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Sticky - Know Your Rights Of Rescission Before Attending A Mexican Timeshare Presentation

Karen G

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"If you are asked to sign a note that you are waiving the 5-day rescission (cancellation) period granted by Mexico (in case you change your mind about the purchase) that waiver is a fraud...."

Profeco brochure specific to timeshare purchase in Mexico: https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/montreal/images/pdf/documentacion/consumer.pdf

Here's a link to an English version of the Profeco site for consumers in general, not specific to timeshare sales, but might prove useful.
https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/montre...s/services-foreigners/318-consumer-protection posted 10-8-19


PROFECO INFORMATION:

The Profeco has a dedicated office to assist non-Mexicans who are already outside the country, the Conciliation a Extranjeros. You can reach them by email at extranjeros@profeco.gob.mx or by phone at one of the following numbers:
(0155) 52 11 17 23,
(0155) 56 25 67 00,
(01 800) 46 88 722






SEE POST #262 IN THIS THREAD FOR UPDATED INFORMATION

The best protection of your rights and responsibilities on any contract is to take your time to completely read and fully understand all the provisions of the agreement. Do not rely on what a salesman tells you because only what is written in the contract will be enforceable. Don't be rushed or pressured to sign something you don't understand. If you feel you are being rushed or pressured to sign, that's a big clue to stop and walk away.

Added 4-24-15: Watch this tv report about a presentation in Puerto Vallarta:
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video/11423455-call-kurtis-investigates-mexican-timeshare-nightmare/
TUG owner Brian Rogers is in this report, too.
 
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Clintshare

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Just say no!

I've been to Mexico many times and have been solicited to attend a TS presentation. Many TS sales promos in Mexico offer all sorts of goodies to entice you to the presentation. My experience has been that the initial contact is on the up and up...there is no secret that you will be going to a timeshare sales presentation for a particular resort in exchange for free golf, a bottle of tequila, $100.00 cash US dollars, a nice breakfast ... either all of these or a combination. So go spend the two hours or so, say NO THANK YOU, get your gifts and leave ... The reputable TS outfit will come thru with the gifts as promised. If you are really interested in purchasing a Mex time share.. head to a reseller. See what owners are asking for a resale at the property you are considering. Go to EBAY and track a few sales and see what a resort ends up going for. Good RCI Gold Crown places show up at resellers and on EBAY on a regular basis. And sometimes for 10 to 30 percent of the "developer price" and less! Do a little comparison shopping.

A nice advantage is that the Mexican resorts are "Right to Use". Your obligation will go away in a fixed amount of years and you won't be trying to dump the property when you tire of it and want to stop paying the annual maintenance fee. Be aware that the financial "hit" you take when buying from the developer may be far worse than the new car purchase, should you want to sell in a week or so.
 

Karen G

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I've been to Mexico many times and have been solicited to attend a TS presentation. Many TS sales promos in Mexico offer all sorts of goodies to entice you to the presentation. My experience has been that the initial contact is on the up and up...there is no secret that you will be going to a timeshare sales presentation for a particular resort in exchange for free golf, a bottle of tequila, $100.00 cash US dollars, a nice breakfast ... either all of these or a combination. So go spend the two hours or so, say NO THANK YOU, get your gifts and leave ... The reputable TS outfit will come thru with the gifts as promised. If you are really interested in purchasing a Mex time share.. head to a reseller. See what owners are asking for a resale at the property you are considering. Go to EBAY and track a few sales and see what a resort ends up going for. Good RCI Gold Crown places show up at resellers and on EBAY on a regular basis. And sometimes for 10 to 30 percent of the "developer price" and less! Do a little comparison shopping.

