Dumbest Purchase You’ve Made

cytor

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I have had my last one for about 5 years. (probably jinxed it now) The ones that hold more than just one cup seem to last longer for some reason.
I must be buying the lemons. I even tried different models of them to no avail.
 

BryceC

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I deal with many elderly clients with timeshares and I would never, and I mean neeeeever, encourage anyone to touch these things. You cannot get rid of them. I have had clients pay thousands of dollars just to be out from under them.

I have never seen any of them that are any less cheap than just getting a VRBO and those have zero hassle.
 
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CapnCy

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Jul 6, 2010
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I don’t know exactly what the costs are for theirs. We did one of those come stay for 3 days and listen to a 30 minute presentation, that takes half a day. It wasn’t a good deal what they offered. I ticked them off royally because they asked if I could afford their offer and I said yes, then I said I did t want it. Their closer even came in and I still said I can afford it but don’t want it. Got yelled at and threatened that I couldn’t stay at a Hilton property again for five years.

I’m guessing yours is more legit, my wife said their talk was they had points and they could go anywhere, they didn’t mention a transfer fee (which I thought was weird) and said maintenance was like 100 bucks and that it was part of the stay fee. Like I said they are awful financial planners. When her mom dies, I’m making sure the sister and brother inherit that damn thing.

LOL...when I was in college a buddy said "wanna go to florida with me...all you pay is flight, i'll cover hotel." It was a below average hotel and of course we had to go to a presentation (three 20-21 year old guys). I remember "by chance" they had a probably 40-45 woman that was good looking (skimpy skirt/tight shirt/over blond, etc) show us the properties....on the way took us by Dan Marino's house (or maybe just a big house, lol)...but when it came time for the "ask" the whole deal...starts with a number...then the "don't you like florida? wouldn't you like to come here each year? if you three broke the cost among you, it'd be very little to cover." blah blah blah. Well, of course i saw through it all (but of course, you see how people could get sucked into the"dream" of vacationing and "owning" property).

Anyway, obviously we were not going to agree or sign anything (because we are three college guys) and they got the price to as low as it could go "i'll have to go check with our manager to see if i can even offer that." Well, THE BEST, was this guy that I could only describe as a cross between a bad car sales man and a sleeze ball comes over and gets to our level and leans in "guy, where did we put you up for this trip...that ramada? (we say yes). Let me ask you this....you meet a girl at the beach and show her that place....or the keys to our place you own....who's getting laid?" LOL SO much pandering that day.

About 10 years later i was at a conference and there was a "free breakfast and opportunity" booth set up in the lobby and we had a few hours to spare...so i went JUST to ask the tough questions.
 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
LOL...when I was in college a buddy said "wanna go to florida with me...all you pay is flight, i'll cover hotel." It was a below average hotel and of course we had to go to a presentation (three 20-21 year old guys). I remember "by chance" they had a probably 40-45 woman that was good looking (skimpy skirt/tight shirt/over blond, etc) show us the properties....on the way took us by Dan Marino's house (or maybe just a big house, lol)...but when it came time for the "ask" the whole deal...starts with a number...then the "don't you like florida? wouldn't you like to come here each year? if you three broke the cost among you, it'd be very little to cover." blah blah blah. Well, of course i saw through it all (but of course, you see how people could get sucked into the"dream" of vacationing and "owning" property).

Anyway, obviously we were not going to agree or sign anything (because we are three college guys) and they got the price to as low as it could go "i'll have to go check with our manager to see if i can even offer that." Well, THE BEST, was this guy that I could only describe as a cross between a bad car sales man and a sleeze ball comes over and gets to our level and leans in "guy, where did we put you up for this trip...that ramada? (we say yes). Let me ask you this....you meet a girl at the beach and show her that place....or the keys to our place you own....who's getting laid?" LOL SO much pandering that day.

About 10 years later i was at a conference and there was a "free breakfast and opportunity" booth set up in the lobby and we had a few hours to spare...so i went JUST to ask the tough questions.

I got some guy who laughed at his own jokes. A good looking 40-45 year old is right in my wheelhouse. I may have to tell the wife I have a business conference to attend.
 
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IASTATE07

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Bought a gym quality elliptical that was like $2200. If I've went over 100 miles on it I'd be stunned. Very convenient for hanging clothes on though.
 

CYKID

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Oct 18, 2006
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Not necessarily a single purchase, but we have bought a lot of video games and gaming consoles, even though neither of us is a huge gamer.

We currently have : original Atari, original NES, Sega Dreamcast, original Playstation, Super NES, Playstation 2, 3DO, Nintendo 64, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Switch

This has been over the course of several decades and we've gotten a lot of use out of some of them, but it's still 11 gaming consoles.
Similar story here, I have been buying all of the cartridge game systems of the 70's and 80's up to the crash in 83. I can't stop shopping for them. I have this "need" to own every console Atari made. At least I quit buying vinyl. Maybe I'll sell off some of that to fund my new passion.
 

cyhiphopp

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Similar story here, I have been buying all of the cartridge game systems of the 70's and 80's up to the crash in 83. I can't stop shopping for them. I have this "need" to own every console Atari made. At least I quit buying vinyl. Maybe I'll sell off some of that to fund my new passion.

