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in August 2011 i purchased a two night stay in Branson, Missouri from a BlueGreen Resorts representative at the Bass Pro shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. the cost was $99.00. i was informed that was the weekday rate, and if i wanted a weekend check-in i could upgrade for $5/night at the time i scheduled my trip.

we travel to Branson a few times a year so i figured it wouldn't be difficult to book a weeknight stay, as it isn't far.

in exchange for my $99, i was given a $25.00 Bass Pro gift card immediately. i was also promised an additional $25.00 Bass Pro gift card if i booked my date within 30 days of purchase, and another $100.00 Bass Pro gift card upon completion of the timeshare presentation in Branson, for a total of $150.00 in Bass Pro gift cards - a net $49.00 profit for me.

within the first two weeks after i paid the $99 i must have received 10 phone calls and as many emails from BlueGreen Resorts pushing me to "book" my vacation. the representatives were EXTREMELY pushy and kept threatening that dates were "filling up fast!!!!" eventually one of their agents offered to waive the additional weekend premium if i would book over the phone RIGHT THEN. i advised him that it was 3:00 p.m. and i wasn't going to book the trip without consulting my husband's calendar (we were both at work). i asked him if i could call him back between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that day and he refused. he said he could not wait that long. i didn't *** and said that would be fine, i would call him back at my convenience. ultimately i booked the trip that day, and he did waive the fee.

now for the fun part. while i was on the phone with the aforementioned representative, he mentioned to me that upon check-in i was responsible for all room taxes and surcharges. that surprised me, but after thinking about it i figured it was reasonable enough. it only surprised me because the Bass Pro representative had been soooooo freaking adamant about how you'll only pay $99! only $99!! that's it! $99!!! but i went ahead and booked the trip.

the representative at Bass Pro had also made a big show out of excitedly pointing out all of the amenities that the Resort had to offer. he walked me through a flier published not by BlueGreen Resorts, but one by the actual Big Cedar Lodge where the timeshare was located. he went on and on about circling which restaurants in the hotel are his favorites, and where he likes to eat breakfast each morning, and how "on my trip i should be sure to take advantage of X and Y amenity here in the brochure," etc. he talked about how comfortable the rooms are, and how my kids will love it, and on and on and ON.

if you to to their website, www.bigcedar.com, you'll see that the resort is all that he promised. i figured for $99, i could stand to sit through a 1.5 hour presentation. again, since we go to branson fairly often, i wasn't entirely opposed to the idea of buying a timeshare there. my family has plenty of disposable income so we're really the type of people who BlueGreen is looking to lure in.

unfortunately, what the representative at Bass Pro, and what the booking representative, failed to mention is that my $99 was NOT buying me a two-night stay at the Big Cedar Lodge. it was buying me a 1.5 hour PRESENTATION at the Big Cedar Lodge and a *** two-night stay at the Baymont Inn and Suites, a *** remodeled 1970s cement paradise in the middle of obnoxious downtown Branson. i realized this when a week after booking i received my "confirmation" email that listed the Baymont as my check-in location. what what! nowhere had anyone mentioned a Baymont.

so i whipped out my original paperwork, and sure enough, there it was. they're really clever about how they go about this at bass pro. they have you verify your "eligibility" on a computer screen (am i 25 years old? check. does my income qualify? check). then you sign on the computer screen. then they print out the eligibility that you verified, plus your signature, plus a WHOLE BUNCH OF SMALL PRINT THAT YOU WEREN'T PROVIDED BEFORE YOU SIGNED. but there it is, all printed out for the world to see with your signature electronically inserted at the top of a page you've never seen before.

so, what does the small print say? let's examine. the ONLY reference to your hotel being a *** off-site chain is this:

"Verified retail value of accommodations is a rate between $171.00 per night and $979.00 per night, based upon travel season, check-in dates, destination and vacation package offer."

and

"Accommodations are in a [sic] independently owned and operated select area hotel in your selected offer destination."

