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
We were young and trusting, just what they were looking for. Now we have started a Christian nonprofit daycamp for foster children. I just can't help but think what we would be able to do for these kids with all the money that we foolishly paid and ARE STLL PAYING to this scheming corporation.
Thank God they were asking for an absolutely ridiculous down-payment of $2700! I had been to a Uniway presentation in my early twenties, so I was already kind of expecting something like this. But had it been something more affordable on our budget, we would have been one of the sad souls buying in to it. Then, because of my Uniway experience, I expected them to pull out the financing application after we told them we didn't have that kind of money to put down. So basically, had we applied for financing (which we didn't), we would be making payments to BlueGreen for the down-payment ON TOP OF the payments for the points (plus any other fees we didn't really investigate). I'm glad my husband and I learned from our financial mistakes we made in our twenties and finally snapped out of their "dream vacation world" before it was too late. Too bad I'll never get those 2.5+ hours back in my life. I am surprised we got our $20 back...well, it's a check we haven't tried to deposit yet. And I'm glad they upheld their end of the deal, giving us a sweet $75 visa gift card...but then again, we haven't tried to use it yet.
Geez, I really think this crap should be illegal. I think Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge should protect their patrons and start banning these vultures. THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! BEWARE!
tfarris@2jdda.org
tfarris@2jdda.org
My only current complaint, and i am unsure how to resolve it this. When you go in for an Owner update, beware. That is your clue to ignore your phone, and avoid the customer service center. We went in for an Update, aka, up sale at the fountains, again awesome resort, and initially took the bait. I to returned the contract once home, and that I had my main trouble.
The turning in of the contract, easy, A+ to them, I waited till day 8, sent it certified, and with in one week had an email and voicemail they were processing it. Timeline, I "purchased" more points, Aug 8th, 2009, returned the contract, Aug 16, 2009. Called and emailed on Aug 27, 2009 that it was in processing for my refund. As of Dec 2nd, 2009 when I called to see where the money was, yup, you guessed it, no clue in Owner services. I must admit, even though they did not know the status of things, they were helpful. I called back on Dec 3,2009 and there was an update ? It was being looked at, but it was too early to tell me what really was going on. So, I overlooked a fed express sheet on my door, and I had a voicemail from fed express they had a package for me, btw, this was 8:46 am on Dec 3, 2009. Less than 24 hours after my first call, and already it was resolved ? w/o Owner services knowing. So, I called Friday, to still crap up really, and get my update. I was told to call Friday, Dec4th for a 48 hour update. I started down their road, then finally decided I had had a gut full, I asked the young lady to please explain why I had a check in my hand from Bluegreen, and they were excited they had solved my problem. Keep in mind, 5 min ago it was still in research, in their corp office.
I asked to speak with the local supervisor, again, they were very pleasant and even thanked me for being understanding. So, I asked what they were going to be able to do for me, since they had taken 90 + days to return my $$, even though all contracts state it will be returned with in 25 calendar days. This would have been Oct 1,2009 at best. For all of my trouble, I would get 4000 customer "satisfaction" points. Polietly refsed them and I am currently looking forward to the "non-returned" call on Monday Dec7th, 2009 and planning on showing up at the Sales office looking for my other $75 not returned in initial check. Again, they seem to move once prodded, but it takes forever for them to get moving.
Hope to hear from all of you!! This is a horrible thing to do to people especially in this economical time!!!
we just purchased more points to get more time, and this year will have 7 vacations booked with 20k points - this is by far the best deal out there you just have to take some time learn how to use it and enjoy,also when ever i have called for help they were very nice and took care of what was needed.
the sales presentation is a bit pushy - like buying a car but we are veterans at it now being timeshare owners since 1984,we travel all around the world at the best accomodations when you compare to hotels.
At this point the only thing we "knew" about timeshares was that you paid for a week at the same location every year for the same year. So we honestly had no idea what we were walking into.
