Non truthful salesperson

[ladycody]

If you don' t have the money in the first place, don' t go.

There a tons of people who have no idea what the cost of most timeshares is. Try calling worldmark and just asking them what it would cost(average)for an ownership that would let them vacation for a week in red season in a two bedroom every year. They're not going to tell you over the phone. I wasnt even familiar with the concept of how it all worked when I went to their presentation.

And while I understand your point of view...it's the company's choice to expose people to their product this way...so they truly have no right to be upset with anyone who goes to a presentation and doesnt purchase.

It was the presentation that sold me on WM...but I hadnt anticipated it costing what it did or the fact that I would be told I needed to buy immediately or else. I had no idea that you should "be prepared to buy on the spot"...they dont tell you that when you set up the appointment....they just ask you to come and find out what they're all about. I was new to TS's and thought the presentations were simply to provide exposure to the product and info on how to buy should you be interested. Kinda like touring showrooms for a new car...

I've had 3 people go to presentations so far who have felt the same way...loved it, wanted it...just weren't ready to right a check on the spot. I had one person go to a presentation who did buy. If TS companies dont want browsers...then they need to adjust the way they approach people.

 

[Jimster]

Consideration

The problem is nothing was given up. The golf was offered after the deal. Thus, no consideration. It was a failed gift- failed because clearly there was no delivery constructive or otherwise.

 

[SullyDog]

I suppose you're probably right that we should have followed up with the salesman when the golf wasn't paid for like he said it was. However, by the time we would have gotten back to the condo to get his phone number from our documents we would have missed the tee time and we couldn't play later in the day (due to other plans) and were flying home the next morning. So, at that point, we knew we weren't going to get to play golf.

I did type a paragraph in the recission letter describing the incident so I suppose if whoever reads that is concerned about what happened and follows up with the salesman only to find he really did pay for the golf, he or someone else might try to call us to clear up what happened.

We're not giving up on Orange Lake. In fact, I am pretty serious about buying there. I've been watching Ebay and it looks like 2 bedrooms are going for around $3K, which is a fraction of what the developer was selling them for. Granted the developer's were in the East Village or River Island which are newer, and most of the ones on Ebay are in the West Village. We stayed in the West Village on our trip though and thought it was fine.

We won't be going to Florida again until next March, so I've got some time to watch prices and find what the week we are looking for.

 

[SullyDog]

Oh I meant to say in my post but pushed the send button too quick - actually something sort of was given up by the problem with the golf - our chance to play!

We had planned to play the previous day at the Par 3 but cancelled our tee time since the salesman set us up to play at The Legends. We couldn't play after we found out the rounds weren't paid for because we couldn't get on the Par 3 course until later that day and we already had plans for then. We were flying out the next day, so thus no golfing for us.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I would buy Cypress Point for that price

Cypress Point is a consistently nicer resort, the units have just been updated, it's closer to Downtown Disney, and the resort has a nicer feel to it, more like home than a giant resort.

There are so many that we would prefer to buy and stay over OLCC. I have to tell you that during our many searches with our poor trading week (only poor now because we made a trade to Fairfield Grand Desert in Vegas and cancelled two days before the trip ), we can pull OLCC units every time we search. Getting an exchange to OLCC is so easy that a friend of ours exchanges their studio for a two bedroom at OLCC. Their cost: $192 for their MF's and $149 for the exchange fee.

Not all resorts show up on a search with our poor-trading week. We won't pull Summer Bay, Cypress Point, Vacation Village at Parkway and the other GC's in Orlando with our Low Priority Week, but we ALWAYS pull OLCC. That says something to me about the volume of units that RCI has available for the resort. It isn't necessarily about the quality of OLCC, so don't get upset with me for saying that, it is just that the resort is so huge, inventory is not an issue at all. Vistana is available most of the time as well, but not as often as OLCC.

I guess I am trying to say that the size of OLCC creates many exchangers for RCI and easy exchanges for getting a unit there with just about anything. Mega resorts are going to have more availability. So why buy at that one, if you can buy a cheap week elsewhere and trade into OLCC?

