Interesting Apple Experience For Someone Trying To Switch 452
Yes, you live in a different world. If I had to venture a guess as to why, I would say that it has to do with the frequency with which Medical Malpractice lawsuits are raised and how expensive they typically are to settle (even if you win) are the factor for why you have such a robust quality control system in place.
I've seen the same "censorship thing" happen on a Yahoo Group which was obstensively intended for a Timeshare Company to 'interchange' with their customers.
Mind you, a timeshare purchase isn't exactly trivial: the average consumer investment here was probably over $10K each, which means that the kook quotient is lower. And as it happened, there were some very valid complaints (as well as critical observations) about the company's frequently poor handling of various issues and simple problems, but the "Company Shill" Moderator chose to censor these from this "communicate with our customers" group because they feared it was bad press.
nothing about restrictions"???? Here's a bunch of restrictions: Terms and Conditions Please submit one claim per Aperture software serial number. Licensed owners...
About Our Temper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Make sure you read all the way down to the last sentence. There once was a little...
In other words, they wanted it to be the upside of free advertising with none of the negatives of frank consumer feedback on how they were doing.
Statue Of Infidelity -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A woman was in bed with her lover when she heard her husband opening the front door. "Hurry!" she said...
Telling your customers to 'shut up and keep paying' is generally not received very positively. It has been said that the Internet interprets censorship as network damage and routes around it ... ie, people find alternative means with which to get the information out ... which in this circumstance has resulted in multiple "unofficial" groups where the company isn't able to stop the consumers from comparing notes.
For the benefit of future researchers keyword searching Google archives, the name of this particular timeshare company is Divi Resorts.
Stuart Krivis There's all types. The reason I thought of the liability angle was because a good friend of mine was an MD who chose to retire early because his malpractice insurance...
Granted, they may not be any worse than any other timeshare company out there, but after a decade+ of personal experience, it is my general opinion that most consumer's general "best value" product choice would not include a (any) timeshare product.
In a nutshell, a timeshare contract locks you into a sole-source arrangement for your vacation budget for literally decades, typically with minimal (if any) pro-consumer butturances on long term cost containment on things such as the "Annual Maintenance Fee", on-site services, etc. Cynically, it would appear to me that a non-trivial portion of the underlying business model for timeshares is based on the observation that a certain percentage of consumers will default on their mandatory-fee contracts each year, which then frees the supplier from his obligations to provide that inventory, which means that he is then free to resell it to YA consumer on YA "30 year" service contract.
Overall, if I had to do it again, I'd insist on very specific language that would serve as cost containment on the "Annual Maintenance Fees". Reason being is that one of my Timeshare's fees are currently running at 167% of the relevant Consumer Price Index (CPI).
-hh