We were invited by Club Astoria last Friday for a dinner for two at Gumbo Restaurant MOA. They said that after dinner they will just have a 1.5 hours presentation and after the presentation they will give us a gift certificate for a free overnight stay at any of their hotel in Bohol, Bali, Bangkok, Las Vegas or Florida.
I agreed because of 3 reasons - free dinner, free gift certificate and the presentation is only for 1.5 hours.
Hubby arrived at Gumbo earlier than me because I was stuck in Makati's horrible traffic. When I arrived at the restaurant, my hubby already started with the appetizer. We ate fast so that we can finish early because I brought with me my boys (My mom brought them to my office to surprise me. She forgot that I have an engagement in the evening). We were served salad, pork chop, fish fillet, fried chicken, mixed vegetables, fried rice, chocolate cake and refillable drinks (freshly brewed iced tea for me and lemonade for hubby).
After we finished our dinner, we approached the agent and told him to start the presentation so that we could go home early. He presented Astoria Time Share and asked us questions about our previous and future travels. From there, he is trying to convince us that through the time share, we would save on our hotel bookings. At first, the offered price is 1 million. We frankly told him that we don't have a budget for that and it is not in our priority list at this point in time. Then, he called his manager in order to present us a discounted price. The discounted price is more than half a million and they offered us additional discount if it will be paid in spot cash or in 48 months wherein the lowest price is dropped to more than P200k.
At first, you will be enticed with the offer because of the big discount that they offer. But then if you compute it, it will still be more expensive if you use it. Why? Because you'll just be given one (1) week once a year in order to use your time share. You won't be able to use it during Christmas, New Year and Holy Week. Apart from that, you still have to pay SGD 198.00 for local/Asian Travel and SGD 398.00 for other international travel if you are going to avail it. There is also an annual fee of P8,800.00 for the Astoria Time Share and P5,000.00 for RCI membership.
Having this time share is definitely a no no for us. Having analyzed the benefits that you'll get from it, you'll not get the value of what you have paid for. And based on our own experience (My dad has a Laguna de Boracay Time Share), we were not able to use it.
How about you, what do you think about time shares?
Hi! Just last night, my wife and I were at Gumbo Resto (MOA) for a Free Dinner from Club Astoria. Prior to the meeting, the sales rep of Club Astoria kept on following-up on our acceptance and had been very open on advising us via text that we be ready to spend 90 minutes (for the presentation) after the dinner. And so we went for the free dinner. In fairness to Club Astoria and their Sales Strategy, food was ok and their agent has been good in her presentation. She even mentioned the hidden charges. But it took a long time before she discussed the price you have to pay for their offer. There were lots of audio-visual presentations. It was enticing for us for we were really wanting to spend a long and relaxing vacation. Since the agent was to frank, so are we. The problem is that you are not given enough time to rethink about the offer. You are asked to decided right there and then as if it’s the end of the world. We just said that we can’t afford it. Even though the agent’s manager kept on giving rock bottom discount, we really said we can’t decide. Imagine an offer from Php 9,800/mo which dropped to Php 3,000+++ for a 1 BR, and offer is good for that day. What will you do?
ReplyDeleteIn above kind of situation, here are the tips:
> Internet Search prior to appointment will really help
> You can request the agent to speed-up the discussion and go directly to the point. Money Matters or price that you have to pay
> Be frank. If you don’t need it. Tell the agent that you don’t need it.
> No one pressures the investor other than the customer. In this case, the attendee is both an investor and a customer. You have all the right to pressure the vendor/seller.
> In the end, no matter what would be your decision, please be thankful to the agent who invited you.
Hope this post clarifies and helps future participants to the Free Dinner of Astoria Plaza!!!
Peace be will all mankind!
aka…not a kind of traveller
Hi! Thanks for sharing your experience. :) Their style is make you purchase based on impulse.
DeleteI just had a call offering the same as what you have. Really shocking to know all these. thank God Ive hit the net first.
ReplyDeleteYes, its good to check out the net first and do some research. =)
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