At last, some benefit!

Too often I hear from people who discovered this information too late.

Well, it's nice to hear from this reader who seems to have done their research in advance:

Hi, I'm not sure if this is of any interest to you, as I did not sign anything or purchase anything, but I thought you might find this amusing.

It started with the call telling me I won a prize. So I knew I didn't win anything, and it turned out to be a bribe to come to a time-share sales pitch. I wanted the $50 gift card so I decided to go, with full intent of course that I was not buying anything. The caller told me the company was TrendWest so I googled it and found your blog, and some other information about complaints, lawsuits, etc.

You all know the basics, I'm sure - but I found it so amusing the way they did it. They assigned me a "customer service rep" who chatted me up and asked me lots of questions about my ideal vacations, writing down my answers as if they mattered. She warned me that once I go in to the group presentation, I can't be considered a first-timer ever again, and if I didn't buy today, I'd lose all sorts of first-time incentive perks, so I better be serious.

After the group presentation, the pressure began. I'd already come up with a whole alter-ego and a back story to give them, complete with an imaginary boyfriend who really would rather spend our money on cruises, an inheritance coming in a few months, etc. It was great fun to BS the BS'ers.

When I started to say my firm no, here's what happened, in order:

"If you weren't going to buy today, you shouldn't have gone in to the presentation. I warned you! You told me you were serious about buying today!"

"Let me talk to my manager and see if he can help."

"We're going to do something very unusual, and offer you a free week if you buy today (then two weeks, then three weeks)."

"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but if you donate a week, you can write the whole thing off your taxes. I donate a week of mine to the church." (That was my all-time favorite line of the day.)

"You could also give the trip to your parents for their anniversary!" I mention that my parents are dead...two minutes later, a 70-ish kindly woman comes up and starts speaking to me very sweetly about her daughter.

Once the no-nonsense manager figured out I was a no, they all turned into mean little trolls, with my customer service rep sarcastically saying with a bite in her voice, "Enjoy your trip!" The manager told her, "Forget it. She's a nobody." Then "Mom" walked away sadly, saying she wished she could have had a chance to get to know me better.

If you want more details, feel free to write back. Thanks for the great blog - you're helping a lot of people avoid victimhood.

-Karen, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Glad to be of service!

-- Fabbo
Tags: trendwest worldmark