This is totally random today so please excuse me. But have you ever received one of those little cards in the mail claiming you’ve been selected to receive 2 complimentary 8-day cruise passes, AND 2 free roundtrip airline tickets if you just call the number?
So guess what I did the other day? I called.the.number (hanging head in shame). I guess I really want to go on a cruise? But I don’t know why because I’d probably be sick the whole time.
But anyway, like I said, I called the number instead of throwing the card away. Here’s a little bit how the conversation went down:
ME: Hi, I’m calling to claim our 2 free complimentary cruise tickets. What’s the catch? Do I have to buy something?
THEM: Hi ma’am. No you don’t have to buy anything. All you have to do is go to a 90 minute session at a hotel in your area, listen to the presentation, and then you will receive your tickets.
ME: Do I have to buy something after the session?
THEM: No, you are not obligated to purchase anything.
ME: What exactly is the presentation about, and who are y’all?
THEM: We are a vacation package company (probably a polite name for a timeshare?) and that’s what the 90 minute presentation will be on.
ME: <awkwardly quiet>
THEM: Would you like to make the appointment for the session?
ME: Ummm, I’ll call back.
After I hung up the phone I could not get these people out of my head:
Yep, Doug and Carrie Heffernan. Remember the episode where Doug tricks Carrie into going to listen to a timeshare presentation so he could get his free plasma tv? Hopefully you remember because it’s one of the funniest episodes. But I don’t think they ever succeeded in getting their tv because the sales people kept hounding them to buy something. And that’s what I kept thinking of when they told me I had to go listen to a presentation to get our cruise tickets. I got scared. Scared that we would get sucked in and buy a timeshare–oh, I mean a “vacation travel package.” Haha.
So needless to say, I have not gone to the presentation. But I would love to know if any of you ever have?? That is, if you’re willing to admit it here. :) If you have gone, do you really get your free tickets or is it a scam? If it’s not a scam, I’d totally go sit through 90 minutes of pushy sales because mama needs a vacation! And the Bahamas is sounding pretty good right about now…
So tell me please! Surely I’m not the only one who has actually called the number right? ….<crickets>
Oh and welcome to my newest sponsor, Hometalk!
xxoo,
Decorchick!
OMG…if I could have all the things “promised” in the mail and on the phone by those types of companies I would be a very happy girl…”congratulations you’ve won” …REALLY???!!! Not! Unfortunately, so many people get taken advantage of in these situations.
I have not done the cruise one, but when my husband and I were vacationing in Florida last October, we sat through both a Timeshare presentation and a Vacation Package Presentation just so we could get discounted Disney Package tickets and so on. We actually also got 2 free trips, that we have been able to give away as gifts as well.
Typically they aren’t a scam, you just have to be really willing to sit through it all and not get sucked in, I mean they will try just about anything to make it sound like the “best deal ever,” but we knew we would never go for it and we still got all the deals they promised us.
hahahahaha! I LOVE that episode – HILARIOUS!!!! Give it a shot – it’s only 90 minutes and if you are strong enough to still say no and you get your cruise, then you win! If it’s a scam then you’ve only los 90 minutes of your time. Let us know what you decide to do :)
I’ve done one. You sit through the long group sales pitch, then they take you into a room to receive your “gift” and you get a nice last ditch effort one-on-one sales pitch. You end up getting a voucher for the tickets, but the vacation isn’t completely free. There are tons of blackout dates, and you end up paying I believe taxes on the value of the the tickets plus some kind of “processing fee” when you book your vacation – usually around $50. Still WAY cheaper then paying full price, but not totally free either. Still a good deal in my opinion, as long as you are good at saying “no” and not hitting the annoyingly pushy sales people. :)
I have actually had friends go on nice vacations by sitting through those pitches. They said the secret was they took all their kids who didn’t have naps and were very hungry. The sales guy didn’t like kids and pretty much gave up and just handed them the vouchers for the tickets. So if you think you are strong willed enough and don’t bring your wallet or checkbook in with you. You could do it.
My little sister & her ex-fiancée went to one of these some years ago. I forgot where the cruise went..Bahamas I think & then upon their return they got a free trip & stay at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. My sister goes to these things a lot to get free vacations lol. I guess it works for her since we’re the type of people that once we say no people usually leave us alone.
