Close to two decades ago, Greg and his sister went in together on buying a timeshare. Years later, when they were closer to fully paying off the property, they decided for Greg to take over full ownership of the timeshare. What he did not know, though, was that the maintenance fees would continue to come even after paying it off.
Maintenance fees would be an ongoing issue for years to come, and Greg could not seem to escape them. Salespeople even used these high costs as negotiating tactics when trying to get him to alter his agreement in favor of the resort. Deceitful maneuvering like this is nothing new for the timeshare business but we should not turn a blind eye to it.
We hope Greg’s personal story here will change your perspective on how these resorts are being run. The names of companies and people may have been changed or omitted due to privacy reasons.
“My sister and I purchased the timeshare together and were splitting the mortgage and fees, but I took over full responsibility a few years later. I went ahead and paid off the remaining mortgage costs and was looking forward to not having to worry about the costs of this anymore. Come to find out, these maintenance fees just seem to never end. NEVER!”
During many timeshare sales presentations, the maintenance costs are vastly underestimated or sometimes not even mentioned by the salespeople. If most buyers knew that these fees were a lifetime agreement, then they probably would never consider purchasing.
“I highly doubt we would have gone through the initial purchase years ago if they had mentioned I would be paying fees for the rest of my life. I put up with them for a few more years, but as I was approaching retirement, I just simply could not afford them anymore. They were such a huge financial hardship for me.”
As if his timeshare experience was not already bad enough, things continued on a downward spiral when Greg attended a resort meeting. While there, he was aggressively pressured to upgrade his timeshare to the new points system. He insisted that he bought a fixed week and that is all that he wanted from them.
“Many years after the initial purchase, the resort approached me about upgrading my timeshare agreement. When I declined multiple times to do so, they began telling me if I did not convert to the new deal then my maintenance fees would skyrocket even higher. Honestly, I could not imagine how much higher they could go. ”
Greg had heard of how the timeshare points worked and knew that it would only cause more issues for him, as he enjoyed having the same set vacation week every year. He had to continue to watch the maintenance fees go up each year as he went into more and more debt.
As his timeshare costs became more and more difficult to manage, Greg knew something had to change ASAP! He was referred by a friend to Wesley Financial Group, LLC so he decided to pick up his phone and call us. To no surprise, a little over a year since that first phone call, and now Greg is living life timeshare-free once again!*
If you know anyone with a similar timeshare experience, please feel free to pass our phone number along to them. We’d love to see if they qualify for our timeshare termination services.
*Wesley Financial Group, LLC (“WFG”) develops individualized programs for each client, terminates over 97% of their client’s timeshare relationships, and, in certain circumstances, obtains a refund of some or all of the timeshare purchase price. Actual results depend on each client’s distinct case and no specific outcome is guaranteed (although WFG does offer a 100% money-back guarantee if the timeshare is not canceled within the time specified in the WFG Enrollment Agreement).
Wesley Financial Group, LLC, and/or its affiliates, successors, or assigns are not lawyers and/or a law firm and do not engage in the practice of law or provide legal advice or legal representation. All information, software, services, and comments provided on this site are for informational and self-help purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, legal or otherwise.