Now, both of those statements can be interpreted as meaning that your hotel is the Big Cedar Resort that you've just spent the last 30 minutes oohing and aahing over to appease the representative.

Both of those statements can also be interpreted as meaning that your hotel is a fleabag somewhere in the same state.

So, I'd been duped. And you know what? I can handle that. I take responsibility for what I sign. It was the classic bait and switch. It didn't occur to me to ask the representative whether I would literally be spending the night at the "destination" hotel for which brochure after brochure were being shoved in my face. You know what? My bad. I'll own that.

But what really gets me is that the Baymont Inn ain't no "$171.00 per night to $979.00 per night" accommodation. The rest was just misleading; that was a flat-out lie. The room rate at the Baymont Inn for my selected weekend was $107.00 per night, and anyone who's paying $171.00 per night for a room at the Baymont in Branson, Missouri is, well, yeah. It doesn't happen. I could have stomached it if they had placed me in remotely comparable accommodations.

So anyway I immediately started reading the cancellation terms. I knew I had to act! Fast! To get out of this one. Luckily I was still within the G-O-L-D-E-N 30 day window so I called and cancelled. My $99.00 deposit, less the $25.00 gift card given to me at the time that I signed up, will be refunded to my credit card within 7-10 business days. Of course I did this over the phone and their contract explicitly says cancellations must be IN WRITING AND SIGNED IN THE BLOOD OF YOUR FIRSTBORN CHILD AND NOTARIZED IN TWO STATES, so I will be following up with a written letter tomorrow.

Interestingly, when I called to cancel, I had to tell the representative I'M CALLING TO CANCEL. PLEASE CANCEL. I'M CALLING TO CANCEL. NO, I DON'T WANT TO EXPLAIN. THIS WAS A BAIT AND SWITCH AND YOU KNOW WHY. I'M WITHIN THE THIRTY DAYS. PLEASE CANCEL. JUST CANCEL. CANCEL IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I'd had it recorded. It was brutal. The guy would not take "cancel" for an answer.

I've nothing more to say about BlueGreen resorts, other than it's truly a mark upon Bass Pro's face. They should get out of bed with these fraudsters, and quick-like.

Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Guest

I got tricked into the "99.99" get away. I knew it was a scam from the start.

I thought I could *** the conman on this one and just stay at the hotel and foreget the sales pitch. After reading about these guys getting charged for stuff under the table I dont want to take the chance. *** is *** does, I hope I can cancel and get my money back. On another note, does anyone see the irony in this?

BPS being one of the best bait stores in the country?

I'd say they've moved on and mastered catching " the deadliest game" here. :^)

Guest

Same thing. Happening to my family right now!

Total bait and switch. At a hotel looking at a parking lot. And the pool is not even open! They are currently painting it.

Why is Bluegreen even able to operate as a business? Total fraud!

Guest

We just paid bought the 2 nights 3 days package at Big Cedar from Bass Pro. The guy really sold us at the store and we were looking for a mini-vacation.

We actually never received our confirmation even after several calls. This was frustrating, but we was able to contact an employee on the phone and recieved the info we needed. We stayed at the Falls Lodge as promised, but they gave us the worst room in the place. By worst room, I mean worst view from balcony.

OuR view was several trees and bushes. The room was amazing tho! the Bass Pro salesmen was a liar and some of the things he said would be free actually costs. But the stay was actually great.

Good people at the lodge and a lot of things to do. If we had the same experience, we would do it again. I can see how people would complain tho. I think they book a lot of rooms before they actually know the occupancy and the timeshare presentation was painful.

The guy giving the main presentation was almost crying at times, telling you how your future and kids future depends on your vacations. They are good at this, but we were determined not to buy into the BS. They say it's a one time only offer, don't believe this!

It's a flat out lie!! Overall, if you can see through the lies and not buy I to the BS, the price is worth the experience.

Guest

We bought the $199 deal from BPS in December 2014 and just went to Myrtle Beach to redeem the offer. They made it sound like we would stay in an amazing hotel on the beach and blah blah blah...

once we got home and read the small print, we realized it would be an extra charge and decided not to "upgrade."

