Diamond Sampler a rip off?

Congrats on getting your credit card company to back you up. We were able to cancel our sampler two days later on site (Capistrano, CA)after pointing out the lies we found out we were told.

sssung said:

Unfortunately, Hawaii does not require cancellation period, so we cannot cancel even after a few hours of realizing we were cheated

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Hawaii requires a 7 days cancellation period for a timeshare purchase.

Is the sampler somehow exempt?

daventrina said:

Hawaii requires a 7 days cancellation period for a timeshare purchase.

Is the sampler somehow exempt?

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The Sampler is exempt from this unfortunately

sssung said:

We tried rescinding while we were still in Poipu. The DRI sales on site just gave us the run around for 4 days and even called us liars for making up stories about their dishonest sales staff ....go figure. So I filed the dispute when I couldn't get anywhere on that 4th day. BTW, Sampler cannot be canceled when bought in Hawaii, even with in 2 hours of purchase (when we figured out we were scammed).

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Just curious. If rescinding is not allowed in Hawaii, how were you able to get Chase to rule in your favor? Especially if the lies told to you were never in writing??

R.J.C. said:

Just curious. If rescinding is not allowed in Hawaii, how were you able to get Chase to rule in your favor? Especially if the lies told to you were never in writing??

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R.J.C., rescinding of the Sampler is not allowed in Hawaii, only timeshare membership is allowed.

Other than informing Chase of my case, I also provided supporting references from four different public sources including BBB of Las Vegas indicating DRI's ill practice. I suspect Chase did a charge back to DRI and DRI never responded. Believe it or not, Chase actually have a dedicated dispute team to deal with timeshare companies only, so I think people in that team have dealt with many of this type of cases.

Samplers are great if you know how to use them. I got theee weeks in Hawaii on it.

I like them. Most of these people on this site don't know what they are talking about. I own and buy samplers sometimes.

sssung said:

Went to an "owner's" update at the Point at Poiou which turned into a high pressure sales pitch. We said no to everything that was offered to buy into The Club. We are an traditional deeded week owner from a resort which Diamond acquired and have no plans to buy anymore into timeshares. However, we still got tricked into buying a Sampler package during a " hospitality survey". The sales person told us many benefits which were not true according the all those fine prints in the contract. Benefits such as we can use the Sampler to come back to the Point at Poipu for 8500 pts/week when the Point at Poipu isn't even on the list for use as sampler; we were told there are 48 resorts we can travel to when only 25 are listed on the contract. We feel so taken by Diamond.

We're stuck with it and would likd to make the best of it. Has anyone have had the sampler?can you please share your experience? How easy is if to use? Was availability there? How far in advance should reservation be made?

Thank you in advance.

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sssung said:

Went to an "owner's" update at the Point at Poiou which turned into a high pressure sales pitch. We said no to everything that was offered to buy into The Club. We are an traditional deeded week owner from a resort which Diamond acquired and have no plans to buy anymore into timeshares. However, we still got tricked into buying a Sampler package during a " hospitality survey". The sales person told us many benefits which were not true according the all those fine prints in the contract. Benefits such as we can use the Sampler to come back to the Point at Poipu for 8500 pts/week when the Point at Poipu isn't even on the list for use as sampler; we were told there are 48 resorts we can travel to when only 25 are listed on the contract. We feel so taken by Diamond.

We're stuck with it and would likd to make the best of it. Has anyone have had the sampler?can you please share your experience? How easy is if to use? Was availability there? How far in advance should reservation be made?

Thank you in advance.

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We did our Owners Update and did not take the Sampler Package simply because you can buy a week on Resale for the Cost of the Sampler. Yes you pay annual dues but at least you can own a week at a resort you like especially if you want to trade it second and use it first.

My theory is for the cost Diamond is charging to buy points I could purchase a week like we did on the secondary market(We have 5 weeks and total Maintenance Fees are $5,000 a year way less than what Diamond wants when you pay $45,000-$75,000 to buy it. For $4,000 we bought 4 weeks and have 1 week inherited. So I would much rather pay $4,000 up front ant $5,000 a year. Yes you do pay dues to Interval and RCI plus exchange fees but you stay at better places than you do otherwise.

I at t

lindaswain said:

I found this comment on another website. It sums up the "homeowner update" experience very well. (I will write one thousand times, I WILL NOT ATTEND ANY TIMESHARE PRESENTATION AGAIN!!!)

Source: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1120715

"29th Aug 08, 12:08 AM

I've been to one of those type things some years back.

90 Minute sales pitch is about right........ followed by about 4-5 HOURS of HARD SELLING!!

The 90 Mins is the presentation where they show videos of all the opportunities and waffle about the greatness of it all.

