WorldMark TravelShare

When I contacted them to use the points I was advised by a very rude lady that I was advised on the screen when I canceled them online but apparently it's not their responsibility to notify via email, phone or text... that the screen notice is all that is required and they have many people calling to complain about this but it's not the company's problem. I very rarely look back and wish I could change decisions I have made in the past but this is definitely one thing I wish my husband and I NEVER GOT INVOLVED IN as it's just a scam.

However, the message was unintelligible, as it was spoken in heavily accented English. Company has asked me to pay an additional $169.51 finance charge to return my account into good standing. I do not believe that company has the right to a finance charge because I have paid my past due amount, including late fees, in full, and company never provided actual notice of my account status. Company has intentionally defrauded an existing customer. Company has agreed to reduce the finance charge by $50, but the entire amount of $169.51 should be waived, as it should not have been issued in the first place. My account is under control by Pay Blackwell company and threatening us to pay all the collection fee ($78.98 + 77.30+ 45.07) to access my own account. Is it worthy to own the timeshare with this Worldmark by Wyndham?

Then, in 2016, I went from paying my monthly dues manually to autopay on credit card. Unfortunately, they didn't get my card registered in time to pick up the first bill cycle that was supposed to be paid via credit card. So every month, WorldMark got a payment, but every month, there was a balance rolling forward I was not aware of. SO I just found out because this balance was sent to collections, I LOST my TravelShare membership that gave me access to RCI resorts. The only way to get it back? I had to buy more credits... no thank you.

For the last 3 years, we have tried to book resorts 13 months out, but cannot get units because everything is already booked by the members who have more preferred status that have a bigger booking window. So we never are able to get into the popular places like Hawaii. So we paid over 20K upfront, and pay almost $1,000 a year in dues for a Timeshare scam we cant use. I regret buying this and was devastated when I found out we could have bought the same 12,000 credits for under $4,000 online. WorldMark is one of the biggest scams out there. Now we are trying to sell our credits to just get out from under it. We will be taking a loss of over $15,000. Makes me sick.

So I fulfilled the ten year "20% interest" loan promise and paid the damn thing off. (They never send anything to show the loan as being made good on, I had to repeatedly contact them to get them to send me something to show that the loan was paid off). But I never was able to schedule an actual vacation during that time. Back then they actually offered merchandise for credits and I did purchase some of that a couple times.

Ever since I paid the loan off, they've sent letter after letter telling me they could help me "do away with the quarterly dues" if I would only call within 7 business days. I called one time and the person tried to get me to another sales pitch meeting, and I told them I was not interested. The letters continued to come, and be ignored by me. Finally, July 2017, the company realizes I've scheduled a trip to a particular resort, and they pounce.

As soon as we got to the resort to check in ("we" meaning my husband and four young children) they tell me, "we'll feed to breakfast one day while you're here and tell you how to make better use of your credits and it will only take an hour". I should've realized it was a trap when they needed "$20 refundable payment" to ensure we would come.

The day of this "$20 complimentary breakfast" arrives and my family of six is basically kept in one small room for three hours as three salesmen bombard us with the "low pressure sales" pitch they've tried to get me to listen to for three years (how's that for "low pressure"?). Finally, at the end, I tell them "no!" and that they owe my children a half day of vacation because they've stolen that from them and I'm pissed! One salesman says "why are you still here then?" "Because I want you to do something to make up for the vacation time you've stolen from my kids!"

Another sales man says "what do you want me to do, I can't give you the day back." I respond with "I don't know what you have in your little bag of tricks to coerce people, you tell me what you're gonna do." A female employee scoffs at that and says "wow." I did tell her to "shut up." And I left my husband to deal with them. They ended up doing nothing.

Their solution to ending my quarterly fees was to try and convince me to purchase more credits and change the quarterly fees to a monthly fee, which would've been hundreds more a year for a vacation I had bought on a promise of "never having to pay for a vacation again!" Guess how much my vacations for the past 14 years have cost PER vacation...(I figured it out). It's cost me $1650 a vacation... None of which were even a full week. And this doesn't include cost of travel or food or activities done during these vacations. Is this company worth it? No. Their "low pressure sales" tactics are really "low", as in, "below the belt". They lie, they cheat their "owners", and they treat their owners like idiots. The promise of "owning" your vacation, and to never have to pay for a vacation again after buying into their credit system, is a total lie.