So we go. I had researched the name that had been on the flyer we had gotten, and Bluegreen wasn't mentioned on it, so had no prior knowledge of the company.
Everything about the company had seemed great. We were amazed at this new concept of the timeshare going anywhere we wanted. And stay in amazing hotels for a fraction of there true value.
We were initially talked into 11,000 points every other year, because we just wanted the occasional weekend getaway. We were told this would be plenty to take 3 or 4 getaways per refill. Sounded good.
But it was kind of expensive. And we wanted some time to think about it.
Then we were told it would be a great investment, that would only be worth more in the future. We could count a timeshare as a tax write off, because we are actually owning property. We were told that once it was paid off we would only have to worry about a small maintenance fee about about 400 bucks a year. Club dues were never mentioned as a separate fee to us. We had been under the impression that Club Dues and Maintenance fees were 2 phrases for the same thing.
If it was too hard to afford simply rent out the points for enough to cover the cost for more than we were paying. Making us believe we could actually make a profit from renting out the points. And to help with the MF just get people to come for a free weekend and we would get 50 bucks towards it.
They also made it sound so easy to sell the timeshare. Especially since we got more points that it was valued at. So we were told.
And if we didn't have enough points, simply borrow from the following year with no problem. If we wanted to take a big vacation one day, simply save our points for a big trip.
I remember specifically saying I wanted to take a cruise, and the cheapest one I saw was 28k points or something like that. Basically more than could be saved on our current plan. We were NOT told they would expire.
Sounded good. So we signed up.
6 months later got another free weekend. At this point we had, had no issues, and hadn't been charged any fees or anything, and talked into going with the 11k points every year plan. For what they had broken down into only costing us about 100 dollars extra per month than we were paying. With no payments for 6 months.
Plus we're getting it at a great deal, and could turn around and sell it for more than we were paying right away.
The truth is, only the interest you pay when you get a timeshare 'mortgage' can be counted on your taxes. And we got our bluegreen points paid for on their special horrible apr RCI credit card. So it is not a mortgage.
Our investment, like someone here aptly described it, is more like a car, loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot.
Not sure what happened with the only 100 dollars more a month, because it turned out we had signed up with a balloon payment thing, where everything had to be PAID in 6 months, not payments starting. Which of course we couldn't afford so then we had to purchase an additional 4000 points and sign up with their special mortgage thing.
The maintenance fees are over $600 and the club dues are over $500.
We were NOT told our points expired. I have only just found it out. And even worse you have to use the points to schedule a trip before the expiration date. So right now it's Jan. and I'm trying to book a trip for August. BUT my points expire on June 30th, so even though I am booking the trip before they expire, the date of the trip is after and cannot be used. And of course nothing available where we want to go before hand.
The 50 bucks for bringing friends on free weekends only applies if they make 45k a year or more, and we are young. Our friends are young. We have single friends who make 35k a year who live quite comfortably but don't qualify. We were led to believe any friend. I had even specifically asked 'Any friend', and all they clarified was any adult friend.
Renting the points to make a profit was another lie as well as selling it For profit. Pinnacle is the company Bluegreen is associated with. Pinnacle is only 39 dollars to post your timeshare on there website, but there is so much competition, and it's all they do is post it on a website. Nothing else.
We were told all our points was worth $28,000 easily, and could sell closer to $35,000. Yeah that's why people who have even more points than us aren't even getting $7,000 for there timeshare.
So we're paying 250 dollars on the RCI credit card, plus an additional 267 dollars towards a mortgage and than 1100 dollars a year for the club dues and mf. So over 7 grand a year. The financial burden is exhausting.
I will give credit where credit is due. We stayed at Christmas Mountain Village in WI, Dells, and it was fabulous. The beds were comfy, the rooms spacious, the whirlpool tub so relaxing, it was clean, we saw deer. We had no nightmare story about our visit. It was a wonderful townhome. The only problem with the place was the mini golf course thing is a joke, but besides that it was a great time. And would love to stay again, but would rather rent the points from someone else.