Hey Baby, Let's Go to (Nash)Vegas
Leah and I took off for our state's capital this weekend, leaving Memphis in the rear view mirror. The purpose of our trip actually stemmed from our visit in January, but quite frankly, any excuse to get a) out of Memphis, and b) to Nashville, is good enough for us. Dang, there were a lot of commas in that sentence.
A co-worker of mine owns a timeshare interest in Fairfield Resorts. Rather than selling a typical "week 34 in Destin for the rest of your life" type interest (and by the way, you can exchange it for a week in Branson IF it's an odd numbered week and you send us a $100 exchange fee), Fairfield does it differently and in a way that allows you to go ANYWHERE. Wanting to just get the "scoop", I submitted an online inquiry on the Monday preceding our weekend trip back in January. Assuming they'd be eager to jump onto the in-their-laps lead, I awaited contact. Nothing. Zilch. So I called the 800-number (which apparently is the main office in Orlando). The guy said something to the effect of, "Dude, don't deal with the property--it's super high pressure, and you're better off dealing with us directly." So I hung up.
Long story, even longer. We made it to Opry Mills (surprise, surprise) that weekend, and approached the Fairfield Nashville kiosk and said, "Nobody called me back, dammit, but I'm interested in getting info." We set up a tour, gave a small cash deposit (which we'd get back when we toured), and selected our gifts. For those of you who don't know, you can make off like a bandit with these people, because they shower you with suck-up gifts in exchange for a "90-120 minute presentation about our property." This is a standard practice for all of them, but if you have the power to say "NO!" 312 times, it can be worth your while. We rescheduled our tour that weekend for February, which became the weekend that Leah was in the E.R. puking her guts out and warding off multiple infections. So we tried again this weekend. All systems go. I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks after returning home in January, I got an email from some executive manager type at the Orlando office who said he was going through the online inquiries and wanted to know if mine was handled and if I was satisfied. I said, "I can't tell you if I was satisifed because my inquiry was ignored and I had to do my own information-gathering." I gave him real estate spill about how I'd be broke if I handled leads the way they do. So of course he apologized profusely, said that he'd follow up on the communication breakdowns, and offered to let me stay ON SITE when I came up next. No problem dude. So now, I'm not only the recipient of the "Please listen to our 2 hour schpill" suck-up gifts, we're getting the "We're really, really sorry--we promise it won't happen again, and please don't tell 10 friends how pissed you are" suck-up gifts. Please bow to my throne of patronage and I will consider deeming you worthy!
Just to give you an idea, here's what we got for going:
- 2 nights, absolutely free, on-site at the resort
- $30 gift card for Olive Garden or Red Lobster (which we brought home)
- $20 gift certificate for Cracker Barrel
- dinner for 2 at Santa Fe Cattle Company (which we'll use next time)
So, other than paying for fuel and a meal or two (Oh, and Leah's "I have to go to Wal-Mart" trip), the weekend was pretty much free. The resort was nice, we utilized the indoor pool, and we could've even boarded a "Tootsie's Tours" bus or participated in karaoke if we wanted to. I don't know if I've ever stayed at a resort, but it reminded me of a stationary, land version of our Carnival cruise. Lots of activities, and a little newsletter when we checked in about what was going on. T. Graham Brown performs on Wednesdays (I guess times are hard), they offer makeovers, they have a cobbler dessert night twice a week, an honor-system book checkout, and men's hairy chest contest on Wednesday. Just kidding about the last one.
BTW, if you're interested in getting this deal at any of the Fairfield locations, just email us. We'll be glad to help you set it up. If you're interested in price-freezing lodging stays, and giving free travel accomodations to yourself, children and grandchildren, it can be a very worthwhile opportunity and investment.
posted by Eric C at 12:16 PM
3 Comments:
I can't adequately express in words how much I hate Fairfield. I mean, I hate them. Seriously.
We were invited to come hear the pitch, knowing that if we just sat through it that we could get a weekend stay and a gift certificate to Outback. So we went. And we sat through the pitch. But hadn't mentally braced ourselves to say no 312 times.
So guess what? It sounded like a good deal to us. Pay a mortgage for 7 years, then get free vacations for the rest of your life. Or something like that. But we couldn't afford an extra $250 bucks a month or whatever it was. So that was out out. Yes, we like the pitch, no we can't afford it.
So they make another offer. (Shock!) How about $100 a month for 18 months, we get to "try it out" for a year, and if we like it great, if not, then no problem.
So we countered with, well, let us think it over for a night. Their response? They cannot legally make the offer to us again if we turn them down on the spot. In other words, we couldn't "sleep on it" or no deal. And I bought this line, hook line and sinker.
So we took the 1 year offer. We ended up paying, let's see if I can do the math right, about $1,800 for a one week vacation to Williamsburg, VA. Now, the vacation was fine, we enjoyed our time. But we probably paid $1,800 for a $400 vacation. What a rip-off. I'm still steamed about it, and that was 5 years ago.
Interesting indeed. Dang, that would suck. I'm sure that WOULD put a bad taste in your mouth, but hopefully Outback cured it.
We got a similar schpill...After I quizzed the 3-week rookie about why the payments added up to about 50% more than the quoted price (the answer, which he didn't know: a built in 12.9% interest rate since they finance EVERYBODY), we said "No" and then the price later magically dropped over 40%. Sounds like you might've had some crafty, borderline deceitful salesperson. Our guy actually said that we would have 10 days to cancel the transaction if we changed our mind (I've even heard 72 hours on stuff like signing a cell phone contract). Hate it for you dude--I'd be bummed out too if I paid a 400% premium for a one-time vacation!
Glad I turned down the cheap golf trip to Hilton Head that was a pitch for something similar. I just didn't want to sit through ten hours of "no, I can't afford that." By the end I knew I'd be slumped over with an IV for fluids, saying, "whatever you want, just let me get on the course!"
Post a Comment
<< Home