Timeshare Adventures,inc.

I purchased a timeshare through Timeshare Adventures. I do not have a high opinion of the company. I have not sold anything through them, and never would, so I do not know about their upfront fees. Stan.

I can't believe some of the lies and misinformation that are allowed to be posted on this website. TimeShare Adventures advertising clients have sold and rented thousands of timeshares. This information is posted on the website for anyone to review. It includes the number of offers received, selling or renting prices and the amount of time the timeshare took to sell or rent. These are verifiable facts open to public scrutiny. A few timeshare advertising companies do a great job of bringing people together. Our marketing has generated over $132,000,000 in offers for our advertisers. I don't see many other timeshare resale companies that can prove that. We spend nearly $1,000,000 a year just on advertising and we pay our lawyer to close your sale at no charge (besides recording and transfer fees) to you or your buyer. This saves both parties money and provides an incentive to purchase an advertised property. We have no problem with fair, open discussions about complaints but when participants lie or are just plain wrong about facts we must defend our business.

JayJay says "That's the way it is with 99.9% of upfront fee resale companies." Are you kidding me? Open your eyes JayJay. Look around and you might learn something about the industry. It has changed in the last 5 years.

Phil12 said "You are stating that you didn't know of this complaint until a week ago. You then state that you made a response to BBB back in Oct 2006 about this case!" We obviously knew of the BBB compliant when it occurred but we we're not aware of this post until September of 2008. Your right Phil12, you we're missing something.

Ken1193 said.. I have *NEVER ONCE* ever seen or heard of a confirmed sale of a timeshare by any "upfront fee" company. That's NEVER! Ken I'll show you thousands of timeshares sold by REAL upfront advertising companies. For 25 years in timeshares it doesn't seem like your up to date on what companies are selling the most timeshares.

Most FREE advertisng sites are run by realtors so they can find low priced inventory to sell with a large commission. They tell people the market isn't good and that they will have to take a loss then they add $1000-$4000 commission on top. The seller may be happy to have sold but they have usally lost thousands in the process. This has been going on for years.

The most troubling comments come from Redweek.com RedWeek Says, "This site is merely a timeshare ad site for owners to sell or rent their timeshare. Owners make up their own ads, Redweek does not. If information is wrong in an ad then it's the owner's fault." This is also our policy which was explaind to Mary Vlahos but she ignored these instructions for whatever reason. Why didn't the moderator bring this up at the beggining of the post? It would of been helpful to the public.

RedWeek Also Says, "Why pay an upfront fee to a resale company to list your timeshare in a database that no one will ever see costing you hundreds of dollars up front when you can place an ad on many internet timeshare ad sites for very little cost." Never see? Quantcast measures visitor traffic and says this about TimeShare Adventures.... "This site reaches approximately 43,460 U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a more educated, 50+, somewhat wealthy audience.The typical visitor stays at the Marriott and uses Trip Advisor. "

We have hundreds of thank you letters posted on our website just like Redweek does and they clearly show we provide a great service.

We have always had respect for RedWeek.com and they're business model. We would not and do not let misinformation or lies become post in our forum even when it pertains to a competitor.

Remember to get your facts straight or do some research before stero-typing a business.

Thank You For Your Time! Mark Dann President TimeShare Adventures, Inc.

Yes, I'm with Timeshare Adventures (not a shill).

After reading this entire post I noticed something. Regarding ken1193's comment about NEVER EVER seeing, hearing, knowing about a successful timeshare resale being facilitated through the efforts of an upfront advertisinge fee company - - Isn't that how this entire thread began? With a buyer, that Timeshare Adventures successfully 'captured' through our adverting efforts, who made an offer to buy from one of our advertising clients, who agreed to terms. So, this concept DOES work(if properly and ethically managed) and the NEVER-sayers be hushed.

kt53 wrote:

Yes, I'm with Timeshare Adventures (not a shill).

After reading this entire post I noticed something. Regarding ken1193's comment about NEVER EVER seeing, hearing, knowing about a successful timeshare resale being facilitated through the efforts of an upfront advertisinge fee company - - Isn't that how this entire thread began? With a buyer, that Timeshare Adventures successfully 'captured' through our adverting efforts, who made an offer to buy from one of our advertising clients, who agreed to terms. So, this concept DOES work(if properly and ethically managed) and the NEVER-sayers be hushed.

==================================================

Hushed?? Not likely, my friend. You offer only weak and meaningless nonsense as unconvincing "proof" of your effectiveness. It's all just empty BS, plain and simple.

I gladly and openly proclaim once again --- in 25 years of timeshare ownership, engaged interest and ongoing research I have NEVER ONCE seen, read, or heard about even ONE **confirmed sale** made by ANY upfront fee company. I repeat --- NEVER! Sorry, but innocent (and possibly fabricated) inquiries don't actually count as representing successfully closed sales.

