeshare systems work. In the early stages of our ownership we also learned how to better use what we owned from attending those presentations and updates. It is interesting to see and compare the units and the other timeshare systems to what we already have.

Taking the timeshare tours and getting the freebies can be harmless entertainment for retired folks. Many of them enjoy doing it over and over at the different resorts and never get talked into buying a thing. Tell your Dad to have a good time, enjoy the freebies and chatting with the sales rep. Just make sure he understands, which I think he already does, that he can buy pretty much anything he might want on the resale market. Also that typically the sales reps spin things and even outright lie making you think you are getting something special buying directly from them that you won't get on the resale market. There are actually some very few instances where this is true, like day use of ski or beach resorts only for developer owners which is wonderful if you live within say 2 hours of the resort and would be using the resort amenities and facilities enough to justify a small developer purchase to get them.

Give your Dad a job. Ask him to tell you what he thinks of the Bluegreen resort they will show him and how it compares to other resorts he has stayed at so you can post it on TUG. Ask him his opinion about if their system is easy to use and might be worth looking into in the future for a resale purchase. He really can't get into trouble as long as he understands that anything they offer him, no matter what they tell him, he can get the same if not a better offer another time. Let him have his fun and leave with his "prize". But the true bonus is that he will have something to talk to you about as we are all interested in knowing about his experience.

 

[GrayFal]

I am a happy Bluegreen owner but the salespeople lie like there is NO tomorrow. The latest lie is that your Bluegreen Points never expire. How? Why turn them into Choice Hotel Points (at a terrible conversion rate) and keep activity on your account every 18 months. Duh, they can no longer be used at BG resorts, but for a hotel stay that you can book for cash at less then half of what your maint fee for the points costs you!

And their pricing is all over the map - $3.25/point, $2.00 per point
It is just ridiculous.

Tell him not to go.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

I am a happy Bluegreen owner but the salespeople lie like there is NO tomorrow. The latest lie is that your Bluegreen Points never expire. How? Why turn them into Choice Hotel Points (at a terrible conversion rate) and keep activity on your account every 18 months. Duh, they can no longer be used at BG resorts, but for a hotel stay that you can book for cash at less then half of what your maint fee for the points costs you!

And their pricing is all over the map - $3.25/point, $2.00 per point
It is just ridiculous.

Tell him not to go.

OMG. He's SO into staying at Choice hotels (why, I cannot tell you). I could see him falling for that line of crap!!

My mom told me she thinks he's decided against going. BlueGreen called them though, so I hope my parents cancelled and refuse to speak to them again.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

From attending the presentations and taking the tours we've enjoyed some great freebies and learned something about how other timeshare systems work. In the early stages of our ownership we also learned how to better use what we owned from attending those presentations and updates. It is interesting to see and compare the units and the other timeshare systems to what we already have.

Taking the timeshare tours and getting the freebies can be harmless entertainment for retired folks. Many of them enjoy doing it over and over at the different resorts and never get talked into buying a thing. Tell your Dad to have a good time, enjoy the freebies and chatting with the sales rep. Just make sure he understands, which I think he already does, that he can buy pretty much anything he might want on the resale market. Also that typically the sales reps spin things and even outright lie making you think you are getting something special buying directly from them that you won't get on the resale market. There are actually some very few instances where this is true, like day use of ski or beach resorts only for developer owners which is wonderful if you live within say 2 hours of the resort and would be using the resort amenities and facilities enough to justify a small developer purchase to get them.

Give your Dad a job. Ask him to tell you what he thinks of the Bluegreen resort they will show him and how it compares to other resorts he has stayed at so you can post it on TUG. Ask him his opinion about if their system is easy to use and might be worth looking into in the future for a resale purchase. He really can't get into trouble as long as he understands that anything they offer him, no matter what they tell him, he can get the same if not a better offer another time. Let him have his fun and leave with his "prize". But the true bonus is that he will have something to talk to you about as we are all interested in knowing about his experience.

This is a great idea! If he does end up taking the tour, giving him a "job" is a seriously great plan. My mom said if she goes she's bringing her Kindle and ignoring everyone and everything. I love it! I told her that she also needs to wear my "Keep Calm and Buy Resale TUG2" shirt...and I'm serious!

 

[1st Class]

This is a great idea! If he does end up taking the tour, giving him a "job" is a seriously great plan. My mom said if she goes she's bringing her Kindle and ignoring everyone and everything. I love it! I told her that she also needs to wear my "Keep Calm and Buy Resale TUG2" shirt...and I'm serious!

Love this!