Vida Vacations & Grand Mayan lies

The Mayan Palace / Vida Vacation Huge Scam!!.

Back in 2008 I took a Timeshare presentation at the Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta, I had just completed radical stemcell surgery.

I have tried countless times to right this wrong but those who are in charge namely Kelsy Sales Manager and Priscilla Members Manager have decided that keeping my $15k is more important than the truth. I WILL NOT stop until these scam artists return whats mine. Forget the fact that i was medically impaired, not one of the promises they made to was even close to the truth.

The internet is littered with their victims, mine is not an isolated case by any stretch.

How the owner Daniel Chavez supports this is beyond belief. For him to deny knowledge knowing what’s on the internet is beyond the pale. So that makes him the true leader of this organization.

I will continue to post on any and every venue that reaches anyone who may consider purchasing at the Mayan Palace. I am on disability so I have all day and night. Shame, shame, shame!

The Mayan did take a little responsibility and refunded 5k a while back which I took out of desperation to pay some medical bills. Now I'm trying to get the remainder of my money and I noticed that the squeeky wheel gets the oil, which is what brought me here. As a side note I have posted on other complaint sites and yesterday the Mayan informed me when I accepted the 5k I signed a gag order and they are looking into coming after me legally now. I told them I would make my medical history available to them, to which they never responded. They really don't give a hoot. Its incredible how they are supporting these practices.

I'll be back

I received a reply on another forum I'm using to shine the light of day on the Mayans duplicitious sales practices. In that reply she stated that my claims of being lied to are not legit. My story is repeated by countless other vctims of their scam....I guess we're the liers. I didn't dream up the rental income aspect, it was pounded on by Vida reps and managers for 6 hrs. So Vida allows its guests to be "trick f^%#ed and set up for a fall" by its sales reps and Vida accepts zero responsibility for their fraudulent conduct. You all must be very proud of yourselves.

Vida's Cirque-us of Deception I posted here a couple of days ago and I want to everyone to know I've been in contact with Karen Rose and they essentially said too bad! Too bad? Yes too bad I trusted them. My case is no different then the many, many victims who have posted here and other complaint sites, I fell for the rental/resale scam. There's no question they know their sales teams say whatever they have to to make the sale (they actually think they're creative and legitimate) and they(Ownership/Management) some how justify supporting this. The reason I fell into their web of lies and deceit is they seemed so credible. Who would think that the owners of one of the magnificent places on the planet would allow such a thing. It never really crossed my mind they were not telling me the truth about the two main reasons I was buying (rental income and reselling my Shell Vacation program). Another point of credibility was how they touted their association with Cirque du Soleil, they are number one in the world in what they do. So I thought who would build all this, be able to attract a world class leader such as Curque and allow the sales teams to run wild and say whatever it takes, truth be damned. This is not to be an indictment in anyway against Cirque, I've seen four of there shows, but do they really want to be associated a group that is doing what is so well documented here and other consumer forums? That's a head scratcher. Ms. Rose I urge you to reconsider your position

Dear Mrs. Rigg and Mrs. Ford,

We have been informed about your comments. As you know, we are committed to helping you understand the great value of acquiring a membership with us, as well as the significant benefits we offer our members. Although the information is clear in the signed documents, we continue to work towards an even clearer communication.

That being said and as stated in your contract, remember the company makes no representations regarding the market for vacation ownership rentals or resale, nor recommends buying this product for rentals, resale or investment. Not only is this included twice within the body of the contract, but it is also included in the summary outline which you both initialed more than once.

Our hard work is focused on developing great products and surpassing your expectations; as we continue to grow in the industry by making our members’ vacations a memorable experience. As we have stated to your advocate, we look forward to helping you both within the legal boundaries of your memberships with us and we remain at their service.

Sincerely, Karen Rose Customer Support Representative Email: grupomayanblog@grupovidanta.com

Ms. Rose, We don't dispute that your contract covers what you state. What we are disputing is how the contract was achieved, something that we've stated in each of our posting but something you refuse or can't address without admitting culpability.

Fraud: If one person knowingly made a material misrepresentation that the other person reasonably relied upon, and disadvantaged the other person. A material misrepresentation is an important untruth. The contract may be set aside on the grounds of fraud. Fraud requires an outright lie, or substantial failure to state a material fact about an important part of the contract. Fraud will invalidate a contract. Thus we contend the contract you mention is invalid.

