do not buy a timeshare from Bluegreen
Complaint
Ben Travis
Country: United States
Do not...I repeat...do NOT buy a Bluegreen timeshare under any conditions. No matter how sweet it may sound, it is a rip-off. My wife and I bought one, and we are in a continual state of regret about it. It is virtually impossible to sell (the same amount of points we bought for $10,000 are selling for about $3,000 online), plus we have yearly fees of about $700 that must be paid for us to even be able to keep using it.
Here are some of the things you may not hear while you're in a Bluegreen presentation... we didn't:
-each year you will have to pay both "maintenance fees" and "club dues," which for us amount to over $700. If you don't pay, you can't use any of your points at all until you do pay.
-many of the resorts they tell you about can only be booked in 7-day increments, which means you'll take that trip and no others for two years because you'll use up all your points on that single trip.
-we just found this one out... if you don't have the points, you can't book a trip... for example, we get 12,000 new points in July, so I called to book something in August. Well, I can't do that until I "have the points." Of course, by the time the points actually show up, all the places will be booked for the summer. We're all paid up on maintenance fees and club dues, so we will definitely get the points, but too bad... we have to wait. The person on the phone even sympathized with me and said he understood what I was saying, but too bad.
-they say they will help you rent your timeshare, but this is a joke. Your timeshare will never rent for anything near what you need to maintain the fees on it, much less pay it off.
-take a look at this web site to see what points are actually worth if you buy them on eBay: http://popular.ebay.com/ns/Real-Estate/Bluegreen.html If you really desperately want Bluegreen points, don't buy them from Bluegreen.
-they tell you that you can book things just a day or two in advance, but this is almost never possible in real life. Things are booked up months in advance.
Owning a Bluegreen timeshare is like a weight that you have to drag around with you for the rest of your life. There are many places that will rent timeshares if you like that kind of thing, and you can usually get them fairly cheap and without any obligation for the future. When I imagine paying $700 a year for the rest of my life, it feels amazingly scary. Don't do it. You're locking yourself into something that will never end when there is absolutely no need to do so.
They give you the free trip, then take advantage of how little you've researched timeshares when you're in the presentation. They tell you this price can only be offered this one time, and that you can't take another trip. It's all cheap sales techniques, and they wouldn't be necessary if it were something people really benefited from.
We even looked on the internet during our sales presentation... if only I had come across a letter like this, we probably wouldn't have bought, and we'd be much better off. At least take a few days to think about it. If they can't give you that long to think, they're tricking you anyway.
Buying a Bluegreen timeshare is a terrible decision. They, like many salespeople, will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you to buy, knowing that they will not personally be accountable for any misrepresentations of the truth later on.
One thing they promised us is that we could rent our timeshare. Now they've done away with that aspect as well, so you either use it, keep paying about $700 in fees each year along with whatever you paid originally, or you just lose the points. Every letter we receive is something else they're taking away from us.
The most recent thing that happened was that we had tried to rent ours out for 10,000 points (most of our points) before they decided to stop letting people do that. So I called today, 10 days in advance, to check and make sure it was rented, since this is the cut-off for when I can cancel without losing points. So the guy on the phone told me that yes, it is rented. And I asked, "Well, what happens if the people cancel sometime in the next 10 days?" He said, "We don't have any control over that, sir." And I said, "I understand that, but I don't either. So what happens to my points if they cancel?" And he said, "Well, you lose those points."
So some renter I don't even know can decide to back out at the last minute, and I lose 10,000 points and don't get to travel or make any money from my timeshare for 2 years! That seems fair...
Everything Bluegreen does seems to be a way to get themselves more money and screw over their "valued customers."
And Bluegreen, if you're reading this, don't bother calling me trying to get me to revoke the complaint... we're trying to sell our timeshare as quickly as we can and hopefully never have any interaction with you for as long as we live.
Here are some of the things you may not hear while you're in a Bluegreen presentation... we didn't:
-each year you will have to pay both "maintenance fees" and "club dues," which for us amount to over $700. If you don't pay, you can't use any of your points at all until you do pay.
-many of the resorts they tell you about can only be booked in 7-day increments, which means you'll take that trip and no others for two years because you'll use up all your points on that single trip.
-we just found this one out... if you don't have the points, you can't book a trip... for example, we get 12,000 new points in July, so I called to book something in August. Well, I can't do that until I "have the points." Of course, by the time the points actually show up, all the places will be booked for the summer. We're all paid up on maintenance fees and club dues, so we will definitely get the points, but too bad... we have to wait. The person on the phone even sympathized with me and said he understood what I was saying, but too bad.
