I tried to sign up for that thing, but it hung.  They just repackaged something that’s been around for some years, I never have been able to get it to work, although one time I believe I should have qualified for a $50 gift card which I never got.

MikeEss, it’s not for you to say whether the payout is worth having to attend the timeshare presentation.  I understand what you mean, all right, and you’re right about the frequent horrobleness of the presentation, but it’s a matter of personal choice and taste for each individual concerned.  Sometimes the payout is pretty good, like a steeply discounted stay in Hawaii, and some of the bigger operators have a pretty good reputation for the presentation not really being that bad.  Plus there are tricks you can use, like I don’t have the cash and it’s against my religion to borrow money.  I don’t do them anymore, and you should definitely NOT do them if there’s ANY chance you will fall for the pitch, but you can pick up some worthwhile stuff, and some people have fun at the presentation.  One thing you can do is to rent someone’s week off of eBay for less than the maintenance fee, and then attend a presentation later at the same resort, and keep interrupting them by saying, but the maintenance fee is how much, well, I stayed a week at this very resort for less than that, and didn’t have to pay this huge upfront cost you’re talking about, why shouldn’t I just do that whenever I want to stay here?  Then watch them try to squirm out of that.

You’ve gotta love the gall of playing off the gas crunch by worsening the credit crunch.

Or worsening debt by more debt.  My husband recently took out a small student loan and he received and email from Sallie Mae offering to “save” him money on the payback of his loan if he spends money at places like Gap and Amazon.com.  The savings? $29 possible total.  All he has to do is spend about $400 to get it.  And, if he just took out a loan to pay for school, where do they think he’ll get $400 to spend on clothes?

MikeEss, my first impulse was to dispute your characterization of attending as being hit on the head with a hammer - but no, really I don’t dispute it.  Often they get really abusive.  If you’re in the right frame of mind, though, and especially if you want to try various tricks to counter their arguments, it can be worth it.  My wife and I made $200 for an afternoon’s work one time, and that particular episode wasn’t really that bad.

But I’ve had some bad ones.

I had fun with a hawker one time.  We were in Las Vegas, and she calls out hi, how are you, when did you get in, how long you going to be in town?  I responded “Not long enough to attend an informative 90-minute presentation about the benefits of vacation ownership” and she (deliberately and humorously) looked sheepish and slunk back to her station.

MikeEss, my first impulse was to dispute your characterization of attending as being hit on the head with a hammer - but no, really I don’t dispute it.  Often they get really abusive.  If you’re in the right frame of mind, though, and especially if you want to try various tricks to counter their arguments, it can be worth it.  My wife and I made $200 for an afternoon’s work one time, and that particular episode wasn’t really that bad.

Can I sic you on some Scientologists?  Because they’re really getting on my nerves with their “free personality test” crap every time I walk down the street.