I seem to have bad luck with companies that start with the word "Blue"!
Back in 2018, near the end of August, I got a nice contract position for the state of Georgia. It paid a hefty, (to me!), rate of $45/hr, and despite being located in Atlanta, I didn't think the cost of getting an apartment there would be too onerous. (I was very, very wrong.)
Anyway ..... flush with overconfidence regarding my newfound wealth, I foolishly decided that it would be a good idea to associate myself with the liars and cheaters of Bluegreen, and dragged my family along to attend one of their sales presentations in Savannah, GA. We tossed away about $16,000 to "buy" a timeshare property from these jerks, and went away happy as a flock of fools can be with our new purchase.
A few months went by, and after some more hard sell pressure, this time in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, we found ourselves owning two timeshares from these clowns, down about $34,000, and much less satisfied with our purchases. It wasn't until the subsequent April, when we were on vacation in Orlando, that we realized the true folly of our dealings with Bluegreen. (Being an extremely slow learner, I bought yet another timeshare on that trip too, this time from a different company.)
As 2019 plodded on, we realized that buying the timeshares from Bluegreen had been a HUGE mistake, and so we decided to sell them. We had been assured during both purchasing transactions that we could always sell our timeshares for about half of what we paid for them, which meant we would lose about $17,000. Ouch!
But the real pain hit later. After just a little research, it became painfully obvious that not only were these timeshares worthless, (in that NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would even consider buying them without extreme sales pressure), but that we would HAVE TO PAY a legal firm to get the stupid things off our hands. Double OUCH!!
By the end of 2019 we were finally free of Bluegreen, at a cumulative cost to us, (purchase of the timeshares + legal services), of over $40,000!!
I remember asking one of the lawyers how could this be legal, and he simply explained to me that since a lot of money is involved, congress critters could be "swayed" to legislate in a way favorable to the unethical timeshare industry.
The moral of this story, boys and girls, is simple. Never trust the words of someone trying to sell you something, PARTICULARLY A BLUEGREEN TIMESHARE SALESMAN! And don't count on the legal system to bail you out once you realize you've been swindled.
Caveat emptor!