I’m hoping that’s what happens to us. :)
To be honest with, yes, we have. We didn’t receive a cruise, but we received a table top grill for camping, a free watch and we even once received a 4 day 3 night stay at a Residence Inn complete with 4 tickets to a big theme park just for sitting through their 90 minute presentation.
The key is, after the presentation they want you to sit with a salesperson where they really try to sucker you in. You just stay firm and say “no, not interested”. When they keep pushing, look at your watch say, “your 90 minutes is up, we’ve kept our end of the deal & listened to you, now you keep your end and please give us our tickets.” They usually don’t argue or push any further and will give you the tickets.
I’m totally going to steal that line Patti!
My hubby and I have been a couple (shame….I know) of those things. We have never received anything as lavish as a cruise though. Normally we just get to stay in a nice hotel for $99 and get either $50 cash or a meal for two at a restaurant. They do hound you. They take you all over their timeshare property and tell you how nice it is and then get you to agree how nice it is. Then they bring you back and grill you for three hours trying to get you to buy it. Seriously. Our supposed-to-be-hour-long-session lasted three hours. When they person grilling you gets tired, they send in their boss. I’m NOT making this stuff up! The boss was actually rude to us. Kinda making us feel like we were dumb because we weren’t buying it! The boss found out my hubby was a pastor and then proceeded to tell us how he likes to sit in his car before work and read his Bible (but yet never told us about anything he actually read in it). He would ask us questions like, “Would you like to take a vaca here?” Well, duh, yes. “Would your family like to vaca here?” Again, duh…yes. And on and on to get a bunch of yes answers so it would seem like buying it would be a smart thing. It’s not. I have a family member and a friend who have one, and they want to sell them. Another family member had a hard time selling his.
If the haggling is worth a cruise trip to you, then go for it! But don’t expect to be there for the 90 minutes they tell you. Plan for three or four hours. They only give you your reward for listening to the whole thing. After going to two ourselves, and going with my in-laws on one, we don’t do them anymore. Not worth it to us. The last one was the worst.
Hope this helps. I know it sounds discouraging, but some of them are nice and polite and know that you only came for the reward (in your case a cruise). They try to get it over with quick (still there longer than they say) and it’s painless. I guess it just depends on who you get and where you go.
I’m willing to waste those hours I think. Thanks for the encouragement! hehe
I have, actually. Once, ages and ages ago when we lived in Nashville, we did some random presentation and were given a free weekend in Gatlinburg. There really were no strings…we had 2 nights hotel and restaurant gift certificates. And once in Mexico we got sucked into ‘spending the day for free’ at some resort…only to find the presentation took half the dang day! We did get afternoons at the spa with services tho, so I guess it worked out.
I’d probably run from them now…the fees and airfare for your ‘free cruise’, not to mention time spent at the presentation, wouldn’t be worth it. But you never know! My husband always says to me (when I present him with my fabulous deals), “How much is free?”
Jessica was right on. Her exp was the same as mine. I love what Patti G said “your 90 minutes is up, we’ve kept our end of the deal & listened to you, now you keep your end and please give us our tickets.” I wish I had that line during my “grilling” session! lol The good part is that I did get my $100 GC to walmart or lowes or somewhere like that :)
My dad used to do it all the time. Always got free stuff, and as a kid, I wouldn’t have to go to the presentation, just enjoy the swag that came from it!
Man I thought everyone would tell me I’m an idiot for even calling, but it sounds like I should sit through the presentation! I have no problem saying no….haha
We’ve been and we have the timeshare to prove it. The best thing you can do is look for forums discussing the company who is trying to hook you.
