Welk Resort Group

I knew going in I wouldn’t be interested in a timeshare but I was curious. First off, the whole thing took 4 hours. After leaving the presentation my boyfriend and I just kept pointing out how misleading and predatory their sales pitch was. If you are thinking of going be aware of the following things ahead of time: They mention in the middle of the presentation before they talk to you about any other pricing that there is a VOA fee of either $1000 or $1500 a year. They mention it early in hopes you forget about it when they show you other pricing at the end of the presentation. Keep in mind this is charged EVERY YEAR even after your timeshare is paid off.

They will emphasize the pricing that they are showing you is only some small amount such as $33,000, $15,000 or $12,000 over the course of 10 years. What they fail to emphasize is the 15% APR that they charge on your monthly payments which quickly skyrockets this price to an insane amount. So something that they claim is only $15,000 (which will get you one week a year in a one bedroom facility) is actually $15,000 x 15% APR = $2,250/year or $22,500 over the course of a 10 year payment plan. $1000 VOA fees a year which adds up to $10,000 over the course of 10 years. There are only 6 Welk resorts and the benefit is really access to a ton of other resorts through RCI. If you want to stay at any of those resorts there is a $249 transfer fee for each week.

There are additional fees at the resort for their activities and amenities. So the total over 10 years is really more like: $15,000 + $22,500 + $10,000 = $47,500. EVEN if you pay up front and don’t incur the $22,500 in APR fees you are still spending $25,000 over 10 years for one week of vacation a year. Doesn’t seem like such a good deal anymore does it? That means you pay nearly $50k over 10 years to take one week of vacation a year. And keep in mind this doesn’t include airfare, food, activity costs or anything else. This is just the cost of having a place to stay for one week a year.

They like to sell you on the idea that you are an “owner” but really you don’t own anything because you are not gaining any of the profit they make from getting people to sign on to this ridiculous deal, you are just paying out a ton of money. So don’t be fooled by friendly agents. Your first agent might be friendly but we had a somewhat demeaning second salesperson who tried to push us after we said it's not for us. Obviously it did not work.

Also I can’t verify this but they left out a speaker with the tablet they gave the presentation out as my boyfriend and I had some time to talk while they pulled together a new offer for us. I really feel like it was a listening device because we were discussing how insane the 15% APR was and he immediately came back and said “Now I know you guys are concerned about this APR…” Very weird.

We have not booked our free trip to Hawaii yet but I imagine it will be a headache to go through the travel agency to do it. It's also only for two days so we are thinking of supplementing it with one-way flights to extend the trip. The “free tablet” we were promised was actually a voucher to get a tablet worth about $50. But the catch is we have to send in a registration and a check for $30 shipping and handling. I’m sure a lot of you know but after going to the presentation I felt like it was very misleading and predatory. They emphasize certain costs and de-emphasize HUGE parts of the agreement. Please run through the numbers before making a potentially damaging financial decision on spot.

I finally heard today (less than three weeks from the 1st date and roughly 7 from the alternate) that neither date was accepted and I could pick new dates for after June 3 or "upgrade" to a trip to Mexico. If Welk can't follow through on their promises in their presentation, how could you ever expect them to deliver on their product? (By the way, the timeshare deal was an ultimatum, "right now or not at all," which isn't great financial practice, but I had no intention of ever purchasing. I'm quite glad now as I would hate to be associated with such a shady business that runs scams on a daily basis.) For those looking to visit the resort, the property and rooms seemed nice from what small bit I saw. It is quite far from San Diego proper though (~45-60 minutes), so it would really depend on what kind of San Diego vacation you wanted as to whether the resort would be a good fit for you.

My husband and I tried to get into a 1 bedroom on the Big Island when it's the lowest demand for the island, and in three weeks, RCI has contacted us by phone 8 times and 110 emails all for a 2 bedroom unit at the same resort and for the same weeks when we keep saying we only want a 1 bedroom. Very poor service and now we have become so frustrated with Welk that we want out now! Sad that even contacting Welk is of no good either, either they give you the same answer or they just don't care about owners any longer.

I really feel scammed by Welk. They not call back or answer emails. I am waiting on a call back now and have been waiting for three hours. I cannot get into the owners lounge to pay the fees. I finally got a woman who gave me a generic password to get into the account. Are you seriously kidding? Do you think that I am going to pay you almost two grand on a generic password. You have no password reset. This is a real ripoff. They have converted to points without telling me. They have partnered with the ripoff Queen in Indianapolis, RCI, who has partnered with Wyndamn hotels. They have colluded so that past persons cannot use their timeshare except at resorts that they have chosen. Has anyone sued these people to get their money back?

