Timeshare Hell Continues
Trip Start
Apr 18, 2010
1
16
47
Trip End
Jul 07, 2010
Sant Antoni de Portmany, Balearic Islands, Spain
Monday, May 10, 2010
I checked in at the front desk, and the first thing the clerk did was, just like the last place, charge me 30€ for my electricity. She was amazed when I told her that nowhere else in the world have I ever been charged for my electricity at a resort, timeshare or otherwise. I then asked about internet access. 1€ for every ten minutes using their crappy PCs and no WiFi!!!! My optimism quickly faded and I was afraid to ask my next question but I had to ask about doing laundry. 5€ per load, you supply the detergent, and wash only!!!! "No drying?" I asked. Oh, you want to then dry your clothes after you wash them? 5€ extra. That's $13 to wash one load of laundry! WTF????
Getting depressed I went to my room. At least the room was clean, but it was not nearly as nice as the photos on the RCI website. The toilet leaks, the doors and windows don't open or close right, and the sound keeps cutting in and out on the TV.
I then reluctantly paid the 10€ to do some laundry and headed down to the laundry room. The laundry room was disgusting! I couldn't believe it! Call me a snob, but if I'm getting charged 10€ to do a load of laundry, I expected a clean, well equipped facility. This place was dirty, dusty, with trash laying everywhere. And they had somehow rewired the machines to work with these token boxes they had, but someone had plugged the machines in wrong so I had to figure that out. There were no instructions other than insert money and press on. So I did. And I waited.
While my laundry was going I went to check out the rest of the resort. I began to realize that this place was a real dump. It's located on the outskirts of town, miles from all the real action. Cracks in the walls, paint chipping away, weeds everywhere. And the beach? No beach here, just jagged rocks along the coast. And not one person anywhere near my age. I'm vacationing with a bunch of 80 year old French and Belgium couples.
Really depressed now I went back to check on my laundry. The machines don't have any visual time indicators to tell you when it will be done, and 70 minutes later it was still going. I went to get the maintenance guy to look at it. I posted the video of his expert opinion. Then thrown in the corner I found the Spanish instructions for the wash machine and realized I had put my detergent in the wrong opening! So I was washing my clothes with no detergent! UGH!!! Finally almost 3 hours later I finished doing my laundry.
So just to recap, I'm again stranded, this time in an even worse timeshare, on the outskirts of town, extremely expensive internet with no WiFi, TV with the sound cutting out, and with a bunch of retirees.
I AM NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME……..
Comments
it does not look that bad. Perhaps you should rethink the time share and get a hotel. The young people are not staying in Time Share try hostiles.
You are right EVE, youngies don't stay at resorts that is for oldies!! A hotel where the happens are is the route to go. You really only need a studio type situation because you really shouldn't be spending a lot of time in the room, from your pics they really don't look that bad but I totally understand it was NOT what you expected or bargained for, I would push hard for a refund for every place you stay that has mis-represented their property!! If you push hard enough you can get compensated! Good Luck and keep ur head up John, you are blessed to be able to take such an amazing trip, try to NOT let the petty things rock you boat, you are so blessed!! Have fun,
Glenna
Evie & Glenna are right: Timeshares are for oldsters. At your next stop, blow off the timeshare and stay in a hostel (they're not just for youths anymore). More fun, better community feel, and WAY more people who want to do things together.
Or if you can't bring yourself to give up on your timeshares, at least stay 1 night at a nearby hostel . You'll meet LOTS of people!!!
Yeah I've met quite a few young guys already who are staying at Hostels, but they all told me that most of these places have strict age limits with 40 being the cutoff. So I don't know if they would let me stay there or not. Plus, I'm having a hard time sleeping on these hard mattresses in my own room, so I'm sure I would get next to no sleep at all with other drunk kids coming and going at all hours. If I can find a nice one I think I might try it. Later when i'm running out of money.....