We’ve heard it all before.
Any way you slice it, it costs a lot to buy a timeshare at Westgate Resorts.
There’s the purchase price, of course, even though a timeshare has virtually no resale or investment value.
Then the financing costs via a Westgate-issued loan or high-interest credit card.
And the ever-increasing maintenance fees, even when you can’t use your timeshare.
But here’s something we hadn’t heard until now: it even costs a lot NOT to buy a Westgate timeshare.
That’s what we discovered while thumbing through the 4,256 pages of complaints against Westgate Resorts compiled by the Florida Attorney General’s office and we came across a letter from Karie in O’Fallon, Missouri.
To lure Karie to Florida for a sales presentation, Westgate offered her discounted tickets to Universal Studios and a nearby alligator farm, for a total of $498. All Karie had to do, Westgate promised, was attend a 90-minute “discovery tour and sales presentation of Westgate Resorts.”
The letter Karie received was clear. In exchange for her attendance, Karie got discounted tickets.
Seems like a pretty straightforward deal, except...
“The tour lasted 4.5 hours.”
Four and half hours! We’d say Karie more than fulfilled her end of the bargain!
And it almost paid off for Westgate.
“I was actually going to buy as the deal went from $47,000 to $8,000. Upon signing contracts, they added in yet another fee in case I died over $500.”
“At this point I had enough.”
We hear you, Karie!
“I printed cancel across the contract and left everything there, demanded my credit card back. This was a HUGE task.”
“They kept delaying this to the point my 3-year-old was screaming give my credit card back to my mommy.”
We’re sure that wasn’t easy on the ears.
Karie was so done with Westgate that she canceled her trips to Universal Studios and the alligator farm. But when she tried to get her money back, Westgate said no.
“I have been fighting ever since to receive my funds.”
“They owe me $498. They should be put out of business.”
We’d like to say that kind of treatment is unheard of, but then again, we are talking about Westgate.
And we hope David Siegel, the CEO and president of Westgate, is listening. Let’s contact him at david_siegel@wgresorts.com and give him an earful about Westgate’s unspeakably poor treatment of Karie.
Jason Gamel deserves a shout out too. He’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), which represents timeshare companies in Washington, DC. Let’s email Jason at jgamel@arda.org and find out whether he likes what he’s hearing about Westgate.
Need to bend the ear of your timeshare’s executives? Use this list of ARDA VIPs to get in touch.
Have a story we need to hear? Share it with us at info@timsharefacts.com
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Got a story about a timeshare? Share it. Send it to info@timesharefacts.com
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