I am a former TIMESHARE EMPLOYEE IN MEXICO

I would like to sell my time share the Mayan Resort in Mexico. (VIDA) Can you suggest someone who can sell it for me without paying anything upfront. I contacted the resort and they do not do resell. Thank you Donna

timeshares4 wrote:

Greetings to you all,

I am a former employee of a large timeshare company in Mexico. I know all the lies, misrepresentation and deceitful sales pitch they use to scam people who purchase in good faith.

Let me explain you how it works.

The presentation would start by telling the clients that they need to give us a decision at the end. Then, we would have breakfast and ask questions as far as their traveling needs.

In the sales pitch, we were encouraged to offer a rental program (we had a training to learn how it works) where the new owner had the option to rent the weeks they would not use and use the rental money to pay for the timeshare. Also, if the client had a previous timeshare, a broker (Great Sales and Rentals*) would buy it from them so they would not accumulate timeshares. This was a big part of the sales presentation and many of my costumers were excited about these options.

I found latter these two options which made the clients very interested in becoming part of this timeshare, were blatant lies and a fraudulent sales pitch to get people to buy. Then, I started hearing rumors of colleagues making fun of costumers, jokes like "yeah! Like it is going to be rented", "suckers! They bought everything I pitch them!", or the manager stating in one of the meetings: "Sell however you can, we´ll fix it later (It made sense to me later)".

I asked around and confronted my colleagues just to find out that most people in the sales room were part of these scams. I confronted my sales manager asking him to stop this ordeal and as you might expect, he fired me.

I own a timeshare and have had great memories with my family. Even though the concept of Timeshare is good by itself, some unethical salespeople feel the need to create false expectations, exercising deceitful sales practices just to create an easy buck.

I open this forum and complaint so if you have any questions I can answer please write it down at the bottom and I will answer it with honesty and try to be of help.

*The name of the Rental Company has been change to avoid a potential law suit.

Timeshare salesman in Mexico.

Donna: Our Resources section will give you information on RedWeek's resale services. You can get answers to questions on our Full Service option by going here: Full Service Resales

(https://www.redweek.com/resources/faq/full-service-timeshare-resales)

If you need further assistance, please use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page.

Donna I would only trust Red Week to assist you in your matter. I am shocked you survived your sales presentation at Vidanta without them steering you toward Sell My Time Share Now (SMTN). In my opinion, SMTN is a complete scam!!! and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they give a kickback to Vidanta for every sucker (like I was) that believes their lies.

You've already it appears been in contact with someone from Red Week, so I'd follow their advice. I wish I had known about this forum before I got out my Vidanta timeshare. Buena suerte!

donnam1295 wrote:

I would like to sell my time share the Mayan Resort in Mexico. (VIDA) Can you suggest someone who can sell it for me without paying anything upfront.

First of all, you are very smart to not pay anyone anything upfront to sell your timeshare. However, to be perfectly honest (and the truth will probably hurt), your timeshare likely has zero resale value despite what the sales person told you when you bought it. Many owners like you are actually having a hard time giving their Mayan units away. You can try listing it on E-bay and see if anyone bids on it.

If you've come to the realization that your unit is worth zero on the resale market, then you have to decide if you want to keep it or try to give it away. Since it is probably a right-to-use rather than deeded property (most units in Mexico are RTU), then one possibility is to just stop paying maintenance fees and the resort will eventually terminate your membership. The downside is that you will face a bunch of collection calls and possibly a hit on your credit rating.

Just want to know If emailing cancellation letter is good enough on the last day of the 7 business day time frame of terminating the contract. We could not send the documents cuz we left for home that day. we tried cancelling a day before of our last day but salesman just tried to keep us on. We explained to him that we do not feel right after reading all the review we saw online. Anyways I got hold my Visa and cancelled any reoccurring payment for Vallarta Garden. And we were told there Is the 14days grace period to cancel any timeshare contract payment through credit cad. So our credit card company cancelled any payment but now Vallarta Gardens get collection agency calling us. Do we need to get a lawyer to cancel the contract? All we have is contract. There is no tittle of ownership as we have on our other time share. Please give us advice. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Mrs V.

