Has anyone purchased from Vallart Gardens?

we did last week.i made a stop payment on my credit card it is a visa......thanks for the information.

We got our money back in a different Vallarta Gardens scam, "Sapphire Holiday Collection" the forum on RedWeek is "Anyone who has experience with Sapphire Holiday Collection weeks ?" Sorry for the length...

Anyone who has experience with Sapphire Holiday Collection weeks ?

This is a lengthy description of our recent and hopefully final encounter with the folks with the Sapphire Holiday Collection group. While it may take some time to read it does have a favorable outcome and may contain some information for those looking to get some or all their money back.

We purchased our “membership” after rejecting the sales pitch to buy into Vallarta Gardens in October of 2017. We paid $4200. Like many folks on here, our first attempt was to cancel our credit card after SHC failed to meet any of the 30-day commitments. Then came all the fruitless phone calls/emails and being ping-ponged between SHC and the Marketing Travel Solutions. We pretty much gave up and stopped communicating with them.

The street agent that took us to Vallarta Gardens initially was Eva Gutierrez. She works at a shop across the street from the Westin Hotel on Av. Paseo de la Marina Sur Marina Vallarta. On our most recent trip to PV, which began on the 12th and lasted until the 26th of May 2019, we decided to pay Ms. Gutierrez a visit. She was “so glad to see us”, wanted to hear our story, wanted copies of email correspondences etc. etc. She insisted that we return to talk with her again. While we were with her, she forwarded a copy of a couple RedWeek posts we pulled up, to her contacts at SHC.

Our follow up with her was on Saturday the 18th. She was nice at first but said she had talked with the SHC folks and there was a “mix up” on our paperwork and that we needed to plan a trip to visit there. We told her that was BS, and that was as nice as our visit got. The rhetoric got very heated and the proprietor, a shorter older man with whitish hair, jumped into the screaming match and told us we needed to “get out” repeatedly, to which I responded “#$@&%*!” as loud as possible, down his throat, also repeatedly! Tourists, shop owners and passersby stopped at the open-air street shop to check out all the fuss. We were told that everything was being recorded on video and that they were calling the cops, to which I said, “I do not care, go right ahead!”

Quickly, officers arrived on bicycles and began questioning what was going on. It was EXTREMELY helpful that my wife spoke fluent Spanish. Officer Ceileo Pelayo began to assert himself in our situation. He was able to get a contact and a phone number at SHC to call. Officer Pelayo was able to speak with someone claiming to be the Gerente de Ventas (Director of Marketing). Whether they lied when they gave a name to the officer or they lied when we finally made a visit is unclear, but the name we were given was Miguel Diaz. He either does not exist or we never got to meet him.

Officer Pelayo was very firm with whomever he spoke with, told them this was a serious matter, that the area depends highly on happy tourist and asked the Gerente de Ventas what he wanted to do about it. The phantom Mr. Diaz responded: “fully refund their purchase” and then requested an account number for the transaction.

Not being the most reliable operation in the world, we certainly were not going to provide them with another account number, as transactions can travel both ways. We simply told them to refund the account that was originally charged.

Officer Pelayo told us he gave them until Thursday to refund the account or there would be subsequent actions. He told us, if the refunds were not received that morning, to take a taxi to Vallarta Gardens and request a meeting with Mr. Diaz. Of special note, the proprietor of the shop loudly objected to the officers not doing anything about our disruption to their business. The Officer told him, he was doing his job the best way he could, he called in the incident, but did not file a report. Oddly enough on Monday morning we received the following email from SHC after not hearing from them for ages:

Good morning, Mr. M******

We hope you are doing well. We are writing to you today to invite you to schedule a phone call that we would like to have to discuss some important matters between you and our company that needs addressing. We would love to hear your thoughts on this. Is there a day and time that works best for you this week? And, what’s the best number to reach you at?

We look forward to hearing from you.

Customer Service Staff.

We responded: Multiple attempts were previously made to resolve this issue, unsuccessfully. It's well past the time to talk. On Saturday 05/18/2019 , Gerente de Ventas, Miguel Diaz agreed with the Puerto Vallarta police officer, Mr Cecileo Pelayo, that our money ($4200) would be credited to our account not later than Thursday morning 05/23/2019. Reversing the charges on the credit card used in the original purchase is how to accomplish this. From our perspective, there is nothing further that needs to be discussed.

Of course, the money did not arrive, so we spent $400 pesos on a cab and arrived unannounced.

Getting through the guard station was not easy. While they had our name, and apparently knew we were trying to get our money back, the taxi driver said we were there for a presentation. After multiple conversations they said they were sending someone to take us inside.