Weeks are better than points!!!! How can they get away with this kind of theft? I bought a diamond, only to be told I now have a CZ? I called them and no one knows how to answer my questions and how to fix the problem! They used the bait and switch and it's not good business practice! I see a Class Action soon! I understand many owners are not happy! I'd like to be a part of such a lawsuit! If anyone knows of this egregious action, please let me know!!! Stay away from Welk! Your timeshare will not be of any value! Trust me!

When our time arrived, we were greeted by a young (30ish) man, very pleasant. We filled out a brief information packet and we BOLDLY circled that this was the very FIRST time we had been on a timeshare event. We were new to the process, we paid the $99.00 at the sporting event so we could get the free night stay in Branson and the free trip to Vegas (you only have to pay the taxes on the Vegas flight, I'll get to that later). Anyways, we listened to the presentation and looked at the 2 demo timeshare rooms they had on site, remind you this guy was very kind, understanding and so forth. When it came time and he asked, "So can we sign you up?" And we politely declined... It went down-hill from there.

We all understand body language right? He sat back in his chair, folded his arms across this chest, his smile turned into a frown. I advised him that we had some things in our lives that had changed and although we would love to able to afford the timeshare, we couldn't. I also reminded him that when we filled out the questionnaire prior to the presentation, this was our FIRST time attending a timeshare presentation. He became "curt" and stated that he needed to advise his boss of our decision. It had already been a little over the 2 hours. We waited while he retrieved his boss/finance guy. His "boss" came to the table where my husband and I were siting and proceeded to advise us the following... "We know you can afford this, we check your credit prior to your arrival".

Again, I advised him that we were unable to purchase at this time, due to some financial changes. He said "are you telling me you can't afford $13.33 a day?" I advised, "that is correct". He became demeaning, and quite frankly RUDE. With all this being said, we got out of there with the voucher for the free Las Vegas trip... We filled out the required form for the Vegas trip in the allotted time, 45 days after receipt. (Ours was mailed after 30 days). We never heard anything back. According to the instructions, we would receive a statement/bill for the taxes on the trip. We did not, I called the number on the voucher and spoke to a customer service representative, Ms. **. She said, "Our computers says that we received your vouchers that you sent, and we sent you the bill for the taxes in June and have had no response, so the voucher is no good".

Well, I advised her the following "we didn't even go to Branson for the timeshare presentation until the end of July and that's when we received our voucher. We had 45 days to return it to you, which we did after 30 days, you told me that you received our returned voucher, and that a letter was sent out to us. (Which would have been the end of September). I am calling you now to let you know we didn't receive the letter". Ms. **'s response "we sent that to you in June".

My response "we didn't even go to Branson for the timeshare presentation until the end of July, therefore we didn't even receive the free trip voucher to Vegas until then". Her response "well, it's no good". Bottom line guys, if you are going... Be prepared!!! If you think you are going for the free trip and a 2 hour timeshare presentation, it's not going to happen. For those who are going, I wish you the best. I assure you, this experience has turned me SOUR to the thought of ever owning a timeshare.

The rep stated on the 16th that our contract would go to underwriting and that once it was funded then our package would be sent out to us. When we had to make the choice to cancel we read the contract so that we could see how we needed to take care of canceling the membership. In the contract there was a form that need to be sent via fax or US Mail and we signed it on June 25th. 2017 and tried to send the form, only to get an error message saying the fax had "No Answer." After 4 failed attempts we decided that we would try again in the morning thinking that they must not have the fax machine up due to it being a Sunday.

So we tried again to send the fax on June 26th, 2017 again to only be told "No Answer." I then contacted the number that was on the front of the folder of our contract and advised the rep that the number that we were given was giving us an error message and that we wanted to make sure that the form was sent. I was placed on hold and was given another number to try to send the form and it worked on the first try. I figured that I would hear back from someone, but gave it the day and called again on June 27th, 2017 just to confirm the form was received and that our cancellation was being processed. I then was told that it was being reviewed and that I should be getting a call shortly.

