We signed-up with the Hilton Grand Vacations Club nearly seven weeks ago -- and once the paperwork was signed, it was like HGVC suddenly could care less about living-up to it's end of the deal.

It has been 46 days since we became Hilton Grand Vacation Club owners at Parc Soleil in Orlando, and we still have not been granted access to the HGVC owners web site to start using the timeshare that we purchased. Unlike most owners, we paid nearly 50% upfront -- yet we are still not allowed to look for timeshare availability because Hilton has not created our account yet. It has been 46 days!! Also, we are not allowed to speak with a human via the Hilton elite member 800 reservations line because Hilton has not created the account yet. The elite line is for members with accounts only. We ARE members with an account. Hilton is just dragging it's feet in activating it.

We are locked into a contract for over $70, 000.00 with HGVC, and we can not book a thing ourselves... even though we were entitled to do so 46 days ago. We can not even speak to a human Customer Service Representative to have them make our reservations for us. All we can do is call and leave a voicemail with our saleswoman -- who can access the owner's online booking system and will tell us a day or two later if there is availability. This makes it impossible for us to plan into the future. It makes the whole HGVC agreement appear to be a sham. It makes us mad to think that it takes a company like Hilton nearly seven weeks to set-up an online account to grant new owners access to the timeshare system.

We are avid travelers, so the Hilton Grand Vacations Club seemed like a good match for us. But as the days continue to tick by -- and we still can't make our timeshare reservations -- the whole timeshare idea has lost it's appeal. All we get from HGVC are excuses and delays and a bunch of baloney as to why it is taking so long for HGVC to set-up our account. "We're swamped." "We're so busy selling these timeshares that there is a backlog in setting up the accounts." "It never takes more than 30 days to set-up an account." Hilton's latest line of baloney is that it is suddenly missing a signed form -- which we had never heard of until today.

The HGVC sales people were quick to print-out all the necessary forms with the push of one button -- and even notarized them on the spot. The sales team then promptly overnighted a copy to our home a few days later for more signatures. The company moved at lightning speed with the legal paperwork to secure our money (and presumably the sales commissions) -- and lock us into the contract. But once the paperwork was returned to Hilton Grand Vacations Club, it was like we just waved goodbye to our hard earned money and said hello to a long line of excuses.

The HGVC sales team has given us the song and dance (over and over) as to why it is taking so long for us to be entitled to use what is rightfully ours. But they keep changing the tune. I realize timeshares are a number crunching game: while the Hilton Grand Vacations Club is building capacity, it is in it's best interest to have continual cash flow (timeshare sales) while maintaining enough capacity for those who bought in years ago (preventing new owners from booking). One mechanism to make the numbers game work could be to sign-up new owners and then create delay after delay so they are not allowed to start booking reservations for weeks. In our case seven weeks. And then blame it all on an aggressive sales team and an overwhelmed IT team.

I don't care who you blame it on. The bottom line is that we still can not access the timeshare we paid for nearly seven weeks ago.

There is no excuse for that.