Dilemma with park tour

Sheesh I have gotten myself into a real possible dilemma.

We were contacted by an RV Membership park to say we had 'won' $2000 off a membership. Would we like to come and hear all about it? They would give us 2 nights free camping.

We are interested in the area so thought why not? We booked it for the coming weekend. Meanwhile, being saavy timeshare owners, we decided to look to see what these memberships really cost.

Long story short, we saw an ad for one at 1/4 of the price.

This is the dilemma: if we go and take the tour, we will stay at the park for free which they usually charge $25 a night. We doubt at this point that we would buy from the company as we can buy from the local owners for much less. But we've never stayed at this park and would like to see what its like. Should we forget the tour and pay the cost per night and tell them we looked into it and found a better price than what they can offer?

or

Do we just take the tour as we may learn something. It may be a better deal than what we've seen they sell for. But if not, and we like the park, then we'd buy from the sellers.

and

Since we are in Canada and the sellers very close to the park we are touring, it would make sense to do the paperwork and transfer while we are there, if we decide to buy a membership. That would entail going to the office with transfer papers which is just too cheeky for my comfort.

Please help me put this in perspective. I've got alot of emotional stuff going on right now and my usual decision making machine is just not working right. So please don't judge.

Diane

If you have any serious "emotional stuff" going on right now, it is not a good time for you to be making any kind of major decisions, honest. Your defenses are down. It is good that you recognize this. Call and ask to take a rain check, and take the tour when you're ready to do so.

There will always be other tours. Really. And, likely that same pitch (about winning $2000 off the membership price) was made to thousands of other people via direct mail or recorded phone call.

As far as buying used, you always want to make sure that you get the best, most advantageous contract. See if the reseller will send you a copy of their contract so that you can use it for comparison purposes if you do go on this tour. For example, early Thousand Trails contracts, according to friends of mine who belong, had fixed yearly dues and unlimited stays. Not so the newer contracts (although the newer contracts apparently will let you get out of them after a few years, unlike a TS). We looked into TT at one time a while back, because we love backpacking/camping, but once we found out that they really were geared more towards RVers, not tenters, we changed our minds.

First, I agree with Gadabout re making decisions when you have too many emotional issues already on your plate. These offers will be repeated so it is not necessary for you to jump on this one. You can wait for the next one if it is really something you are interested in. And, in the meanwhile, do more research.

Secondly, I get the sense that you feel uncomfortable taking advantage of someone else and I feel this is a good thing. But are you really taking advantage? You are getting two nights accomodation in payment of your time--not your commitment to buy. You give your time and attention to the salesperson and he gives you accomodations in return. Tug has many posts where people ask how to get invitations to ts presentations and I'm sure they don't intend to buy from the developer. Is this ethical? Each much decide for him or herself. I don't like to waste other people's time. The salesman may have a family to feed, too. The last presentation we attended (a long time ago) we told the salesperson up front that we had no intention to buy. We don't go to presentations any longer as we now see it as a waste of our time as well. However, if you truly are interested in this property then it is not a waste of your time to visit it and to ask questions and to learn the rules of use. And tug rule: get it all in writing.

Thirdly, ask yourself how much your peace of mind is worth. If your conscience is bothering you, it would be worth it IMO to pay the $50 just for peace of mind. Even if I and every other tugger said it was okay and ethical to take the two nights free camping in exchange for a presentation, it is still your conscience--not ours--that you must live with.

Best wishes in making your decision. I don't know that there is an absolute right or wrong here. Do what makes you feel at peace.

Hi Gadabout and Rose Pink,
I don't know what we will do for now. But I do appreciate your putting things into perspective. Yes of course we go on timeshare tours without the intention of buying. However, if we do buy a resale here, I suppose I am worried of their opinion of us, who stayed, took the tour and then within a day buy from someone else.

I expect we'll just tell the person during the 'close-up' that we found a resale and give them the opportunity to match it or ?.

Making this decision is easy, however, the ethic one was just playing too hard on my heart.

Diane

DianeH said:

Hi Gadabout and Rose Pink,
I don't know what we will do for now. But I do appreciate your putting things into perspective. Yes of course we go on timeshare tours without the intention of buying. However, if we do buy a resale here, I suppose I am worried of their opinion of us, who stayed, took the tour and then within a day buy from someone else.

I expect we'll just tell the person during the 'close-up' that we found a resale and give them the opportunity to match it or ?.

Making this decision is easy, however, the ethic one was just playing too hard on my heart.

Diane

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Give them a chance to match it--remember what I said about having a copy of the reseller's current contract to show them--and stay with a clear conscience. You can even tell them up front that you're looking at resales, and see what they'll throw in, or what they'll negotiate on. Even if the salesperson matches your offer, he still makes something, just not as much as he would on an uninformed party. The real money to be made in these memberships and any TS is the ongoing fees and potential to constantly raise them, valid reason or not (this is why I mention the "frozen lifetime dues" found in the old TT contracts). Also, ask about "transfer fees" which is another moneymaker for these places--e.g. TT is running about $750 I think now, which is simply ridiculous.

When they can so blithely make these "$2000 off" offers, even *they* know they're overpriced. Bring copies of current "for sale" ads to rebut their efforts to say how easy it is to resell and how it holds or increases its value over time. Don't feel bad about this. Make the salesperson earn his money.

I agree completely.