From Deseret News archives:
Time snare? Resort properties can trouble the unwary
Pitfalls abound in the deals
"Yeah, right. It was an investment for them, not me," he says now. "I can't sell it for a quarter of the purchase price. If I rent it, I get nothing and lose the week.... Everything they said was a lie."
That is not the picture painted by timeshare developers who promote exciting travel, luxury and savings to people lured to their sales pitches by offers of free trips, resort stays and dinners.
But an investigation by the Deseret Morning News shows the industry often lays traps in contract fine print that may sap money from the unwary in surprising ways at every level of buying, owning and selling a timeshare.
Developers sell timeshares for far more than what they are worth on the open resale market. Value of units easily drops 40 percent or more when the purchaser walks out the door after a sale. Some salesmen use pitches considered unethical by the industry and which are outlawed in some states (but not Utah).
High-pressure sales are still a staple of the industry, and salesmen work hard to close sales immediately on the first visit before a customer might take extra time to research the value of units on the resale market.
The freebies used to draw customers to sales presentations often have catches or they are not exactly what was promised.
Developers often charge high to astronomical interest rates to finance timeshare loans and sometimes make deceptive claims or offer more freebies to lure customers into them.
E-mail: lee@desnews.com
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