There are many people who love using timeshares. Having a designated beautifully maintained property to visit once yearly or more can be a delight, and is usually less expensive than owning a vacation home. Nevertheless, there are also some common timeshare complaints. These ought to be weighed if people are thinking about timeshare purchase.

Probably the financial aspects of these properties may generate the most timeshare complaints. Timeshares may be marketed and sold as good investments, but there are so many of them, trying to resell a timeshare if needed is difficult and won’t make most people any money. Some companies also place limitations on when and how people can sell their timeshares and might require that a person owns their share for a period of time prior to sale. Unlike a vacation home, the timeshare is not as attractive in purchase and isn’t likely to recoup initial investment.

Cost is another issue, aside from selling. One of the common timeshare complaints is that maintenance fees for these properties can be pretty high, and this is on top of having paid for ownership or non-deeded right of use. When considering costs, people must think about not only price to buy and price to maintain, but also price to travel to their timeshare destination one or more times a year. This can raise costs more, depending on the location of the timeshare, and needs to be weighed when considering total investment on vacation.

Another of the timeshare complaints is that many people must vacation in the same spot each year. There are timeshare exchanges, but these might incur more fees. While a timeshare may be pretty or attractive, it may not provide enough vacation variety. There is also the fact that people are limited by what they invest. They only get the amount of time they pay for, and they may only get it at certain times of the year since people own or have the right to a share of their property. Having to negotiate when people can get a timeshare isn’t always easy, especially when people don’t have flexible schedules.

One way to remedy some limitations could be to purchase a larger share, but it costs more money to own more time. Some people find non-deeded timeshare purchases to make more sense. They don’t own property, but they might get greater flexibility to travel at a lower price. Of course, non-deeded properties may be the subject of some timeshare complaints. High prices for non-ownership are challenging, and some unscrupulous companies may not make this point of timeshare purchase very clear.

For other timeshare complaints about specific timeshares, people might want to look to the Internet. With any search engine, they can put a name of a timeshare and the word "complaints" to see if a developer’s marketing, treatment or management of one of these properties upsets anyone. The Better Business Bureau may have reports on some timeshares too.