Westgate Resorts, Gatlinburg, TN Westgate Resort lied to us on the number of exchange weeks we would have. Ripoff Gatlinburg Tennessee

We had the same problem, i.e. our CD did not have our "owner documents" and the hard copies of the "owner documents" we received were also incomplete as only the front pages were copied, therefore we had no knowledge of what our rescision rights were. We got a lot of runaround from WG and its representatives, filed complaints with our state attorney general in Florida as well as with the attorney general in Tennessee, and the mayor of Gatlinburg. It was only through constant hammering that we finally received our refund. Suspiciously, the Florida Attorney General's rep would call me one day and tell me he was confident the investigation would end on a positive note for us, then a week or so later he would call requesting more information. I think he thought we were idiots and were going to let it go. Don't let it go. Keep hammering these people. If they were a good company there would not be so many complaints and I was informed that there were literally thousands of complaints about Westgate in 2005.

The salespeople go through a training course. However, there is so much information thrown at them in such a short time, you are really at the mercy of how the salesperson interpreted what they were taught.

The teaching is you can trade your week (or two if you have a lock-off), but you can purchase up to 11 "Getaways" a year. Getaways BEGIN at $349 a week (may be more now). There is a big page in the salesperson's pitch book showing the amount. However, don't forget that even if your getaway costs $1000 for the week, that is still much better than the hotel room. However, "Getaways" are last minute bookings. "Getaways" are offered from the weeks Interval took in, but didn't trade out.

If anyone out there ever goes to a presentation and thinks about purchasing a timeshare, write down the things that interested you the most about the presentation and ask the manager who comes to the table at the end. They know most of the correct answers, or they will find out the correct answers. Even if the salesperson misrepresented the pitch, or if you heard it wrong, you will be hard-pressed to cancel after the recission time. It then becomes an issue of he said/she said and you usually lose because of the CD given and the recission time.

As for not being able to exchange. It all depends on where you want to go. If you are trying to exchange a week in Gatlinburg for a ski week in Colorado, or anywhere over Christmas or spring break, you will probably not get it unless your trade is that ski week in Colorado or Christmas or spring break. When I was a salesperson, I told people this. Needless to say, I didn't sell for very long. Interval will only give you a week if someone else deposited theirs, or they don't have one to trade you into.

Actually, timeshare is a great way to vacation, if you vacation. You get a condo rather than a hotel room, and the condos are usually very nice. Much, much nicer than a hotel room. I hate it when I have to stay in a hotel. Two years ago I booked a hotel room, last minute, in Orlando, figuring one night would be OK. There were dead bugs on the walls when I walked in. I ended up walking out and finding a timeshare to stay at. Another plus is you don't have to eat every meal out. That really helps pay for it if you add what eating out costs. It definitely equals the maintenance fees and then some.

I don't work in timeshare anymore. Haven't in about 9 years.

There have been times that I have become frustrated with the whole timeshare thing, but we just returned from the Westgate Smoky Mountain in Gatlinburg and are VERY pleased with what has become of the resort since we bought odd years on our honeymoon in 2004. The water park is great, service is great (just as it was at Westgate Lakes and Westgate Vacation Villas in Orlando -- and we now own even years at the Villas).

We have always been treated like royalty by Westgate, unlike another timeshare company that we had the misfortune of dealing with. The places we have stayed have been first-class, five-star accommodations, and to get that for $100 a night (the price of maintenance fees, spread over seven nights) is pretty darned good, even if we did spend $9400 up front.

Westgate rights are perpetual, meaning they don't revert when you die and they don't expire after 99 years. That's another thing we really like, along with not having to deal with a grossly outdated point system common to most timeshares.

The " GETAWAYS " you were told about are for Interval International. Westgate has nothing to do with those. That is a completely different company. I'm sure if you reported the sales person they are no longer working with Westgate. That is something they take very seriously. Did you report this to the sales manager at the resort?