Timeshares: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

My Dad was scammed into a timeshare nearly 20 years ago. It wasn't all bad in the end. He picked up a new hobby from it. Whenever he can, he goes into timeshare meetings to collect the incentives to go to the meeting. He's received broadway tickets, snorkeling trips, free nights at hotels, so so very many breakfasts. It's not just about the perks, though: you should see how giddy he gets when he explains that he goes in and loudly and covertly points out all the hidden costs for others to hear. Meanwhile, he is more than happy to stay for a 5 hour meeting: he considers it a sport to waste everyones time.

I was approached by a timeshare outfit. They claimed I had inherited a timeshare that my father purchased. Their beef was that I was currently $17,500 behind in maintenance fees and $30,000 in annual membership fees. I told them to submit everything to my attorney and we'd 'discuss' the matter further. Turns out that my father DID purchase a timeshare from this outfit and that they were, in fact, deducting $6,000 per year from his bank account, along with the additional $3,500 for 'property maintenance' fees. Yeah, he signed their contract........18 months after he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimers and was suffering from dementia. He also died five years ago. Anyway, they tried to sue me after my attorney told them they could take a long walk off a short pier and we filed counter-suit and the DA filed criminal charges against the company, the salespeople, and their management staff. I walked away with no 'inherited' timeshare and $218,000. Oh, did I forget to mention that the timeshare property was a vacant lot? Yeah, the house that sat there was condemned and destroyed by the county it was located in. F*ck these people!

My grandparents were pros at this. She got a LOT of free stuff. Often jewelry if it was an option. We were surprised to find one necklace with a diamond appraised in 2011 for $800. I went with them a few times in the early '90s. My grandfather said to a salesman " I shot Nazis. I can certainly say no to you." It was priceless. Another time, they had me say "Grandma, I feel woozy, I need my insulin." They got a kick out of the free stuff and rarely spent more than an hour. I imagine the pressure is higher now.

About 8 yrs ago my boyfriend & I were vacationing in Puerto Vallarta and, being bored after 10 days, agreed (after much pestering by agents on the street) to take a timeshare trip up the coast … we had a lovely ride in an air-conditioned coach, a beautiful lunch, tickets to an evening Las Vegas-type show, tour of the palatial new time-share units, and US $50 cash each - all just to “go look”. We thoroughly enjoyed all the salespeople bending over backwards trying to sell us a timeshare that we had absolutely NO intention of buying. Ever. We knew 100% before we signed up that we would NEVER buy a timeshare but we happily killed the day, saw a bit more of Mexico, ate & drank like celebrities and had $100 to buy dinner with. Man, those salespeople tried EVERYTHING to get us to buy. Finally in frustration handed us off to the big boss who had no better luck. They were PISSED. It was the most fun we had in Puerto Vallarta. Highly recommend.

It really is kind of amazing that in America you can get in trouble for so many little things but you can spend a lifetime swindling people out of timeshares and never face consequences

My wife and myself ended up getting swooped up for a timeshare presentation on our honeymoon. Once we realized what was happening we lied and said I had lost my job and the only reason we were still on vacation is because we would lose our deposit. They gave us a free lunch and sent us on our way. One of the best quick thinking moves we have ever made

I wonder if owners could write their will to leave the timeshare to their favorite politician.

I'm morbidly curious just how much economic activity in our current economic system is based on grift, fraud, exploiting inelastic demand, monopolistic behavior, or any other behavior that is or should be illegal. It's insane.

I used to go to Timeshare presentations for the free gifts. When they find out you are just there for the gift, they make you wait after you are done. Then I learned if you start making noise, like yelling in the room "I WANT MY GIFT NOW! PLEASE", they get your gift to get your disturbing ass out of there. Works every time.

My mom and her first husband got a free weekend getaway in exchange for listening to a timeshare pitch. After listening for a few hours and not biting, they got moved into one of those car dealership style little rooms for the final pitch. They still didn't bite at which point the saleswoman flipped out and shouted: "YOU JUST CAME FOR THE FREE BUFFET!". My mom was totally nonplussed and just said: "Well, yeah".

