My first Timeshare Experience

My first experience with Timeshares came when I was a young parent and a new teacher.

I took my 14 year old daughter to Disney World. She was being a typical teenager and did

not want to go on any of the rides. Epcot Center was the only place she was interested in

seeing. She was at that age where she did not want to do anything that she thought was

childish.

It was mid April and most of the trip was very cloudy and overcast. It was not a good

time for swimming, although we did sit around the pool fully clothed. Our most

enjoyable time together was in sight seeing. We both liked the look of the homes in the

area. We spent a lot of time driving around the area taking photos of the houses,
landscape and flowers.

On the very last day, we were approached as we were leaving for our daily drive. I had no

idea that the young woman was a salesperson. She was very pleasant and seemed to have

a genuine interest in our lives. She asked me all types of questions. One of which was, when we were leaving. I told her we were leaving the next morning. She invited us to lunch. We accepted. Afterall, money was getting rather scare. We made arrangements to meet her at 1pm the same day in the lobby.

After our morning drive, the pleasant blonde lady met us in the lobby. She escorted us to the parking lot where we piled into a bus with other tourists. The bus was buzzing with talk about home and the lives of the people aboard. We passed beautiful orange groves and flowing green golf courses. At our destination, we were all taken on a tour of a fabulous resort with a beautiful lake at it's center and an expansive orange grove around it. It was magnificient.

We were herded into a room with a long table filled with various delicious foods. There were all types of fruit and vegetables ready for dipping in delicious sauces.

"She sure invited a lot of people to lunch, Mom."

My thoughts exactly. I was confused, but I was also hungry. We had skipped lunch because of the invitation. A smooth talking, dapper gentleman came out periodically and escorted couples into another room. There were occasional shouts from behind the closed door. Our bellies full we started to get restless.

"Can we go now?"

"That would be really rude, honey, besides we came on the bus. How will we get back. We a captive luncheon guests."

So we waited for the pretty lady to return. The crowd in the room got smaller and smaller. Finally the smooth talking man came to our table.

"Mrs. Walker?"

"That's me," I answered.

"Come this way," he instructed.

"Where are we going?" I asked. "We were asked to lunch by a nice young lady, but we haven't seen her since we got here."

"Oh, that was Miss Hodges. She has gone for the day." I stopped in my tracks.

"So why are we still here?"

"Don't worry, this won't take long."

"We have already been here a long time, Mister." My daughter's tone was showed definite annoyance.

"Very spirited child. What is your name young lady?" He engaged her in conversation about the weather, the trip, her likes and dislikes while he walked us into a large room filled with tables.

Now I knew where the other people from the bus had disappeared to. Each couple was seated

at a table with a clean cut man or woman with loads of catalogs and notebooks before them.

"Did you bring a credit card and a check book, Mrs. Walker?"

"Why do you need a credit card and a check book?"

"We are getting to that. Do you travel often?"

"No."

"And where is Mr. Walker?"

"Married again for the 5th time. Are you trying to sell me something?"

He laughed at the question and started to take out his wares. He asked if I had ever heard of time sharing. I had of course. One of my colleagues at work had been bragging about hers for a couple of years. It was in Orlando and I vaguely remembered the description. It sounded rather like this one. He took out a legal pad and began to scribble and talk. He had a knack of writing upside down so that I could see it right side up. It was a rare deal, because we had come at just the right time. We were going to have the opportunity to purchase a one bedroom vacation that we could enjoy one week a year for the rest of our lives. It was going for a really low price. My daughter hung on every word. I was skeptical, but I kept thinking about how happy my friend was with hers. And my troubled teenager's face had not been so thoroughly happy for years.

And he would take a check. The price was a very low 6 thousand dollars and my family could have a vacation home for the rest of our lives. He wrote continuously on the legal pad demonstrating how over the years I would save money on vacationing. I bought it hook, line and sinker even with the knot in my gut saying, "keep your checkbook in your pocket, because you are on vacation."

Everytime someone in the room signed up the place erupted with applause. The couple was congratulated as if they had just won the lottery. On the way back to our hotel, it was determined that 5 couples had purchased a little piece of paradise. We all kind of marveled that we had actually spent so much money on vacation. Noone volunteered the amount spent. Everyone seemed really happy. My daughter was already planning our next vacation. I mulled over my $6,000.00 lunch and realized that we had all been hoodwinked.

When we arrived home, I sat down and went over our bills. I realized immediately that I had made a rash decision. I could barely afford the rent on our modest apartment. The monthly payment on the timeshare property was a little over a hundred dollars monthly. It was a luxury that I could not afford as a single mother. I wrote a letter and cancelled the transaction that same day. I did not share this information with my daughter. I just never mentioned it to her again.