Need referral for Playa del Carmen attorney

We purchased a vacation membership from Sandos Resorts a few years ago.

It’s and All Inclusive resort and before we purchased the membership, we had them add specific language to the contract that limits the AI fee to $100, forever. As time has passed and the AI fees are now over $100 and they’re refusing to honor our contract. They are now claiming that the language in our contract was only meant to give us a “range” of AI fees that we “might” pay, which is BS. I know that the wording in our specific contract is different from every other contract, because we had them change it i.e. if we could SEE other contracts signed during that same period, it would prove that the intention for OUR contract, was to limit the AI fees.

We spent over $17,000 for this membership and we would have NEVER done so, if we thought that they would not honor this part of the agreement (before we signed, we tried to think of anything that could go wrong and we specifically got things clarified in WRITING…but we didn’t anticipate that they would tell us to take a hike…)

We’d like to at least speak with or communicate with an attorney who is knowledgeable about timeshare rip off’s etc. and see if we can either get our contract enforced or make them return our money (but it’s been 4 or 5 years since we originally purchased).

Does anyone have any contacts or experience that might help us? It’s important that I find an attorney who understands English, can communicate via email and of course, someone who knows the laws re all this.

Thanks! Jerolyn

jerolyn2 wrote:

We purchased a vacation membership from Sandos Resorts a few years ago.

It’s and All Inclusive resort and before we purchased the membership, we had them add specific language to the contract that limits the AI fee to $100, forever. As time has passed and the AI fees are now over $100 and they’re refusing to honor our contract. They are now claiming that the language in our contract was only meant to give us a “range” of AI fees that we “might” pay, which is BS. I know that the wording in our specific contract is different from every other contract, because we had them change it i.e. if we could SEE other contracts signed during that same period, it would prove that the intention for OUR contract, was to limit the AI fees.

We spent over $17,000 for this membership and we would have NEVER done so, if we thought that they would not honor this part of the agreement (before we signed, we tried to think of anything that could go wrong and we specifically got things clarified in WRITING…but we didn’t anticipate that they would tell us to take a hike…)

We’d like to at least speak with or communicate with an attorney who is knowledgeable about timeshare rip off’s etc. and see if we can either get our contract enforced or make them return our money (but it’s been 4 or 5 years since we originally purchased).

Does anyone have any contacts or experience that might help us? It’s important that I find an attorney who understands English, can communicate via email and of course, someone who knows the laws re all this.

Thanks! Jerolyn

Legally binding signed contracts are just that .... you signed a legal contract stating that the all inclusive fees stay at $100 forever .... any attorney should be able to verify this ... it would seem the resort is trying to bully you.

Also, you might get in contact with PROFECO (the consumer advocacy agency in Mexico) and file a complaint .... you can google for contact info.

We used the Profeco office several years ago when we signed up for our first timeshare with Royal Holiday. We ended up getting our deposit back (our request was made within the 3 day time frame required by law), but it took us almost every day of the next two weeks, going back and forth to the Profeco's office before the company was forced to return our money and even then, the Profeco's office REQUIRED us to go back to the company to let them give us even more pressure. Fortunately, a local business man, solely out of the kindness of his heart, assisted us with the language problem at the Profeco's office and helped us move things along. If we would not have made this mistake at the beginning of our vacaion and still had the remaining two weeks to deal with all this, I seriously doubt that we would have gotten out of that contract....IOW, I'm not a big fan of the Profeco's office...so I"m looking for a local attorney who speaks decent English, who can help us with this.

jerolyn2 wrote:

We used the Profeco office several years ago when we signed up for our first timeshare with Royal Holiday. We ended up getting our deposit back (our request was made within the 3 day time frame required by law), but it took us almost every day of the next two weeks, going back and forth to the Profeco's office before the company was forced to return our money and even then, the Profeco's office REQUIRED us to go back to the company to let them give us even more pressure. Fortunately, a local business man, solely out of the kindness of his heart, assisted us with the language problem at the Profeco's office and helped us move things along. If we would not have made this mistake at the beginning of our vacaion and still had the remaining two weeks to deal with all this, I seriously doubt that we would have gotten out of that contract....IOW, I'm not a big fan of the Profeco's office...so I"m looking for a local attorney who speaks decent English, who can help us with this.

With all due respect, Profeco DID help you get your money back. They have helped thousands of people get their money back when they have been defrauded by a Mexican timeshare resort.

I guess I don't understand why you need a Spanish speaking attorney .... did the resort representatives not speak English when you initially bought your timeshare?

If you think you have to have a Spanish speaking attorney then Google is your best friend.

We needed the Spanish speaking person to help us speak with the Profeco's office. No one there spoke hardly ANY English. I've gone to the Profeco's website and even though you can click on "English", to get an English version of the website, the only English on the site appear to be the first two paragraphs on the home page - all of the tabs and everything else is in Spanish, which unfortunately, I don't speak....

I've tried the internet re finding an attorney and so far, I haven't had any luck...

bilingual attorneys in Playa Del Carmen MX:

http://www.matalaw.com

http://playaattorney.com/faq/how-can-bilingual-attorneys-help-with-contracts/

Thanks SO much. I will check out both of these resources.

Regards, Jerolyn

Royal Elite has the worst customer service ever known.. a timeshare membership shouldn't being sold for the purporse of renting it out for a profit. it is not an investment. you should be able to do a research about the company before signing, if you are not allow to take a couple days to consider a purchase as big as a timeshare membership, you shouldnt purchase it at all..