Having read previous horror stories, my wife and I attended a sales pitch in Whistler, BC. The reward for the pitch was two days of $105 lift tickets. I told the sales guy we had 90 minutes, and wanted to get into the numbers right away. Had my laptop, built a simple spreadsheet with all of the costs, taxes, maintenance fees, club fees, and fees for basic stuff sold as options. (Towels for the pool, cleaning service for the units, high-cost laundry facilities etc. ) This was a Hilton deal that limited us to Hilton properties. When we worked it all out, the average cost per night in the timeshare was $866. (this was in 1998 dollars). We told the salesperson that $866 / night will buy us luxury accommodations anywhere in the world, without being limited to a relatively small number of Hilton resort properties, without all the hassles of making reservations a year in advance, without the problems of canceling when plans change etc. He kept trying to close, at which point I took out the Vancouver want-ads, where there were over two dozen Hilton memberships advertised for under 10% of the cost of a "new" membership. We collected our lift tickets and enjoyed two days of free skiing. With preparation like John Oliver's great segment here, you can turn the tide. Our 90 minute investment in time got us $420 in lift tickets on that trip. Occasionally we see a reward that's worth an hour of our time. It can be a game if you're into that kind of thing.

16:28 "Suddenly gone with no warning. Like a ghost. Or a TV show on HBO Max." I love how much John delights in biting the hand that feeds him.

It’s mind boggling that kids would be forced to take over the timeshare obligation from their parents.

When I was a kid I remember going to Orlando. My mom had a brain tumor and she wanted to go to Disney so bad "in case something happens" during the surgery she had to get. So my pretty poor family managed to go but our hotel made us do a time share presentation. My little sister and I went around going "this is a scam" to everyone until they let my family go because it was causing a scene and making people change their minds. This was like the early 2000s. Thanks for making me remember this, fuck the time share scam. It's not a business, it's a scam!

Guy's that manager talking about "saving lives" is Richard Siegel. He's the son of the owner of Westgate Resorts; David Siegel. He was my VP of Sales for a phone department I was in. I won an award for "Rookie of the Year" when I was very young. At the awards banquet when I was receiving my award it was my first time meeting him. The only thing he said to me was "700k in volume this year? Thats it? Next year get me a million". I'll never forget the greed and moment of realization that I was part of a nasty business. These are the people who own these companies, they're like a legal mafia. Be careful and stay away!

Wife and I actually went to one of these "tours" yesterday in Vegas for Wyndham. Luckily we'd seen this episode beforehand and quickly recognized what the "tour" really was. True to form, they began the presentation saying that it would be good for your health with statistics about how people who take regular vacations have less stress and live longer (duh). We were then passed through 3 different sales people. The "personable" sales people were first, either charismatic guys or hot women, the guy we talked to was actually a pretty cool dude, his job was to talk up the product (the resorts) and give a tour of one of the rooms. The "numbers" guy was next, and he gave us WAY different numbers than the "personable" guy, and was a bit of a jerk after finding out we couldn't afford even their lowest offer (so far). Then we were pushed off onto the closer, who was the epitome of the slimy salesman. The price got even lower, with 2 years, zero interest, free financing, blah blah blah. Once the 3rd guy saw we were a "no", he stood up, said "follow me" and showed us to the gift redemption desk and walked away without another word, I laughed at how fast he switched from nice to rude. Bright side is, we were only there for the required 2 hours and we got a 3 day hotel stay, a $25 gift card, and $150 in slot credits that turned into $75 real cash. If you got the time to kill, go in for the free gifts and try to get a few laughs out of it. I'm just glad John Oliver is around to spread the word about scams like this because it was a pretty convincing presentation for anyone who might not know anything about it. Unfortunately one couple fell for it and the whole room clapped and cheered when it was announced that they signed up.

My husband is a very kind person and he struggles to say no. One day he told me that we are going to this time share pitch. I was not happy and my face showed it. This guy came out and started talking and then he asked a question to the group: " Do you know why you are here?" So I put my hand up, he smiled and I said: "We are here because you want to sell us something that we don't want or need." His smile dissapeared and we went home. I had so much fun!🤣🤣

In my twenties, I was a timeshare telemarketer. I was making 3500 a week, but I'd go home, and just sit, and replay each and every person I had screwed over. Started drinking heavily. Started having panic attacks getting ready for work. Burned out after 4 months. Swore I'd only make an honest buck from now on, and went back to day labor. I been doing construction and restaurant work for the last twenty years, and I am a happy, satisfied man.

I always knew timeshares were a scam, but what really hit home for me was working for a 5 star hotel that had full and fractional ownership units. During a company meeting about renovations we were doing, our residences manager, literally the lady in charge of overseeing all the timeshares on property, mentioned how much profit the full time owners had made, and how the timeshares had broken even, which is completely unheard of. She then paused, and went off on like a 10-15 minute tangent, explaining how awful timeshares are as investments, and how none of us should ever buy into one. And this is the lady in charge of the company's timeshares saying that!!

If you really want a timeshare, get your neighbors together and all pitch in 30k. Buy a house as a trust or LLC. Schedule your own stays and try to rent it out when not in use to help with costs. If you don’t want to do that: just do the normal thing and get a hotel