WorldMark TravelShare Reviews

We have been pleased with our stays and the rooms have been great. But every time we stayed in Las Vegas or Anaheim, we were asked to attend a free breakfast and then hustled to increase our points again, assuring us that these were really good deals and gave us greater opportunities to use our points. We increased again from time to time and finally on October 12, 2012, we finally increased to 35,000 points - all we would ever need. We have gone on 3 cruises with many of those points, but we never stopped to calculate what those cruises were actually worth. Then in early 2014, I compared the price in points we paid for our recent Hawaiian cruise against what my son and his wife paid who went with us. It turns out they paid around $2600, and we paid 63,000 points.

For those 63,000 of the 70,000 points we purchased over the two year period, we paid about $4400 just in maintenance fees, which calculates to $4000 for the cruise. And that wasn't even considering our mortgage payments of about $19000 we made over the 2 year period. So even if we had finished paying our mortgage, the maintenance fees would continue, and $4000 was a terrible price to pay for the cruise!! That is when I sobered up and realized how bad of a deal this 35,000 point contract was. Sometimes pride gets in your way, and you just have to admit that you were gullible to being hustled. That is exactly what happened to us. We just believed what they were saying in those sales presentations and didn't do our homework to see if the points were worth what we were paying.

I believe the points are fine for staying at a Worldmark resort, but never, never, never use points for anything else!! Worldmark accounting office tells us that since 2007 we have paid $20,400 toward our mortgage principle, and the 10,000 point contract in 2008 was around $17,000. So if we had stayed with the 10,000 point contract, our mortgage would be paid off today. And since all we really need for stays is 10,000 points, we would be doing fine today with maintenance fees of about $58 per month. We have asked Worldmark to dismiss the newer contracts returning us to 2008 contract, but they refuse. So we stopped paying them cold turkey in November 2014. They are threatening court action, etc, etc., but so far nothing has happened.

Worldmark clearly misrepresented their product by enticing us to buy more points for cruises, which were terribly overpriced. This is highway robbery! We have considered using one of those sharks who says they can get you out of your contract for $5000 or so, but I think they are as much scams as the Worldmark salespeople. I wonder if they collaborate, like a dentist with a candy-maker. So the saga continues. Our attorneys are on standby. We talked to Timeshare Guardians, and I think that at the end of the day Worldmark will come to our terms for $58 per month in maintenance fees for 10,000 points. Time will tell. Attorneys cost everyone money, and getting money out of us would be like getting blood out of a turnip. Stay away from these Worldmark salespeople, and remember they make huge commissions!!

I told them I had an excruciating headache but they did not care. They brought in a Manager and we said no. Then the Manager said, you're Canadians, we can give you a discount and you can pay in Canadian. They brought in the guy they said was the expert in Canadian money. With him, the price went from $26,000 US to $13,000 U or $16,000 Canadian for $7000 points. Then they brought in the Finance guy "**". He pulled his computer and showed us the agreement online, and he said you can put in your signature via online. My headache kept getting worse. We said okay just to get out of there. They asked my husband for his VISA card and charged the $4,100 deposit and administrative charge.

Like the person who wrote about their August 2014 experience, we were not told about the cooling period. The contract was emailed to us. We were on vacation for almost 3 weeks in California - the only computer access we had was via my Blackberry. I could not read the contract via Blackberry. When we got home we read the contract and realized that the timeshare we bought was in Florida, not in Palm Springs, and that we were charged the maintenance fee in US dollars, not in Canadian as they said. We called to cancel the contract but could not reach anyone, so we mailed it to their main address in Las Vegas, Nevada, faxed it to the Palm Springs Office, and emailed it to ** (she emailed us back saying the corporate office, not her, handles cancellation of agreement.

After calling several phone numbers, we finally got a hold of someone who acknowledged receipt of our letters and said that we've passed the number of days we're allowed to cancel the agreement. I told her that we live in Ontario, Canada and we found an amendment that says Ontario residents have 10 days to cancel, and 30 days to cancel if performance promised is not met. She said there is nothing they can do since the 10 days is passed and as far as they are concerned they have met the required performance - what performance I said. She could not give me any answer other than the 10 days period is over. She said the response to our letter is in the mail. I asked her to fax or email to me, she said no, it's in the mail.

