PSA: Don't Buy a Time Share
Sometimes I feel as if my PSA for my readers is a segment in a local news program that does things like "shame on you" exposé that reveals all the scams on the naive and unknowing general public.
I had a reader tell me an upsetting story about his timeshare. I offered my advice to him, but I'm not sure if he'll heed my advice or not... but here it is for anyone else who used Google as research and landed on this blog post...
The man had used a third-party site online to book his vacation (you know, like Priceline, Expedia, etc.), and he found a resort called the Tree Tops Resort in Gatlinburg, TN. The man and his wife are retired and now live in an RV. As a man that is older than the millennial generation, he's not too savvy with the internet and the resources available for those who know what to look for.
Needless to say, he was suckered into buying a timeshare.
Okay, first thing — timeshares have been around the USA since the 1970s. There's actually a really funny episode on Married... with Children when Al and Peggy go on a getaway and they keep getting interrupted by a timeshare salesman.
Often, you'll get "free" weekend vacations from places like Bass Pro Shop for signing up for whatever promotional crap they have going on. That's one of the ways people fall victim to the timeshare industry.
After checking in, a persistent salesman told them they couldn't checkout without them completing a "survey" since their stay was part of a promotional program.
This of course is not true.
Anyone stating that you cannot leave is holding you against your will. It's a legal definition to a crime. It's false imprisonment. He should have just walked right out the door when he was ready to leave!
He stated that a salesman kept contacting him, first by banging on his door in the morning, and then by constantly "notifying" him.
First, someone banging on my door at 10AM would have gotten cuss out. Like, I seriously would have yelled for him to fuck off! Second, depending on what info you gave as far as cellphone and email, you could be getting calls/texts/emails constantly. They're annoying, as well as misleading, and a lot of times just straight out deceitful scams.
Here's the thing, they're basically used car salesmen.
They're trying to sell you some crap car for double what it's worth, and the moment you drive off the lot they won't ever answer the phone for you again. Timeshares are the worse thing ever, even worse than an overpriced beat-up jalopy that you bought off the lot.
My advice to a man in his position was to foreclose on it — which simply put, means to stop paying on it.
That was just my opinion, and not legal advice, because I'm not a lawyer.
There was no way for him to get rid of it, and he had a $1500/month "maintenance fee". Since he was retired, and at his age and situation in life he wasn't looking for a major bank loan any time in the near future — foreclosing and hurting his credit score did not have any real impact on his life.
Sometimes you can try to sell it or try to get the company to take it back in a "deed back", but often that's challenging and you can only do that if you own it without anymore loan payments on it. (There's a reason why you got someone there banging on your door at 10AM.)
Also, they'll try a number of scare tactics, don't fall for any of it.
They'll also give you misleading "official notices" about "lifetime contracts", even scaring families into continuing payments and fees on the timeshare after the original owners have deceased — that's bullshit.
There's no such thing.
Basically they're hoping you'll continue making maintenance fees even after mom or dad dies because you don't know any better (NEVER sign anything or give out any personal info).
A contract is with whomever signs it, they can't force a continuation on to others (although a lot of fancy mumbo-jumbo that sounds semi-legit surprisingly fools a lot of people regardless).
If you're in a position where it's a choice between food on the table, paying rent, paying bills — or that crappy timeshare you got suckered into — personally, I'd just stop paying. Plain and simple.
Yeah, your credit will go bad, but again, that depends on where you are in life. Like the man who had asked for help — he's retired and living in an RV, a bad credit score won't have any impact on his life at this stage of his life.
If it's any consolation, bankruptcies no longer appears on your credit report after 7 years. That's the current law of the land.