My wife and I normally don’t respond to those enticingly free weekends away. Completely free they tell you… you only have to attend a sales pitch to buy in the world of dream vacations. Against our better judgment we swallowed the bait to go see the good life at Georgian Manor Resort in Collingwood. Putting aside the obvious allusion to P.T. Barnum I will say that my instinct was dead right. We didn’t get into the resort into late last night for reasons having to do with trying to get teenagers (and one preteen) packed into the car, ensure their newspapers were delivered, etcetera, etcetera.
We did enjoy the indoor pool (thought it was quite small and very old) and the kids enjoyed the cable TV, arcade and the buffet breakfast this morning.
But then it was our turn to pay the piper. The piper started out as a very nice woman who seemed sincerely interested in us. But she was trying to get us interested in their points system of enforced vacations. That’s why we were treated to the one night stay after all. She showed us a slick movie and some very nice suites (very different from the 2 bed hotel room with nowhere near enough room for the three kids and us). She showed us two different schemes for achieving their version of the ‘good life’. We could even ’sell’ the names of friends to get more points (i.e.: the pyramid scheme). Then she showed the cheap version which would probably better apply to us. She called over an expert to show us an even cheaper way to make some of our dreams come true. And when we repeated our ‘no’ we got the hard sell from a crotchety old geezer who said he respected our decision but showed us yet another offer. An offer we’d be crazy to say no to. Then he smilingly insulted our choice of ‘no’ to our faces saying that the offer was gone if we walked out… that any future deal would be like a Lada instead of the Cadillac we had just turned down.
Perhaps Karen and I should have thicker skins. Perhaps we should learn to be more dissembling. But we certainly felt the condescension and didn’t like it one bit. We were so angry that we left even though we could have kept ‘trying’ the facilities for the rest of the day if we wanted. I was so angry I didn’t notice that they made our mistake on our bill and charged us for someone else’s breakfast. Why not add to the injury?
What they’re selling is the whole idea of ‘a vacation’. They want us to invest significant sums of money (over $200 a month) so we can have 1 or 2 or more weeks of the ‘good life’. And then there’s the indignity of taxes, user fees, and more (probably way more that we would learn about to our eternal dismay if we had been lulled into accepting their deal). Hey: everyone deserves a piece of that vacation dollar after all.
I do like the idea of a vacation that is done no matter what… it is good for the soul and for family life. But a plan that extends past 2050 is a little much. Every family has their own mine fields to chart a course through and few, in my opinion, can be so flexible. We can’t and we can’t afford it. There are so many ways we can spend what little excess income we may have. We bought an electric guitar on the way home, for example. That was one of our $200 payments (and more) but it was, in my humble opinion, a much better investment that going along with someone’s idea of what a vacation should be.
In the final analysis this whole scheme was a terrific waste of our valuable time and I’m sorry we were sucked in. We would have been much better off staying at home.
2008-05-4 at 10:15 am |
Yes, Terry, it was a waste of our valuable time, but we made the most of it despite the time we wasted being educated about this sort of time share. You left out the part about, “Remember us and what you could have had, had you decided to sign the dotted line today, the next time you stay with one of our competitors’ hotels…” How he insinuated that we should have ‘done our work’ and ‘prepared to commit to such a good offer’ before even considering coming to their resort, like it was our loss and our fault for not ‘knowing that we should want this.’ I think, at that point, I could mentally see horns growing out of his elderly, sinister head! I mean, using blame and shame to manipulate people? Doesn’t work for kids, so why try it on full grown adults? And besides, we had nothing to be ashamed of. They called us. They asked us there. We followed through and they were the ones who were insulting! Talk about shooting himself in the foot! I mean, this man said he was the ‘builder’ of this place! Only a desperate person, perhaps someone who owes too much, who built too much, who went beyond their own means would bully and insult people into buying into their product this way. Should have yelled out, “Pyramid scheme!” in that ballroom filled with small identical tables, each bearing a couple accompanied by their own ‘owner/salesperson’ walking them through the ‘numbers’. Would have been worth it to see all the heads turn, and the ‘members’ like androids, simultaneously turn and escort us out! But, alas, or perhaps fortunately, I was too shocked by this man’s manner to respond at the time.
Funny, how they gave us a small insufficient accommodation and only showed us the alternative, which could be all ours only if we signed on. Deliberate manipulation! Spooky how they had all these models/plans to renovate, worth millions, yet the present state of things was so ‘lacking’: a pokey pool, dinky ‘restaurant’ with terribly small coffee cups and one waitress, too busy removing dishes for refills, I mean, that’s just basic… I got the distinct feeling that our money was very important to them… more important than us, actually. That our friends’ money was important too, and that it could be advantageous for us to consider their friendship as a monetary benefit for ourselves and this organization, to whom, for one night stay, we should feel indebted. So, I don’t mind the insult so much coming from their desperation to ’sign’ you for ‘just one vacation’, then ‘you’d see’. I’d rather keep our friends as friends, and not potential sources of income… vacation perks… Perhaps that’s why our friends have always remained so… perhaps we’d rather stay with them, when they ask, instead of selling them out for a pool, some temporary opulence… prestige… Yeah, I’m glad we kept our money, our integrity, our friends… and bought a guitar, instead! You bet!
2008-07-8 at 5:40 pm |
yeah – well I wasn’t so lucky. I purchased a timeshare from Georgian Manor in 2003 with promises of “keeping my costs” down. The salesman said – buy now and your increases will be minimal. Well we signed the contract and this past month received an invoice for our 2009 fees which was a 46% increase rather than the expected 3.5% increase. Their president Peter Levoy sent mail to owners to explain the need to increase the usage fee or impose a 900 + fee to cover energy and other operating costs. Hmmm – whatever happened to the contract. I am seeking legal assistance with this one. Anyone else in the same boat?
2008-10-21 at 1:47 pm |
I am in the same boat, Joyce…
2008-11-4 at 11:05 pm |
I am also in the same boat. Note that the letter says that you can request that you regular fees be separated. Pay your maintenance + whatever % is in your contract. I have written a letter to Mr. Levoy and will cc my lawyer, I am asking for documentation of their financials from 2003 (when I signed up – there was suppose to be a 16,000 sq. ft. rec center built by 2007) … nada … I want to know where that money went. If you read the letter, it really doesn’t say you have to pay – because that would be a breach of contract. They are hoping that some of their members pay the fee without question … how many people received that letter … do the math … average $800×1000 gullible members (i’m sure that is low) = $800000. Won’t take long for them to bring in a few million.
Anyway, I am sending them a letter asking to separate my fee, from the “special fees” … if they try to force me to pay it, i will definitely be looking into starting up a class action law suit against them.
2008-12-8 at 8:58 pm |
I am in that boat too. I argued with them, took the contract there where its says the increase will never be more than 4% for me. I wrote down my costs for the next 20 years, they were not interested. They said if they don’t increase the costs they cannot afford to operate the place. I ask the same question when we signed up in 2005 there’s nice model showing a $16 m renovation. I was up there in the summer and nothing has changed.
They put the pressure on and I finally paided the increased fees. If anyone starts a class action suit let us all know.
2009-02-19 at 4:13 pm |
Hello GMR contract people.
I did hire a lawyer – I did win. $500 dollars legal fees later I received notice that GMR had a computer glitch and it would be corrected. I will keep this letter as i am sure I will be going through this again in two years.
The sad thing is we enjoy our stay at Georgian Manor it is just that these issues take away so much from the overall enjoyment. I am sorry I purchased and part of me hopes they do go under. It would be great if someone started up some communication forum so we could all keep in touch about these things.