We witnessed a small session going on between a few men, and then one came to our table. Claiming to be the Dir of Marketing for Vallarta Gardens. He was heavy set, mostly rude, kept interrupting, told us we had no beef against him, that SHC was shut down over a year ago that they had rented an office from VG, but they broke relations with them completely. Being a “talker”, my wife was beginning to buy into his story.

After his short rant, we told him what the officer had told us, and that if we didn’t not get our money to call 911 and file a police report. He responded saying: “I guess we are done here; I’ll call security to escort you out.” and he promptly left.

Sitting there, feeling deflated, no one was rushing to the table or to confront us, so we just sat there. Another man arrived nearby and was speaking with someone else we noticed in the earlier group. He turned out to be a key guy. Jesus Carmona _Director of the Operations for the hotel and has apparently been there over 6 years. While writing this missive I found his LinkedIn profile, confirming his position and tenure. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesus-carmona-2141158b/

While waiting to be kicked out, a fortuitous thing happened, after being told SHC was no longer there, I happened to see the SHC “lady” that sold us our package walking through the breakfast sales area. My wife forcefully went right up to the Mr. Carmona and told him that we were just lied to about SHC.

Mr. Carmona clearly was the guy we needed to speak to. Initially he wasn’t that accommodating, but we showed him the recent correspondence between us and SHC, he read the short response and pondered for long time. Finally, he said he wanted us to leave happy and that he would stay with us until we were. He directed the Controller, a fellow named Hector to do what was necessary to get us our money and stopped by to follow-up numerous times.

They operate through ResortCom (based in Las Vegas) as their transaction facilitator. Initially our transfer was approved, but while we were trying to confirm the transfer, they stopped the transaction. The expiration date on the card we used had changed plus the Merchant ID they used on the original transfer had changed as well. Even though the Merchant name was still RANGO Uno D. (We don’t have the full story, but the Merchant ID apparently change over a year ago, so maybe there was some sort of change in the relationship. Who knows?)

This mismatch made an electronic transaction impossible, so we settled for cash and left with nearly $80,000 pesos. In addition, we were asked to sign a letter saying our Membership has been cancelled. Whatever that means.

When we thought we would be escorted out, we did call 911. We were told that if we called (044) 221-2423 we could get instructions on filing a police report, which we still intend to do, and I suppose others can do as well.

Of course, we are pleased with the results and the way Mr. Carmona and Hector handled our issue while we were there. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Officer Ceileo Pelayo, who was incredibly professional, and very gracious to work with.

It’s still disconcerting that SHC still exists and that so many others have been unable to be refunded their hard-earned money. I hope this helps others and that no negative consequences come from this note. (except to those that deserve it) Harry

Last edit by phyl21 on May 30, 2019 09:01 PM.

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE Avatar for Harold E.Harold E.

5 months ago

JD, very sad to hear about your experience.

Even though you were scammed, don't spend one more second on feeling bad. Turn the page man. Give yourself one more 24 hour period to sulk, feel bad, drink some scotch, etc. then, get on with living your life.

For you and everyone else that's been scammed, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, you've always had the power to free, without repercussions.

Never, never, never seek their advice on "helping you to get your money back out of their pockets". All of their solutions are aimed at digging deeper into your wallet.

You just gotta walk away. Cut your losses to what you've already paid.

You introduce risk of entanglements, lawsuits, etc. by communicating with them. However, writing them a letter (as I've mentioned in other posts), and notifying your bank and/or credit card agency that your contract is cancelled (unilaterally), you're out. Welcome back to Kansas Dorothy.

Bueno suerte!

My wife and I had the opportunity to stay a couple of days with some own fractional owners at this resort. We loved every aspect of it, the homes are large and very well appointed ours had a private pool as well. We actually own a restaurant 5 minutes walking down the beach in the Marina which seconds as our home. For me it was a beautiful place to stay on our short vacation. my friends own timeshares, fractions or homes down in this area and all are happy they purchased in this area it truly is very beautiful. We are happy, my friends who own at Vallarta Gardens are the happiest, never have I heard even one negative comment from any of them.

They are under construction but to improve, I hope to return to see the finished work

This 'we're so happy' is clearly a planted message from the VG vultures.

Here's a real world counter-example: my wife and I have owned multiple vacation club timeshares (and still do). While they are not perfect, they have performed for us. We 'bought' into VG, and after I did two days research, I knew it was a scam. I followed the letter of Mexico law to rescind the contract, but VG basically ignored it. They still put our payments through on our credit card, and they then played the whole 'oh, gee, so sorry, give us your bank account number and we'll fix it.' Oh, like I was born yesterday.

