The lies and false promises a salesperson at a timeshare tour will lay before you are multifaceted—a real hall of mirrors, filled with smoke and steaming horse manure.
The “liner”—that very first person to sit down with the potential buyer (or buyers, because it’s usually a couple)—makes their first order of business getting the buyer to like him. And to do this, he will often be willing to say almost anything to build rapport. He may present himself as being from somewhere he’s never been, or having relatives there. He just lies, and tries to get the “marks” to have a good time. In the process, he does all he can to glean as much information as possible from them. This information gets passed along from salesperson to salesperson until it reaches the “closer”—usually an experienced salesperson, adept at using someone’s personal information against them in order to cajole them into buying.
One of the lies used these days even involves avoiding the use of the word “timeshare.” Sometimes they will call what they’re selling an “all-inclusive club,” or a “vacation club.” Just because so many people are familiar with the term “timeshare” and try to avoid it.
When they tell you that this interest you’re being pressured to buy will be an investment, that’s a lie. When they say it will be easy to re-sell the interest if you get tired of the property, that’s a lie. When they say you can easily trade out one of your “weeks” for a property somewhere else in the world, the “easy” part is a lie—you usually have to attempt it YEARS in advance, and even then you may not be successful. When they say you can make money by renting out your timeshare, that’s a lie. You’ll be lucky to recoup the required annual maintenance fee (most people don’t). And when they say a company will purchase your existing timeshare from you and put that money toward the purchase of a new timeshare or a different week (so long as you make the purchase first, of course), that, too, is almost always a lie.
The People’s Advocatecan help you undo some of the damage these liars do at a timeshare presentation. Attorney Joe Brien has decades of experience battling for the rights of consumers, and he is ready and willing to take on the timeshare developers on your behalf. Contact us today to make an appointment for a free information session on how you can turn the tide on the jerks who have used every trick in the book to convince you to buy something you really don’t need.