Villager91
newbie
Hello everyone,
This is a general warning to anyone considering buying a timeshare (or Vacation Club as they call it) from Occidental Vacation Club - STAY AWAY. The whole thing is a scam that will not save you any money over simply booking vacations through any reputable internet travel site. All of the "promises" that are made by the salespeople will not be included in the contract and, as a result, you will probably get a nasty surprise the first time you try to book a week through the reservation line. My wife and I got suckered into buying an annual First Club studio unit at Occidental Allegro Cozumel (although we were in the sales office in Playacar) for about $20,000. This included 2 regular weeks (1 standard and 1 "developer" week) and 35 bonus time days each year. Obviously, in hindsight, we were stupid to buy into the lies and misrepresentations, and clearly overpaid for something that has almost no value. Even worse, we probably paid a lot more than other inflated developer prices paid by others for the same Studio. The fact that we signed up for something like this the same day as the tour was insane, but the sales guys are really good, the lies make you believe like you are actually going to save money (which is absolutely not true) and that there are tax benefits to donating weeks to the Make A Wish foundation (NOT TRUE - do a simple Google search for this one). Yes, you can donate weeks to send kids to Disney, but you can NOT take a tax deduction for it. If you try, look forward to potentially expensive and time-consuming quality time with an IRS auditor. One other very important piece of advice - DO NOT ACCEPT ANY ALCOHOLIC DRINKS DURING THE TOUR OR SALES PRESENTATION.
Unfortunately, I spent time every day re-visiting the sales office to get things clarified and in writing, but I kept getting pushed off ("oh yeah, we'll get that to you" - NEVER HAPPENED. it was a daily delay tactic). When we got home, I made many calls to the reservation line, RCI, etc. to validate what we were told. The biggest discount claim - that owners get 35% of the published all-inclusive rates every year is FALSE - you only get this discount the first year and only if it is specifically written into your contract. J. Sean Stacy, the project director, will tell you things to your face but will never follow through. When you try to cancel, he will claim that you will owe ridiculous penalties for doing so (which goes directly against the language in the contract) YOU HAVE AN UNWAIVABLE, LEGAL RIGHT TO CANCEL WITHOUT PENALTY OR OBLIGATION. They will have you sign a "FINAL SALE" document to try to convince you that you cannot cancel - THIS IS A LIE and is ILLEGAL (they also don't include this page in your fancy leather binder when you leave). Don't get suckered into paying a penalty to cancel the contract if you are within the rescission period. Bob Behrens is a typical sales guy - tell you what you want to hear and expect you to trust him - BAD IDEA. Greta Sanchez (the "legal verificator") is probably just doing her job, but she will have to live with her own conscience for scamming people on a daily basis.
OVERALL - STAY AWAY FROM THE TIMESHARE PRESENTATION. It's not worth the time or aggravation. If you really like the club, think you will use it, and want to have less choice about how and when you travel, then buy OVC re-sale weeks for significantly less. Even better, buy something at one of the larger timeshare companies like Hilton, Disney, Wyndham, etc. (re-sale of course), and trade in to Mexico if you want. Finding this forum was a life-saver over the last couple of weeks as I was trying to figure everything out.
We were fortunate that we sent our cancellation notice within the cancellation period. Now for the fight to get our full down payment returned. We have opened an investigation with our credit card company in case there are any issues getting the full refund and have been communicating regularly with PROFECO. PROFECO has been very helpful and I would recommend that anyone with questions or concerns contact them.
This is a general warning to anyone considering buying a timeshare (or Vacation Club as they call it) from Occidental Vacation Club - STAY AWAY. The whole thing is a scam that will not save you any money over simply booking vacations through any reputable internet travel site. All of the "promises" that are made by the salespeople will not be included in the contract and, as a result, you will probably get a nasty surprise the first time you try to book a week through the reservation line. My wife and I got suckered into buying an annual First Club studio unit at Occidental Allegro Cozumel (although we were in the sales office in Playacar) for about $20,000. This included 2 regular weeks (1 standard and 1 "developer" week) and 35 bonus time days each year. Obviously, in hindsight, we were stupid to buy into the lies and misrepresentations, and clearly overpaid for something that has almost no value. Even worse, we probably paid a lot more than other inflated developer prices paid by others for the same Studio. The fact that we signed up for something like this the same day as the tour was insane, but the sales guys are really good, the lies make you believe like you are actually going to save money (which is absolutely not true) and that there are tax benefits to donating weeks to the Make A Wish foundation (NOT TRUE - do a simple Google search for this one). Yes, you can donate weeks to send kids to Disney, but you can NOT take a tax deduction for it. If you try, look forward to potentially expensive and time-consuming quality time with an IRS auditor. One other very important piece of advice - DO NOT ACCEPT ANY ALCOHOLIC DRINKS DURING THE TOUR OR SALES PRESENTATION.
Unfortunately, I spent time every day re-visiting the sales office to get things clarified and in writing, but I kept getting pushed off ("oh yeah, we'll get that to you" - NEVER HAPPENED. it was a daily delay tactic). When we got home, I made many calls to the reservation line, RCI, etc. to validate what we were told. The biggest discount claim - that owners get 35% of the published all-inclusive rates every year is FALSE - you only get this discount the first year and only if it is specifically written into your contract. J. Sean Stacy, the project director, will tell you things to your face but will never follow through. When you try to cancel, he will claim that you will owe ridiculous penalties for doing so (which goes directly against the language in the contract) YOU HAVE AN UNWAIVABLE, LEGAL RIGHT TO CANCEL WITHOUT PENALTY OR OBLIGATION. They will have you sign a "FINAL SALE" document to try to convince you that you cannot cancel - THIS IS A LIE and is ILLEGAL (they also don't include this page in your fancy leather binder when you leave). Don't get suckered into paying a penalty to cancel the contract if you are within the rescission period. Bob Behrens is a typical sales guy - tell you what you want to hear and expect you to trust him - BAD IDEA. Greta Sanchez (the "legal verificator") is probably just doing her job, but she will have to live with her own conscience for scamming people on a daily basis.
OVERALL - STAY AWAY FROM THE TIMESHARE PRESENTATION. It's not worth the time or aggravation. If you really like the club, think you will use it, and want to have less choice about how and when you travel, then buy OVC re-sale weeks for significantly less. Even better, buy something at one of the larger timeshare companies like Hilton, Disney, Wyndham, etc. (re-sale of course), and trade in to Mexico if you want. Finding this forum was a life-saver over the last couple of weeks as I was trying to figure everything out.
We were fortunate that we sent our cancellation notice within the cancellation period. Now for the fight to get our full down payment returned. We have opened an investigation with our credit card company in case there are any issues getting the full refund and have been communicating regularly with PROFECO. PROFECO has been very helpful and I would recommend that anyone with questions or concerns contact them.