Where and when did you sign the contract to buy

Vallarta Gardens in Mexico...

lancec13 wrote:

Where and when did you sign the contract to buy

Hi there! As Lance stated, it will be very difficult to sell your timeshare. I tried that and never got one bite. I could not even give it away to anyone. Charities will not want it either. So, what I ended up doing was contacting the timeshare company and asked if I could give it back to them for nothing. They accepted that. I was glad they did because I would have went with Lance's other suggestion of just not paying the maintenance fees.

I am with my parents in a resort that sounds like what you described. They bought in the summer. In this review, they were told they had bought a resale time share that is no longer sold, that the people never returned and the 12 months or next visit price freeze to upgrade to Grand Bliss was still in effect. But since they are sold out now, the offers only apply to very high end properties supposedly for the same 2011 price as the entry level.

They ended up accepting an offer of a half share (2 weeks versus 4) plus 2 SFX exchange weeks, plus 1 week for 10 years in the most exclusive yet to be built theme park (which gives access to all the levels below).

I'm concerned my parents are creating a huge liability for themselves. They want to rent out the weeks (have me do that for them, actually) to not only pay it off, but to make additional money while having the freedom to use it as well.

Advice? We can undo it within 5 days supposedly. They didn't know they had previously purchased a regular timeshare, so this seemed better as they could more easily rent everything out versus lower end. BUT - we have no experience in this!

Thank you for any advice. I have read a number of entries here and will be reading more.

Ingrid, if it was my parents, I would say "Good luck with that." They are dealing with a sales team that is pitching to their greed. Not good. Renting property in Mexico is so seasonal. And nothing is guaranteed. Your parents are totally misguided and selfish to try and unload this responsibility on you. A friend once told me, "If it was easy, everybody would do it." If you read your contract, there is a five day rescission clause. Write up a letter stating that your parents want to rescind the purchase, and mail it to the address in the contract. Send it with tracking and return receipt. If you want to do it in person, go to customer service - not the sales people who sold it. They are only in it for the money, and will do whatever they can to keep the sale. You do not need this headache.

If you are still within your five-day rescission period, then rescind immediately! Your parents were told a lot of lies or, at best, half-truths. Follow the rescission instructions carefully.

I bought with a partner and was duped. We believed all the lies. We have waited almost 30 days and just found out there was a 5 day clause in Nevada to rescind the contract or give it back. We feel we made a mistake and only have paid the down payment. Is there any way of getting out of the contract and the time share. out is what we want.

timeshares4 wrote:

Greetings to you all,

I am a former employee of a large timeshare company in Mexico. I know all the lies, misrepresentation and deceitful sales pitch they use to scam people who purchase in good faith.

Let me explain you how it works.

The presentation would start by telling the clients that they need to give us a decision at the end. Then, we would have breakfast and ask questions as far as their traveling needs.

In the sales pitch, we were encouraged to offer a rental program (we had a training to learn how it works) where the new owner had the option to rent the weeks they would not use and use the rental money to pay for the timeshare. Also, if the client had a previous timeshare, a broker (Great Sales and Rentals*) would buy it from them so they would not accumulate timeshares. This was a big part of the sales presentation and many of my costumers were excited about these options.

I found latter these two options which made the clients very interested in becoming part of this timeshare, were blatant lies and a fraudulent sales pitch to get people to buy. Then, I started hearing rumors of colleagues making fun of costumers, jokes like "yeah! Like it is going to be rented", "suckers! They bought everything I pitch them!", or the manager stating in one of the meetings: "Sell however you can, we´ll fix it later (It made sense to me later)".

I asked around and confronted my colleagues just to find out that most people in the sales room were part of these scams. I confronted my sales manager asking him to stop this ordeal and as you might expect, he fired me.