They put my family of 3 in a 2 bedroom condo on the GOLF COURSE, and we LOVED it. Was a 10 minute drive to the beach, but extremely nice place.

We had to go to the timeshare the 2nd day and decided morning would be easier. We had to listen to a gentleman talk for about 45 minutes and my 18 month old got restless and ended up standing with the speaker (everyone enjoyed it).

After the pitch we went to a one-on-one approach and they showed us the cabins. We let them know we were not interested and they offered two more packages... still not interested. We had to sign a waiver saying we did not want the offer and we left.

We paid $199 at BPS and received a $50 gift card (plus $25 for booking within 30 days(so $75)) plus for sitting through the presentation we received a 3,4 or 5 night Carnival Cruise. I'd say it's worth going, we enjoyed it!

Guest

Dude, if you think you can pay 99 and get 150 back and stay in a condo you're a fool.

I used to sell those packages for Bluegreen at basspro. It's legit.

And they hammer and hammer into us to make sure the guest knows it's a hotel stay. You initialed that you knew this.

I work for a great company now, Wyndham. I've nothing bad to say about Bluegreen, but it isn't Wyndham.

The person you met behind the counter used your own greed against you, and you "took advantage " of it.

It's still a good deal. And they put you in a hotel so you can have an immediate example of why timeshare is such a good deal.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-978760

Lol. Wyndham. You mean you went from one ****hole to the bigger ****hole?

Guest

I too signed up a couple years ago but I paid $199 upfront. But my stay was for Big Cedar and I got $150 worth of gift cards ($25 the day if the purchase and $125 after the presentation).

So Big Cedar cost me $50 per night - which is an excellent price considering I went back the following the year and paid $300 per night. But then there's the timeshare. My god it was awful. I'd rather pay full price any day than sit thru that hellish experience again.

There were so many lies that day and my boyfriend and I almost bought into it! It would have cost us about $13,000-$15k plus maintenance fees for life. I've made some bad decisions in life but coming out of this timeshare having the balls to say NO was a huge accomplishment in my mind. Those people are very good at what they do.

I'm happy I made it thru and got to experience Big Cedar because my (now) husband and I love that place and try to go once every year or so.

Recently, Bass Pro asked me to sign up again. I told them I already did the sales pitch and signed my life away when I choose not to buy that day. Well, Bass Pro told me after a year you can sign up again and even buy!!

Hahahahaha I would NEVER! But my husband and I considered going thru the pitch again just to get the low prices.

We've yet to actually sign up though. I'd hate to waste 90 minutes with some lying sales person (although I have several questions for them)!

Guest

My family did this thru Bass Pro and all went well... our timeshare guy at the meeting was a touch pushy but that's their job...

a pushover doesn't make sales, luckily I am pushy too and he took no for an answer. We were in a nice hotel in town for 4 days at $99, which I loved as I had never been to Branson before. I asked questions and all info was explained to me at Bass Pro.

I was not led to believe anything other than what I received and we had a great time! Maybe the difference is that I asked questions and didn't assume I was getting caviar for the price of fake crab?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-812072

We were planning to take this same trip under the same assumptions you stated. Glad to hear somebody had a good time.

Our only concern was which hotel we'd actually be staying at. Do you mind me asking where you actually stayed? Was it the Radisson?

Sounds like that is where *most* people stay but I've also seen at least one other questionable sounding hotel mentioned. Thanks!

Guest

We paid $199 for a 7? night stay in one of these places, we haven't decided where yet...but we were well informed that we would have to cover tax of the hotel room, and that "these" Marriott, Baymont, Holiday Inn, Best Western and the like were where we could possibly be staying...and that if we chose one of the lodges that the TIMESHARE would be for the lodge and the hotel we would have would be one selected in that town by their resort place.