You refer to legal boundaries, does Vida consider pitching rent and resale to prospective members within legal boundaries knowing it’s a benefit that will NEVER be achieved? If we understand you correctly you're saying that Vida sales reps can misrepresent your product to unsuspecting clients tell them whatever is needed to achieve the sale, and Vida policy is that this practice is within legal bounds and Vida will support this duplicitous way of selling. Due to the facts we’ve presented this is the only conclusion one can draw. It’s worth mentioning, this contract has never been used. Although the contract says it’s not to be purchased for investment, the sales team made repeated assurances that rental income and the resale of the Shell property was not going to be a problem. Yes Mrs. Ford is guilty of believing the Vida sales team. And Vida’s position Ms. Rose is that was a mistake on her part? This entire contract was achieved via lies and deception. Please address why you allow such deceptive sales practices and then blame the unsuspecting consumer for believing what they were told by sales reps representing Vida Vacations.

Ms Rose we urge you to reconsider your position.

Elvira - One of the most intelligent, organized, literate, and truthful posts I have ever seen. I hope you get a worthy response. However, it seems that Vida has gone from "settling" with disgruntled clients (expensive) to merely responding. We all know the devil is in "the details" (of the contract). The "Philanthropist and his Mayan Empire" is probably losing some of his cache'. I wish you luck.

Thank you, it's easy when you tell the truth.

johni116 wrote:

Elvira - One of the most intelligent, organized, literate, and truthful posts I have ever seen. I hope you get a worthy response. However, it seems that Vida has gone from "settling" with disgruntled clients (expensive) to merely responding. We all know the devil is in "the details" (of the contract). The "Philanthropist and his Mayan Empire" is probably losing some of his cache'. I wish you luck.

Ms. Gines You talk about your commitment. Your commitment clearly is to support the duplicitous sales practices of your sales teams. Yes I'm sure you have great benefits, but to say for the umpteenth time Vida sales reps sold me on the rental income and the resale of Shell. They are trained to do so and that's not in dispute, mine is not an isolated case. A couple of posts ago you said what I was saying was illegitimate, is training your sales reps to pitch me something Vida can't and won't support legitimate? Back to commitment, you are committed to customer acquisition that's clear. If you are knowingly training/selling benefits that you never intend to deliver on, that's criminal plain and simple. As I mentioned to you yesterday Vidas position will always be burdened with the actual truth. Last, boundaries, will Vida not take responsibility for inducing clients into a contract with lies and deception? Once a client is stuck with a contract based on fraud, then you become sanctimonious and expect compliance on behalf of the injured party. It's hard to believe you're actually defending a well documented scheme to defraud and claiming the high moral ground to boot

Vida Vacation/ Mayan Palace Supports Sales Reps Lying!!

Unfortunately the saga with Vida vacation goes on another day.We are trying to resolve this offline but Vida insists that they are within there legal rights to support a process that trains sales reps to present non-existent benefits such as rental, resale and now their latest scam is presenting their Private Residence Club as deeded property, another lie.

It is still right to use, you "own nothing", it's still a lease agreement. Vida contends that they are absolutely within legal bounds to train their sales teams to misrepresent their product and if the victims of this misrepresentation don't realize it after a usually 6 hr presentation Vida is not responsible. They essentially are saying "hey, it's not our fault you were stupid enough to believe our sales team".

Surely this post will be followed by a standard copy/paste comment from Vida stating how they what to work with us so we can enjoy the benefits of our agreement, not the benefits vida presented to me the day I bought.

These comments reach a relatively small number of people, if your are a victim of this scam please spread the word to help others avoid the Vida Cirque-us.We are to widening the reach of our message and would appreciate a hand. Thanks, Christie

My wife and I went for a breakfast session and sales presentation this morning. I had always heard about the sales tactics of vacation club staff, but this experience was remarkable, to say the least. Before today, I was actually open to the concept of a vacation package ownership. After today, no way in hell will I ever buy. Especially at Grand Mayan.

