John Oliver discusses timeshares, how people get into them, why it’s so difficult to get out, and one exciting new business venture.
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My Dad was scammed into a timeshare nearly 20 years ago. It wasn't all bad in the end. He picked up a new hobby from it. Whenever he can, he goes into timeshare meetings to collect the incentives to go to the meeting. He's received broadway tickets, snorkeling trips, free nights at hotels, so so very many breakfasts. It's not just about the perks, though: you should see how giddy he gets when he explains that he goes in and loudly and covertly points out all the hidden costs for others to hear. Meanwhile, he is more than happy to stay for a 5 hour meeting: he considers it a sport to waste everyones time.
I own a timeshare too, I don't mind the long meetings... But I DO mind the cost 😢
Based af
Legend
That is by far the most dad thing a dad could do, I applaud him
Not all heroes wear capes. Sounds fitting here 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It really is kind of amazing that in America you can get in trouble for so many little things but you can spend a lifetime swindling people out of timeshares and never face consequences
It is the land of opportunities if you are cynical and have criminal intent ^^
when you realize who make the laws, it really isn't surprising.
@@Joho1208 That's exactly why we will only stop being a hellhole if lobbying is made illegal. 😔
The force must be strong with their lobbyists
Cuz fuck them thats why
My grandparents were pros at this. She got a LOT of free stuff. Often jewelry if it was an option. We were surprised to find one necklace with a diamond appraised in 2011 for $800. I went with them a few times in the early '90s. My grandfather said to a salesman " I shot Nazis. I can certainly say no to you." It was priceless. Another time, they had me say "Grandma, I feel woozy, I need my insulin." They got a kick out of the free stuff and rarely spent more than an hour. I imagine the pressure is higher now.
My father got a free plane trip to stay in a timeshare in Florida for a weekend many years ago, but I'd really be afraid to try something like that now.
"I shot Nazis. I certainly can say no to you" is the best way to say no I've ever seen.
😂😂😂
Way to scam the scammer. Good for you.
M x😊😅😊the
I wonder if owners could write their will to leave the timeshare to their favorite politician.
Oh that’s actually pretty clever. Would be a good way of maybe forcing a law change.
Or their favorite HOA board member.
I’ll go die and get back to you.
That would be the ONLY way to get laws to fight this
@Apolloshot would be fun for a few, but they'll just change it to family only unless the designee signs something
I was approached by a timeshare outfit. They claimed I had inherited a timeshare that my father purchased. Their beef was that I was currently $17,500 behind in maintenance fees and $30,000 in annual membership fees. I told them to submit everything to my attorney and we'd 'discuss' the matter further. Turns out that my father DID purchase a timeshare from this outfit and that they were, in fact, deducting $6,000 per year from his bank account, along with the additional $3,500 for 'property maintenance' fees. Yeah, he signed their contract........18 months after he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimers and was suffering from dementia. He also died five years ago. Anyway, they tried to sue me after my attorney told them they could take a long walk off a short pier and we filed counter-suit and the DA filed criminal charges against the company, the salespeople, and their management staff. I walked away with no 'inherited' timeshare and $218,000. Oh, did I forget to mention that the timeshare property was a vacant lot? Yeah, the house that sat there was condemned and destroyed by the county it was located in. F*ck these people!
I'm honestly surprised there isn't an industry of lawyers out there forming class-action lawsuits against these timeshare outfits.
@@John_Weiss there are some. There's one where I live. It boggles my mind that he's able to have a career in suing people doing scammy things. You'd think the charade would have ended by now
@@John_Weiss There actually is. Because I had three timeshares at one time in my life, I am on the call list. I get a call about every six months from an attorney who is forming one class action or another.
I love that story. Mine didn't end so well. $50,000 over ten years after Marriott blocked our abilty to use the timeshare, but then refused to take it back. As long as we paid the mortgage on the timeshare they wouldn't destroy our credit. So we ignored the annual fees and kept paying the timeshare mortgage. After $50,000 for a timeshare that we only used one day, we paid off the mortgage. And finally, with some attorney -pressure (which actually took a year and cost $5,000), Marriott said "OK, we will take it back now that you've paid for it.": We gave them the deed and finally walked away with our credit intact. I would not for a minute be surprised that they have re-sold that deed to someone else. It's hard to believe, but that I a 100% true story.
Those people belong in federal prison getting piped in the shower.
It’s mind boggling that kids would be forced to take over the timeshare obligation from their parents.
How is that legal?!
Add that to the long list of things in this country that should be illegal but aren't.
So aren’t there any consumer protection laws in the US? A contract like that would be super illegal in Germany.
there's no way that and the perpetuity clause would be legal in a reasonable country.
@@Constantin9va I hope/feel like it probably isn't entirely legal - maybe they just call up the children and lie (as they are supposedly allowed to do) What are they going to do if the kids just ignore them and refuse to pay?
About 8 yrs ago my boyfriend & I were vacationing in Puerto Vallarta and, being bored after 10 days, agreed (after much pestering by agents on the street) to take a timeshare trip up the coast … we had a lovely ride in an air-conditioned coach, a beautiful lunch, tickets to an evening Las Vegas-type show, tour of the palatial new time-share units, and US $50 cash each - all just to “go look”. We thoroughly enjoyed all the salespeople bending over backwards trying to sell us a timeshare that we had absolutely NO intention of buying. Ever. We knew 100% before we signed up that we would NEVER buy a timeshare but we happily killed the day, saw a bit more of Mexico, ate & drank like celebrities and had $100 to buy dinner with. Man, those salespeople tried EVERYTHING to get us to buy. Finally in frustration handed us off to the big boss who had no better luck. They were PISSED. It was the most fun we had in Puerto Vallarta. Highly recommend.
I wonder if there are KZheadrs doing that sort of thing. I'd love to watch those scamming fucks get pissed off like that, video after video.
I wonder how often refusals in foreign countries get marked for future victimization by criminal elements.
Haha I did the exact same thing at Disney World. My experience was exactly the same.
I have done the same many times. I let them think that I have lots of money and I love to watch them trying to get me to sign anything. Usually in the end I tell them to put everything in writing and I will take it home and will think about it. I really judt do it for fun
16:28 "Suddenly gone with no warning. Like a ghost. Or a TV show on HBO Max." I love how much John delights in biting the hand that feeds him.
To be fair, it’s a bad hand
You don't really think that. Do you? Oh God, you do think that. I'm sorry.
When your industry has its own exit industry, it needs John Oliver's anti-entrance industry.
Next week, John Oliver will be covering the drug company’s ad campaign to get those addicted to opiates they sold as being safe and non-addictive by selling them new drugs to get them off the addictive drugs they sold them in the first place.
Most timeshare exit companies are full of ex-timeshare people that got people stuck in Timeshares in the first place.
Kind of like me and dad. You spend all that time praying and repenting, then we holy ghost, your ass.
Who Set up the Spots lighting the program! Its frigging irritating to watch this fabulous broadcast. Thanks Oliver
Best comment in the KZhead comment section industry.
I used to go to Timeshare presentations for the free gifts. When they find out you are just there for the gift, they make you wait after you are done. Then I learned if you start making noise, like yelling in the room "I WANT MY GIFT NOW! PLEASE", they get your gift to get your disturbing ass out of there. Works every time.
it sure does!! Make a scene and they get rid of you fast. It's actually quite fun.
That sound like a fantastic day to eat a giant bowl of beans for breakfast 😂 💨
Don't forget the key that may unlock a car that would be yours after you paid the taxes on it!
20 years, I have been a time share owner. Here are some tips. 1. bring an hourglass 2. Tell them you will walk away at the allocated time. 3. Tell them that you are wasting their time because you are not buying anything 4. Prepare to walk away with nothing 5. Allow your kids to misbehave 6. If you are black, they will always give you the gifts and cut the meeting short
Using your Karen powers for good
Having read previous horror stories, my wife and I attended a sales pitch in Whistler, BC. The reward for the pitch was two days of $105 lift tickets. I told the sales guy we had 90 minutes, and wanted to get into the numbers right away. Had my laptop, built a simple spreadsheet with all of the costs, taxes, maintenance fees, club fees, and fees for basic stuff sold as options. (Towels for the pool, cleaning service for the units, high-cost laundry facilities etc. ) This was a Hilton deal that limited us to Hilton properties. When we worked it all out, the average cost per night in the timeshare was $866. (this was in 1998 dollars). We told the salesperson that $866 / night will buy us luxury accommodations anywhere in the world, without being limited to a relatively small number of Hilton resort properties, without all the hassles of making reservations a year in advance, without the problems of canceling when plans change etc. He kept trying to close, at which point I took out the Vancouver want-ads, where there were over two dozen Hilton memberships advertised for under 10% of the cost of a "new" membership. We collected our lift tickets and enjoyed two days of free skiing. With preparation like John Oliver's great segment here, you can turn the tide. Our 90 minute investment in time got us $420 in lift tickets on that trip. Occasionally we see a reward that's worth an hour of our time. It can be a game if you're into that kind of thing.
Wow IRL Viktor & Giselle lol
Nice!
