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I assert that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this website is 100% true and accurate factual information.
If anyone (including Silverleaf employees or agents) finds any of this content is be inaccurate, please let me know,
and I will gladly revise the content remove any untruths or inaccuracies.
This webpage is dedicated to Silverleaf Resorts (stock ticker symbol: SVLF) and in particular their senior sales associate, Mr. Dilber C., who utilized unscrupulous, unethical, and deceptive sales tactics to bamboozle and persuade my wife and myself into purchasing a Silverleaf timeshare vacation week, which we cannot feasibly use. The reason that we cannot use it ourselves, is because we already own six timeshare weeks, and I only get six weeks of vacation per week. This fact was made very clear several times to the Silverleaf sales associates prior to and during their coercive sales pitch, but it didn’t appear to matter to them. Although we had for many years been satisfied and happy customers while owning two Silverleaf timeshare weeks, that status was changed on June 14, 2009, when we became deceived customers and bamboozled victims who now own three Silverleaf timeshare weeks. Although we said no, no, no, no, no many times over during the sales pitch, we finally gave up upon realizing that the senior salesman was not willing to accept ‘no’ for an answer. This third Silverleaf timeshare week serves no useful purpose for us to use as a vacation, but it does serve quite well as a showpiece and justifiable cause for this website.
How did this happen?
On June 14, 2009, my wife and I were on vacation during our owner week at the Silverleaf Piney Shores Resort near Lake Conroe, Texas. Although we were then (and still are) NOT in the market to purchase another timeshare week, we attended what Silverleaf deceptively calls an “Owner Update Meeting”. Our purpose for attending such a meeting was solely to find out what improvements were being planned for the resort and to obtain an answer to our question concerning problems we had with the Silverleaf procedure for exchanging our timeshare week through RCI. We had previously sent a letter back in April 2008 regarding a Silverleaf screw-up or shell-game with our RCI deposit, and we never got a legitimate answer to our questions then, so we were hoping that we could get an honest answer to this RCI deposit issue at the Owner Update Meeting. We never did get an answer to our question, but we did get a very intense sales pitch from two Silverleaf salespersons.
From this experience, we observed first hand that the primary purpose of the “Owner Update Meeting” was not to answer the customer’s questions. While that may sometimes occur for some Silverleaf customers, it certainly did not occur for us. I now believe that the primary purpose of the “Owner Update Meeting” is for Silverleaf to hold customers captive for hours while they impose a high pressure sales pitch on them. Personally, I prefer to call these meetings by a more accurate and descriptive title “Bamboozlement And Deceptive Sales Hype Into Timesharing” (aka B.A.D.S.H.I.T.) meeting. The Silverleaf “B.A.D.S.H.I.T.” meeting is similar in many ways to catching fish trapped in a barrel. Customers are lured into the meeting with bait, such as a free lunch and/or a cash reward for attending.
From our own personal experience we observed that when a Silverleaf customer (potential victim) arrives for the “Owner Update” (B.A.D.S.H.I.T.) meeting, they are welcomed with a free lunch in a large room at the Piney Shores Sales Center. Have you ever heard the common expression “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” ? The Owner Update (B.A.D.S.H.I.T.) meeting is a fine outstanding example of this concept. The free lunch itself consisted of typical menu items served in an elementary school cafeteria. However, it’s the miserable drawn out sales hype that follows, which makes the lunch anything but free.
After lunch, my wife and I were treated to a brief tour of the Piney Shores Resort, which included a drive around the premises, up around the Lodge Units, up to the horse stables, and back to the Presidential Units by the lake. The only thing we got from this tour that we could not have seen by driving around on our own was a visit inside one of the newly constructed presidential units.
Following the tour of a new presidential unit, we were taken back to the sales office for our first meeting with a Silverleaf sales person, whom I will refer to as ‘Mr. P.K’. In order to break the ice and get communication going, Mr. P.K. asked us general un-alarming questions about where we like to vacation and what we like to do on vacation. After some friendly dialogue, Mr. P.K. pulls the first of many sales tactics, which in many ways resembles a set up question and a ‘strawman’ fallacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawman .
