Shell Vacations Club / We feel we were lied to and sucked!
My wife and I have experienced problems with Shell. We feel we were lied to and sucked into buying a timeshare. We purchased 4500 at the Legacy in AZ. First they sit you down and tell you how the cost of hotels will go up each year. Then they tell you how your timeshare is a "great investment." The cost will save you thousands over the years. They tell you the maintenance fees will never go up. The brochure we have even says the cost of your timeshare will never go up. The sell you on good investment. We are paying $340 for the loan and $76 for the fees each month. We are paying $8.60 a day in interest alone. In the next 10 years we will be paying $50,000 to go on vacation 10 times, and that only covers the condo, not airfare etc. How is that a great investment? Then we were told that a condo is x amount of points based on the season (red, white, blue). When we booked out trip to Hawaii it was somehow "platinum season."
Another issue we have is that we were bribed into buying. "You buy now and we'll give you this, that, and another thing. One thing was a weekend in San Diego in their resort which is supposed to be on Yachts in the harbor. It ended up being a Non weekend stay at the Radisson in a poor neighborhood. The we were supposed to get 4 tickets in the suite for the AZ Diamondbacks. We got to will call to pick up the tickets and they weren't suite tickets. I called and they said that they overbooked the suite and would not compensate me.
I was told that their website would be updated were I could view points online and book things. They have not updated their website since we bought almost 2 years ago.
One last thing. They never return phone calls. I have mad 4 to them this past month and have not gotten a call back.
My wife and I are in a financial bind because of this. As you know you cannot resell these, especially owing what we owe. What can we do about this problem? I know we signed a contract, but no attorney was present. Nobody brings a lawyer to a presentation. We feel we were scammed. Thanks!
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Date
Unbelievable, we got hit by a "tourist trap" and promised a "bill of goods" and gifts just to spend 90 minutes, which included discounts on adventures, a free breakfast, and a "diamond card" whatever that is.
My wife and I got there early and went on a "one on one" interigation with an inviewer and when we mentioned our income, they renegotiated the gift package. They then brought in the "Big Guns" and we called their bluff. Leaving hungry we had a hard time even getting our $20 deposit back!
Rip off.......stay away
Thanks for the info---my wife and I got suckered into getting a free Xmas tree and $25 to go to a 90 minute 'stress-free-presentation by Shell Vacation Club this next Saturday. Since Time-Share Salesperople hagte me anyway---I call their bluff and walk away--I will show them these complaints. Shell Vacation Club points are available on Ebay between $500 and $2900---and no 17.5% interest charges. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Mike B.
Does anyone out there know what to do to get of of this mess? We are paying over $300 a montha nd $900 a year along with the down payment on a Hawaiian card of $60 a month. When we have tried to book on several occassions the places we want to go are full. This should be illegal. It has caused my fibromyalgia to go off the charts. If anyone know who to go to for California to try and get our money back we would greatly appreciate any help.
Thank you
I got suckered into the same thing. I got offered a FREE 7 day trip to Mexico trip for 2 that I tried to book to later find out in fine print that it couldn't be used until after 6 months of payments had been made and all my maintenance fees for the year. After that my free trip cost me $400 plus for port fees and other unexplainable fees, what a bargain. After I told them what date I wanted I asked how to get this confirmation they told me that I could go on the Royal Carribean website and get it, well you guessed it I wasn't there and Royal had never heard of me. I called numerous times and was given a bogus reservation number that Royal didn't recognize. When I contact Shell they tell me that it is valid and that my date to sail is March 20th which is not what I had booked and they say it is. I'm sure that I don't know what date I asked for at work and that my 3 other family members have booked for on March 30 (dud)! I give them my cell number to call and they call my home number when I'm at work!!!!What great customer service. Call again and it will take 48 hours for another agent to call you back and now it's only been 72 hours and I still haven't heard back.
STAY AWAY FROM SHELL, SAVE YOUR MONEY & PAY FOR YOUR VACATION WHEN YOU WANT TO GO.
