Ahh, My 1st time-share presentation....Part 2

...After the 'presentation' we had our names called and went into a small office.

We had a very nice and fairly funny Agent who I'll call Beatrice.

I feel so sorry for Beatrice, she was a great salesperson and all - great personality, she should have been running the presentation to be honest but, my mind was already made up. The first thing she asked was:

"What do you like most about the package?" as she placed a sheet in front of us with the figures for the $12,000 broken down into monthly payments and APR.

I tried to give her the 'good cop' option and tried to defer in over to my fiance but, My fiance looked to me for a response.

So I said, with a look of distrust " I'm not sure"

Beatrice picked up on this and then asked "well...what don't you like about it then"

I couldn't contain myself and I said, "Well first off - $12,000! for a travel package?"

Beatrice, rolled her eyes slightly with a defeated look and said " well, yes... what it comes down to is $12,000 for 30 vacations but, we have many different ways of financing"

I looked at the sheet she had placed in front of us and then brought up the figure "84 Months at $198 a month!? What's that 7 or 8 years? to pay off"

Again, Beatrice rolled her eyes and said "Yes it's around 7 years to pay off"

I then looked at another figure on the sheet "At 16% interest? AND - you charge an Additional $300 +99 servicing fee every time you go on a trip? You guys are making money left and right here..."

Beatrice at this point could tell she picked the wrong couple - or at least the wrong spouse - to pull into her little office. Beatrice soon after just changed the subject to chit-chat until her boss - the Sales Manager could come in and ask if they had some 'new members.'

Beatrice didn't exactly say 'yes' or 'no' and then the Sales manager began going into a spiel for a cheaper deal for 10 trips instead of 30, - I still said 'no'.

The Sales Manager left us with Amanda so we could 'think about it' for a moment and Beatrice, being the trooper that she is - was fine to just sat there chit-chatting with the fiance about the upcoming wedding. The timeshare didn't come up again - that is until we left Beatrice's office.

So her Sales Manager told us to go wait in another meeting room while they obtained our trip.

While we were waiting in the meeting room, the Sales Manager came in again and knocked the price down a third time. It was still way out of what I wanted to pay (no job and all) so I said 'no' again.

Finally, after waiting in the conference room - filled with pictures of smiling chump...I mean 'customers' set behind a fake Hawaiian background - the Sales Manager came back in and directed us to a final office where a 3rd gentleman was going to hand us our plane tickets and hotel voucher.

OK - this part was the kicker, after a bunch of uncomfortable, high-pressure, emotion based sales, I was Hoping the guy at the end would say 'OK, here are your tickets good-bye'

Nope!

Another slightly younger gentleman shook our hands and had us sit down at his desk while he 'looked something up' on his computer. A few seconds later he asks

"So, what did you like BEST about the program"

I began to say "well Beatrice, Beatrice was very..." he cut me off...

"No, No I mean, the actual vacation package itself. What do you like most about that?' he says.

Again, I look to my fiance for the 'good cop' response. She again looked back to me for a response.

I rolled my eyes and said "The locations seem OK"

The guy went into a whole NEW Sales pitch:

"What if I told you, you could have the whole entire package - everything for just $700?"

I said "I would want to see it in writing"

At which point the 'closer' as I could tell he was trained in doing, began scribbling on a notebook a bunch of figures that started off with $700 - but the more he talked (and the faster he talked) the higher the cost went and the lower the amount of trips became.

When he was done it was a pretty good deal (on notebook paper) but, I ended up saying "Well, I still want to see it in print and then give me time to think about it"

The closer says " you have to make the decision NOW"

I said, Well, then my decision is "No" I turned to my fiance who was obviously affected by hearing "Hawaii" half a dozen times - and said she could get it herself if she liked - luckily she passed.

The closer then, tore off the sheet of paper with figures, and very dramatically crumpled it up, and threw the sheet of notebook into the trash. As if we'd just thrown away our dream or something I guess. He then gave us out tickets & voucher while giving me an angry look and saying good bye. I almost started to shake his hand but, I could tell he was upset - or at least acting like he was upset and would not be shaking hands with a 'no-sale' anytime soon.

When, I was doing the math in my head as we came out to the car though it came out to something like the possibility of 3 trips for approximately $1500 over the course of year or by 1/19/09 if within the continental U.S.. Outside of continental US it would come out to $2200-2300 once all the charges were factored in.

$700...yeah right!

Ahh, My 1st time-share presentation....Part 1

So, over the weekend, me and my fiance went to a 'Travel Agencies' office to pick up her 'prize' ( a 2 day 3 night stay in Florida or Vegas) that she won simply by filling out a prize card at a Wedding show we went to a couple weeks back.

I was immediately skeptical but, the fiance was intent on getting her 'free' (*ahem*) trip. She said all we had to do was sit through an hour-long informational presentation.

OK - now, I know what you're saying - "Reggie, you know better" - yes, I would agree that I do but, my fiance - again, was intent on getting her free trip - and I myself had never had the pleasure of being 'informed' about what this wonderful 'travel agency' could make all our travel and honeymoon dreams come true.

So, begrudgingly I went, at 9:00 am or so on a Saturday (my fiance didn't want to be late for the 10:00 presentation because 'space is limited'!)

So we went, and found a room filled with couples in winter coats filling out forms.

My fiance approached the desk and filled out a form that stated something to the effect of:

"In order to receive free trip you must:

• Be a couple planning a trip in the next year
• Earn over 25K a year
• Be willing to pay a $50 FULLY REFUNDABLE -deposit for your free trip
  
• Be willing to give up a large chunk of your take home pay each month for a time share - you'll likely never visit. "
  

OK, that last part I might of added but, Man, what a waste of 2 hours of my life....

The sales presenter, who I later found out was a manager for the 'Marketing Office' seemed so unenthusiastic. It was bordering on pathetic - He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was trying to sell anything he just said very plainly and without any emotion things like:

"This is a marketing office"
"Those cards you signed up for at the mall are what's called 'permission based marketing"
"We make our money by buying in bulk and selling to you at a discount"
"Unconventional financing"

All free of the accomplished sales guys energy and fake smile.


Anyway, long and short of it when he cut to the chase at the end - it turns out they were selling 30 vacations in time shares the marketing company for the whopping good deal of $15,000! and to be honest they had a couple goods locations but, most were places I wasn't too terribly interested in ever visiting. They didn't stop there though, they knocked off $3000 of the package price for us being so nice and coming in - taking the price down to $12,000.

And the properties that they own appear to be townhouses for the most part but, they didn't go into great detail where exactly they are in relation to vacation attractions and things like that.

After the presentation, the Sales Manager handed each of us couples off to an Agent who explained to us in detail, how the deal worked....