WorldMark TravelShare

Two years came and went and no call was ever received from Wyndham. I finally decided to reach out to them and see what we could do or if we were interested in purchasing a full ownership. At this time, we had not used any of our points we were allotted in paying for the Discovery program, which is completely on us.

The first woman I spoke with was very sweet. She was kind and thoughtful, and was trying to help us not have a complete loss on $3500. She said she would get us in touch with someone who could assist us in getting a discount or possibly working towards full ownership even though our account had recently expired. She set us up a new meeting with a member of Wyndham corporate services at 6pm the next day.

This time it was a man who reached out to us, though ten minutes earlier than the expected call. I answered the phone and spoke with him for a time. The conversation at this point started to go downhill. The corporate representative was pushy, teetering on downright rude. He kept insisting to run my credit and tell me what I would qualify for.

When he was able to determine what prices he could sell his product, he kept going on about how he had one and how it was so useful and that they would try and incorporate our loss into a new loan with them for $17000. I asked him if I could have time to think about it considering how very expensive that was, and he defaulted back to his salesman pitch saying I wasn't going to get a better deal if I waited and that I was wasting this offer.

I paused a moment to discuss this with my fiance and let him take over the call because he had additional questions. This is where the call took a major downward turn. While he was relatively pleasant speaking with me, he did not react well to having the contract questioned and now having to deal with this. My fiance did not raise his voice, or react in anger or frustration, but tried to joke with the man to help curb his probing questions.

By the end of the call, the corporate representative was scoffing at us, belittling our comments, and was shaming us for not having spent our points prior to the expiration date. My fiance explained how we wound up moving and dealing with hospital visits so we did not have the opportunity to just go on vacation, but we were scoffed at and our concerns dismissed.

Ultimately, this is the worst customer service I have ever experienced from any company. I have never been verbally shamed for deciding against purchasing a product from anyone, and the fact that this company does that is completely unacceptable. I hope that whoever reads this knows to stay away from any of their sales pitches and their attempts to swindle you for lots of money. The fact that this man claimed to be a corporate representative tells me that even those that run the company do not care about you or your money, they only care about their profit. The moment you question their contract and their words, they backtrack and then decide to shame you for doing so.

If you read this, please do not give this company the time of day. I will happily pay out of pocket for any hotel wherever I want if it means I never have to deal with these people again. I will never recommend Wyndham to anyone after such awful customer service received from their corporate. No customer deserves to be shamed or scoffed at for being on the fence about spending $17000. I will happily take my money and spend it elsewhere and no longer support this business.

I went to booking.com and it was listed for 140.00. Tell me what's right about this? We are getting screwed. So on top of our maintenance fees, loan payment each month, we now have to pay for our family. I work 2 jobs and my husband goes to europe to work 6 months out of the year, we knew we would not be using this as much as we would like to, but we were very happy that our children could enjoy the so called, according to worldmark "FAMILY BONDING TIME" THAT THEY SELL YOU ON IN THE PRESENTATION. We need to reverse this fee of 99.00. Please everyone call into Customer Care. They have to transfer you from reservations and make a complaint. They will tell you it's because of owners doing bnb but they need to give us at least 10 guest passes per year or they need to let us add 5 or 6 family members to the exempt 99.00 charge. Would love your feed back. Cindy **

In addition to being too hot to sleep until early hours of the morning, we had 1 of probably 4 extremely bright security lights beaming right into our room, we were close to the airport and planes landed well past 10pm, and it was nice to have a golf course nearby, not so nice to hear the maintenance that began before sunrise along with the high pitched reverse warning alarms on all the delivery trucks. I called customer care the next morning thinking they could easily resolve this.

This is a big company with lots of properties and expertise in vacation planning. What a letdown, I received a voice mail stating that we had 2 alternatives, leave and find other lodging on my own or stay at the 'Resort and Spa'. I returned the call and asked how high this had been escalated and I had her repeat that is was the Director of Owner Care. I requested that they open a case as this was not something I wanted to continue to fund by throwing good dollars after bad. The owner care specialist stated that this really wouldn't justify getting my investment and unused maintenance returned. I would encourage all who have had an experience like this to pursue complaints with the BBB and their state attorney general. It's always good to learn and sometimes even laugh about a lessons learned, take a look at at the following 'Count on Me' promise to valued owners.

"To be responsive to your needs I will be compassionate. I will anticipate my customer’s needs and will always respond with care and consideration. I will be empowered. I will own every issue I encounter, from start to finish. I will be dependable. I will respond quickly and consistently. If I can’t solve the problem, I will personally find someone who can. To deliver a great experience I will be hospitable. I will greet everyone I encounter with eye contact and a warm smile. I will have fun. I will be prepared. I will understand the service expectations of my position and ensure that I have the resources to meet them. I will personalize. I will always deliver on my customer’s basic needs and will ‘wow’ them at every opportunity to exceed their expectations."

Boy were we 'wowed' at the problem, solution and experience. By the way, after seeing all the mold on the A/C vents we were somewhat relieved that it wasn't working. I've taken photos and will be making the appropriate complaint(s) with the respective agencies.