If we were given a hard copy of the contract, we would have read it even during our vacation and once we found out the details, we would have cancelled right away. We will try to get help from our Ministry of Consumer Affairs and/or the California Attorney General. We will do what the person who had the same experience in Aug 2014: report the deceptive sales practice, file complaints with FTC, BBB (central Florida), and CA state attorney general, FL state attorney general. Something needs to be done to stop this racket and individuals who take advantage of people.

I searched online with no luck and decide to call in to the Elite hotline where I spoke with a representative for an hour or so trying to find something out of the state which I live in. With no results materializing the representative transferred my call to Wyndham Club Pass. I had used Travelshare a few years ago in booking Virginia, which was great, so I thought this might be good as well in trying to find somewhere to stay. After about two hours on the phone with the male representative, I cannot remember his name, he suggested Star Island. He instructed me to a website where we verified what room would be booked. It looked just like what I wanted and was used to having when booking rooms through Worldmark the Club. I paid the $99 fee, not sure what it was for, and NOTHING was mentioned of any additional fees/holds to incur.

When making final preparations and figuring out what luggage to take without paying for checking in bags, I called on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 to the Star Island resort to verify that there would be a washer/dryer in the room. The woman representative asked what the last name on the reservation was, I told her, and the woman then informed me that she could not find our reservation. This was worrisome since we were supposed to fly out Saturday, October 11, and departing October 18, 2014. She asked if I had the confirmation letter, I said yes. She then instructed me to send it to her via email while still on the phone. She received it and verified the room type and confirmed that there was indeed a washer /dryer. Relieved that everything was in place she transferred me to the concierge desk to check out some attractions during our stay. Again, at that time NOTHING was mentioned about a $200 hold being placed on a card upon the time of arrival.

My wife and I arrived at the check-in desk about 5-6 pm to be greeted and asked for a credit card for the hold of $200. I do not own a credit card and planning had never taken place for the extra funds to be withheld, this hold would make funds for our trip very limited. The (female) manager of the day said they would knock it down to only holding $100 instead of $200 which would allow us to eat for a few days out of the seven we were going to be there. We were given our room keys (2821A) and sent on our way with directions to the room not being very clear. The room was in the back with signs not being very understandable.

Once we found the room assigned to us and entered. I immediately knew something was not right since it looked like a hotel room with 2 double beds, what I later learned the resort called a mini suite (2821A). I immediately called the front desk, from the room phone, to ask why the room was different than the one booked and was verbally verified on the phone 4 days prior to our arrival. The manager at the time of check-in, Keshia, said that was our room and that the only way to change it would be if Wyndham Club Pass were to call in and assign another confirmation number.

My wife then called the Elite line for Worldmark by Wyndham, verified our type of room booked and the female representative then transferred her to Wyndham Club Pass. The situation was relayed to the male representative received and he basically said there was no availability and we were going to have to stay in the room we had and file a complaint when we get home. While this was taking place I was still on the room phone with Keshia where she reviewed the confirmation letter and said she would see what she could do. Discouraged and frustrated from getting off the phone with Wyndham Club Pass, from my wife's cell phone, we received a call on the room phone from Keshia saying they had another room for us (1832B), which turned out to be what we were told we would have.

I feel that there was misleading information given by Wyndham Club Pass and that further training and information should be available if this is the direction that Wyndham is taking. We have been owners with Worldmark since about 1998 without any complaints. This year we used Dolphins cove for our daughter's honeymoon to have her calling us in tears and then to have this happen to my wife and I for our anniversary is not appealing. Wyndham Resorts wants Worldmark owners to buy into their side then things really need to start changing to the higher standards of Worldmark.

Eventually, the situation cooled down. It became apparent that the sale person will not let me leave unless I review and/or some kind of contract. I reviewed and asked the sales person if I had a few days to think about it. The sales person replied no. There was no mention of the increase of the fee in the future. The sales person stated that this is a good value.

Unable to think clearly due to fatigue from such a long meeting and under the assumption that it is a good value, I paid over $14,000 for 7000 annual points using my credit card. Thinking there is no cool-off period, I reviewed the contract in a few days later. It turned out that the value of points that I purchased was about 10 times higher than the fair market value. I also found out there was a cooling-off period. (If I were given correct information regarding the cooling-off period, I would have reviewed right away and cancelled it).

