Complaint Review: Bluegreen - Internet Missouri

I purchased a Bluegreen Vacation Club timeshare a few years ago and paid $14,000 in full at time of purchase for points only.  It began as I  was approached in a Bass Pro Shop in Garland Texas and offered a free stay at Big Cedars lodge, a Bluegreen entity, in Missouri.  All I had to do is listen to a short sales pitch.  My wife and I wound up being lodged in a Raddison Hotel in Branson, Missouri and had to travel to Big Cedars Lodge for the presentation about 12 miles away.  The salesman was convincing that we could use the club and if we didn't want to keep it Bluegreen they would probably buy it back.  He also told us that it was a great investment and we could rent our points out and make a profit.  We kept it for a few years and kept our maintenance fees up to date.  What we discovered was that for the number of points they sold us it is nearly impossible to book a stay when you want it.  We wound up only using it a few times.  The maintenance fees started out around $350 a year and in a few years have risen to $750+.  Bluegreens suggestion was to buy more points for several thousand dollars if we wanted better options.  When we said we couldn't afford more we were insulted and the suggestion was that we were poor money managers.  It was so insulting that my wife started crying and we had to leave.  Bluegreen suggested that we sell and that Pinnacle Vacations was the only service Bluegreen endorsed.  I paid Pinnacle a fee to sell it and never heard from them again.  I was also scammed by another timeshare sales for over $1000. I kept good records and Florida was able to arrest those scammers.  My wife was suffering from cancer and couldn't travel comfortable.  Due to financial pressure from her illness and my declining health we could no longer justify paying the rising maintenance fees.  I wrote a letter to Bluegreen asking to be released from my contract since I had paid in full at time of purchase and we were having trouble booking and traveling due to our health.  They wrote back saying that they understood but that I still owed maintenance fees for the remainder of my and my wifes life and it would then pass on to our children.  Bluegreen wants you to believe that there is no way out except to sell or pass it on to a relative.  Trouble is the Vacation Club Timeshare is worthless and there are thousands on the market for a dollar or to give away for free.  These are the things you need to know. 1.  Hardly anything in the sales presentation is correct.  They misrepresent and out and out lie to get a sale. 2.  Once you sign, except for a short buyers remorse clause, your locked in to the contract for life and owe maintenance fees that keep climbing every year.  They even say that when you die it goes to your children, etc.   The timeshares are worthless and next to impossible to sell.  No one wants to be locked into the timeshare for life when they are worthless on the market and difficult to use unless you want to pay thousands more for a better chance at booking a place.  Even Bluegreen won't buy them back or take them back for free.  When I refused to pay they immediately turned me over to Pinnacle Recovery (a close cousin to Pinnacle Vactions) who have hounded me daily for my late maintenance fee.  There are three things you need to think about before buying a timeshare or even a vacation club.  They are worthless shortly after you buy and are next to impossible to sell or even give away.  They lock you in and threaten forecloser and legal ramification if you try to back out for the rest of your life and your childrens lives.  They have no sympathy for personal problems that can arise even when you have paid in full for the timeshare.  They want your maintanance fees forever.   My suggestion, after experiencing this, is to steer clear of a Vacation Club or timeshare especially from Bluegreen.  They are like a polished, glowing tomb  full of decay and rotting bones.  Never sign anything until you have an attorney look at it.  Bluegreen will tell you that the offering they have is only for a few hours and then it's over so you need to buy now.  Don't fall for it.  It's just more lies and misrepresentation.  There is a lot more to my story but I think I've said enough.   Beware.