Many years ago my father, a doctor, received a free round-trip plane ride and weekend stay in Florida in exchange for sitting through several hours of timeshare presentation. I would never have the courage to try that today. I never get scammed anymore, because in response to big promises of any kind I search the Web. Fraud will always turn up this way. Recently, I got a scary warning postcard about needing a Home Warranty, and discovered quickly that it was a scam. They almost always cost more than they deliver.
I salute you, cos I really don't have the patience for that sort of stunt anymore. Used to be the kind of person who'd do the same with any D2D salesman who tried to hard-sell, debate every evangelist door-knocker, stand by the shelves in the supermarket calculating the cents of savings for every item. I even sat through several MLM pitches because gullible friends of mine got hooked and I wanted to politely support them. I just can't do any of that stuff anymore. No amount of freebies or savings feel worth it.
See the thing is this assumes you a)know about all this perfectly and b) that they don't outright lie to you
Guy's that manager talking about "saving lives" is Richard Siegel. He's the son of the owner of Westgate Resorts; David Siegel. He was my VP of Sales for a phone department I was in. I won an award for "Rookie of the Year" when I was very young. At the awards banquet when I was receiving my award it was my first time meeting him. The only thing he said to me was "700k in volume this year? Thats it? Next year get me a million". I'll never forget the greed and moment of realization that I was part of a nasty business. These are the people who own these companies, they're like a legal mafia. Be careful and stay away!
My mom and her first husband got a free weekend getaway in exchange for listening to a timeshare pitch. After listening for a few hours and not biting, they got moved into one of those car dealership style little rooms for the final pitch. They still didn't bite at which point the saleswoman flipped out and shouted: "YOU JUST CAME FOR THE FREE BUFFET!". My mom was totally nonplussed and just said: "Well, yeah".
Was it worth it? Can't they just get the food or whatever and up and leave?
We got a free weekend in San Diego this way. It was amusing to see how the price of the timeshare kept dropping as the evening went on. They finally gave up on us - I have the world's highest sales resistance. I pretty much just laughed at the guy.
I would love to do this. I'd just bring my phone charger and play games the whole time, asking a question here and there to make it seem like I'm not a total lost cause. What are they gonna do, insult me by asking me to pay attention? There's no principal's office to send me to, lol
Ha!!! I love that!
Starts crying “I just wanted to sell you a wonderful money pit- I mean wonderful vacation spot which you can pass on for us- I mean to your kids so they can enjoy it” Basically the south park bit
My wife and myself ended up getting swooped up for a timeshare presentation on our honeymoon. Once we realized what was happening we lied and said I had lost my job and the only reason we were still on vacation is because we would lose our deposit. They gave us a free lunch and sent us on our way. One of the best quick thinking moves we have ever made
Thanks for the life hack! Glad you guys got out of that situation!
You can skip hours of sales pitch by appear poor? I'll keep that in mind
I'm using this if I ever get roped into a timeshare. Wait a second....I actually am poor. No lying needed!
@@HowToChangeName It's one of those moves that seems so straightforward yet easy to forget. Like the guy who says he doesn't have any cash ono him anytime someone asks if he can spare some change
In the ‘70s my dad made us sit through sales pitches for Diamondhead to get the freebies. Fortunately there was no way my parents could afford or would fall for them, but we did get some gifts for an hour of two.
I'm morbidly curious just how much economic activity in our current economic system is based on grift, fraud, exploiting inelastic demand, monopolistic behavior, or any other behavior that is or should be illegal. It's insane.
That's how ppl get rich, welcome to Capitalistic America.
@@HaruSkageyou didn't need to mention America, but yeah. As long as the point of an economy is profit not people's well being, nothing will change.
Trick question: you just listed all the kinds of economic activity
Most of the exoonony is scam The whole fiat system Were just running to pay ibterest
Probably the majority of the United States economy.
Wife and I actually went to one of these "tours" yesterday in Vegas for Wyndham. Luckily we'd seen this episode beforehand and quickly recognized what the "tour" really was. True to form, they began the presentation saying that it would be good for your health with statistics about how people who take regular vacations have less stress and live longer (duh). We were then passed through 3 different sales people. The "personable" sales people were first, either charismatic guys or hot women, the guy we talked to was actually a pretty cool dude, his job was to talk up the product (the resorts) and give a tour of one of the rooms. The "numbers" guy was next, and he gave us WAY different numbers than the "personable" guy, and was a bit of a jerk after finding out we couldn't afford even their lowest offer (so far). Then we were pushed off onto the closer, who was the epitome of the slimy salesman. The price got even lower, with 2 years, zero interest, free financing, blah blah blah. Once the 3rd guy saw we were a "no", he stood up, said "follow me" and showed us to the gift redemption desk and walked away without another word, I laughed at how fast he switched from nice to rude. Bright side is, we were only there for the required 2 hours and we got a 3 day hotel stay, a $25 gift card, and $150 in slot credits that turned into $75 real cash. If you got the time to kill, go in for the free gifts and try to get a few laughs out of it. I'm just glad John Oliver is around to spread the word about scams like this because it was a pretty convincing presentation for anyone who might not know anything about it. Unfortunately one couple fell for it and the whole room clapped and cheered when it was announced that they signed up.
did you end up using that 3 day hotel without any additional taxes or fees?
It's possible that the couple who signed up for it were paid actors to give the appearance of real demand.
My dad told me he went to a presentation in the '70s. He asked the salesman if he could take the contract home and study it and the saleman said "no". My dad laughed in disbelief and walked away.
"walking away" is usually not an option. Typically they will pick you up at one location and drive you to a different location miles away, with no access to any kind of transportation, so that you're reliant on them to take you back when you're done.
@@imnotmike That's when you threaten to call the police & have them charged with kidnapping.
@@imnotmike well that's the point where i call the police or steal one of their cars. Or: Start being a nuisance by loudly shouting it's a scam, insulting the salespeople, shitting on the floor, inappropriatly flirting with salespeople and guests.
My then boyfriend and I did the same thing. We were 22-year-old tourists from Germany. We told them it was the most unreasonable thing we'd ever heard of. They gave us the Disneyland-tickets and let us go.
@@imnotmike Then they greatly underestimate my ability to walk miles with my own two legs or pick up my phone to get an Uber. That tactic may have worked 20 years ago, but not today with cellphones having built in GPS.
My husband is a very kind person and he struggles to say no. One day he told me that we are going to this time share pitch. I was not happy and my face showed it. This guy came out and started talking and then he asked a question to the group: " Do you know why you are here?" So I put my hand up, he smiled and I said: "We are here because you want to sell us something that we don't want or need." His smile dissapeared and we went home. I had so much fun!🤣🤣
@S.G. Former god damn I’d love to have a partner like you one day. I’ve got bad social anxiety, coupled with severe people pleasing traits, it’s really hard for me to reject people trying to recruit me. At least I don’t go out much 🫠
@S.G. Former Hats off to you! What an amazing partner to have, my best wishes to you both and that these 15 years together become 30, then 45 and so on. The best to you both.
That so funny. It probably also helped the other potential victims.
A Male friend of mine asked me to go to a sales pitch, for couples only, to buy land because they were giving away a free steak dinner. We had a very swarmy Woman as our salesperson; she picked food out of her teeth, with her fake red polished nails, the whole time she was talking to us- ugh. She must have smelled blood in the water because we were in our early 20s. After she gave her pitch, I asked her if the land was developed or undeveloped. Her excited demeanor started to fade when she said undeveloped. I looked at my friend & said, expect to pay another $10-20K to get electricity & water to this land. With that, she said, oh, my colleague needs my assistance & got up & walked away. After we finished our dessert, my friend said, now what? I replied, look at her, she has her back to us because she knows we have her number, so we are done here, let's go. We got up & left, full from our free steak dinner & without any debt.
Wife has acquired 1,500 exp points! "Family Defense Upgraded" & "New Skill Aquired" - Oh Hell Naw
TOP TIP for dealing with High Pressure Timeshare Sales Presentation: I brought along a full sized bag of extra crunch potato chips. Every time the presenter got to a dramatic sales pitch part, I started rolling my bag of chips. It was loud. Then I would stand up and say "My bad." and sit down, because I am English and that's the polite thing to do. That lasted about 10 minutes then they asked me to step outside. As I went outside, I passed by the table with the giveaways and I took my two champagne bottles and two envelopes filled with COCO BONGO tickets with me. That's called WIN - WIN!
I always knew timeshares were a scam, but what really hit home for me was working for a 5 star hotel that had full and fractional ownership units. During a company meeting about renovations we were doing, our residences manager, literally the lady in charge of overseeing all the timeshares on property, mentioned how much profit the full time owners had made, and how the timeshares had broken even, which is completely unheard of. She then paused, and went off on like a 10-15 minute tangent, explaining how awful timeshares are as investments, and how none of us should ever buy into one. And this is the lady in charge of the company's timeshares saying that!!
When I was a kid I remember going to Orlando. My mom had a brain tumor and she wanted to go to Disney so bad "in case something happens" during the surgery she had to get. So my pretty poor family managed to go but our hotel made us do a time share presentation. My little sister and I went around going "this is a scam" to everyone until they let my family go because it was causing a scene and making people change their minds. This was like the early 2000s. Thanks for making me remember this, fuck the time share scam. It's not a business, it's a scam!
Sounds like your mom raised some amazing kids!
So the hotel let you stay for free if you sold timeshares to the guests?
