Welk Resort Group

Four years and $13000 later, we have never set foot in a Welk Resort or associated property. Their “points exchange system” lacks transparency and is designed in such a way as to discourage use with the endless variety of hoops you have to jump through. Unlike their faulty advertisement this is no way a 5 star resort. Any traveler would fare better at a Motel 6 where there are at least some standards for customer service. This organization is predatory in its business practices and once the ink is dry on the contract bleeds “owners” dry. In short, buying into a Welk Resort property is equivalent to investing in a Black Hole, with the exception that the Black Hole has scientific value at least. Buyers beware.

We attended a festival event in Breckenridge and learned about the time-share opportunity there. The marketing staff explained that they would take a $50 deposit on our credit card, which Welk Resorts would "refund the second you walk in the door". When we arrived at the Preview Center, we checked in and sat in the lobby. We wanted to see if what the marketing person told us was true, so we asked the receptionist about our refund. She said we would get that at the end of the presentation. The money is a non-issue for us, but the principal of the thing made a difference. That started the day off on the wrong foot.

Furthermore, the marketing team offered us “free flights and hotel” to tropical locations for agreeing to view the presentation, only to find out later that there are so many “hoops” to jump through to bring the flights to fruition, it is not worth the effort. You must travel on the dates and times the travel company determines and the trip is for 3 days and two nights. The marketing person who lured us in specifically told us we could extend our trip and still benefit from the round trip flight. This is a lie.

We met our host, Rich, and he walked us to the discussion area. The area is just numerous dining tables with four chairs around each. There is loud music playing overhead which makes it difficult to hear any of the audio content they play on their little iPads. We had looked around outside while waiting for our scheduled time. We happened upon a map on the fence showing what the property would look like upon completion. You should know that this was the only time throughout the presentation that we saw a map of the planned property. The only representation of the property was a small floor plan of the rooms around 2x2".

Our host, Rich, explained to us that he was “new” and said we were going to have fun. Rich was a nice person but he was clearly not prepared to meet with potential buyers. He mentioned several times that he had a real estate license but couldn't discuss pricing yet because he was new. My husband knew more about time-share details than Rich did.

In fact, Rich started taking notes as my husband explained things to me. He must have said more than ten times "Oh that's great information; I'm going to use that one". Rich could not tell us square footage of units. He did not know how the points rolled over from year to year. He could not explain the exchange program with RCI. He spent more time talking about the benefits of RCI (partner group) than of Welk Resorts. He asked us the same questions repeatedly, failing on numerous occasions to write down our answers. He tried to demo the owner’s portal unsuccessfully because he could not figure out the log in information.

During the entire presentation, I can only describe Rich’s actions as fumbling and confused. Our presentation duration was supposed to be 120 minutes. It began at 11:40 and we did not leave until 2:30 because Rich had to leave repeatedly to ask questions. He was unable to answer fully on his own a single question we asked. Down the street from the property, there is a large, permanent cement plant with unsightly structures and dozens of cement trucks. Since the plant is in direct line of sight from the property to the mountain views it claims as a benefit, we asked what the future plans are for that area. Neither Rich, nor the supervisor, nor the sales director could give us an answer.

The Sales Director visited briefly and seemed somewhat knowledgeable but then she handed us back to the supervisor whose name I cannot recall. The supervisor started off friendly and accommodating but the more questions we asked, the shorter and more abrupt she became. I explained that we would like to see one of the Welk properties before making a decision. She rebutted that “you can see what’s here” meaning the Preview Center which is essentially like the lobby of a hotel. She also asked why the “pictures were not enough”.

The points they wanted us to buy for a "two bedroom" (240,000 points for $33,000 over 10 years) we found out were not even enough for a week at the very resort we had the presentation. One week in a one bedroom was 300,000 points. Absolutely ridiculous. This does not include the roughly $1200 per year "maintenance" fee that you must pay regardless of staying or not. At that point, we politely declined the offer and watched as she became visibly angry and rude. We left shortly thereafter but only after telling two more people we were not interested.

Do not visit this property or any of the other Welk Resort properties to consider a time share. Read the reviews and do your homework. This is the worst customer experience we can recall having. It makes sense why their reviews are as follows: Overall Satisfaction Rating out of 114 reviews: 5 stars - 45, 4 stars - 3, 3 stars - 3, 2 stars - 9, 1 stars - 54.

Basically we only had 18 months to use it, and that all around the world narrowed down to 7 places, most of them right here in U.S.A and one of them the so-called San Diego destination is 15 minutes away from us. But just as they pressured us into buying after that 5-6 hours we were there at the first presentation, they also pressured us into choosing quickly one of those 7 places to stay, so we decided right around Christmas 2017 to visit their San Diego spot, which is really like Escondido or Fallbrook areas. We called and complained while we were there because all the activities they said they had were all broken down, closed or just plain ole non-existent. So, we really just wasted our points there.

By the way, the first place I wanted to go when she “serpents” called in March of 2017 I said “Hawaii” she told me that destination would not be available until around October so call back to schedule then, it really wasn’t until that time I found out there was only 7 places we could go in this package. Now, we’ve wasted money big time because I think at least four of the choices are California destinations and one in Branson Mo, and only one out of the country... Mexico. Now I told Serwen, "It's it kind of funny you guys got Mexico on the sent people to place and the United States are advising people not to go there?" She ignored me and said, “one of her friends just went, and she had fun.” While I’m thinking a whole family just went and never returned.

Welk Resort are scammers. Their presentation is something else, and they take you so far away from your car that they have to pick you up and drive you to the place they hold these presentations. So, there is no way you're going to just walk out, especially when it's uphill and you 48 and hot flashing every second. So, my husband and I sit there for hours trying to get out and ended up buying that trial and got had. By the way, the last six months I’d been thinking about suing them so I paid late a few times. In April we got a bill with a balance of $198.00 so I sent $210 and I look at my credit report. They claiming I have $8.00 past due. So now that they’ve taken us through all this, there is NO doubt in my mind I am calling my attorney to get a suit in because these people are frauds.

So, I call my friend and ask her if she wanted to try out this resort in Florida for $99.00 if we go to a presentation, because I’m thinking not everybody is like Welk Resort, she says, "Heck no... That’s Welk, we just sued them last year for the same thing and I do think I told you about it." I didn’t remember, but now I have a witness that these people are pure frauds and we can’t allow them to keep doing this right in my neighborhood. This audition package is a fraud, they kept us there almost 6 hours after we said no at least 20 times, we told them, "If you don’t get me out of here I’m going to scream," then as you say that they’ll go get someone who’s suppose to be leading you out the door who is really just trying to sell you again. Welk Resort doesn’t deserve any stars, all inclusive trips are way better and they are hassle free.

When I called to confirm I was coming I was told that the kids' club had a climbing wall. That was a total lie. So, we showed up, our host came to meet us, and we dropped our kids at the kids' club. We went upstairs to the sales room, which is a very crowded loud room with a bunch of tables. First thing our host (whose name was Mimi BTW) does is try to get us to agree to more than 120 min (saying, "I'd you have any questions etc., it will go over the 120 min"). We politely stated that we had two young children that we had promised would only have to spend two hours in that room. She immediately got hostile and tried to pressure us, and said something along the lines of "so you guys aren't really interested". I firmly stated that we were told two hours was what was expected of us and that is what we were willing to give. She accepted that and started her presentation.

