I Took The Bait But She Could Not Reel Me In :D

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
On March 23rd, I got a call from our timeshare marketing department. They were offering a two night stay in a studio (my preference since my husband died) for $9 if I went during the next few days. After that it would $79, which was not appealing because I'd pay a couple more dollars for two nights during this season under normal circumstances. The spiel was that I would attend an "update" meeting, receive $150 cash and 2 vouchers for a meal at an Ocean's hotel-casino restaurant. I've sometimes felt I didn't want to bother with attending these meetings but the other me realized, hey...I didn't make $75 an hour when I was working. 🤑 Not only that but I love spending time at my "second home", which is oceanfront. Transportation is only $46 RT and I get about half of that back using the casino bonus issued to bus passengers. Once I got $52 back.

Another reason I decided to go is because I really did want updates since the 3 resorts under the FantaSea umbrella, including ours have new owners. I wanted to find out if and how that affects our ownership and what changes they were planning to make. The new deal was get more points to make the timeshare more valuable either when banking points to use for staying at other resorts or if I decide to sell it (which I'm not interested in doing). She tried six ways to Sunday to make me see how valuable it would be to upgrade. After asking three times how much were we talking...she finally said the price was $5,000! I said these exact words to her.."No way in hell I'm paying that kind of money"! :LOL: Plus I don't pay interest and they aren't doing any more no interest deals.

I've done a couple of upgrades in the past when I felt it would be of benefit but haggled, so never spent that kind of money each time. It kills me that they continue trying to milk we owners out of more money! Well, I always fix it so we wind up talking about other things and having interesting conversations after I learn what I want to know. We got into politics a little, talked about cruising and she even watched my new video. She loved it. :love: I sat with her last year too and at that time she took me to one of the fancier one bedroom suites they were remodeling...beautifully done. We already own a one bedroom and last year's spiel was to upgrade to that one. I'm done upgrading but maybe not with getting rewarded for a couple of hours of my time. :)
 

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hollydolly said:
I have never had a timeshare
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For most people that is best. I think for people, like Diva, who do their research and really understand what they are getting into a timeshare can be of value. Seems to me the two keys to it are knowing the resale value and using it regularly.

I have never owned one, but my stepson has one he doesn't use and can't get rid of, at any price. He still has to pay the annual maintenance fees. I think more folks end up like him than not...

If anyone wants a free timeshare, we'd even pay all transfer costs and a year's fees in advance to be rid of it. Just let me know. Its a June week in this place: https://www.circlejclub.com/ Not a bad place or a bad week, just a bad deal for us.
 
Alligatorob said:
For most people that is best. I think for people, like Diva, who do their research and really understand what they are getting into a timeshare can be of value. Seems to me the two keys to it are knowing the resale value and using it regularly.

I have never owned one, but my stepson has one he doesn't use and can't get rid of, at any price. He still has to pay the annual maintenance fees. I think more folks end up like him than not...

If anyone wants a free timeshare, we'd even pay all transfer costs and a year's fees in advance to be rid of it. Just let me know. Its a June week in this place: https://www.circlejclub.com/ Not a bad place or a bad week, just a bad deal for us.
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It used to be a curse when we went on holiday ... places like Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Spain... you couldn't walk 5 feet but someone would be accosting trying to sell Time Shares... We used to have some fun sometimes, because they'd promise a free day trip to somewhere .. which we would get.. to spend 3 hours listening to them trying to flog us a Timeshare..we never took them up on it, but there was a lot of people who did.. this was 30 years ago probably....and I remember all sorts of scams that came along with it.. and how desperate people were to sell ..

I've never seen that kind of hard sell in years now from those street people..... . We bought our own holiday home of course.. ..
 
I remember reading in a financial editorial that Time Shares are nothing more than condominiums for people who hate condominiums. I don't know if that explains anything at all, but from the first time I heard of the concept, I thought what horrible thing to spend money on. You end up owning a thing, that is only yours for two weeks out of the year. You better hope you vacation time coincides, and get used to the idea that from then on, your vacation is always going to be at the same place.

This may be ideal for some people, but for me, it would be nothing but a chain to carry around, a chain that I have to pay for. Yet, time shares still sell. As long as they sell, they will be around. Maybe some people like them. I hope they do, because it's a lot of money.
 
JustDave said:
I remember reading in a financial editorial that Time Shares are nothing more than condominiums for people who hate condominiums. I don't know if that explains anything at all, but from the first time I heard of the concept, I thought what horrible thing to spend money on. You end up owning a thing, that is only yours for two weeks out of the year. You better hope you vacation time coincides, and get used to the idea that from then on, your vacation is always going to be at the same place.