Monique, Thanks for the link to this company. I actually managed to find them on the internet and spoke with someone (can't remember his name now). He was extremely knowledgeable re Sandos and I think his company is the real deal, but what they primarily do is to help people who want to get out of paying for the annual maint. fees and are willing to just walk away from what they paid for their contract. He's been very successful at getting the contracts cancelled. I was more interested in getting Sandos to buy us out because they were not honoring the written agreement. I actually like the resort, I just want them to give us what they agreed to in writing. What I was told is that, in Mexico, even if I took Sandos to court and the court forced them to honor the written contract, Sandos would probably just stop doing again (and I'd be back where I was, but out a lot of attorney costs) and legally, I would be prohibited from going to court again for the same issue! Unbelievable!

moniqueb50 wrote:

Royal Elite has the worst customer service ever known.. a timeshare membership shouldn't being sold for the purporse of renting it out for a profit. it is not an investment. you should be able to do a research about the company before signing, if you are not allow to take a couple days to consider a purchase as big as a timeshare membership, you shouldnt purchase it at all..

There's a mandated 5 day rescission period in MX for developer timeshare purchases .... if this fact was not included in your contract then PROFECO can help you because you have been defrauded.

jerolyn2 wrote:

Monique, Thanks for the link to this company. I actually managed to find them on the internet and spoke with someone (can't remember his name now). He was extremely knowledgeable re Sandos and I think his company is the real deal, but what they primarily do is to help people who want to get out of paying for the annual maint. fees and are willing to just walk away from what they paid for their contract. He's been very successful at getting the contracts cancelled. I was more interested in getting Sandos to buy us out because they were not honoring the written agreement. I actually like the resort, I just want them to give us what they agreed to in writing. What I was told is that, in Mexico, even if I took Sandos to court and the court forced them to honor the written contract, Sandos would probably just stop doing again (and I'd be back where I was, but out a lot of attorney costs) and legally, I would be prohibited from going to court again for the same issue! Unbelievable!

I beg to differ .... if you signed a legally binding contract to purchase a timeshare in MX then there's no entity that can get you OUT of that contract, period, UNLESS you can prove fraud and then you need to contact PROFECO (the consumer advocacy agency in MX) .... they are the only entity that can help you .... all others that contact you only want your money, then you're history.

You say Sandos is not honoring the written contract .... exactly what are they not honoring?

It would seem the fellow you talked to is a success in his own mind only.

By law, you have five business days in Mexico to cancel the contract after you have signed it. If you decide to cancel the purchase within this period, notify the developer by email and certified mail. Keep the receipt as evidence you cancelled on time. You should receive a prompt refund of all the money you have paid, without any cancelling penalties, within fifteen business days

victoriaf56 By law, you have five business days in Mexico to cancel the contract after you have signed it. If you decide to cancel the purchase within this period, notify the developer by email and certified mail. Keep the receipt as evidence you cancelled on time. You should receive a prompt refund of all the money you have paid, without any cancelling penalties, within fifteen business days

It's the "by law" part that's always in question...hence my original email. Re the 5 day "legal" refund of a timeshare purchase ... that's all good "in theory", but for this to take place, you have to first BUY the timeshare, take a couple of days to do your research (like someone else suggested), THEN (and here's the catch) you have to TRY and get your money back from the Seller. We bought another TS in Mexico a long time ago and had regrets the next day. I spend the next TWO weeks of my vacation going back and forth at the Profeco's office in two cities (where almost no one spoke any English - we finally found a wonderful Mexican business owner who was gracious enough to hear our plight and he just helped us through the process, out of the kindness of his heart - seriously, he was just wonderful!).

The Profeco's office kept telling me that LEGALLY the seller's had to refund our money, but GETTING them to actually do that, was a miserable experience and ended up with the seller's requiring (and the Profeco's office telling us we needed to comply if we wanted to get our refund...) that we show up AGAIN, in person, at the resort to PERSONALLY request our refund, so they could get one more try to convince us...

The bottom-line was that if we didn't start the "refund" process at the beginning of our TWO week vacation, I shudder to think how hard it would have been to get the refund from the US.

After a Mayan Mazatlan TS purchase, we put in ALL the required paperwork for the "5-day-cancellation" law. The Mexican Federal Government in Mexico City took up our case, and, after 2.5 years of meeting with and fining the TS ...gave up and left us without any return of our money. My last correspondence with the Federal Government office (FEDERAL CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY, CLAUDIA FLORES TAVIRA) WAS "your file will be closed without prejudice to your rights in case you decide to take the matter to the Mexican Tribunals." I have no idea of what to do next to recoup our purchase monies! Can anyone out there HELP us!

You submitted the refund request within the 5 days and still got nothing? We did that with another timeshare purchase many years ago and while I spent almost everyday of our 2 week vacation, at the Perfeco's office, we finally did manage to get our money back (however, they insisted that we actually go back to the TS sales office so they could PUSH us to stay, one more time).

I really don't have much advice for you at this point. In our current situation, where our TS company is ignoring the written terms of our contract, we were told that if we did hire an attorney and we won our case, that according to Mexico law, if the TS just again ignored our written contract, we'd have no recourse because we already sued them for the same issue once i.e. ZERO enforcement.

Best of luck and if you do find some means of recourse, please let us know.