Let me just say, she was a horrible salesperson. She did nothing to make the "opportunity" seem the least bit enticing. Anyway, we sat through her spiel, did the brief tour on the golf cart, and came back to the sales room. At this point it was past 120 minutes. We made it pretty clear that we weren't going to buy, and that we needed to get our kids (I had been communicating with my 10 year old daughter by text, and she said she was getting a headache from a little kid there that was crying and was very eager to be picked up. We told this to Mimi several times). So, time's up, we told her we wanted to get our kids and leave... and here is where her true evil psycho colors began to show. As I said it was well past the 120 min at this point and she knew exactly how eager we were to get our kids. She said she just needed a manager to come over to sign off on our paperwork so that we could get our free gifts.

She walked off to get said manager, and disappeared for about 10 min, then she came back saying this manager still wasn't available. Then she'd walk away, come back after a while and say that she got one signature but still needed another, oh and guess what "you know how I said I was new here, well there's some stuff I forgot to go over". She said this in such a blatantly sarcastic way that it was obvious she was trying to ** with us. She knew we were getting impatient and she basically started antagonizing us, saying "well why did you even come here." My husband and I were absolutely appalled at the way she acted. She became absolutely overtly hostile. All we said is that we really needed to get our kids, and she started saying "wow, I've never experienced this before" acting like we were being unreasonable and belligerent. It was absolutely bizarre.

My husband and I looked at each other, like is this seriously happening? You wouldn't believe the things she was saying to us, like implying that if we didn't buy in, we were breaking promises to our kids and our family would fall apart. What kind of nutcase would that work on? She thought she had us over a barrel, and that we would just eventually walk away without our "gifts" and the $50 deposit. When I again said I needed to get my kids, she said in the snottiest most sarcastic way possible "oh yeah, don't forget your kids". I looked at her and said "you're a mother (she had mentioned her 3 boys, who I feel terrible for since their mother is a psychopath, multiple times), do you feel good about yourself".

She just rolled her eyes at me. Well, my husband and I aren't idiots (she actually tried to throw my husband's PhD back in his face, as if he was being an elitist or something when he said absolutely NOTHING condescending), and I'm not one to take ** lying down... so, I made a scene. I warned her first, but I don't think she believed me. I went around to several other tables where these pitches were happening and told the people they were being scammed and they shouldn't expect anything, loudly saying that this was a scam. I then decided that it was most important to get my kids. As we were walking out, I came across a man with a name tag. I asked him if he was a manager, and said I wanted to speak to a manager. I was clearly up in arms. I went to get the kids while my husband waited for the manager.

Well, we actually got what we were promised (only time will tell if the Hawaii voucher works, but I can tell you that the wine tasting voucher did work). I ran back upstairs because I needed to see this woman's face one more time and tell her what I thought. She was being talked to by a couple of other people possibly managers) and looked like she might cry. I told her managers that we were treated in an abhorrent way and they needed to train her better. They politely apologized and escorted me out to quiet me as quickly as possible. Wow, that's about all I can say. Unbelievable experience. So, if you go for this presentation, mentally prepare yourself for guerilla warfare.

Second, I tried to use our time at the Welk resorts only to find that they are constantly booked and impossible to reserve. Lastly, I have been waiting over a month for a supervisor at Welk to call me back about a cruise exchange that I attempted to do, but wasn't told I couldn't do. I wanted to take my family on a cruise and was told to exchange my Welk time to Interval. I called Welk and told them what I wanted to do. I then found out that Welk made a general exchange and not a cruise exchange. I called Welk to fix this mistake and was told that a supervisor would need to hear the phone recording to verify that I requested a cruise exchange. I was never called back by a supervisor so I called again. Same response, same promise to have a supervisor call, no call.

I called again and was told the same thing and was now told that there are few supervisors and that I should feel sorry for them. I told the lady that I paid over $20,000 for my timeshare and under no circumstances do I feel sorry for anyone at Welk. I asked for a supervisor to do their job, check the phone recording and to call me. To this day...nothing!! Please don't waste your money on Welk. If it was only once bad incident, I would totally overlook it. But for over 4 years now I have had nothing but massive problems. Pick any other company, just don't pick Welk.

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.