A nice advantage is that the Mexican resorts are "Right to Use". Your obligation will go away in a fixed amount of years and you won't be trying to dump the property when you tire of it and want to stop paying the annual maintenance fee. Be aware that the financial "hit" you take when buying from the developer may be far worse than the new car purchase, should you want to sell in a week or so.
What you say is absolutely true and it's great if people know all that before they go to a presentation. However, many posters here have found TUG after they've bought a Mexican timeshare and they are asking what their rights might be.
 

wtmaxwell

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El Cid Vacation Club is a Ripoff

These guys will say anything to get you to sign. I did and regret it. They told my wife and I a bunch of lies and we believed them. When I went to book my first vacation, I was told that it does not work the way they sold it to me. They then ignored my emails and phone calls for months. I filed with PROFECO and they no showed the first 2 hearings.
I tried to be resonable thinking I could eventually contact an ethical person in the company. They refuse to give you any mangement names because they have so many irrate customers.
This company is a scam and they know it. Do not stay at their resorts or attend there seminars. They will lie and then try and tell you they're not like they gave done to me and others.
 

stopfraud

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El Cid could not be as bad as Grupo Mayan

These guys will say anything to get you to sign. I did and regret it. They told my wife and I a bunch of lies and we believed them. When I went to book my first vacation, I was told that it does not work the way they sold it to me. They then ignored my emails and phone calls for months. I filed with PROFECO and they no showed the first 2 hearings.
I tried to be resonable thinking I could eventually contact an ethical person in the company. They refuse to give you any mangement names because they have so many irrate customers.
This company is a scam and they know it. Do not stay at their resorts or attend there seminars. They will lie and then try and tell you they're not like they gave done to me and others.

I have no experience with El Cid, but you should be glad that you did not go to Grupo Mayan (any of their resorts: Grand Mayan, Mayan Palace, Sea Garden, and now coming the Grand Bliss). El Cid is rated "C" by BBB, Grupo Mayan is rated "F".

Grupo Mayan runs the most aggressive, deceitful and fraudulent sales operation imaginable. It seems that they train their sales people to deliberately mislead, lie, coerce, intimidate, pressure, and wear out the customers until they sign a contract. And they are very careful not to leave any door open for legal action against them.

There are many other scam operations like these two and it is too bad the US Government is not doing anything to stop them. It could pressure the Mexican Government to do something, or at least prevent Bank of America and other US banks from so willingly (and profitably) co-operate in the fraud. All we can do is to vent our anger on various forums with no avail, then swallow our pride, cough up the money, and (hopefully) learn from the experience.

Most of those Mexican resorts are nice. Enjoy your time there. But, if you are invited to a presentation and you are not interested in buying, either don't go (those freebees are really not worth your vacation time) or BEFORE GOING TAKE A BIBLE AND SWEAR ON IT THAT YOU WILL NOT SIGN ANYTHING NO MATTER WHAT THEY OFFER, WHAT THEY DO! You will not regret it.

If you go to a presentation because you are actually interested in buying there, you will know it is a scam, when you say you want to think it over or that you are not interested, the "presenter" will call another sales person who will come up with another offer and other incentives. IF THAT HAPPENS, TRY TO GET UP AND LEAVE IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE IT IS A SCAM! Because if you still balk, a third person will come with other offers, then a fourth one, and they will begin to intimidate you, ridicule you, etc. RUN AWAY FROM THERE AS SOON AS YOU CAN!

In a decent operation, no second salesman will be called. The first person will thank you for your interest, give you the freebees, and cheerfully let you go on your way. For example Pueblo Bonito in Emerald Bay, Mazatlan, we visited last December. First class resort and honest, no-pressure presentation. We wish we went there first, instead of Grupo Mayan. We would be tens of thousands of dollars richer and not having to live with the grueling pain that we were so naive that we let them so blatantly defraud us. Final advice: NEVER, EVER, GO TO A GRUPO MAYAN PRESENTATION!!
 

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Re: Mayan Palace pitches in Mazatlan. I have been to a MP presentation twice. They are high pressure indeed, but I have not wilted, just said no, .. and eventually left with my promised gifts. The gifts are significant enough to warrant the 2 to 3 hours.... at least so far. Gifts are realkly great if it rains during the MP pitch! (smile)
 

pammex

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Karen G's info is good for all to know before a presentaion......BEFORE!

I own many timeshares in Mexico and yes some of the sales tactics are less than scrupulous, you need to know what you are doing and of course resale is much better LOL

I am also a member of Mayan and have had no issues with my contract etc....all facets have been honored as stated...There are many happy Mayan members along with many unhappy ones...some of it was misunderstanding at presentaion or outright lies, and some of it is in just learning how to utilize it to you rbest advantage, like any other timeshare.