About 3 weeks after the signing the contract, I called the customer service to see if they can cancel the contract stating what I was told was not the same as what was written on the contract. I was told that they cannot cancel the contract. Then, I wrote a letter to have the contract cancelled. Again, the request to cancel the contract was denied.

To summarize, the sales person misrepresented the monetary value of the timeshare. The true market value was much lower. He also misrepresented the cooling-off term of the contract. The presentation and sales meeting lasted more than 6 hours straight, which they initially told me that it will be approximately 2 hours. I signed the contract when I was not able to think clearly due to such a long meeting.

To report the deceptive sales practice, I have filed complaints with FTC, BBB (central Florida), and CA state attorney general, where I reside. Also, I have filed complaints with FL state attorney general, where Wyndham headquarter is located. I am in the processing of filing complaints with NV state attorney general where the transaction took place.

1) Why do you have to make a decision to sign up during the event? (If they would give you time to think about the deal, you would NEVER sign up for such a contract).

2) Why do apparently "only" 25% of the prospects sign up during the sales presentation? (Because the remaining 75% see the real, bad deal).

3) If all is true what they are telling you, why do they not have more customers? (If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably not true...it is that simple).

The manager told us, "it is our business model NOT to provide our prospects with time to think," about the upfront $63,400 expense for the coming 40 years to come!!! "This is how we do business and we are successful."

WorldMark told us that we would "own"...what???...We would have paid a lot of money for nothing. Try to go to your bank and tell them that you own a part of WorldMark, an apartment or some prepaid vacation...forget it... In my opinion, do not sign up. I do not support companies doing business and making large profits based on my loss and regrets. It is not a scam, but it does not work for a large amount of WorldMark's customers, and that is why they are successful (you prepay, you do not go on vacation...they keep the money).

On 06/30/2014, I am going forward with sending a CMRR letter of Right to Cancel and I am turning in the Wyndham Tote bag back to the Las Vegas office. I never used any points from Wyndham Resorts - TravelShare program. My wife will cancel her credit cards and I will do the same. I will notify the 3 Bureaus to dispute the inquiry based on the deceptive business practices. Basically, if I had to keep this, I would just be giving money away for a service that I am never ever going to be using at all. We will see what happens from this point on.

Never think you will get to use the motel room they offer either in Vancouver or Seattle. Oh yes there is only one in each city. What a surprise, they are always booked up. Oh yes, I did book it once and just before I was going to it, they did have the decency to let me know there was a construction site that made it impossible to get to. But, here is the kicker, they do not disclose to you that you have to ask them by calling in specifically to take the charges and the cleaning fee off. Would you think that would be a given? No telling how much income they collect from folks who don't pay close attention. I think the least they should be mandated to do is to tell you that when you cancel. Oh, yes, the dues, keep going up. They do not tell you that either. I'm sure it is in the fine print. Be aware, very aware!

With high prices of $190-250 per night, it is reasonable to expect your bed to be made every day...NOT. You have to go down to the main desk to get towels. The worst part is when making the reservation, this creep makes it sound like he works there though he doesn't, although his email says he is "staff." More lies. If you are looking for a place to stay while in Anaheim, run very far away from this website 5Star Resort Vacations.com/Anaheim.html or you will get the ** like I had.

It was only a week before I was about to leave when I got an email from Wyndam with the reservations document saying, "Oh, in case you don't know, we are a Timeshare and we are not like a hotel." You will be asked to sit through a 90-minute ** sales spiel. Tell anyone you know to stay away from this story liar! I am going to get my credit card company to block some of the charges or part of them for the unethical treatments and the deceptive trade practice. I am also filing a complaint with the BBB and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce and tell everyone I know about this guy. Wyndam won't do a thing about it so be wary of them as well. There is nowhere on the website that says anything about a Timeshare or no maid service. I have a copy of the page. A week or so before I was scheduled to go, I got a letter saying, "Oh by the way this is a Timeshare and you will be asked to sit through a 90-minute sales presentation!"

Disgusting, unethical.

We have paid for 5 years, have a great record with them, but they will not tell us anything but "You have to sell your membership - we have no other options for you." At this point we have contacted an attorney and are not paying another dime. They promised us when we joined that the amount we owed them would NEVER show up on our credit report - and yet - when we went to purchase a home last year... there it was!!! An open amount that looked like a mortgage on BOTH my husband's AND my credit report!!! Guess when they sold to Wyndham they chose NOT to honor the contract we originally signed with them!