We were also notified that it was a 4 hour presentation we would have to sit through before we could go on with what we had planned to do there while discussing a timeshare. If a timeshare did not agree with us that would be fine. We know a couple who purchased one and are considering it. Maybe there's a whole bunch of shady reps I guess, but we got ones that seemed honest.

When we do decide to book ours, sometimes in the next couple months...if anything is off, or is a lie...there is always a report to the FTC, who manages this sort of thing, I don't really like to mess around with empty threats to people, so I file a report there and it gets handled. Like the 2 previous time I have had to do it with other places...we have not been lied to by bluegreen thus far, so I hope they don't start.

Guest

I had the same kind of experience. A friend and I had both been "sold" on the $99 package at Bass Pro, unknowingly each purchasing the package during separate shopping trips.

We used his last weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. BlueGreen put us up in the Best Western, which wasn't bad, but not what we expected until also reading the fine print. They indeed charged us room tax and an additional $50 for a weekend booking. My friend is going through final divorce proceedings, the financial obligation portion to have been decided on the Tuesday following our trip.

Therefore, he wasn't in a position to commit to anything at that sitting. The TWO AND A HALF HOUR presentation, nonetheless, was impressive, and we were actually talking about it being something one of us should consider when we go for my presentation. My friend was honest with the manager who conducted the sales pitch about his financial constraints. The manager sympathetically told him he'd do him a favor to make it so that the next time he attended, he'd still be eligible for the same day sign up perks, by filling out a sheet explaining his situation.

The manager then came back a few minutes later telling him that due to the fine print about requiring that spouses attend, and his divorce wasn't final, he wasn't eligible for the Bass Pro gift cards. In addition, he just received a letter stating that, due to his ineligibility, they are going to charge an additional $99 to his credit card for the hotel fees. So, the 2 night stay in Best Western ended up costing about $250. The online cost for that Best Western before my AAA or his military discount is only $75.

They're picking and choosing which fine print to follow also, because they told him that I was required to attend, despite the fact that we're unmarried. Bass Pro should be ashamed to affiliate themselves with such an unethical company. I'm in sales myself and know the value of word-of-mouth.

Had all this not occurred, the opinion we would have shared with friends is that this is a different type of timeshare and seemingly a good opportunity. However, being treated in this manner leads me to wonder what fine print is involved at the ownership level that would ultimately prove buying into their program a poor financial decision.

Guest

We had the exact same thing happen to us. No one said anything about staying at a little cheap hotel in town.

They tell you all about the great Bluegreen resort. Then you get the paper work and realize it's not what they said it was. When we got the papers we called and talked to them about it and told them the sales man said we would be staying at the beautiful resort in TN and since that was not the case we wanted to cancel. But the lady at Bluegreen said they had rooms in their resort and that for a $75 upgrade we could stay there.

We said no thanks were not spending any more money we would just like to cancel. She asked to put us on hold so she could speak to the manager. She came back and said they would let us stay there for no upgrade. So we said ok and did that.

We got there and it was an ok place. I would not say it was a resort but in their defense it was the first one they built so the other ones around the country may be better. Anyway the next day we went to the presentation which was suppose to be a little under 2 hours... lol it was not!!!

It was 3 hours long !!!!!!!! You are in a room with everyone else for about 2 hours hearing the man tell you all about Bluegreen. Then you are given you won sales person who takes you around and shows you the little houses and tells you more about Bluegreen. Thankfully the sales lady we were put with was very nice and not push at all.

You have to stay for the whole thing or you don't get the base pro gift cards. In the end we did not sign up for it. We have friends who are Bluegreen owners and love it, but from our experiences with them it seem like a big bate and switch which doesn't make me trust them enough to sign up for a long term commitment. So if you have 3 hours of your vacation you want to waste and you don't mind paying $99-$150 a night for a cheap hotel in exchange for bass pro shop gift cards then by all means sign up.

If not then... when they try and stop you at the bass pro shop just tell them " no thanks I will keep my 3 hours of vacation time and pick the hotel I want to stay in"

Guest

Darling is it you again under another name , if it is then all I can do is send you a great big kiss

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

and darling you should always read the small print, why do some people think you can anything for nothing, grew up and take responsibilty for your own greedy actions.

