Bait
Baiting is widely used to sell products; it comes in a variety of guises. Shops generally have bold advertising and eye catching displays. The purpose is to attract consumers in, just the same way as a fishermen’s’ baits a hook to attracts a fish.
If the bait is tasty, inviting and satisfies a need, consumers will be enticed into the shop, look at the sellers products and be tempted to part with money which whistles its way into the ringing tills. Every high street shop does the same.
When consumers are sat at home, they are baited by advertisements on the television, in the news papers and on the internet. Some baiting tactics are used on the telephone whereby “cold callers” ring you up and sell to you verbally. The latest crazy is now text messages. The sales profession used sublime covert and overt methods to excite you so as to obtain your money. All forms of Baiting.
Timeshare and Holiday Products are no Different
Historically, timeshare resorts have exploited such things as street hawkers, gaming cards, scratch cards, free products gifts, water park tickets, adventure days and discounted weekend breaks.
Some baiting tactics are abundantly wrong, misleading, and criminal.
To recognise the unlawful baits, a consumer’s first point of call is their own sense of reason. Are the baits realistic and, remembering the saying “if it’s too good to be true”, it probably is!
Attending the Presentation
Whilst in the sales presentation, ask yourselves this question “why did I come here” (their office or shop etc) or “why did I invite them to my home?” What was the purpose of my invitation?
If the initial reason does not fit that which is being offered to you at the presentation, “alarm bells”-something is wrong- and you should red flag it and “leave” or (if in your home) ask them to leave. As in truth, the purpose has been exchange and to exchange the bait is an unlawful practice and referred to as “baiting and switching”.
Another form of baiting and switching is if you have been attracted to engage with a buyer by wild and ludicrous representations of reward for a product which you know is worthless. Common sense says: – that it is worthless and consumers should be asking the question “what’s the catch?” “Alarm bells”
If for instance you see an advertisement and it states that a new Audi 5 series cars are for sale by xxx Motors and for the sum of £100.00 each, that would be the bargain of the century. It may attract some, but others may know that the car’s price was either wrong or that the sales people were using that “WOW” factor to get you to the salesroom for another purpose other than to sell you a car.
As a young man, I once saw a terraced house for sale for £20,000 and knew that another in the block sold for £45,000. My reaction was that I had stumbled across a bargain. To get my bargain I was told that I would have to complete the deal within 21 days or I would lose the opportunity. I bought without a survey and later found out that the property was subsiding and the cost of fixing it was £30,000. So in reality, it cost more and I felt duped. My reasoning was overshadowed by greed.
If you reverse the situation and you own a house which you suspect is worth £45,000, you see a baiting advertisement that your property will be bought by them for £75,000, you might also be overtaken by greed and invite them to meet with you. If you do and they pay the amount as advertised, you have obtained a bargain. However, if the deal on the day is switched and conditions are placed on the advertised deal in that you are required to spend (with them) £10,000, then the original bait has been switched/altered or subject to a caveat and therefore an unlawful act.
Representation in the Baiting Process
Baiting can be subliminal, covert and concealed. You are told wonderful things, spectacular future projections and predictions. The subtle hints that:- “you will make money”, “you will advance” and “you will receive a vast and fortuitous benefit if you just let them explain it to you.” This in short, is exciting your greed which all of us succumb too.
Richard Dawkins wrote a book called the Selfish Gene and in it, he explained a theory that we (as humans) are successful as we are all innately selfish and want betterment for our country, region, town, street, house, family, and me. The point is selfishness can be collective or singular, but it always involves you.
This is the physiological angle and designed to get into your pockets and it works. It’s baiting clear and simple.
Consider, if you reverse engineer the suggestion-“if you acquire the product, you will lose”, “you will be harmed”, “ you will not receive a benefit”. Clearly you would not visit with them nor invite the salesman to your home.
Therefore, if they make wild spectacular promises (which excite you) stop and put those good words into practise “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is”.
The other method is “trashing”.
If you are called by a cold caller or subjected to representations that:-
Doom is around the corner
You are in for a rough ride
You have (as opposed to might) been ripped off
You are properly being lied too (plain and simple)
To come to a considered opinion and to proclaim an opinion, you need to have facts and join the dots. Salesmen never join the dots; they just trash and trash so as to create a need. Having created a delusion and an urgent need, you require a guardian angel to get you out of the engineered illusion. In steps, the salesmen masquerading as the ultimate expert, which in reality they are not.
Now you are softened up, the salesmen can help you as, they in there infinite wisdom are the cure, they are the light at the end of their own deluded tunnel which they alone created. That now needy help/assistance comes at a price, a mighty price at that.
In desperation you are asked to sign a contract and all the representations they made to you are diluted by a clause which (in general) says “you have not relied upon any representations made to you in the sales presentation”.
You now must ask yourself this:- has a situation been created, whereby you did not believe you had a need for help before the presentation, however, as a direct result of what the salesman told you, you are now feel very needy for assistance.
If that is the case then those statements made and representations given have influenced your mind set and your forward decisions process, so why is there a need to exclude them from the contract? If those representations were true, accurate and right, why would there be a need to exclude them in part or at all. The simple answer is they are lies, all lies and dam lies.
Attending a presentation
When you attend any presentation you should be prepared, it does not matter if it’s timeshare, timeshare re sales, holiday products, currency purchases or electrical equipment. The object of getting you to a presentation is to sell to you. The entire cost of the baiting has to be covered and those sums can only be recovered if you buy something. The salesmen can only be paid handsomely if and only if, a sale has been made.
It is their job to sell and it’s your job to evaluate how much your life will be enriched if you exchange your money for their product.
The contract
If you buy or sign up to a product you will have entered a contract whether expressly or verbally, by yours actions or deeds. To avoid any confusion most contracts contain forward obligations. However, what happened in the presentation is not covered. As explained, some contracts attempt to excuse any and all the pre contract representation by expressly stating:-
“You have not relied upon any representations made to you in the sales presentation”.
The mere fact that terms like these are in a contract, is a red trigger for any court, as clearly the author of the contract is attempting to disown themselves from the picture they in reality created. If you were the judge and saw this term, would you not ask yourself “why is there a need for this clause if everything said in the presentation was true?” Moreover, considering that the terms and conditions contained in the contract pre date the representations made in the presentation, how could you possibly advance predict what was going to be stated by a salesman, on commission, away from the eye of the boss, and broke needing a sale ?
Clearly you cannot excuse lies told, false representations made and deluded environments created, the aforementioned are all engineered to provide a spring board to fulfil a function and that function is to induce a consumer to buy the product on sale which is governed by the contract entered into.
In layman’s terms, you are shown a fantastic new car, told how beneficial it will be and enter into a sales contract to acquire. When paid for, you receive a banger and all promises and claims made to you cannot be relied upon. Utter rubbish!
Contractual documents
We have presented many different holiday/timeshare contracts to a variety of senior barristers. They are all united in that they require considerable reading, contemplation and digestive time and to come to an understanding of the burdens and benefits those contracts provide. Such people are highly educated, learned and objective. Yet a consumer is expected to decipher the contents whilst a salesman chuffs away insisting that they are signed, sealed and delivered that day, now and under pressure.
Are they lawful practises? Highly dubious, to say the least.
Will they sue you? Very remote.
Will you get your money back? Probably not!
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk