A number of years ago my wife and I were invited to a sales meeting for Gold Crown Resorts. By the end of the meeting we felt it could be a good plan to have for the coming years and put down a down payment. The same evening after “winding down” from the intensive sales pitch, we realized that the plan really was not suited for us and our family and in the morning notified the agent that we had decided to withdraw and requested a refund.
We were told that this was impossible but they would send someone to us to see what could be worked out. We informed the agent that arrived that we wanted our money back. To this he answered, “Then we will take you to court!”
Not being familiar with the law, we thought we had no choice and managed to reduce our deal to a less expensive one. A short time later, we tried to reach the company but they were GONE and their rented office space EMPTY. It would be to the credit to the entire industry if the Time Share companies would take some responsibility regarding the people they allow to market their products.
Gold Crown headquarters has replied to my experience simply with, “not our problem”. To this day we have not used it because it is ALWAYS possible to find better deals on the web. Money down the drain!!
Below is a reader-submitted story regarding Tree Top Villas timeshare.
Tree Top Villas is the place we purchased timeshare from, and everything that was told to us is a lie from starting to ending.
Here’s what we went through:
(1) We told the salesman that we would like to think about it because we live on a budget. With this, he told us about paying it of in terms – he and his supervisor worked it out so we only have to pay $130 a month. This turned out to be a lie because the very next payment we were told $169 was due. When I called it in the girl informed me that the paper work was signed at $169 and that what ever the salesman said doesn’t count. I then informed her that the piece of paper the guy write up all the numbers on we have, she then told us that doesn’t count also.
(2) We were told great deals on cruises. That is a total lie – we tried many time to book a cruises with them, and it is always more than other web sites and they still want to take the points away from you. They also charge you for a service fee; we ended up booking it somewhere else for $500 less then RCI cruises asking price.
(3) At Tree Top Villas, being that you pay maintenance fees, you would think that you would be treated better. This is not the case. You pay $85 plus points for 2 days and maintenance of $40, but if you book directly with them its $99.00 for 3 nights!
PLEASE CAN SOMEONE HELP ME GET OUT OF THIS THING?!
I sold my timeshare in September 2007 that I owned at Orange Lake Country Club in Kissimmee Florida and that’s when my nightmare started. I only owned it for a year before I realized what a big mistake I made and sold it the next year!
It turns out that the new owners actually own the timeshare thru Orange County (state of Florida), but my husband and I still own it at Orange lake. There was 1 witness signature on the Quit Claim deed, which was fine for the county records, but Orange Lake requires 2 witness signatures! So for the last 2 years I have tried to get this resolved, and the new owners will not do anything to fix this situation.
Meanwhile, the new owners were able to use the timeshare that we technically still own according to Orange Lake and also receive the bills and now letters stating that they are going to send us into foreclosure on the property! The recovery manager sent us a form to release the property back to Orange Lake because of the situation – only to receive a call 2 weeks later saying we couldn’t do this because the new owners also need to sign off on this (because although they don’t own at Orange Lake they do own under the county deed).
I am so afraid that they will send this in under our credit report and financially ruin us. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Stuck in limbo with this silly timeshare. Any suggestions?
A visitor shares their experience attending the Grandview at Las Vegas timeshare presentation, and has the following tips and tricks to offer those attending for the free gifts:
Story is the same as everyone else. Huge scripted scam. Worthless property, over priced vacation packages and the list of lies is extremely amazing. You are told to look over at the new construction going on. And told how Grandview is the hottest timeshare place available. How the prices keep increases each year and if you dont buy now you wont reap the benefits of the hot market. After research the prices go form $50,000 all the way down to $5000 if you keep saying NO. You also will receive a free cruise for 2 but this is also another scam. The cruise is worthless also.
They confuse you and try and get you brainwashed during the whole presentation. I would not be surprised if there are some subliminal tactics or hypnosis being used. I think the power of suggestion and the constant lies help trick the weak minded into making a bad decision. Thank God above my wife and I are extremely intelligent and could see it was a scam within a few minutes of the presentation.
It was easy for us to say NO. And I offered the sales man a chance to wrap things up because he was past his 3 hour limit and I had nothing more to say and did not want to hear his bullshit anymore. He than told me I would be stuck at the Grandview for another 2 hours but if I wanted to leave sign up for the lowest package and he could get me a limo back to the hotel within 20 minutes.
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I have been an RCI member for around 16 years. My experiences have been mixed. Recently, I added another RCI unit and was given a 1 year membership. When RCI mixed up the paperwork, they created a new RCI account. I called and RCI then closed the new account and merged it with my new account. They then took away my 1 year. Three separate RCI reps over the course of a month told me they would straighten my account out and add the year to my existing membership.
Yesterday, the 4th rep told me that they were all wrong, my year was lost and that was RCI’s final answer. I have also had a bad experience in the past when I deposited a week in Aruba and was assured that I would “have absolutely no problem” getting a specific week and location that I wanted. Needless to say, that was a lie and I lost my week and ended up not getting the vacation that I wanted.
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A number of years ago my wife and I were invited to a sales meeting for Gold Crown Resorts. By the end of the meeting we felt it could be a good plan to have for the coming years and put down a down payment. The same evening after “winding down” from the intensive sales pitch, we realized that the plan really was not suited for us and our family and in the morning notified the agent that we had decided to withdraw and requested a refund. 
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