Timeshare exit is not as difficult or as daunting as it seems. The first thing you need to master is interpreting and/or remembering the main lies they tell …
1. Timeshare is an investment that will grow and appreciate just like real estate.
False! Timeshare is essentially noting. You buy nothing. You get nothing. You have …. that’s right … NOTHING.
Their goal is to have you signed up to an idea that you have something that’s all yours any time you want it. However the harsh reality is that they aim to have you pay 3,4,5 times your initial outlay in fees, service charges, maintenance, and ongoing increases year-on-year in that regard.
…and at the end of it all, what do you have, own, possess? Zip.
2. This isn’t timeshare, it’s a ‘vacation plan’.
False! Yup, you guessed it – timeshare. Clever salespeople are good at one main thing – learning what is worrying the customer, and speaking in terms of cancelling out those worries. Whatever you’re thinking or have concerns about, you can bet your bottom dollar that the sharks have preempted weapons ready to fire at you to cancel those worries out, so they can get closer towards your signature.
3. We have a ‘buy back program’ if you end up unsatisfied with your timeshare.
False! If you can find anyone on this here rock who has gotten their money back from their timeshare company after expressing their dissatisfaction, we would like to know about it. We’ll also be looking for pigs flying backwards in the sky, and to seeing some footage of hell freezing over!
4. If you don’t accept and sign up today, then tomorrow the offer will have expired.
Garbage. Typical sales spiel. Go back tomorrow (or send a friend) to listen in to the presentation and note down what the timeshark says to their next set of innocent victims, you’ll hear the exact same thing. Perhaps tomorrow truly does never come!
5. You’ll be able to exchange property locations at any time and go anywhere.
NOT! … and certainly never without some hidden/new fee or surcharge, that is if your request is even attended to at all.
In sum
We aren’t saying that all timeshares are precisely the same nightmare, they certainly do vary from company to company.
However the key lesson is to first listen to what is said, and consider if that message could be designed to counteract a concern or ‘negative’ that many customers have.
If you find part of yourself saying “well that makes it seem a lot better, I’m less worried now” then BE WORRIED, because you’ve just been told a timeshare lie.