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Westgate Resorts uses high-pressure schemes to convince prospective purchasers into buying its vacation timeshare program, according to legal news.
A recent class action lawsuit alleges that Westgate fails to adequately disclose material and legally required information to prospective buyers and also doesn’t provide adequate access to their timeshares.
In addition, the timeshare owners claim Westgate fails to adequately train and supervise its sales agents, does not provide them with disclosures to give to prospective customers and encourages them to lie to customers with high-pressure sales pitches.
Westgate also allegedly relies on its closing agents to provide written disclosures and provides them with a closing portfolio that contains a “secret pocket” where the closing officers can conceal legally required disclosures about the customer’s rights, including their right to rescind the purchase.
The plaintiffs contend that Westgate does not disclose to their customers that their timeshare interest will be subject to a “floating use” plan and does not disclose to customers the terms of the “floating use” plan. The “floating use” plan fails to provide purchasers reasonable access to their timeshares, the customers say.
“As a result of the common scheme, Westgate owners are left paying thousands of dollars in purchase price, upgrade costs, and annual maintenance fees, all on timeshare units they are frequently unable to use as advertised, and rarely, if ever, are able to use as reasonably expected,” the Westgate class action lawsuit goes on to state.
The plaintiffs say Westgate’s aggressive business model relies on the premise of selling shares in property units, not on customers using the weeks they have purchased in those units. They claim Westgate has a strong incentive to sell as many ownership shares as possible in a piece of property.
Westgate can further increase its profits, the timeshare owners claim, by limiting the owners’ use of the units so they can be rented out by the defendant for additional profit or used by the defendant as sample units to sell timeshare properties to new buyers.
“Defendants uniformly fail to adequately disclose material facts to buyers and, as a result, fail to deliver what buyers reasonably expect, all in violation of Missouri, Florida, Nevada, and Tennessee common law and statutory law,” claim the plaintiffs.
The timeshare owners also say the timeshare industry’s record profits are driven by sales of ownership shares, not its customers’ use and enjoyment of the properties. The Westgate class action states that a timeshare business makes money every time someone makes a down payment or a monthly payment on a timeshare, including paying steep annual “maintenance fees.”
“Selling units to new customers and selling nicer units to existing customers is the lifeblood of the timeshare industry,” the timeshare owners say.
According to the plaintiffs, Westgate sales agents pressure purchasers to sign a series of complex and misleading documents without giving the purchasers the opportunity to read (or in some cases see) the documents they are signing.
The Westgate class action claims that only months later, when the new timeshare owners attempt to reserve vacation time in “their” unit, do they learn Westgate sold them something entirely different than what the company told them they purchased.
The plaintiffs maintain Westgate agents approach vacationers on the street, in restaurants and at other public areas. The agents offer them free tickets to local attractions, discounts to timeshare purchases and vouchers for free meals in order to entice them to take a tour of the resorts.
Once the vacationers arrive at the resort, Westgate agents subject them to a high-pressure sales pitch designed to ensure they do not leave without purchasing a timeshare property, the timeshare owners explain.
“Westgate agents attempt to persuade prospective purchasers by telling them that a timeshare is cheaper than paying for future vacations, but that they must act immediately in order to take advantage of supposedly discounted prices,” according to the plaintiffs.
In addition, once they purchase the timeshare, owners face constant pressure from Westgate agents and employees to upgrade to nicer units, the plaintiffs contend. In fact, the timeshare owners say that once they purchase a unit, they are assigned a “concierge” who supposedly assists with booking and other transactions, but in fact is a salesperson who pressures the owners to upgrade their prior purchase.
Westgate fails to tell timeshare owners that they are routinely unable to book units in the resort with as much as 12 months’ notice, the earliest that Westgate allows owners to reserve their use of their timeshare, the plaintiffs say.
The owners claim “they have made repeated attempts to book a stay during their allotted time, only to be told by Westgate officials that there is no availability at the Resort.”
Did you purchase a timeshare with Westgate? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Michael Sokolik of Consumer Law Protection Lawyers.
The Westgate Timeshare Class Action Lawsuit is John Hambacker, et al. v. Westgate Resorts Ltd, et al., Case No. 4:20-cv-00833 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
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1,428 thoughts onWestgate Resorts Class Action Alleges High-Pressure Sales Tactics
help us they lies and held us as we kept saying no .. and they make lot of lies, please help we have the time shares about 7 years.. I never have used.. because the dont have reservation if I call and give my name like a share holder.. ..but if I call like a regular costumer. They all ways have ….
I have never been so lied to and misled this much in my entire life I have left with high hopes only to be lied and misled some more now I’m like $8000 and climbing and still have not used my unit yet because it is not what I was told
I have never been so lied to and miss led in my entire life.. and not to mention no one can give u a strait answer
My boyfriend and I were stopped on the street and promised a free weeks vacation if we went to the timeshare presentation. When we got there we said no repeatedly but they wouldn’t let us leave. If we had to go to the bathroom only one of us at a time could go and we were accompanied by our guide. It was weird. They started the offer at around 30,000 dollars and we kept saying no. They got all the way down to like 8,000 and said the only money we would have to pay was 300 dollars I think and that we would leave there timeshare owners with 3 weeks a year starting 2024 but before that started we were promised 2 full additional weeks to use whenever we wanted as well as a week long cruise…none of which we ever saw. Every time we tried to book our stay there were no weeks available. And the only week that was available was at the beginning of the year when their owners retreat was going on and attendance for owners was mandatory. We did not want to go through that again. Originally we were told it was 120 minutes but we ended up being struck there for like 8 hours. Now we’re only interested in getting out of this as soon as possible. I really hope to hear from someone soon.
Yes my husband and I experienced the same as those comments previously stated. We paid off the Westgate Smokey Mountains Timeshare without ever being able to use it. The availability was never there per Westgate staff. The maintenance fees have gone from around $250 in December 2001, the purchase year, to over $900 in 2024.
It’s been lucrative for Westgate and a stressful nightmare for us.
Yes my husband and I experienced the same as the comments previously stated. We paid off the Westgate Smokey Mountains Timeshare without ever being able to use it. The availability was never there per Westgate staff. The maintenance fees have gone from around $250 in December 2001, the purchase year, to over $900 in 2024.
It’s been lucrative for Westgate and a stressful nightmare for us.
We were highly pressured into purchasing this time. Share on false information on a point system. Quote. when we arrived on-site. I requested immediately the price, I was advised. I had to wait until the presentation. I feel abused since my credit am I worthiness has taken a brutal beating orchestrated By the spineless.
Low quality salesman that they call themselves.
Westgate Smokey mountains
Westgate lied and mislead me. I haven’t been able to use the timeshare. Therefore there is no benefit on my behalf. Free money to them.
We also have a timeshare and experience the same problems. The sales people were very pushy
Hi!
We too have a timeshare with Westgate. Every time we try and book a stay we are transferred to another section trying to sell us more vacations and not getting anywhere! This is a total scam! Please help us get some of our money back and get rid of them!
Fraud! It’s fraud!