we are proud to endorse timeshare extra
team for decades I have taken calls from
people who were stuck in a freakin
timeshare and could not get out yeah
and so for Tom sharks that seemed to
come along and find a way to get them
out of their ripoff timeshare I was so
excited to endorse them and I still
remain proud to endorse them so Mike
flask II who is the CEO of one of the
scummiest and largest of the timeshare
companies called Diamond Resorts tweeted
at me may 19th while Dave Ramsey's made
millions endorsing timeshare exit team
who's being sued by many including the
Washington state AG check this story out
time for Dave Ramsey to check out of his
timeshare exit endorsement you know why
Mikey wants us to check out of that
because they're kicking his butt up
around his neck he's wearing it like a
collar that's why he wants us to check
out of that because they are one of the
scummiest so the deal is they've made
hundreds of millions of dollars yes I've
been paid for our endorsement proudly I
get paid for in our endorsement I am a
capitalist I don't mind getting paid for
our endorsement but we do not endorse
things that we don't believe in and
Mikey I can tell you this I've never had
a single Attorney General like the one
in the state of Arizona who find us
eight hundred thousand dollars for
something we were doing yeah which was
how you settled with they required
diamond to pay the state a total of
eight hundred thousand dollars six
hundred and fifty thousand will be used
for consumer restitution 150 thousand
for the state's attorneys and fees this
assurance also includes the
relinquishment program which requires
diamond to allow qualifying consumers
who no longer want their timeshare to
return them to Diamond with no further
obligations consumers complain that
diamond used deceptive sales practices
and made numerous aural
misrepresentations of false statements
during timeshare sales presentations no
kidding
their timeshare salesmen they
misrepresented annual maintenance fees
increases membership resale and buyback
programs which doesn't exist
timeshare membership resale market
doesn't exist
the ability to rent timeshare vacations
doesn't exist and discounts on other
travel needs under the settlement
Diamond agreed to take a number of
changes to its business practices eight
hundred thousand dollars later huh Mikey
yeah so um don't call out my integrity
on Twitter you piece of dirt because
I'll tell 17 million people how bad your
company is like right now the phone
number here if you want to talk
timeshares triple eight eight to five
five two to five this same company
Anthony this one just boils your blood
yeah I read that one Dave retired
Christian missionaries Frank and Betty
Lusk company convinces Arizona couple
nearly 90 years to buy a one hundred and
fifty thousand dollar timeshare guess
who it was Diamond Resorts salesman had
convinced them to buy one hundred and
fifty thousand dollar timeshare with
eight thousand dollars in annual fees 90
year old missionary couple they called
it a dream holiday actually it was a
nightmare said Frank eighty nine who was
a music professor it was the dumbest
thing we ever did desperate for a way
out they agreed to an exit company's
hefty fees to try to negotiate an end of
the contract Betty and eighty
eight-year-old former librarian has had
insomnia and fainting spells spells from
the stress she's gone to the hospital
several times the less confused
timeshares for years in Scotland Florida
Alaska Hawaii and then they found
Diamond Resorts who's lied to them in a
September 2018 sales presentation use
hardball tactics that echo prior
complaints from consumers such as not
adequately explaining all the costs one
hundred and fifty thousand dollar a
timeshare at ninety years
Oh Dave this is a company that is the
worst of the worst in the business and
you want to go over to the other end of
the spectrum Disney has time shares no
I'm not gonna tell you about Disney
timeshare but you can't there is at
least a market for it you can sell it
and get out of it's one of the few you
can actually get out of right and they
do actually not lie they do actually
deliver
the vacation is agree it's still a bad
investment still a bad investment
yeah Wyndham Henry to file bankruptcy
yeah their stocks gone to almost zero it
doesn't look like they're gonna make it
we are projecting their bankruptcy
filing any day now and they've been one
of the scummy er ones that's out there
Westgate vacation village just to name a
few more so if you've had a timeshare
experience and you want to share it this
our our contention is these things suck
beyond belief and some of these
companies are scum of the scum stay away
from them we're gonna talk about the
rest of the hour the phone numbers
triple eight eight two five five two two
five this is the Dave Ramsey show and
we're gonna start off this hour with
Linda Linda is calling from Florida hi
Linda welcome to the Dave Ramsey show hi
great how can we help all right so
what's your story I used to work for one
