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I did one of these also, and I absolutely don't regret it. I think I learned more about (ruthless) sales tactics in two hours than I ever have from books or cla

I did one of these also, and I absolutely don't regret it. I think I learned more about (ruthless) sales tactics in two hours than I ever have from books or classes. It was a timeshare tied to a big-name hotel chain, and as far as I could tell they were selling some hotel rooms as timeshare units to finance construction and maintenance. So the deal wasn't good, but it was substantially less of a scam than the stereotype because they had a non-scam business to protect. That, or the guy was so sharp that he really did persuade me quite effectively, and I was only saved by having a a prior of "this is the worst deal imaginable". (Well, that and the Odysseus bit - I decided in advance to refuse no matter how good the offer looked.) The funniest part of the slightly-less-bad scam was that it enabled them to spend a while talking about how it's "not your parent's timeshare" and "not like those shady offers from the 80s". Which was true I guess, you got nice rooms in many places instead of one rundown house - they were just charging rates that were steep even before the multi-thousand-dollar "maintenance fees" kicked it. Oh well, the free travel and event tickets were actually a great dollars-per-hour value - as long as you said no.

heartbreak 8y ago
This sounds a bit like Marriott Vacation Club, which is notably not affiliated with Marriott International (anymore).
FireBeyond 8y ago
It's always intriguing to see these things, and how some prey on basic math skills. My girlfriend's mother dragged us to see a presentation associated with one of the "Flipping" TV shows. They, of course, wanted to invite you into their program. It was "hugely successful". How successful? "We've funded $100MM of house purchases for our members! We have nearly 8,000 members across the country!" Well, $100MM in support sounds awesome for most things. Then you think about it more. And let's be generous to them, say the average house they buy costs $100K. That's 1,000 homes they've funded. But hang on, they have 8,000 members. And they boast that some of those members have flipped 20+ homes each! That means, wait, less than 1 in 10 of the people who "joined their ($4,995) program" ever flipped a house through them... That's not the kind of math they like you breaking down at those seminars for the other members during the meal break...
- shostack 8y ago
  Just curious, but what happens when you prove you can do math? What happens when you start helping others there do math?
  - FireBeyond 8y ago
    Maybe a little hyperbolic, but I noticed a couple of people talking with the staff, and I got a dirty look or two from them, and then, apparently (since I'd left), they "wanted to address concerns", and that those people were only suffering "insufficient motivation". I don't know, selling 8,000 people $5,000 weekend seminars seems a better way to make $40M than trying to flip $100M of houses...

heartbreak 8y ago

This sounds a bit like Marriott Vacation Club, which is notably not affiliated with Marriott International (anymore).

FireBeyond 8y ago

It's always intriguing to see these things, and how some prey on basic math skills. My girlfriend's mother dragged us to see a presentation associated with one of the "Flipping" TV shows. They, of course, wanted to invite you into their program. It was "hugely successful". How successful? "We've funded $100MM of house purchases for our members! We have nearly 8,000 members across the country!" Well, $100MM in support sounds awesome for most things. Then you think about it more. And let's be generous to them, say the average house they buy costs $100K. That's 1,000 homes they've funded. But hang on, they have 8,000 members. And they boast that some of those members have flipped 20+ homes each! That means, wait, less than 1 in 10 of the people who "joined their ($4,995) program" ever flipped a house through them... That's not the kind of math they like you breaking down at those seminars for the other members during the meal break...

shostack 8y ago
Just curious, but what happens when you prove you can do math? What happens when you start helping others there do math?
- FireBeyond 8y ago
  Maybe a little hyperbolic, but I noticed a couple of people talking with the staff, and I got a dirty look or two from them, and then, apparently (since I'd left), they "wanted to address concerns", and that those people were only suffering "insufficient motivation". I don't know, selling 8,000 people $5,000 weekend seminars seems a better way to make $40M than trying to flip $100M of houses...