In Reply to: Timeshare posted by ozzepop on Monday, 17. January 2011 at 22:01 Bali Time:
To dodge timeshare in Bali, we never scratch cards, open those travel "beer tickets" or complete "surveys" found in shopping centres and even on restaurant bills.
We also give a wide birth to locals holding cards spruiking, "this is not timeshare", and travelling westerners who casually walk up to random people with the opening line, "do you speak English".
In Thailand once we were collared by two young British girls on a passing scooter. They couldn't believe we wouldn't scratch their card for them because they worked for timeshare and couldn't ethically do it themselves. They feigned a winners dance when they scratched it themselves, looked at our raised eyebrows and disappeared into the traffic to find a new punter.
Yes, I was caught once in the early years completing a travel survey thinking I was helping the industry. Guess what I got that night, a phone call from an excited British woman telling me I had won the grand prize of a return holiday to Bali. Being very sceptical we agreed to meet our arranged taxi the next morning which whisked us away to complete the process with a "little presentation". After a failed dodgy timeshare hard sell we left via the back door with a throw away T-Shirt. We laughed that we got stung.
Even now we fib on our immigration cards as to where we are staying as it has been suggested numerous times that this info gets on sold to timeshare touts for cold calling.
Sorry to hear about your situation, I'm sure your not the lone ranger.