I am a christian woman who is married to a christian man. I would never write anything or take the time to go into detail about my experience at SilverLake Resorts if it wasn't true.
I just arrived back home to Longview, Tx from Flint, Tx where this Silver Lake Resort is located. When we pulled up to the Resort my Husband and I already felt like it was a scam because nothing in life is Free, but we were willing to be open minded. Once we walked in the environment was slightly friendly but seemed to be all business. My Husband noticed that the America's Funniest Videos was playing on the TV. He said "Hunny, if thats a DVD then you know they are up to no good"!! Turn's out it was a DVD. LOL.
We we taken by a nice lady to another building and we noticed maybe 30 other couples on our side of the room and then maybe 30 more couples on another side of the room. This is when I began to question what is really going on here. Our TOUR GUIDE/SALES REP asked us all these personal questions. Where were we from, how did we meet, etc. Then she asked Whats the most important thing in your marriage? Of course we said, Spending time with one another. There's the hook. She asked us how much we spend when we go out of town-- on hotels, food, entertainment, etc. Then she added it up and showed us a figure. Then she said what if you vacationed 10 days out of the year. Adding more money to the calculated bottom line, Then she asked what trips have you planned already. We told her Spain, LA, and another place. She was like great, but ended up using all this information against us in the end. Then she made us feel like staying in a hotel was nasty because they are public and have no extra amenities. She made buying a vacation home sound like it was a bad idea because we would be stuck in the same location and worry about security and etc. She kept saying with these options we would lose and won't be able to get back anything overtime, or build equity.. Very convincing, but still would not discuss a price. She wanted to show us the "Property"
Then we asked just tell us the catch.. She said" There is no catch!" Just lets ride and see the resort! So we played along since there was no money being mentioned at this point. She showed us the welcome center-- Included two places to eat, a gift shop and an arcade. Then she told us to walk around a peak into a gym, it was small and cramped.. Not impressed, at all. The best thing we viewed was the water-park for our kids. We felt like it was nice to see a water-park with nice indoor slides for our kids to enjoy, great!! Then we went on to view the actual condo itself.. The BBQ grill was about 20 years old and the condo looked semi-up to par. We loved the jacuzzi in the master-bath room, but felt like the beds were small and a tad but used. But the TOUR GUIDE/SALES REP said we change those out to ensure top quality.. HMMMM. We rode around in her vehicle by the way which I found to be weird, only because I felt like they should be able to at least afford a shuttle or Resort Bus Right?? After viewing the amenities, I asked Are you going to talk money now and she said yes we can. But prior to this moment my husband and I kept asking how much, how much is this?? She would not even give us a clue until we were back into the ROOM WITH ALL THE OTHER COUPLES, that we started in. Only this time we sat on the other side of the room. Which I found to be entertaining because now I see that they didn't want any of the New Comers/WINNERS OF THE ULTIMATE INVISIBLE PRIZES to over hear prices being discuss or have a plain view of people being disgusted and walking out.
Once we were seated down with our backs facing the wall. As other couples had done. Not realizing that there was a entire command center with other sales people and managers in the back of the room waiting to come over and talk. Not realizing that our TOUR GUIDE/SALES REP was sending signals to cue certain sales managers to come over. She went into another program called RCI, and how we could park our 8/7 day resort rental and travel the world. How we could travel to the other 6 resorts (4 of the resorts are in Texas, thats not a vacation, I wanna leave Texas!!) Then she kept saying this is such a great deal, you guys deserve this!! You're such good people. While the whole time while she is talking her hands shake, she tries to hide them, but I noticed. Then she went over how much we wanted to spend this year in vacations, how much we have spent in the past, and how much money we would lose if we continued to vacation like we have been. Which was a realist point, but thats going as much as we want whenever we want, and where-ever we want.
She went over the pricing, finally!!! We allowed her to play around with the papers and mispronounce my first name several times and she hit us with a pre-figured number and monthly payment. Nothing specially discussed or figured for us. It was $15, 500.00 for the price and it was 487.50 a month for 3 years. They wanted us to put down $3864.00 right then at that moment. I told her NO, H-E- double hockey sticks NO. I am thinking to myself, If you would have told me to bring 3864.00 I would have been more prepared. But you want me to use all the money I have, all the resources I have to make a hast decision. My husband and I said NO. Then she brought over a man who claims to just have returned from Italy and he tried to WOW us with all the extras he had and how he only paid 194, with RCI and blah, blah, blah. Then he says " You guys make such a great couple, and I am going to work with you this evening (b/c now we have been there for 2 hours). WE GO BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH. Until this man tells us well if you can put down 200, and write a post dated check for a week from today for $1358.00 we can work out the other half. Are you serious?? What turned into a come out and enjoy a day at our resort was slowly turning into a plot to take all of our money. My husband began to really consider this deal only because it sounded great!! But the ending numbers were this to be exact. Put down 1584.00 and have monthly payments of 247.00 for 84 months at a 17.4 percent interest rate. You do the math... Thats right at 22, 180.00. This is crazy!! Not including maintenance fees or special fee's. My husband and I turned down the offer and was told that we would miss the special deal because it was good for TODAY and only TODAY. So we then realized two hours had passed us by. The day was almost gone!! So at this point they say, we will send someone to talk with you about your prizes!! Your trips, 40 gift card, and a chance to win $49, 000 dollars or a car... We waited... Then another gentleman came over and tried to convince us to put down 150.00 dollars to hold the price of the deal being offered today, for 18 months???.. As if this wasn't another attempt to get something from us, every-time a couple signed up they would announce their names over the intercom and the entire room cheered and stood-up to say CONGRATS. This makes you feel more inclined to buy because everyone wants to feel special. MANIPULATORS!
I was like Are you serious?? I kept thinking, Why is there so much pressure?? Why is this man's face so red?? Why does it seem like this Resort is so desperate?? Why can't they just allow us to think about it?? Why is it so rushed?? Something isn't right!!! I am so happy I stuck with my GUTT. I am happy that God saw us through these lies and repeat actions to get us to comment and do something we truly didn't want to do. We are NEWLYWEDS, why would we need to start off our marriage with DEBT.
We are in a recession!! Please BEWARE of these people!! They are salespeople. They will target and compliment you only to build you up, so you will be easier to manipulate and take advantage of your savings and money.
