We don't want no stinkin' time share!

Russ and I arrived at our scheduled appointment at Vacation Internationale last Friday evening armed and prepared to fend off ALL sales tactics that might make us cave in and purchase into a vacation program that we had no interest in.  All we wanted was our free trip, man!

The first thing we discovered was that the sales guy that called us and scheduled our appointment told us no less than FIVE lies to get us there. Hmmm, what kind of havey-cavey business were these people running?! Russ was ticked and ready to walk then and there... except we had driven an hour to get there and were starving (due to lie #3: to come on an empty stomach because there would be plenty of hors d'oeuvres... yeah, there was a small platter of cookies) and the apologetic sales manager offered us dinner out at The Olive Garden if we stayed. 

Sold. Heck, we were already there, kid free and with no other plans - a paid dinner at one of our favorite places meant a done deal in our world.

And thus began the most excruciatingly high pressure sales pitch we have ever encountered. Picture the best and most savvy car salesman you've ever met and multiply him by 100. 

These people pulled out all the stops. At one point the woman making the main presentation to the room full of couples talked about her deceased daughter and the amazing vacation pictures they had to remember their time with her, and we looked around the room and at least two other sales people (one was assigned to each couple) had tears streaming down their faces. We're pretty sure that was a completely fabricated story and they were all a bunch of unscrupulous actors... especially after our personal sales lady went on to tell us about her own child that she also lost, and the effect this wonderful company has had on her family since then.

It was actually amazing Russ and I didn't laugh in her face. 

The more we said no, the longer we had to stay and face a higher-up employee, and the longer it went on, the less friendly Russ became until I was the one doing all the talking because I was afraid he'd be incredibly rude if I let him answer. And let's be honest; I can't be mean to save my life.

(And speaking of honesty, if I'd gone alone I would have bought in after sales pitch #3 because they were going to give us a FREE 8 DAY CRUISE!)

Thankfully I wasn't alone and we made it. After 2 1/2 hours and four different sales personnel, we were finally sent to Sergey - the mostly non-English speaking man who would give us our free weekend trip voucher (and our free dinner gift certificate). We picked San Fransisco and when he left the room to get our paperwork we heaved a huge sigh of relief that the stress of the evening was over. 

Little did we know that he would come back with a fifth and final offer, "You buy for two thousand?", less than half of their last price quote, with a sales man waiting outside the window for a discreet yes or no nod. That time we did laugh out loud - but still said no. 

And then we were finally free - Woohoo! We actually felt quite accomplished to make it out alive and still debt-free (we're not sure any other couple did!) and we celebrated in style at Olive Garden with appetizers, salad, dinner and dessert. Because remember, we were STARVING.

It was an interesting night to say the least. And believe it or not, we totally enjoyed ourselves :)