You haven't provided even a smidgeon of factual information or evidence; my claim of NEVER remains solidly intact. Give us a specific deed reference (state, county, book and page) of ANY successful sale you have EVER made; this can be easily verified, easily looked up and readily confirmed. Deed recordings are public records; there is no privacy issue whatsoever. You simply can't do it, so please don't so blatantly insult our intelligence (not mine, anyhow). I was born early in the morning, but unfortunately for you it was not actually early YESTERDAY morning... Stop trying to take advantage of innocent, desperate and unwary people. Go try to make an honest living somewhere instead.

kt53 wrote:

Yes, I'm with Timeshare Adventures (not a shill).

After reading this entire post I noticed something. Regarding ken1193's comment about NEVER EVER seeing, hearing, knowing about a successful timeshare resale being facilitated through the efforts of an upfront advertisinge fee company - - Isn't that how this entire thread began? With a buyer, that Timeshare Adventures successfully 'captured' through our adverting efforts, who made an offer to buy from one of our advertising clients, who agreed to terms. So, this concept DOES work(if properly and ethically managed) and the NEVER-sayers be hushed.

If you charge an upfront fee to list a sale or rental in your obscure database then Redweek forum members will NOT recommend you NOR will any other timeshare forum site on the internet. We will, however, recommend any company that takes their fee AFTER the sale or rental, not before, period.

kt53 wrote:

After reading this entire post I noticed something. Regarding ken1193's comment about NEVER EVER seeing, hearing, knowing about a successful timeshare resale being facilitated through the efforts of an upfront advertisinge fee company - - Isn't that how this entire thread began?

Wrong, the post below was how this thread started .... not flattering to your company:

"Timeshare Adventures,inc.

be very very careful,with this company.

Timeshare Adventures,inc.

everthing when wrong with my transaction. was not a 2 bedroom, it was a one bedroom. was not floating, it was week 2. was charge, 2006 maintance fee, that should not have been charge. contacted this company. that it was my mistake, not theirs. stay away.

just got former owners tax bill in my name, for 2005 and 2006 with all the penalties. do these poeple know what they are doing?

again stay away for this company.

Timeshare Adventures,inc."

Ken, We can easily post this information here and will. But Im sure you'll say that it is inaccurate or false. That's your only defense. You sound very narrow minded and unaware of what is really happening in the timeshare resale industry. It's too bad because you could learn something but all you do is sling mud and make false accusations that you can't back up. Our proof is on our website which I'm sure you haven't bothered to take a look at.

You say never over and over again but two people in this thread said they bought timeshares from our website. Are you saying they are liars too?

If you are ever in our area please come by and meet our lawyer. He runs our in-house closing department and has a direct working relationship with most resort owner services departments. Better yet call (or anyone else who wants the truth 1-800-581-7330) and speak with him to verify what we do since your opinion is so distorted and factualy incorrect.

After we post this information about sales will you admit you are wrong? I doubt it but your certainly entitled to your opinion.

I see that RedWeek doesn't have much to say. Doesn't answer the questions I raised in my post. Is that helpful in a public forum such as this? By the way, we aren't looking for an endorsement from RedWeek. We just want the facts known to the public. It doesn't seem thats so important in this forum.

We will gather the information on sales and post as soon as possible.

Thanks Again, Mark Dann

I have no "blinders", only my own 25+ years of timeshare ownership, first hand experience and extensive research. During this time period I have also bought and/or sold well over a dozen timeshares on my own ---never paying a nickel to unnecessary outfits like yours. During this same time period, I have also personally met hundreds of other people who have bought and sold timeshares --- NONE of them ever having been sold successfully through ANY "upfront fee" company (although I've met many people who made the huge mistake of unwisely paying one --- but only once).

The challenge issued to "upfront fee" companies to prove ANY successful sale has been publicly posted for many years now on various sites (e.g. Timeshare Users' Group, which has many thousands more members and readers than RedWeek). That challenge has NEVER been met (oops --- there's that pesky word NEVER, rearing its ugly head again...). Perhaps you'll be the first, although I sincerely doubt it. Absent concrete facts and verifiable details, there isn't a single word or any empty claim you can possibly make which would convince me that what I have known as indisputable fact for the past quarter of a century is suddenly incorrect --- just because you come along and say so in a feeble effort to justify your own buisiness model. I respect facts, but not meaningless, self-serving rhetoric and empty, unsubstantiated assertions from a profiteering salesman.