It took several months of repeated contact with our credit card company (American Express) and sending the documentation for them to FINALLY side with us on this dispute. Mind you, I am a public finance professional - I was no babe in the woods - and it still took around at least 40 hours of my time to disentangle from these 'intolerables.'

Do not be fooled - these are not nice people, and they have no interest in your personal satisfaction.

I must say I was skeptical at first as I never tried a Luxury vacation Villa before. I was convinced by sister in law to try it and I must say it was really incredible quality time. This place was absolutely incredible and I would say I will definitely suggest this to others who don't want to the typical hotel scene but also don't want to miss the services of a resort. It was truly the best of all worlds. The chefs were awesome as they cooked for us at our villa while we did a late afternoon pool party. We were just minutes from Puerto Vallarta but we didn’t need to have all the crowds bother us.

Joan C I know you dealt with Monterey Collections in your case were you successful in your disputes with them? We have recently been notified that our account has gotten sent to them. Any advice on next steps?

Ignore them. Contact your state Attorney General with enough details to show that your transaction was fraudulent, and that the whole operation is such.

My wife and I are also victims of the Vallarta Gardens in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Bahia de babderas, Nayarit scam. On 10/13/2017, we listened to a very convincing pitch from Ricardo Ballestenos and Garth his sidekick and the terms went like this: 1) Buy our Coconut Palms Beach II timeshare for 17k after 300 days or less through a markeing company called PILA. 2) 18440 for a every other year with 4 weeks other than xmas time with 8666.80 check down and payments of 586.87 over 24 mths. 3) 1260 maintenance for the one bedroom penthouse. 4) Lots of perks incl the use for one day on their private 45 footer, pick up at the airport, storing our clothes so we wouldnt have to haul them back and forth, service dog, etc. I became concerned when PILA never contacted us within the 300 days. Turns out they went out of business, but I was contacted by several timeshare resale scammers after my queries. I did manage to call Ricardo and he was beside himself as to why PILA had not followed up and I did finally hear from someone about honoring the original agreement, but that fell through as well. Vallarta Gardens is complicit in all the activities going on with in their house regarding these sales people even though Joanna and others say they are not affiliated in any way with them. The paperwork was completed by them in their offices. Anyways, I got a hold of Patty Bryant with Timsharecancelservices.com and she was most understanding and gave it to me straight. For 3195 they will push from their end and get results with in 8-9 mths to a year for a possible recovery of any funds due to the fraudulent sales tactics in-house. No guarantees, stop paying the collection people, ruin your credit if necessary, but under no circumstances pay anything else. Of course, this transaction ruined me financially and we can not pay the 3195, so she said to raise as much hell as possible with the attorney general here, as well as Mexico, the resort, threaten posting negative resort info, form a Gofundme page, etc.

The story got worse. I mentioned being contacted to resell my Vallarta Gardens. Victor Vargas, in short, fraudulently purported he was a realtor with realty-network inc out of New Jersey and had a Mexican buyer willing to buy my VG unit. I did what I could with due diligence, checked the website, made some calls, etc and ended up sending 2 payments to a Mexican bank to handle the resale. Turns out it was a scam as well. 12500 or so later, and now a request to send an additional 26k for some additional international paperwork for legal stuff. We didnt have that and it prompted me to recontact VG. They were apologetic, but did not help at all and maintained their position that the sales people are in no way connected with the resort and had no information regarding what was going on and referred me to reread my contract and they would abide by their end and nothing more about these guys. As long as they see money there, selling timeshares, they are going to rest assured in a constant stream of gullible people wishing a good future. Someone needs to stop them.

My wife and I are now stuck with 2 timeshares. We have no money going into retirement to enjoy the time away. Make a little to much to qualify for food stamps. And, I hope I can forgive myself and everybody else so I dont lose myself to hell.

Yes, and it is a big SCAM. We too were promised a purchase of our timeshare in 300 days. After a year we became suspicious. After the year we called, e-mailed, and contacted them by regular mail asking when we could receive payment. They finally said that it was not there problem and we would have to contact a marketing company PILA (property in legal advisors,sa) They too would not pay us. In fact, they too would not accept any correspondence. They also said (in contract) that they would pay us for the usage of our unit for 3 weeks a year at $1950 per week ($5850). So in total they owe us almost $50, 000. Not counting the purchase price! Our salesman was Paco. He brought us wine and drove us around in his Mercedes (should have got suspicious then). All the time knowing he was setting us up for this big scam. He too, said he could do nothing. We have hired a lawyer in Mexico, but VG will not respond to her either.

