Welcome to the Tuesday Slot, this week we have another consumers “Nightmare on Timeshare Street”, this time involving the timeshare company Westgate.
Over the past few days Inside Timeshare has been receiving many emails from Silverpoint clients seeking advice, we have also received an email from an ex-telemarketer of Signallia Marketing, which sheds a lot of light on what they are up to. We will be publishing an article on this subject tomorrow, but now on with this weeks Tuesday Slot.
A Westgate buyer’s experience
By the Dashiell’s
Westgate owners Jackie and David Siegle’s 90,000 square foot home
The plans for the American Versailles, a 90,000-square-foot behemoth near Orlando, FL, seemed to have one overarching goal: to make the French original look shabby by comparison. Did Marie Antoinette have 10 kitchens, an ice skating rink, and a 5,000-square-foot closet?
https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/queen-of-versailles-q-and-a/
The Dashiell’s Westgate Experience
September 25, 2018
When I purchased a Westgate Lakes timeshare two years ago, the salesman told us about great financial benefits. We don’t have money to throw away, but it sounded like a good investment. The sales rep kept telling us over and over how the timeshare would “pay for itself” by generating rental income while also paying for maintenance fees and loan payments. He mentioned that we could write it off on our taxes and also said I could refinance the timeshare at my personal bank to get a lower interest rate. We thought we had security and low risk, especially since he said the timeshare could easily be resold.
After the presentation, our sales rep didn’t give us time to read the long contract. It would have taken all day if he had. He told us what was in the contract and pointed out where to sign and initial. He mailed us our document package with our contract and everything in it, AFTER the contract rescission period had passed! After receiving the contract, we learned that everything told to us during the sales presentation contradicted what was in the contract! We have tried to make the best of it, but it’s been two years now without making a dime on our “investment” and we could not refinance or get tax breaks.
We tried calling Westgate to give it back but they said I would have to find a buyer myself. There is no rental program. There is no resale program. The program is hard to use and we are done with it.
Another reason I bought was to be able to travel with my family at an affordable price. Our rep told me that I would be able to exchange property locations at any time and go anywhere if I had Interval International and all the travel extras for free or very cheap. In reality, properties were ALWAYS booked. I was told I should book 11 months out to reserve my stay. In this day and age of Airbnb and Expedia, that is just not realistic or flexible.
I’ve read other owners’ testimonies. They all seem to share our story. We feel the way the product was sold to us was unfair and deceptive. It’s bad enough that people can’t get rid of a timeshare, it’s yours for life, but promising rental income and tax breaks that do not exist seems criminal.
After we wrote Westgate a letter of complaint, Westgate spent months informing us by email that they were looking into our contract. They did not reply until we filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Westgate said that they had replied to us by letter (which they hadn’t), explaining that ‘timeshare real estate sales are highly regulated,’ pointing to the AOR document with my initials.
Westgate said that it ‘absolutely holds its employees responsible for the things they do and say, however, supporting documentation is required.’ What documentation would there be – a letter from the rep with his signature confessing his misrepresentations? Needless to say the BBB closed our case swiftly and we are now hoping that the Attorney General will help us. If the Attorney General won’t help, that means the sales reps can say anything to make a sale and get away with it. I feel this is criminal.
I have no hope or faith that Westgate will respond to us. I do wonder what the point of the Better Business Bureau is, if they regularly side with Westgate when there is so much precedent on their own forum with so many Westgate buyers describing deception and misrepresentations.
Thank you to the Dashiell’s for sharing their experience. Contact Inside Timeshare if you have a timeshare experience to share. When sold honestly, a timeshare can be of great benefit to a family. Families, who feel they bought a timeshare based on inaccurate information, letting their voice be heard, may save another family from making a timeshare decision they will live to regret.
If you have a similar story and want to share it it others, contact Inside Timeshare using our contact page and we will get back to you.
Have you had a call from a company promising you the earth, want to know if they and what they say is genuine?
Have you found a company on the internet that claims they can get you out of your timeshare and get your money back?
Not sure how to check if they are genuine and will actually deliver what they say, then contact us and we will point you in the right direction.
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