We have never had any problem getting reservations, even on short notice. Our son just came for a visit from Alaska and wanted to go the beach while he was here. We called in a Wait List a month early for any beach in Oregon or Washington and they booked us in Long Beach, Washington for the time we requested where we had a lovely visit. This was not the only time we succeeded with a Wait List request, but we do try to be flexible and keep expectations reasonable.

I agree that the overall cost is high, but if you want premium accommodations you can't expect Motel Six prices. Yes we have been to dozens of Sales Pitches and been paid hundreds of dollars in rewards that we spent and appreciated, but I have NEVER bought anything I didn't want from them and now enjoy our Platinum Elite membership to fully take advantage of our retirement lifestyle. We pay zero housekeeping fees, so condo hopping is great fun.

This year so far we have stayed at the beach several times, San Francisco four nights, Solvang California two nights and will visit the Presidential Suite in McCall, Idaho next month that I booked online two weeks ago. We have family in Boise, so they will be joining us. In my opinion, WorldMark is not just a timeshare investment, it's a wonderful lifestyle and the convenience is unmatched, even if you use Personal Choice to stay in a hotel like we did in Charlotte, North Carolina this spring. I read these reviews that complain about everything and it reminds me of Yelp, where you can find diametrically opposed reviews with the predominance of negative opinions in abundance, so I decided to add my two cents here to help balance the real story of WorldMark and how much I enjoy it.

The manager from the marketing company said he would take me off the list so that when I check in, I would not be asked to attend these meetings. That was a year ago and I am constantly still being asked at each resort that I stay at to attend a meeting. The manager that supposedly took me off was at Anaheim. They are the worst. When I say no, they call me the next day asking me to reconsider. They also place letters under the door asking me to attend. The last thing I want to do on vacation is spend a few hours in a meeting or waking up early!

My last stay in Indio was the worst experience. My neighbors were really loud and playing music until 11:00 p.m. and the neighbors above us were running back and forth. The next door neighbors had trash in front of my door and placed their towels outside near my door. The front desk stated that sometimes over the summer the rent to non-owners. I said yes, you can tell that they are not owners. They were very disrespectful to the property. Our management company is accommodating visitors more than owners! After I left the resort, I thought about selling my timeshare. It's been constant harassment and my dues keep going up. I can't even get a pool at the right temperature and free wi-fi. It's not worth it anymore. In the end, hotels are cheaper.

We left and got our certificate for the 'free week of accommodations'... First catch - you can only book it up to 30 days in advance... so no planning ahead and you'll probably pay a fortune for your last minute airfare. Fine, whatever. 2nd catch - Pretty much everything has an upgrade fee on it. The majority of them were about $1000 total for the 'free trip' and by the looks of the pictures/reviews, they're not anywhere you want to stay anyway and probably would cost $1000 for the week if you were booking on your own anyway. 3rd lie - they advertised heavily for free accommodations in Anaheim in their marketing. AND THERE'S NO ANAHEIM HOTEL OPTION...or anything even close.

I called the number that they offered and the guy said that... “Oh yeah, that's usually always booked.” I asked, “If I checked back another time, would it maybe be available.” His response was, “Maybe if you check all the time for it you might get lucky” but was basically telling me that, "Good luck, not going to happen." I guess what do you expect for $75 and watching a presentation but... I just don't know how these people sleep at night too. I've learned my lesson and I hope this helps others avoid wasting time/money.

If I could punch the founder of this company in the face I would. Sick to death of this nonsense and I don’t want to be stuck to you people for the rest of my life. They told me the TOTAL amount of the contract was 14,000. It wasn’t, It’s a little over 16,000. Which isn’t worth it. Don’t let these people con you. Do your research and price around. I don’t understand how a company can get away with such poor customer service. Why is no one shutting them down and stopping them from taking advantage of people.

Agreed to a small upgrade, and was told the monthly cost would be something I could afford. They filled out a credit application, and wrote that we earned $80,000.00 a year combined, a full $30,000.00 more than what we actually made. I pointed it out and was told, "That doesn't matter, don't worry about it." And that they would change it. Somewhere in there they filled out a credit card application for my wife for $14,000.00 to use as a "down payment," so we had a high interest bill for $14,000.00 as they maxed it out to get our cash. We thought it was some sort of bonus card for upgrading the way it was explained. Got home to first month payment to find it was around $800.00 a month, and the monthly fees had gone from about $30.00 to almost $200.00. They had promised the monthly cost to be about $450.00.

Still fighting diabetic issues, I was unable to read/understand much of the contract... But 3 months later realized they had used the first application saying we had $80,000.00 income. Guess we went from the basic level to something called "Diamond Elite." Tried to use credits to book travel outside their facilities and found that my yearly value was less than $1400.00 of travel.

Really, I pay in almost $13,000.00 a YEAR and can only get $1400.00 worth of travel?!?! Couldn't get anyone on the phone or online to address the issue or even slightly work with me on a bill we couldn't afford. Struggled to pay monthly bill, prevented us from actually taking any vacations, and had to give up many other things to make payment. Resorted to working on own older cars to survive and get to work. With loss of work, bill fell behind and our credit is ruined. Biggest scam/rip-off I've ever seen. Salesman's name was Bill **. Apparently one of their top sales guys. Avoid this company and person like they are Bubonic Plague.