Mr. P.K. presented two timeshare weeks available for us to purchase. One of them was grossly over-priced (range of $50,000 to $80,000), while the other is moderately priced (range of $10,000 to $15,000), and both offerings are about ten times the price of similar timeshare units frequently found online at eBay or Craigslist. Mr. P.K. used clever language in asking us which of these two timeshare weeks appears favorable or preferable to us. Notice that he did NOT ask us IF we were even interested in buying a timeshare week. Apparently it did not matter to the salesman if we were interested, since they are likely trained to put forth their best (or most clever) effort to coerce a sale regardless of whether the potential customer is (or is not) in the market to buy. I consider this particular tactic similar to a ‘strawman’ argument, because it is easy to refute the more expensive (strawman) option, which merely serves to distract attention from how bad is the less expensive option.
The anxiety level of the sales pitch is worsened when a salesmen utilizes deception and trickery to bamboozle the customer into buying. In any case, we responded to Mr. P.K. that we were not in the market to buy any timeshare week at any resort. We explained honestly, clearly and concisely that we already own six timeshare weeks and the purchase of a seventh timeshare week would be of no use to us since we simply could not use it for vacation purposes.
In any event, Mr. P.K. continued his sales pitch with another question “wouldn’t you agree that this second (the lower priced) timeshare week is a better offering?”. I’m thinking that neither of these offerings is the least bit appealing to me, because I can’t use either one. However, to humor the salesman, my wife and I conceded that yes the lower priced timeshare week is a better offering. That was a mistake . . . I quickly learned that any answer to this “set up” question provides the sales person with an open door to hammer on us to buy it, based on the “false premise” that just because you say it’s a better offering, then that must imply that you want it. Our response that the less expensive timeshare week was preferable was simply twisted and used as leverage to hammer on us to buy it. In any case, we finally were able to defend ourselves against the high pressure tactics that were based on this “false premise”.
In retrospect, I now believe the best way to answer this question goes something like this:
Q. Which of these two timeshare weeks is preferable to you?
A. Neither one. I do not want either of those two weeks, nor do I want any other week, period, end of story, and that’s my final answer.
Or
Q. Which of these two timeshare weeks is preferable to you?
A. Well let me ask you a similar question. Would you prefer to be hit by a bus going 30 MPH, or by a motorcycle going 75 MPH? If your answer is neither, then that’s my same answer to your question.
Or
Q. Which of these two timeshare weeks is preferable to you?
A. That is clearly a trick set up question and it does not deserve any answer.
Or
Q. Which of these two timeshare weeks is preferable to you?
A. Neither is preferable. I consider both options to be ‘punishment’, and I am appalled that you or any other sales person would want me to be subjected to punishment.
After this first exchange of sales pitch and our defense against it, we were offered a variety of other timeshare weeks at different resorts and different times of year. For all of these options we said “no”, “no”, “no”, “no”, “no”, “no”, “no”, “no” for the better part of an hour. Mr. P.K. finally conceded that we were not going to buy a timeshare week from him today. Then he asked us if he could leave to check with a supervisor about wrapping up the meeting. Not knowing the true purpose of his leaving, we said “sure, go ahead”. This was really a set up question to enable Mr. P.K. to bring in a second sales person to hammer on us some more.
In retrospect, I now believe the best way to answer this question goes something like this:
Q. Do you mind if I check with my supervisor about wrapping this up?
A. Yes, I do mind. You have already wasted a great deal of my valuable vacation time, and I am not interested in wasting more time by talking to yet another sales person.
Or
Q. Do you mind if I check with my supervisor about wrapping this up?
A. If you leave this office to check with a supervisor, then my wife and I will be leaving too, and we expect you to have the bribe money ready for us as we exit the door. (Note that the bribe money is the bait, which Silverleaf offers to people in order to get them to attend a B.A.D.S.H.I.T. meeting.)
