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HOGWARTS??? A TIME-SHARE STORY

By
Real Estate Agent with ERA TEAM IV HOMES

My business partner won two"free" airline tickets to be picked up after a short sales pitch for the time-share in the Catskills. The Friar Tuck Inn to be exact.

I decided to go along for the ride and to see the sales pitch. Of course, I wanted the additional air fare ticket.

We actually were given an appointment time: 11:30AM on Sunday morning. We are both notoriously early or punctual as the case may be. We did not see many guests. Under ten that we could see. This seemed strange, but maybe they were still sleeping from a party the night before. We walked some more, until it was our time to enter the main building.

Upon entering the building, I was convinced that we were in Hogwarts and soon we would be greeted by Harry himself. I actually saw cages with brown & grey Owls (they were not real). Finally we were greeted by our salesperson: "The half-Blood Prince". His sales pitch began immediately. It was excellent. I rated it an "8". His first mission was to show us around the inside of "Hogwarts" AKA the Friar Tuck Inn. Most resorts feature many meals: so off we go with the "Half-Blood Prince" to the Great Hall. Long tables were set up for lunch or dinnner or maybe a wedding. I say a wedding because of the Dais in the front of the room. No talking hats or signs of Dumbledore. I thought we would sit with the Gryffendors if asked, but that option was never offered.

Our next tour of the facility was outside. The "Half-Blood Prince" asked how we arrived. I was tempted to tell him that we walked through a brick wall and caught a train. I didn't. We showed him the car we arrived in. I think that they determine how much money one has by their car. WE were in a jeep wrangler, the impressive car was at home.

 I am now glad to see the grounds and continue my search for guests (muggles). Very FEW to be seen. I know where they are!!! They are all attending the Quiddich games. But no such luck. All I saw was a horsehoe pit.

Back at the main building the Prince tries to close us on the merits of this time share, but we were not there to buy. We were there for the airline tickets. We did confuse him: he wasn't sure about our relationship. We didn't tell him that our relationship was only a business one. He didn't know what to do next, so he went for the "CLOSER" (Lord Voldemort). The closer told us that he was upset that his salesperson couldn't convince us to buy. But neither could he. We left with the "free" airline tickets that had so many limitations that they were worthless.

We did have a fun day and I hope you enjoy my true adventure story.

Scot Walker
First Choice Real Estate - Houlton, ME
Sounds like you had a good time.. It is to bad this happens because I love the timeshare program.  The program stands strong if sold correctly but nobody wants to be force feed. 
Jun 20, 2007 01:44 AM
R. B. "Bob" Mitchell - Loan Officer Raleigh/Durham
Bank of England (NMLS#418481) - Raleigh, NC
Bob Mitchell (NMLS#1046286)

I drove to Hilton Head once and stopped by one of those roadside stands to see if I could find a traveler's coupon book in order to get a coupon for our hotel.  It turned out that we could get a free room if we agreed to listen to the sales pitch at a new resort.  

My girlfriend and I agreed, but that night the headlights on my Cadillac went on the fritz.  We called the resort early and told them about our problem and that we would have to reschedule the sales pitch because we were going to have to go home.  I even offered to fax them a copy of the repair bill from my mechanic.

You wouldn't believe how nasty they were.  They told me that they were going to charge my charge card some astronomical amount for the room (way more than the retail value of the room).  I went from feeling bad that I was not going to be able to hold up my end of the deal to being pissed off at them for not understanding.  

The end result was that they did attempt to charge my card with the astronomical rate, I disputed the charge and it will be a cold day in hell before I would ever consider buying one of their time shares...if they had been cool about things, I might have considered it.

 

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.   

Jun 20, 2007 02:37 AM
Mana Tulberg
805 County Real Estate - Camarillo, CA
Real Estate Agent - Camarillo CA

I was hoping you would bump into Harry himself. That was a great story and I always love reading your posts, they are so well written and they tend to take the reader to the time and place of the event you are blogging about.

Jun 20, 2007 03:11 AM
Christina Ethridge
The North Idaho Dream Team powered by SKE Realty Group - Coeur d'Alene, ID
I've been tempted to take advantage of the free stays and gifts.  I just don't like it when I have to say no literally 100 times and they still don't listen to you.  I hate hard sales (and quite frankly, I'm stubborn and no matter what the deal, I'll walk away if they hard sell me) and because I'm a woman, I get the attitude and "you don't know anything" looks.  Funny, I'm the financial wizard in our family :D
Jun 20, 2007 03:50 AM
Janice Lipka
ERA TEAM IV HOMES - La Grange, NY
Hi Christina, I also hate Hard Sales. It makes me very uncomfortable. It doesn't matter: car salesmen, furniture salespeople, real estate agents, the techniques just do not work. I walk away also.
Jun 20, 2007 06:34 AM
Janice Lipka
ERA TEAM IV HOMES - La Grange, NY
Hi Scot, We did have a good time!! I wouldn't have liked to be there without someone. I would have had to leave.
Jun 20, 2007 06:36 AM
Janice Lipka
ERA TEAM IV HOMES - La Grange, NY
Hi Mana. I am glad you liked my post. The only way I got through the whole day was to think about Harry Potter and the similarities of this resort to Hogwarts.
Jun 20, 2007 06:41 AM
Janice Lipka
ERA TEAM IV HOMES - La Grange, NY
Hi Bob, Have you ever gone back???? I would never listen to a time share pitch again if I were you.
Jun 20, 2007 06:43 AM