HOUSTON – Ah, the paradise of a tropical vacation. The sun, the waves, the relaxation -- who wouldn't love to own a piece of that?
Jackie, a hard-working mother and grandma from New Caney, has always dreamed of it. When she and her husband visited the Texas Renaissance Festival and saw a sign offering a free vacation, they decided to try their luck.
"They had big tents set up with a big signs saying, win a trip! You could go to Las Vegas or Hawaii just sign up here, so we did," Jackie said.
Days later, Jackie got a call telling her she'd won. She recalls the conversation with the caller on the other end of the line.
"We're going to put you up at our resort for three nights. All we ask is an hour of your time Saturday morning. if you'll come in and talk with us and take a tour of the facilities. We thought OK, it would be kind of nice to get away for a weekend," she said.
So Jackie and her husband packed their bags for a three-night getaway at Piney Shores Resort in Conroe. But she said instead of getting a one-hour tour of the facility, they got a 2 1/2-hour sales pitch.
"Go anywhere you want in the world. He says, 'Where would you like to go?' 'Well, I'd like to go to Hawaii.' 'Great! We can send you to Hawaii, a five-star hotel.'"
According to Jackie, the deal would work like this. She and her husband would get one week a year at any of the properties owned by Silverleaf resorts. The price tag for the package she thought would help her family create new memories -- $15,859.97 to be paid out over the next 10 years.
"We were getting tired, we were bored and we were ready to go. So we bought it,” Jackie said.
Instead of available rooms Jackie found lots of blackout dates. She also learned she didn't have enough points to get those five-star hotel rooms.
"I was angry and they said, 'Well, there's nothing you can do about it,'" she said.
According to Leah Napoliello, of Houston’s Better Business Bureau, what Jackie went through is typical of timeshare sales presentations.
"They can be very high pressure. They want you to sign up with them on the spot. They don't give people the opportunity to go back and really research the timeshare and what's being offered," Napoliello said.
Jackie isn't the only one complaining about Silverleaf resorts. The Florida BBB has logged 1,076 complaints against the company.
Channel 2 Investigates found pages and pages of other disgruntled customers on the Internet. There is even a webpage dedicated to customer complaints about Silverleaf.
Channel 2 Investigates went undercover to Piney Shores, which is now owned by Holiday Inn Club Vacations, to ask about its sales tactics.
"Is it high pressure? I’ve heard they are," Channel 2's Bill Spencer asked.
"Well, it's sales," a salesperson said.
"Is the sales approach different with Holiday Inn?" Spencer asked.
"Yes, it's completely different. In fact all of the representatives that were with Silverleaf before had to retrain," the salesperson said.
Channel 2 Investigates reached out to Holiday Inn Club Vacations, which is owned by Orange Lake Holdings, for a statement about the complaints customers have about the timeshares they purchased through Silverleaf, and here is that the company had to say:
Statement from Orange Lake Holdings:
"The customer originally toured and bought with Silverleaf Resorts and we are looking into their concerns. We always work directly with our owners to address any issues they may have. We have an A+ rating from the Central Florida Better Business Bureau because of our history of commitment to customer service and addressing our customer concerns."
Although the company points out its A+ rating with the BBB, Napoliello explains that the A+ rating is maintained because the company responds to complaints. The company's response to complaints doesn’t negate the fact that 1,076 customers have complained to the BBB about dissatisfaction with the company.
So what should people do if they attend a timeshare presentation?
"The best thing is don't sign anything on the spot at all," Napoliello said. "Take the information back with you, the contract, research it on your time."
Brian Rogers runs The Timeshare Users Group and said most importantly before buying a timeshare for $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 is to look at the thousands of timeshares people are selling on eBay and other sites for next to nothing.
Jackie still can't cancel her membership and even after paying $2,000 toward it, she's still never even been able to book a single vacation.
"Our only recourse is to let it go into foreclosure and into collections and let it ruin our credit. It's become a nightmare," Jackie said.
As for Piney Shores, Holiday Inn Club Vacations has agreed to look into Jackie's complaint.