Pay attention to the signals:
when you are invited to a ("limited time") 1.5 hour session to describe a vacation club membership, look at the following:
1. They say they will start strictly on time. This is the first lie, they actually start around 30 min late.
2. The guys in front of you will be making jokes all the time. This is cheap entertaining.
3. During the presentation, they will talk about great vacations and associated costs, and how they can help you afford such greatness. They tell you how they make their money, which seems fair. But, they never tell you what are exactly the product and services they offer.
4. The presentation lasts 1 hour, and is full of .......
5. After the presentation, which is a waist of time, you go to see the salesman/lady. Pay attention: if you don't stop them, they will make you spend another 2.5 hours here. They keep lying about the time. Pay attention.
6. They start at outrageous membership prices of ~$15k, and somehow go down to $2.5k. Again, pay attention, they say they have accomodations with respected brands like Starwood Preferred Guest, Hilton Resorts, Wyndham, etc...They even have the nerve of showing the Westing on "his website". Pay attention: ask them to give you in written the list of properties they have agreements with (they never show it), ask them to show you pictures of the properties they offer (they have none). Here they lie again but trying to make business by mentioning brands that have no commercial links with them.
7. They tell you that all the information you want is at the booklet. You receive the booklet only if you actually purchase a membership. You need to ask about the cancellation policy. They are reluctant to talk about cancellations. I cannot help to repeat this: pay attention! if you enroll and want to cancel, you must do so within the next three business days by sending a fax (I recommed you to send this fax four times the next day and make sure the fax actually copy the entire sheet, which is legal size instead of letter). Also, call your credit card company to let them know you are cancelling and ask them to reject any charges from this company. That way you set records in case of a dispute.
8. When you have the booklet, you have no information about anything. The only "useful" info is the contact numbers for the company and customer service. You have to go to the website, register your member number, and then you see the properties. They actually offer condominiums (they call "resorts" to mislead you). And these condominiums are old, outdated, and do not have the infraestructure of the brands they mention. By the way, I guess it is illegal what they do: selling by mentioning/using other brands, as I explained in point 6 above.
9. One more lie: they say that just by going to the presentation, they will actually give you certificates for free flights and free stays at hotels wherever you want within the U.S. What they actually give is just a form that you are supposed to mail in order to receive "your gifts". Again, pay attention: nothing is "for free". If you carefully read the terms of your "rewards", you are supposed to send a "good faith" deposit of ~$100. Good faith? When all they do is lying from the beginning? Do not even bother to use these "gifts". Read the terms and conditions of such "gifts", you can see trouble.
10. While on the presentation and sales discussion, observe the kind of people around you and those "working for the company". Most of them will be actually on his first time trying to sell this d... thing. Observe the "managers", they will try to tell you lots of histories and find something in common with you, so you think they are nice and care about you. Be sure about this: no one there cares about you.
Look at the walls of the rooms: no pictures about any vacation destination, no hotel/resorts pictures, nothing that associates them with big brands. It all looks like they can pack immediately and leave. They only had a couple of "award certificates" hanging on a corner that anyone could make and print out him/herself with an average computer and printer.
So, be very careful and listen to your senses. If they tell you something is wrong, or too good to be truth, they are right. Just leave.
I hope this will be helpful to you all.