I’ve heard this assertion a number of times and I can’t say it is untrue, but AMEX was our saving grace. When we lived through our nightmare many, many years ago, the AMEX employee we worked with actually acted on the evidence we gave him.

Since he denied VG’s claim, we have endured a load of crap from VG in a number of threatening ways, we have just ignored them.

So, thanks AMEX. May any of you victims find the guy who helped us.

AMEX is like any large credit card operation - some of their customer support people are great to work with, and some are 'politely unhelpful.' You were fortunate to encounter the former. We had the latter 'assisting' us at AMEX at the start of the process - mind you, we followed the letter of Mexican law in voiding the contract within the appropriate time frame and properly noticing VG. That doesn't matter to the unscrupulous people at VG - they put through the payment on our AMEX anyway. Even confronted with all the appropriate documentation, AMEX was still not voiding the charge until I appealed it all the way up the corporate ladder. They finally did void the charge.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it - VG turned it over to two collection agencies. I had an attorney send the collection agencies a cease and desist notice, and they did.

I personally have not had any bad experience with the Resort. I found this forum because my son showed it to me, since my daughter-in-law and grandchildren would soon be staying at our villa. My sales advisor on the day of my purchase was Paco, and this 3 years ago, and I just have to say that Paco has provided us with an excellent service, always very professional, attending to our needs and responding to our emails as soon as possible. What he offered us has been delivered without missing any promise. The concierge staff is magnificent and we have never had a single problem to reserve our time there.

We purchased in 2019 February. Told that PILA would sell our other time share and we would get our money back in 300 days. We were also told that PILA would rent our weeks if we did not use them and that we would get the money Have been unable to contact PILA email bounces back. We are now stuck with 2 timeshares Not a happy bunny Any one have a contact for a Mexico lawyer or Canadian lawyer who can help us out? Yup, scam scam scam

tomr488 wrote:

Yes, and it is a big SCAM. We too were promised a purchase of our timeshare in 300 days. After a year we became suspicious. After the year we called, e-mailed, and contacted them by regular mail asking when we could receive payment. They finally said that it was not there problem and we would have to contact a marketing company PILA (property in legal advisors,sa) They too would not pay us. In fact, they too would not accept any correspondence. They also said (in contract) that they would pay us for the usage of our unit for 3 weeks a year at $1950 per week ($5850). So in total they owe us almost $50, 000. Not counting the purchase price! Our salesman was Paco. He brought us wine and drove us around in his Mercedes (should have got suspicious then). All the time knowing he was setting us up for this big scam. He too, said he could do nothing. We have hired a lawyer in Mexico, but VG will not respond to her either.

do you have the contact for the lawyer in mexico ? we live in Canada, any contact here in Canada that can assist?

what have we done. could use a direct conversation with Canadian who did VG deal. today is March11. can u assist?

thomasb653 wrote:

I am sorry you lost money in this scam. What everyone needs to realize is these company's that they say are going to buy your timeshare or sell your weeks do not exist. If you go through the posts you will see at least 20 "companies" that partner with VG. The one they tried to use with us was located on a vacant lot in Oklahoma. These companies in reality are Vallarta Gardens. They are one in the same. They wait for a while. Usually a month or two, and then claim company went bankrupt or another excuse and then come up with another company name for the next batch of victims. We were able to get a refund from our credit card company by showing all the different "companies" and were able to show the pattern they use. We got our refund well after rescinding period was over. Haven't been on this site for awhile and it makes me sick this is still happening !

Which is your credit card company? What did you do to prove them this was a scam?

Nancy P can u reach out too me by email, so I can get some help from you,

lyndae31 Me and my best purchase last April and we are having the same problems you are having. Have u had any luck getting tour money or terminated contract

Susang1045, have you tried any of their promises, like getting money back by renting your timeshare through PILA, or, have you tried trading places to stay, as promised, (and how all timeshares work)? Because neither of those things work. So I assume you stay there every year to use your timeshare. How much did you pay for this? How much do you pay in maintenance fees? Have you looked at other nice places to stay in Puerto Vallarta? How much do they cist? Is it as much as you pay for this? I suspect that you may be someone with Vallarta Gardens who is trying to do some damage control. If not, then I'm sorry that you got into this. No, Paco is not a good guy.

susang1045 wrote:

I personally have not had any bad experience with the Resort. I found this forum because my son showed it to me, since my daughter-in-law and grandchildren would soon be staying at our villa. My sales advisor on the day of my purchase was Paco, and this 3 years ago, and I just have to say that Paco has provided us with an excellent service, always very professional, attending to our needs and responding to our emails as soon as possible. What he offered us has been delivered without missing any promise. The concierge staff is magnificent and we have never had a single problem to reserve our time there.