Vida Vacations & Grand Mayan lies

theresac149 wrote:

We haven’t paid our maintenance fees in 4 years. We want to get rid of our contract.

If you haven't paid your maintenance fees in four years and haven't heard from them, then they likely just canceled your membership.

Lance, Thank you for the message. Do you know of any legal issues we should address?

"I submitted the form after I got back to the U.S., and then they scheduled a hearing. Fortunately, Vida Vacations had caved and cancelled my contract and returned my funds, so I didn't have to go through the hearing. They were really nervous, though, and wanted me to "call off the dogs" when it came to Profeco."

How long did it take for Porfeco to respond to your email? Did you send it in Spanish? I sent mine to them December 7th and still have not heard back.

theresac149 wrote:

Do you know of any legal issues we should address?

If they haven't contacted you in four years, then likely they just canceled your membership and are moving on. Have you received any collection calls or letters?

They responded within 10 days. My initial email was just in English, but then after that I sent everything in both English and Spanish.

Have you posted anything on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn? That is really where they're going to get hit. I would also go and post negative comments on Trip Advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/

Good luck!!

Hello All,

We just set our appointment up to cancel our contract. We're here at Vidanta. We traded our 2 timeshares and purchased from Vidanta. I was worried they will never transfer over and we will be stuck with 3 timeshares. They did try to change our minds and told us that if for some reason the 2 timeshares don't transfer, then we dont have to accept Vidanta contract. They will just take their contract back and we dont have to start paying.

Not really sure what the guy was saying but basically if they dont transfer then we dont have to start paying them. They cant do anything since we're not citizens of mexico. I dont like the idea of not paying to get rid of the contract. Im unsure so Im glad I went on this Forum and immediately cancelled within 5 days!

Good for you!! Congratulations for your fast thinking -- now you can enjoy your vacation :)

Thanks to all of you here!

I am just catching up with this thread after many months of not looking at it. I just wanted all of you to know that we walked away from this company after buying last spring. We tried negotiating for two months with very little change in the price we had paid. Then we put a dispute through our visa who returned our down payment. At that point they offered us half the price. But by then we had become aware that no price was cheap enough with such a dishonest company. We did not pay the final payment which was due in full a month later. We had some evidence through texts from the salesman that showed fraudulent answers from him so that might be why they haven’t bothered us. They said they would not talk to us while settling the dispute with Visa and that would take 6 months. It is well past 6 months and we still have not heard from them. Mind you, we stopped answering unknown names on our phone. But nothing by mail or email. If anyone wants personal help currently, our best resource was through searching Facebook and finding Vida Vacation Scams. You can work with them re your own situation through private messages which was very helpful to Us.

So glad that you are able to cancel. We are still trying to get them to cancel and refund without any success. They cannot be trusted. They tell you you wouldn't have to pay in the case that your timeshares do not transfer, that is because they know the timeshare will transfer. You will pay the the third party company that they work with to get your timeshare from you. In this case, you basically pay someone to have your timeshare. By the way, the guy at the company was extremely rude, after he got us on the phone he then wanted us to pay him some $5000-$6000 (per timeshare) to "sell" our timeshare for us. He said that if we just pay the $1850 for each timeshare then we pretty much just lose the timeshare and not getting any of the sales proceed. If we pay him $5000 - $6000 for each timeshare then he will list them for sell and give us the profit. Very funny...

So glad that you actually went through the steps to pull the trigger to cancel. Don't let them persuade you to keep it. They don't care what they tell you, it only matters what you sign in the contract, which doesn't have anything they tell you about not having to pay if the timeshares don't transfer. Also, if you went to "closing" where they supposedly recording the "closing" conversation, they won't give you a copy of that recording even though you are entitled. They told me they had disclose something during that "recorded conversation" and I asked them to gave me a copy as I am very sure that they didn't. They came back and told me that the recording is for their internal use and they won't share that.

Now I have emails and phone messages from them saying that they would like to proceed with the cancellation and want to send me a letter to sign. I requested them to send the documents for review first but they wouldn't. They wanted to "talk". So as requested I agreed to set up phone appointment with them, however, they have repetitively failed to call me at the agreed upon time. Each time I asked them why they didn't call, they just ignore and ask me when is the best time to call and then we are back to square one. 3 appointments later, they still haven't called. I bet next week I am going to get another email and ask when would be a best time to call.

Basically these people do not have your interests in mind and cannot be trusted. I am happy that you didn't get scammed. Good for you.

I would never recommend For anyone to buy at this resort. We were victims of their scams and regret it.

Will the TRM company be able to sell our timeshares without having to ourchase a unit from Vidanta?

Did they refun you the deposit

clarissak7 wrote:

Will the TRM company be able to sell our timeshares without having to ourchase a unit from Vidanta?

What's the TRM company? What timeshares do you have that you want a company to sell? Most timeshares are worth about zero dollars so no legitimate company will be begging for your patronage trying to sell your timeshare?

Also, even if you do have a highly-valued timeshare that companies might legitimately want to sell, it would not be contingent on you purchasing another unit from Vidanta or anyone else.

Yes, if they're telling you some story about being able to sell your timeshare for you if you buy with them, that's hooey. Run! Run fast!!!!

