Timeshare Nightmare!

This is going to be short and sweet because I have to move onto the stuff that really matters.... Our Nephew!!!

Remember how at the TVBWF (Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival) we were bombarded with timeshare people? ...Well, I got suckered into attending one of their meetings down in Oceanside.  We talked back and forth about if we should go or not because we had a busy work week and it would take up an entire day off! But we decided that if we want to get our $40 bucks back and a free $50 dollar American Express card we should probably attend.  We arrived at the Wyndam Oceanside at 1200 ready to say "no!" The night before we even rehearsed! ...So we were paired up with a sales person who must have had a history of recreational drug use or something - she wasn't normal.  She started off by asking us "Do you like to travel?" So of course we answered "yes," then she goes "oh my, you're just like me, this is going to be easy and fun!" - Well, maybe not entirely verbatim but pretty close. We sat through their sales pitch lecture with a guy who swore he was Brad Pitt's cousin, or brother, or relative...

I think that timeshares, for the most part, are not a bad idea. I think that for some hardworking American families that's the way to go when it comes to vacation.  When you figure the costs and break it down into vacation days per year for a lifetime... It does make sense.

So we toured the hotel and were quite impressed with some of the rooms, beautiful views, great location, but the one thing they never mentioned was the price! When we finally sat down and went through the brochures and booklets and tried to plan our own trip to see if this timeshare thing would make sense our little ex-druggie sales lady was really getting on my last nerve. I don't know how Alicia coped with her presence but every time she opened her mouth I cringed and my heart would beat faster.

To make a long story short we went through four different sales persons each with 3-4 different offers ranging from a $12,000 down payment required that afternoon which would award us with 300,000 points to no payments for 6 months, with monthly payments starting at $100/month awarding us with 32,000 points. Such a headache!! I'm not sure how many times I can say "no" politely. The last and final lady was our "exit survey" where in addition to our survey she tried one final attempt to make a sale. When she realized that no one was going to get a "yes" out of Alicia and I her entire demeanor changed before our eyes - she became cold, snotty, and passive aggressive.

Realizing our victory we quickly went around the corner and picked up our $40 deposit and $50 AmEx card!! ...Realizing that it was now 4:30 in the afternoon, we weren't sure whether sitting through all that was worth $90...

Have any of you ever had a timeshare experience? ...I'm sure it's some form of initiation or right of way for all newlyweds. For now, we're just going to enjoy our own travel time without all the hassle of points and location and time constraints.

Happy traveling!