This may be ideal for some people, but for me, it would be nothing but a chain to carry around, a chain that I have to pay for. Yet, time shares still sell. As long as they sell, they will be around. Maybe some people like them. I hope they do, because it's a lot of money.
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I agree with you for all the reasons you state ... but clearly there are people who enjoy them,, Diva is obviously one of those people...
 
hollydolly said:
I have never had a timeshare, but if I'm reading that right , I'm shocked to see you only get one bedroom for your money....:oops:
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If you "buy" a one bedroom with a points plan you can stay in any size as long as it's available and you have the points. That's how ours works. Is yours like that @OneEyedDiva ?
We've only stayed in "our" place one time.
The last time we went to an upgrade presentation they told us they couldn't do better than what we had and the way we used it.
 
JustDave said:
I remember reading in a financial editorial that Time Shares are nothing more than condominiums for people who hate condominiums. I don't know if that explains anything at all, but from the first time I heard of the concept, I thought what horrible thing to spend money on. You end up owning a thing, that is only yours for two weeks out of the year. You better hope you vacation time coincides, and get used to the idea that from then on, your vacation is always going to be at the same place.

This may be ideal for some people, but for me, it would be nothing but a chain to carry around, a chain that I have to pay for. Yet, time shares still sell. As long as they sell, they will be around. Maybe some people like them. I hope they do, because it's a lot of money.
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We go any time of year because it's points, not weeks.
We bought it many years ago and go on a few vacations a year because we book within 30 days. That makes our points go further. If we want a big place to accommodate guests or a fancier resort we would use most or all of our points.
We are happy with how it's worked out. We don't travel far. We go to the coast or the mountains, New England, and plan on more now that I'm retired.
 
hearlady said:
We go any time of year because it's points, not weeks.
We bought it many years ago and go on a few vacations a year because we book within 30 days. That makes our points go further. If we want a big place to accommodate guests or a fancier resort we would use most or all of our points.
We are happy with how it's worked out. We don't travel far. We go to the coast or the mountains, New England, and plan on more now that I'm retired.
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..so you've not bought 2 weeks a year in one apartment in Hawaii for example.. which used to be the usual way..I don't know about now of course..
 
We bought points not weeks. We can use the points at our place or somewhere else.
A one week vacation that was planned six months ahead at our "home" condo would use most of our points. But by booking 30 days out we can get 3 one week vacations a year at another place under the condo association. It's all how you use the points.
hollydolly said:
..so you've not bought 2 weeks a year in one apartment in Hawaii for example.. which used to be the usual way..I don't know about now of course..
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OneEyedDiva said:
On March 23rd, I got a call from our timeshare marketing department. They were offering a two night stay in a studio (my preference since my husband died) for $9 if I went during the next few days. After that it would $79, which was not appealing because I'd pay a couple more dollars for two nights during this season under normal circumstances. The spiel was that I would attend an "update" meeting, receive $150 cash and 2 vouchers for a meal at an Ocean's hotel-casino restaurant. I've sometimes felt I didn't want to bother with attending these meetings but the other me realized, hey...I didn't make $75 an hour when I was working. 🤑 Not only that but I love spending time at my "second home", which is oceanfront. Transportation is only $46 RT and I get about half of that back using the casino bonus issued to bus passengers. Once I got $52 back.

Another reason I decided to go is because I really did want updates since the 3 resorts under the FantaSea umbrella, including ours have new owners. I wanted to find out if and how that affects our ownership and what changes they were planning to make. The new deal was get more points to make the timeshare more valuable either when banking points to use for staying at other resorts or if I decide to sell it (which I'm not interested in doing). She tried six ways to Sunday to make me see how valuable it would be to upgrade. After asking three times how much were we talking...she finally said the price was $5,000! I said these exact words to her.."No way in hell I'm paying that kind of money"! :LOL: Plus I don't pay interest and they aren't doing any more no interest deals.

I've done a couple of upgrades in the past when I felt it would be of benefit but haggled, so never spent that kind of money each time. It kills me that they continue trying to milk we owners out of more money! Well, I always fix it so we wind up talking about other things and having interesting conversations after I learn what I want to know. We got into politics a little, talked about cruising and she even watched my new video. She loved it. :love: I sat with her last year too and at that time she took me to one of the fancier one bedroom suites they were remodeling...beautifully done. We already own a one bedroom and last year's spiel was to upgrade to that one. I'm done upgrading but maybe not with getting rewarded for a couple of hours of my time. :)
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Wow, that sure doesn’t sound like a “good deal” to me and I think you were right to walk away from it. Do you know if she had any “takers”?
 
Alligatorob said:
For most people that is best. I think for people, like Diva, who do their research and really understand what they are getting into a timeshare can be of value. Seems to me the two keys to it are knowing the resale value and using it regularly.

I have never owned one, but my stepson has one he doesn't use and can't get rid of, at any price. He still has to pay the annual maintenance fees. I think more folks end up like him than not...

