I recently bought a timeshare from Westgate Properties in Orlando, FL. With my timeshare came a membership to Interval International with access to unlimited "getaway" weeks. Soon after purchasing the timeshare, I received a call from Lee Jones claiming to work for a company called Vacation Property Marketing (VPM). He began by asking if I planned to use my getaway weeks. He then claimed that I had 4 weeks to use and that they would expire if I did not use them. He claimed that additional weeks could be purchased for $500. My timeshare salesman said they were unlimited, so I got a little suspicious.
He next claimed that VPM could rent the weeks for me at 1800 a week. When I informed him of my interest, he asked if I had purchased rental coverage with my timeshare. I had not heard of this, so he said he would check and call me back. When he called me back, he told me that I did not have the necessary coverage for him to rent my weeks, and gave me prices to purchase the rental coverage (847/year or 1488 lifetime).
I made it all the way through the process until the person who was supposed to finalize everything referred to this payment as a marketing fee. I hung up and started investigating. Over the next couple of days, I called both Interval and Westgate. Neither of them had ever heard of this company and confirmed that I had unlimited weeks and that there was no expiration.
I never did follow through with the transaction, but I think it is clear that this is some sort of scam that they are running. If you have any additional experience with them, I'd love to hear it.
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