I bought into this timeshare plan about in Feb 2009. I was very hesitant to buy into it from the sounds of how it works, I honestly only went up there to get the free dinner and free gas :)
Anyway, I bought into their cheap low line package which ended up being about $20k in the end. I was engaged at the time and the guy trying to sell the package was saying we could go on a honeymoon with this package AND hes going to throw in a whole years worth of points for us. Awesome!
We get home, everything is settled and put into place with this program and I go to book a trip down to Florida. Nothing. I can not find a resort anywhere for ATLEAST another 7 months. WTF?
I finally found a place down in Key West (pretty much the only one shell could offer without paying RCI a few hundred bucks). It was pretty decent, I must admit but then while down at that resort, I had these jerks try to sell me ANOTHER TIMESHARE. Talk about vultures!
After that holiday, I decided to try to book a time for our honeymoon (June 2009). I get hold of RCI, because I wanted to go somewhere overseas. Sorry, they say, they dont have any openings with the "popular" places for OVER A YEAR AND A HALF!!! The other thing that pissed me off is the fact our "sales" guy said, and I quote "You can go anywhere, anytime you want..."
That was total B.S. Now, I paid about $1500 in the payments PLUS a year of maintenance (~$700) and now they tried to come for ANOTHER YEAR within a month of charging me for the last one.
So, being smart and knowing this "loan" was from the USA and it can not come after me, I decided to stop making payments. I had them pass my account to a collection agency, Collect Canada Corp. These guys were surprisingly AMAZINGLY helpful. They knew about the problems with Shell, they constantly work with people who are getting screwed by them and know how to act about it.
I had them offer me a "deed back" which I give them some money as a "fee" to give my deed/title back and im free and clear of the loan and whole timeshare alltogether. $2500!.. It was a big chunk indeed, but I would rather pay that and let them goto hell and I can now share my story about their horrible sales and business practices. The reason why I am posting this now, is because I paid this deed back in July 2009, and I have still yet to get a reply back about it. They have $2500 of my money sitting there and have not acknowledged anything. They are still sending me emails asking if I want to use my points, and everytime I call to get an answer they just ask "Where do you want to go today? "... Im sure you know what my answer to the guy was :)
Once they get your signature, you better watch out. They will try to milk you for everything you have, plus more. And also give you a hard time with booking a holiday. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go up to Carridge Ridge, Or any Carridge Hills resort up in Barrie, Ontario ever, atleast not for the timeshare part.
Thats my $0.02 worth, or technically, my $2500 worth.
Thanks.
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