WorldMark TravelShare

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.

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.