As far as RedWeek weighing in, that's not going to happen. The forums on this site are designed and intended for RedWeek member discussions. Appropriately, RedWeek staff intervenes only in cases of inappropriate attempts at free commercial advertising (which your posts here actually are, by the way, particularly in view of the toll free phone number you have so "conveniently" provided). Moderators may also intervene when there is use of profanity, or demonstration of other inappropriate behavior or language. It's not RedWeek's intent or role to take sides in the exchange of expressed beliefs and viewpoints.

Unfortunately for you, in the age of the Internet there are now many open source avenues (including this one) for people to become informed, educated --- and wary --- BEFORE they ever encounter parasitic, ineffective and self-serving commercial operations like yours. I am proud to say that I voluntarily make every effort to assist in that educational process and I will continue to do so as my time permits. My fervent hope is that the "sucker pool" that you fish in will continually shrink in size with each passing day, until operations like yours finally just disappear completely from the timeshare landscape. You can try to "make your case" and I will certainly continue to make mine. People can decide on their own who they ultimately choose to believe. I don't profit one penny from ANYONE --- you can't pretend for even one moment to have the luxury of claiming any such objectivity...

markd317 wrote:

Ken, We can easily post this information here and will. But Im sure you'll say that it is inaccurate or false. That's your only defense. You sound very narrow minded and unaware of what is really happening in the timeshare resale industry. It's too bad because you could learn something but all you do is sling mud and make false accusations that you can't back up. Our proof is on our website which I'm sure you haven't bothered to take a look at.

You say never over and over again but two people in this thread said they bought timeshares from our website. Are you saying they are liars too?

If you are ever in our area please come by and meet our lawyer. He runs our in-house closing department and has a direct working relationship with most resort owner services departments. Better yet call (or anyone else who wants the truth 1-800-581-7330) and speak with him to verify what we do since your opinion is so distorted and factualy incorrect.

After we post this information about sales will you admit you are wrong? I doubt it but your certainly entitled to your opinion.

I see that RedWeek doesn't have much to say. Doesn't answer the questions I raised in my post. Is that helpful in a public forum such as this? By the way, we aren't looking for an endorsement from RedWeek. We just want the facts known to the public. It doesn't seem thats so important in this forum.

We will gather the information on sales and post as soon as possible.

Thanks Again, Mark Dann

All the rhetoric and posturing in your posts doesn't negate the fact that YOU CHARGE AN UPFRONT FEE in the hundreds of dollars ..... a definite no-no in the timeshare resale/rental market.

I think companies like yours are finally getting the message due to timeshare internet forums. Hopefully, upfront fee scam companies will be coming to an end as more timeshare consumers become educated due to the internet.

What I would like to know is HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT? (what goes around, comes around in universal truth)

Time Share Adventures, Inc. is not an upfront fee scam company. They very efficiently and professionally sold my father's timeshare. He chose their services because of their user friendly website and deemed they were able to attract the type of buyer he was looking for. He was more than happy about his entire experience. I don't doubt that there are unscrupulous timeshare resale companies out there, but this is not one of them. Jayjay, it sounds like you have an axe to grind that's more personal than helpful to the public. (like to use the "how do you sleep at night?" line a bit?....)

maryd347 wrote:

Time Share Adventures, Inc. is not an upfront fee scam company. They very efficiently and professionally sold my father's timeshare. He chose their services because of their user friendly website and deemed they were able to attract the type of buyer he was looking for. He was more than happy about his entire experience. I don't doubt that there are unscrupulous timeshare resale companies out there, but this is not one of them. Jayjay, it sounds like you have an axe to grind that's more personal than helpful to the public. (like to use the "how do you sleep at night?" line a bit?....)

Yes, I am a timeshare consumer advocate and will 'out' any scam concerning such.

So you're saying that Timeshare Adventures didn't charge your (supposed) father an upfront fee? Please answer yes or no.

We DO NOT advocate paying an upfront fee in the hundreds of dollars to any company, including yours.

Go to seach and enter 'upfront fee resale companies' and see the hundreds of negative testimonials there concerning such.

Went over to Tug and did a search for Timeshare Adventures and came up with many posts from a shill from the company trying to justify their several hundred dollar upfront fees (for doing absolutely nothing). You don't seem to understand that some of the most educated people on the subject of timeshare are Tug members, so you're wasting your time here and over there.

Sorry your business is falling apart due to the message getting out to NEVER EVER PAY A LARGE UPFRONT FEE IN THE HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS TO ANY COMPANY TO LIST YOUR TIMESHARE FOR SALE OR RENT as all they want is your upfront fee .... that's their bread and butter.

Again, I'd rather dig ditches than do what you do for a living scamming people of their hard earned money right and left and all the while spewing lies that you can get megabucks for their timeshare (absolutely zero conscience). Your company is classic upfront fee resale BS. And, like I said, what goes around comes around. Can you not find a legitimate, honest job?