of the major timeshare companies I was a
paralegal in the Employment Law
Department and my job was to defend the
company from lawsuits brought by its own
employees and in a legal department
staff meeting the CEO of our company was
going around giving each different legal
discipline kind of kudos for what part
we play in the corporate health and when
he came to the Employment Law Group he
said well the personality type that it
takes to be a time successful timeshare
sales person is the same personality
type that gives the employment lawyers'
job security that's a little telling
yeah and it's one of the but one of them
one of the people you work for one of
the big four right yeah good good w1 the
Windham one that one that sounds like
Windham one yeah so in other words the
people we hire to do timeshare sales the
type of person we hire is likely to turn
around and Sue us well or cause losses
oh okay well there's that yeah there was
a lot of sexual harassment and
discrimination and just bad acting going
on among the employees and the employees
would see the company or you know a bad
work environment yeah or and I
personally investigated like EEOC
charges of discrimination and stuff and
I was fully employed believable how long
have you been gone oh I've been gone now
for about seven years I just got I
couldn't take it anymore I finally I
ultimately quit it was such a horrible
work environment and I felt like I was
in a little bit of a bubble because I
worked for the law department I didn't
work in sales I didn't work you know out
there with the product but I I told
people you know my job is to vent is to
defend this company from its Kamiya
employees Wow unbelievable so you hear
stories I'm sure in that setting of the
way the consumer was treated right oh
absolutely as a matter of fact on my
last day when I quit and I was really
surprised that they had me work for two
weeks notice that I gave because I
worked with really confidential
information and I would have thought
that when I gave my notice I would have
been walked out the door but no because
I was a good employee and they knew they
knew I would anyway that's not the point
the point is on my very last day I was
working to the last minute because I was
going to go out with my head held high
and everybody was gone it was five
o'clock nobody was answering phones and
I was sitting at my desk and my phone
rang and the receptionist in the
corporate office was trying to get
somebody to answer the phone because
there was an attorney calling with an
issue and I was the only person who
would answer the phone and so I answered
and I answered
and this attorney was on the line and he
had this elderly couple that were his
client well into their 80s who had been
sold a timeshare and he said now and he
was from Alabama and I went to Auburn
and he was in Auburn so we had an
instant rapport and he said now honey
it's not that they can't afford it
because they can but they're in their
mid 80s and they have no business having
this timeshare they're never going to
use it they're not in good health they
just you know they they're not going to
use it and they were just sold this bill
of goods and they bought it because
they're too nice to say no and he said I
just need to know how to help them get
out of this contract that they signed
and I gave him this was like my
satisfaction walking out the door I gave
him the name the telephone number the
email and the fax number of the person
in the legal department who handles the
escalated consumer complaints and I said
what you need to do is you need to write
a demand letter address it to this
person and somewhere in your letter use
the word misrepresentation and that is
what will get the attention of the
escalated people in the legal department
because they don't they do not they do
not have much help they don't have a
buyback program they don't have a resale
program your and our I don't want it
they don't want it they want the fees
they want the maintenance fees that go
on forever yeah you're stuck I've tried
to get people out of it for years and I
didn't know how until we got this exit
yeah misrepresentation yes that's the
word yeah because you know what how
here's attention you know what happened
then it happened every time yeah in
every sales presentation because this is
the type of people that you know that
they hires coming people who
misrepresent Wow and yeah and when I
very first started at Wyndham I worked
for the
groups that handles the advertising
because timeshare is heavily regulated
in every single state because they're
notorious for the lies and the
misrepresentation and every state has
laws about what they're allowed to say
on what they're not allowed to say and
their advertising break on every single
department there's a whole legal
department that reviews all of the
advertising to make sure that they're
walking the fine line and not
advertising in ways that'll get them in
trouble with the state regulators they
have just a whole department devoted to
it Wow amazing