Some of the places are worse than others. We were in Orland with our 4 kids and went to one where you get discounted tickets to Disney. You have to pay up front. I got a migraine while we were sitting there and I told my husband. One of the sales guys found out, and since they already knew we were not interested in purchasing, they ‘released us’. Meaning we weren’t going to take the drive around the property on the golf carts and we were not going to get the discount tickets to Disney. They even tried to keep the cash they made us pay up front! We were on a cruise in Mexico and someone grabbed as we got off the ship and offered us free guest day passes to the resort with drinks and lunch if we listened for a bit. That was okay. It took a little bit and a look at a room and we were pretty much on our way. But we got fished in on the next one and let me tell you – it’s the biggest regret we have in our life. Seriously. We go to that place (Hilton Head Island) every year for vacation but never once have we been able to use our ‘points’ to stay there. We still stay like we always have – for much cash.
Please do your research online because some of these things are quite abusive. As long as you’re sitting through one with a company who has a good reputation then it’s up to your ability to say no and stick to it. And you have to be sure your husband will, too.
If you want a cruise really bad and your place is shady there are great deals to be had from priceline in their cruising section. Especially the last minute deals section. We booked for less than $50 a night on Royal Caribbean last time.
Good luck!
Wow Tammi! Thanks so much for the info. I can’t believe you haven’t been able to use the place in Hilton Head??! So sad. :(
I’ll look into the cruise deals too–thank you!
Ok, so when the hubs and I first got married we lived near Disneyland…and we got a similar offer but it we went we got 2 free tickets to Disneyland. We were poor, and free tickets to disney seemed like an awesome deal for an hour of our time. So we went! {hangs head in shame} We politely listened to the time share pitch. They played a movie for us and gave us popcorn and sodas while we watched the time share movie. They treated us sooo nicely, like special VIPs or somthing. Luckily, as I said before , we were POOR so we couldn’t actually afford to buy a time share. So we kindly said no {about 250 times}. Once they were sure we were a “NO” their attitudes towards us changed SO much. They were almost RUDE and the lady who we had to collect our Disney tickets from practically THREW them at us! Seriously! It was kind of hysterical. We had a good laugh and enjoyed our free day at Disneyland though!
Love it!!
My husband and I have done this once, on our honeymoon in New Orleans. The promised 90 minutes was over three hours, but we firmly just kept saying no, and they gave us all kinds of free vouchers for restaurants, hotels, the aquarium, swamp boat tour – our whole week was almost free by the end of it.So it was annoying but in the end quite worth the time.
If you are flexible about time you can travel, I wouldn’t worry too much about blackout dates, etc. just make sure that you get complete information. And DON’T BUY THE TIMESHARE.
LOL don’t worry–we won’t. We can’t! I’m hoping we have the same luck as you. :)
We did it too! It was a timeshare in VA.
The trick my husband came up with was scheduling tee time (free round of golf was included) so we had an excuse to leave. The 90 minutes ended up being about 2 hrs, but we had that tee time so it had to end. We got two nights at the resort, use of the facilities, a bucket of balls at the driving range, a round of golf and dinner for two. We scheduled it for our anniversary weekend and had a blast!
Also learned a lot about timeshares – like, if you want to really buy it, say no until you are walking out the door. The first price quoted us was $22,000, the boss brought it down to $10,000 and after repeated no’s, they said, ok fine, go in the next room to get your deposit money back. This little granny-like lady, very sweet, gave us an exit interview – she was the shark of the group. We were so unprepared when she suddenly flipped the paper over and cut the bottom price in HALF! Our final offer was $5,000!
If you look at it as the pitch is your price for the trip and you’re willing to spend that 1-3 hrs, then it’s worth it.
Good idea. I’m gonna blame everything on my daughter and tell them we have to get home in time to put her to bed. Which really is the truth! :)
We did this on a vacation to Las Vegas. They picked us up in a limo and the people that bought the timeshares got to go back to their hotel in a limo and those of us that said no went back in a mini van. We were in the mini van! We got $100.00 just for attending though and it only took 2 hours.
In Hawaii we met a couple that did a timeshare presentation every morning and then went and did their free excursion every afternoon. Not sure this is how I’d like to spend my vacation, but they thought it was great.
We also have friends that do lots of these. They’ve received money, a TV, gas coupons, restaurant coupons and free hotel stays.
I’d caution you to read the fine print. I’ve received the “free” cruise postcard before and typically you have to pay taxes and fees and most of the time these are inflated so you end up paying $400-$500 per person. If you really want to go on a cruise check out vacations to go.com. They have some very good deals on cruises and you can choose the location, line and dates that work for you.