Do you also collect all the games? Do you have the mythical ET game?
 

CYKID

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Do you also collect all the games? Do you have the mythical ET game?
Yes and Yes. That”s where the hook is set. I find those games everywhere. I’m a thrift store junkie now.
 

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SEIOWA CLONE

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I should emphasize this is a points system and not the old school weeks system which I do not recommend. We are not tied to a designated week at a designated location. We primarily exchange with RCI which has over 4500 locations world wide. Note that what you are doing is acting as a travel agency on behalf of yourself as it does take time on the internet to locate available resorts in the time frame you have available at the location you desire. Resorts use many methods to fill their rooms and you may be laying on the beach beside someone who paid full market rate on the open market and on the other side is a guy who is old school and owns a week every year at that resort and the next guy actually owns the room. We were in Puerto Valarta and I met a couple who owned a villa, were 90 yrs old and spent six months there off and on. Lived in Toronto and drove back and forth several times a year. Couldn't believe it.

I teach with a guy and his wife, that have interests in 6 or 7 timeshares. They have two in Maui. He was saying that they pay around $6,700 in fees, and take 6 weeks vacation a year. They are in some type of deal where they can trade their 2 weeks in Maui per year for an upgrade in other locations. Last year they spent 3 weeks in Mexico, 1 week in Branson for Thanksgiving and 2 weeks at Christmas and another week in N. Carolina.

He told me when we were thinking about going to the Maui BB tournament last year, I could have one of his rooms there, if I paid the fees for a year, somewhere around $710, for the week. They have no kids, and travel all over hell on their timeshares.
 

do4CY

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Aug 30, 2020
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My inlaws have one of them. My wife’s sister and brother said that all three of them should take it over from their mom (when their dad passed). I told my wife I’d divorce her if had anything to do with it. Finally her good friend who has more money than they know what to do with told her they were awful deals and she told her siblings no. Her family doesn’t understand good financial decisions to save their lives.
My in laws have more than one. It's great for my family because we can use them and only have to pay for the transfer. Luckily my wife and I both agree that we want nothing to do with them when the time comes, her siblings can have them.

Before we had kids we used a week in San Diego and did a breakfast to get some free tickets just for the hell of it. We even told the sales guy he was in for a rough hour cause we weren't buying. By the end he was insulting me that I was relying on my in laws instead of having my own place. I was just laughing at how pathetic of a sales pitch it was. He just kept getting angrier.
 

throwittoblythe

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Aug 7, 2006
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Minneapolis, MN
LOL...when I was in college a buddy said "wanna go to florida with me...all you pay is flight, i'll cover hotel." It was a below average hotel and of course we had to go to a presentation (three 20-21 year old guys). I remember "by chance" they had a probably 40-45 woman that was good looking (skimpy skirt/tight shirt/over blond, etc) show us the properties....on the way took us by Dan Marino's house (or maybe just a big house, lol)...but when it came time for the "ask" the whole deal...starts with a number...then the "don't you like florida? wouldn't you like to come here each year? if you three broke the cost among you, it'd be very little to cover." blah blah blah. Well, of course i saw through it all (but of course, you see how people could get sucked into the"dream" of vacationing and "owning" property).

Anyway, obviously we were not going to agree or sign anything (because we are three college guys) and they got the price to as low as it could go "i'll have to go check with our manager to see if i can even offer that." Well, THE BEST, was this guy that I could only describe as a cross between a bad car sales man and a sleeze ball comes over and gets to our level and leans in "guy, where did we put you up for this trip...that ramada? (we say yes). Let me ask you this....you meet a girl at the beach and show her that place....or the keys to our place you own....who's getting laid?" LOL SO much pandering that day.

About 10 years later i was at a conference and there was a "free breakfast and opportunity" booth set up in the lobby and we had a few hours to spare...so i went JUST to ask the tough questions.

When I bought my Altima (see earlier post in thread), the sales guy pushed the extended warranty HARD. I was foolish, but knew better than to add to an already expensive transaction. Dude pulls out a $100 bill from his wallet, “I’m not supposed to do this, but I’ll give you the $100 now if you buy today.” What a crock.
 

Macloney

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Feb 28, 2014
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Not the worst purchase I ever made, but when I was a kid I took a bunch of Christmas cash to the Southridge Mall Spencer Gifts and bought this Gotcha Gun paintball set. I remember setting up the target as clear as day in my basement and shooting the 10's of underwhelming "paintballs" at least 10 feet. I never saw or bought refills for it again.

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