I say kudos to all of you who have cancelled your sales presentation and have not got yourself locked into the misery my husband and I experience every year.
I have been an unsatisfied customer of Fairfield resorts for the last 7 years. I know you ask why have I stayed around for 7 years but the fact is once you sit in that high pressure sales presentation and purchase the offer of a lifetime you can never get out of it. I have tried to no avail to sell it, I've even offered it back to the company and they don't even want it. I spend $300/ month for my facility and $120 per month for my maintenance fees. That totals $420 which is more than $5000 per year. This does not include the increase in fees that are added it seems like everyday.
We purchased initially from an overly nice but very persistent salesman named Beau in Williamsburg Va. He told us about this great offer we couldn't refuse and also told us it would be no good if we walked out of the door. Being young, newly married and preparing to take vacations every year we purchased 105,000 points (This equates to squat in the real world). Although Beau knew this wasn't enough for us he just wanted to seal the deal. We were sold on the fact that we could stay in a beachfront condo with all the luxuries of home. We were told this would accomodate my family of 5. Unfortunately this was a lie and we have regretted it ever since. FOr the next couple years my family of 5 squeezed into 1 bedroom facilities until we were once again pressured into buying more points.
I knew it was foolish but I was sick of the hassle we went through trying to acquire a place to stay for vacation. Also we could never plan our vacation where we wanted to go, we had to call a usually disgruntled fairfield rep and be told what was available for us (everything was always booked no matter how far in advance we called), then we planned our vacation around what was open.
I won't go into every year in detail but let me tell you we haven't had one uneventful vacation since we've been members. My last experience was in Ft. Lauderdale Fla. I stayed in the Palm Aire resort. After being contacted three times to sit in on a presentation we conceeded. Once again we learned they were not willing to take this headache away from us. THey ask condescending questions like "If you're so dissatisfied why did you purchase more points" When they know good and well 105000 points does nothing for a family of 5.
THe icing on this very negative cake was at the end of our stay my daughter was eaten by bed bugs.in these exemplary accomodations we were all too surprised that this happened. We initially thought it was mosquito bites but every morning they seemed to be multiplying. The resort was apologetic but in the end we were told it happens, we'll clean your clothes and move you, but get over it. All we asked for was our money back and to be released from our contract. Do you believe they said this and the multitude of other incidences were not grounds for cancellation.
I assured them I would no longer keep quiet about my issues. I prayed there was someone else out there who had the same experience as me and I came across this website. Although I still have to pay these ridiculous fees. It does feel good to express myself about this mental anguish.
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