We met our sales guy, Richard, who was very friendly and easy-going. We toured the Grand Mayan, and The Bilss and had a breakfast at their rather impressively large buffet. All was good until they deposited us on the floor of the Grand Bliss, in a large auditorium style room with tables and chairs everywhere. To this point, there had been model rooms shown, smartly dressed sales reps and a semi-professional approach. Once in the pressure cooker room for closing, however, everything changed. Richard, although thrown into the wolves and unable to answer the most basic questions about the property, meant well, but had no real possibility of closing any deal. He was very nice but vastly untrained on basic facts of the company and ownership.

When I requested a detailed accounting of some hard numbers to consider, nothing was provided. When told I wanted to take some collateral material with me for review, nothing was provided by the sales team. When I told them I was hesitant to buy into a club until I had spent the remainder of the week experiencing PV, I was told I had to buy today under some Federal Act that required people to purchase on site only. When I finally said, "I am not writing a check today , please just provide information and allow us the opportunity to review information and continue the conversation later" I was presented with some questionable sales manager that then began to write down numbers on the note pad, reduce figures and further provide smoke and mirrors on why Mexico is the only place to buy in. She was also pretty demeaning to Richard, the guy who had taken the time to show us around.

We got led downstairs to check out with some guy who works the "construction side" of the business and was asked a few questions. At this point, he told us the "sale people really aren't part of our team" and offered even lower and lower price points. But, they would still not get the clue that nothing would be signed without some time to discuss and review material. Finally, they brought in some guy who worked in their financial department. He was a true gem and almost got his nose broken for insulting my wife. He said, "So, as a lawyer, you are telling me you need to read an agreement entirely before you sign?" Me: "um....yes, its a basic concept of law. Contracts, are binding." Him: "Really, because even when you hit the 'send' button on internet purchases, there are ways out of it. This really is no big deal." Me: "Really? Would the team of Mr. Chavez's attorneys just "let me out" of some agreement for $22,000? I think not." Then he proceeding to accuse us of coming just to get free breakfast and not really wanting to purchase or consider purchasing. He offered up the name of his manager to my wife (who wanted to file a complaint after his comments) but then he backed away, never to provide the contact info, even after it was requested again. We finally got the OK to check out, but its amazing how horrible the experience was. We were actually prepared to DISCUSS purchasing a vacation package and open to the idea. After this BS, I feel like I luckily escaped these hacks. I am sorry to hear that others have been victimized.

This place and Mr. Chavez's apparent dream of becoming bigger than Disney are a total joke.

Well described Dan. If you must own a week at the Mayan buy it used, there are a ton of them out there. It really is amazing that Cirque du Soleil doesn't demand they clean up their act. More amazing is how they will lend the Cirque brand to that type of selling.

Vida Vacations Stop The Charade!!

It's been over a week since we have placed a complaint on this site in an attempt to encourage Vida Vacation to cancel and refund our purchase. Their response has been to show concern about us getting benefits from their program, they refuse to acknowledge the benefits we were promised by their sales team (rental/resale).

We know they have incredible resorts, that many of their members seem to enjoy. However, we have demonstrated that we were sold under false pretenses and cannot be a part of their "happy family". Their latest answer to us has been that we file a complaint with an arbitration board in Guadalajara, Mexico and work it through the court system there. They expect us to travel at our expense to Mexico and hire a local attorney to represent us there. We have done some research and these types of cases typically take 8 months to a year if we're lucky to resolve, and we would have to attend some of the hearings to be deposed. This obviously is not an option, which Vida knows unhappy and cheated members would ever choose. The fact that they have set up their dispute resolution process this way is yet another demonstration of their contempt for anyone who objects to their deceptive sales practices.

We have knowledge that Vida has stopped selling their rental/resale pitch which we applaud but we are stuck with a relic of their past and urge Vida to acknowledge our claim and reconsider their position.

Vida doesn’t dispute that I was lied to, and in fact this would be an unrealistic position as their notorious practices are well documented throughout the internet. What the company does say is that those promises made by the sales team are not consistent with the timeshare contract, and therefore Vida will not support the representations made by its sales teams.

Elvira, I like your spunk. You have noticed that Vida has ended up with people retracting their "slanderous" statements after some hocus-pocus with e-mails and offers. They seem to have dug-in lately as their settlements have probably gotten expensive. So now, they try diplomacy. I must say that I have enjoyed the "Wyndham guy" in the red shirt (on Youtube) who does his complaints about the Wyndham system. He has over 140K views. And George McGarrett has seemed to hit the nail on the head with his "Philanthropist and His Mayan Empire." That must burn their buns.

