Is this a timeshare scam/trap?

[Honeymooner04]

Hi, I have a question that I'm hoping some of my fellow DVC owners can help me with. I received a phone call today from a woman at Trendwest saying that I won a contest that I entered at a mall ini AZ (I do remember entering some contest for a car but don't remember seeing anything about Trendwest when I entered). She told me that they would pay r/t airfare and a two night stay at a hotel in either San Diego or Las Vegas and I would just be responsible for taxes. She wanted to set up a time for me to come in and pick up the information which I balked at and stalled so I could check this out. I never win anything so immediately I think it's a scam and it just seems like an easy way to get me in their office so I can get hard sold into buying a timeshare (I am MORE than happy with my DVC membership thank you very much) Is this a common tactic of Trendwest that I'm not aware of or did 30 years of bad luck change and I actually did win a prize? Thanks for your insight!

Patty

 

[Granny]

This is a common tactic with many timeshare sellers. I "won" a trip to Mexico once but had to endure a very hard sell of timeshare first. And then when I took the trip I had to endure another one hour hard sell there.

While the trip was legit, I vowed never again. The tactics of the people (can't remember the name) were shameless and heavy handed. It's one of the reasons I didn't even want to look at Disney's "Timeshare" for several years until they built at VWL.

 

[mom2dzb]

I've "won" a trip through Trendwest. I sat through their spiel, bought, had buyers remorse and then cancelled the agreement. You can buy into their timeshare program through the resale market for about half of their price. Oh, and the vacation that I won . . . I never even went.

 

[Dean]

It's not a scam and if you know what you're doing, can be a good deal.

 

[starbox]

It's not a scam and if you know what you're doing, can be a good deal.

Yup! We vacationed on these sorts of "deals" for years when I was a SAHM. Everyone said not to, because we would not be able to resist the sales-pitches, but we found that once we made it through the initial one, it was easy. We usually told our sales person that we'd attended a sales presentation at a different resort before, and once they knew we were not virgins, they pretty much dropped the pressure.

Fairfield offered a "Discovery" program where you paid something like 80$ a month for a year and got a huge bunch of points to use. At the end of the year, you could apply the entire amount to a downpayment if you wanted to. We got a week in a 2-bedroom at Disney and a week at Edisto Island and still had points we could not use because of lack of vacation time that year. We ended up deciding DVC was a better option for our family - but it sure was an easier decision to make after staying in so many other timeshares.

 

[eliza61]

Probably not a scam but remember the object is to get you to buy the time share. I "won" and took one of these trips to Paradise Island in the bahamas. My first lightning bolt should have hit, when my husband refused to go to the 2nd seminar the company became very upset. I was pretty impressed with their "creative financing". When we told them our budget really did not have room for another bill, they came up with 10,000 different ways that we could afford this.
Be careful