Are time shares evil?

[scottmandue]

My wife has the well earned title of "coupon queen".

We just got back from a week in Vegas... her first trip, I have been there many times.

I was prepared to stand around while she waited in-line for free crap.

Then we met satans spawn... "Hey where you from? Want some free stuff?"
Wife: "OH YEAH, look honey free stuff!!!"
ME: "Uh, what are you selling?"
SS: "oh nothing, blah, blah, blah, where are you staying? Seeing any shows?"
ME: "Is this a time share?"
SS: "oh no, blah, blah, blah..."

Lies, lies, lies... two hours later...

Wife: " I'm soooo sorry... you need a drink?"
Me: "Uh yeah... (under my breath "a few")

Anyway,

Has anyone actually had a positive experience with time shares? Most people say they are a rip off. Personally I feel anything that needs lies and deception to sell can't be a good deal.

Thoughts?

[sammyg2]

Are time shares evil?

yes.

[stomachmonkey]

Some people like them and swear by them. Me, no thanks. My opinion is along the lines of yours.

[Nathans_Dad]

My mom has a time share that I get the use of when I want to. Overall I think it can be a decent deal IF you vacation to the area frequently OR get a timeshare in a location that is easy to swap out of. My mom is with RCI and they have been pretty happy.

RCI is generally good about not bothering you too much with asking you to attend presentations. My wife and I made the mistake of agreeing to go to one in exchange for some Disney World tickets. Bad mistake! It was 2-3 hours and lots of high pressure sales at the end.

I will say, however, in our subsequent visits we have simply declined the offer for a presentation and we do not visit the booths that advertise the free stuff on site and we haven't had a problem.

Last time our family visited Disney World we got a two bedroom condo for an entire week through RCI with a kitchen, washer dryer and full living area on Disney property for only about $1000 for the entire week. That's a pretty darn good deal.

[Hugh R]

Look at the cost say $1,000 per week. they are selling 50 or 51 weeks/year = $50,000 per year mortgage equivalent. Yes a bad deal. Try and sell one, people will give you money to take one off their hands. Better to do vacation rentals by owner. VRBO® is Vacation Rentals By Owner

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Are time shares evil?

yes.

^^^^ Agreed. I can't deny the obvious.

Ian

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Look at the cost say $1,000 per week. they are selling 50 or 51 weeks/year = $50,000 per year mortgage equivalent. Yes a bad deal. Try and sell one, people will give you money to take one off their hands. Better to do vacation rentals by owner. VRBO® is Vacation Rentals By Owner

Yep, I'm a big fan of VRBO....

As the evil one was smiling and writing numbers on a piece of paper I'm thinking to myself (not wanting to embaras my wife) Bull $hit, bull ****, car salesman, bull $hit... can we leave now?

Fortunaly Cabo Wabo was only a short walk away and my wife didn't give me a hard time about washing away the feeling with a few Mai Tai's of wanting to go back with a machete...

[masraum]

time shares == 666

[HardDrive]

Run Forest, run.

[Brando]

My wife and I only did one of those and sat through all 2.5 hours. "It will only take 45 minutes of your time."

Lies. The whole sale was built around the "free" vouchers you get for signing up. Fine print on those offers put you at the travel agency's mercy. We got bumped for a week cruise twice and said "f this", got back what little of the reservation fees (or whatever they call them) we could and said "never again."

[Buckterrier]

I know someone who just paid over 3K to get rid of hers.

[carambola]

maybe i'm a perv, but i always thought amateur porn was shot in time shares

[id10t]

A well managed one, bought at the right time (long ago) for the right price and reasonable fees (ie, what you pay every year whether you use it or not, what you have to spend in order to actually use your week, trade it to another location or time slot, sublease a week, etc), in the right location (beach, skiing area, etc) could pay off many years down the road.... IF it is a place you want to go to at the same time every year. With the same people as neighbors every year as well. Not my cup of tea for a vacation. If there was someplace I liked so much and had the disposable income I'd buy something and use it more often, or create my own timeshare to sell to suckers.

[Gogar]

+1 for VRBO.

[gshase]

Hate them. Watch out for the maintenance fee, Saw one @ $800 a year.

[gshase]

If you are a veteran look @ Military Vacation Deals for families | Armed Forces Vacation Club® Stayed in Aruba for $299 for 7 days. We met a Dr. and he bought a time share at the place we stayed at for $18K for 1 week X30 years with a $600 yearly fee.

[Nathans_Dad]

I do know that many people are buying their time shares on the "used" market. There are people trying to get out from under them all the time. Of course then you have to wonder why they want out so badly...

My mom bought hers back in the 90s so she paid a lot less than what they are charging today.

It's a good deal for me because I didn't pay any of the up front costs. I just have to pay the maintenance fee and the swap fee for any week I get.

[EarlyPorsche]

Just get the air bnb app on you iPhone and don't be forced to vacation to me spot a bunch. Time sharing is like every vacation being groundhogs day.