-they say they will help you rent your timeshare, but this is a joke. Your timeshare will never rent for anything near what you need to maintain the fees on it, much less pay it off.
-take a look at this web site to see what points are actually worth if you buy them on eBay: http://popular.ebay.com/ns/Real-Estate/Bluegreen.html If you really desperately want Bluegreen points, don't buy them from Bluegreen.
-they tell you that you can book things just a day or two in advance, but this is almost never possible in real life. Things are booked up months in advance.
Owning a Bluegreen timeshare is like a weight that you have to drag around with you for the rest of your life. There are many places that will rent timeshares if you like that kind of thing, and you can usually get them fairly cheap and without any obligation for the future. When I imagine paying $700 a year for the rest of my life, it feels amazingly scary. Don't do it. You're locking yourself into something that will never end when there is absolutely no need to do so.
They give you the free trip, then take advantage of how little you've researched timeshares when you're in the presentation. They tell you this price can only be offered this one time, and that you can't take another trip. It's all cheap sales techniques, and they wouldn't be necessary if it were something people really benefited from.
We even looked on the internet during our sales presentation... if only I had come across a letter like this, we probably wouldn't have bought, and we'd be much better off. At least take a few days to think about it. If they can't give you that long to think, they're tricking you anyway.
Buying a Bluegreen timeshare is a terrible decision. They, like many salespeople, will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you to buy, knowing that they will not personally be accountable for any misrepresentations of the truth later on.
One thing they promised us is that we could rent our timeshare. Now they've done away with that aspect as well, so you either use it, keep paying about $700 in fees each year along with whatever you paid originally, or you just lose the points. Every letter we receive is something else they're taking away from us.
The most recent thing that happened was that we had tried to rent ours out for 10,000 points (most of our points) before they decided to stop letting people do that. So I called today, 10 days in advance, to check and make sure it was rented, since this is the cut-off for when I can cancel without losing points. So the guy on the phone told me that yes, it is rented. And I asked, "Well, what happens if the people cancel sometime in the next 10 days?" He said, "We don't have any control over that, sir." And I said, "I understand that, but I don't either. So what happens to my points if they cancel?" And he said, "Well, you lose those points."
So some renter I don't even know can decide to back out at the last minute, and I lose 10,000 points and don't get to travel or make any money from my timeshare for 2 years! That seems fair...
Everything Bluegreen does seems to be a way to get themselves more money and screw over their "valued customers."
And Bluegreen, if you're reading this, don't bother calling me trying to get me to revoke the complaint... we're trying to sell our timeshare as quickly as we can and hopefully never have any interaction with you for as long as we live.
Comments
BlueGreen is finished. Their stock is in the toilet and they will have no choice but to double or triple MF to cover corportate costs because they wont be selling many VOIs (if any). I just went to one of their owner Bait and Switch scams where they tried to sell me more crap. The senior sales guy actually admitted the following when I told him we were very very dissatisfied because of the availability for bookings...BG will sell entire weeks for a whole resort during "off-peak" times to RCI who then in turn writes those weeks off for tax-purposes. That is 100% true. Also, all those resorts you were sold as BlueGreen resorts - not so. Alot of them are owned by other companies and BG retains a block of rooms for their owners. There are Class Action Suits against BG right now. There is one in NC that I know of for sure. I myself am thinking of litigation on my own in MO. BlueGreen is heartbeat away from death. They can no longer finance their Vacation Packages like they were (I was told only 9 million worth by a sales guy). They will jack up the MF rates and if you don't pay you don't stay...which is what they want becuase that will be less they will have to pay in overhead at their resorts. They are done. Prepare for MF that will make your blood boil. They will be Chapter 11 by then anyway IMHO. Don't take any of this for granted - research it yourself. It's all true.
If they go bank rupt do we still have to pay?
Anyone want my timeshare? I'll sign it away...even with a Charter certificate. You pay closing cost.
Any takers? jenkimbrell1@yahoo.com
Enough said. You have that luxury. Most working people don't ~ I'd say 95%. I was told when I bought in 2005 that we could "Go where we want, when we want, just call 30-60 days in advance" Egregious lies these vultures told. Lets see how much you love BG when you get this years MFs. Enjoy.
What Respectable Company would Train Their Employees To LIE and Mislead People in order to make a sale??
I Hope that They Are On Their Way Out!! Maybe the Courts will make them REPAY all of us that they Lied To and Misrepresented Themselves To!! It Would Serve Them Right!!
All the places we have been to we have loved and we are going on another one in July.