At one time we wished that ALL of the vacation money we invested in timeshare ownership had been used to purchase additional points in WorldMark because their resorts are consistently of the highest standard and we would always have chosen to stay at a WorldMark over any other timeshare resort. While their resorts and amenities and furnishings in the condos are still great, the owner service has steadily eroded over the years since Wyndham acquired WorldMark.

Two examples: I have always booked our reservations online. Today for some inexplicable reason, I was unable to do so. I repeatedly received a pop-up box with a message advising that I could not calculate my points until June 21. HELLO! Today IS June 21. I finally resorted to calling the Reservations line. I was on hold a full 25-30 minutes before someone came on the line to assist me. I have never before had this experience when I have had an occasion to call WorldMark.

WiFi — Even the cheapest economy motel chains offer free WiFi, as does every single other timeshare resort where we have stayed, without exception. But not WorldMark. Unless you are a TravelShare member, you will be charged a daily rate to connect to WiFi at every single one of their locations. If you are a TravelShare member, you have free WiFi access, but you are limited to connecting only two devices. That is totally unsatisfactory and a ridiculous limitation. When it is just my husband and I, we have three devices. When we have our grandchildren with us, each child has two devices. I have complained to the people in the office at each resort (even though I realize they are not the ones who established this policy, but I hope they will pass on the complaint, so I always voice it).

I have written at least three letters and did not even once receive a response from anyone on the Board of Directors or from any corporate officer. The WiFi service is also very unreliable. I usually have to call in to a technician to have them make it operable from their end. Take note: The company which provides the WiFi service is a company owned by Wyndham/WorldMark. Furthermore, (as expected, but despite assurances to the contrary) the "owner updates" at certain locations are nothing more than a sales pitch to engender additional sales. It is very unfortunate that WorldMark is no longer independent and was acquired by Wyndham, a company that is all about generating revenue and not about seeking to please its timeshare owners.

We went to get food very upset, then back to the Timeshare to know the lady called the Sheriff on us. Wow... So the officer, the lady, and my hubby had a meeting in a room. In the meeting, that lady was so calm, and she changed what she said earlier to "You can stay, I just need to talk to my supervisor". For my husband's comprehension, she was lying. Because she changed her words without explaining why. My husband was so upset he was yelling which looked bad in front of the cop. So at the end my husband looked like the bad guy. All the stress that we experienced caused my husband and I to have anxiety attacks. He called 911 twice cause extremely high blood pressure and anxiety. Can anybody imagine to celebrate an anniversary this way? A complete nightmare.

That lady who was new to the job as a supervisor never apologized to us. But at the end the manager and other supervisors did apologize to us and even agree to change our location for the rest of our stay. I guess we did appreciate that decision. God, you would think my mom paid them all the money to get this? I also don't get how this lady did her job like we, the customers are worthless piece of crap.

Plus the gift cards or other perks are worth the time. I was in San Diego one time and was offered one thing which I wasn't all that interested in so I asked if it was possible for 2 tickets to the zoo and they did it! BTW this was long after the association with Wyndham so you can't say it was only Trendwest that would do those types of things.

Ah... the reservations for people other than owners?? Hm-m, my son and new daughter-in-law had their honeymoon at the Yellowstone Resort. We do family reunion types of things with reservations for several units... a lot of non owners there with me. I often have family members ask for a few days someplace. Is there a problem with that... isn't it all about family enjoyment?? Just because I am not there doesn't mean I am not benefiting from my membership.

Booking?? Unless there is a problem or I have some special requests, I book online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week!! I have also used "wait list" and have almost always been able to get at least something close to what I wanted for the length of time I want. Have you taken advantage of a party weekend? Yes, you have to spend a few dollars... but what fun!! I guess it really boils down to being a responsible borrower, an informed owner and willing to try new places and do new things.

