A few years ago, my family vacationed in Orlando, Florida. We were all excited to visit Disney World. Emma was desperate to see Mickey!
Then, we noticed that our hotel lobby had a special booth selling tickets - how convenient. And they were at a 50% discount - brilliant. All we had to do was visit a local resort and listen to a “one hour presentation.” That’s not so bad. One hour and then we could be on our way.
We started right after breakfast, but when we got to the resort, it was packed. We had to wait about an hour before we even got started. Then, our “one hour presentation” took about two hours.
I don’t know if they have “time shares” in Korea, but these are basically institutions where you buy “two weeks” worth of a vacation condo and “share” it with others throughout the year. It sounds like a great deal when they explain it. But financial experts say it’s one of the worst consumer bargains - ever.
But when we walked around the lush condo grounds, I began to imagine our family there. When I listened to the sales pitch, I kind of forgot all the bad stuff. In a moment of great stupidity, we started to consider saying yes.
Then, in a moment of even greater stupidity, we actually decided to buy. There are two reasons that was a bad call. First, it was just stupid financially. Second, that turned the “one hour presentation” on our way to Disney World into a 4-5 hour affair. We didn’t leave the “time share” office until we had “shared” half of our day with them.
Later, when we got home to Texas, we called to cancel. We got voice mail. We got “the wrong person.” They promised that “the right person” would call us back. When we finally reached “the right person,” our one week optional cancelation period had expired. Legally, we were stuck with our bad bargain.