I own a timeshare and have had great memories with my family. Even though the concept of Timeshare is good by itself, some unethical salespeople feel the need to create false expectations, exercising deceitful sales practices just to create an easy buck.

I open this forum and complaint so if you have any questions I can answer please write it down at the bottom and I will answer it with honesty and try to be of help.

*The name of the Rental Company has been change to avoid a potential law suit.

Timeshare salesman in Mexico.

the time share out is what we want.

The first and most important piece of advice is to not pay any company, law firm , or charity any money that claims it can get you out of your contract or timeshare.

Go to this web page here:

https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/links-to-official-state-timeshare-laws-and-guides-manuals.298554/

And then scroll down to Nevada to see what your options are if you decide to let your unit go into foreclosure.

Hello- We bought in 2001 and do not want to continue with maintenance fee payments. The contract should be done in 2026. I contacted resort.com and they were of no help. Then we received a letter from the collection agency plus phone calls. I was trying to research to find other Avalon members. The collection agency agent said that I needed to pay up and then they would give me a number to call for cancellation. No real help- a little extortion if you know what I mean. I can't get any info from resort.com bc it has gone to a collection agency-so it's a run around in circles. My question is -Who do I have a contract with? The Avalon International Resorts does not exist, we do not have five resorts to exchange into just NYX, I did not sign a contract with NYX My contract says that basically if you do not pay, the contract is rescinded. I believe that it is a right to use not a deeded contract. I contacted a few people who walked away without any penalties etc. Wondering if anyone else has any words of wisdom?

Hello NYX owner: We also purchased a one-bedroom unit at the original Avalon Resorts in 2005. We decided around six months ago that we no longer wanted to use the timeshare because of my spouse's disability. He does not travel very well any longer. So, I contacted Resort.com via email and said I wanted to just "give back the unit" for free, not asking them to buy it back. They accepted that offer and sent me a Voluntary Surrender Notice that indicated this. We signed the letter (needed to be notarized) and sent it to them. Once they received the letter, I noticed my account said "Foreclosure" and I inquired what that meant. They told me this is how they indicate the account is closed. I asked again - just to be sure - and they again told me it was closed.

Here are emails from: ResortCom International <resortcom@mailva.custhelp.com>

Hello,

Please be advised when an account is cancelled we mark the contract status as foreclosed. It will not be marked on your credit.

Thank you,

MSA Dept.

Hello,

Since your account is cancelled, you are no longer require to pay fees.

Thank you, MSA Dept.

-I am not sure why you were not given this option. Maybe try the email route and ask specifically for the Voluntary Surrender option? Our maintenance fee was paid through 2019 and we did this before we received the invoice for 2020 for maintenance fees.

Note that we were given all those same options when we purchased and they all disappeared when it was sold. We were told we were "lucky" they were going to let us keep the timeshare at that time. We did not receive a new contract when the Avalon was sold. Ours was not deeded, just the RTU. Let me know if you have any questions! Peggy

deborah733 wrote:

I believe that it is a right to use not a deeded contract. I contacted a few people who walked away without any penalties etc. Wondering if anyone else has any words of wisdom?

If it is a Right-to-Use (RTU), then you can usually walk away without penalty. You might get some threatening collection calls and letters but those usually have no force.

I am in the middle of this same situation...wondering how yours ended,,??

In viewing our account it is marked as Foreclosure, which I was informed means our membership was cancelled, as we requested. Our account does not show any maintenance fees due, and we did not receive an invoice for maintenance fees.

I am a timeshare owner with the flamingos in Nuevo Vallarta and can confirm all of this to be true. How can we get a strong message out on the internet to warn Canadians and Anrricans about this scam.

danielb610 wrote:

I am a timeshare owner with the flamingos in Nuevo Vallarta and can confirm all of this to be true. How can we get a strong message out on the internet to warn Canadians and Anrricans about this scam.

What are you confirming to be true? And what is the scam about which you are posting?