We used our WorldMark from 10 years ago when our kids were small and it was great for us. Once the kids were grown, we sold it for $0.30 a credit, a 50% loss, and we started using hotels. Well the hotel experience sucks relative to a WorldMark condo and we usually spent $200 to $300 a night. The regular hotel prices have been going up as they said they would and the taxes and resort fees are substantial. But WM goes up also. So I just bought again on eBay for $0.26 a credit, and I hope that is the bottom. That is 2.5 times maintenance, so the long-term value is very suspect. The faster the maintenance fees go up the lower the resale value will drop. I just set aside this capital cost in my mind.

Here is my math. A 6,000 credit membership will give me about 8 days a year. Maintenance is $600, cleaning is $60ish per 2-day stay, so that is 3 cleaning fees. Variable cost is about $150 a night with points or bonus time. That is a pretty good deal. Much better deal if you can go mid-week. I also like the way the WorldMark locations give me destinations to target in my vacations. You can get more value by letting friends and relatives book mid-week bonus time. If you get 15 nights a year, the maintenance per night drops down. More weird math: it is cheaper to buy one-time credits at $0.075 per credit than it is own credits and pay $0.10 per credit per year maintenance. So I bought the minimum and will buy one-time credits when points works best for my needs.

Sales presentations are good and bad. They pay you $100 to listen for 90 minutes. Well if you do that 4 times a year, that will cover 2/3 of your maintenance. If you mention resale pricing they will give up easier. I plan to avoid the sales presentations by refusing at check-in and then disconnecting the phone line in the room. I do not plan to use a real phone number, so they cannot call me with offers. I plan to set up automatic payment for maintenance well in advance of the due date to avoid the collections nonsense mentioned in this forum.

I agree with all the reviews about being sent to collections. The minute your account clicks over to the first hour of being late bam you are going to collections. For the amount we spent on yearly dues and the charges for housekeeping and other charges we could have rented a house 3 times over. So we did sell. Took a 15,000 loss and then the family that bought it have had nothing but problems trying to get it transferred. We began the process October 2016 and as of the end of January 2017 it still is not been completed.

There is no documentation when you call on your account so the next person knows what is going on. You will never speak to the same person. And speaking of collection we are being sent to collection and we don't even own the timeshare anymore. I tell everyone I know and blog continually about not buying into this company. I know there are a lot of members who say they have never had any problems, well good for you all. You are the lucky few that haven't. WorldMark way over sold and created this mess and they could care less. Bonus time what a joke.

The next day, I went to the presentation and was very impressed with how much money I was about to start saving on vacations by buying an ownership into Worldmark. It all sounded so good but, I wanted time to think about it. I'd heard countless horror stories from people who had been burned by buying into timeshares but, Worldmark seemed like one of the good guys. I told them I needed time to think about it. They said they were 'no pressure' but, that prices were going up soon and if I wanted to lock in to the price offered I'd need to sign up that day... THAT SOUNDS LIKE PRESSURE TO ME! But, I stood my ground by saying that I will not make a decision on that day.

That evening I got on my tablet and found this site. There are many people here who feel like they've been burned whether it be broken promises, late fees, outstanding balances going to collection without Worldmark letting anyone know that their accounts were being turned over to collection. Those just seem like the most common complaints. The list goes on and on. Something told me that Worldmarks' presentation and promises seemed too good to be true. And, when things seem too good to be true, they usually are. Thankfully, I read so many complaints here against Worldmark. I almost bought into this. Now I'm glad I didn't.

I look at my bank account and I'm missing $540 instead of $440. Call them and get a bunch of excuses. Second month rolls around, nothing is taken out of my account. I receive a call stating that my card was declined. False, my bank account has nearly $800 from the 1st of the month to the 10th. Check with the bank and they confirm that there were no attempts to withdraw the money. Update my card again with WorldMark (still the same card from last month). Third month rolls around, another call... "Card declined"... Go to the bank... Same story as the month before... No attempts to withdraw the money. Update my card yet again (still the same card that they charged the next day after calling me last month). Payment goes through. While on the phone, they suggest I add my ACH (account number and routing number for direct withdrawals). I give in and give them that. Smooth sailing for the next months.