I hope your mom was ok and made it through the surgery.
@@dannydaw59 No Time Share companies will book out a hotel, usually one they own, and then give away "free" vacations to people if they attend hours long time share presentations. And yes I did say presentations, some of them will get you to do multiple several hours long presentations. They basically hope to break you down cult style to sign away your financial future in order to pay for this "event".
@@dannydaw59 not free, discounted stay.
In my twenties, I was a timeshare telemarketer. I was making 3500 a week, but I'd go home, and just sit, and replay each and every person I had screwed over. Started drinking heavily. Started having panic attacks getting ready for work. Burned out after 4 months. Swore I'd only make an honest buck from now on, and went back to day labor. I been doing construction and restaurant work for the last twenty years, and I am a happy, satisfied man.
It's not a choice everyone would've made, and you have my infinite respect for it.
ponzi scheme into a ponzi scheme thats so American
@@roxaskinghearts aw, you don't know what a Ponzi scheme is. See, Ponzi schemes use money from new investors to pay dividends to old investors. Since timeshares do not rely on promises of future earnings against initial investment, and is actually a SHITTY PRODUCT, the umbrella of "Ponzi Scheme" is a woeful misdiagnosis. Course I'm just a stupid American laborer .. right?
Apply that realtors license to a real living.
@@roxaskinghearts.....Restaurant service and construction work are ponzi schemes?
I wish people that are on vacation would realize that getting sidetracked to a multi hour presentation is costing them their valuable vacation time which doesnt even closely add up to the Disney tickets or whatever free stuff the timeshare is offering them. Your time while at home might be worth going to a free gift seminar, but while on vacation that very limited time of yours is worth wayyyy much more
That's why they exist. They know exactly how to prey on vacationers. They know what we look like and they home on you like sharks on a victim. I have been a sucker to them not knowing what they were but I learned the hard way. Now I can smell them a mile away....☺
@@danyf3116 "home", not "hone". To hone means to sharpen a knife.
I've done this for a free hotel stay that is the only way it seems worth it cause we got a free 3 day stay and then said no on the way out
Depends. A lot of these are old-timers who just want to spend weeks of their lives lounging by the beach or pool; they have plenty of time to spend and (theoretically) the disposable wealth to do it regularly, hence why the idea of having a regular place to return to appeals. They can give up half a day to gain weeks more (over years) of vacation...is the selling point. Obviously they count on you being too lazy, bad at/unwilling to do math and wealthy enough that you'd think less about where your money's going, to hook you into the scam.
@@david203 Big fingers on small phone. Thanks for pointing my typo.
My wife and I were given the opportunity to have our tickets for various activities at a holiday location in Australia reduced to $20 each from $200 each. All we had to do was show up to a 1 hour presentation. That afternoon, we were huddled into a Wyndham Resort sales pitch office. After the 4 hour presentation, we were sat with a young girl who attempted to finalize the sale. Being in the sales game, I mentioned to the salesperson that there is a cooling-off period for any financial sign-ups that include leasing. She begrudgingly acknowledged the fact. They asked us for a $5000 card payment, which we refused. We paid $100 deposit in cash, took our discounted tickets, went back to our hotel room, had a glass of wine and after 1 hour, I walked straight back in and asked for my deposit back. They said they'd need to confer with the salesperson. I said "I'd like to exercise my right to my cooling-off period." and walked out with my $100, 2 minutes later.
I love John Oliver’s ability to take a subject I’ve been aware of my whole life but haven’t been bothered to Google and make it interesting lol
Haha i mean i thought everyone knew they were BS, south park had the Aspen timeshare episode literally 20 years ago, used car salesmen getting you to pay for a place you get one day At least unlike the other 90% of his videos it isn't a depressing issue that won't get fixed, and when we watch it again years later it's gotten way worse and none of the solutions he proposes have been done, and conservatives either love/support/cause it hahah
As someone with ADHD and a crazy need to google everything, this is on the money. How does this man CONSTANTLY come out with new pieces covering niche subjects that I've somehow never managed to hear anyone else delve into in depth???? His team is truly the beat at scavenging new and novel sad times lol.
This dude looks like Bill Pullman.
You know there are show writers?
@@MrMancreatedgod Of course a whole team of dozens is necessary for this, but the team is phenomenal to churn out such consistently good work.
Pro-tip: During the timeshare presentation, inform the salesperson that "my lawyer will need to look this over before I sign". Stay firm. They will quickly walk you over to the "gift area" then the "exit".
Good idea.
That's smart!!
I'd use this for every HOA agreement, every addendum in an employer contract, any salesperson calling me for anything. Cheers man!
It's genuinely the best thing to say to *anyone* that's trying to get you to sign a contract. If their reaction is anything other than calmly saying "Of course, take all the time you need," then it's a SKETCHY AF CONTRACT.
I did actually use that one, and they mocked me for needing to have a lawyer make my decision for me. Asked if I need him to help pick out my wardrobe for me, also. I still walked out, I still took my gifts. They are evil.
If you really want a timeshare, get your neighbors together and all pitch in 30k. Buy a house as a trust or LLC. Schedule your own stays and try to rent it out when not in use to help with costs. If you don’t want to do that: just do the normal thing and get a hotel
The problem with multiple owners of a property is disagreements may force a sale.
@WindTurbineSyndrome If the property is owned by the LLC or whichever corporate entity used, the dissatisfied owner could not force a sale without majority support of the interest holders. If the corporate body was a "closely held LLC" then they wouldn't even be able to sell their ownership interest to a party that was not approved by the rest of the members.
What a stupid idea.
@@xv1670better than a timeshare scam
Better idea: If you live at a place others might want to visit, consider signing up with a home exchange platform and travel on home swaps. Sometimes they're a bit cumbersome to organize - but we never had trouble, weren't tied to one destination and saved a ton of money over the years.
This is really the must-watch video for everyone. My parents end up making a contract with Hilton Timeshare in Hawaii in 2019, because they were festive and didn't think it over. Then the pandemic happened and they could never used the property. They had to release the property in 2023, as it costs too much to maintain and it's impossible to sell them out. 5-hour presentation resulted in losing $30,000 for nothing. This type of sales should be regulated more and I hope no people become the victims any more.
I couldn't agree more. When politicians go around talking about the evils of government regulation, people need to mention that government regulation is actually necessary. Especially on issues like this one, where businesses prey on average Americans. Too often, the words "government regulation" are demonized to mean against the common sense, or interests, of America, in general.
It's wild that a comedian on HBO is the new version of 60 minutes we needed.
This isn't new. He's been doing this for almost 10 years.
@@InchFab And he learned form Jon Stewart who has given us many news worthy comedians over the last 20 years.
@Mr Freeman So are you claiming then that that means this show is "new"?
Newer than 60 minutes
60 minutes is busy giving air to lunatics.
The biggest shock to me was how it passes to your kids unless they take legal steps to refuse it. I don’t understand how that is even remotely legal.
Were i live no debt or shit like this is passed down to the kids of someone dies. Only assets.
@@ingridakerblom7577 in the case of inheritance, time shares are considered an asset. That’s why they are passed down to the heirs.
Well in that case, can I stipulate in my will that I leave them to my "favorite" politician? Somebody like de Santis, MTG or Lindsey Graham...you know, only the best people..😉
Debts cannot be passed down to heirs. If all the assets of an estate, once auctioned, aren't enough to pay for the debt of the estate then the estate dissolves along with its debt (Though debtors won't tell heirs this and may occasionally try to rake money out of them as though they did inherit the debt). However timeshares aren't legally considered a debt. They may suck money aware giving nothing in return, but they are legally considered an asset, and as such they will be automatically inherited, and the inheritor must take active action to claim no interest in the property.
That is an arguable case of motive for entrapment.
Back last century my wife and I got pressured into a time share scam. Once we realized our mistake we asked to get out of it. Initially the Company we were dealing with said no and tried to play their usual hard ball tactics. At that time I was the owner of a sign company and explained to them in no uncertain terms my capacity to blanket the whole area in the truth about them. In short order we were released from their clutches.
I was half expecting the Time Share Exit companies to be *part* of the Time Share companies: they know where the potential victims are, and that they can be bullied / lured into signing contracts.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that, although the Exit companies are separate entities, the Time Share companies sell contact list data to them.
They are even bigger scammers than the timeshare companies.
Wife and I did a timeshare presentation while on a work "vacation" recently. The saleswoman quickly realized she got the worst couple: childless millennial civil servants with student loan debt from one of the poorest, most rural regions in the country who only ever "vacation" when its work-related (i.e. paid by employer). She literally couldn't contain her shock when we explained the different ways we're able to save costs and still have fun trips. Got a free carriage ride, free expensive dinner, a tour ride, and tickets to a museum for 2 hours of saying "No" various ways and watching her eyes widen as we explained the monthly "costs" for the timeshare would be double our mortgage... Worth it.
My wife and I have stayed in the Florida panhandle for several years for 3 months, January to March. Four years ago family came to Orlando for a week, so we drove down and stayed with them at a Wyndham hotel. We kept getting phone calls to attend a “presentation” and receive $100-. We declined several times but finally gave in and had a one on one presentation (not in a large meeting) on the timeshare benefits. I felt sorry for the young guy giving the spiel, he couldn’t understand that a retired couple already spending 3 winter months in Florida didn’t need a timeshare. His supervisor came in to try and “close” us and she finally had to admit we were not potential customers. We got the $100- and left.
