The best rewards for attending a Sales presentation. Which one?

[PAUL250268]

I may have said this before but just remember that all of the salespeople survive on commission only.

Some only get to see 2 or 3 couples a week.

It's their livelihood. And living in Playa is very expensive.

Paul

[Playadicta]

Originally Posted by Dan-0

Don't you think if you go to their presentations and take their "rewards", yet you have no intention of doing business with them, that maybe you're being "deceptive" as well, or at least going under false pretenses? Just my point of view, don't take it personally.

When we were approached about going to a presentation, we politely told the guy that we had no interest in going, since we had no intention to buy.
He practically begged us to accept the invitation knowing full well that we were not going to buy. He said that we would be doing him a favor by going, since he got paid a flat rate for every couple he sent and it didnt matter at all if we didnt buy. He offered us free day passes to one of the Palace resorts - for us and our friends who were arriving the next day. It was worth it to us because we wouldnt have been able to do that otherwise. I didnt feel deceptive at all about it since we were totally honest with him from the start and he was OK with it.

In October, a guy from Sandos offered me $100 and meal as a single traveler to do the presentation. He wanted me to lie and say I wasnt married, though. I declined, since I wasnt cool with the lying part. He seemed surprised.

[Dan-0]

Originally Posted by Playadicta

When we were approached about going to a presentation, we politely told the guy that we had no interest in going, since we had no intention to buy.
He practically begged us to accept the invitation knowing full well that we were not going to buy. He said that we would be doing him a favor by going, since he got paid a flat rate for every couple he sent and it didnt matter at all if we didnt buy. He offered us free day passes to one of the Palace resorts - for us and our friends who were arriving the next day. It was worth it to us because we wouldnt have been able to do that otherwise. I didnt feel deceptive at all about it since we were totally honest with him from the start and he was OK with it.

In October, a guy from Sandos offered me $100 and meal as a single traveler to do the presentation. He wanted me to lie and say I wasnt married, though. I declined, since I wasnt cool with the lying part. He seemed surprised.

When you quote someone out of context, it tends to change the meaning a little. However, the point I was trying to make was that I have an ethical problem with timeshare companies but I respect what they do enough not to deliberately waste their time or try to work the system just to get the "freebies". No matter what their tactics, the salespeople are trying to make a living, and, as Paul pointed out, they may only get to see 2-3 clients a week and they work on commission. No, I don't think it's wrong or unethical to go to the presentations, take the incentives, and not buy. That's what most people do and the companies are playing the odds that two or so out of ten will buy. But, when you're talking about trying to work them for prizes, it's taking it to another level, IMHO, and that was the point I was trying to make. Really none of my business, I guess, it's between the OP and the timeshare companies.

[GreatLakes]

We made the mistake once in Puerto Vallarta...............Never again. I couldnt imagine
being locked in to one vacation spot for 20 years with blackout dates, and dues.

[ANDY&JEN]

In our first year here (after the Bambu debacle) we met and became good friends with a Mexican guy who was trying to make a living for himself and young family by trying to persuade tourists to go to these presentations, we discovered that if he was able to send a couple to one of the timeshares he made enough to feed his family for the week so as a favour to him and with free time on our hands (pre Pet Shelter days) we let him send us on some, (also it was during the low season and the agents were getting no custom) we went with the knowledge we were not going to buy and we made the agents aware of this pretty much at the beginning of the presentations, nearly all were cool with it (they did get free lunch and breakfast) and ok we got some free stuff, mostly cheap t-shirts and tequila but our friend did well out of it.
I know this probably wont be popular with some but it was done with the best intentions.
I have to add that we only had the aggresive problem at the Mayan where the guy became so insulting i nearly popped him one, needless to say after that we stopped doing it.
My only request is that when that guy on the street politely trys to get your attention, please dont be rude to him, he is just trying to look after his family.

[Tommygurl]

I just bring my Mom along & she pays for all my Xcaret passes.

[ANDY&JEN]

Originally Posted by Tommygurl

I just bring my Mom along & she pays for all my Xcaret passes.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by ANDY&JEN

In our first year here (after the Bambu debacle) we met and became good friends with a Mexican guy who was trying to make a living for himself and young family by trying to persuade tourists to go to these presentations, we discovered that if he was able to send a couple to one of the timeshares he made enough to feed his family for the week so as a favour to him and with free time on our hands (pre Pet Shelter days) we let him send us on some, (also it was during the low season and the agents were getting no custom) we went with the knowledge we were not going to buy and we made the agents aware of this pretty much at the beginning of the presentations, nearly all were cool with it (they did get free lunch and breakfast) and ok we got some free stuff, mostly cheap t-shirts and tequila but our friend did well out of it.
I know this probably wont be popular with some but it was done with the best intentions.
I have to add that we only had the aggresive problem at the Mayan where the guy became so insulting i nearly popped him one, needless to say after that we stopped doing it.
My only request is that when that guy on the street politely trys to get your attention, please dont be rude to him, he is just trying to look after his family.