Should also mention that they told me that if I open their WorldMark/Wyndham Barclay Card (credit card), I can use it to pay for my maintenance fees and lower my expenses... False. APR is high and they keep charging me so much that I'm over my budget by $200 every month. Also, they opened a PayPal account in my name to put the down payment on which is also at a ridiculous APR and I'm at an additional $100 over budget.

Last month I call them up (and inform one of their sales reps at the session that I drove up to) to let them know that an emergency came up and I need to use a portion of my payments to them to cover my emergency and ask them to hold off on taking the money out until the 9th of this month (my payday). They acknowledge it and overdraft my account by $700 yesterday. I'm a very positive person that rarely... and I mean RARELY gets negative emotions like anger or fury... I'm FURIOUS right now.

After extensive research, I found the following: Financing $26,000 for 10 years will come out to ~$57,000. Fine print states that maintenance fees are lifelong: ----> $100/month x 12 months=$1200/year on maintenance fees. I'm 24 and plan to keep this for at least another 40 years before leaving it to my future kids (If I ever get married and have any). This means that over the course of the next 10 years (since I purchased it and to the day that I pay off my ownership) + 40 years (after the $57,000 has been paid off) I will have spent $60,000 on maintenance fees ALONE. $57,000 (paid off amount (10 years)). +60,000 (maintenance fees for 50 years). $117,000 invested for only 13,000 credits/annual. They never mention any of this. If you miss a payment, I've found out after researching, they will send you to collections without any notice.

Filling for Bankruptcy will cost approx. $1500 in my state with attorney fees. Will stay on my record for 10 years but I will get out of paying $69,000 + WorldMark/Wyndham CC + PayPal (downpayment). Outcome of this nonsense: Do not even attend their presentations. THEY ARE VERY GOOD WITH TALKING BS AND KEEPING YOU THERE FOR 4 HOURS UNTIL YOU GIVE IN AND BUY/UPGRADE. You will have a noose around your neck for the rest of your life!

I paid off my contract early, and made all payments on time. Immediately (the following month), my maintenance dues account was sent to collections for a late payment. The payment was late, but I attempted to notify WorldMark via written correspondence of my financial hardship and my intent to bring my account current, but never received a response. My account was sent to collections without any written notification from WorldMark. I received a notice of collections from Pinnacle dated the 11th of July 2016. This was not the first time my dues had been late, and I was never sent to collections and always brought my account current. I paid the account in full including all late fees and collections fees on-line on the 19th of July.

On July 30, 2016 I checked the balance owed for my maintenance dues account via the automated telephone system for WorldMark and discovered that I still had a balance due. However, when I contacted WorldMark, the balance due was for August. The WorldMark representative informed me that all of the records for my maintenance dues had been transferred to Pinnacle when my account was sent to collections; and the rep could not view my account. Also informed me that I would not be able to make pay my maintenance dues directly to WorldMark, but had to make my payment to Pinnacle.

I asked, now that my account had been paid current, would my account be restored with WorldMark. The representative confirmed that it would be restored, and informed me that it normally takes two weeks after the payment has been processed and posted to my account at Pinnacle. I informed the rep that it had been two weeks since I made the payment in full. The rep could not provide any assistance to resolve the problem; and, when I informed her that I was unhappy with WorldMark by Wyndham’s business practices, asked me, “You don’t want to be an owner anymore?”

On August 1, 2016, I contacted Pinnacle via telephone to find out why my account had not been sent back to WorldMark. The representative/receptionist informed me that I still had an outstanding balance; and that WorldMark had sent the payment due August 1st to Pinnacle on July 7th. The account representative told me it was sent to collections on July 13th.