Totally unrelated, I want to like your comment but it's already got *69* and I can't ruin the balance.
Ruined the count for ya.
We attended a timeshare presentation over 10 years ago. My husband tried to be polite. Fortunately, he has a wife that doesn’t like lies. We were told that it was a great investment. By the time the presentation was over, the salesperson was livid because I told her that it wasn’t worth the money, amongst other things. The salespeople are very aggressive, if you show a small bit of interest, they will keep talking. However, when the allotted time is over, it’s time to leave.
Kind of weird you make it seem weird that your vacation is paid by your employer. I'm from Belgium and I only have vacation that is paid by my employer as that is legally obligatory. 😂
If you've lived your life surrounded by good, normal, honest people, you can be totally unprepared and vulnerable when a seemingly-good person is really trying to take you for everything they can.
Yep. Authority impersonators are intimidating and hard to disobey
@@halcyon_echo42 Some of them are VERY deceptive. You think you are talking to a “hotel chain,” then only later do you find out it is a “time share.”
It's the story of natives. Born in plenty of space and resources, no need to work and we share, then come immigrants from far lands where not even potatoes can grow, they fight for what little there is, and move on, and then they call your cultures lazy or dumb because you're not destroying your lands in order to gain money or power to expand... sad world where evil won.
You would be surprised how easy it is to turn your average " good, normal, honest people" into scumbags. Humans gonna scum
Move to Las Vegas. After 6 months of living there, you will assume everyone is out to scam you.
I find it very depressing that this segment ended without any actual solution. I can't believe there's literally no course of action for victims except asking if the company will take it back
The solution is for the government to make these practices illegal.
Well, no _legal_ course of action, anyway
It should be to call a lawyer! Surely there's some kind of Legal Aid in the USA who can help people get out of these contracts or explain how to 'break' them? In Australia people who are scammed into contracts they can't afford can get free legal help to renegotiate the terms or set up a payment plan in the event that the contract was legal...people can also vote/support measures to bring in regulation and fines for companies who do this sort of behavour.
I'm currently living in the Netherlands but here these contract cannot even exist. I was told that these practices are not legal. A judge would invalidate the contract with the quickness
the solution is to not buy a timeshare
I love that Leah Remini’s King of Queens character was warning about the danger of timeshares preying on people when at the time she was in a cult doing the exact same thing.
And her character in that episode actually fell for the timeshare lol
And now she tells everyone not to be part of the cult
To be fair she was raised in that cult since a small child and she eventually got out and is warning others to not join. It was not easy having to spend her entire childhood being brainwashed.
That’s how cults work tho. You don’t know until you know
@@MountainsoftheHeart yup! I watched her show with Mike Rinder. Really great eye-opener.
As a lawyer from Austria i am shocked that something like this is legal and seemingly a booming business model in America. Almost everything John said would be illegal in Austria and wouldn't hold up in court for a second.
... and now you know why the US are a considerably richer country than Austria....
@@uweschroeder i think you're miswritten "slimey" there
So are pyramid schemes and MLMs
You do know that Europeans buy timeshare along the Mediterranean coast including Austrians? And if you do a quick google search you'd know that you can get timeshare within Austria. It's not only an American thing although not as common here as there. I'm from the Netherlands and had Dutch clients who had a timeshare in Spain. It was such a pain in the ass getting them out of it. And even though these things are almost illegal they aren't quiet fully yet just like pyramid schemes companies. The officialbusiness model is legal and that's how they keep existing. But don't think this doesn't exist in Austria. It does and it's legal.
@@glewglew9852 legalized crime
When I was young and poor I got offered a small portable gas grill and 8 frozen strip steaks to listen to a presentation. I found creative ways to say that I had to wait a day to get back to them. By the time I left I did have my grill and steaks, but they were actively insulting me as I left. But I did leave, and I really, truly, madly, deeply enjoyed those steaks and that little grill.
You are a national hero!😂
If salted the day before ...
Hahaha. Good for you!!
We got a couple vacations off of those time share scammers. My parents would go listen to those long ass presentations, and still turn them down. But those suites in Florida sure were nice!
LOL I got the same type of offer (although I can't remember if the grill was included!). I was aware of the timeshare scheme at that point (reading so many stories of people locked in long sales meetings) so when I walked in and they started, I had a kitchen timer with me. I stood up, interrupted them, held up the kitchen timer and spun it's dial, and announced loudly that they had "One Hour to Sell Me Before I Walk Out!" True to word, the timer dinged and went off, and I went to the stage and demanded my steaks - they refused, saying that they weren't finished. I slapped down the letter, said "It doesn't say anything about staying to the end - it says a 'short' presentation. I've given you an hour - I want my steaks." They gave them without another word and I walked out.
28 years ago or so my husband and I were invited to "an exciting vacation opportunity". Timeshares were in their infancy. We arrived at the event and someone asked the group what our vacation intentions were over the next 5 years. We frankly said we'd be camping. We were sorted into two groups. The "camping" group was led into a room. We were then told to go through a door....that led to the alley. I was at a time share about 3 years ago with a friend. We did the sales pitch and it was insane. One guy actually said to me, "Aren't you an empowered woman?" after I told him I didn't make ANY large purchases without talking to my husband (he doesn't make any unless he talks to me too). That comment got a giant eye roll from me and I left.
I went to a timeshare presentation while on vacation, with my brother, in Maui. I let the person rattle on for about 20 minutes before I asked "Do you think that me being on parole will allow me to use this?" I loved the look on the sales person's face as he tried to figure out a way to answer my question. Ended sales pitch pretty quickly.
I gonna use this 😂😂😂
@LTZ_ very likely that they were on the trip because they agreed to attend the pitch, or they are receiving a nice discount on their trip for attending.
@LTZ_ my boyfriend and I had 3 hours to kill before we could check into our hotel. We were told the Presentation would be 2 hours and it took just that. Got a bunch of stuff that allowed us to really have a unique vacation. Worth it to me, all I had to do was sit there and say no. Honestly I'd do it again.
@LTZ_ I got a whole bunch of free stuff going to these in the Caymans a couple of decades ago. Signed up and when they saw we were 20 something they kind of gave up. Nothing more than an hour or so. One place the guy looked at us and was like, I have an appointment and you aren't going to buy anything so here is a brochure and your free stuff. It was a great vacation. full of free food and drinks and scuba diving!
I mean... as long as the credit check comes back fine I doubt they'd say no
You know, all of this makes me really respect my Dad! Because we had a timeshare program where we would "try out" a place for 2 weeks a year, and we would go wherever without buying. And each year, we were required to go to a sales lunch with someone at the timeshare company. And each year, my sister and I were required to go with our dad. And who on earth is dumb enough to try to pitch a timeshare to a man with two teenage girls who are yelling at each other and screaming about boys. One year, to really piss them off, he made us go solo to the lunch!! Imagine pitching a timeshare to two teenagers with no money or signing power. Fucking brilliant.
haha that is awesome!!
ha! we used to do the same. they stuck me hearing the pitch at 11 watching my baby brother and sister
I think you have movie material... pitch it to Adam Sandler... I imagine the title "Summer Scamcation 1"
Hahahaha I take my son. He has autism and no chill. Once he's bored he makes it known. I would ignore him and encourage the sales rep to continue. It would always result in the presentation ending early. 😁
This didn't work for my mom. My mom brought me and honestly it seemed to piss off the sales lady and she called her a bad mother and everything in front of me and I was shocked. I was about 11..... Those meetings we're horrible.
i think that there is a subtle joke in this program, where every time John's wife appears her hair get slightly bigger than last time, and i absolutely love it
The comparison to Scientology is totally valid. You sign a billion year contract in Scientology.
Well an apt comparison would be to Islam- you can always join but never leave- but Oliver is not going to poke the bear. Punishment for apostasy is Death which is legalized under Sharia in 6 countries! Wild right?
think that's the sea org side of the cult. and at least the contract doesn't apply to your heir and you're released after a billion years. not so with timeshares.
A key sign of a scam is when they want you to commit on the spot - that rule applies to anything that someone is trying to sell you if they refuse for you to think it over and come back to them . Then it’s a scam.
be careful, there are very patient scams as well :(
I lost my last tax refund before Covid hit this way, by a gutter salesman of all things. It only takes one time to learn the lesson we all need to learn, I just wish I didn't have to learn it the hard way.
False 😂
Agreed or you have to volunteer personal information right away
@@rasjay93 found the scammer ^
One of the things I like most about Last Week Tonight on youtube is going to the comments and seeing people's personal experiences around this episode's subject matter. It's proof of how accurate and important the topic is.
Really? How important is it ? Like the planet is dying , but no timeshares that you don’t even have are more important 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Found the Time Share salesperson ^
Same!!