When we arrived at Marble Falls they the concierge offered us a $100.00 dollar Visa each if we came to another talk in the morning. At first we refused stating we had just been to an informative meeting in Austin. We relented under pressure. The next morning we were told that only I could receive the $100.00 dollars since my husband was not there. That was ok, but disappointing. After being in the informative meeting for over an hour they asked my friend to wait outside. A salesman was brought in and was extremely rude. He said I should get the "gold card" to offset my maintenance fees. I wanted to learn more about this card but was never given a good overview. I was told I just had to swipe the card at participating places and it would reduce my fees. "How come I was never told this before?" It seemed too good to be true and it was.

I asked several times about the card to gain more knowledge. I was told it was not a credit card. "Just sign here, but not here", to get "the card". I asked why I was signing for a credit check if this was not a credit card. I was told, "No, we won't check your credit, you did not sign that box." My trust in staff at Worldmark has fallen. Two weeks later I received a PayPal credit card from Barclays Bank. Didn't Wells Fargo just get in trouble for the same tactic? If anyone wishes to file a class action suit please let me know.

The concierge in his pressure tactic even said, "if you don't care about this company just taking money from you over the next ten years you will sign here". At that point I got up and left. I felt belittled and spat upon. I was teary, mad, and very upset. Needless to say, once reacquainted with my friend, we spent the next couple of hours disappointed and wondering how we got sucked into having so much time wasted. I filed a formal complaint and was told two days later, "Sorry, we cannot do anything, you signed the papers." All I wanted was an apology for how I was treated.

Now, of $2200 Social Security they will get $500 the next 10 years and I will choose between my daughter (out of work) and grand-daughter rent help or the $8k downpayment. How long does it take for ** to get another job. We never recovered from the 2008 downturn. Wyndham vacation/staycation sucks... Also they faked me a promotional, provided an empty box, then sent it, by then 16 days later I was so disgusted I didn't open the box, sent in my Rescission letter and was told, "You passed the 7 day Rescission because it was sent to your home and you were just too late in receiving and responding back sucker. You rejected the PayPal, but, we put it back on and sucker you owe us. We are Wyndham not nice Trendwest. You can't get a owner's update without us keeping you for hours and wearing you down or tracking your movements to punk you."

We have now stayed at Steamboat, Estes Park, Granby, Branson, and Tucson. I am saddened by the fact that we were not taken care of by the company when in Branson when we were interrupted, made to wake on our vacation when we did not want to, told that our meeting would not be a sales pitch, I am not well and these moments are precious and when you are told you are not being sold anything but you need to get in your car and drive to another location for said non solicitation pitch, I feel that we should have been refunded our precious points and the precious time that it took to get my blood pressure and health back to normal from the stress of these salesmen.

We pay extra to have any of these resorts be nothing but spotless and taken care of to the highest and I have not been impressed thus far with so much within the executive decision making process to ensure each and every buyer/owner has the utmost care taken on all of these properties that we own. I take better care of my home than I have seen at some of these sites. Shame on WorldMark by Wyndham for not being more receptive and empathetic to the people that put food on their table and allow them to buy more properties.

I’ve lost or expired credits too, because why? Uh. Can’t book resorts that come close to my schedule. I even mark my calendar to call at 8 am or attempt to book exactly 13 months in advance. Nope, never made it to Hawaii in 26 years of “ownership”. I can’t even recoup my purchase value if I try to sell. Lol! And guess what, I bought at 1992 prices! Ovation is next but I know this will be a total loss $. And, yes, I have to pay for WiFi that’s worse than Econo Lodge. Hope this helps???

Yes, there is also the initial fee for joining, but we will enjoy our membership for at least 40 years. We bought some credit from the company but much of the rest through secondary sources and saved a lot. We also save on meals, knowing exactly what to expect from a Worldmark unit kitchen. Four people eating three meals a day at restaurants can add another couple hundred bucks a day to a vacation, and we cut that down by dining in and making our own meals.

In summary, if you like this type of vacation, are diligent to monitor your payments, and spend some time learning how to work in the system, it can be a good deal. I sympathize with those who have been pressured into buying something that they didn’t really want, though. The sales talks can be brutal at some resorts. I had to just get up and walk out in the middle once because I was so angry and insulted at something the sales representative said. Despite some unpleasant experiences, overall the good has outweighed the bad. We have had so many exceptional vacations that we otherwise would not have taken!

So currently they say I owe an additional $118 in collection fee plus late payment fees that WorldMark is trying to charge me. I will be looking into a Lawyer to deal with this situation and get me out of this horrible rip off timeshare asap. Save your money and use Airbnb or Expedia or those guys. With the amount you pay in maintenance & payments you could vacation like royalty. I’m very very frustrated and angry with this company. I am usually a very upbeat positive person but they know how to push someone over the edge.