Yep. We’ve sat through one of those fun ‘vacation package’ sales pitches. It took about 1- 1 1/2 hours. We went in with the absolute attitude that we are not purchasing anything. The packages were not great that they were offering so it was pretty easy to say ‘NOPE you ain’t gettin’ my money’. How’s that for my small town Texas accent? Anywho, we did receive a Mastercard or Visa card for $50.00 and a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge. We haven’t redeemed it yet. Probably in October.
I have to always tell myself, “It’s too good to be true.” When those places call or I’ll get sucked in and regret it. So I quickly tell them I’m not interested and hang up.
My husband and I sat through TWO of them about five years ago and I got tickets to Disney for $25 apiece at one and a $50 gift card at the other, plus free buffet breakfast at one and a REALLY nice lunch at the other! One of the guys selling got really upset with us for not buying but the other guy was really funny and told us that he knew an older couple from New Jersey who came and went to as many as they could to get the free stuff! LOL
I wasn’t going to leave a comment but then decided that our experience was different enough that I should. Sat through a timeshare presentation about 20 yrs ago and did buy and have not regretted it. I still can’t believe we were enticed to use our Hawaii vacation time but it wasn’t too terrible back then and my husband was a businessman and had that demeanor so he intimidated the salesman without being rude or overbearing. We got a good price and with husband’s accounting background he was ripping the numbers apart; it was funny watching the sales staff watch us as he ran all the figures. Anyway Vacation Internationale is a good timeshare if you are in the market and they have many sites. The owners can run for the Board and have a big voice in VI. They don’t have to promise big free deals to sell their product. Just a different experience. But I agree that the one you are looking at might end up costing alot more than you think in the long run.
My husband & I were in Las Vegas for our honeymoon 7 years ago & we got roped into one of these deals as neither of us had been to Vegas & nobody forewarned us of this!!!! We were promised dinner & I think $50 game tokens for a casino…..needless to say, they took us to the property & drove us all over there, then took us to a hotel for their pitch & while we were waiting we got our “dinner” which was cold meat sandwiches and some cookies….which there were SOOOO many people there that we didn’t even end up getting anything! We had to wait forever until someone gave us their pitch of the timeshare & when we said no, they sent another person over & lowered the price…and when we said no to them, they sent us to a 3rd person that tried to lower the price once again!!!!! By this time, I had a migraine & said we needed to leave! The last person that pitched the timeshare to us got REALLY rude & just stamped our paper to go “claim” our free tokens for the casino. They sent us to another room to claim our prizes & that room was loaded with people waiting to get their prizes also so we just walked out & went down the street to eat! We figured that when you went to claim the prize, they made yet another effort to sell the timeshare to ya! We learned our lesson & will never do that again!!!! I am happy that there are some people here that actually got what the places promised them without having such a horrid experience like we did! I am REALLY good at saying no to people & said it SEVERAL times that day & they just wouldn’t give up!
I really appreciate hearing everyone’s experiences with these time-share presentations. I’ve tried to talk my husband into sitting through a few presentations to get free stuff, but he’s always been resistant. Maybe if I share these experiences with him, I can persuade him to give it a try, depending on the incentive.
My sister in law and her hubby used to go…they didn’t mind listening so they could cruise lol
When I was a teen my parents got a letter about a seminar in San Antonio. It stated that they would receive a FREE SCOOTER WITHOUT WINDSHIELD if they attended. Without windshield! You’d think it was a motorized scooter right? If your old like me then you just pictured Linda Hamilton on her’s in Terminator!! So we have a discussion about how this will be my scooter and I can use it to go to school and work. We even look into licensing and all that jazz. My parents go to the seminar. They come back the next day with a small white skateboard attached to a pole and handlebars!!! You can insert that sounds game shows make when you lose all your winnings here!!! :/
Lmao! I’ll keep an eye out to avoid anything that says “without windshield” then, ha.