I have also been to PB Emerald Bay presentation and it was very low key...actually almost too low key..I have no clue how they sell any. It is a lovely resort though and we may have bought had a little more umph been put in.....maybe a fractional or even fT owership, either way worked out for best!

Be informed...before atending..and yes the waivin gof your recind rights is against the law.....you have 5 days not including sundays....regardless of what you sign....but you must follow the procedure to the letter, and have a lot of patience.
 

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Help!

I think it is too late, but we purchased a Royal Elite membership at Sandos Playacar. (Playa Del Carmen) It has been 16 days so our right to rescind is gone but do we have any other options to get out of this? We made a 10% deposit and agreed to send the rest when we got our own funding. Unfortunately I found this site AFTER our mistake. Also, I was wondering why I could not find this resort anywhere on the website... more concerning information.
 

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Mexican Timeshares

I've never heard information so true. I bought and have given up $25000 in Mexican timeshares. These were misrepresented on sale and/or violated their own purchase contract. Villla Varadero in Nuevo Vallarta/ and Rancho Banderas in Punta de Mita. Now I have another Mexican resort which I own, Club Regina, currently owned by Raintree Resorts Int'l Inc. based in Houston, TX that apparently wants to ignore previous contracts and charge a "special assessment" to make up for their bad management.
My advice do not ever buy a timeshare, or what they chose to call it now ( they do not like the tag timeshare), in Mexico. If you must buy, go to the secondary market and buy it second hand. Someone said 30% cheaper, I say 98% cheaper. Just shop. I would have given mine away if anyone was interested. All in all I suggest that anyone who wants a Mexican vacation just rent the same timeshare without the headache of increasing maintenance fees.
 

rbarre

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Mexican Timeshares

Let me add one more thing, and I will be blunt. Mexican timeshares exist because of a world full of gullible and stupid people. I was gullible to believe the well contrived lies of the sales pitch for the purchase of my timeshares. I was a sucker to believe they were truthful. I hoped beyond reason that any complaints on their breaches would be heard, and with much effort realized it would not happen. As stated above I gave up $25000 in Mexican timeshares. Believe me, I did not do this willingly.
The truly stupid are those who do not recognize, or do not want to recognize, an abuse and maybe a sham, and worse excuse and defend the actions of these resorts who ignore your contracts. There are many stupid people, they rationalize and make it seem that all is ducky if you bow to the wants of the resort operator.
I may be gullible, but I am not stupid.
 

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Groupo Mayan - confused

I, stupidly bought a timeshare with Groupo Mayan on the 23rd of august this year, i was pressured at the airport and i decided to go to the presentation, only after i got back did i realise that this whole thing is a scam. I have paid around $5000 as down payment and still owe them $9000. The deposit was payed by credit card, i'm just wondering if i can somehow not pay the balance and get out of the contract. I am a british citizen and i live in london and so i don'.t know how the law would apply to me. If anyone has any advice i would welcome it. Rani
 
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Thank you so much, but a little late , they got us for 38, 000.00

:mad: yes it is very upsetting and not only that , but it took all our savings... bad people , those from Krystal Cancun Vacation Club .it is a scam , do not do it , do not sign.. anything ... go to a lawyer...
"If you are asked to sign a note that you are waiving the 5-day rescission (cancellation) period granted by Mexico (in case you change your mind about the purchase) that waiver is a fraud...."



Here is a brochure from Profeco, the Mexican consumer protection agency about important things to consider BEFORE attending a timeshare presentation in Mexico.
 

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"If you are asked to sign a note that you are waiving the 5-day rescission (cancellation) period granted by Mexico (in case you change your mind about the purchase) that waiver is a fraud...."

Is there anything, anything at all, that someone like myself can do to get out of this AFTER the 5 day period has passed? I was made to sign the waiver on a, now much regretted, purchase at Occidental Xcaret last month (on my honeymoon :bawl: ). They made sure that they gave my wife a few drinks to soften her resistance then left us to argue it out. Unfortunately she won. :annoyed:

God, I'd even pay up the full cost just to get the contract ripped up.
 

Karen G

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Is there anything, anything at all, that someone like myself can do to get out of this AFTER the 5 day period has passed?
You can file a claim with Profeco, the Mexican consumer protection agency. In the first post of this thread there's a link to Profeco.
 

moneypit23

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You can file a claim with Profeco, the Mexican consumer protection agency. In the first post of this thread there's a link to Profeco.

