Another "information evening" story

This story was left by a reader in the comments section, but I'm repeating it here for people reading via newsfeeds...

I just got back from a TrendWest presentation in SLC, UT USA. It seems that the owner of this blog is in Australia but neverless, the presentation sounded almost identical. The only difference is that instead of using ICE for international travel we would use a company called RCI.

In my case TrendWest acquired my information by holding a $50,000 sweepstakes that I entered into at a professional sports event. They called me twice to 'verify my sweepstakes entrance information.' These calls were turned out to be qualifying questions to be sure that I was who I said I was and to qualify my purchasing power. They then called a third time and informed me that I hadn't won the $50,000 prize but I had won a 'mini-vaction' and all I needed to do was come down to their offices and pick it up! Then they proceeded to tell me that I would also need to sit through a 90 minute presentation... Ah ha! The catch!

After I finally figured out that I hadn't really won anything and this was just another timeshare scheme to get people in the door I almost cancelled, but I thought 'heck, I'll give it a try.' Huge mistake!

When I arrived at the office I was sat down in a waiting room with other supposed 'winners' and waited to be let into the presentation room. We then watched a short movie about Cendant and TrendWest followed by introductions to our sales reps. This part was very interesting because I noticed that the women reps all were assigned to men that were there by themselves, which didn't really seem too odd until the flirting began. These women were pros! They would softly touch my arm or shoulder any opportunity they could and also tell me how 'sweet' I was. Very weird... The rep proceeded to explain in very convincing detail how I would be saving thousands of dollars over hotel prices and how I would have 'ownership' in the property. Immediately I started drawing parallels of this presentation with the traditional high-pressure car sale, complete with scribblings on the offer sheet and the ultimate closer - 'getting the manager.'

By this time I was totally annoyed. Both the sales rep and manager tried and tried to convince me that this was an investment but how could it be? I know for a fact that timeshare's don't resell for more than their original price and they are also income draining investments due to the maintainance fees. The question that I kept asking is 'how did you come up with this price($20,600)?' It was rediculous, they had no answer... My argument was that the price was too high and there was no real value to it because you never really own it, at least not like you would true real estate. The manager got visibly agitated because I wasn't buying the sales pitch and began to feverishly defend the value being quoted and tried to bait and switch me to a lesser plan because in his words I 'obviously couldn't afford the premium plan.' Bizarre! I never said anything about not being able to afford it, I just said I wanted to know how they came up with the price. At one point I said I felt like I was in a car dealership, at which the manager got very upset and defensive, claiming not to be a 'scummy car dealer.' I rolled my eyes to his comment and he demanded that I not roll my eyes at him! I couldn't believe it! He was scolding me like I was a child! At this time the table got very quiet and a staredown ensued. It was very uncomfortable... I thought that I might be in for an actual punch-down drag-out fight. Then he made a comment something like 'just get him his free gift' and immediately left.

The whole experience was sooooo crazy! After the incident with the manager the sales rep tried to get me to refer some friends for her to call and I just laughed. NO WAY! The sales rep was actually fairly friendly and I felt like she was as up front as she could be considering the whole thing is inherently very shady, but the more I think about it the more I realize she was just a small part of the grander deceptive scheme.

Overall I lost any interest in dealing with them directly. I would consider buying a resale TrendWest timeshare but I still don't quite understand how one gets out of it. If there is no time limit does that mean you have to pay the maintainance fee even if you're 100 yrs old and don't holiday anymore?

Regardless, I felt obligated to share my story so that no other innocent people would have to deal with the 'Wrath of the Car Dealer!'

Yes, that's a good question to ask -- how do they come up with the price? While costs would certainly contribute (including sales commissions), it's really a matter of "what the market can bear". A higher price might generate less sales, but the extra money is pure profit! Even though units used to be cheaper (under $1.50), it doesn't mean you're getting anything more for the higher price.

Tags: trendwest worldmark