My husband and I went to one in Williamsburg, which included a 3 night stay, dinner, and 2 tickets to Busch Gardens…Since it was our anniversary , we decided why not… 90 mins isn’t too long and then it’s funtime at Busch Gardens!! We know how to say “no” … Well 3, I repeat, 3 hours later we were still being bullied into signing for a time share…We kept telling them that we didn’t make snap decisions and they got mad at us for that!! Needless to say they weren’t happy , but we enjoyed Busch Gardens!!
Hello, I follow your site a little while ago, but could not help commenting on this post! I live in Brazil and about 10 years ago my parents were in such meeting to win tickets and hotel for disney for 15 days! At that time only those who had enough money could go, because it was sooo expensive!
Well the meeting lasted a lot longer than what they claimed it would take, but we get what they promised, air tickets, hotel etc. … and we haven´t bought anything! after traveling in the hotel they kind of make the same presentation at the check out, but would last much less, if my parents had not charmed by the hotel and the price and we ended up buying the timechare (but it only happened after we use everything and we had all the right to say no, but my parents really were interested) for a long time they felted stupid, but now we think it was worth, everything is already paid off, now is worth more than what we paid and we still have a membership in a trading company for several resorts around the world and if I desire I can pay (instead of changing the week ) for these resorts, is around $ 300 a week and is very worthwhile because usually the resorts are very good! And my friends and family can use! they only need to pay a guest certificate around 60dolares! Anyhow if you really don´t want to buy a timeshare, you only need to control because it is very tempting (Maybe not today because is much more expensive than what my parents paid!) But be prepared to stay longer than 90mins, because they will surely hold you the max they can until you buy something!! that´s my experience! buy
My parents have had ownership in theirs for over 15 years and they have definitely received their money’s worth! After going to a few different presentations ourselves, we received some great “gifts”, ($200 cash at one and we shared it with the kids because it used up some of our vacation time). Eventually, we bought into the same company as my parents and have really enjoyed the benefits. It has allowed us to take some great vacations that we would not have thought we would be able to do. My advice… do your research on the company ahead of time, and be prepared for the hard sale. As with any salesman, they are trying to close a deal but you don’t have to be the buyer. Just say “no” unless you’re ready for the commitment.
I got one of those cards in the mail recently! I actually have a friend that has gone on at least 2 free cruises! She is about to get another one by just listening to the timeshare people talk! Well at least if you go listen to these people, you’ll get more than Doug and Carrie got! Lol!
Hahaha!
We were promised a $400 gift card to a local outlet mall if we listened to a local resort presentation and did the tour. We arrived, they were too busy to talk to us, we drove around the beautiful area, enjoyed it thoroughly, returned to the office and were given the gift card. We drove to the local outlet mall, spotted the Bose company outlet store and returned home with a $400 center Bose speaker for the TV. Needless to say, we had a very fun day!
Yep, sure did !! We spent 3 days and nites in a resort hotel in Myrtle Beach,SC and had a WONDERFUL time ! They even gave us 100.00 CASH and two meals each at GREAT restaurants ! We also did it when we went to Disney World for our honeymoon and got 2 free park hopper tickets for 3 days and food vouchersfor great rest. there too ! And we didn’t spend ONE THIN DIME.
We did it! A few years ago we got the call for a free family holiday to Spain for 1 week simply by attending a timeshare meeting. We attended the meeting, the kids were entertained, we had a real slap up meal and actually received our free holiday in Spain. We even paid a surcharge to take mum along. Great complex in a lovely place!
Downside? We had to attend 1 timeshare meeting on the holiday but they didn’t pressure us and we didn’t buy! Shame we didn’t show the same resolve to the original meeting lol. We bought the ruddy timeshare and was royally ripped of £11,000.
Having said that, we met many people on the holiday who hadn’t taken up the original timeshare and were still enjoying their free holiday.
Most of these type of offers genuinely do give you the holiday, legally I think they have to if that’s the guise they got you to meet them under. They simply get you to list a choice of dates (we got our first choice) and probably pay for insurance, the rest is on them – sort of, as nothing is completely free is it!
I’d go to a meeting again only this time I’d not be conned into the timeshare I’d just take the dinner and free holiday.
My hubby and I sat through one of these…we walked out of there with a free 1 week trip to Cabo!