I have called everyday from June 26th to July 11th, 2017 and I have spoke to a dozen people to only be told that my account was being reviewed and that I would get an answer soon. Now we are going to be filing bankruptcy and I wanted to get this taken care of prior to filing but I guess this is going to have to be included. I can not believe that a business built on the values of its namesake could treat people like this especially when they are trying to do everything right. I am reviewing this business only to hope that there is resolve for myself and my family as well that if someone else reviews this that they spare themselves the headache.

The inventory manager tried the same pitch, showing us pictures of his family and kids at the resorts... Another sales tactic! We are a family of 4. We were offered the basic; we would end up paying over $400 a month for 10 years and over $1000 in Vacation fees a year for LIFE. We politely declined only to have the inventory manager, sales rep and some other guy who I didn't catch his name return one by one to make further attempts. Worse than a car salesmen! If you go: Don't let them waste your time with chit chat. Get in and out! Buy if 1 week of vacation a year at 400 a month is good for you! The resort is beautiful and well taken care of. I have yet to book the flight to Hawaii but will write an update on that experience as well.

I was trying to stay friendly but the smug little man trying to sell to us was condescending and rude. The offer almost sounded good but his attitude when we asked too many questions was so bad I just couldn't be nice any longer. The stay was fun, rooms were very pretty. The place was nice but not a lot of things to do for a family with young children. Not worth the price and the fees were crazy.

The worst part was when we decided this wasn't the deal for us they continue to send other people over, offer more "trips" and even say condescending rude comments about being bad parents and spending our money frivolously, trying to either guilt you into paying or trying to get your ego. In the end we still spend over $200 just to stay the night up there since the restaurants were pricey and the closest place off the resort was 45 minutes away.

Also we went on off season and everything on the resort was closed or not working. Plus, the Mexico trip we were supposed to get just for going has yet to be given. We had to pay$300 for supposed taxes and they have declined our dates 4 times and it's been well over a year and we are still waiting for this Mexico trip... Plus it turns out it is a mid week, Tuesday -Thursday trip that only gives one full day since the flights are late on Tuesday and leave early on Thursday and again we paid the $300 upfront to book and they still HAVE NOT BOOKED the trip going on 16 months out.

I gave them my credit card for the rooms and picked out our package (the Disney one). Well the next day I got a confirmation email. It did not list the room I received or the amount I paid. You also don't get something for nothing. The Disneyland package was a joke with extra fees and limited days. But I figured we would at least get to stay at the resort for a good price. I did call the agent back because I was concerned that the room was not listed on my confirmation. She returned my call saying that is just how they do it but that I did have a two bedroom suite at the hotel. I thought all was good until I got another call that night from the agent's supervisor saying that actually they had booked that room but the hotel told them it wasn't available.

All they had was another two bedroom with a little more room but it would be significantly more money, or they could put me up in sister hotel. At this point I was even more leery and told them to cancel everything. How shady to promise one thing and not deliver. If this is how they deal with just getting people to their presentations I can only imagine what a nightmare it would be to own one of their time shares/condos etc. Don't bother. It is not worth the hassle or the prizes that they offer. I feel like we escaped even more hassle once we got down there.

5 months later I lost my job and business card account, I contacted Welk requesting to cancel without a refund. They not only refused but were extremely rude. I only missed 1 payment then I got another job and started sending them cashiers checks of $150 to $400 a month. After paying $1200, I tried to plan a trip, Welk declined indicating we had to pay $1450 before using any points. On several occasions, accounting contacted us indicating I owed late fees because my payments were going to the CA office (address on the invoice) not the AZ office. I refused since the payments were in Welk's possession. Confirmed through USPS Return Receipts. Nothing else was said about it. So over the next few months I paid the account off in full then booked a Palm Springs weekend trip. It was wonderful, no issues. I tried to book a 2nd trip for Cabo Sirena del Mar but was told Cabo was booked until after Memorial Day 2017.

I booked for June 2017. No problem! In April I purchased our airfare then 6 days before departure, Welk called to advise my account had been closed and the trip was being cancelled for non-payment of the $35 late fee. As I listened to all their lame excuses as to why they waited until my trip to make such a declaration, the response was it takes time to update all our files!!! I plan to let my attorney handle this one!!!

Once I said no, then another offer was made to me for a cheaper price and a week a year instead of the higher price and one week every other year. The yearly maintenance fee that was explained to me was changed several times throughout the presentation as well. They offered me 2 round trip tickets to Hawaii on top of the prizes that were already offered to me and at the end when I finally got them to take no for an answer the manager said to me..."well you will never get to Hawaii, I can tell you that." I was offended and disgusted with the way that they treated me. I feel like they used my emotional situation as a way to try to pressure me in to the deal. I told them I did not have $1500 to put down as a down payment, and they had me fill out an application to help me with this. Once they did this and saw that my credit was good they really put the pressure on. Two people pressuring me at one time.