My concern is that although I make all the payments in full to bring my dues current, my account will remain in collections; because Pinnacle will hold the account for at least two weeks or longer after processing. Although I made the payment immediately, my account may not be restored in time to make September’s payment to WorldMark resulting in me having to make the payment to Pinnacle. Thus, more late and collection fees when in reality my payment is not late or yet due. (Dues are due the 1st of every month.) If payments are not made to Pinnacle prior to the 11th of the month, collection fees will be charged. Pinnacle generated its billing statement on July 11th which did not include the August payment. If I had not called, I would not have known about the August payment being in collections; and of course, I do not have access to my resort membership while in collections.

I have sought legal representation to resolve the matter. It was suggested that although I am resolving my dispute individually, that I contact other owners for the purpose of considering a class action lawsuit.

We have been frustrated with all the same complaints I see here (only having a small amount of rooms set aside for WorldMark owners, no availability like there used to be with Trendwest) but we're working through that. I've even been working through getting a royal screw job at the San Francisco location, being tag-teamed on an up-sale which I couldn't get out of after the 7-day grace period because I was still on vacation and didn't realize what had actually taken place until it was too late.

This company calls me at least once a quarter to try to sell us more points and "reduce our interest rate", even after countless times of telling them after last July that we were completely dissatisfied with how we were treated/snowballed/tag teamed. They refuse to offer a reduced interest rate unless I buy more points. But they keep calling and can't give me a courtesy call when my auto-pay declines? Nice. We have been members in good standing for 12+ years. I see that others have recently had issues with auto-pay cards, credit agencies, etc. This latest action by the finance department has us rethinking our Diamond Elite status like, that there is nothing "elite" about any of it. Do not buy into this resort membership. Too expensive for this much hassle.

I tried working with WorldMark and they flatly refused to help. I emailed the Board of Directors and to date have not heard a word back. As such, I am in the process of working their Ovation program to get rid of my ownership. I have no desire to be an owner in a company that places little priority on owners with integrity and in good standing.

I think I just want to try and get out now. The service is not exceptional and the dues are way more than what they should be for the accommodation they offer. There is nothing spectacular about the place, and I could get a much better place to stay for the amount of money paid over the years in dues and fees and whatever else they keep charging for. I guess young and stupid is my excuse. Now that I'm older I need to smarten up and figure out how to get rid of this money trap. I do not recommend anyone tying themselves into the payments of WorldMark. You can do much better than this renting directly.

Why didn't WorldMark who I was in business with and making diligently monthly to for the past 10 years notify me that my card on file had declined the payment. It would have been an easy phone call to fix. Yes, You would think they would call me out of decent courtesy at least since I have been a good customer for 10 years! Nope, not at all! They sent it and all my account details to an outside collection agency -- Pinnacle! WorldMark refused to even talk to me about the account until the bill was paid in full to Pinnacle because they had already transferred the account over to them! Well, I paid all the money required from Pinnacle including their interest and fees totalling $347.66 on 11/15/15. Well, I'm thinking my account is in good standing now. I entered in a new card for my auto draft set up and received my confirmation code for that.

Well, in February I noticed that my dues were not paid by the credit card that was on file and I was now getting a late fee tacked on to the bill. I call in and talk to the rep and he is unsure why their system is not taking the auto pay out of my card that is on file. He apologizes for the inconvenience and removes the late fee and takes my payment over the phone and sets up my credit card again on auto pay. Again, I am thinking this is all straightened out until I get a bill from Pinnacle on April 15 telling me I owe them $54.33 club dues, $11.94 collection fee, and my total payment due is $218.8!!! My next quarter is not even due until 5/1!

I call back WorldMark and they tell me that Pinnacle still has my account despite the fact that I paid them in full in November! Furthermore, they tell me the CC cards that I have left on file for auto pay have been deleted!! This is so crazy ridiculous that if this is not some sort of weird paperwork mixup then it is most certainly illegal! The rep told me the shareholders voted on this!!! They apparently voted to not give anyone any notices ever but first line is to send it over to a collection agency where they can gouge you for more money every month for the rest of your life (maintenance dues are for life) in extra fees and penalties. My account should be with WorldMark and payment should have already been drafted and I shouldn't have to worry any further and would not be spending my time writing this long review! However, this is not the case!