Real people's voices on the topic
@@RavenWarrior definitely. He's in everyone's comments trying to more or less justify it
Just now I had to go through a time share presentation here Cabo Mexico. My partner has gone through it before, so she knows the entire process. The majority of the time she wasn’t putting any effort at all to engage the conversation with the sales person. The awkward silence at times were thick enough to cut it with a knife. It got to a point where the sales woman got sick of us. But one of the other sales man joined in and tried his best to give us a better deal. I should’ve said, “Sure! I would love to spend $300 - $500 a month on a resort where I’ll only come once every five years or never” 😂
"3-58 business months" She almost couldnt hold that laugh back
"taking advantage of people who just want a fucking break" hit me right in the gut. John consistently manages to cut straight through the fat when it's most necessary and succiently express the current human condition in a way I've never experienced outside Stewart and Bill Hicks. Sure there's a lot of humor throughout but in the most serious moments when it's most important you understand the emotions involved, he's on the money every time. This hit almost as hard as the Mobile Homes episode, which frankly was soul crushing.
I don’t understand how it’s legal to force someone to inherit and be responsible for a contract they didn’t agree to If someone’s parents are in debt it’s not their kids responsibility to clear that debt
@jaylay When a person's estate is being settled, any debts or other financial obligations are charged to the estate, they must be cleared first, then what's left goes to the heirs. A lot of people assume their debts die with them, that's not the case, and they can leave their kids with a real mess.
If your mindset and existence thinks that over $10,000 a year to go the same place in Florida every year on vacation is a good idea, you deserve all this and more.
Capitalism is the most inhumane system ever. It pits people against each other in the name of the money god. Fucking vile.
This show has been so amazing at tackling complicated subjects, exposing the flaws and even suggesting solutions, that I sometimes wish it wasn't comedy so it would be taken more seriously when shared. It should be watched by everyone, but it's hard not to have it be dismissed when half the jokes are straight up rated R.
As European I swear - seeing fragments of everyday American TV is like looking through a peephole into different reality.
As European I've been to these presentations twice 15 or 20 years ago. Timeshares exist also on this continent, nobody just seems to be talking about them, though the experience is just as horrible. At least the presentations I've been to were. The second one not as bad, because I told up front that we had a terrible experience last time. But then the male rep ended up staring at my breast while he was making the pitch...
@@elainelouve Agree, but I was talking more about how people look, present themselves and general TV 'vibe'. Had same feeling when I was visiting SF few years ago. Its hard to put finger on directly but it just feels differently.
Everyday Americans don't have these. I'm hoping it's a dying industry, as older people are generally polite and will sign things to be polite, the younger generations have much less problem telling people to get f'ed. A feature and a bug.
@@craigfelter Yep. Most young people will just rent an AirBnB.
@@macccu You mean because minorities exist instead of your pristine white continent?
"mascot for divorce" reference to a shirt has just made my day
"What if Billy Joel and Dr. Phil had a kid and it SUCKED" had me dying 😂😂
Thanks, John, for saving lives like doctors, nurses, and firefighters.
I love how every time Wanda appears on the show she always has MORE hair somehow 😂
It scares me I can't tell whether or not she is John Oliver in drag.
@@Enyavar1 It's Rachel Dratch and not actually his wife.
You know, an eye doctor can probably fix that issue for you.
@@phaiz55 Thanks! I guessed as much as she wasn't his wife, but I thought _he_ might be playing her with a reaaaally outrageously good female costume+mask. Now I have a name, thanks again.
The better joke for "something incredibly expensive that you can only see in pictures is": you're timeshare is essentially an NFT
I honestly love that every time we see wanda, her hair just get's bigger and bigger. soon it'll take over the whole studio. amazing.
Fell for a "free vacation" at 25, just to realize it was required to attend a sales pitch for a time share. I didn't have a pot to piss in so it wasn't an option to buy one, but the aggressiveness of the sales blew me away. After refusing to buy a time share they push you through an exit room to answer questions on why you didn't buy one. I was shocked they literally started cutting the price, "could you sign for 19k, 10k, 7.5k," it was good practice for the next feat in becoming an actual adult, buying a car.
I absolutely never buy a car until I've been walked out the door. They will just keep lowering the price again and again. Unless they've walked you out the door, they haven't given you the best price. You decide what car you want, then you turn it down, wait through all of their price changes, and after they decide they can't get you and walk you out to the exit, then if you think the last deal they offered was good enough and you want the car for that price, then you change your mind at the last minute and agree. That's the only way to buy a car from a dealership.
What part of 'encyclopedia salesmen after Google' dont you get...? Same tactics.
@@imnotmike wish this were true in the current market. 5 years ago buying a car I was able to just say no, and have the salesmen chase the sale down to the price point i wanted. Now, with many friends of mine having to look into buying cars recently the issue they've run into is: inventory is so low at dealerships that whatever vehicle you're looking at today will be gone tomorrow. They'll happily wave you out the door because someone will buy it on their terms.
@@imnotmike you haven’t tried buying a car in the last 3 years then, because your methodology doesn’t work unless your buying throw away cars anyways, like a Kia. As a car salesman during the chip shortage, if someone tries strong arming the dealer they will throw you out, nobody needs people like you
@@potter531 yep, it's become the sellers market. You never buy a car when you NEED one because it makes it hard to walk away. Now they don't care if you walk away.
My favorite timeshare sales story is when I had to sit in a 4-hour presentation after getting 3 free nights in Vegas. I had to say no about 15 times over the next hour, including getting berated in front of my girlfriend for being cheap, before the salesperson got frustrated and yelled, "Then why are you here?!" I answered, "cause I got 3 free nights in Vegas," before I thanked her for her time as she escorted me out the building.
Haha I love it 😂
👏 👏 👏 😂
That's a cool story bro
I went to a timeshare meeting too in Vegas and wasted five hours all because my sister and I wanted tickets to the shark aquarium and the bodies exhibit.
beat them at their own game!
I had to rewind when I saw Dan O'Brien. I forgot he joined the writing crew on LWT. Big fan of his since Cracked. Congrats on all the Emmy awards.
When in Puerto Vallarta, my parents were talked into going for a free lunch. When I showed up the next day, they said they couldn’t go out for lunch because the hotel was giving them a free meal. Suspicious, I tagged along. It was a “Vacation Plan”. I’m glad I went. I played the bad guy all day saying they couldn’t afford it and that I handle their finances (I don’t). My parents are just bad at saying no.
Back in 1999, I received an offer for a free 3-day trip aboard a Princess Cruise ship. The catch was a had to go to a timeshare sales-pitch meeting in order to get the tickets. I went to the meeting and was paired with a very nice saleswoman who took one look at me (I was 29-years old and somewhat poor) and knew I wouldn't be buying. She showed me the unit anyway, we hung out a bit in her car, and then I got the tickets and went on my way. My girlfriend and I went on the cruise and that was that. Looking back, I really dodged a bullet.
Hung out in her car? Eww.
Wow, we only got like a toaster once and a stereo the other
We survived a sales pitch too but all we got were tickets to a lame Vegas magic show. Think of an unknown David Copperfield wannabe.
So the trick is to look poor. Good to know.
@@Eltrio2 Nah - just don't go is the real trick. Don't EVER go. This person got lucky but still, that was 1999 and its not like dodging a bullet, its worse. Just don't go on free/stupid vacations ever. Pay for your vacation normally and you will NEVER have to deal with this.
I worked for 6 months as a 17-year-old in the early '80s for a "timeshare exit" company. Our office was in a run-down building working 12 hours a day. At least 80% had substance abuse problems. I was amazed at how 1), easy it was to get money from people you don't know, and 2). absolutely no one resold anything. I only did the work out of fear of being homeless and hungry. After 6 months I decided sleeping in my car and being hungry was ethically better.
God Bless you. You should teach ethics~
sounds like the most american experience ever
After just a short 6 months you decided that stealing from people seeking help was not ethical? God bless your heart, that name should read Saint Christian.
@@charliemarquez9907 Taking advantage of others may seem tempting to a lot of people who need/want money. Seriously, I used to be a republican but left the party. Both parties are corrupted and seek to take from Americans. Look at Lauren Boebert. She was a high school dropout with a criminal record who was recruited to sell out the American people, and she took it. She was rewarded earthly millions for her soul. I pray she some day follows Christian Goodpaster's suit, repents and stops selling her soul for cash.
@@charliemarquez9907 Hey Charlie, I guess you donate every penny you make and sleep in your car? Because like, throwing stones and all that.
Just here to say Rachel Dratch is a gem and I love that she's been on this show. Oh, and I've done three of these time share tours so far. One by accident, one on purpose for the discount on the hotel, and one with a friend group at a new resort where we got a huge discount. Took me 90 minutes one time and less than an hour for the other two. I just hate people who sell using gotchas and gimmicks and shut that stuff down immediately. No, I don't plan on doing one ever again. Never go alone, and be willing to disappoint people and you'll do fine.
I hope she keeps appearing until her hair eventually fills the whole screen!
My best timeshare story is where we regularly went to timeshare presentations at Disney, enjoyed their complementary drinks and candy, told them we'd think about it, collect our $50 giftcard each. And left. Worked it into a half hour break in the AC in florida.
I went to one of those at Disney. After I listened to the sales-pitch, I shocked them when I explained my reason for being there was I wanted to figure out how to put the timeshare my father had purchased from them into my name and that my mother sitting next to me was the current owner. They didn't know how to do that. Disney Vacation Club timeshares aren't that bad though. You can easily use the points (of course they want you there buying park tickets, souvenirs and food and Disney could probably make money off their resorts if they charged like $20 a night for stays). We have used all the points or banked them for the next year. There is a vibrant market for unused points there and we have been told by another couple that they have enough points for two stays but only come once a year and sell their other points for enough to almost cover the cost of their contract.