I would not recommend this to anyone. I enjoyed my stay in the hotel on the property and I would more than likely return to that resort, but for the time share, it does not seem to be an up and up offer. If you can offer a better deal/program then why not offer that from the beginning? Please make sure you do not give them any information that they can use to try to manipulate you. They really played on my situation, single mom, wanting to spend vacation time with my daughter. Told me what a rip off the Disney experience was and that I could have had a way better experience with them. I personally believed my Disney experience was incredible. I just hope that others don't feel the pressure that I felt with these sales reps. I know it is their job to sell but not to make someone feel bad.

While the people I talked with were polite, I got the impression that my concern was not really a priority. In addition to this disappointing experience, the maintenance fees are high and go up each year, it has been extremely difficult to navigate the point system, and "owner updates" turn out to be a long sales pitch meeting. I feel as if what I was sold in the sales meeting does not match up with the experiences I have had.

1) That it was a great investment. It's not. In the 4 years and $14,000 plus dollars we've paid to Welk so far, we have been able to use it twice. Each new property that Welk acquires, the "points" needed to get a time slot for that area is so high, what you purchased seems to diminish in value. You end up needing "more" points.

2) Interest Rates. We were told during our presentation that you can refinance a timeshare. You cannot. You can get a loan from another lender, pay off your Welk Balance and pay the lender but you cannot refinance the loan. Welks Interest rates are outrageous and they keep going up. 3) Annual Dues aka: Maintenance Payments - We were told that our payment would be a certain amount. What they don't tell you is that they can be raised every year without telling you. Ours was supposed to be about 1000 a year based on the plan we owned. In the last 2 years, they have raised it by almost 30%.

4) Once you're in, you can't get out without suffering the consequences of hurting your credit for at least 7 years. Welk will not work with you, they will not offer you a buyout, you cannot offer it back to them (we tried), they will not help you in anyway financially. They will not help you with the 15+ percent interest rate. Nope, and once you start to dispute with them, the "collections staff" are rude, have insulted my pregnant wife calling her dumb, unintelligent, and irresponsible; the only happiness and pleasant experience you will get from them is if you are paying them on time. If you're not paying them or are in dispute... good luck. And yes, they actually said those things to her on the phone.

5) Every "owners update" meetings we went to, they made attempts to "hard sell us" in purchasing more points or to get a credit card. Why couldn't they just be updates, I don't know. You would think that paying Welk over $8,000 a year would buy you some stellar customer service and awesome. 6) There are so many "restrictions" on what you can use your points on and time limits and slots, it almost makes it exhausting at times trying to book anything. 7) We were told that Timeshares are tax deductible just like a regular mortgage. They are not; we checked with 2 different certified tax professionals in the State of California.

8) During the presentation at the Escondido location, they told my wife and I in multiple occasions that they own the land that the resort is built on and because of that, there's no "mortgage payment". I say that loosely as I'm not familiar with the exact terminology. They also told us that because of it, that they can be more profitable allowing more opportunity and cost reduction to their points owners. However, we have seen an increase in Annual dues, removal of non-resident privileges for the pool and fitness center, increase in interest rates and increase in points needed for the "newer" properties.

We have tried to play nice with Welk. We tried to amicably resolve our disputes with them but we have discovered that the 5+ people we have spoken to about our complaints and problems have basically (but indirectly) said, "you are screwed. You signed the contract, you are screwed and there's no way out." To my knowledge, Welk will not hold their employees accountable for misleading statements and false reports in their sales presentations and they will defend these falsities to the death.

Sorry, I wish I had better things to say. Had Welk truly and properly acknowledged our complaints and offered us a way out, I would not be writing this. They chose not to. Let me make one thing clear, we signed the contract, we made that mistake but I pray that you don't. Don't sign it until you fully understand what you are signing. You are locking yourself into it permanently.

The "Free" tablet had to pay $35 for shipping, which I found the exact same generic Chinese Android tablet on Amazon and it cost--$30 (free shipping)! It was run by a 3rd party company with bad complaints, so we never used any of the "free" gifts. Waste of 4 hours of my life (including round-trip driving). At least the coffee/soda/snacks were good!