I wonder if you might make a final offer to the lovely people at Vida. Tell them that you will do your own video on Youtube, and they won't like it. That you will tell the truth and expose their sales techniques for all to see. If that doesn't illicit a positive response, I don't know what will. :-)

We're hoping it doesn't get to that, but it's certainly something that we view a a serious option.

johni116 wrote:

Elvira, I like your spunk. You have noticed that Vida has ended up with people retracting their "slanderous" statements after some hocus-pocus with e-mails and offers. They seem to have dug-in lately as their settlements have probably gotten expensive. So now, they try diplomacy. I must say that I have enjoyed the "Wyndham guy" in the red shirt (on Youtube) who does his complaints about the Wyndham system. He has over 140K views. And George McGarrett has seemed to hit the nail on the head with his "Philanthropist and His Mayan Empire." That must burn their buns.

I wonder if you might make a final offer to the lovely people at Vida. Tell them that you will do your own video on Youtube, and they won't like it. That you will tell the truth and expose their sales techniques for all to see. If that doesn't illicit a positive response, I don't know what will. :-)

The Mayan Empire has successfully removed the YouTube video The Philanthropist and his Mayan Empire. I am trying to get a refund because sales lied to me so I am posting here and several other site, I also sent my story to some of their business associates and they've sent their lawyers after me for simply sharing that facts of what happened to me. Imagine that, not only have they let their sales dept lie to me to get my money, but now they what to take my right to free speech away.

Just as they had taken down a video that speaks the truth. (I can verify its truth because it exactly what happened to me) they threaten us with legal action for giving a factual accounting of what they did and how they lied. It's not defamation if it's factual. This is a classic case of corporate bullying. We won't lie about our experience and we won't stop until The Mayan does the right thing.

"Awesome Lady", and I, will be in PV in the spring.

We will not be doing the update. Which will, I am sure, disappoint the "time share lady" that will undoubtedly be waiting for us on arrival at the resort.

I probably wouldn't mind if the time was well spent. After all the breakfast is usually pretty good. However, the dessert (the time wandering the resort and listening to the "stories") is usually a waste of time.

The "YouTube" video, even though removed from Y'tube, is undoubtedly "alive and well" due to being downloaded onto numerous computers. I might even have it. Even if it has errors, still interesting to watch.

Yes I'm sure there are many who saved it. And I agree about the errors. The one about the owners early life and where his start up money came from i think is BS, thought that it was stereotypical racism.....not good. All the sales stuff is dead on though. The trick f#%k line will live in timeshare infamy.

Vida Vacations ....Above The Law?

We are still trying to get the Mayan to issue a long overdue refund for selling a contract based on deceptive and fraudulent sales tactics. For those of you who don't know the Mayan no longer uses the infamous Rental/Resale list. Bravo!!!

Unfortunately I own a Mayan artifact of their deceptive past. The Mayan wants us to be quiet and learn to enjoy what they tricked us into buying, that is not going to happen. If they want us to be quiet they need to fix what they admit their sales team did to us. They think that by threatening us with legal consequences we will cower and go away. We have made every effort to resolve this dispute offline but they prefer to support their duplicitous sales team, so we are exercising our right to freedom of speech.

The Mayan enabled their sales teams to pitch us rental income all the while knowing it would never work. Their position is we should have been aware that their sales team was allowed to promote a benefit that was proven to be useless. As incredible as it sounds it's true. Anyone who has been on a Mayan sales presentation in the last 10 years can attest to the fact that rental income is a huge part of their presentation. We sent a letter to Cirque du Soleil informing them that The Mayan is abusing public trust and confidence by employing such tactics and are waiting for a response. To be clear Cirque has nothing to do whatsoever with the sales practices the Mayan uses....not at all. But it is a shame that the Mayan drops names such as Cirque, Nicklaus Golf, Greg Norman ect... to lead unsuspecting consumers into believing that their credibility is unquestionable, then they allow sales reps to deceive unsuspecting consumers and by the time you figure it out like me......it's too late.

Christie.