Thanks, I have Emailed them. Can anyone give me a "heads up" on what I can expect with regard to the process or timescale? I'd happily cut my losses at 50% of the total cost now. Lesson learned. How do these people sleep at night...
 

Karen G

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Spend some time reading through this long thread. I believe there are some reports from people who used Profeco. You might also want to start a new thread in the Mexico forum asking for people's experiences with Profeco. Since this thread is a sticky at the top of the forum, it may not be seen by as many people who would see a new thread down in the forum postings.
 

TacoTerry

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G and G Timeshare Solutions

You can file a claim with Profeco, the Mexican consumer protection agency. In the first post of this thread there's a link to Profeco.

We are another scammed Krystal-Cancun owner, I have contacted G&G for their opinion on our situation. Have you or anyone else heard of this legal outfit? We got their name and site off of TUG's site thinking that it is on the up and up. Hope so, and if we get something in settlement we will certainly share the info.
 

Karen G

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We are another scammed Krystal-Cancun owner, I have contacted G&G for their opinion on our situation. Have you or anyone else heard of this legal outfit? We got their name and site off of TUG's site thinking that it is on the up and up. Hope so, and if we get something in settlement we will certainly share the info.
Please keep us informed as to the outcome. It will be interesting to learn what their fee is and how this all will play out.
 

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I' m considering going with Gand G as well after being scammed by Grand Bliss salespeople March 1st. I'm so angry right now at their continual belief that we're all stupid that I don't think I can travel there again.
 

TacoTerry

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follow up on G&G

Please keep us informed as to the outcome. It will be interesting to learn what their fee is and how this all will play out.

WE had a phone conference with the folks at G&G timeshare solutions, they were very upfront with us and seemed to be genuine in helping us and not just trying to get more of our money. After getting all the information from us during our call, Cindi, our attorney, gave us the news that we had less than a 50/50 chance of recovering any money from Krystal, but G&G can get our contract cancelled out. Guaranteed. We just loose all our money that we have paid to Krystal. Not a great option but it is an option. Our mf has already gone up before we paid our first one, what's next? We have to decide to either cut and run or dig in and fight, we're leaning towards a good fight.

They charge $1400 to cancel a contract and they guarantee that it will get cancelled, you pay them after the legal work is done, not before, like some of the other attorneys that we checked out.
They get 25% of any recovered money if you go that route, and that is a separate matter from cancelling the contract. Again, paid after the recovery is made. The consultation/ phone conference is free, Penner wanted $500.
just to chat
I had an e-mail forwarded to me by a tugger from a fellow who used G&G and he did recover his money, and it was paid out the same as we were quoted by G&G, and he would recommend using them to other folks, so they do seem to be honest and upfront. . . . . Unlike the scumbag team of Steve Levy and Rafael Septien at the Krystal-Cancun, Our attorney did say that those two slime-balls are really good at stealing peoples money, and Septien is one of the more clever closers in Mexico. Clever in that he rarely makes a mistake when he is stealing your money, and he smiles at you all the while that He's got his hand in your wallet. I hate that.

PS. They have taken on Krystal, some wins and some losses, so far. Anyone else wanna pick a fight?

TacoTerry
 
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Premier by Original Timeshare Scam

Premier by Original Resorts (formerly Blue Bay Club) is also in the habit of selling timeshares with the use of the illegal waivers that everyone is mentioning. Our waiver stated that we waived our right to the five day rescission period AND would not be receiving a refund on our deposit if we cancelled our membership. There was never anything stated about a 5 day recsindion period ever. Only after we returned to Canada and started to do some research did I realize that we had been scammed. Keep in mind they may offer you a cancellation of your membership, but what they are really after is your deposit. DO NOT sign with Premier by Original Resorts (aka Original Resorts, Blue Bay Club)
 

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I' m considering going with Gand G as well after being scammed by Grand Bliss salespeople March 1st. I'm so angry right now at their continual belief that we're all stupid that I don't think I can travel there again.

I'm pleased to advise that I didn't need to go with G & G as the Grand Bliss Resort has resolved my complaint satisfactorily.
 
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