Faremax: Travel Forums

Over the years, we've sat through a few timeshare presentations but now I firmly decline when approached by the hard sell salesman.

Have you been to the presentations, and do you do it for the promotional gifts?

Does anyone here own a timeshare package?

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http://this-twisted-history.blogspot.com/

Yes, my parents do own a timeshare in Allegro Aruba through Allegro Vacation Club and its just horrible.  They made a huge mistake when they bought it a few years ago.  First they cannot go to Aruba when they can or want to.  Timeshare owner responds that everything is sold out.  We called them in March of 2006 to book rooms for Spring 2007 and their response was that everything is sold out.  They could only offer us rooms during Summer when its very hot and my parents could not travel.  So they asked them about Fall 2007 and company responded that they did not start selling Fall 2007 yet.  "Call back in August" [2006] they said.  When we did call back in August they said that everything is sold out already.  And this is happening for the 2nd year in a row.  But when you call Allegro directly they have plenty of rooms available.  Allegro Vacation Club does have offices in Ft Lauderdale so we are considering suing them.  We collected some email communications with them and lawyer says that it is enough to get them.

Never ever in your life buy timeshare.  This is my advise

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"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
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faremax:

Yes, my parents do own a timeshare in Allegro Aruba through Allegro Vacation Club and its just horrible.  They made a huge mistake when they bought it a few years ago.  First they cannot go to Aruba when they can or want to.  Timeshare owner responds that everything is sold out.  We called them in March of 2006 to book rooms for Spring 2007 and their response was that everything is sold out.  They could only offer us rooms during Summer when its very hot and my parents could not travel.  So they asked them about Fall 2007 and company responded that they did not start selling Fall 2007 yet.  "Call back in August" [2006] they said.  When we did call back in August they said that everything is sold out already.  And this is happening for the 2nd year in a row.  But when you call Allegro directly they have plenty of rooms available.  Allegro Vacation Club does have offices in Ft Lauderdale so we are considering suing them.  We collected some email communications with them and lawyer says that it is enough to get them.

Never ever in your life buy timeshare.  This is my advise

This sounds like a real nightmare!     I remember my parents going to some kind of timeshare

pitch when I still lived with them.  I'll have to ask next week how they got involved with that because

it's not the type of thing that they'd usually be interested in.  I hope everything works out the best

for your parents!

I'm sorry to hear about that horrible experience. About fifteen years ago, my wife and I went into a Holiday Inn Club deal which we never used because it wasn't convenient based on what was available.

We did salvage a free stay at a Holiday Inn which was part of the deal, but generally speaking, it wasn't worth it.

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http://this-twisted-history.blogspot.com/

Timeshares can be a good deal if you are an avid vacationer with a family.   They usually can accomadate the whole family together, which prevents the need to rent multiple rooms.  Depending on your situation, they may provide some tax benefits as well.

That said, there are many bad deals out there.  My recommendation is to look at the secondary market (timeshare resales) first.  They are usually a much better deal than buying straight from the property.

 

 

The time-share that Faremax wouldn't have been much use to anyone, avid or not! That's a terrible story, and truly there must be a way to sue them for the money that was paid without being able to use the facilities, if only for the fact that they might have falsely advertised.

Can someone please explain to me what a timeshare is. I have heard of it in the movies but I haven't had an up fron, close and personal experience with it.

randle:

Can someone please explain to me what a timeshare is. I have heard of it in the movies but I haven't had an up fron, close and personal experience with it.

Lets say you buy timeshare from "Resort A".  This means you buy rights to spend a predetermined amount of time (usually one or two weeks in a year) at this "Resort A" or any other resort in the world that have an agreement with "Resort A"

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"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
Airline Tickets|Travel Affiliate Program|Airline News

And other people would also own time shares to that place too-and that is where the problem came with the share being discussed here. They sold too many shares, and so it becomes impossible to get a vacation at your place.