There are few things more contemptible, in our estimation, than an industry that makes its bread and butter on the practice of scamming our society’s elders out of the nest eggs they have spent a lifetime accumulating. But timeshare companies have managed—primarily through a well-funded lobbying cartel—to make legal their specific form of targeting the elderly. It’s enough to make us spit nails.
First they use the offer of freebies—which, if you think about it, is already designed to attract people who are looking to NOT spend money—in exchange for “just” spending 90 minutes out of a week at a timeshare sales pitch. (Often, of course, they change the term from “timeshare” to “vacation club” or some other euphemism so as not to set off the alarm bells the word “timeshare” has come to deserve.) That “90-minutes” is a lie. They will stretch it out as long as they can—4 hours? 8 hours? Whatever it takes to get an elderly person’s energy to flag, and with it their willpower. These companies are well aware that people lose fortitude as time drags on, and they often deprive their targets of food and water in the process—creating desperation for the situation to end, which can only be alleviated, it is implied, by signing the sales contract.
Meanwhile, especially at first, the salesperson will be an attractive person with a winning smile and a studied gregarious nature. Of course this will be a glib invention. They have been trained to “build rapport,” which in this case means sharing details of their lives (often made-up) so that elderly people will share more about themselves—facts which are then cynically passed along to closers and other hard-nosed sales-folk who are brought in to hammer on their now softened-up targets.
Once the timeshare is bought, they will tell the elderly mark that, for an “upgrade” or if they buy another timeshare, their heirs won’t be forced to take on the responsibility of the timeshare after they pass. This is false. Neither an “upgrade” (a.k.a. just paying more money) nor buying more timeshare interest has any effect on the legal nature of what gets passed (or doesn’t) to one’s heirs.
And this just scratches the surface. These vultures count on the pliability of the elderly in order to work one scam after another. They have basically made it their whole purpose to find loopholes inthe laws that exist to protect consumers, or simply to skirt around the laws altogether, as a way to enrich already fabulously wealthy companies.
We are here to fight back for our elders. If you’re looking to end your association with a timeshare company—in Fort Lauderdale, Florida or elsewhere—let The People’s Advocate fight for you. We take on timeshare companies to hold them accountable for their high-pressure sales tactics and fraudulent practices. Don’t find yourself subject to losing money on “properties” into which you’re forced to pour significant amounts of your hard-earned money. Contact us for more details.