Must NOT see TIMESHARE resort
Jul 12 '00
I am sorry to be putting this in the wrong category. Epinions has a back log of requests, and it will take longer than four weeks to get a new category for this. Until then, I am happy to place my epinion in this category, and move it when they make a category for it. Please accept my apologizes an advance for this error.
Here in Pennsylvania, we have alot of ski resorts in the poconos. One stands out in my mind, because I worked there, in SALES. I have never seen such shady business practices in all my life. I am speaking of SPLIT ROCK RESORT. I worked there for a year, as a *secretary*. We were responsible for explaining financial contracts to the customers, along with other duties. Let me tell you about this must NOT see resort:
You get a card in the mail that says you won a prize! How wonderfull! You drive two hours (or more) to get to Split Rock Resort to claim your prize. There is only one catch. You have to sit through a 2 hour presentation of their time share program. You are first ushered into a waiting room where you wait for an available salesman. I had seen people waiting there for over an hour, sometimes two. You are driven in a car by a salesman through the many different areas of the resort. They have skiing, miniature golf, swimming, camping, hiking, The SRO - standing room only Club, etc. A very tempting offer, or so it seems. You are then taking to the *desking*. This is where the high pressure sales pitch begins. You are asked to buy a time share....which is you, along with 51 other suckers BUYING your accomodations for a period of normally 20 years. You are told you can't lose, that you can sell at any time, and that you can pick any week you chose!
Let me tell ya about our salesmen too. Most of them were as shady as the day is long. One in particular, told people he owned five homes, from being so successfull at selling these resorts (cause they were just so popular...), and that he had a wife and three kids. He even would bring his customers (or ups as we called them) past me, and act like I was his personal secretary, asking me to cancel his golf for that afternoon. He was an unmarried player, who lived in a mobile home, and had a child whom he never saw.
Say you say yes. That is when my job started. I was asked to draw up a contract for you to sign. We ran your credit report throug TRW, and everyone was approved. We explained the financial contracts to you, and had you sign that. They had in house financing, and if you wanted to get your own financing, they pressured you by telling you that by the time you got financing in a few days, that time share slot would be sold. Then we had a book we used to explain the rules and terms of our contract. This is nearly a 20 page book, and we only read one or two sentences to you, and the rest we expect you to take our word for it and read it at your leisure. Then we have you sign what is called a *lock in*. NEVER SIGN A LOCK IN. It waves your 3 day cancelling period rights!!!!
We also explain that there are fees related to keeping the property clean and neat; mowing the lawn, etc. If you do not pay your yearly maintenance fee, you are not allowed to book your weeks vacation until you do. This costs around $350 per year, plus your monthly payment on the time share. (around $120 per month)
After all this is done, you are presenting with your free prize, which is some very cheap thing like a portable tv that takes 30 DD batteries, or a faux pearl necklace, or some other cheap gift such as that. You are sent on your merry way. You decide once you get home that this wasn't what you wanted, and call to cancel. We took messages, and left your file on one of the three managers desks to call you back when they had a chance. When they did call you back, you were told you signed a lock in agreement waiving your three day cancellation rights, and to find your own seller. You're out of luck.
Now, say you told the salesman no??? Well, he'll take you downstairs to claim your prize, and once again pressure you to buy the timeshare on an every other year basis. If you say yes, then we go through all the paperwork and give you your prize and send you home. If you say no again, we simply give you your free prize, four hours later, and you take your prize home and watch it break as soon as you use it.
I wrote this to tell people to be very carefull regarding time share resorts. The one I spoke of, SPLIT ROCK RESORT, is now sold out for the time being. I'm sure once the 20 years is up on all the old contracts, they will be back in business again. If you want my advice, call and book a vacation with these SAME RESORTS, and pay for your week of hotel fees rather than pay for twenty years for the same thing. Yes you get skiing all winter long if you wish, but who can go every weekend to make it worth their while??? No, pay the $200 a night for a room for a week, and save yourself thousands of dollars. They have the split rock resort, and the split rock lodge. Choose the lodge, and pay per week and do something else next year. Don't lock yourself into skiing for your vacation every year for the next 20 years.
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Epinions.com ID:
Daphnye
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Location: PA
Reviews written: 82
Trusted by: 51 members
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