After a minute or so, Mr. P.K. returned to his office with another sales person, whom I refer to as Mr. Dilber C., who was introduced to us as a Silverleaf senior sales associate. Mr. Dilber C. proceeded to ask us whether or not Mr. P.K. covered all the required sales pitch material. As Mr. Dilber C. runs down the list of various timeshare week offerings, we reiterate over and over that yes he asked us about that, and yes we declined to buy it. This particular exercise served no useful purpose for us, the customer, as it wasted even more of our vacation time, and only served to make us more tired and weary. However, it did serve a useful purpose for the Silverleaf sales team, as it wears out the customer so that they are more likely to succumb to the bamboozlement and deception especially if they are tired and hungry and eager to get out of there.
Eventually Mr. Dilber C. asked us if we would be interested in buying a discounted foreclosure week #11 at the Fox River Resort for about $13,000. We said “no”. Then he asked “what would you say if I could move that foreclosure week #11 to a Piney Shores presidential unit”? I was slightly amused that Mr. Dilber C. had the authority to “move” a foreclosure unit from one resort to another. I had previously heard of others being able to juggle the accounting to move one timeshare unit to another within the same resort, or to move one week to a different week, but I had not previously heard of anyone being able to move a foreclosure unit from one resort to another. I was thinking that this procedure seems so odd, that I was curious how it could legally occur.
Well answering that question with “I’m curious how that could happen” was definitely a mistake. I now realize that almost anything the salesman says he can do, is likely to be a deception and any response (other that “NO”) is likely to be twisted and used as leverage to hammer on the customer to buy it. If one does respond with “NO”, then the salesman merely changes the resort name, week number, unit size, or some other feature of the timeshare offering and continues to hammer on the customer. There is no feasible way out of this trap, unless the customer goes ballistic or postal and makes an unwelcome and uninvited exit from of the sales office.
The next trick that was imposed on us by the Silverleaf senior sales associate, Mr. Dilber C., involved his asking us whether or not the previous sales person, Mr. P.K., had discussed with us the features of the Diamond Plus program. Immediately after hearing this question, Mr. P.K. faked a rehearsed “oh, I forgot to cover that”. I suspect that this program or some other omission is planned in advanced as part of their sales strategy to enable the second sales person to start hammering some more on already weary customers.
I wonder why the topic omitted from the first sales pitch was something that my wife and I did not care to hear about, rather than something we really would want to hear about such as the Silverleaf revised pet policy, or the Silverleaf revised RCI spacebank deposit policy, or the business reasons for the ups and downs in share price of Silverleaf (SVLF) in the stock market. We still have questions about those other topics that still remain unanswered.
Because the omitted topic of sales hype carries such an ambiguous name “Diamond Plus”, we would have no prior way of knowing what it was about unless perhaps we could read about it on a webpage such as this one. However, I am not aware of anyone (until now) disclosing such information on the internet. I wish that Silverleaf would merely publish the details of this undesirable program in one of their mailed quarterly newsletters rather than using the feigned mystery as a clever inroad to permit a sales person to hammer on potential customers in a controlled high pressure environment.
To summarize it briefly, the “Diamond Plus” program provides a mechanism wherein timeshare owners can split their week into two or more pieces, so long as the sum of the pieces does not exceed 7 nights, and split weekend stays which include Friday night and Saturday night must be contiguous. Any split stay at the resort which includes either a Friday or Saturday night, but not both will be counted as the entire allotted weekend within the “Diamond Plus” program. Personally, I do not see any benefit to this program, and I told the senior sales associate, Mr. Dilber C. in no uncertain terms that I considered this program to be a potential nightmare and that I didn’t want any part of it. Realistically, I can not use another week of vacation no matter how many pieces it is split into. The reason I considered “Diamond Plus” to be a potential nightmare is because I already experience enough anxiety and hassle in dealing with six other timeshare weeks that I already own, of which four of them are floating weeks, which require me to make advance reservations. I already have to deal with calling timeshare reservation desks 10 to 12 months in advance to get early dibs on the owner week I want for vacationing in Lake Tahoe, Puerto Vallarta, and Sedona. My wife and I already own week 24 at Piney Shores and week 26 at Galveston, and because of their being fixed weeks, they are perceived as a relief from the hassle of placing advance calls in the hope of getting our desired vacation time.
