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Stop The Timeshare Nightmare or Make It A Fantasy Come True (by Blake S.):
This is a story of a lovely couple named Patrick and Shannon. They went on their dream vacation together one fine summer and planned on having the time of their lives.
And for the most part they did.
Except for when they returned home. There was something uneasy about the timeshare thing when they bought it - It didn’t sit well.
Patrick and Shannon started looking into forums and doing research on the resort they bought their timeshare from.
There wasn’t much in the way of “good” being said about em’, that’s for sure. This was bad. Patrick and Shannon started getting a queasy feeling in their stomachs as they began reading some of the horror stories that were posted online.
Why they didn’t look into it at the time is a mystery but it probably had something to do with being on their dream vacation and traveling internationally for the first time. They must’ve been on a first-timers “high.”
It got even scarier when they couldn’t reach anyone for months by phone about their property to try and make a reservation or find out what was going on. They spoke to some people via e-mail but it was really just a bunch of “ring around the rosey.”
One of the lady reps who finally did answer, convinced them that it was better to get one of their other packages, seeing as how the one they purchased was “experiencing a lot of similar problems.” Naively, the couple shelled out more of their hard-earned money to this timeshare crisis in their lives.
It ended up being another scam.
2 years later, they were still paying the maintenance fees, which were continually increasing because they didn’t want their credit to suffer.
Even more, they got preyed upon by scammers lurking in forums that lured them into another scam where they had yet more money taken from them.
They joined a class action law-suit but it just puttered along, just as the attorney firm they had hired to help them get out of this “money-suck.”
After 14 months of paying them, there were still no results and the couple was no closer to getting out than when they started.
Dream vacation turned nightmare.
So, what could they have done differently to not end up in such a wretched situation?
Well, other than the obvious, they could have done research on the resort before-hand. Also, they could have avoided further frustration and financial hard-ship had they not been so gullible when they let the lady con them on the phone or in the forums where yet they again did not look into the individuals claims or company.
Most of the timeshare contracts out there clearly state whose really in charge here… and we all know it’s them.
The #1 thing anyone can do to avoid this drama is to take caution. Do research people. Look into matter and ask question about things. And please, let your curiosity fly with this one.
It’ll be much better than wearing the cross of regret I’ll tell ya.
So, the next time you’re offered anything, especially a timeshare, make sure you find out all about these whipper snappers. Are they legit? What’s the risk? What are people saying about them?, etc, etc… Happy travels out there.
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