Welcome to The Tuesday Slot, today we welcome another new contributor John Collick, who is seeking the Republican nomination for Congress. We begin with a short biography of John and his military career, then John explains his views on protecting not only military personnel but all consumers from unscrupulous timeshare sales agents.
Inside Timeshare also asks all our readers to sign this petition on change.org demanding reform of the timeshare industry. So far there have been 2,700 signatures and we are working to achieve 100,000 by next legislative sessions in 2021. Click on the link below and sign.
Why Military Families Need Greater Timeshare Disclosure
https://www.valoans.com/articles/va-loans-escape-clause/
By John Collick
July 2, 2019
It’s Time for a Military Vet to Represent a Military Community
After a distinguished military career, John knows how to listen and act. As a timeshare owner himself, John understands the concerns of timeshare buyers that may have experienced unfair and deceptive timeshare sales practices. Inside Timeshare has heard from 112 veterans and active duty service members harmed by timeshare. Of particular concern are our active duty service members who can lose their security clearance over a timeshare foreclosure. Some companies target veterans, particularly disabled veterans, such as John. John would not meet George Bernard Shaw’s definition of a politician. Irene Parker, Inside Timeshare
“He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” George Bernard Shaw.
Suffolk resident John Collick is seeking the Republican nomination for Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr Collick served our nation for over 35 years combined – in the Marine Corps, as a contractor, and as a government employee. He served as an Intelligence Specialist during his entire adult life, working at all levels of the Intelligence Community.
As an Intelligence Specialist, he worked on high priority missions, including the International Port Security Program for the U.S. Coast Guard; the Syrian Refugee Vetting Process for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; and an Asymmetrical Threat Methodology for the United States Standing Joint Forces Headquarters, Homeland Security, in Norfolk. With extensive knowledge of the Middle East, he was recruited into the private sector to work on a Defense Intelligence Agency Contract as the HUMINT Issues Manager for Yemen. These projects are in addition to his Marine Corps career as a Signals Intelligence Collector, Linguist, and Analyst.
If elected, several of Mr Collick’s priorities for the families of Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District include:
- Providing the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security with the resources necessary to protect the United States at home and our interests abroad.
- Working with area educators, employers, and local leaders to reduce the unemployment rate in the 3rd Congressional District from 7%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, to the national rate of 3.8%.
- Ensuring the rights and freedoms identified in the Constitution can be enjoyed by all Americans, without abridgement by any state, local, or municipal government.
- Enacting a school voucher program for children in underperforming schools and school districts, particularly in low-income and inner-city neighborhoods.
- Propose term limits so that no legislator can serve more than six terms in the House of Representatives and two terms in the Senate.
Mr Collick will serve no more than 3 terms if elected.
Propose significant changes to the Timeshare Industry, including:
- A 24 hour “cooling off” period offered before signing a timeshare contract. Timeshare sales presentations can last six hours or more. The buyer is told they must buy the same day. A rescission period is the time a buyer has to rescind a contract after signing. The rescission period varies by state.
- If the signing of a timeshare contract is recorded, there needs to be a mandatory recording of the sales presentation, with copies provided to the customer. Sales agents often coach buyers on how to “pass” the closing session.
- Eliminate perpetual contracts – no person should be allowed, wittingly or unwittingly, to agree to a perpetual contract with no secondary market.
- Buyer to be provided with a single complete and understandable summary disclosure document and the reviewing of the document should be on the recording. Presentation of the Public Offering Statement should also be presented on the audio recording so that it is not buried in a stack of documents with the dismissal, “You can review these when you get home” or “No one reads this.” Despite initials acknowledging receipt and review, given the high pressure and long sales presentation, adequate time to review complex and lengthy documents is not provided. Buyers unknowingly initial that they have read and reviewed the POS when they have not. Most consumers don’t know of its existence until asked to look for it.