If you're in the state of Arizona, read the document that was provided to you as required by state law. On the 2nd page it describes that you have 7 days to cancel the contract if you send a cancellation letter. I bought 1750 points yesterday, but am still unsure wether I want to cancel... only thing that makes me think about it is that I may be able to cancel and then buy for cheaper from ebay or craigslist... but I'm afraid to lose many of the lifetime benefits I recieved in this specific offer such as renting points for only $0.15. I know some of you have bad experiences as I'm reading above (much of which seems to me as a result of not understanding what was said &/or not drilling the manager's on site with every question that you SHOULD have asked until all was understood clearly + reading the contract) I spent 4 hours drilling the managers (NOT SALES PERSON WHO KNOWS LITTLE) to make sure it made sense... which if you use the process correctly and primarily use Shell's Resorts does make financial sense over a long period of time... not by as much as they claim. My only fear at this point is to not be able to get the times and destinations I really want, but I did read in the legal documentation that they are forced to regulate the balance between supply and demand and are audited. I even interviewed people that were lounging out around the place, and they were happy with their time shares. I'm pretty positive about it now, but only time will tell, I guess.
If you're going to go timeshare, pick someone with a long-standing reputation like Marriott. When I think of Shell, I think of sleazy car salesmen. A few of them actually follow that look. Be sure you contact the Better Business Bureau of Illinois.
Think of the the guy making eight figures who points at a car in a dealership and writes out a check for the whole amount on the spot without hesitation. If you don't care about the fine print, trap doors, and dog-and-pony show that hides all of the fees, etc., then by all means sign up with Shell Vacations Club. You'll be sure to get lots of great adventures in heartache. There's a reason 'timeshares' have a poor reputation--it's called Shell Vacations Club.
I ended up cancelling. Thank God for the laws in Arizona. IF YOU LIVE IN AZ, YOU CAN CANCEL WITHIN 7 DAYS! After I started finding twice as many points for less than half the price on ebay and craiglist consistently and reading forums where people are stating that the typical resale price is only $1/ point, I cancelled. Read the last page of the contract!.. you can get out as long as you're quick! I'm relieved cause I paid the RIDICULOUS price of $5.53 per point.. I also didn't realize that you need to book 7 nights minimum if you want to book over 120 days in advance! You'll hardly get availability for 2 or 1 night stays with that rule! Too many freakin rules! If you're going to buy, do it by RESALE! I'm going to be watching ebay... cause the resort was really nice.. cannot deny that.
I too have been suckered by Shell vacations. The hotel is basically an upscale room similar to Motel 8. Breakfast is the same tho, free cereal and toast. I have tried to do a time share resale and was told no need to pay maintanance fees till it sells. Now they want four times the maintanance fees and has gone to collection. 2 months ago $250 now they want a thousand. I just want out. Can you give it back? I have paid $1500 in points already this year would loose that but I cant afford to just keep paying more and more for a shoddy at best place.
I just want out. Are there lawyers who handle time shares? Or represent the suckered people??
I and my wife also got sucked into this couple years ago when we were in Hawaii. I had never heard of timeshres and the scams. We were very naive. They had assigned us a very young salesman who could not fully address my questions and finally the manager herself got into this and threw lots of incentives including 4500 free points and free stay at the resort in Hawaii and air fare bringing the total value of this whole package to almost 5000 dollars so we signed and paid 1200 dollars downpayment. We also got free tickets to the Circus and the favorite show outside town that I don't remember what it was called. We stayed another 4-5 days and got back to Canada. After few days when I had time, I looked at the packages they had given us and realized that they all had fine prints and would not worth anything unless you pay your dues for six months. I also realized that they had different type of members that they failed to disclose in their presentation. In the document I read that the premium mebers had the first say for booking and regular members came after them. Most of the members are regular members and they never talked about elite members at the presentation. I looked up in internet and the compliants and talked to friends and everybody said timeshares are mostly scam and the least is that you can never book where and when you want to get away.