Yes, my father was more than happy and satisfied to pay a fee for the advertising and follow through provided by Time Share Adventures. He does not have internet savy and the time or skills to sell his timeshare on his own. There was no deceit or scam. Like I said......you are wrong and disturbingly negative with your across the board judgement about all timeshare resale businesses. If you were correct, you wouldn't have to stoop so low in your criticisms and put downs.

maryd347: It's not my responsibility to defend jayjay but, for the record, I join jayjay in NOT finding you at all credible.

Why don't you post the state, county, book and page info for this alleged "successful sale" made on behalf of your father by an upfront fee resale company --- and make some truly unprecedented history in the process? I've been waiting 25 years to see this challenge met and it has NEVER happened yet! It's a public county record, easily viewed on line in its original, recorded format by anyone with a computer once the correct reference information is provided. Let people judge the facts for themselves (you've provided no actual facts whatsoever thus far, just more vague, fuzzy and unsubstantiated claims). How did your "not Internet savvy father" just happen to find this upfront fee company in the first place --- an advertising insert just somehow discovered inside of a cereal box, perhaps?

Is jayjay "disturbingly negative" or just "brutally honest"? As far as I'm concerned, it's clearly the latter until and unless YOU prove different with some actual facts. I won't hold my breath while waiting to read (and then independently verify) any such actual facts, however...

maryd347 wrote:

Yes, my father was more than happy and satisfied to pay a fee for the advertising and follow through provided by Time Share Adventures.

Advertising ? .... they add listings (that they've scammed from hard working people along with their upfront fee) to an obscure database that no one will ever see and if someone happened to stumble across an ad they might be interested in, the resale companies list prices extravagantly high (one of the many lies told by upfront fee timeshare resale companies .... "we can easily get $20,000 for your timeshare" - propaganda BS).

It's quite evident that you're a shill from Timeshare Adventures.

To Timeshare Adventures,

I used to own at Orange Lake Country Club in Kissimmee, FL. We owned a week in a new building that faces Splash Lagoon Water Park in the brand new (at that time) north village (walk out the door and jump in the tropical pool ... a very special, sought after location).

We bought from the developer (not knowing about resales at that time) and paid $11,000. When we got ready to sell I knew from reading timeshare forums on the internet for years that I wouldn't get anywhere near $11,000 on the resale market so I listed it at $5000 (no takers on Ebay, Redweek, Bidshares, MyResortNetwork and other well known resale ad sites). I finally dropped the price to $2900 and it sold, taking a loss of $8100, but on your site you list most Orange Lake timeshares at developer prices, some as high as $24,000 .... it just doesn't work that way, but you already KNOW that.

You don't tell clients that they will in no way get back what they paid a developer ..... and in this time of 1 cent to $1.00 timeshares by the postcard companies on Ebay along with our bad economy, you don't stand a chance of selling high priced timeshares, but you KNOW that already. All you want is the UPFRONT FEE, that's what your business is based upon. I was lucky that I sold before the postcard companies hit Ebay, I'd probably have to give my week away now.

So you can tell all the lies you wish, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, you're just another UPFRONT FEE TIMESHARE RESALE COMPANY SCAM.

Another example, Landmark in Panama City Beach, FL. You have listings from $6500 to $11,500 (unrealistic). I paid $1500 for a week there and sold it for $1500.

Why would anyone pay developer prices for a resale - they WON'T.

In reading your Timeshare 101 tutorial on your website, there's one main subject you failed to mention ... NEVER EVER PAY AN UPFRONT FEE TO A RESALE COMPANY TO SELL A TIMESHARE .... if they are legitimate resellers, they will take their fee AFTER they sell.

maryd347 wrote:

He chose their services because of their user friendly website and deemed they were able to attract the type of buyer he was looking for. ........... Yes, my father was more than happy and satisfied to pay a fee for the advertising and follow through provided by Time Share Adventures. He does not have internet savy and the time or skills to sell his timeshare on his own.

So he liked the website and what it could offer, but is not internet savy. Interesting. I just find it a shame that his daughter who found this site after an alleged transaction couldn't have found it beforehand. I mean this poor man with no internet skills or time on his hands was left on his own to sell his timeshare while his daughter only jumps in after the fact. She was quick to find to find websites talking about the best and worst ways to sell a timeshare, but she did this after hre father had already gone ahead. Too bad she wasn't there from the beginning....maybe she was still busy trying to justify his buying a Hyandai Pony as the family car....

Since I bought a timeshare property through TimeshareAdventures, I assume they do occasionally sell a timeshare property. I probably paid more than I should have. I paid about 25% of the developer price. That is not the reason that I do not have a high opinion of them. I don't wish to get into specifics, I simply state that I would never sell a timeshare through their company. Stan.