Subscribe

free to biz newsletters

Bizcommunity.com - Daily Marketing & Media news
Sales forums

Unscrupulous sales practices

27 Nov 2002 09:161 commentsBizLike
Is there consumer protection against unscrupulous sales practices in SA?
I recently attended a sales seminar for some time share / RCI sales thing for no reason other than to look at the sales technique used in the seminar.

I had no intention to purchase and during the one on one sales pitch I stated that I would have to check the "Investment Company's" References before I can make a purchase, upon which I was blatantly and openly accused of being narrow minded and obviously not worthy of such an "investment". The sales person started using heavy words and was very insulting in a very cunning way. The trick here is to play on the buyers emotions and to convince the buyer to make an impulse purchase.

That is all well when the amount involved is a couple hunderd bucks, but in this case we are looking at a one-time "investment" of R75,000 and a monthly maintenace fee of R500 for the rest of your life. This is serious money. They use very clever and cunning words which to the unsuspecting consumer may sound well researched but this is nothing short of pulling wool over the consumers eyes.

The question is what consumer protection rights are offered to a person that succumbs to the co-optation, pressure etc? Is there a cool off period? Is there an opportunity to review the deal? I said they need to send me home with a quote and some material to study the deal and they refused, also refused to give me any company details to check their references..... Surely a legitimate investment house would not have a problem with this request.

Is there a watchdog for this?
 
More options
< Back 
Rob Dickens
Caveat Emptor - Buyer beware-
Hi my name is Rob...and I used to be a timeshare consultant! (only for 3 months though) Yup, my sincere apologies to all, but what I can say is that timeshare sales has got to be one of the most intense sales training anyone could wish to have. The pitch is cunningly designed to wreak emotional havoc and draw the victim into the deal without them even knowing it. Shaking hands with the victim on some bogus freindly attempt during the pitch is a subliminal way of making the victim beleive that a deal has been entered into already. As soon as the victim gives an objection you are required to distract them back to a pleasant emotional experience and then start spinning your web again. Besides being an intense an emotional selling technique and fantastic training for any sales person, all I can say is caveat emptor or buyer beware. The sales person will be constantly trying to befuddle you with fantsatic emotional ideas and they will not allow you to leave until you are almost crying. My advice for people going to timeshare presentations is... DON'T GO. Would you buy a car without seeing it, or a home for that matter? NO, so why do it with timeshare? I have nothing against timeshare and have several weeks at my disposal, but I advise people that are interested to rather phone RCI and get the resort guide, and also speak to them about the implications of timeshare swapping. It may cost about R80 for the guide, but you can sit at home and peruse the resorts at leisure. When you find one you like, give them a call and say you are interested in buying but will not do so offsite. They will usually arrange an extremely discounted or possibly free weekend away for you and family to go a see the resort and facilities. They mostly have sales people onsite and if you like the place then go for it. I always recommend buying at a resort that you actually intend going to almost every year, so find one that you really, really like. Only buy gold crown or resort of international distinction and then only buy a full red or peak week. They are the most expensive, but definitely the best in the long run. RCI exchanges are made out to sound extremely good in sales presentations, but the small print always says subject to availability, which may be years. If you buy at a resort you love, and swop out every 2 years or so timeshare is great. Another thing is to recommend SA timeshare to anyone you know overseas. If they buy cheaply (the rand sucks) here and pay the yearly levy (usually about R2-4000 a year) they can swop for weeks in Europe while paying in rands. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Caveat emptor and always remember the yearly levy which usually increases by 10% per year. Posted on 28 Nov 2002 17:47
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This Message Board accepts no liability of legal consequences that arise from the Message Boards (e.g. libel, slander, or other such crimes). All posted messages are the sole property of their respective authors. The maintainer does retain the right to remove any message posts for whatever reasons. People that post messages to this forum are not to libel/slander nor in any other way depict a company, entity, individual(s), or service in a false light; should they do so, the legal consequences are theirs alone. Bizcommunity.com will disclose authors' IP addresses to authorities if compelled to do so by a court of law.
Follow us:


Subscribe

Receive free email newsletter

Make us your homepageAdd us to your favoritesRSS feedGet biz on your phone

Invite

Tell a friend about us