When I read the contrcat, it was few days more than the seven days allowed for cancellation. I contacted them and said I wanted out and wanted my money back but no they are more stubburn than what you think. I didn't get my money back. I had paid with visa and even visa couldn't help me because there was a contract in place. Shell people kept calling me and mailing me to get me pay my monthly fees. they thretened to ruin my credit but I ignored them. Thank god I don't live in States becuse they could have ruined my credit in States which they did but it doesn't affect my credit in Canada. They tried reaching me for almost 8 months and finally gave up. It was a bitter experience but I learnt one thing-STAY AWAY FROM TIMESHARES.
I went to San Fran a few days ago aggreed to go to a 90 minute presentation with Shell so that they can pay my 75 dollar valet bill at my hotel. My wife and I knew in advance that we were not going to sign up that day because we always like to research the company, complaints and other deals. We agreed to go and sure enough, everybody was really nice (remember this part) and the salesman seemed very friendly. We started out a 1 on 1 with how much we travel a year and an average on how much we spend. Like the other comment, he made an astimation on how much we would spend in 30 years or so, came out to about $90, 000 a crazy amount. That part made sense.
After asking us where we want to travel to she showed us the many hotels they have around the world. I was thinking if the hotels were nice and if we would be able to go when ever we wanted to. Also, I was thinking to myself how many POINTS were needed to go to these locations. Ofcourse the price comes at the end, something we kept on asking him which he would not tell us.
After a 15 minute movie with stale free popcorn, we went back to the sales man who was originally from Russia, very energetic and attentive on what we had on to see how much money we probably had. I felt like I was at a car dealership, having the other salesmen looking at us wondering if our guy was going to convince us or not. He left us along with the prices and I started calculating the amount calculating it at 10 years and spending more than 2 grand each year for the lowest 2500 point plan. I was thinking back to the trip our salesman said he took with 13, 000 points he saved up for two years, having 7000 points per year. I was thinking that for our measly 2500 to go up to 7000 we would have to pay close to three times that amount and I was like what the heck!
After that, the finance guy comes over and tries to work somehting out with free gifts, saying out sales guy was going to take a pay cut out of his commission to give us a disney cruise. One last guy tried to give us a two year plan of 99 bucks a month and still no go. After we got our $20 deposit back and our parking voucher, I tried to say goodbye to our guy, right in front of him two times and he never turned back, busy with other prospects. Remembering how they were real nice at the beginning. A lady at the front counter was really nice, taking care of our daughter after all the children left.
Do your homework, don't ruin your credit and look into buying a resale timeshare, a lot of people cant afford them and are selling cheap. Anther thing that got me about Shell that our guy tried to spin as a good thing was that you can't buy Shell at a resale, I though of it as a bad thing because you can't resell if you can't pay.
You should never purchase these programs unless you can afford to throw money away and tolerate the inconvenience of the program. All of these sales people are taught the same tricks to assuage you into their grips. They try to find something that you have in common and pander to it. "Oh, you're a nurse! My sister is going into nursing school. Where did you go to school. Fresno State? Wow, my cousin goes to Fresno State." Bull ###!!! Let these former used car sales people attempt to sell you a Yugo, but please do not buy it!
My best advice to you before considering these programs is to acquire a credit card with a rewards system, charge your monthly recurring bills to the card, payoff the card like clock work, and use the points to book your vacation. If you have to stayy in a Hampton Inn because you could not get the Hilton with your points, then consider how much money you did not waste by paying for the Hampton through the vacation club idea. $50, 000 for a week in a Radisson because they couldn't get you the yacht in San Diego harbor!
Remember, you got it free through your credit card and did not pay a dime!!! Heck, you may even rack up enough points to acquire the airfare too!!! So, why by a timeshare? Do you fell lucky?
If you feel the need for one of these goons to bamboozle you into buying their product, then go to the presentation, get drunk first, and slobber all over them while they are talking with you. Take their free nights at the hotel and their gift too.
