Greenwich couple’s £50,000 Hilton timeshare nightmare

"The sales presentation was fraught with blatant falsehoods that directly influenced our decision"

'Bargain' holiday

Raymond Hill 53 and his wife Anthonia 52 both Social Workers from Greenwich in South East London had for some time been members of a Hilton reward program that rewards guests for staying at its hotels. It was through this scheme that Ray and Anthonia were invited to a weekend stay at Craigendarroch, near Balmoral in Royal Deeside, a picturesque part of Scotland. The cost for this weekend away was a mere £150, but what neither Ray nor Anthonia knew then was that this price was contingent on them attending a timeshare sales presentation.

Hilton Craigendarroch: Where the presentation took place (Image, Google Maps)

In Ray’s own words, “During the sales presentation conducted by the Hilton sales representative, we were misled with numerous false promises. We were assured of the flexibility in vacation planning, inclusive maintenance fees with Barclays Partner Finance, and a seamless experience with Hilton Grand Vacations. However, these claims were grossly overstated and misrepresented. We were not informed that the maintenance fees would increase exponentially over time, crippling us financially. This lack of transparency has ultimately led us to consider severing ties with Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV).”

Like many buyers of timeshare, Ray and Anthonia didn’t have the requested purchase funds to hand, so HGV arranged a loan with Barclays Partner Finance, unsecured therefore bringing with it extremely high interest rates.

Blatant falsehoods

Ray adds, “the sales presentation was fraught with blatant falsehoods that directly influenced our decision. We were explicitly promised guaranteed availability during peak holiday periods, which proved to be entirely untrue, as we consistently faced booking restrictions and unavailability. The representative assured us that our points would appreciate over time, presenting the purchase as an 'investment opportunity' that would yield financial returns.

"This was completely false - in reality, the value has depreciated substantially.

"Furthermore, we were told that exchanging our timeshare for destinations worldwide would be seamless and cost-free beyond our maintenance fees, yet we later discovered significant additional fees for every exchange requested. Perhaps most egregiously, the presentation deliberately concealed the existence of a secondary resale market where identical packages were available for a fraction of the price, information that would have drastically altered our decision-making process.”

Hilton Grand Vacations global headquarters: Metrowest Boulevard, Orlando. (Image, Google Maps)

When consulted, Dan Keating PR manager at the Timeshare Consumer Association stated: “apart from the obvious untruths, one that sticks out is the reference to timeshare being an investment. The Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Contracts Regulations 2010, which implemented EU Directive 2008/122/EC strictly prohibits timeshare or other long term holiday products being sold as investments.

“Timeshare presentations are notorious for applying high pressure tactics and despite being published as taking 90 minutes, they often drag on for hours with relentless pressure to sign the deal. This would also seem to be the case with the presentation attended by Ray and Anthonia."

Pressure

Ray continues: “The pressure to make an immediate decision was immense. We were given less than 10 minutes to commit to a financial agreement exceeding £20,000 with Barclays Partner Finance. This high-pressure tactic deprived us of the opportunity to fully understand or research Hilton Grand Vacations, forcing a hasty decision based on incomplete information.”

As time passed and Ray realised this timeshare just wasn’t what was presented to him and his wife, he started to complain to HGV, mainly via their head office based in Orlando Florida.

Mexico: One of the few holidays that worked

On one occasion Ray accidentally received a CC copy of an email sent by Keith Saslov, who according to his LinkedIn profile, is a sales leader at HGV in Florida, a post he has held for 13 years. Referring to complaints from Ray, Saslov put in writing “Anything from this clown yet?”

One can imagine how Ray, a well educated man, felt when being referred to as a clown.

Expert comment

Keith Dewhurst, Director of the Timeshare Consumer Association released the following comment: "unfortunately the bad experiences that beset Ray and Anthonia are common across the entire timeshare industry and nothing in their complaint surprised me.

“Sales representatives are immune from attack because buried in the copious pages of a timeshare sales contract is a 'non verbal reliance' clause, meaning what you buy, and what it does is contained in the contract, nothing more, nothing less, and definitely not what the sales representative says. In fact it states you must not rely on any verbal comment or promise. At TCA we call this the 'licence to lie'. Given that Ray and Anthonia were only given 10 minutes to read, digest and understand the content, it’s nigh on impossible that they had time to spot the licence to lie."

"As social workers, Ray and Anthonia are not earning a fortune, so when presented with a seemingly excellent financially sound proposition to take some wonderful holidays in the future, it seemed a no brainer, however, as this story reveals, in the world of timeshare, all that glisters is unlikely to be gold.

"To say this couple are disillusioned is an understatement. High interest rates to repay the loan; lack of availability; maintenance fees soaring; and lack of empathy from HGV have made this a financial and mental disaster.

Adding to this, Ray suffers from autism and dyslexia an Anthonia is diabetic, this episode can hardly be helping, can it?"

As Ray says, “we have spent nearly £50,000 on this venture and have nothing to show”.

If you have a timeshare problem or issue you need help with, contact TCA's team of experts for free advice.

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Timeshare Consumer Association. Contact us on: T: 01908881058 (ask for Daniel), E: enquiries@timeshareadvice.org (Address to Daniel).

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