I consider the name “Diamond Plus” to be a deceptive misnomer. The only connection I can see between a real diamond and the “Diamond Plus” program is that diamonds require a very large amount of intense pressure and heat to be formed, which is analogous to the sales pitch imposed on me to buy it. I consider the “Plus” in “Diamond Plus” as referring to the added (undesirable) flexibility and added (undesirable) hassle in using your owner week. I perceive the “Diamond Plus” program as being a big negative for me rather a plus, as it would add anxiety and hassle into the process of reserving and tracking the utilization of parts of a timeshare week that previously required no thought and very little advance planning. Because I already owned six timeshare weeks and only get six weeks of vacation each year, I cannot feasibly use a seventh week, no matter how it gets split apart.
During his sales pitch, Mr. Dilber C. did not provide any information regarding any online tracking programs, which a customer could use to keep track of split weeks. In spite of my comments that this program was of no value to me and that I considered its features to be a potential nightmare to utilize, Mr. Dilber C. simply ignored my concerns and just kept right on hammering. This is where most normal human beings would want to beat the $#!&% out of the sales person for so rudely wasting your valuable vacation time and for ignoring or disregarding legitimate concerns about not being able to use another timeshare week. Unfortunately, my parents taught me to be polite and courteous and not to walk away from someone while they are still speaking to me. This positive character attribute (being polite and courteous) is used against potential customers, when they are put in the uncomfortable position of having to defend why they don’t want to buy something from Silverleaf.
I personally feel that the path out of an Owner Update meeting is analogous to solving a Rubik’s Cube. Successful solution (by the customer) requires using a great deal of logic to discern fallacies of logic (imposed by sales associates) and successfully circumventing dead end paths.
Who is Motivated to Make This Timeshare Sales Transaction Occur?
Considering that my wife and I had no intention of buying anything, but merely wanted answers to questions while attending the Owner Update meeting, we were highly UN-motivated buyers. We could not feasibly even use another week of vacation even if it was given to us for free. We actually had an honest legitimate argument for why we didn’t need or want to buy another timeshare. On the other hand, the Silverleaf sales persons were HIGHLY motivated to make a sale because they either need to meet a sales quota imposed on them by Silverleaf or perhaps they desire to receive some sort of commission or other financial compensation for persuading customers to buy. So how do highly motivated sales persons manage to persuade highly unmotivated customers to buy something that they don’t need and can’t feasibly use. The answer to this question is simple . . . use deception, trickery, manipulation, and ask the victims “setup questions” for which any answer can be twisted or spun and used as leverage to coerce a sale. Fabricate a false sense of urgency to convince the customers to hurry up and make an impulse decision. Tell the victims, er uh, I mean, customers, that this deal won’t last long, you have to hurry up and buy this today. It is essential that you buy this today. It is also important to conceal any factual information that might be a deal breaking show stopper.
On several occasions I mentioned to the Silverleaf sales associates that I saw no good reason why this sales transaction had to happen today, because I had no way to use it for vacation purposes for the next several years. The sales associates were quick to either change the subject away from my concerns, or they made comments to imply that my concerns were insignificant or irrelevant.
After another hour of hammering by Silverleaf senior sales associate, Mr. Dilber C., during which my wife and I were subjected to all of the above mentioned sales tactics, we finally realized that we were not going to get out of that Silverleaf sales office before sunset by continuing to say “no”. Merely saying “no” to their sales pitch was only met with more sales pitch. By this time we were weary from the continued pressure and hammering and finally against our better judgment and against all common sense we finally succumbed to the duress to buy. By this point in time, I felt like I could have signed my own death warrant just to get out of such a miserable situation. I now have a better understanding of how some KGB interrogation teams in Communist countries might get innocent people to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit.