When my boyfriend and I first bought with Shell we felt like we were getting a good deal, and the ORIGINAL sales person set us up with something comfortable. It was all going fine till we went to our owners update meeting a year later. We were just fine with the amount of points we had (1, 500 not much but enough for us), but the sales person told us if we bought NOW we would be locked in forever to buy more points at $5.48. The way he explained it was in 20 years when NEW members are paying $15 a point, we would still only have to pay $5.48. So to get in on this great deal we bought the lowest amount of points (that we didn't even want/need) 1, 200 points. So later we go to another "wonderful" update meeting (can you feel the sarcasm) to find out that we were lied to, and in fact were not locked in at all. But they reassured us the associate would be fired, but there was nothing they could do about our situation except offer us an upgrade THAT DAY only for the same price. None of this made us feel any better about the situation, so after 2 hours of back and forth non sense we left very ticked off. As of right now I'm writing a letter of complaint to the customer service department requesting a full refund (which I doubt I will receive). I am determined to be pain in their back side until I get my money back or they honor the deal we sold. So my advice, don't buy from Shell, or if you really feel the need to READ your paperwork carefully!
I was at their presentation last night and got the free (Oh I paid with my hide) two nights hotel stay in Palm Springs and air and lodging in Hawaii. I told the original rep that I would not and do not ever buy something same day, not a car, not a house, not a dress, not shoes nothing. He said no problem. When I was at the presentation the offer did seem reasonable and all the reps there said they owned property in Shell Vacations (I highly doubt it, shame on them for lying), anyway I was pretty much sold thinking I could come back in a week but they said it was a one day sale which equals "NO SALE" to me. I told them I had heard bad experiences with other timesshares and I needed to research and that I couldn't trust them just as they couldn't trust me if I said I would bring them the money later instead of writing them a check or charging. They got nasty. One of the reps said "I'm not even going to offer you this package becuase I can tell that you're not serious about this". I didn't argue, what's the point.
I'm sorry for your losses and I wish you much luck and peace in trying to resolve this situation but I'm relieved that I made the right decision in not buying the Shell Vacations. Please have some comfort in knowing that you brough me some comfort and tell everyone you know to save them your grief.
Grace
I too had the same thing happen to me that happened to Christina. To know that this is a COMPANY wide scam should be illegal!! The first 1250 points were our fault. We were in Hawaii and wanted it basically for the RCI access (which hasn't proved to been much help or done much good). I truly believe that we should be given the opportunity to return and get out of the last transaction knowing that it was a SCAM!! Truly truly straight out lied to us. LIED! That is the only reason we purchased...and it was supposed to be written into the contract. UGH!
Well...atleast we are not alone. Such a waste of 20K!!
We have been members since since 2007, Oct. So far are esperiences with shell have been postive.all calls have been returned in a timely manner. They have been very helpful with any assistance needed.
It appears that many of the people didn't read what they had signed because most of the complaints I have read are addressed in the paperwork.
Regarding the contract I refused to pau the High interest and found the money to pay it off.
I am An Elite owner .
their paperwork is VERY misleading, and after you ahve been screwed, they are "very sorry but there is nothing they can do about it
I Have owned with Shell Vacation CLub for 12 years and have purchase a total of three times. I have had nothing but excellent service, I have used my points to have awesome vacations with my family. It's alarming to see these comments because they are so contrary to my experiences with Shell. I am happy with SHell and my timeshare.
I have also been an owner for 5 year with Shell vacations. I love the program I have stay in places like Florida and NYC abroad I had a villa in Italy and a cottage in France. I love opportunity it provides for my family and I to get out and see the world. I think most people are unhappy because no matter what they do they would be. Do pass up this opportunity when u get it and if u can be flexible and understanding that it may not be a perfect system it better then staying at some of the horrible place I stay without
They never return my calls, and when they do I have to re-explain my situation because its never the same person. I thought it was a good investment for myself and my children.
We do travel alot and have yet to experience the damn thing because we have not received our "deed".
I'm regreting my purchase.