Vacation ownership is an industry in which customer dissatisfaction is quite common. Timeshare developers saddle owners with high annual maintenance fees, mortgage payments, and more — without an easy way to escape. A solution arrived in the form of timeshare exit companies, which exist to help timeshare owners get out of onerous purchase contracts. Some might wonder though, “Do timeshare exit companies really work?”
The answer is yes, but it should be noted that not all timeshare exit companies are created equal. Some have been shut down, others have gone out of business, and still others do not do a great job for customers. You’d be right to wonder, then, how to find the right company that can do the best job for you.
This article will take a look at timeshare exit companies — including Centerstone Group, the premier timeshare exit company with an excellent track record and customer satisfaction rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). We’ll look at why an exit company is necessary, how it works, and things to watch out for when you are ready to hire a company.
Canceling a timeshare is hard because timeshare developers make it that way. Their entire business model is locking you into a contract for life — one that requires you to pay them maintenance fees, special assessments, and many other costs on an annual basis. If it were easy to get out of a timeshare contract, everybody would do it, and the timeshare resorts would have no customers.
Therefore, the business thrives on trapping people in contracts and making them feel helpless. You can see this just by taking a look at the dismal reviews for these companies. For example, Wyndham’s BBB reviews show that it has a customer rating of only 1.03-out-of-5 stars. The reviews show people who feel that they were deceived and tricked by Wyndham salespeople — not an unusual complaint for timeshare companies unfortunately.
The resort developers, of course, try to pretend that they want to help you. Hilton Grand Vacations, for example, has a “Transitions” timeshare exit program (also known as a “deed-back program”) in which it claims it will simply take back timeshares from unhappy owners. In reality, though, the program has so many owners trying to get out of their timeshares that, as of July 2024, Hilton stated that it would not process any more owners through the program until at least 2025.
If you leave it to the timeshare developers, then, it’s unlikely you’re ever going to get out of your timeshare.
Yes, some timeshare exit companies do really work. It’s just a matter of choosing the right one. A good timeshare exit company (also sometimes called a timeshare cancellation company) will look at your timeshare purchase agreement and consult with you to go over your best options and how to get out of your timeshare in a legal and ethical way.
A bad timeshare exit company might promise you the moon — like being able to get you a full refund — only for you to find out later that they’ve made your situation far worse.
Worst of all might be the so-called “timeshare resale companies,” which are widely recognized timeshare exit scams. These scammers try to convince you that they have buyers lined up for your timeshare and try to entice you into paying them upfront fees to sell your unit. Then, they take the money and run.
A good company, like Centerstone Group, will offer you free resources to help you decide what is best for you before you start paying money to get out of your timeshare. They understand that timeshare exits are not a one-size-fits-all solution. A company that offers multiple solutions shows you that they listen to their clients and try to do the right thing. It also shows deep knowledge of the industry.
A good timeshare exit company will also consult with you and take a serious look at your situation before asking for a fee. In that situation, you can feel much better about the company you are working with.
When you’re choosing between timeshare exit companies, you’ll want to look at their experience, their exit options, their ratings and reviews, and their history of success.
For example, Centerstone Group is made up of a team with decades of experience in the timeshare industry and a sterling reputation. (This is evidenced by their A+ BBB rating and a customer rating of 4.78-out-of-5 stars.) Centerstone Group also has a variety of exit services and tools to help you, including:
Other companies, though, should be approached with caution. For example, Timeshare Exit Team was a Washington-based company that was started by people who had no real experience to speak of in the timeshare industry.
They allegedly advised timeshare owners to stop paying fees on their timeshares, leading to foreclosures and other legal problems. (Needless to say such a move could also seriously damage a timeshare owner’s credit score, making it much more difficult to get future loans or financing.)
Timeshare Exit Team would also refer out its clients to vendors it had no control over. When the Attorney General of Washtington finally became involved and filed a consumer protection lawsuit, too many customers had already been hurt by the company’s bad business practices.
Still other timeshare exit companies, like Wesley Financial Group or Timeshare Compliance, have found themselves involved in multiple lawsuits. Though being part of a lawsuit does not necessarily mean that a company is bad, extensive and repeated litigation is expensive and draws attention away from a company’s true business. In the worst situations, a company that has been sued can go out of business or be forced into bankruptcy.
Choosing the right timeshare exit company, then, can make all the difference — not only to your success in exiting your timeshare but also in your peace of mind.
There are many timeshare exit companies out there, but the bad ones do a good job of hiding themselves. As you wonder, “Do timeshare companies really work?”, ask yourself if the company you are looking at is more interested in helping you or collecting a fee as quickly as possible.
Centerstone Group is a company that has used its professionals decades of experience to help thousands of timeshare owners just like you. Contact us today, and we will be happy to sit down, look at your situation, and tell you how we can help you.
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