Wow well Linda thank you for sharing
eyes or anything anything we're leaving
out I'm sure that I'm sure that you know
I have so many years of experience I
could take a little rest of your show
but you don't want that I'm tempted I'm
tempted suffice it to say from a
paralegal who worked inside the business
that the people doing the sales are
scummy enough to sue their own company
and these companies regularly are
misrepresenting their offering so Linda
thank you so much for joining us we
appreciate it
David is with us David is in Tennessee
hi David welcome to the Dave Ramsey show
tell us your timeshare horror story oh
thank you very much we inherited a
Windham timeshare from my dad and we've
used it a few times and every time we go
in to make a reservation they tell us
that we need to sit down and learn how
to use our membership better so we
decided to take them up on that this
last time that we went so they told me
45 minutes we went in they said that
they need to run our credit in order to
tell us more about our ownership so we
felt it's kind of sketchy but we went
ahead and sit here wasting an afternoon
any way we could let him do it four
hours later we left not knowing a whole
lot more than we did when we started out
in the next morning we got my wife got
emails notifying us that they had opened
up four credit cards in our name and I
assumed that whenever we were signing
the credit permission to check our
credit we were actually finding
permission to open up a credit cards you
know it's they didn't tell
we told them we did not like credit
cards why because it asked if it was
when we said no and we had it all filled
out they give us an iPad to fill out in
sign on so we couldn't actually see what
we were excited for we took them at
their word against our better judgment
mistake and yes and they told us so that
you either signed up for credit card
applications or they stole your identity
one of the two yes one of the two and I
have since gotten on all the credit
check sides and had my credit walk where
they can't get to it fortunately it
didn't ruin our credit scores like we
were afraid it was going to you but uh I
believe I have an attorney contact them
because I'm thinking you get a free
timeshare I'm not sure you want one but
I'm thinking you get one because I'm
thinking that a whole bunch of stuff was
violated there well this is a scummy
scummy business Windham diamond Westgate
vacation village the bottom of the
barrel the best of the bunch
still don't want to buy from them or
Marriott on the other end of the
spectrum and of course Disney yeah but
again I wouldn't buy a timeshare of any
kind ever and any circumstance but
you're hearing the real story about
these people
it's a timeshare nightmare hour which
should be a dream but everybody's heard
the story I don't know why anybody falls
for it anymore
I don't know either why would you go not
only to buy one but why would you go in
knowing that you're going to be trapped
in a room for hours on end
and you trade to trade off a portion of
your life for a free vacation and a
substandard property you know and that's
what these things are yeah Tom's your
nightmare calls at triple 8 8 to 5 5 2
to 5 that's triple 8 8 to 5 5 2 to 5
bill is in that's not bill Dave okay you
guys got to put that on hold thanks I
screwed it up I can't operate anything
Bill's in Michigan hey Bill how are you
hey good Dave are you good man tell us
your timeshare story well I'm just gonna
back you up on everything you're
basically saying about it I was a young
guy who just got married and it goes
twenty two or three I guess
we got invited by a couple to go up to
their resort the day at a time share
with and before we know it we were in a
room and all the bells and whistles and
all this is going to be great and before
we knew it we were signed up as a young
couple with this new time sharing that
we'd be using it and yeah we a lot of
misrepresentation and I think now this
has been 20 years ago I own my timeshare
but the the maintenance fees like you
talked about I think I started at four
hundred year now they're like a thousand
a year whoa can we hardly use it oh yeah
they've more than doubled and I think
the biggest problem is how many how many
weeks do you own
oh I when we got it it was like 10 grand
for the timeshare there's like six
thousand points which this is through
Bluegreen I don't know if I will say it
nice fire because I think they're yeah
they're one of the worst yeah oh my gosh
yeah so I mean there's peak time non
peak time so when you go to use it
obviously if you go to peak time 6000
like two or three days you know we're
off peak might get yeah five days or
something just depends where you go when
you go and most of the time anytime
we've tried it we couldn't get it when
we want to do so either we just went to
a different place you know if we want to
go on that vacation we're not great I'm
going to say long-distance planners if
that's the term as far as a this take a
vacation in three months
because you'd almost have to schedule