- To alleviate buyers of timeshare paying more than those booking the same property at the same time online, units available for rent at timeshare properties should not be rented below 5% of the cost of the highest amount paid for timeshare ownership plus applicable maintenance fees. E.g. Week at Fun Times Timeshare cost $22,000 for 1 week of annual usage and maintenance fees are $1,000 per year, the cost per week is $1,100 + $1,000 for a total of $2,200 per week. This will encourage Timeshare Developers to ensure there are ample units available for members and an incentive to keep maintenance fees as low as possible.
For more information about John Collick and the campaign, visit
John Collick on Timeshare
The more I became involved with those who have purchased timeshares, the more I learned about veterans and active duty service members reporting unfair and deceptive sales practices. Given an active duty service member can lose their security clearance over a timeshare foreclosure, I agree this could present a threat to our national security. The bar to get hired to sell timeshare points is pretty low, and in a state like Virginia, which is home to many military personnel, those with ill intent could seek to jeopardize security clearances.
If an American citizen, military or civilian, has a security clearance and they default on a loan, their clearance will normally be suspended and often revoked. The consequence can be loss of job, career, and even bankruptcy. This could mean discharge from the military.
Most of these folks are upstanding Americans who want to continue in their careers but are prime targets for an unscrupulous timeshare salesperson. If an active duty service member buys into a timeshare, they’ll do everything they can to prevent foreclosure. I expect there are many who have no idea what they can do to save their clearances and/or careers.
The advice I give, especially to military personnel, is to NOT purchase a timeshare on the day of a timeshare presentation. The price WILL NOT CHANGE. Do your research. Talk to other members, check with the Better Business Bureau, and have an attorney review the contract. Any honest businessman or woman would give you 24 hours to think about making a sizeable purchase, especially one accompanied by rising annual maintenance fees and no secondary market.
The lack of a secondary market is even more of a risk for active duty service members, due to the mobility of service life. Decisions can be made on a moment’s notice, making the disposition of timeshare even more cumbersome.
Let’s say that you’re interested in purchasing a timeshare. If the first thing you’re told is the company’s motto: “We will say whatever it takes to make a sale” and then you look up and see a poster illustrating the Timeshare Consumer Lifecycle stating, “From initial contact through debt collection $$,” would you stick around for the presentation or simply get up and walk away? Of course, you would walk away. Well, this Timeshare Consumer Lifecycle was presented during a timeshare industry conference in Las Vegas, Nevada last year.
We all know that salespeople may exaggerate, but in general, consumers depend on salespeople to provide us with correct information on which to base our decisions. Based on timeshare encounters with other members of the military, I have found a high number of timeshare members and former members that have purchased timeshare points – not deeded timeshares – based their decision to buy by listening to salespeople who provided inaccurate, misleading, and sometimes complete fabrications to make a sale.
My family’s first purchase of a “perpetual” vacation was a camping membership over three decades ago at Wilderness Resorts Campground in Spotsylvania, Virginia. I was on active duty in the Marine Corps and we didn’t have much money, so this ensured that we had a vacation almost every year.
We often visited the same location every year but about a decade ago, we decided we wanted something different; camping had become difficult, so we decided to buy a timeshare. We purchased a 2-bedroom timeshare at The Colonies of Williamsburg, the week before the 4th of July. The cost was about $40,000 and maintenance fees $750 a year. Over a decade maintenance fees only increased by about $125. We had great experiences with both memberships. Our vacations were perfect.
Others were not so lucky. Some have experienced maintenance fees that escalated dramatically – and they have no deeded interest in any property, just points that they might be able to use somewhere, sometime. Timeshare problems are not isolated to just one company. Complaints of existing members being presented maintenance fee relief programs that do not exist exacerbate the problem. You need to attend a meeting this week. It’s not an invitation but a demand. Some don’t even know it’s a sales presentation. Those attending presentations are sometimes held “captive” for several hours waiting for “gifts.” This is not fair to soldiers suffering symptoms of PTSD.
Veterans have reported being told of special programs for veterans (that do not exist) or eligible for, in my case, a disabled veteran program, eligible to receive a lower price. Later I learned there was no “special price” for disabled veterans.