I spoke to one financial supervisor at WorldMark to help figure this whole thing out. This was on 4/21. She was supposed to send me an email with update. No word yet. No email yet. I call again and talk to another supervisor who is now trying to figure out what is going on with my account and also why the first supervisor dropped the ball. No word yet, still waiting! Meanwhile, Pinnacle (their new dirty evil sidekick) keeps a knockin!! We need a class action against WorldMark for their unethical ways and bullying sales tactics! They should not be allowed to get away with this for so long!!

In writing to Pinnacle requesting information about fees, dates, and assorted details no response has been received. We send our payments to WorldMark only to find out a month later instead of crediting our account portions of the payment are being forwarded to Pinnacle thereby creating a outstanding balance. And still no statements from WorldMark. We wrote a letter to the board of directors and received a reply that we would be contacted within 2 days. Still no response. Not a good feeling here. We are paid in full members and can't get a simple answer or a response. Is there any type of class action going on here?

The reason I think this is a scam is because all they had to do is send me a pre-or-post reminder that the quarterly payment is coming up. I've been trying all week to talk to someone at WorldMark who will tell me why the company chose to NOT use email reminders. I've also asked for WorldMark to get my account back from Pinnacle. I've also asked if WorldMark/Wyndham gets a cut of the fees from Pinnacle. All they say is call Pinnacle and won't answer any of my questions. The company is rotting from within and I think both parties are shaking-down their built-in, locked-in investor base.

The next year, when our first week was available, I contacted one of these vendors that WorldMark told me would help me sell my week. They charged me $200 to advertise my week and nothing ever happened. My points rolled over to the next year. I tried to sell again, and again nothing happened. No one is buying these things because they can get as good a deal or better in the open market. The sales pitch was full of lies and WorldMark continues to lie to people and get them into these really bad deals.

Each year I have paid the dues and I may have used the timeshare only a handful of times in the 10 years I have owned it. I hope people read this and don't get conned into WorldMark. If you own with WorldMark and are unhappy and feel that you were lied to during your presentation, please go to getworldmarkback dot com and join me in a class action to free ourselves of this burden.

We decided to sign up with Sapphire instead. 79.00 a weekend in a 1-3 br condo, was much cheaper than the pitch Worldmark had and 125.00 mo. 214.00 a year for fees. This is good for 30 years not lifetime. Anyhow, we got home after our trip. Had 3 days left to cancel Worldmark - Thanks for Nevada law. Typed up a letter, my wife and I signed it, mailed overnight to their Rescission department. Cancelled - effective on the date signed. Thank goodness we came to our senses.

Now the bizarre thing happens, for one reason or another, the lady whom I spoke with assured me that I was up-to-date, but then within the system she inputs "will call back to make dues payment". From then until today, all the auto-payments had been successful, but she did not process the dues at that time. So from then until today, fees had rolled on and now the due were sent to Pinnacle - a debt collection agency. I called, international, to WorldMark and after Reservations (as their financial department is unlisted) transferred me to Financial department, the first representative whom I spoke with (Donna) had agreed that it was extremely bizarre and she sympathized with me on what had happened and admitted that it did indeed seem to be their fault but that anything was outside of their power.

She transferred me to her supervisor (David) who then began to take on the legal jargon and avoid any and all fault - and actually on the spot, claimed that WorldMark had made numerous attempts to contact me and sent the 2011 debt to Pinnacle that same year - and that for five years, Pinnacle had tried to collect from me even though for that entire time, Worldmark had been successfully collecting quarterly dues from me.

Now interesting thing when I spoke with Scott from Pinnacle just now. He said that WorldMark had not contracted with Pinnacle until this year and that they did not receive any notice to collect on a debt on behalf of WorldMark until Nov. 2015. So, David had been completely lying through his teeth on all account and simply answering to avoid admission of ANY fault on behalf of WorldMark. I have no issue with people trying to avoid fault, what I have a huge issue with is when they flat out lie to cover up over their own gross negligence.