through Bluegreen from what we found way
all further net to get the resort you
wanted to go to I mean other otherwise
you just never would happen so basically
you're stuck paying $1,000 a year now
where your fees have manual fees have
more than doubled
first and you can hardly use exactly I
mean it just I mean it torch you off to
know and me I mean and I was 20 so I was
naive didn't really know a lot about it
I mean there's no people talking about
it like you guys doing a couple other
radio stations that I do listen to it
just wasn't out there so I mean I really
didn't I don't know I guess it was my
own stupidity not really knowing what I
was getting into it sounded really great
well on you a lot you were lied to yeah
that's what you said yeah Oh Lord yeah
yeah I mean it's it's been something so
I'm definitely finally turn the corner
and again we gotta use it probably in
two years and be lucky if we use it
again so me hoping that I can find so
bill weir quick before to that twenty
five euro who's who's your age when you
signed it and they're about to go
they're thinking about going to get one
for a free weekend free weekend
tell them why tell them I didn't need to
avoid that grab well I mean yeah they're
gonna get you in there and they're gonna
feed you everything I mean it's it's
almost like a car dealership or so you
know the salesmen they'll tell you
whatever you want to hear and they won't
read any of the fine print and you know
it's all there in front of you but are
they giving you time to read it you know
hey take this home take this back home
this heck no if you actually took it
home and read it you'd burn that thing
in a minute alright bill thanks for the
story man they said you joining us very
cool all right up next is Jackie in
Arizona
hi Jackie tell us your timeshare
nightmare hi boy I am so glad I am such
a fan of you and I'm so glad you have
this time carrying on because I am so
passionate about this back in 1980s we
on move dismiss from Minnesota Arizona
and we never heard of a timeshare before
then we get something in the mail get a
$25 coupon to at Home Depot or something
either all we like on people let's go
get $25 and so we listen to this feel
like now I mean we weren't making hardly
anything then but then what we bought
I'm in with a needed property then there
was two son Kara well and end with but
so anyways as the years went by we
started having kids and you know I
thinking you know they're not going to
have any places that we really would
take our kids to go to you know like
we're doing soccer or well you know any
things etc etc so anyways they ended up
changing they sold out to Diamond I
think it was yes is it Internet
yeah and I tell you you know all the
things that santera had promised
oh they said it would carry over which
was like three airline tickets etc well
we never did get those and I would write
letters to him I would call them never
or the other comment and then I would
big documentation that what I did and I
never did get the airline ticket well
anyway so then there was another
promotion and so we went again again no
more just I don't know why but we did
and then of course they wanted us to
switch from the deeded property to plane
yeah I know I didn't even know why why
we did but did they - but we did we did
it we didn't switch so and then there
was another timeshare company called ILX
on its international I think you're out
of Arizona
um premier vacation club I think it was
and then we bought with that - oh my
goodness you know so now we've got all
these maintenance phase etcetera and
annual fees and then so then I said we
did you know I thought well we need
Chuck my husband Charlie he says we need
to get out of this okay so it took it
was probably in 2007-8 I started writing
to the companies that we don't want the
timeshare and you want to on sorry you
can't do it and then and then I even
tried to donate to them certain
foundations like the kidney foundation
and said that we all will give you our
timeshare nope they didn't wise and and
then we would give it back in to them
but they didn't want it and so we ended
up I said you know I'm spending a lot of
time trying to get rid of these things
Oh I even paid 139 dollars to have them
average yeah those lesser complete rip
advertiser for sale with nine million
other people they can't get rid of
theirs exactly so then then I would get
calls from them and then they'll say
well we'll get rid of it for you if you
pay us five thousand or five hundred
dollars and I said I tell you what I'll
give it to you tonight I won't even have
to pay it won't you just take it you
know but no they wouldn't do that so
thank you
my husband says okay I'll humor you got
a chance to spend a lot of time - if you
work
so we ended up giving we ended up
eventually did go to point unfortunately
and then we went to gave word back to
them but we had to pay in fees for a
year in advance to them that was the
diamond in its race in placement
Scottsdale Arizona and then we headed up
giving another one away to ofrenda which