I have no idea how many resorts you have seen in Orlando, but there are so many that I lose count just trying to remember the resorts we have stayed.

 

[SullyDog]

Thank you for that information. I am totally new to timesharing and OLCC is the only one we've stayed at. I wonder if I could rent a week at Cypress Point for our next Spring Break rather than buying something before then. Then I would have something to compare OLCC to. I do like the idea of the new River Island water park (my boys are 7 and 8 and would love that). Does Cypress Point have things like that to do?

 

[Jimster]

Other Options

I agree with Rick and Cindy about gaining access to OLCC and I am an owner there. Because they are the biggest TS in the country, they do have openings. In January and December (except maybe Christmas week) you can find plenty of opennings at OLCC, Vistana, etc. The exception to this is spring break. I own week 12 which is often our spring break and usually by January this week becomes extremely rare. If you look early enough, you can find it, but if you wait until after the first of the year, you probably won't unless you want to rent. I also believe you should look around a bit more to see what is available and how it fits your needs. Good luck with your searching.

 

[rickandcindy23]

If River Island is your main criteria for a purchase, you would want to buy OLCC.

Liki Tiki is the only other resort that has a water-park-type swimming area. I think OLCC's is going to be spectacular, much better than Liki Tiki, so if that is the main reason you are looking at OLCC, then it really is the only resort that you should buy.

If I had all the money in the world and could stay wherever I want in Orlando, year after year, I would buy a Marriott. But Marriott resales are higher than the rest, as are their MF's. They don't have water parks onsite either. (I am allergic to the sun, so water parks are not important to us.) But we are fortunate in that our ownership at a Colorado resort for MF's of $504 gets us a week at any Marriott in Orlando, plus an Accommodations Certificate for a bonus week at another Marriott in Orlando for $299. So for $803+one exchange fee with II, we get two Marriott two-bedroom units per year. Granted, we go in the off season most of the time, but we can get Marriotts in the summer for our trade, the AC is only good during the school year, so we use it in January, usually. The fact that we get exactly what we would purchase by just trading our Colorado weeks blows our minds. So we decided, why buy?

Wyndham Palms trades with II and is pretty nice too. I have seen units sell for $600 at that resort on ebay. The salespeople are awful at that resort, though I am not fond of any timeshare salespeople.

 

[Jimster]

River Island

As I said earlier, you aren't going to find a unit near River Island for awhile since it's new construction. If that's what you want and you want it now and you want Spring Break, then buy from OLCC.

 

[SullyDog]

That was sort of my thought process when we bought the timeshare at OLCC (which we've now rescinded the purchase). It was week 12 (which is our Spring Break week), and was on the 8th floor of River Island which I thought would be fabulous. And it would have been. But, once I got home and saw resale prices (granted they aren't for River Island) I just couldn't justify what we'd spent.

I think for the huge difference in cost, it would be fine to be in one of the other Villages and just use River Island. We do need week 12 though and I've done a bunch of searching on the Internet and have found lots of ones for sale for that week. I've even seen a few 3 bedrooms for sale, which would be really nice for us in case we want to bring friends with us. Now, I've just got to decide when I want to start making offers to them and which ones to make offers to......

 

[Jimster]

informed choice

I think at this point you have an informed opinion of what has to be done and have made a reasoned analysis of your situation. Can you ask for anything more? I think not.

 

[SullyDog]

Jimster - question for you - you mentioned you own a week 12 at OLCC, which is what I'm looking at buying also. For several years I figure we'll probably use that week at OLCC for Spring Break, but at some point will likely venture into the trading world. Have you ever traded your OLCC week 12? Did it have good trading power? Thanks!

 

[Jimster]

trading

Yes, I use it for trade sometimes and it does quite well. In fact, I usually bank it with SFX because I get two or three weeks for the one. SFX doesn't always take OLCC but because it is a Spring Break week they take mine. RCI is always bugging me to deposit it but I never do. I should also add that I had to pay extra for that week and you will probably have to pay a bit more too.