We’ve all heard the horror stories about tempestuous timeshare sales presentations and the many woes of timeshare ownership. Why, then, do timeshares remain such a popular vacation reality? Let’s explore this question by examining an sample of how your timeshare sales presentation might proceed.

You’ve booked yourself for a timeshare sales presentation in order to snag the free – that’s FREE! – cruise that they are offering for the privilege of having you for a 90-minute presentation. You are quite confident in your ability to say “NO!” and make it stick. The day of the sales presentation arrives and you feel some pangs of anticipation, but you and your spouse enter into the sales meeting, instantly surrounded by smiling and vibrant young presenters who whisk you off to your timeshare destiny.

They ask you about your vacation habits and seem so intent on discovering everything about you. They want to know you and are much friendlier than you thought they would be! Then they ask you about your children. Wouldn’t you love to give your whole family the vacation of a lifetime at a wonderful resort that the children would remember all their lives, and then be able to repeat that happy occasion on a yearly basis? That’s when they pull out the videos to show you happy families with laughing children frolicking at the resort and you think, “Wow! That could be us!”

But it doesn’t end there! More videos follow showing the adult side of this happy equation; the restaurants, the spas and the nighttime entertainment. You are already in love with the thought of owning a timeshare to foster your family’s well-being when you are bombarded with even more happy statistics and benefits for owning a timeshare. They tell you that it’s a wonderful investment and what an excellent value that it is. Your timeshare will pay for itself if you rent it out when not in use. And it’s so easy to book using the online system availability system. And oh, they say, your timeshare can be swapped with others so that you can vacation all over the world. They can see that you are wavering, so they bring out the “big guns” and tell you that if necessary, your timeshare will be easy to sell, or, perhaps the developer will buy it back from you. There is even a period of time following the signing, known as a rescission period, where you can negate the contract if you have “buyer’s remorse.” And the financing is a breeze! They’ll even issue you a credit card for the down payment so that you can get your dream started right away.

Now the real negotiation begins. You shrewdly balk at the first offered price and play hard to get until the price becomes something more palatable to you. This is a lot like buying a car, you think, and perhaps even enjoyable! A bit of euphoria at commanding such a great deal begins to creep in! Out come the documents for you to sign. “Don’t worry about these”, state the sales agent. “This should only take a few minutes and then you can begin your family dream vacation!” You find yourself signing a great many documents – it all seems a blur. Eventually, the signing is complete, the celebratory champagne has been poured and you are drinking a toast to the beaming faces all around you, thinking of how excited and happy your children will be.

That is, until the euphoria begins to wear off and reality replaces it with dread and real concern for what you have done. You’ve taken the cruise, but it just wasn’t that special. However, it did serve to use up the days of your rescission period so that you could not cancel your timeshare contract if you wanted to. So you try to make use of your new timeshare and simply cannot find any open availability to book that dream vacation they promised. Or, perhaps you find that you simply do not have enough points to book anything that you would even consider using. That’s when you realize that you have actually joined the ranks of disaffected timeshare owners.

The moral of this story is twofold. One of the reasons that timeshares remain popular is because timeshare ownership is being sold as an emotional must for family bonding. Who wouldn’t want to make their families happy by providing them with the perfect bonding experience during a dream vacation? It tugs at your emotional well-being. Timeshares are billed as a dream that is essentially attainable by those who reach for it through timeshare ownership.

Secondly, if you do decide to attend a timeshare sales presentation, do your homework first! Vet the timeshare developer thoroughly prior to attending so that you can remain immune to the attempts to generate an emotional response within you regarding timeshare ownership. If and when the sales presentation turns to high-pressure sales tactics designed to culminate in signed sales documents, you will be further strengthened to stand your ground, take that cruise and not be saddled with timeshare ownership.

If, however, you find yourself the disillusioned owner of an unwanted timeshare and desperately desire to divest yourself of your mistake, consider retaining the services of the competent attorneys of the Aaronson Law Firm to help you cancel your timeshare contract. They stand ready and able to bring the appropriate level of legal pressure to bear upon your timeshare developer. Contact them today – it’s not too late!