The Quincy Better Business Bureau Just Saved My Butt!

I'd like to take a minute and say THANK YOU to the Quincy Better Business Bureau for helping me avoid what was most likely a big scam that would have cost me upwards of $1,700.

Let me explain.

Back in 2005, my husband and I were suckered into buying a timeshare. How that came to be is a story for another day. The point is, we bought it and, after more than a decade of barely using it, we're trying to sell it. Selling it proved to be an almost impossible task during which I learned a very valuable lesson.

There are a few services out there that will help you sell your unwanted timeshare, so I did what anyone in my position would do. I Googled it. I clicked on a link that took me to what seemed like a legit website, so I reached out for more information. After a few e-mails back and forth, the company said that they could help us sell our timeshare...if we paid them $1,698.

That was a big red flag.

I did a little more research and the one rule about selling a timeshare is "never pay anything up front". If you're asked to, it's usually a scam. I then reached out to Mara Clingingsmith, the Quincy Regional Director of the Better Business Burearu. She told me that they company I was looking into had a D rating with more than 100 customer complaints. Furthermore, the city listed on their website wasn't even their actual city. They're actually based more than 1,300 miles away from where they claimed.

About five or six years ago, we tried selling our timeshare and, long story short, we got burned. So we were extremely cautious this time around. And this is why the BBB exists. If you have a gut feeling about a company and something just doesn't sound right, reach out to Mara and her staff and they will let you know if the company is good or bad and will hopefully keep you from getting scammed out of your money.

So where do we stand on selling our timeshare, you ask? Mara suggested another reputable company with an A+ rating so we're looking into that now. So thank you to Mara and the BBB for watching out for not only me, but all consumers in our community. Remember if sounds like a good deal, it's probably not.