The standard response to complaints is typically, “it doesn’t matter what the salesperson told you or wrote down…. You signed the contract.” “You have no proof” is often seconded by some state timeshare divisions. Timeshare contracts are not contracts that can be signed in good faith, believing the information provided by the sales staff. Think how many times you purchased a car or home, relying on the ethics of the real estate professional.
Heavily discounted promotional trips typically mean a conversely high-pressure sales session. Unlimited entertainment, food, and drinks often mean unlimited high pressure. A 60 to a 90-minute presentation which you are told emphatically is NOT a sales presentation, will often turn into a tag team of three against two that can last for hours. Promises are scribbled on paper, but the paper disappears.
Anyone buying a timeshare should research the company, the industry and any points-based product. This is something I should have done. I found over 200 people across the United States, including other Disabled Combat Veterans and active duty service members, who described unfair and deceptive timeshare sales practices.
There are also complaints describing credit card fraud. Members did not know until they returned home that a card had been opened and charged. Several hours before the transaction, they were told to fill out a form to see if they qualify for a down payment. In addition, members report being told they will be able to pay maintenance fees by using a timeshare company sponsored credit card, unaware this will offset only 1% or 2% of the maintenance fees bill.
A lifetime is a long time to bet nothing will happen to make the timeshare unaffordable. There is no secondary market for timeshare.
Recently, when my wife and I were told of an update we needed to attend, I politely asked the clerk to mail us any pertinent information – she understood that we weren’t interested in attending any more timeshare sales presentations.
This is one veteran’s story. After 9/11 Terry volunteered to go to Iraq. He was close to retirement so he felt it was the last thing he would be able to do for his country. After he got in country, he again volunteered with six other guys to be on a team deployed to Basra where the British had a FOB.
A forward operating base (FOB) is any secured forward military position, commonly a military base used to support tactical operations. (Wikipedia)
Terry was diagnosed with blood cancer after living next to a burn pit is Basra.
Terry was the lead man for the C-RAM program.
C-RAM: Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar abbreviated C-RAM or Counter-RAM, is a set of systems used to detect and/or destroy incoming artillery, rockets and mortar rounds in the air before they hit their ground targets, or simply provide early warning. (Wikipedia)
Terry and his guys would monitor incoming fire. Basra was one of those places where they were the only Americans so it was hard to get medicine and supplies. Terry and the guys lived in tents next to burn pits where the British burned anything that could be burned. Then there was Afghan. Terry was there for eighteen months until he was sent home after a diagnosis of blood cancer. He also served twenty years in the National Guard. He is 55 years old.
I really don’t know what else to say – he lived army ‘til he couldn’t anymore.
Our timeshare experience November 16, 2017
We were told in Gatlinburg at a group presentation that points were an investment and could be sold for a profit. My husbands diagnose of blood cancer was in 2014. We could no longer afford the timeshare. We know the agent lied about being able to sell timeshare points. We are not concerned that we cannot make a profit as the agent claimed, but are concerned that timeshare points are worthless should a member need to sell. Sales agents should not sell points based on the points being an investment. There were several in the room who heard this claim as it was made in the group presentation and in our individual meeting. Also, Cammie said all we had to do is when we got back home was go to our bank as we wouldn’t have a problem getting a lower interest rate. This was not true. Banks will not finance timeshare.
It’s not right. Our veterans deserve better.
We seek to provide timeshare members with a way to proactively address membership concerns; to advocate for timeshare reform; to obtain greater disclosure from the company; to advocate for a viable secondary market, and to educate prospective buyers.
https://everythingabouttimeshares.com/consider-exchange-options/
Free at Last Timeshare Support Course offered by Straight-A-Guide
Bluegreen Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/180578055325962/
Wyndham Facebook
New: https://www.facebook.com/groups/376743609795740/
Diamond Resort Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/
Gold Key Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1639958046252175/
Inside Timeshare Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2213231165610648/
Thank you, John, for your wonderful contribution, we and all our readers at Inside Timeshare wish you all the best in your campaign, also a very big thank you to Irene for her time editing the Tuesday Slot and Friday’s Letter from America articles.
If you have any comments or question on this or any article published, please use our contact page, we would love to hear from you.
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