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Hello All! Help a Newbie!

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Hi all. I have to admit I'm new to the timeshare market and unfortunately the wife and I were taken in.

I've been on a few timeshare sales and turned them down in the past. Then we went to Welk, and they lied up and down to get us to buy. And stupidly... we did.

Some of the things they told us:

1) That all locations had the same point values
2) That you could double your weeks through interval and then rent the doubled weeks through welk
3) That the point values were the same all year round.

These were the largest, and unfortunately we bought the lies (I even have my notes from the meeting!)

So I was wondering a few things:

1) Anyone have any success getting out past the recission period?
2) Anybody actually enjoy their Welk membership (when buying from Welk)
3) Does anyone have any renting tips when it comes to interval? We will definitely not be able to use all our points every year and I was really trying to rent some of those points out.

Again, thank you all for your help. Feeling a little helpless here and definitely the victim of a bait and switch...
 

LannyPC

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So I was wondering a few things:

1) Anyone have any success getting out past the recission period?

Have you paid off the mortgage and are all your MFs up-to-date? If so, some resorts might take the interval back if you agree to pay the closing costs.

How much of the mortgage have you paid already? How long ago did you buy?
 

pacodemountainside

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The secret is refusing to sign contract until your notes are incorporated.

You can ask resort to take back but chances slim to none.

You cannot legally rent II reservations.

Learn how to use.The olde make lemonade!
 
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Have you paid off the mortgage and are all your MFs up-to-date? If so, some resorts might take the interval back if you agree to pay the closing costs.

How much of the mortgage have you paid already? How long ago did you buy?

We just bought a few months ago. We've paid about 5,000 and there's about 18,000 of principal left.

What we're worried about if the hurdles we're coming up against in using interval. If we can make it work fantastic, but we're worried that it's going to be a huge hassle.

I'm an attorney and one of my best friends works for one of the largest class action lawsuits in the area. I've talked to him about filing a suit, but I don't know if I want to do that if other Welk users are saying that they enjoy their ownership.

I'm typically more conservative about my purchases but I was on my mini-honeymoon and I had my head sort of in the clouds...
 

DeniseM

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What we're worried about if the hurdles we're coming up against in using interval. If we can make it work fantastic, but we're worried that it's going to be a huge hassle.

If you are still asking about renting exchanges - II doesn't permit it, and the consequences can be pretty harsh if you get caught.

Exchanging for your personal use doesn't have to be a hassle. You just decide when/where you want to go, put in an on-going request (it's like wait listing) and sit back and wait for your exchange to come through. For the best success request many resorts over a broad time frame.

If that's not your questions, please clarify.
 

ineedavacation33

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We felt the same way after purchasing at Welk Escondido (San Diego) and had a really sleazy salesman, although we got a decent price from the perspective of buying from the developer. But since you can buy almost the same thing for almost nothing on the resale market, we obviously did not make an intelligent decision. Since then, I've found TUG and learned a TON.

With that being said, we have actually used the leftovers (after exchanging) of our Welk Points and stayed for 2 weekends, one at Escondido and one in Palm Springs. We exchanged most of the time as one-bedroom weeks. Both weekends were pleasing. The accommodations were good, the resort was nice, everything was clean, we were satisfied. We went over Halloween weekend and they had a bunch of activities available. I think the two Califonia resorts are geared towards people slightly above our age group, but it is decently popular.

Since we've purchased, we have moved from SoCal and use our Welk Resort primarily to exchange. If you have Welk Platinum Points, I know that you can exchange in either II or RCI. The RCI option is not very much publicized for whatever reason, but we use it because it has the Disney DVC resorts and gets fairly decent trading value.

If you would like to PM me, I'd be happy to help you learn how to use what you've bought. It took us a while to figure it out, and I am by no means an expert, but it had made us feel less remorse in the purchase. We don't regret purchasing a timeshare at all, I just regret not being educated enough to know to buy resale. But you live and learn. If you're out if the recision period, that's pretty much it, so learn to use what you have to take the vacations you'll be happy with. And the resort itself is very nice. Hope that helps somewhat.
 
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ineedavacation33

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Oh, and become a TUG member. Huge amounts of information to be found here. Best $15 you'll ever spend. Especially if you are interested in highly popular exchanges such as DVC. The Sightings Board is a must.
 

pacodemountainside

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As you have probably discovered contract has general paragraph disavowing any verbalization, sales brochures, etc and incorporates governing documents by reference as Developers know what is going in in sales bull pen. Also, generally have specific paragraphs to disavow common sales lies such as an investment, rentals, availability, exchanges, resale, etc. It is nature of business that sales people have to exaggerate, deceive and out right lie. Wyndham, the largest TS Developer in world has an "F" BBB rating for this.

Ball park probably most owners are dissatisfied with sales experience especially if they find this or similar web site what they bought going on e-bay for a buck, etc.

ARDA claims around 90% satisfaction for other aspects such as resort itself, resort staff, reservations, etc. Of course, this is an average . Some like Westgate would be at bottom of barrel while hotel chains would be at top end.

Several years ago two class action lawsuits were filed against Wyndham exchange company, RCI, and won. However us Plaintiffs ended up with a token settlement worth a couple of bucks and RCI got a slap on the wrist. plus promise to be good in future.