I consider myself to be quite level headed and had ABSOLUTELY no intention of buying any of their rubbish but "my word" did they lay it on thick?

It got to the point where we had three of them leaning over us talking to each other about how they can't understand how we can be so stupid as to not want to sign up with them. It really was emotional bullying, not persuading..... bullying!

When I raised my voice and started a bit of fist banging on the table the Background music in the room went up a few notches to drown out my voice so the other victims couldn't hear.

Even I considered just signing the damn thing but cancelling it afterwards just to get away!!

Eventually I got my way and we left on very bitter terms (I almost felt violated!!)

It did annoy me though to hear so many Champagne Corks being popped from so many other tables where people had signed up.

Apart from that we had a nice time, the Hotel and staff are nothing to do with it at all, once the day has been wasted with these vultures you can enjoy yourself.

I wouldn't recommend going though unless you are 100% commited to not joining no matter how they make it sound (and they do make it sound good).

Even if you are quite a strong character, don't underestimate the pressure they will put on you.

Not for the feint hearted at all.

Last edited by CHR15; 29-08-2008 at 12:10 AM."

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I attend the presentations for one thing only the Gift. $100 here $75 there I am strong. Yes they may be pushy but I can manipulate them every which way. Once I had a Salesmen tell me I was there for the Free Gifts only. I told him after getting my gifts "Thank you for your time I am going online to purchase this on resale". He walked away mad. Fantastic I just got a $150 AMEX and said as loud as I could that I will be using it for dinner.

Uncalled for comment.


(agreed, ive deleted it)

clifffaith said:

Uncalled for comment.

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You should ignore bradfordHI. He's been trolling for reactive responses since he joined TUG. His comments are often contradictory or incoherent. Oops, now I'm reacting to him again.

artringwald said:

You should ignore bradfordHI. He's been trolling for reactive responses since he joined TUG. His comments are often contradictory or incoherent. Oops, now I'm reacting to him again.

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This is what your Ignore list is for!

I agree spending 4-5 vacation hours with a DRI salesperson for +/- $100 is not a good use of my time.

We bought a Sampler in May 2015 (at TPaP) after the same fact challenged presentation discussed here. However, we read the contract BEFORE signing and bought anyway. We made two trips to Hawaii (Aston Ka'anapalli Villas & Royal Kona) and we have a few points left over.

Have the contract terms changed in the last two years? I'm curious how eakhat (7 nights) and bobpark56 (17 nights) were able to book KBC. KBC is not listed as a 'Sample Destination' on our contract. Additionally, our contract states Hawaii "... stays must be no less than and no more that 7 nights", "... no back-to back reservations ..." and "There must be 7 nights between any reservations on the same island of Hawaii."

These are some of the contract terms which prevented us from using our Sampler as originally planned, so how did you guys make it work?

tashamen said:

This is what your Ignore list is for!

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If you read Most of my posts they have helped a quite a few people. And have had some helpful questions answered that I have had.

. It's not trolling. But when that person is bragging about wasting someone's time, Or telling a salesperson they are a a scam artist. And then yelling or bragging about buying resale to save 75 dollars while on a vacation that makes absolutely no financial sense to me.

FYI.
I own resale and developer.

When I meet with the developers I don't have bad experiences because I treat them nicely. I am Upfront and honest.

I weigh the pros vs the cons and say I will buy resale for this property and other times I have bought from a developer because of their benefits.

Saying all developer ownerships are horrible is ridiculous, just like saying all resale is horrible.

My opinion on that person is that he has no idea about this industry and I feel very sorry for him.
He gets treated the way he does because he treats people the way he does.
I also can tell he is frustrated with his ownwrship because he has never taken the time to read his books and understand resale v developer. Or what a Sampler or trial program is designed to do.
Resale does not work like developer weeks or points. It's not even close.

I learned the hard way. My first purchase was from a reseller. He told me to go down and listen to a prestentstion by Wyndham and come back and purchase it from him at 95% less. Needless to say I realized I was scammed. I learned how developers weeks worked and assumed all the benefits they told me about came with resale. I was conned. I admit it. I then complained that timeshare was a scam but it was I was was scammed.

I then met a very smart developer salesperson and he explained the difference. I now try and help people understand but I also tell people the truth.

Lastly, Where does that free money come from?

travelplus said:

I at t


I attend the presentations for one thing only the Gift. $100 here $75 there I am strong. Yes they may be pushy but I can manipulate them every which way. Once I had a Salesmen tell me I was there for the Free Gifts only. I told him after getting my gifts "Thank you for your time I am going online to purchase this on resale". He walked away mad. Fantastic I just got a $150 AMEX and said as loud as I could that I will be using it for dinner.

