What makes a timeshare membership a scam? You would be surprised at how many people mistakenly label a lot of legitimate timeshare opportunities as scams. If your timeshare membership gives you what you need, then your membership poses no problems. People usually don’t start having issues with timeshare memberships until they encounter aggressive salesmen, reselling deals and cancellation offers.
Overly aggressive salesmen with false promises concerning timeshares
The chances of being misled by information presented by a legitimate timeshare company is very rare because you can always go to a supervisor at the resort to clarify any suspicious claims made by a salesperson. This also helps them spot any employees not going by the rules to prevent any further incidents. Remember, your salesperson is trying to make a sale and wants to make the offer look as appealing as possible. Hopefully, your presentation is being held at a timeshare community worth your while. Even if it is, the decision to purchase is left up to you. It’s unfair to commit to a certain price and then want to claim timeshare scam because you are having financial difficulties. Therefore, it’s important to enjoy the presentation while maintaining focus on what you can realistically invest. If you realize you could have afforded a higher price, then you can opt to upgrade to a higher membership afterwards.
Timeshare scams that trick you about maintenance fees
Maintenance fees are essential to the upkeep and repairing of needed things within the property so that the property remains a viable habitat. However, many people neglect to read the timeshare contract in its entirety and overlook the information concerning maintenance fees. This will lead some to claim their timeshare offer was a scam because no one verbally shared with them the information about the maintenance fees. Although most orientations presenting the timeshare offer explain the possibility of separate maintenance fees, there are rare occasions where the salespeople do not mention the possibility of separate maintenance fees. Nevertheless, the information is found in any contract a person signs to buy a timeshare. So, it would be in error for the customer to say s/he had no knowledge of the possibility of maintenance fees.
The real timeshare scams to beware of
If you attend a timeshare presentation hosted by an organization with a positive image, you won’t experience timeshare scams because of stricter laws concerning their business practices. But even with all that, there are still a few timeshare scams out there:
Resale and second hand timeshare scams – When taking over someone else’s membership, you may have to pay overdue maintenance fees. On top of that, you may find out you only have a limited time left on the membership (like a year or less) or no time at all.
Cancellation timeshare Scams – You can’t really cancel a timeshare membership, so companies offering to get you out of your membership contract for a fee are taking you for a ride. By the time you realize this, you will have discovered your loan has gone into default.
Fake timeshare sellers – If you went to the presentation, close the offer at the presentation. Don’t be pressured into having some salesperson give you an offer outside that resort because most likely it is not legitimate.