I don't think that was very nice yeah
that was possible to say you've been
chasing your tail for a decade on those
things and it's not been any fun so yeah
the timeshare business that's what it is
you get stuck in it and you can't get
out and talk about something takes up
your time yeah identity theft takes up
your time yeah payday lenders take up
your time and rip you off this stuff
anytime you make a financial mistake and
timeshare buying a timeshare would be at
the top of that list because the quality
of the people and the companies are
dealing with us so low you're just
dealing with the bottom of the barrel
from the salespeople on up it is
absolutely ridiculous and we've heard
that from inside the company we've heard
that from outside the company we've
heard that from the Attorney General who
of Arizona who announces an eight
hundred thousand dollar settlement with
Diamond Resorts for all of their lies
and misrepresentation and how they rip
the consumer off and you know they
appear to be the bottom of the barrel on
that and you know why all this yeah and
you know what we really weren't calling
out particularly names on this show of
the companies until a few months ago and
they decided they were gonna threaten us
which was a mistake came for the wrong
team yeah you don't this is not you know
if you're gonna threaten us then we're
gonna tell people exactly who you are
exactly what's going on we were just
trashing the industry but we'll call you
out by name Mikey so when does Ramsey
Solutions go after an industry or even a
company by name when they're screwing
the consumer we stand up for the
consumer yes we do so when you drove by
the payday lender and saw people lined
up during kovat outside you
we went to your Instagram posted that
and said people don't do that don't
you're getting screwed yes when we
recognize that whole life life
insurances screwing people we call it
out yes when we recognize that car
leasing is screwing people we call it
out yes we are on your side yes America
and it's real simple
yeah real simple and the reason why Dave
is is because we've been there we may
not have went to that specific route but
we've we've done stupid with money and
so I'm so passionate about wish somebody
told me exactly and that's what I'm here
for is to tell them yes sir that's what
you're here for is to tell them yeah
tell the truth don't do it you don't
need to oh you don't need to go $100,000
in debt to go that college you can't
afford no you don't you don't need to
make these stupid mistakes so and
timeshares right at the top of the list
of stupid mistakes yes sir and so we are
proudly endorsing timeshare exit team to
get people out of business yes out of
out of out of their calm shares until
the some of these times your companies
are out of business yeah
won't happen though because there's a
sucker born every minute that'll walk
into one of those rooms get locked in
there and not leave for five hours and
sign up I've been in those situations
everybody's been in those situations and
everybody falls for it yes sir so I'm
about done talking about these
particular companies unless they
continue to come at us if they come at
us we're going to continue to turn two
million people on Instagram yes sir and
17 million people listening here loose
on these companies and let you guys know
exactly where they stand but I'm gonna
always tell you to not do a timeshare
and I'm always going to tell you proudly
to use timeshare exit team to exit your
timeshare yeah and to get after them and
get out of these stupid things it's
expensive to get out but it's more
expensive to stay in so enough and and
here's the other thing you know we've
got on the white board downstairs you
know I may spend a million dollars
building a documentary with
whistleblowers from inside the business
and disclose every freaking detail on
these people we reckon that run on
Netflix it's through will I mean what
happened when we decide to go after
student loan problem hey this we had
eight episodes and borrowed future and
a huge hit in the podcast world almost
two million people of now listen to duck
borrowed future and all that was was an
expose of an industry that is completely
screwing the consumer and has gotten
completely out of hand and the student
loans are a disaster and we're not dying
and we're not done with them we're gonna
stay on them but but you know that's
what happens when we decide to point our
our ability to reveal this to millions
and millions and millions of people yeah
and we will continue to do that I've
done that my entire career and I will
not stop doing that as long as there are
airwaves and digits to carry our voices
we're going to stand up for the consumer
yes that is what we do
Jim is with us Jim is in Florida hi Jim
welcome to the Dave Ramsey show are you
better than I deserve what's up tell us
your time sure so what do you think well
it actually involves my daughter and
son-in-law they got married a few years
ago and part of their honeymoon they
were giving up the tour of one I guess