DVC is the only legit one. I get to stay two+ weeks a year at a deluxe resort (Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Animal Kingdom Lodge, etc) for $1400 in dues a year. A cash stay for that time would be like $8k. And my contract holds it’s value if I need to sell it.
@@RetrocadePodcast This is probably the most amazing comment of all, assuming it's true. I am so glad I never buy anything expensive, and that my life is simple.
Literally had a 90 minute presentation last month where the salesman started calling my boyfriend and I poor, among other insults. We laughed, and got the “free trip” at the end.
Reminds me of the time I sat in a ‘Patrick Bet David’ owned pyramid Insurance Scheme “People Helping People”. I got persuaded, signed up, paid, then never returned because I researched them.
A good salesperson knows people only buy from a friend. The guys promising free portable TV's and stuff are at a completely different skill level than what you might find working in Orlando , Hawaii , or Branson. ,because a good salesperson can go anywhere and make three figures , and usually switch jobs until they do.
Scam the scammers at their own game 👍
Free loader
I used to live in Miami and one time a company offered "free tickets to Disneyland" if you sat through their pitch. I showed up, quietly listened for about 5 minutes, then went to the back of the room for my free tickets. The timeshare peeps were like "No you have to listen to the whole pitch to get the tickets." I was like "The offer didn't say anything about HOW LONG we have to sit through the pitch. If you don't give me those tickets immediately, I'm going to interrupt your guy's pitch every 45 seconds with questions. And I'm pretty good at poking holes in people's logic." They gave me the tickets and I was on my merry way, lol
My wife and I went to a presentation in Daytona Beach one year, lured in by the gift of free stays they were offering. The presentation was about one hour, tour and trying to sell us something another 1.5 hours. We stayed strong and didn’t buy anything but one comment by the salesperson I will never forget when it came to paying for the timeshare (10k$ I believe it was): ‘you can easily pay it when you win the lottery’. That’s all I needed to know about timeshares.
the sales person I got told me I can simply mortgage my house to get the $30K package. That's when I told him 'how about you mortgage your house for me' and he was done with us. we almost didn't get our $200 'free gift' but I told them I did sit in for the full 2 hours.
@@geterpriffin Sounds awful, but maybe worth it for $200. Those stories about people being forced to sit through 7 hour presentations, on the other hand . . .
About 15 years ago I booked 10 nights at a resort in Tenerife which turned out to be a timeshare resort. Palm Beach Club it was called. It didn't bother me since I booked it through a normal booking website. About 3 days in and some guy knocks on the door, says he was trying to catch us and DEMANDS we attend a presentation or we'd be thrown out. I don't know why, but he assumed we were there on some free weekend promotion and he'd throw us out if we didn't attend. It got quite heated and I had to show the booking to him which he stormed off for 30 minutes to check before returning it and walking off without any kind of apology. Timeshare people are such scum and I fee sorry for the poor bastards who were stuck in this damned resort. Most of the reviews for the place these days comment on how worn and tired it's looking. Unsurprising since it's now 30 years old. Some poor saps paid for this back then and now all they have to look forward to is a run down, shabby beach resort they can never escape.
I remember my ex and I went to one for a free vacation. She signed one because her father had one. I refused to go along. The guys selling the timeshares looked like street thugs in suits,and I grew up around street thugs.
@@plab0187 You can leave. What I mean is that they offer a significant "gift" for staying through the whole presentation, which might be worth it to sit for 2 hours for $200 but definitely isn't worth it if it takes 7 hours. There are a lot of stories of people who were misled about how long the presentation would last, and ended up leaving like five hours in after wasting their time (and forfeiting the "gift"). Another example is that they will offer a discounted vacation as long as you agree to sit through this presentation. Then the presentation ends up lasting ages. You've already booked the tickets and stuff, and you maybe can't afford the trip without this stupid grifter trying to sell you a timeshare. That kind of thing. Of course, if you buy anything, they can end the presentation right away and you get on with your vacation.
I knew a guy who was a Timeshare salesman when I lived on Grand Cayman in the 90s. He was very successful but told anyone he considered a friend, "Don't ever buy a Timeshare. Not from me, not from anyone!"
My mom fell for one of these when I was a kid. She booked a vacation through one of those timeshare presentation deals because it was all she could afford at the time. They had us ride in a limo to the presentation and had free breakfast. My mom didn't plan on it but they wore her down with the fancy idea of being able to go on a vacation once a year. She regret it as soon as she got home within a week and it still took months of calls to finally get out of it. Not really sure what she said, but we were already going into harsh debt at the time so maybe filing for bankruptcy did something. Either way she finally got out of it but will sometimes think about doing one of those vacations again, thinking that "now she knows better" and I just keep begging her not to risk it.
My husband and I sat through a timeshare pitch to get a $100 gift card. That salesman was relentless after we said we couldn't afford it (we listened, heard the numbers and realized we really couldn't), No matter how many times we said it, he kept running back to his boss and coming back with "an even better deal that he couldn't believe he was allowed to offer." I finally had to say in so many words, "We don't want it." He very indignantly gave us the gift card, and it was not worth the time and anxiety. As we left we saw an elderly couple holding hands looking nervous. Just awful.
Now I just want to go to these things just to save people from this and ruin their presentations
multi level marketing special was best video from oliver man
The greed of people looking for the freebie is what keeps this sales model afloat. A good sales process will always use the consumer's greed and materialism against them.
@@leonardyoung6821Yes but the gift only works for people who are not going just for the gift but would have never gone without it. If you go in knowing the scam and just want their free shit, unless you are really stupid, your not going to buy anything they are selling. If you come in with the one track mind of "I really want this 100 dollar gift card and nothing else" there is nothing they can do to sway you. You know all the tricks, you know the scam, why would you buy.
@@leonardyoung6821it's not greed to be offered a prize to do smth and agree, it's the part where they make the thing torture afterwards that's the problem, it's basically entrapment Plus I'm pretty sure you just described not good business tactics but scams and mlms If someone is greedy here it's these companies not the consumer that gets screwed
No joke, my uncle, as executor of my my grandparents will, had to threaten a lawsuit to get our family out of our grandparents' timeshare. Fortunately where we all lived and the type of contract they weren't allowed to force us into inheriting their contract. They pressured then threatened us, but he had decent lawyers, thank God.
Imagine for the people who have no money for lawyers, I'm glad my parents are smart enough to say no
Imagine what people in the US could do to protect their rights. They might have guns. And despair paired with guns always ends up nicely. In this case it should.
When my father in law passed a lawyer explained to us that we were not liable for his debt,to just tell that to debt collectors as they would still try.He was correct on all counts.
@@M3dicayne Really stupid comment. At first I thought you were going to champion the citizens' rights - instead you ended it by being just another dumb gun nut.
@@M3dicayne No no no, the guns aren't there so you fight for your rights. They're for fighting each other over minor inconveniences and in treatment of depression.
This show has been amazing since it got on air. Keep killing it OLIVER!👏🏻
Thank you again John Oliver !
I got suckered into a timeshare presentation, heard that nonsense about vacations and heart attacks, and was convinced to buy. I was all ready to do so, but I was 20-something and figured I better ask someone else for his take. So, I called a friend (and yes, the salesperson was standing over me, listening in to my conversation). I parroted all the same points I had gotten from the salesperson, and my friend said, "Yeah, that does sound good, but you know, if it is a good thing to do for your future, then it will be a good thing tomorrow. Why don't you come back home and think on it?" So, I convinced the guy that I was still in but needed time. He didn't like that, but there was nothing he could do to beat the logic of sleeping on it. Got my free gift and got out of there, promising to call them the following week. I never did, and I don't think I realize just how close to financial ruin I was at such a young age until after watching this video. These companies need to get regulated into oblivion.
A good decision but why did you break your word? You said you would call him back but you never does, are you so weak-willed that you thought if you talked on the phone with him he would talk you back into buying? How hard would it have been to spend 60 seconds on the phone saying " I've decided not to do business with your company", so you could still be a man of your word? No offense...
@@onamattapeeya None taken. I'm not the same person I was back then, but honestly, i don't recall if it was procrastination, avoidance, or just plain forgetting about it.
@@balanceseeker yeah it's not like I didn't do some stupid things, I once put a $100 non-refundable deposit down on a Charvel and then got fired from my job two days later
@@onamattapeeya “break your word?” Are you for real dude? These salespeople have 0 morality. No one owes them a damn thing. And I guarantee the salesman never thought again about the OP. How old are you? 13?
@@onamattapeeya Wow, what an honorable man. Out of $100 and a job.
We did a timeshare thing to get a cheap hotel so we could go to Disney World and they really wear you down. We didn't sign up for one, just used it for some free cash and that cheap hotel stay, but damn. When you do say no, behavior changes on a dime. When the manager came by to "give us a deal they don't normally make" he said and I quote, "If you only think with logic you're only going to make yourself miserable" which we quote jokingly around the house now.
I had one tell me I'm too stupid to know a good deal to which i replied at least i didn't end up trying to pedal time shares for a living.
