Silverleaf Resorts SCAM! Silverleaf told us outlandish promises and made fraudulant claims to get us to purchase a timeshare. Dallas, Texas Texas

My family and I purchased a weekend getaway at the Villages in Flint, TX for our kids to enjoy a day at their indoor waterpark. In order to receive the waterpark passes, we had to attend a 90 minute presentation of the resort which turned into a long, agonizing six hour presentation. We have four children, one which was only three months at the time. We asked our salesman if they could go ahead and give us the waterpark passes so our children did not have to continue to wait but for whatever reason, the salesman would not give us the waterpark passes.

The salesman brought an offer to the table to purchase a timeshare. We told him that we were not interested and would just like our waterpark passes for the kids so they could go have some fun. We were not allowed to leave until we had spoken to his manager. We waited a good 45 minutes for his manager to come to the table. By this time we were really irritated and just wanted to leave.  The manager brought another offer to the table and we still declined. At this time he left and then came back with a third offer.

This time the offer sounded too good to be true. They told us someone had just come in to sell back their timeshare deed that was purchased 15 years ago. We were told that instead of sending the deed back to the appraisal department, they would sell us the same deed at the same price that it was purchased for 15 years ago. We felt very pressured to purchase. We were told if we did not purchase the deed right then, we would not be able to purchase the deed at that price ever again.

They also introduced to us a company called RCI.  They explained that by purchasing this timeshare deed, we would be able to use RCI and we were told that RCI was included with the Silverleaf timeshare. They promised us that we could use RCI to travel all over the world and it would only cost us $209 for an entire week stay, 8 days, 7 nights.  They also led us to believe that the resorts offered through RCI were all five star rated resorts. They even showed us a RCI magazine and the pictures looked like paradise.

This offer actually sounded wonderful to us because at that time we were actually looking to book a vacation within the next couple months. They promised us that between the Silverleaf timeshare and the RCI program, we would save all kinds of money. We questioned both the salesman and the manager about the travel cost for RCI and again we were promised it was a flat fee of $209, no extra hidden cost. We were also told that by purchasing this timeshare deed, we would be making a good investment.

They explained to us that overtime, timeshare deeds increase in value. My wife asked the salesman if we could have a moment alone to discuss our options but the salesman would not leave the table. We were never able to discuss anything alone.  The salesman continued his spill with how urgent it was to go ahead and purchase this deed because he said as long as he had been with Silverleaf Resorts, he had never seen a deal like this one before. After hearing about the great deal we were getting on the deed and hearing about the great vacations we could take through RCI for only a flat fee of $209, we decided to believe our salesman and we purchased the deed for $12,500.00 with a down payment amount of $1,331.00.

After agreeing to purchase the deed, the waterpark passes were immediately brought to the table and my wife and kids were hurried out the door.  I was told that it would only take a few minutes for the paper work to be drawn up.  After waiting another 1.5 hours, I was taken back to the finance department. The finance manager rushed through all the paper work and did not go into detail on what I was signing. She went through the paper work so fast, that it left no time for any questions. I believe they purposely do not disclose certain information because had they disclosed the information that I now know, I would have never entered into this contract.

A month later after receiving our welcome package and our RCI package, we were ready to book our vacation. After looking at many different resort options, we realized that we were lied to. There are extra hidden fees that we were not told about. We specifically asked our salesman if there were any hidden cost and he assured us that by going through RCI we would only pay a flat fee of $209. All the resorts that we called charged the $209 fee plus, an all-inclusive fee. For example: The Secret St. James in Montego Bay, Jamaica was $209, plus there was a $267 per person, per night mandatory all- inclusive fee.

We were NEVER told about these fees. The resorts that did not have an all-inclusive fee were NOT five star rated resorts, they were three star rated resorts. This is another lie that was told to us. We were told that all the hotels through RCI were five star rated resorts.  We also found out that after a year, we have to purchase RCI. We were led to believe that RCI was included in the purchase of our timeshare. We did not know there was an extra annual fee to use RCI. Also, since purchasing our timeshare, we have found out that timeshare properties do NOT increase in value. This is yet another lie told to us by our salesman.

Again, this is misrepresented information.  After realizing how we had been scammed into purchasing this timeshare, we called the Silverleaf Resorts headquarters and told them we wanted out of our contract. We explained to them how their salesman and manager misrepresented everything. We also told them nothing was as it appeared or how it was told to us. Silverleaf went on to tell us that our six day window to cancel had already expired. This recession period was not explained to us and we were not aware that we were only allowed six days to cancel.

Also, since we purchased our timeshare, we have been bombarded with phone calls from Silverleaf Resort. It is almost to the point of harassment. We are now being told that we have to attend mandatory meetings on certain dates. The meetings they say that are mandatory are nowhere close to where we live. These meetings are also always held on the weekends and I work every weekend. These mandatory owner meetings were never mentioned at any time by our salesman or during the financing portion of our sale.

We purchased this timeshare with the belief that we were purchasing something wonderful for our family and purchasing something that would save us money.  However, purchasing this timeshare was the biggest mistake we have ever made. We believe we were scammed into outlandish promises, fraudulent claims and were told lies in order to get us to purchase this timeshare. Purchasing this timeshare has not saved us any money and will not save us any money in the future. We believe that pursuant to the Chapter 17, Subchapter E., Section 17.47 of the Business and Commerce Code Title 2. Competition and Trade Practices of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Silverleaf Resorts, Inc., by Texas law, should be held responsible for their misrepresentation and fraudulent claims. We want Silverleaf Resorts to cancel our contract immediately and refund our down payment amount of $1,331.00.