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You can get way more than $100 for an update. Much to Diamond's chagrin, I have attend 6 updates in the last 3 months receiving a total of $1,300 in gift cards (got $300 at one meeting for my personal best and routinely get $200-$250). Most meetings last only about an hour when they review my history. Works for me.

R.J.C. said:

You can get way more than $100 for an update. Much to Diamond's chagrin, I have attend 6 updates in the last 3 months receiving a total of $1,300 in gift cards (got $300 at one meeting for my personal best and routinely get $200-$250). Most meetings last only about an hour when they review my history. Works for me.

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Just curious. Those updates that your so proud of, all of your free money....Where do you think it's comes from?
Ahhhh ya. We all pay for it. Nothing is free. 99% of owners want those updates and learn from them and we understand it comes out of our maintenance.
So your free money....is increasing my maintenance.
Can you please stop wasting your time, wasting salaried employees time, and increasing the properties overhead.

Or keep being selfish and get your free $100 while we all pay for it.

But never ever complain about increasing costs for exchanges, fees, etc.... because you are one of the people that causes it to go up and up.

Life's short. Spend your time wisely and nothing is free. We all pay for it.

bradfordHI said:

If you read Most of my posts they have helped a quite a few people. And have had some helpful questions answered that I have had

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You're not actually on my Ignore list - I was just pointing out to artringwald that there is such a list in case he wasn't aware of it.

tashamen said:

You're not actually on my Ignore list - I was just pointing out to artringwald that there is such a list in case he wasn't aware of it.

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Trolling or the truth. Your call. I've been an owner for 22 years.
I'm not an expert but I know quite a bit more then 95% of people.
So your call. However people like that person complain yet do nothing to solve the problem.
They are the problem.
I'm over this silly debate.
Don't waste people's time and nothing is free. Also exchange fees for resale keep going up 10% a year.
Have you ever studied that?
Yes they still make money off of us because of people who think things are "free".

bradfordHI said:

Just curious. Those updates that your so proud of, all of your free money....Where do you think it's comes from?
Ahhhh ya. We all pay for it. Nothing is free. 99% of owners want those updates and learn from them and we understand it comes out of our maintenance.

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I thought it came from the suckers who actually buy from the developer. If someone pays, say $15,000, how much of it is really for the property?

And if the cost to supply the "free" gifts to people who attend these presentations comes out of the MFs, then there might be a silver lining to it. If someone buys at a sales presentation, isn't that one more owner to help pay the MFs?

LannyPC said:

If someone buys at a sales presentation, isn't that one more owner to help pay the MFs?

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The DRI sales department has to pay the MF's on any units that they own until they sell them. At my home resort at the Point at Poipu, and maybe at other DRI resorts, the DRI sales department also pays the MF's of all owners that have gone delinquent on their payments. DRI likes to make a big deal of it at the annual HOA meetings, but what they don't say is that after foreclosure, DRI sales assumes ownership of the delinquent unit.

artringwald said:

The DRI sales department has to pay the MF's on any units that they own until they sell them. At my home resort at the Point at Poipu, and maybe at other DRI resorts, the DRI sales department also pays the MF's of all owners that have gone delinquent on their payments. DRI likes to make a big deal of it at the annual HOA meetings, but what they don't say is that after foreclosure, DRI sales assumes ownership of the delinquent unit.

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Developer ownership has its pros.
Resale has its pros. Both work.

Cons are a lot depending on what you want. If Poipu is all you want buy resale. I own both. I like developer because off all the benefits. I own resale at properties I only want to go to or to rent those weeks to others who pay me For those weeks in which I make money and they also pay my Maintenance and an extra 500 to 1000 per week.

Still nothing is free. Yelling I buy Resale is like saying I love garage sales. Yes, I buy from garabage sales and have found great deals but most of it is crap that the owner doesn't want.

FYI; has anyone ever thought about these rich billionaires....don't you think they buy all or most of the good resales before we do?

Or cancel my post because I'm convinced all these sites only promote resale. It's absurd.

Best of luck and get your free $100. After you pay RCI $200 to exchange.

Someone is making money.

sssung said:

Hi Bobpark56, so glad you're able to use the Sampler for 17 nights...just curious how you were able to book more than 7-nights when the Sampler contract specifically states no more or less than 7 day bookings. In addition, how long did it take for Diamond to refund you the $300 reservation deposit which they charged at the time of booking? Thank you in advance for your input.

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As I recall, our salesman arranged for the 17-night stay at KBC, and our stay was a bit after the normal expiration date for our Sampler. These were conditions we insisted on when purchasing the sampler...else we would not have purchased. Salesmen can be motivated to help you if it means closing the sale.
There was no $300 deposit involved.