Also, there have been class actions lawsuits against Developer and since an attorney should be able to use Lexis Nexis or similar to see what happened..


You might find this thread interesting where individual sued Westgate and get an idea what you are up against.

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206007&highlight=lawsuit

You can also do a search on lawsuits and Welk to get a feel for what is happening.
 
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Thank you all for being so helpful! Part of us wants to just keep it and move past it and the other part of me wants to take my friend up on his offer to sue.

If we do decide to keep it I will definitely contact you Ineedavacation. I appreciate the offer for help. Usually I'm a lot smarter than this, but I was just all head in the clouds since I was on my mini-moon and I think they could sense that.

I'm happy to hear people have positive experiences with Interval. I know on their site they say they put availability of locations up a year early, but this week when we talked to someone, they told us that they don't have the dates up for next January yet, so that made us nervous.

We probably won't rent to strangers if what you said is true (although since none of them tell the truth it's weird they hold us to such a high standard).

Anyways again, thanks for the help guys. Even if I can't get out the contract I'll likely be calling the sales guy every day for the next few months. Hopefully he'll think twice about lying to the next couples if I send him guilt voice mails every day :p
 

sue1947

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Hi all. I have to admit I'm new to the timeshare market and unfortunately the wife and I were taken in.

I've been on a few timeshare sales and turned them down in the past. Then we went to Welk, and they lied up and down to get us to buy. And stupidly... we did.

Some of the things they told us:

1) That all locations had the same point values
2) That you could double your weeks through interval and then rent the doubled weeks through welk
3) That the point values were the same all year round.

These were the largest, and unfortunately we bought the lies (I even have my notes from the meeting!)

So I was wondering a few things:

1) Anyone have any success getting out past the recission period?
2) Anybody actually enjoy their Welk membership (when buying from Welk)
3) Does anyone have any renting tips when it comes to interval? We will definitely not be able to use all our points every year and I was really trying to rent some of those points out.

Again, thank you all for your help. Feeling a little helpless here and definitely the victim of a bait and switch...

Just some additional thoughts:
While you can't rent out a week you get from Interval, you can rent out a week you book at Welk with your points.
To get the most out of Interval, you need to put in a request a year out. When resorts deposit their weeks varies, but you want your request in place before that happens. Otherwise, the good stuff is gone before you even see it.
Sue
 

DeniseM

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We probably won't rent to strangers if what you said is true (although since none of them tell the truth it's weird they hold us to such a high standard).

Interval International is a completely separate entity, and has nothing to do with what the timeshare sales people told you.

Even if you only rent to friends and family, eventually, Interval may notice that all your reservations are for guests - not for yourself. That is what tips them off, that you are renting your exchanges.
 

LAX Mom

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Interval International is a completely separate entity, and has nothing to do with what the timeshare sales people told you.

Even if you only rent to friends and family, eventually, Interval may notice that all your reservations are for guests - not for yourself. That is what tips them off, that you are renting your exchanges.

In addition to what Denise said, it is against the Terms & Conditions of membership with II & RCI to rent out exchanges. If you are caught the penalties are severe. They will freeze your account & you might lose all deposited weeks. There are TUG members who have reported this happening to their II accounts.

Your best option is to rent out weeks you reserve at Welk, or figure out how to use & enjoy your points. Good luck!!
 
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Interval International is a completely separate entity, and has nothing to do with what the timeshare sales people told you.

Even if you only rent to friends and family, eventually, Interval may notice that all your reservations are for guests - not for yourself. That is what tips them off, that you are renting your exchanges.

Thanks for the heads up! I guess we'll be doing some thinking then. I really wish I had come across the site before we bought. Everyone here is so knowledgeable and it would have saved us a lot of hassle.

I suppose there's always the persistence route as well. If I keep bugging them twice a day, every day then I may get somewhere. They've already given us a small victory in the form of giving us some free one time use points, but I still would like to get some of this settled.

If we keep, I'll definitely be talking to you guys and getting your advise on the best way to use our points!
 
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Just some additional thoughts:
While you can't rent out a week you get from Interval, you can rent out a week you book at Welk with your points.
To get the most out of Interval, you need to put in a request a year out. When resorts deposit their weeks varies, but you want your request in place before that happens. Otherwise, the good stuff is gone before you even see it.
Sue


Sue thank you! That's what we thought, but now there saying that there's no locations in Crete and it's only 9 months out right now from us going. Not sure what to do there, but I guess we'll just keep calling and asking if anything has opened up there.
 

DeniseM

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Sue thank you! That's what we thought, but now there saying that there's no locations in Crete and it's only 9 months out right now from us going. Not sure what to do there, but I guess we'll just keep calling and asking if anything has opened up there.

You need to put in an On-going request - it's like wait listing. On-going requests are automatically filled, before anything goes into the online inventory.

When you call, you only have access to what's available at that moment - you aren't wait listed.
 

ampaholic

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You need to put in an On-going request - it's like wait listing. On-going requests are automatically filled, before anything goes into the online inventory.

When you call, you only have access to what's available at that moment - you aren't wait listed.

And when (if) one does pop up - it will go to the oldest wait listed request first - that should be you ideally? :)
 
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