Timeshare owners are not owners, they are suckers. The Carlsbad Timeshare has been a nightmare of an investment.
Since inheriting it we have tried to sell it, bank it, and exchange it and this year we tried to rent it to no avail.
The literature makes it sound like there is all this flexibility, but it is truly the most one-sided investment I have ever experienced — theirs! When you try to talk to them all the communication is pre-scripted, like overseas telemarketing. I am passing this on in hopes of preventing others into getting into this type of swindle.
The cost is so ridiculous when compared to renting a week anywhere in the world without the constraints and inflated costs of a timeshare program. It is far better to put your money in a vacation savings account and enjoy not having to deal with the timeshare mentaility because, after all, it’s supposed to be a vacation!
One visitor to our site shares his experience with Silverleaf timeshare, and the research she did following the timeshare purchase. Here’s her story:
I bought two units from Silverleaf in 2010. In both sales presentations the salespeople told me the units were an investment I could realize income from, and would be a great business and investment opportunity, and by renting the units out (anytime at any resort they told me) it would be good advertising for Silverleaf and good income for me.
In the first presentation the salesman even told me that they “aren’t timeshares, they’re vacation rentals just like owning a family vacation home”. He also told me I could write the loan interest and rental income off on my taxes(!). These were complete lies, and the high-pressure sales tactics were unbearable and intrusive.
The FTC lists timeshares as securities because of their nature, and I am sure the salespeople are not licensed to sell securities, so sniff-sniff I smell securities fraud. If the timeshare industry’s products (timeshare units) are so great, why do they have to overwhelm and lie to people to sell their product, and why are there literally thousands of furious timeshare owners telling the same stories about being lied to and posting angry videos all over the internet?
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As this Australian reader points out, the tickets are not really “free”:
We arrived on Monday 13th June 2011 and promised “free” show tickets and lunch if we attend a presentation and showing of a Luxury Resort, which we foolishy accepted as Show Tickets were very Expensive. We were picked up and taken to GrandView with bus load of people and arrived to wait in line with hundreds. We were foolishy talked into this Timeshare with a salesman who was trained to sell “Ice to Eskimos”, and paid a deposit of $2699.
We have revocation rights under Nevada Law so we completed these forms sent original to Eldorado Resorts Corporation and copy faxed to Grandview the next day. We also returned to GrandView and confirmed that our documents would be shredded and deposit returned.
Deposit should be returned within 5 days, we are still waiting back home in Australia.
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Read one owner’s experience with buying a Sedpma Pines Timeshare:
When I bought my time share at Sedpma Pines, RCI assured me that availability was not a problem because only members of the program can access the timeshares. I have since learned that availability is a serious problem, RCI engages in the practice of skimming a large percentage of the timeshares from the system, including many prime timeshares, and renting them to the general public at a profit to RCI, or selling them to vendors who then rent them to the general public.
As a result, no matter how meticulously one follows RCI’s rules and procedures, and no matter how far in advance one begins looking for a desirable exchange, one simply cannot find available destinations.
Since RCI does not allow extending points into the following year without a $99.00 payment one is forced to either forfeit the points or pay an additional $99.00.
Have you had similar difficulty exchanging this particular timeshare or another timeshare location? Let us know in the comments below!
We bought this TS in 2003 and have been paying on it regularly except maintenance fees.
In 2009, we received sporadic bills for maintenance fees. I called to get a payoff and was told they were written off. Never could get hold of the timeshare comapny. Did not receive any letter or calls. Never received any bills for 2010.
Called last week because have not received a bill for the payment on the timeshare. Told in foreclosure. Boy did I blow it.
First it took 2 weeks to even talk to a live person, then when someone answered I was transferred 5x and the person was stupid. They called back and gave us another number to call, I did and that person had no idea what we were talking about and that person gave me another number, no good, and another number, no good and finally nack to the idiot I started with, while I as at work.
They never called us back. My husband will call tomorrow because I was furious and don’t have time to keep calling while I am working. This was the biggest mistake we ever made…
Since inheriting it we have tried to sell it, bank it, and exchange it and this year we tried to rent it to no avail. 
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