and make a long story short they got
snookered into one and he was underage
well I was underage and they they knew
it and they didn't realize it at first
my daughter and son-in-law till they got
home and look at the people work and all
that they paid on it for sometimes you
gotta get out of this so bottom line is
they get we threatened to sue them
because he was underage yeah contracted
with an underage person is not binding
yeah that's they got out of it down
that's a good part of it Wow he got out
of it so the timeshare salesman knows of
this kid is not even 18 years old and he
signs him up anyway
I don't remember our thing was under 21
okay I don't remember exactly but you
realize they made a mistake they came to
mom and dad for help we got them out of
it Wow which company was that do you
remember Westgate or something like that
I kept yeah that's one of them yeah yeah
they're they're right up there they're
right at the bottom of the barrel with
diamond and with
vacation village and Windham that's the
four that are on our radar that are that
are given that they're the ones with the
most complaints and the biggest yeah
when they took a half a day or a day of
their honeymoon locked him in a room
wouldn't let him out yeah you know tell
him until they signed up so Wow
underage and they signed him up anyway
tom is in Kansas Tom tells her Tom sure
had nightmare
okay well made my wife were in Las Vegas
and she was going with another couple to
see a timeshare presentation I had to go
find my brother-in-law at a convention
there and before she left I said now you
know about these timeshares and she says
no I know I know
you know we'll never get one and so when
I met her later in the afternoon she had
bought one Oh No
and that didn't go over too well I bet
two years later we came back to Las
Vegas and I told her we need to get out
of this and we didn't know about the
time to your exit team at that time we
went to the timeshare of people and says
we went out they said well you've got to
upgrade it to get some points so it's
easier to get rid of another seventy
five hundred dollars to get the points
and then we couldn't get rid of it
either couldn't give it away so they
live and we and then we found out about
the timeshare exit team and it did take
a little bit but we finally got out of
it now was that diver who was that it
was our CIA and I'm not sure what
company that was with yeah
because they're big in Vegas okay all
right yeah it was and time time sure Tom
sure exit team got you out
yes they did okay and it's expensive to
you pay you probably several thousand
dollars in you I paid to get out with
timeshare extra to only take thirty five
hundred yeah and but that got you out of
all the maintenance fees and all the
other stuff that's usually what it costs
about like that yeah they probably took
what six months
to a year to get you out well it's a it
took about two years about two years
okay Wow but they were really busy
because we kept called and they said
well we're building new offices I mean
it was you know they were just expanding
yeah that's absolutely no cool I'm
really glad they got you out man that's
very cool I'm sorry took two years Wow
but you stuck with them and it got you
out that's the thing because otherwise
you're stuck with a stinking thing with
the upgrade points so we can get you out
I mean it's a business just keep lying
yeah I was thinking that about that day
like how do you say hey you know what
upgrade to get out and then end it God
knows it's a lie yeah yeah he knows it's
a lot it didn't spend a hundred and
forty dollars so we can sell it for you
yeah like everything about them is just
a lie which I and I'm confused because
I'm like how do you how do we as a
consumer continue to fall for it
yeah well because nobody's out there
squawking so guess what now they got us
squawking so now kept poking the bear
til the bear growl back yep so there you
go it's because we're gonna we're gonna
let people know this is a I've always
said time shares are a bad idea even and
one of them over here at opera mills
owned them what they sell over there in
that shopping center is Opryland yep one
of the guys over there always tells
people when they come in Dave Ramsey
owns one of them
that's like saying Dave Ramsey leased
his car here to our Dave I know Dave
Ramsey personally used his credit card
so that kind of dumb crap people spread
around I mean gee demand they come on be
original with their lives anyway but
yeah they just make up crap I need to
get the name of that place I trashed
them too oh yeah you need today
especially is right here in a home city
come on they're probably still closed
for kovat right now Anthony O'Neill my
co-host today on the Dave Ramsey show
stay away from Tom shares particularly
diamond people that's what we're telling
you that puts this hour in the books
we'll be back with you before you know
it in the meantime remember there's
ultimately only one way to financial
peace and that's to walk daily with the
Prince of Peace Christ Jesus