My parents did it when we were little and visiting Disney, but I don’t really remember anything about it. When we took our kids to Disney we stayed at a Holiday Inn Vacation Club resort, just booked it as a hotel, and they called us every morning and evening trying to get us to come to the presentation. The big prize? $20 to use at the rental place for floats or mini-golf! We HATED our room, so it was easy to say no and to say why the answer was no, but they never even offered to change our room. I can’t imagine how badly people who were already stuck in ownership must get treated if they don’t even care about the people they are trying to woo.
Anyway, my guess is the bigger the prize the harder the sell will be – and the more rude they’ll be when you say no.
a million years ago, before kids, actually i think i ws pregnant with my first, we went to one of the “free weekends” at a local timeshare place. we also had to sit through a presentation, and they kept taking us to different locations, where the sales people got increasingly more and more aggressive. We even actually looked at the guy one time and said, flat out “we are NEVER going to but a timeshare…never” and they kept pounding us. finally when they gave up, and I am not exaggerating here, they ushered us to the back door, and told us we could leave! Insane! but we had some good laughs!
My husband and I did this many times while on vacation for free dinners, excursions, etc., but never for a cruise. I will tell you that the cruise is not on a well-known cruise line. There is a boat that leaves from Ft. Lauderdale that cruises to the Bahamas for trips like these. I’ve heard it is absolutely disgusting!!! I’d do a little research before departing on a cruise like this.
Sue
I used to work for one of those companies… it was excrutiating. I wasn’t the sales person, I was the one doing up the contracts for the people who actually bought. They do give you what they offer, but the hound the shit out of you to buy. Those “90 minute presentations” regularly go 3 hours, sometimes even up to 5.
Missed this post the other day. Good luck! My husband and I did thus many years ago while in Florida for a $50 certificate for dinner. After 2 hours they didn’t give us a thing because my husband was a medical student at the time and said that disqualified us! ???! I was working, not rolling in dough but it really irritated me they thought the male had to be the bread winner. Never attended one of those again and every time they call I get off quickly. I even may hang up on them depending on how pushy they are!! Again, good luck and if you get the cruise let me know and I’ll give it another try.
I’ve never been to one of these presentations, but I did end up on the cruise (we paid for it) with several people who got it for free for sitting through a timeshare presentation.
As Suz said – not one of the popular cruise lines. I think it was called Royal Empress or Regal Empress or something? The boat was maybe 1/4 the size of a normal cruise ship and looked like it hadn’t been updated since about 1955.
Our “cabin” had bunk beds (so romantic) and the bathroom was so tiny you could literally sit on the toilet, shower, and brush your teeth at the same time.
Our dinner companions (who got the trip for free) were complaining one night that the TV in their cabin barely worked. My boyfriend and I were both like “wait, TV??”
That being said, we did actually make it to Nassau, and it was lovely. My boyfriend and I managed to have a fabulous time despite the ship.
I guess the point is … just make sure you either know what cruise line you’re getting, or don’t get your hopes up too high about the ship itself.
I enjoyed your entertaining post about the card and phone number and wanted to share my “card” story. My husband and I were married 15 years before we received our card and had never had the money to afford a “honeymoon”. When our card came, we thought this might be our chance for one, 15 years late. I called the Better Business Bureau for the state of Florida, where this company called from, had the company send me a paper copy of all the information about the trip, and asked for references or other information they could give me (such as their parent company and other things that would prove they were legit). My husband and I checked ALL of these out and they proved to be legitimate and honestly what they said they were. We then paid a small fee of approximately $100 each and in a very short time, received our airline and cruise information. Needless to say, we still were a little scared when we started our trip. Everything was exactly what we were told it would be!!! We had a wonderful flight, stayed in a lovely hotel for 2 days before our cruise, had a super 4 night, 5 day cruise in an inside cabin on Carnival Cruise Lines, a 1 night hotel stay after our cruise, then a great flight home. It WAS the honeymoon that we had dreamed of!!!