@@memyself898 The guilt and manipulation they use is so real. They tried to use my SIL's disabilities as a way to pull us in.
@@BubblingBrooke it's disgusting is what it is.
My family did that too in the mid 90s. The saleswoman actually told my parents if they didn't buy a share her children would go hungry that night. I still think about that all the time.
Said every woman ever!!!😂😂😂😂
I went to an interview with westgate YESTERDAY! it is so sketchy. And I wasn't told that it was exclusively commission, like they're aggressive because they don't get paid otherwise. I'm glad you're doing the episode about this
As a single mom, I would actually go for the gift which was a $25 gift card and in Nov a free turkey. I always said "No". After awhile they recognized me and would just give me the gift card and send me home.
TY. This is what I dont understand. are these folks being held hostage in a room with a gun to their head? Why not just leave? It's similar to online romance scammers, at some point you just say "no more money" and just stop. Im not sure what Im missing. Im 50 and have never gone to these.
@@lauraanne5175 the real problem is after you sign the contract, most people DO leave. not everyone does.
@@lauraanne5175 There is a desire to somehow come away from an attempt to cheat you with more than you went in with. So much scammery happens today from telemarketer calls to email scam attempts where you cant get back at the instigators but in that cheap hotel meeting room you can face your enemy, stare them down and take what they offered you
@@cageybee7221 why would you sign? That's what I dont get. It's like going to buy a car and then complaining you rode off on a bicycle. Just don't get it. I am not trying to be cold, but I truly do not understand this mentality
@@lauraanne5175 manipulation, lying, harassment, etc. alot of the victims are either tricked or harassed into signing. the vast majority of people do what you say to, but sheer probability and relentlessness means the salesman eventually gets someone.
That's honestly one of the scariest things I've seen on this show. Every parent's dream is to help their children lead a better life than they had. Seeing that these contracts can suck your children in... That's a nightmare. A generational scam
Tf is this dystopia
Where are all the pending lawsuits on this one? Generational obligations are not how this country operates. Yes debts have to come out of the estate, but obligations too?!
It puts the _share_ in timeshare! But seriously, is it really that "scary" or just kinda a synecdoche of, you know, literally everything else? I mean we're consciously destroying the very planet we live on and have taken precisely 0 (meaningful) steps to mitigate this trajectory...all while simultaneously strip-mining any remaining human trust/meaning at any and every opportunity mostly just to further enrich a tiny class of insatiable demonic arcons who already have everything yet _still_ demand more. "Funny" how such insane and destructive pathologies are lauded as just and deserved when exhibited by one class, yet ridiculed and branded "hoarding" when expressed in the exploited class..."funny" that...all hail the divine right of "the market", where all possibility is strictly bound to profitability and all relationships are more and more superficial and transactional... I mean my god, this show should just be called Looking At The Symptoms Of Capitalism Weekly While Avoiding The Underlying Problem...Tonight! (tm) (r) (c) Also, if ya think that's scary, might wanna check out shit like the Kafala system or hell just the completely normalized rentier class in general (at least industrial capital has to actually produce something, a bug not a feature to the apotheosis of rent extractors in the FIRE sector - finance, insurance, real estate). There's a reason the original conception of "free market" in classical econ with folks like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill (culminating with that craaaaaaaazy "evil" Marx guy and catalyzing the necessary advent of 'neoclassical econ' horseshit to reconfigure the assumptions and over time redefine our hegemonic episteme of eternal servitude to the capitalist class, constantly reinforced to this day via omnipresent global US empire) meant a market free of *_rent_* , as rent is by definition value extracted _without_ value produced and a clear contradiction to the justifying logic of "the market", correctly recognized as a vestige of feudal social relations (hence the term 'landlord'). _"Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking or economizing. The increase in the value of land, arising as it does from the efforts of an entire community, should belong to the community and not to the individual who might hold title."_ - John Stuart "blockhead" Mill, Principles of Political Economy _"Kelp was never augmented by human industry. The landlord, however, whose estate is bounded by a kelp shore of this kind, demands a rent for it."_ - Adam "father of capitalism" Smith, ch.11, Wealth of Nations (god forbid anyone read these people and see the farce of the absurd caricatures provided to us culturally...) As some guy put it in summing up the inevitable consequence of acquiescing to the capitalist mode of production and by extension its dominant parasitic class whose interests are directly oppositional aka zero-sum to that of the working class, _"The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind."_ - some guy, a bit optimistic at the end we wouldn't just choose individual delusion while the planet literally burns around us... To echo Rosa Luxemburg from 1918 Germany, before of course being executed by the freikorps paramilitary (later becoming the SS, shocker) at the behest of Ebert's ostensibly _social democratic_ SPD party, almost immediately resonating the truth of such a succinct political dichotomy to this day: *_socialism or_* [continued] *_barbarism._* _"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it."_
Ah, America: where we create literal generational curses!
@@sarysa The fact that people buy timeshares at all is crazy, but my guess is that the same punters who buy this crap in the first place are the same ones who allow the contractual debt to attach to their heirs 'inheritance'.
I was half expecting the Exit Companies to actually be run by the Time Share companies.
Kind of like the methadone clinics being owned by the pill mills😈
My Mother bought a timeshare around 1999. we stopped using it in 2007, before the great recession started, and we spent 12 years trying to get rid of it. We stopped paying all payments for it in 2012 upon advisement of a lawyer. That ended up helping us, as She died in 2020 (not of Covid, she had MS), and I Outright rejected it and had them file that with the courts immediately, as that unpaid debt could have affected her estate; of which I was the sole beneficiary. the windows for the timeshare to in any way respond expired, as they expected me to take it up immediately, but MY name was not in the paperwork, so they had no way to legally tie me to it as I did not claim it and in writing rejected ownership. And since the timeshare tried going after me for the debt (Which they legally could not) Instead of my mother's estate, they missed the timing to file the unpaid money as debt against the estate, and I slipped out debt-free and without any responsibilities to that ridiculous scam that I told my mom in 1999 was a bad Idea since we didn't even GO where the timeshare was every year. The Downside of this is my Mom's estate is still not settled due to how many extensions this caused us to file, so I'm still probably going to be waiting until the end of 2023 to get what should have been handed over years ago.
Also on HBO Max is the docu series with the Queen of Versailles that glorifies her and her rise to riches profiting off the backs of people who own time shares (company owned by her husband)!
It was DISGUSTING to see the excessive extravagant crap that Jackie bought with the money her husband scammed from people. The Seigals are a perfect example of money with no taste or ethics.
My two parents, combined, left me less than $5,000. There was no paperwork, whatsoever. I suddenly feel truly blessed.
Well you should anyway : )
Many parents are complete idiots and buy shit they dont need
That's about $5,000 more than my parents will leave me. Good thing inherited debt is a thing of the past...oh. Wait. Maybe I should have a talk with my parents after all...
It sounds as if they left you with what money can't buy.
Airlines should have to show this episode on all flights to vacation destinations
They should show that the world is dying stupid .
🎉
In an ideal world, they would. But in reality, airlines, vacation destinations, and organizations such as these probably work together so that they can all profit. if a timeshare gets sold, than an airline stands to profit from those extra seats sold on their planes. :/
Thank you for producing this episode. Im a victim of 2 timeshares. My parents purchased them. Now the whole family's burdened by them.
that part is strange to me. how could parents legally obligate their children to own something after they pass? so i can will my timeshare to some random stranger and they'll be burdened with the junk for the rest of their lives? what if a million people will their timeshare to one person? that person will be responsible for a million timeshares until death?
@@God.Almighty yea thats more fucked up to me then anything. the fact that they can legally hold you to a contract your parents signed when you were maybe 5 is absurd
When I first got married, my husband and I were on our Honeymoon in the Caribbean and were approached for a free beach dinner in exchange for listening to their pitch on a time share. While they were giving us the hard sell, the woman of the two person crew asked to see my engagement ring(?!) She looked at it critically and I almost expected her to take out a jewelers' loupe to inspect it more closely. You could tell she was trying to value it and then handed it back without a word. We kept telling them no and they finally gave up and went away.
I would not have handed them my ring, no way. You are braver than I.
@@david203 she's not brave she's dumb ( sorry!). Who the heck would ever takeoff their engagement ring and hand it to a stranger?
@david203 brave is an interesting word for it. It's like. Trusting.
Love my weekly dose of laughing and then launching into existential dread.
So accurate. My friends and I call Last Week Tonight: "Existencial Crisis Tonight" 😅
I have had this exact thing happen to me. My father passed away suddenly, had a timeshare, and even after notifying Hilton Grand Vacations of his passing, they continued to charge him fees every single month until I got lawyers involved. They have made our lives absolute hell trying to get out of the timeshare.
This really scares me because my parents purchased a Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare years ago. They used to pester me to use their points, but vacation days don't exactly grow on trees for most of us.
My sister and her husband, finally got rid of their timeshare.
I wonder if you could sell it to a shell company that then completely unexpectedly goes bankrupt.
The owner was dead, what's the problem
@@blechtic I'm pretty sure that's a crime.
