Timeshare Freebies?

[b4freedom]

Anyone ever take advantage of the “freebies” offered to go see Timeshares? Is it worth it? Do you have any good suggestions?

[Ima saver]

I had friends that did it all the time. Usually, the gifts were kind of rip offs. I won't waste my time on them. I think people are always sorry if they buy timeshares.

[sweeps]

If you have a thick skin and can deal with the overbearing sales tactics, go for it. But Ima's right, sometimes the freebies aren't what they're cracked up to be. For example they'll offer a certificate for a 3-night stay somewhere but it's loaded down with restrictions and hidden costs and fees.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

My in-laws had a large collection of good knives that they got by attending these things. No way were they going to buy into a timeshare in the area where they already lived. I guess they were just amused to get the knives, so they went to about a half dozen of them. I benefited because they gave me some nice ones. In fact, my best knives are ones they got for attending these timeshare sales pitches. Personally, I couldn't withstand the BOREDOM of one of those things.

What else do these outfits try to entice people with?

[34saving]

I don't mind timeshare presentations at all. In fact, I think they've help to build my resistance to other types of sales pressure. Boring? Never. If you're bored you can always play with the salespeople. (It's good to let them know up front just in case they want to conserve their time and just let you have your prize and go home.) Here are some that will throw them for a loop: 1) I don't believe in going into debt for depreciating assets. 2) Why would I buy from you when I can get the same thing on eBay for 1/2 price or less? 3) My ideal vacation would be in (insert exotic place where they have no affliated resort here -- Israel, China, etc.) 4) Really? You can book me anytime anywhere? Do you have a membership? You do? Great! Can you book yourself into (insert very popular always book resort here) next week? I just want to make sure it works. I'm sure they'll let you cancel the reservations with no fee.

As far as the premiums. . . Always go for cash or cash equilvalents (gift cards to restaurants you actually will go to.) If they offer trips, ask for cash or cash equilvalent instead. Lots of times they'll adapt. I've found the trips are impossible to take.

[djaco]

I go to timeshare presentations when I have the time to do it (they say they only take 45 minutes, but really it takes 2-4 hours). You really do have to have thick skin and keep saying "no", but sometimes the free gifts are worth the time and aggrivation. For example, in Myrtle Beach SC I've been to a few of these and have received $75 cash, a dinner for 2, and show tickets. In Orlando, I got 2 free tickets to Disney World out of it. I went to a presentation in Cancun Mexico and got 2 tickets for a tour of Mayan ruins.

It is often very stressful to attend these presentations because they use a lot of high pressure sales tactics. If you don't think you can hold your ground and stand firm with "no", don't go.

[lucasrd]

My In-laws do it...they get a free motel room and food for the weekend...they only pay for their transportation and any other extras. Kind of a nice, cheap get-away for them from time to time. as long as you don't get suckered into the timeshare

[kealina]

the hotel where we went for our mini-honeymoon (2 day stay was a wedding gift) had timeshare presentations... we didn't go but heard from some other guests that they weren't that bad... i think it was somewhere around 2 hours and they got $200 hotel credit usable on things like the catamaran cruise, in the gift shops and some other places... the people who told us about it were on the same catamaran cruise as us (also part of our gift)... we went to one once and the gifts were not that great but then again there was very little pressure... when we told them we weren't interested the guy just said ok, signed us out and gave us the gift certificates...

[Lemony]

We did it once and got 3 nights stay at a hotel and free babysitting for the kids during the presentation. The hotel room we got wasn't the best and the sales pressure was extremely intense. We found the trip exhausting. They kept brining in different people to try and sell us, and the presentation ended up lasting 3 hours (it was supposed to be 90 minutes max). We left after the second day, and I doubt we'll do it again.

[debtfreesteve]

We did it, when we were first married, and 'bought' the darn thing... It's paid for now, so we get about 10 days or so, at various locations each year. Costs of around $400 or so per year, so, in time, we'll be 'ok'. Next time though, if I even care to, I'll just buy off of ebay... 20% or 30% on the $. Cool thing now though, about every 6 months, we can listen to a 'courtesy check up', and we typically get a $50 gift card to a restaurant etc... It's fun too, as I tell them, that if we don't have the $ to pay for it, we won't, and then they throw out the financing options, and I get to say, oh yeah, by the way, we don't borrow $ either...

Problem with this though, is, soon, we'll have the $ to buy it, so I guess I'll resort to the ebay line.

[gackle]

I figure I'd resurect this thread since there are a lot of new people to the board since the last post and it's still a relevant topic. DW and I have listened to 3 timeshare presentations (0 fer 3 for the sales reps, yea!) and maybe some can learn from our experiences:

1) Bella Vista, AR: bought a week off skyauction.com for $1 and $230 in taxes. Had a two bedroom condo with fireplace (wood supplied), family room, full kitchen, washer/dryer, and 4-person jaccuzzi in the master bath . It was not a requirement to listen to a timeshare presentation, but they paid us $75 cash to attend one.

2) Tanglewood Vacation Villas, Pottsboro, TX: offered "expensive" his/her watches (was going to sell on Ebay, but they looked too cheap. Wound up as play toys for the kids), credit for ordering stuff out of a catalog (wasn't interested in anything they had), and a cruise out of Galveston, TX. We went for the cruise, but never took it because of the restrictions: must be during the slow season, must give 90 days notice, must give them 3 choices of dates to sail of which all must be at least 30 days apart. We mailed in only 2 dates and they sent it back because we didn't give 3. Also had to mail in a $100 refundable deposit of which we got back after tiring of dealing with the run around. I agree with the previous post about it being virtually impossible to take the cruise.

3) Salado Creek Villas, San Antonio, TX: got $89 for 2 nights plus 2 adult tickets to Sea World right after the presentation. Helped us save a lot of money on our vacation, but was not impressed with the property.

I'll have to admit, some of the offers, especially after the manager comes in with the really good deal, were tempting. We thought it might be a good deal if we didn't finance it, but after seeing the resale problems it doesn't look to be good. I'm all for taking their freebies though as long as you have the will power to say "no".

[pearlieq]

We've done two timeshare presentations and overall have been pretty happy with the experience.

1. The first was for Disney Vacation Club (DVC). They're pretty much the gold standard of timeshares. We actually did their tour twice and never got anything more than refreshments and a couple of trading pins. They were also super friendly and absolutely NO pressure. We bought 2 years ago and have been thrilled.

2. We also went on a timeshare presentation for Marriott Grand Chateau in Las Vegas. For that we were offered tickets to a 2nd tier type show (not any of the main headliners like Cirque du Soliel, but a good second showroom type show) and dinner at a coffee-shop type restaurant. The facility was great and the location was wonderful. Unfortunately the price was outrageous! They wanted almost twice what we paid for our DVC. If the price had been reasonable we seriously would have considered joining. Luckily our sales rep was nice and professional and took "no" for an answer. We were referred to a more surly manager who tried to upsell us on a vacation package and the grudgingly gave us our tickets when we refused.

[click4credit]

I've been to these presentations before - be warned they will try and twist your arm and use very questionable sales techniques to hook you in. I managed to get away in the end and did get $100 off a hotel stay but the experience was not good and I would go to a similar presentation again. Some friends of mine recently got hooked in at a timeshare sales presentation for Accor - they are having trouble using their nights as the places are all booked up months in advance. Basic advice - stay away!!