Now to the one thing that you have to be able to deal with if you decide to call the number on the card and take them up on their offer!! We DID have to listen to what was supposed to be a 90 minute presentation about a time share opportunity. We were given the only “crazy” saleslady in the salepeople lot. All the other couples around us finished in their designated 90 minute time slot, but our “saleslady” decided we needed the 3 hour tour, plus another hour or two. She drove us around that place until we were almost ready to kidnap control of the car! We honestly thought we were never going to return to the timeshare office. After 3 hours of driving around “looking” at all the trees and shrubs where the time share condos were to be built, we finally made it back to the office. At this time, we thought we would receive our cruise tickets (as these were the only tickets we were yet to have in hand) and be free to leave. Our “crazy” lady didn’t see it this way. She thought we now needed to listen to a 2 hour presentation (completed by our one and only saleslady, no less) on this time share we had no intention of purchasing. Finally, after 2 hours and a thousand times saying, “No, we are not interested in purchasing a time share”, we received the cruise tickets and were free to leave. My husband and I have never left a place so fast! We were practically running to our car. It was an experience we will never forget!!
This was our one and only experience with a time share “card” giveaway. Would we do it again? If we were certain that the “crazy” saleslady was not on the staff of the company being represented, we most definitely would. The time spent, in our case 5 hours, but supposedly 90 minutes, is still worth 3 nights in a 4 star hotel, 4 night, 5 day cruise, and round trip flight from Alabama to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Figure out how much money that would be for each hour we spent with the “crazy” saleslady and it still comes out as a pretty cheap honeymoon trip for us. If you are willing to put up with a few “inconveniences” along the way, for an approximate week long trip, then I would say, “Go for it!” Make sure to check out everything you can possibly check out and I think you will agree, that for the amount of money you spend, it is a pretty good deal!!
I have no idea what the whole experience is like now, as I’ve shyed away from it each time I was offered, but this used to be something my parents did fairly regularly. I remember going with them one time and they got a big screen t.v. and another time when we got four free passes to Disney World with a hotel stay, and they never bought a time share. I think the trick was, that my parents are not easily swayable people. They were willing to sit there and say, “No, that’s not for me,” as long as they had to and at the end they still qualified for a gift. I think these companies are trying to profit off the “guilt factor”. If you’re giving something away to someone, they feel indebted to you for the most part and are guilted into buying something. But if you have an iron will I doubt you’ll be taken in, at least by the late 1980’s/early 1990’s standards of doing things I remember with my parents. :)
Just got back from the free cruise. Yes a full 90 min presentation. They state in the beginning it’s not for everyone and they except no graciously. Although they are not rude, what annoyed me they first couple to join got a 1000.00 off the membership fee $8999.00. So its 8999.00 mem fee, 369 activation fee, 199.00 annual fee. Unlike a timeshare you don’t loose you “membership/ownership” because you did not pay one year, but if you pay the next year, you still owe for the previous year. Their vac prices did not seem to bad, but for the one vacation a year I can come fairly close, but especially if you add on that annual fee. Maybe if you took more that one vacation a year it might be worth it. They also throw in that UNLIKE a timeshare your heirs don’t become responsible for your annual dues, where with a timeshare your heirs are responsible. This is BS, your estate might be accountable, but your heirs did not buy the timeshare or sign any binding agreement and cannot be held accountable for your agreement.
What bother me the most, it the couple who brought first and got the $1000.00 voucher off paid 7999.00. They left before me, but because I said NO becasue I would not take on any financial obligation if I did not have cash to cover it, they drop my price to $2999.00. So they had no problem overcharging the first couple. Because of this I would not have joined even waived the mem fee. They should have come out with their best offer the first time and it should have been to all. During the presentation they bragged that the pricing is the same for all with the vacation package, but that sure is not true for their membership fee.
PS, I did get my vouchers. 2 free rt airline tickets but I have to pay a 70.00 activation fee, then you would pay the taxes and fees on the flights you book.
The cruise is a $98 activation fee. You would all pay taxes, fees, port charges on the cruise, which would vary with the one you choose.
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My sister sat thru one of those and she got a voucher for half price on a carnival cruise for two. So yes it is real. we went on a 7 day cruise to the Bahamas October 2013, the price of our cruise after discount was $252.00 each. It was AWESOME!!! Now i need to find another seminar offering this, so can you give me the number you called to sit thru one???
Thanks!