New owner public service announcement - Avoid the free offers

Kevin@7

I almost fell for the plug.

Some of us may be pressured when we first buy our T@B’s (or any RV for that matter) with 14, 21, etc days of free camping at various RV sites.  At first I thought maybe they just want you to get hooked but Beware!!  heavy sales pitches will follow to sign up for a lifetime membership.  Huh??  To get my free camping I have to sit through 90 minutes of torture?   Anyone who’s experienced vacuum sales pitches and most famously the time share pitch know how painful it can be.  Camping should be on our terms and they should continually try to keep us coming back simply by making each and every visit pleasant… not by hooking us from the start.  Camping is cheap enough and my time is not worth some free visits just to listen to a sales pitch.  They don’t tell you that but that’s it’s just an introduction to the location.   I thought that was fishy and did some research and found the truth.  They offer lifetime access to their sites for something on the order of thousands of dollars ($8000 in one case and a yearly maintenance fee).  I can see how some may make good use of it if let’s say you are retired, are a teacher and have a full summer to spare jumping around their locations…and love the time share model.  Not for me and I understand the sales tactics are a bit misleading.  The best comparison is that it’s an RV timeshare they try to sell you and you’re politely saying no will be followed up with another hour of them trying to change your mind.   My advice - steer clear and just tear up those offers and politely reject their calls.  I'm a much bigger fan of "build a quality product and the people will come" sales model. 

My blood boils every time I think back to a time where someone tried to sell me an overpriced vacuum cleaner and would simply not leave.

Of course I’m sure there may be some exceptions but just proceed with extreme caution.  Do your internet research first.

 

Nomad

I've only done a timeshare pitch once. They were relentless. I finally got them off my back by telling them...ok, give me the contracts and I'll have my lawyer review them and get back to ya, I don't sign anything without my lawyers review... end of pitch/harassment.

Michigan_Mike

Sounds like sour grapes Kevin and you obviously had a bad experience with the above.  I'm curious as to how you happened upon this money trap?  

Kevin@7

@ Mike, my faithful RV dealer that sold the tab threw in the offers.  Fortunately I did my research ahead of time and didn't experience the pain first hand.  I cancelled my appointment and won't give them any opportunity to try to reschedule.  No use explaining why.  I've honed my sense of smell over the years.

@PXLated, good idea! I can see them running in fear.  The only way I could get the vacuum guys out was to threaten calling the cops and there was no way on god's green earth they were going to get my money.  My Dad always taught me - Reject anything where you're not allowed to think it over.  Great advice.

Sgtjohn

Nothing is worth sitting through a 90 minute sales pitch that eventually turns unto a three hour ordeal.  It's just not worth it to me regardless of what they promise, if I want something bad enough I'll buy it but no one has the right to foist any product on us.  My time is valuable and I prefer to spend it reading or whatever rather than go through a painful sales pitch.

Kevin@7

Yup.  I'd rather stare at a brick wall for 90 minutes.  That's how much I hate sales pitches.

Nomad

I got suckered 35+ years ago when I was young and didn't know better - Got a great dinner, just had to figure a way out and I did. Never fell for it again.

kybob

I bet your dealer would get a kick back if you purchased. Do you remember what the yearly maintenance fee was? 

Kevin@7

I'm sure they get a nice bonus for those that sign up and a bit for just pushing it off.  I never heard the pitch but from my research it was on the order of $300.  Just seemed really crazy for these campgrounds that are just average at best I'm sure....and I've only seen from a google eye view.

Allie

A company I worked for back in the mid 80's bought another company and my department was transitioned to the bought company.  The new company promised we would be millionaires by the time we retired if we bought their stock, and we were "given" stock based on previous years service to come into the company, but, only after we signed a 4 page, single spaced employment contract.  It was totally in the company's favor, and held no benefit to me.  I had the option to declined to sign the contract, which I did.  The manager of the new company tried his darnedest to get me to sign, but stopped immediately after I told him I had my lawyer review it and he recommend I not sign.  Turned out to be a good move as many of my former co-workers came to find out.  High pressure salespersons are all over, but they quickly back away at the word lawyer.

Ratkity

I has someone recently misrepresent themselves as my electric company and gas company saying they were doing an energy audit. I was sick and had just laid down after taking some nighttime cold medicine. This witch got my account numbers until she moved her paperwork that was covertly covering her shirt with the logo on it (her denying she was a 3rd party energy provider the entire time) and handed me a contract. I don't blindly sign anything. By that time I was awake and read the fine print. I handed the contract back, unsigned. She wouldn't take it. She wouldn't leave until I called the police. She had the nerve to call me a *bit*h and wasting her time as she left. In retrospect, I should have shredded the contract. I wasn't clearly thinking. I did get her vehicle description. 

On top of that, I saw the vehicle AGAIN in the neighborhood. This time I got her license plate. The cops came immediately and searched for her. They are keeping an eye out for this person.

Yes, I called my electric company and gas company in case she forged my signature, I called the 3rd party company who profusely apologized and said that's not the way they did business (yeah, right). 

Be careful out there, folks. 

RollingLagrima

@Michigan_Mike I made a reservation online last minute over a holiday weekend at a "Thousand Trails" campground, to ensure I got a space with my old silver shadow. There was no mention of a membership while making the booking so I thought nothing of it. Nothing was mentioned at check-in.

The fun began once I was at the site, once I was unhooked and setting up (and clearly not going anywhere at least for a while) -- a woman on a golf cart with a clipboard rolled in asking a slew of questions about how much I camp, when I camp, do I camp in groups, how many friends I have that camp, etc. I thought she was just a overly friendly campground host and guessed she had moved on when my one word answers got old.

Nope. She was back early the next morning on the cart, stopping IN my site, calling me by name as she got off the cart and started making her way further into my site, asking if my contact phone and address on my reservation (on her clipboard) were valid, and then came the membership pitch complete with free nights and bogo's for new friends signing up, etc. 

I "may" have clipped my dog Mabel (who does not like it when people walk into/onto our sites without an invitation, and will tell you how she feels about about it) as close as possible to the golf cart's approach path.  I may have clipped my other dog Joey (who is in no way threatening but is bigger than Mabel and looks like he could mean business) up there too.  That "may" have taken care of the problem.

While I liked the campground itself, this incessant drive-by/trespassing tactic left an icky taste in my mouth and I am now much more careful about researching campground affiliations when forced to book anything outside of fed/state/local parks on reserve america (RA).

Verna

What's really ironic about this post being resurrected is that a new member posted on it with an embedded link for something political in a European language. I didn't stay on their site long enough to to determine anything other than it had nothing to do with camping, T@B's or the subject being discussed here.

So, we even have to watch what is posted here by someone who hasn't been here long enough to become a friend. 

RollingLagrima

V, I didn't notice the dates, thought it was a new string. You must have deleted the garble ad before I saw it

Verna

Sally, that's OK. The comment wasn't there for long, and evidently no one else recognized it for what it was...and that 's a good thing. It's a good thing to revive old threads with new information....as long as it's not a scammer nor a spammer

ChanW

Yes, this is an interesting thread.

I never would've thought to watch out for time-share vulture campgrounds.

Too bad.