When you’re on vacation, sometimes you can get really good deals on theme park tickets, hotels etc, just for listening to a time share prsentation. Tens of thousands of people do this every year, and effectively score cheap or free vacation perks as a result! Recently, we went to Florida, and got to stay at a really nice resort for three nights, AND get two free adult tickets to Disney for $372 total, in exchange for sitting through a 90 minute time share presentation.
The thing is though…we only had to listen to about thirty minutes of the presentation. We didn’t have to be rude, we didn’t have to say no a thousand times, and we didn’t buy a time share presentation. So how did we do it? I’ll share what we did to get out of a time share presentation, and share some ways that have worked for others as well!
Bring Your Kids
If you have kids, bring them with you. Whoever is leading the presentation will try to get you to leave them in some kid’s area with some random person watching them, but politely decline, and they should drop it. Who actually leaves their kids with those people anyway?! The way our presentation worked, is that we had to be there at 7:30 AM for the presentation. We checked in, and sat to wait. Our salesman called our names, and we followed him to a large cafeteria style dining area. He introduced himself, and told us that he was going to let us go get some food from the buffet (yay for free breakfast!), and that he would let us eat in peace, and would return when we were finished.
We went and got food from the buffet line, fed our children and ourselves, and as promised, as we were finishing, he came back and joined us at our table again. We had our one year old and a six year old with us at our table, and were politely listening to him. We even brought a tablet and headphones so our six year old could watch without disturbing anyone. He began throwing numbers at us, and scribbling on a piece of paper. I honestly don’t remember a lot of his presentation, because I was trying my best to keep the baby amused. I was also letting my husband take point, because I am a people pleaser, and my husband is a sales manager. He knew what to do, and how to handle it without agreeing to the sale.
After about 25 minutes of him talking and rattling off numbers, the baby was tired of sitting in the high hair, and just wanted to run around. So I picked her up, stood right next to the table, and began bouncing her on my hip, so she remained quiet and amused, without me having to leave. The salesman apparently couldn’t handle me doing this, and after about five minutes of me bouncing her, he folded up his papers and just said, “I can’t do this in these conditions.”
I was blown away that all it took was my kids being kids (very well behaved kids at that!) for him to completely give up only thirty minutes into his sales pitch! He told us we were required to stay for the full ninety minutes to get the Disney tickets, so we had to kill another thirty minutes there, but who cares! We got out of it SO easily!
He escorted us back to the hotel lobby thirty minutes later, pouting all the way. It was actually humorous how much he visibly pouted that we “blew his sale.” We continued to be polite and pleasant, collected our Disney tickets, and then enjoyed the rest of the day at Disney World! If you want to get out of a time share presentation without buying, you can follow our lead, or use some of these other tips!
Stay Vague
The less information you give them, the less they have to use against you in their sales pitch. Don’t make comments about how you just bought a car, or started a new job, or don’t have it in your budget, etc. When they show your pictures of their kids, or tell you little bits of info about themselves or their family, resist the urge to connect with them, and share right back. Simply smile, and acknowledge what they’re saying without adding to the conversation.
Just Say No
Just like all those anti-drug and alcohol assemblies you had in school, just say no. No matter how much you may feel like, in the moment, that it’s a good idea to purchase this deal, just say no. Once you leave, and your wits are about you again, you will realize the stupidity of your decision of purchasing a time share. Just say it with me, “NO.” Get this in your head, resolve that you won’t purchase, and be on the same page as your significant other, and you’ll do just fine. This is the ultimate and fool-proof way for anyone to get out of a time share presentation.
Keep Track of the Time
Some people tell horror stories of how their 90 minute time share presentation was elongated to four or six hours, all because they were too ignorant, or too nice to just get out of a time share presentation. Confirm that the presentation is ninety minutes, or however long it is supposed to be, upon starting the presentation. Once it starts, look at your watch, and audibly note the time. Once your ninety minutes is almost up, make note of that out loud. Once the ninety minutes is over, politely decline the sale, and let your salesman know that you’re ready to leave and receive whatever perks you were supposed to get for taking it. If they try to keep talking, tell them that they are in violation of your contract. Typically you won’t need to say this, since you will have shown from the beginning that you’re informed.
Be Honest
The last tip I will give you in how to get out of a time share presentation, is to just be honest. Tell your salesman from the very beginning that you have zero intentions of purchasing, that you’ve rehearsed saying no, and that you are only sitting through this because you have to. They will still try to change your mind, but you can just keep telling them the truth, that you’re only there for the theme park tickets, or whatever perks you’re getting for enduring the sales pitch.
Have you ever sat through a time share presentation? Did you get out of it without purchasing? Would you ever do it again? Do you have any tips on how to get out of a time share presentation that we didn’t cover? Leave them in the comments!
Check out how we vacation on the cheap in Florida with this post:
