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   Top Five Ways To Avoid Timeshare Fraud

Don't Believe Everything in the Sales Pitch

Resort companies, whatever their affiliations, are still essentially salesmen. The ethical spectrum is a wide one, as with any market, and includes both scams and legitimate offers. Also like in most markets, however, the darker side to timesharing is likely to be downplayed in all sales pitches. As tempting as the luxuries of a seaside or ski resort sound, the testimonies of hundreds of dissatisfied timeshare owners suggest that these temptations are not to be yielded to for their own sake. Familiarity with common sales tactics – hollow promises of "investment values" increasing, for example – will help you steer you clear of financial woes.

Read the Contract

Many timeshare contracts are notoriously prolix and tortuous to dissuade owners from reading them. But signing an agreement without reviewing it is an obvious mistake; the owner is then legally responsible for any of the contract's stipulations. It's always necessary to review these documents as carefully as possible. There are stories of owners who have negotiated through common timeshare traps because they read the contract.

Make Sure the Company is Legitimate

This can be a difficult thing to tell, although affiliations with the Better Business Bureau and similar organizations are a good way of discerning legitimate resort companies from mere sharks (although one might say that the timeshare waters are infested with them). Likewise, a company with a website bearing little or no information about the actual company (addresses, key members, contact data) is not likely a good company to do business with.

 

Be Wary of Upfront Fees

Those attempting to sell their timeshare are no less susceptible to the dangers of the industry. Many companies are now forming who promise to help free owners of unwanted timeshare properties with advertising or aid in the resale market. Many of the companies, however, never officially purchase the said timeshare, and are perfectly able to disregard the matter once they've collected fees for their service upfront. As with resort companies, such promises must be fully researched and one should be aware of what he's paying for with these preliminary charges.

 

Be Aware of the Risks

All markets have inherent hazards; timesharing is no different. Most people don't realize that they can purchase the same timeshare from the resale market for a considerably smaller amount than from a typical company. If you learned all you know about timesharing from a free weekend at a resort, chances are you've been given a highly skewed illustration of what it has to offer. The best way to avoid timeshare fraud is to research the market and understand the risks going in.