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Time shares: Friend
or foe?
Time shares have a reputation for being scams,
and rightly so. I just got taken for $813 for closing
fees. I was told during the presentation the owners
of the time share would pick up those fees. When I looked
through the paperwork after I got home, I saw a phrase
in the completed paperwork where I had signed for that
expense without knowing it.
What they tell you verbally is a lot of
"crappola," as far as the value of the property
and the price you can sell it for. For example, a $12,000
time share (asking price) is really only worth $3,000
in the real world.
The devil sells
time shares
We were in Orlando and took a tour of the vacation properties
at Haunted Hollow Resorts. We told the salesman we did
not want to buy and he came back with an incentive to
purchase -- a package of seven weeks for $1,000. It
sounded like a deal and I said OK. After signing the
deal it turned out to be for only one week. I said,
"I want to cancel and get back my money,"
and was told that was not possible. Haunted Hollow then
threatened to charge several hundred dollars if the
bill was not paid immediately. I have a week that I
have not used and have paid far too much for.
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