Short Readers:
Don’t go and let them waste your time. It’s similar to a call center where they have to do 1,2,3 & 4 different things, to get you to say yes. Their marketing and sales are the worst. When they hear no, its try again.
Long Readers:
My journey started with receiving a call about winning something from a car show i attended. From my memory I signed up for 3 raffles, all had a cash amount towards a new car. I missed the call, I called back the next day. They informed me that I won 4 free airfare tickets. The catch I would need to sit through some timeshare presentation. No purchase was necessary. I was asked which time I was available to go. I choose 8pm which is late but that’s when I was free. They told me dinner would be served.
After work I head over, all happy I’m getting a free dinner. I walk in, its like a dentist process. You fill out some papers, you will then go into a waiting area. That’s where the mysterious dinner was, it was sandwitches. Right sandwitches is a catered meal. That was the 2nd catch, first catch was I don’t remember signing-up for some airfare tickets.
They start calling names, I raise my hand. It was mostly couples. I’m a lone survivor. A man walks towards me, and ask some basic questions. He was pretty new so that was fun. We walk into the screening room. A lady starts talking. I personally fall asleep really well. Meetings running more than 30 min Zzz. She still talking 30+, I feel like for an 1hr. I wake up 15 min before the end. The guy then takes me to a table in the open area. He first asks, would you be interested in this service. From what I remember it wasn’t a timeshare they where selling but a points based membership. I tell him I would probably use it twice a year if I had it. He then does some calculations. and it started off with 200-300 a month. It was a 200k package which came up to 17k in 5 years. I started asking important questions. Maintenance feeds. I can’t remember if that was yearly or monthly, but it was $400. I asked about more add-on and stuff that would sell it to me. He then walks me over to the local Wyndham hotel, and shows me a nice 2 bedroom. Note not all the rooms are two bedrooms when you go and book.
I ended up saying no, I can’t afford it right now. Then they try to sell a loan or some credit card to you. “You don’t have to pay a dime” we can check your credit and get you going. I said no. He gets his buddy. This guy looks like his been selling for years. He does calculations that didn’t make sense. Started creating fake items that I later was told that isn’t included in the basic packages. They informed me if I book 6 months in advance I would save 50% of my points. That looked promising bc I book everything in advance. I did the numbering but it still wasn’t going to work. I said no, can’t do this now. Maybe in a year. His buddy leaves. He goes and gets a paper and informs me that I have to sign that he covered a number of items. I was like really, I have to sign that you covered stuff. So I do. Then he lets me know he’ll go and get the rewards guy.
The reward guys comes, he looks more experienced. He sits me down in another location, and ask how the other guy did. I’m here thinking time to get those tickets. Nope, this guy is trying to sell me something else. I do the numbers it sounds good to me. Not a monthly cost, it’s a club wyndham discovery package. It’s a like a trail to the club membership. Before I sign all these documents, I let him know I’m only getting this for “blank” and “blank” trips in vegas. It shows you have a specific hotel I would stay in anyways. Are you sure it will be available. Yes, 98% available. If I didn’t mention before that’s a crap number you’ll here 4-5 times. Onwards. So the points numbers come to 100k point to 1k dollars. 200k point will give you ~2.5 3 nights stays. That does not include airfare and car rental. The other guys made me believe that with the points. that’s all I needed. You can use it for car, air and rental. If you do that, you’ll get 1.3 3 night stay. Also remember all these .3 .5, you have to purchase more points to complete your transaction. so know its really only 2 trips. In conclusion the discovery guy takes me to a counter with two ladies, they give me a book for the free airfare. And validate my ticket.
I go home, 2 days in, I log into my account. And try to book my yearly trips. Guess what, the hotel I wanted, no availability. I called, and they doesn’t own that hotel. I was like wtf. I stayed at their sales pitch location from 8pm-midnight to buy something that doesn’t work. I proceed to get my refund.
They try to get you on that too. I’ll be short. They will try and keep you, when you say no, they hear try again. You have to come into the office, except you have the address and mail it in. They’ll want you to come into the office. I’m local so I go. Well, they are only open wed-fri. around 6pm – midnight. So Mondays and Tuesdays you can’t cancel. They tell you, you can, the HR department can process you. Well, I went on tuesday, couldn’t get up the elevators, a contractor was their and told me. No one was in, he was doing some repaint work. Come back Wednesday.
In Conclusion:
If you skipped everything, DON’T GO.
Don’t waste your time. Those airfare tickets have a catch to them. I’ll provide updates when I try and use them. With all my calculations, its not worth the cost. 100k points to $1k. You’ll spend 1/4 more money booking your yearly vacations. The only benefit, if you have a family, the rooms have a kitchen.