My father-in-law surprised my wife and I with a time share in Orlando. He covered the initial payment of $850 on his credit card. The monthly payments were then going to go on his credit card. He had no real clue what was coming. I did the math and realized I could stay on the Disney or Universal property itself, with all its benefits, for less money, instead of at this hotel miles from the parks. (Plus, have my vacation dates dictated to me.) I called the company and immediately tried to get out of it and got a serious run around and then a brush off. He had signed all kinds of contracts, and they were going to get his money or destroy his credit. (Damn thing read like a mortgage commitment.) After two days of phone calls, it hit me. My father-in-law's first language was Spanish. So I called and asked for the Spanish copy he signed. He was actually illiterate in English. They called me back and offered a compromise. They kept $450 of his $800 for fees and abrogated the contract. I probably could have pushed for it all but it was a bitch and I would probably have had to go to a lawyer. I took the $400 loss and ran.
omfg the skit at the end IS EVERYTHING!!! Mowanda looks like a bob's burgers character!
I knew timeshares are a scam, but I certainly had no idea just how bad of a scam. Thanks Oliver, what you do with this KZhead videos is essentially a public service that I wish there were more of them.
@@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist9go away, you psychotic Bible thumping troll. Stop copy/pasting this everywhere.
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ You sound just like the timeshare people
Years ago my former coworker's friend went along with their cousin to an appointment to go somewhere to have a meeting (or whatever they call it) where they try to sell people timeshare. I guess the salesman who was trying sell her cousin the timeshare was so eager to get her to buy the timeshare from him that he offered to pick her up to take her to the meeting. Her cousin accepted his offer and he picked them up and took them to the meeting. My coworker told me that her friend told her that her cousin turned down buying the timeshare--but then when it was time for the salesman to take them back he was so angry that she didn't by the timeshare and he was carrying on about it and he wouldn't let them out of his car. To this day I don't understand why they did not call the police and press charges because what he did was actually kidnapping!
@Great gowns, that sounds more like a horror movie story, perhaps your cousin should have pressed charges.
The sales pitches of timeshare companies are scary good. I'm pretty financial savvy and frugal but somehow I got sucked into signing a contract while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. It's a long story, but thanks to persistence and paranoia on my part (and staying up that night reading the fine print and doing research, plus I'm a lawyer) I managed to get out of it by going right back the next day which was still during the grace period. Right up to the end, the manager said to me "well, you can always try it and if you don't like it then you can cancel" and I looked him in the eye and said "yes, but the grace period to cancel is only 10 days". That's when he knew the jig was up - I had done too much research and he couldn't lie to me anymore. I still get chills when I think about what a bullet I dodged, and how good they were at hooking me in. So glad John did this segment - he's right, JUST SAY NO!
IMNAL, but I read it. That is how I escaped. It is a real estate transaction and all those laws apply.
One way I avoid these things is I'm just suspicious of everything too good to be true.
Same thing happened to us. We bought into a Holiday Inn vacation club located near Disneyworld and based in Orange Lake, Florida. Little did we know that you can’t rent anything for 30 days after you make the initial timeshare purchase. It’s only when you try to use it, you realize what a scam it is and now you can’t get out of it!! I wonder how many have tried the court route, suing. It seems to me this these cases involving timeshares would have led to legal change as do many are caught in this horrible web of deception. Too bad the courts can’t get involved to alter this mega scam to save us from ourselves!
Lucky 🍀 u
As a teen my friend’s grandparents had a timeshare at a local lake resort. It was a week during late February, almost all the services were closed because it was mainly a summer/fall resort so there was absolutely nothing to do. I remember going and walking around the resort thinking “who would be dumb enough to buy time in February at a resort when everything is pretty much shut down”. High pressure BS sales tactics can go a long way to screwing people over.
My “honeymoon” was basically my Grandma inviting us to Aruba, putting us in the same room with my UNCLE. Then at the end tried getting my info to pass the timeshare to me. We took the flight out next morning
My grandparents had a timeshare (with upgrades) and were too ashamed to tell their kids until they were a disgusting amount in debt (I think it was over 3 million) I think they even paid an exit company before finally telling their kids and asking for help from them. They got a lawyer and he actually advised them to just stop paying. They made sure all their major assets (house, farm, etc.) were put in their kids' names so they couldn't be seized and just stopped paying. The lawyer said he didn't think we would need to deal with inheriting it because they committed fraud and we could sue if they came after us so they would probably just leave us alone, but a lawyer could help us deal with it if it ever was an issue. If you can't get rid of a timeshare, no matter what you do, it's time to talk to an actual lawyer who specializes in that sort of thing. It's been several years since my grandparents stopped paying and so far so good.
That only works for them because they can afford to tank their credit but a normal person starting out would not be able to buy a car or house or take out a loan with that hanging over them. Glad they were able to get out of it though.
@@Tibbles11 excellent point. They also have five adult children who are willing to do a lot to help them. The "get a lawyer" still stands though. You'll probably spend less on the lawyer than you do on the timeshare, and it's nice to have someone who actually knows what they're talking about in your corner so their manipulative tactics aren't as effective.
Timeshare companies SEIZE YOUR HOME???
@@PikaPetey I guess they take the debt to a debt collection agency
Wow, think of the fabulous vacations all over the world they could have taken for 3 million dollars.
As a Tennessean, can confirm. When a sweet older lady says "mad as hell" you do not take that lightly because its entirely possible she quietly hit the point of planning someone's entire murder before hitting the point of swearing about it.
💯
And saying "bless their hearts" the whole time
So how often do you play EU4 and CK3?
When a sweet older lady says "mad as hell" you do not take that lightly because it's entirely possible she said that the first time in her life 😄
You must be from east Tennessee, because in west Tennessee by the time you hear "I'm mad as hell" you are already hit in the head with something
My mom and I went to one of these presentations, and I kept asking questions they couldn't answer. Finally, had Mom pretend to feel ill to get out of there, but they still didn't want to give us whatever premium they were offering, until I raised my voice and said that the "90 minute presentation " had gone WAY overtime!
I like how there's usually a solution offered at the end of the episode but for this one it was just "lol ur fukd sry 😂"
Rachel Dratch needs an Emmy for this 3 minutes of performance. What a masterclass. She’s like if Sesame Street’s Prairie Dawn trained as a mob boss who’s also a part time cupcake baker. Absolute good.
Agree! loved seeing her she is great
OMG Prairie Dawn 🤣
😂
More like Betty Lou
TayTay
My wife and I stayed in a Hawaii timeshare around our 1 year anniversary. The stay was gifted to us by her parents, but we still had to attend a presentation. We went in knowing we weren't going to buy, and even made it abundantly clear to the salespeople we weren't buying because we were still in the phase of life where we had no extra income. They offered to give us the presentation anyway "just for practice" and I was still blown away at how effective the whole spiel was. I had to remind myself that we weren't buying anything. If we didn't go in with that resolve, we could've easily been pressured/guilted into buying SOMEthing.
We went in with that mentality and they ended up keeping us for 5 hours. In the end we caved as we had a two year old with us and they basically used her against us. They just let her wander around the place when they were supposed to watch her. We were all too tired to fight it anymore. Timeshare exit was every bit as bad too. They had us pay up front and then just had us default on the loans. That hurt even more when the government called that income and taxed us. There's a reason the government doesn't do anything either.
Yeah, the reps are part of the victim pool, that's why they sound so convincing. It's just like Multi Level Marketing scams. It's practically a cult.
Bro just stand up and get your child, don't be sfupid
@@irfukennyno judgement, but why wouldn't you leave rather than sign up if you knew it wasn't a good idea?
@@irfukennyI mean the reason the government doesn't do anything is lobbying and the fact that like a little less than half of the us thinks allowing this kind of shit is some kind of moral imperative because god forbid the regulatory bodies GASP pass regulations Conservatives and libertarians be wild
The first and only timeshare experience I have ever had was on my first international holiday in Indonesia with my boyfriend. We were walking around looking for breakfast when we got scooped up by a paid messenger who delivered us to the timeshare offices. Six or seven hours later, we finally gave in and signed the contract thinking that it was an alright idea. We ended up missing a really cool paid for event and group dinner from the travel agency we booked with. We then spent the night in our hotel arguing about the timeshare contract we had signed because we realized we couldn’t afford it and we were scared. Luckily for us, the timeshare agent ended up getting in touch with us in the morning, saying there was a problem with my boyfriend’s credit card and they weren’t able to process some required deposit. We immediately told her we were not interested and we were not going ahead with the “deal”. And that was that - we got out of our contract scott-free. I still don’t fully understand what happened, but I like to believe someone was looking out for us because we would’ve been severely screwed to this day otherwise. Even the “free gifts” they offered were just not worth the time.
I’m surprised that there aren’t law firms that follow these timeshare scammers around and just charging a quick small fee to review and get people out of these nightmares.
Most people take too long to realize and/or admit that they got scammed. And even once they do, it's not like it's easy to get out of the contract.
My husband and I attended one of these in Las Vegas once. I remember the angry look the agent gave us when we said No Thank you, but we'll take those tickets you promised now. Got tickets to two Vegas shows and two free buffets out of it.
Some stories I just don't go into anymore because the associates will ask if I need any assistance and if I ask them one single question and then don't buy anything they look at me like I'm taking food out of their children's mouths, 😅 just because I came in and looked at a car and asked about the engine for 5 minutes doesn't mean I have to buy it,
major win