A common lure / scam in Mexican timeshare sales is for them to offer to take unwanted timeshares "in trade" and give you "credit" for the "trade in" --- if you buy whatever Mexican timeshare product they are peddling. They provide a (completely meaningless, entirely phony) "credit" amount for the "trade in" toward the new purchase. The problem is that subsequently, they don't actually do anything at all with the "trade in", essentially just ignoring it (and leaving it in your name). Of course, people don't usually discover this scam until their next maintenance fee bill arrives. Their U.S. resort doesn't know (or care one bit) about some alleged "trade in" in Mexico. All the U.S. resort knows (or cares) is that YOU are still the legal owner of record here and that YOU are still fully responsible for all maintenance fees until such time as a valid new deed is officially recorded here in the U.S., reflecting a new and legitimate "grantee". Unless that happens, the "lucky winner" now has full legal responsibility for BOTH the old AND the new timeshares. Ain't THAT just grand?

Personally, I would not touch ANY Mexican timeshare with a 10 foot pole --- not even if offered for free, with a handful of U.S. Benjamins also included as a bonus. There is an old saying that "A fool and his money are soon parted". Nowhere is this old saying more true than in Mexican timeshare sales operations, in my personal opinion.

My husband and I bought 5 years ago and have had issues and regretted it ever since. Please Beware......

The shortened version of our story : When we purchased the "Collections" we were told we could vacation at any of the Grand Mayan resorts of equal status until construction of our building was complete Upon purchase they even moved us from their sister resort Sea Garden into the Grand Mayan for the remainder of our vacation. When we went to book our room the next year we were advised we did not purchase at the Grand Mayan, we were only entitled to stay at the Mayan Palace, which is lower level accomodations.We were also advised ( contrary to what we were told at time of purchase) that we could not book at all of the resorts because we were only Mayan Palace not Grand Mayan. BUT , One of the reasons we finally agreed to the purchase was because I wanted to be able to use the resort in Cabo San Lucas.

We have argued with Vidanta every year about this when we do our ' update' session. We keep telling them we have been misled. They continue to deny any knowledge of this and then the up-sell begins!!

Interestingly enough when we met with the resort rep this year she told us that we definately book the Grand Mayan and that it was the reservation desk that was wrong. .!?

Apparently our building The Collections is now complete, we will do our update and see what transpires on Wednesday.

We are clearly the victims of the old 'Bait and Switch. I have tried to address this with the very very aggressive salesperson whom we dealt with, Leif Kaufman , but after many attempts over the first 2 years I was finally told he is no longer with them.

I have asked that the digital voice recording be pulled so we could go over the conversation to confirm what we agreed to but they say this is not possible.Why not? No clear answer !

We have had many issues over the years with our accomodations and the quality of the resort. This Year the service has definately gone down hill.

There is a rumour that Vidanta will be doing away with the Mayan Palace buildings and only have the Grand Mayan. If this is true will they have to place Mayan Palace owners into Grand Mayan properties? Or will they buy us out?

There are a few positives about this place but sadly the negatives outweigh the positives.

My question for now is this, do you think there is anything Profeco could or would do for us at this late date? I just wish I had seen this site 5 years ago. The only reason we continue to come is because we have paid for it so i guess one way to look at it is that it forces us to take a vacation every year.

Has anyone ever started a class action lawsuit against Vidanta? Where can one find this info?

Many thanks for reading this and welcome any comments.

While I empathize with your plight, the straightforward fact is that it matters not one bit what the hungry, lying sales weasels "SAID". All that matters in the final analysis is the written content of the contract you signed. If access to multiple resorts is not overtly stated within your contract, then said access to multiple properties does not exist. I''m sure you wish it was otherwise, but those are the harsh facts.

As far as a "class action lawsuit", there is no chance of initiating or succeeding in any such action. First, you would be subject to whatever poor excuse for "law" exists in Mexico and second, you would need to find an attorney licensed to practice what passes for "law" in Mexico and who is willing to take a case on contingency, with virtually no chance of winning (or ever getting paid). Good luck with that.

Sorry, but you've been snookered. If you are not satisfied with the quality of the only accommodations you are allowed to access, perhaps it's time to consider just walking away from the whole thing, paying not another dime to those thieving parasites --- ever.

I filed a complaint with Profeco, and they scheduled a hearing between me and Vidanta/Grand Mayan. I also hit the company HARD on social media. I mean twice daily on Twitter, Face Book, IG, and LinkedIn. I had taken photos of the dirty pool at Riviera Maya and posted it, and I also went after their business partners, such as Conde Nast and Travel and Leisure, who awarded them "Best Of" in 2019 for Mexican destinations. Really? Wonder how much Vidanta paid them for that. I also went after Jack Nicklaus, since he designed their golf courses, and Cirque du Soleil. Get creative. Most importantly I posted nasty reviews (with pictures) on Trip Advisor.

Within two months my contract was canceled and my money was returned. I didn't have to go through with the hearing with Profeco, but I told their office to keep an eye on them and to definitely take any other complaints seriously. Of course, in return for getting my money back, I had to take down all of my nasty comments from social media and Trip Advisor, which was fine.

Give it a try -- good luck!

brendas670 wrote:

Re: >> There is a rumour that Vidanta will be doing away with the Mayan Palace buildings and only have the Grand Mayan. If this is true will they have to place Mayan Palace owners into Grand Mayan properties? Or will they buy us out?

I don't know a lot about these particular Mexican parasites, but remember that you don't actually own anything there to begin with (you merely have a contract for a "right to use"). If the property identified in your contract ceases to exist and becomes no longer available for use, I'm guessing that your contract endures the very same fate (I'd be glad to be completely wrong about that).

One would like to hope that they would make some sort of compensatory accommodation if your particular RTU-contract property got demolished, but I personally would be unwilling to place any bets on that. I wish you luck. Unfortunately, you are now years past the time period when PROFECO could or would possibly have done anything to help you.