Please help....Has anyone cancelled a timeshare contract before?

[NewbieVA]

We just bought some trial timeshare points through wyndham (discovery program 154000 pt for $1344 to be use within a year) and after reading on this board & another board, we realize it is not a great deal & would like to cancel. I don't know much about timeshares & should have done my research in advance. We are within the right to cancel period, but I wondering if we can expect to get a full refund or if they subtract the processing fees. Contract says "Cancellation is to be without penalty, and all payments made by member must be refunded within 45 days after receipt of notice of cancellation." I'm just wondering if the processing fee is included in the "all payments" statement. I could call them to ask, but I'm not so sure I'll get a straight answer from them & what they say could be different from what they actually do.

We purchased thinking we could use it for a trip to Disneyworld, but it is not as flexible as they made us believe.

I'm having buyers remorse & am wondering if we should just try to book a vacation knowing that we didn't get a great deal or if I should try to cancel & risk losing the $150 processing fee. Keeping the points would mean I would have to learn how to work the timeshare system.

If anyone has any experience with this situation, I would really appreciate it. I'm really knocking myself in the head for not reading this baby bargains board before looking into it.

Update: Cancelled on day 4 & fully refunded! (see post #15 for more info)

[wellyes]

I would risk losing the $150 for sure. I know so many people who have timeshare regret, trust me, you aren't the only one! Get out as fast as you can.

[Melanie]

ITA, $150 is small potatoes compared to what you've commited to spending and it sounds like it's not really what you wanted or will take you where you wanted anyhow. I'd try to cancel.

[DietCokeLover]

I've never cancelled before, but we own timeshare through Wyndham and have always found them to be fair and easy to work with. Hope that will be the same for you.

[NewbieVA]

Thank you all for your input. I didn't sign any ongoing contracts beyond this 1yr trial with the points & have no maintenance fees or other fees so I thought it was pretty low risk since we are hoping to take a disney trip next year.

However, after checking availability of one of the sites we were interested in (Wyndham Bonnet Creek), it looks like it is not as readily available as we were led to believe. I'm not so sure it is a horrible deal, but it would require me to do a little more research w/ timeshare points & this WDW resort, both of which are overwhelming topics, to figure out if it would be worth it for us. If it turns out that there is no real savings, I'll just cancel & risk the $150.

Thanks!

[BayGirl2]

Have you checked Timeshare Users Group (TUG)? That's the best forum I've found for objective and subjective info on timeshares. There will be people there familiar with Wyndham who can give you good tips. You can read the boards for free, but there is a paid membership that gives you access to more. Well worth the price IMO if you are even considering investing in the world of timeshares.

[niccig]

If you won't use it this year, cancel it and eat the $150.

Never, ever ever buy a timeshare. DH did years before I met him. It's in Maui and we're now using it but we went several years w/o going there. It's been paid off since before I met him, but still annual maintenance/property tax. It still works out cheaper than paying for accommodation, but only if you use it. I have no idea what will happen when we're 75 and no longer want that time share....

I don't want to pass this on to DS either...bet DH never thought about that! Mmm, I just read that your heirs might be able to reject it, but that sounds complicated. I might have it written into our will that if DS doesn't want it, it then gets donated to a charity. Or probably, we'll donate it before we die.

[BayGirl2]

If you won't use it this year, cancel it and eat the $150.

Never, ever ever buy a timeshare. DH did years before I met him. It's in Maui and we're now using it but we went several years w/o going there. It's been paid off since before I met him, but still annual maintenance/property tax. It still works out cheaper than paying for accommodation, but only if you use it. I have no idea what will happen when we're 75 and no longer want that time share....

I don't want to pass this on to DS either...bet DH never thought about that! Mmm, I just read that your heirs might be able to reject it, but that sounds complicated. I might have it written into our will that if DS doesn't want it, it then gets donated to a charity. Or probably, we'll donate it before we die.

There is a huge resale market for timeshares. that is one way to get out of one, or to buy one at a reasonable price. Generally, buying from a developer is a huge ripoff, and that's what most people do. They can be a good deal IF you research and get what you will use. We've been researching for years but still haven't bought anything.

[dragop21]

yeah I agree to NOT buying from developer. we bought from them back in 2003, paid cash, but we still kick ourselves about it 8 years later.

I would recommend our timeshare, as they have tons of flexibility, but they were bought by Wyndham and have basically done a lot of screwing around with the terms we bought into. its getting kinda ugly........

[niccig]

There is a huge resale market for timeshares. that is one way to get out of one, or to buy one at a reasonable price. Generally, buying from a developer is a huge ripoff, and that's what most people do. They can be a good deal IF you research and get what you will use. We've been researching for years but still haven't bought anything.

Good to know about resale.

We're using our timeshare now. When DS was younger, all our vacation time was spent visiting family, now we take 1 week a year for OUR family vacation and go to Maui. We love it. We didn't get to go this year, so we banked the year and are going for 2 weeks next year.

[sunnyside]

IF you don't want it cancel. Time shares are not all bad. My parents have so much time share they could just move to vacation and live there, but they do use a lot of it. Our family has had various ones for 25 years or so. Good luck!

[mjs64]

It's true that not all time shares are bad. But a lot of them are scams. My best friend, an assistant District Attorney in TX, just brought down a time share company scamming many, many people. Again, not all are like this. But many are. I vote get out now.

[ett]

I would risk losing the $150 for sure. I know so many people who have timeshare regret, trust me, you aren't the only one! Get out as fast as you can.

:yeahthat:

[kijip]

Basic economics. Do not throw good money after bad. Spending the full cost of the time share to maybe "save" the $150 fee is false economy.

[NewbieVA]

Here is an update in case anyone is interested.

Thank you all for your helpful input. I did browse the TUG website & that was helpful too. If I could have booked a larger family vacation to DisneyWorld, it might have been worth it, but we felt our schedules weren't as flexible this coming year as we'd like to be able to make use of the points allotted. I also found out some things (additional fees, restrictions) that were not revealed to us at the presentation (surprise, surprise) so we decided to cancel & risk the fees. Since we were within the rescission period (7 days for our contract), there was no problem. We were able to get the full refund including the processing fee. Woohoo!

We love to travel so I might look into the resell market in the future, but I'm going to have to do a lot more research before I get anywhere near another timeshare again.

[Singlemom]

I recently had a temporary job with an attorney who helped people get out of their timeshare contracts. Go to aladyjustice.com and if you call ask for Andrea or Brittany. They are both very good. Just let them know that you got their name from Vicki and they will help if they can......

I am NOT advertising for her and do not work there anymore.....just trying to help out.

[babyonway]

I recently had a temporary job with an attorney who helped people get out of their timeshare contracts. Go to aladyjustice.com and if you call ask for Andrea or Brittany. They are both very good. Just let them know that you got their name from Vicki and they will help if they can......

I am NOT advertising for her and do not work there anymore.....just trying to help out.

Was she expensive? Most importantly was she successful?