My stay was mostly pleasant, however, I must report abuse from the overly
aggressive
sales. Yes, I agree with the many reviews below which praise the goodness
and beauty
of Massanutten, but, Great Eastern Management has tainted your resort
experience
with a downright vicious and relentless sales approach. For those of you
who value your
time, steer clear of the "owner's update/tour" or the free sales
breakfast/dinner. You
will be offered $100 or so, but the sales staff will pressure you, nag you, and
nearly drain
your will to live until you either walk away or write a large enough check
that satisfies
the company's voracious & greedy business appetite.
I have to share a letter with you that was written after being conned by
one of the staff
at what is suppose to be the Massanutten parking pass desk. Exhausted
from the long
trip to this resort, I misunderstood the saleslady who is supposed to issue
guests a
parking pass. I handed the saleslady a payment for what I thought was the
parking pass,
later to find out it was a $20.00 charge for an invitation to breakfast. It's
hard to believe,
but yes, the "parking pass counter" will charge you $20.00 for an invitation
to a sales
breakfast. Buyer beware, do not trust the folks who are supposed to
furnish you with
your parking pass. The second you hear the check-in desk official tell you to
go to the
parking pass counter to acquire your pass, you need to mentally arm
yourself with the
confidence and resolve to strictly obtain your parking pass and accept
nothing else from
the salespeople. This is unless you have the time, patience, and nerves to
endure their
high-pressure sales presentation.
At Massanutten, they have a trained sales staff that tries to play on your
emotions, and
they will hit you with rebuttals when you try to leave or decline their
timeshare sale.
When I contacted the sales division to decline the sales presentation
service altogether,
I was not refunded the $20.00 payment. This denial of refund goes against
the terms and
conditions of VISA's contract with businesses, and VISA was the form of
payment used
for the transaction. My legal firm is assessing this situation to weigh all
options and to
determine how best to proceed. For the many vacation-goers who have had
run-ins with
this kind of scenario, I am with you and I pledge to share any
information/results that
may help you to avoid or remedy shady practices of this nature. For now,
though, the
email address for the sales lions at Massanutten is sales at massresort.com.
If you run
into something like this, or would just like to support the cause; you are
urged to copy
and paste the second paragraph of the below letter into an email to the
sales staff.
Together, we can stop what has become a lackluster experience at a pushy
timeshare
complex, and help restore it into a five star deluxe resort accommodation.
Thank you.
Below is the letter written to the Massanutten sales dept. and shared with
RCI/Redweek
& others to express my displeasure with the sales approach:
[Today I write you to reiterate that I have declined your sales presentation
service
scheduled for Jan 19, 2009. My method of payment was with a VISA credit
card number
ending 3821. According to the VISA terms and conditions issued to both
businesses and
cardholders, any service that goes unfulfilled or unrendered is subject to a
full refund.
Since I have declined your sales presentation on the above listed date, I ask
that you
please credit my VISA card the full amount of $20.00 within three (3)
business days.
Failure to do so will result in my contacting VISA, RCI, and all other
concerned entities
and agencies to report this incident.
I also request in writing, that in the future I not be approached by any
member of the
Great Eastern/Massanutten sales staff with any offer to attend a sales
meeting. I would
like the parking pass and nothing else from parking pass officials. Please do
not make
liars out of the check-in staff who direct guests to the parking pass
distributors only to
be dealt an aggressive salesperson . As a customer, I feel that luring
vacation-goers into
an aggressive sales session by using the parking pass counter is an unethical
and
dishonest ploy. This tactic gives timeshare resorts a bad reputation. Please
restore my
pride in Massanutten ownership by reconsidering and changing this
practice. Thank you
for your cooperation.]
***NO MORE ABUSE from pushy, aggressive and unethical timeshare sales
practices!!
Enjoy your travels! de
UPDATE 2/9/09: VISA issued a full refund after reviewing the situation***