I do agree with this and we are never rude to them, nor to even the most pushy of shop workers or beach vendors, they ARE just trying to make a living.

I never found any timeshare sharks to be rude or overly agressive in Playa or anywhere else besides Cabo San Lucas.... OMG they are unbelievable there!! They are VERY persistent and you cannot walk down that main street without them trailing behind you for about a block...it happened daily the whole week, it was pretty awful. It was August though, so perhaps that had something to do with it, maybe it is worse certain times of the year.

[penalipee]

Originally Posted by Mogley

I think if I went to one I would take a machete.

I wonder if I would get a really good deal on one then???

more likely jail time...

[penalipee]

Originally Posted by ANDY&JEN

In our first year here (after the Bambu debacle) we met and became good friends with a Mexican guy who was trying to make a living for himself and young family by trying to persuade tourists to go to these presentations, we discovered that if he was able to send a couple to one of the timeshares he made enough to feed his family for the week so as a favour to him and with free time on our hands (pre Pet Shelter days) we let him send us on some, (also it was during the low season and the agents were getting no custom) we went with the knowledge we were not going to buy and we made the agents aware of this pretty much at the beginning of the presentations, nearly all were cool with it (they did get free lunch and breakfast) and ok we got some free stuff, mostly cheap t-shirts and tequila but our friend did well out of it.
I know this probably wont be popular with some but it was done with the best intentions.
I have to add that we only had the aggresive problem at the Mayan where the guy became so insulting i nearly popped him one, needless to say after that we stopped doing it.
My only request is that when that guy on the street politely trys to get your attention, please dont be rude to him, he is just trying to look after his family.

This is why I went to a presentation a few years back. A friend of mine was selling time shares and he would receive money for each person he sent to the presentation. Everyone knew that we weren't going to buy. It was myself and a girlfriend....neither of us are married. No one cared. It was amusing to have the "manager" of the company keep coming back to our table and telling our rep to give us a better deal. I have to admit it was pretty tempting...it started at $30,000. and ended with $2500. Still, would never do it. But like Andy said, they get commision for sending people and I was happy to help. Thank goodness my friend has a different job now.

[Dijo]

that's exactly why we went. This young man had a young family and we had some time on our hands, as it was our second week on Cozumel. He got his $50 US and we got some of the promised gifts and no one was hurt.

[Bumper]

Originally Posted by Tommygurl

I just bring my Mom along & she pays for all my Xcaret passes.

Might she be interested in adopting? I'm house broken.....mostly.

[Tommygurl]

Originally Posted by Bumper

Might she be interested in adopting? I'm house broken.....mostly.

She is coming to Disneyland with us in May so she will be broke by then.

What can I say she insists on buying the tickets...wouldn't want to hurt her feelings & say no.

[NDSmitty]

We have done a few, one in Vallarta and one actually in Minnesota. The one in minnesota was pretty easy.. they offered us 2 nights/3days at there resort for $49 total and offered a $25 gas card. When it came for the hard sale,( after we checked out on day 3) I told them that we loved the place but was it a problem that we just finalized our bankruptcy 2 weeks ago? In and out in 10 minutes I imagine that line would work anywhere...

[D&A]

...in October '08. We went in there planning not to buy, and we did not. Now, we stayed there for 2 weeks, and did not do the presentation until about 4 days before we left, so we heard from everyone at our AI what to expect. For our time, we recieved 2 all inclusive passes to the Xel-Ha/Tulum tour, $50 cash, and 10% off our room bill (which can get extremley expensive, we kept ours to about $1000). The only problem with the Xel-Ha/Tulum thing is that by the time you actually get to Xel-Ha after picking up several people from other AI's, its about 11am. Then, they tell you that the bus leaves for Tulum at 1pm. So you have 2 hours to eat, and experience Xel-Ha? Not enough time. They gave us the option to stay at Xel-Ha and be picked up at 5pm if we wanted, which we did. I wish we had went to Tulum though, it looks spectacular. So we got a good moneys worth for the presentation, but I would not do it again. After being rushed through the free breakfast, we were sat down and went through the whole thing. Basically, they try to get you to buy in starting at around $150k, and after telling them no several times in a few hours, they came all the way down to $7000. Still saying no, we had been there for probably 4 hours, and were ready to leave, so thats it, we are leaving. Then the manager offers to make our down payment for us, and give us jobs there selling the time shares. Wow! But still, no. So on our way to pick up our "prizes" we get hassled 2 more times to buy, just trying to check out. Finally we were done after about 5 hours. If you want to go to a presentation, plan on wasting a whole day, and being tired at the end of it. I personally will not do it again, they were very high pressure and try to make you feel like a moron if you dont buy. They do make a attractive offer, but you got to stick to your guns!!!