Guest

I agree with the original poster. When I received the copy of the agreement by email there was a ton of small print that was not shown to me on the screen at Bass Pro.

I am immediately cancelling this so-called vacation with this seemingly unscrupulous company, am contacting Bass Pro, and think the U.S.

Attorney general might be interested in these business practices, since this involves several states. Maybe even the Michigan attorney general, as well.

Guest

sorry but there are a lot of very happy owners who only come on these kind of sites for the fun value.

Nothing in life is free you *** and if you think that it is then god help you.

Not everyone that likes their ownership work for Bluegreen , they just know how to use it unlike you.

so get a life or a vacation and stop being such a tight ar*ed ***

Guest

"It is time that people took responsabilty for their own actions, and stop crying scam when they find out that nothing in life is free. "

What a load of ***, they figgen tell you its a FREE VACATION! They said to me "we want to send you on a FREE vacation"

It is time that people like you (who work for these crooks) stop making excuses and claiming the people you are RIPPING OFF!

Guest

I think there are some employees of the company working here, why else would any say this was a good deal ... it is a bait and switch deal, i listened to TWO sale pitches and neither of them mentioned anything about staying in a different motel.

THe only people who would say this is a good deal, ARE PAID to say that!

Guest

Jason, if people would only just read what they bought then all would be ok there are too many people just looking for a free vacation or one on the cheap. It is not a scam it is a timeshare presentation and it clear tells you that.

If you are not wanting to buy a timeshare then dont go it is that simple.

It is time that people took responsabilty for their own actions, and stop crying scam when they find out that nothing in life is free.

If they want a vacation then they should put their hands in their pockets and pay for one

It is so very very simple

So you are going to stand by the sales people and tell everyone its a scam, how do you know ? it seems you have little or no idea how or what the Bluegreen Vacation Club is about.

No doubt you will be there in a clowns outfit since you clearly are a fool lol

Guest

:( I knew it bunch of scammers. I think I'm going back and I'm going to stand by the sales people and tell people its a scam as they walk by.

Guest

I too bought into the offer of 3 days and two nights. I got a letter stating I would be staying at the Radison Hotel.

Since unfamiliar with the Radison, I had no qualms. Before booking confirmation (over phone) I was asked if I wanted to upgrade and actually stay at the Big Cedar Resort for an additional $75 a night. I said "no". I was told, oh wait my manager is here and he said you can upgrade for just $75 for the entire stay.

My parents were going with me and we decided to upgrade based on bigger beds and separate bedrooms, and so glad we did. Beautiful accomodations. While there, during the sales pitch, others staying in the Radison complained about filthy quarters, dirty sheets, etc. I can't believe a company would put someone up in a hotel of that caliber if expecting to sell something.

Like others here, we did think we would have wonderful accomodations based on what the rep at Bass Pro said during the "hook" part of their offer. There was no misunderstanding, it was very much implied it would be "great stay". I did however, expect an offer for better accomodations, they are sales people after all. "No one gets sumthin for nuthin" from a sales person.

However, I was surprised to hear how bad the hotel was that others opted to stay in rather than upgrade. If a married couple, why would you want to have more rooms or beds if you thought you were going to be in a nice place anyway?

For a happy ending, well we will see. My parents and I bought into the time share based on where we stayed and what is available in the future.

Hopefully things will be on the up and up from here and it wasn't a mistake. Like I said, I expected to get an offer for a better place to stay for a "fee", but still didn't think the hotel would have been as bad as described. We just wanted separte bedrooms, not two beds in a hotel room. I would have been furious and not bought a thing if that had happened to my elderly parents, which I informed the sales person at Bass Pro were who I was going to be traveling with because it was for my father's 81st birthday.

You have to ask yourself: What kind of person woudl do that to people 81 years of age? Sure hope we didn't make a horrible mistake.

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