In retrospect, I can now see where the sales associates’ deceptive hype and fake sense of urgency for customers to hurry up and buy, are total fabrications. In reality, customers could wait months or years to buy another timeshare week, and it is quite likely that the customer will get the same (if not better) deal during a future Owner-Update meeting. For the past several years I seemed to get calls every few months to attend yet another B.A.D.S.H.I.T. Owner-Update meeting, which totally supports the agenda that Silverleaf wants you to continue coming to future sales pitch meetings. Even after attending such meetings I have received those blue or yellow AVC postcards in the mail, in which I was invited to attend another Silverleaf B.A.D.S.H.I.T. meeting under the pretense that I’ve won a prize.
Back on June 14, 2009, when my wife and I finally conceded under duress that we would buy the week #11 timeshare at Piney Shores,
for which they had utilized unethical tactics to hype, the senior sales associate, Mr. Dilber C., left the room to prepare a written
contract. During his brief absence, the other sales person, Mr. P.K. asked me whether I preferred to use their Silverleaf financing
or just pay the whole amount. This question was another case of choosing the lesser of two evils. Mr. P.K. disclosed that the interest rate for Silverleaf financing was about 16 percent, which I thought was ridiculous, especially considering what
home mortgage rates are being offered by numerous financial institutions. I told Mr. P.K. that I would simply pay for it on my
American Express card. Then Mr. P.K. asked another question concerning whether I preferred to have 30 days interest free time lag
to pay for it. This initially sounds like a good idea until he said that I would have to pay a $75 fee to get that 30 day same as
cash feature. Why does it seem like every decision type of question imposed on customers during the B.A.D.S.H.I.T. meeting involves
choosing between the lesser of two evils? In any case, Mr. P.K. made a swipe of my American Express card for payment of purchase
of the timeshare week #11, and had me sign the Amex printout.
Although it took hours to persuade us to overcome common sense and buy this timeshare week, it took only a couple minutes for Mr. Dilber C. to come back into the sales office with a contract document for us to sign. He put the sales contract down on the desk in front of me and asked me to sign it. I had to put on my reading glasses to even begin reading the small print. After reading the document for awhile I finally realized that this sales contract was for week #9 rather than week #11, which had been the only week number discussed during the entire days dialogue between the Silverleaf sales persons and my wife and myself. I can readily assert in writing that at no time during the B.A.D.S.H.I.T. (Owner Update) meeting prior to this point in time did anyone in the room ever mention anything having to do with week #9. I believe that Mr. Dilber C. knowingly committed a bait and switch tactic and he wasn’t man enough to fess up to it. I believe that he was hoping that I wouldn’t find out the unethical trickery and deception he had just attempted to pull off. So then I brought to his attention this switch in week number, and I asked why this sales contract was for week #9 instead of week #11. At first Mr. Dilber C. appeared somewhat surprised either that an error had occurred or that he was caught trying to pull a bait-and-switch tactic. Rather than correct the obvious error, Mr. Dilber C. proceeded to argue with me that week #9 was just as good as week #11. (See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/bait_and_switch ).
Piney Shores Week #9 just as good as week #11??? I can only fathom three possible explanations for such a ridiculous claim by Mr. Dilber C. and I challenge him to explain which of the following three explanations is correct:
1. The statement was intentionally made despite it being false, and made in hope that I wouldn’t know the truth, and he could get away with the deception.
2. Mr. Dilber C. was simply incompetent and ignorant of the fact that week #11 has a much greater demand and desirability than week #9, and he said what he honestly believed which just happens to be false.
Or . . .
3. Mr. Dilber C. was basing the statement on my previous assertions that I can’t feasibly use a seventh timeshare week, and therefore the value of week #9 and week #11 is zero to me, and therefore both weeks have equal value (of zero).
If I ever get a response to this question from Mr. Dilber C. or anyone else at Silverleaf, I will be glad to post it on this website.
