Complaint Review: Kings Creek Plantation - Williamsburg Virginia

Because of the costs associated with our purchase of our timeshare with Kings Creek Plantation, we still use the property. My sister & I are regular visitors to Williamsburg and needed a place to lodge during visits and we tired of paying hotels fees for every visit. We both thought that the Timeshare option in Williamburg would be more accomodating to us.  We were new to the timeshare experience, so the sales people at Kings Creek took advantage of this.

As a result our first (5 hours with Lunch) presentation, we left a deposit for a 2 Bedroom Townes.  We understood about the free week and the annual maintenance. It took us some time to understand the connection with Interval International and how our free deposited week could be used with them.

As a new owner, we decided to pay for the timeshare because at the time the interest rates on mortagage was outrageous!!! That is when our problems began. Once our timeshare was paid for, the attention, service and detail we were given from staff, basically disappeared. We could no longer reach those individuals that closed out our paperwork, nor the sales people who began with us, who so effortless helped us as new owners when we encountered problems.

In year 2, we took our upgrade presentation, and was presented the Cottage as an upgrade to our Townes unit. The Sales person was a real snake charmer!!!  Although the unit was nice - 2 bedroom unit in a townhouse setting, then another king bedroom, kichenette living area and bathroom on the ground floor - we thought this was a better fit for us. Also, it would be accomodating to our family who came to town and needed a place to stay. This upgrade cost us approximately an additional $7,000.  The Sales person never informed us that the unit is only available to us as the 2 bedroom  only for 2 weeks a year, and that the entire unit, with the 2nd king bedroom was available to us for only 1 week a year - we were told the entire unit was available to us for 2 weeks a year - that is why we ugraded!!!! The second bedroom had 2 twin beds - not accomodating to 2 grown women!! It was told to us that the second bedroom would have a queen bed. We found this not to be true on our first stay at our upgraded unit. Nice unit for a couple with 2 small children, but not for 2 grown single women traveling together.

Again, because we paid for our unit in full, the Sales person could not be found to help us with any of our accomodations. I don't think he is employed there anymore, and that is a good think if he is not!!!!

The last straw came when we came to Wiliamsburg for the death of our father.  The staff was not very accomodating with our situation. We arranged a weekend visit in March 2011, (and paid owner's rental rates for a Townes Unit for 2 days) before his death and found out he passed away on that Friday of our arrival. So we had to make arrangements on that weekend, and had to go back to our respective homes and come back that Monday. The staff did not want to waive any fees for the extras days we had to stay, they gave us a hard time in allowing us to use our free week - saying that the cottages were booked; we asked if we could retain the same unit we used that weekend, they would not grant our request.

I know business is business, but where was the compassion in our situation?  We decided that we would try to sale the timeshare for something more accomodating.  We inquired to TimeShare America in Williamburg and they said it would  probably cost us to sell it and try to work with Kings Creek to make some changes - they probably were getting a cut from Kings Creek as well, as they are the only TimeShare re-seller in Williamsburg.

So after a blistering email to executive management, in which I named the sales people and the mortage person, we were able to obtain 2 Townes units for the 1 Cottage unit.  Of course Kings Creek would not give us back our money, to take the timeshare back, not even for a slight discount, and increased our annual maintenance. 

Now, we are bogged down with the annual upgrade presentations. One presentation we were given the option to upgrade to an Estates unit for an additional $13,000 (approx.). We like the Estates unit, but we declined as we felt we did not want to invest any additional funds into Kings Creek.

The next gimmick is their conversion to the points system. Initially, the cost to convert was $3,000. (approx). We declined. We were threaten with well you may not get your unit when you request it - current situation - we can't get it or any other unit when we request it, so why would this be any different?

The next presentation was about the conversion to the points system (again).  Now, the price to convert to points is $8,000 (approx). This is an increase from the year before.  Also, we were informed that all owners would be converted to the points system.  So, why should I pay for it, if it will happen anyway?

King Creek finally allowed us to opt out of the annual presentations.

Timeshares are not meant for single people who work and often make their vacation arrangements, at best, a month or 2 in advance.  Now, we just deposit our weeks into Interval International.

Whenever we try to get Kings Creek it is never available, for any unit, and if we do get a unit, it is often 50% or more than the hotels in the area at the owner's rate. Recently, we have found that Kings Creek place available units on Expedia, Orbitz, Bookings.com, Hotels.com and Tripadvisor websites for less than the owner rates.

Now, we are back to reserving hotels because of this block out from Kings Creek, which cost us additional money.

My wish is for Hilton to take over Kings Creek Plantation as they have a timeshare program that is excellent. If I cannot get a room in one of their resorts, I can transfer some of my points to their Hilton Honors program for $75. and get a Hilton Hotel reservation. That is all I would need to pay.

WE ARE NOT HAPPY WITH KINGS CREEK PLANTATION!!! We now see that as long as you still have an existing mortgage with them, the staff is more responsible with requests. I thought the objective was to payoff a mortage and not be penalized for it? I guess as long as Owners pay the fees involved on a mortage, they are happy to assist their needs.

I am happy that the person posted the information with the Better Business Bureau.  We will be contacting them in regards to Kings Creek Plantation.