If anyone wants a free timeshare, we'd even pay all transfer costs and a year's fees in advance to be rid of it. Just let me know. Its a June week in this place: https://www.circlejclub.com/ Not a bad place or a bad week, just a bad deal for us.
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Very kind offer, @Alligatorob ! I hope someone takes you up on it.
 
NorthernLight said:
Very kind offer, @Alligatorob ! I hope someone takes you up on it.
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Actually its not, but I also hope someone takes it.

Maybe a little too much truth in advertising here, LOL!

Anyone considering a timeshare needs to look to the secondary market and resales first! Even if you do buy its usually a much better deal to buy from an individual owner than from the company. Prices for most timeshares go down... sometimes a lot.
 
hollydolly said:
I have never had a timeshare, but if I'm reading that right , I'm shocked to see you only get one bedroom for your money....:oops:
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I'm not quite sure what you mean by only getting one bedroom. It's a suite, usually quite large and I've always felt I could actually live in them full time. Here is the link to my post about why timeshare ownership works for me. Check out the costs if I were to vacation for as many weeks as I'd like at other resorts in Atlantic City, N.J. My figures are real, not imagined, based upon research on the other resorts' websites. And I didn't even include The Borgata and Ocean casino-resorts, beautiful rooms, which are no doubt even more expensive. I forgot to add in the post that a few years ago, one week in a Wildwood, N.J. hotel room during peak season was $1,500. That means no cooking but buying expensive shore town foods and beverages for 7 days.
https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/why-timeshare-ownership-works-for-me-us.77357/
@JustDave Read the linked post above. Also, timeshares have evolved. No more fixed week, at least not the ones we've taken tours of and attended meetings for. We sat with Wyndham reps before we bought our timeshare (they wanted a ridiculous amount), also one in the Poconos. While my sister and I were vacationing in Virginia Beach we attended a presentation there that got us free lunch at the Hyatt. Good thing it was free too because the food was quite expensive.

Anyway, I can use my annual week whenever I want although my contract says peak season. I actually prefer not to go during that time because it's too busy. So I've used mine in September, October and even November. This year we may go just before the July 4th weekend. I'm not a hotel, motel kind of girl. I like so called luxury hotels and would only stay at a regular hotel or motel if I absolutely had no other choice. If I'm not staying at the timeshare, give me a Marriott, Hyatt, Sheraton or Hilton. :)
@Alligatorob @Pecos
@hearlady After my husband passed, I don't even bank my points anymore because I'd have to take public transportation to get to out of state resorts and frankly, I love being at our home resort, so I don't feel the need to. But it's good to know that the option is there if I want it. Yes our points plan works like yours. I've also taken advantage of the "extra vacation" and "getaways" that RCI and Interval offered, which is why I got to pay only between $97 and $137 for an entire week's stay. Which exchange club do you belong to?

@hollydolly Here is a what is called "one bedroom"...:) This suite offers ocean views from the bedroom.

FS CC 1 BR2_rfh2.jpg20170419_063124.jpg20170419_064512.jpg20170419_063616.jpg
 
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Alligatorob said:
For most people that is best. I think for people, like Diva, who do their research and really understand what they are getting into a timeshare can be of value. Seems to me the two keys to it are knowing the resale value and using it regularly.

I have never owned one, but my stepson has one he doesn't use and can't get rid of, at any price. He still has to pay the annual maintenance fees. I think more folks end up like him than not...

If anyone wants a free timeshare, we'd even pay all transfer costs and a year's fees in advance to be rid of it. Just let me know. Its a June week in this place: https://www.circlejclub.com/ Not a bad place or a bad week, just a bad deal for us.
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I have skied in Park City. It’s beautiful and a fun place to be in winter when the mountain has been groomed. People that go there aren’t all the snobby type you find in Aspen or Jackson Hole.
 
Alligatorob said:
For most people that is best. I think for people, like Diva, who do their research and really understand what they are getting into a timeshare can be of value. Seems to me the two keys to it are knowing the resale value and using it regularly.

I have never owned one, but my stepson has one he doesn't use and can't get rid of, at any price. He still has to pay the annual maintenance fees. I think more folks end up like him than not...

If anyone wants a free timeshare, we'd even pay all transfer costs and a year's fees in advance to be rid of it. Just let me know. Its a June week in this place: https://www.circlejclub.com/ Not a bad place or a bad week, just a bad deal for us.
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When I was married my husband bought one cheap at a tax sale. When we wanted to get rid of it I sold it on eBay for a dollar. I did the paperwork myself to transfer ownership.
 
Teacher Terry said:
When I was married my husband bought one cheap at a tax sale. When we wanted to get rid of it I sold it on eBay for a dollar. I did the paperwork myself to transfer ownership.
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Tried that, and offered it on Red Week same deal as here, essentially offered to pay someone to take it. No interest...
 


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