About a month after this B.A.D.S.H.I.T. meeting and sales event, I placed a phone call to RCI to inquire about the availability of timeshare weeks for exchange at Piney Shores Resort during week #11 and was told by the RCI agent that they only had a couple left and that I better book it fast because that was a popular spring break week. This merely confirmed what I already believed, and is consistent with spring break week falling in week #11 at both the schools where my children attend. Then I asked the RCI agent about availability of weeks for exchange at Piney Shores Resort during week #9, and was told that they had several and there was not such an urgent need to hurry on that week. I thanked him for his time and did not reserve either week. Note also that I was able to ask those questions to an RCI agent and get a legitimate answer because I already had several weeks in my RCI spacebank which have a greater RCI demand index than Piney Shores Resort. I believe that this confirms that the demand for week #11 is greater than week #9 at Piney Shores. I also believe that data from outside companies that rent timeshares could easily confirm that the value of week #11 is greater than that of week #9. I am appalled that Mr. Dilber C. either didn’t know this, or did know but refused to accept it.
It is common sense that week #11 would be more valuable than week #9 at any resort that is not near snow skiing and that is located in an area which caters to a large spring break population of vacationers, when the plurality of schools in the area have spring break during week #11. My wife and I had already booked our year 2010 timeshare in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for spring break week #11, and we had placed that reservation back in March of 2009. This fact further substantiates the worthlessness to my family of any additional timeshare ownership for March of 2010. However, common sense gets trampled when one gets totally bamboozled by fast talking sales hype, especially when it is based on trickery and deception and any potentially deal breaking facts (known by the sales people) are concealed or omitted from the discussion.
After persuading my wife and me to sign the sales contract for the (useless to us) Piney Shores week #9, the next trick pulled by the Silverleaf sales team was almost as clever as it was unethical. Mr. Dilber C. picked up the signed contract and took it out of the room, while commented that he needed to expedite the processing of the contract. I thought it was odd that they needed to have the actual contract moved to another room for immediate processing since they already knew our names and any other data that was relevant to the sales transaction. In reality, they needed to get the sales contract out of the room so that I could not get my hands on it to tear it up after I read the next forms that they wanted me to sign next.
Immediately after the Piney Shores sales contract was safely removed from the room by senior sales associate Mr. Dilber C., the junior sales associate, Mr. P.K. presented to my wife and me a document, entitled “Owner Confirmation Interview”, which we were asked to sign, and it contained several statements, which we knew to be either false or inconsistent with verbal statements made by the Silverleaf sales persons during the previous hours of sales pitch.
If anyone has a genuine interest in buying any timeshare week (vacation ownership interest) from Silverleaf, then I highly recommend that you insist on seeing the “Owner Confirmation Interview” document BEFORE you sign any other contract document. I further recommend that you keep possession of that document during the signing of any and all other documents. Actually it would be an excellent idea to ask the sales persons for a copy of the “Owner Confirmation Interview” document at the very start of the Owner-Update meeting so that you can catch any verbal misrepresentations as they occur during the sales pitch. If the Silverleaf sales associate refuses to provide to you a copy of this document early in the sales presentation, I highly recommend that you get up and walk out. Item #7 of this document contains a statement in which you agree to rely solely on written documents, covenants, and contract documents, and not on any verbal representations which occurred during the sales pitch. Keep in mind that previously unmotivated buyers would not likely even be buying a timeshare if not for the verbal representations presented by the Silverleaf sales associates. The customer’s initials and signature on this item #7 essentially gives the Silverleaf sales persons a free pass to lie through their teeth during the sales pitch and do so with impunity.
After my wife and I began reading the “Owner Confirmation Interview” document, we were stunned to read Item #6 which states that pets are not permitted on the resort premises at ANY time. The written wording of this item not only prohibits pets during the newly purchased (and useless to us) week #9, but it also effectively takes away pet permissions that we had with our previously purchased week #24 at Piney Shores. It also would prevent us from bringing our Corgi to Piney Shores resort during Endless Escape (EE) bonus time. I hereby assert in writing that at no time prior to the contract signing was the topic of pet permissions or prohibitions ever discussed during the sales presentation. This topic of pet prohibitions reflects a radical change in Silverleaf policy from the privileges that we enjoyed with our previous Silverleaf vacation ownership. This change in Silverleaf pet policy was essentially concealed from us during the entire sales presentation until AFTER we had already signed the sales contract, and the sales contract was removed from the room. I consider this tactic to be unscrupulous and unethical. After reading item #6, I asked the Silverleaf sales associate, Mr. P.K. why this item was included in the document. He said that we shouldn’t worry about it, because that pet policy is never enforced. This leads me to wonder, if this new policy is never enforced, then why is it even included in the document? I suspect that Silverleaf may have a hidden agenda to eventually prohibit all pets from their resort at all times, and they need to utilize stealth and deception so as to trick existing customers into unknowingly giving up their existing pet privileges.
