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?

[27 Nov 2002 09:16]

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