Another article of contention on the “Owner Confirmation Interview” is item #4, which says that the customer agrees that the vacation ownership interest is to be used for personal vacation purposes and not for rental or other purposes. This is clearly and directly in opposition to the statements made by my wife and myself to the Silverleaf sales associates during the sales presentation prior to our being coerced into signing the contract. We cannot feasibly use another timeshare week. We made that point very clear to the sales persons. We told them that we would need to rent it out to offset our losses for the next several years until we could utilize this additional timeshare week ourselves for vacation. Fact is that during the sales presentation, neither of the Silverleaf sales associates expressed any concern whatsoever over our expressed need to rent it out IF we bought it. I consider this to be another case of unethical concealment of potentially deal breaking information by the Silverleaf sales associates. We told them honestly and clearly in advance of contract signing that we didn’t need it, didn’t want, couldn’t use it for vacation purposes for the next several years, and we would have to rent it out if we bought it. Yet they continued to hammer on us to buy it, even though item #4 is in direct opposition to our statements. This leads me to wonder if the Silverleaf sales person were simply ignorant of the content of item #4 of the “Owner Confirmation Interview”, or did they know it, but intentional concealed it from us, until we read it AFTER having signed the sales contract, which was removed from the room just before we were given the “Owner Confirmation Interview” document for signature.
The concealment of what is clearly deal-breaking information by the Silverleaf sales associates is not only unscrupulous and unethical, but is also in direct opposition to the following statement extracted from Silverleaf Resort’s website, which is intended for reading by investors or stock holders, and is applicable to Silverleaf executives and employees. Please scroll down to item #5 at the following URL:
http://tiny.cc/sl_ethics
What’s the Bottom Line ?
The bottom line is that highly motivated sellers (Silverleaf sales associates) utilized unscrupulous and unethical tactics to bamboozle and deceive highly unmotivated customers (my wife and myself) into buying a timeshare week that we told them in advance that we can’t use and didn’t want it. Silverleaf sales associates intentionally concealed deal breaking information from us prior to the sale. Silverleaf sales associates took unfair advantage of us by their manipulation and misrepresentation of information. Silverleaf sales associate, Mr. Dilber C., utilized deceptive bait and switch tactics to trick us into purchasing a different and less valuable week number than that which was discussed during the sales presentation. Silverleaf sales associates violated several of items within Silverleaf’s published code of ethics regarding fair dealing with customers.
My wife and I consider ourselves to be victims of unscrupulous, unethical and deceptive sales tactics by Silverleaf’s sales associates. Our purchase of the subject timeshare week provides zero value to us as a vacation ownership, because we can not feasibly use it for vacation purposes. Our deceived purchase of the subject timeshare week bestows on us an ethical obligation to warn others of the unscrupulous and unethical sales tactics imposed on us by Silverleaf sales associates.
The despicable and unethical behavior of Silverleaf sales associates described herein is no guarantee that they will treat you in an equally despicable and unethical manner. This information is provided as a public service so that other consumers may become informed and be less likely to become victims.
Be informed.
Be vigilant.
Knowledge is power.
Don’t become a victim.
For more good reading about Silverleaf, I suggest that you use Google or some other online search engine to search for “Silverleaf scams” or “AVC scams”.
Copyright 2009, Tom Hill
Other interesting reading that Silverleaf doesn't want you to know about. Please note that the author of this website has absolutely no control over the content of these other websites, which are linked below.
What is shown in the above list is by no means an exhaustive list. This was only the first batch that I could come up with in the 5 minutes I took to build this table.
