timeshare fraud with mayan palace

[amorquest]

A refund has been issued and issue resolved!

[lets fight]

I am going to make my point clear. Mayan Palace is a SCAM! I was in Cancun in October and was lured into going to their 90min presentation for discount tickets on excursions. To make things short, let me summarize the horrible experience I had and still having with the Mayan group.
The things your representatives tell you are LIES! What the company tells you is different from what the salesperson has told you. Come back home, only to find out you have been involved in a fraud. I am in this situation.
They will use all of the information they know about you to come up with lies to suit your needs

Ex. 1
Laureen knew that I am a golfer. She guaranteed 50% off all golf courses all around the world with the HSI membership... We confirmed this many times over the 10hour period of being at the Mayan. She clearly said it over and over again that the discount applies to all courses local and international. She was intentionally lying to us.

Ex. 2
She exaggerated all the details about the program. She told us the essentials on how we can use the weeks we purchased but we come home to figure out that all the details have been much exaggerates to the point where nothing she said was applicable.
1. Using the weeks outside of Mayan for exchange program with any other hotel in the world would give us twice the stay (1 week at mayan = 2 weeks elsewhere)
2. A flat rate of $779/week applies to all hotels around the world. Since point 1, it would add up to $779/2 weeks. I tried making a reservation for a random hotel in New York City just to see if this was true through HSI and the est. came out as nearly 1000 for 3 nights stay.
3. Lowest price for flights and cruises guaranteed. Again, she specifically said 50% off all flights.
All the "benefits" are very limited, and from my experience none have been applicable.

Ex. 3
One of the most upsetting lie was about the cool down period. She specifically knew that we cannot contact mayan group to cancel our contract in the 5day period (actual cool down period) as we are on vacation and we do not have internet access. So when we asked her about the cool down period, she said 14 days to make us feel safe about purchasing. We come back home after our 7day vacation and that we can no longer cancel our contract despite finding out it was a scam.

Ex. 4
Guaranteed buybacks. I did not know what this was however she brought up this topic herself and explained to me that it is a program where we can decide to sell our timeshare. Mayan group guarantees buyback policy with original payment plus equity.

STAY away from Mayan Palace!

[ScammedFighter]

Good afternoon all!
I wish it would of occured to me to research this company while my parents were doing the transaction. I am saddened to admit that my parents are also part of the Mayan Palace Scam!! It was a couple years back maybe 5 or 6 years but my parents were lured in with promises that were never kept. Mayan Palace promised to buy their current timeshare so that they wouldn't spend any additional money on Mayan Palace, it would be like an even exchange. Well $18,000 later, they have both timeshares. Who in the world needs two timeshares? My parents are hard working people that have worked their entire life to be where they are now. They don't make much money, and are very good people. They are my heroes and I want to help them. I'm older and a bit wiser now. Thanks to them, I'm going to school. I'm not sure what can be done now that A). it has been some time and B). they have paid off Mayan Palace. The only thing they pay is the "maintenance fee" of about $675 per year. I need to get them some money paid back or something. I will join the fight with others to put an end to these scammers. Anyone thinking of buying from them, don't. I am witness to my parents regretting it and the suffering they went through on losing out on so much money. I will keep posting about it on other sites as well to try and get the word out and to see if I can find some help for them.

[lets fight]

I take back everything I have written about Mayan Palace as all of my issues have been resolved in a satisfactory manner.

[PatLumley]

My story is just like so many others. We visited Mexico In December 2010, and were invited to do the presentation at the Mayan in PV. The 90 minutes presentation turned into a 5 hour ordeal. I will say that the place is extremely beautiful although we didn't purchase the Mayan as it was way too expensive. What we were offered was the Sea Gardens.

But our intention to purchase was not to visit there in the future, as I already own 2 timeshares in PV, both which I love very much, and have owed for many years. So it didn't matter to us that this was a lesser property and apparently you can't even visit the rest of the Mayan if you do stay there.

What we were promised was the rental aspect of the property. They even THROUGH in an extra week per year for the first 10 years, which according to them would give us an income that would more then pay for the timeshare costs. Than then gave us 3 weeks a year to rent for the first 10 years and then we would still have 2 weeks for (I think it is 100 Years)!!!

I questioned my sales person repeatedly as to WHY, would people pay so much that I would get a profit of $800 per unit (so that was times 3) for this unit. Remember, it wasn't the nicer location!. So guess what!!! They, of course, give you the golf package, because it is the golf that deems this huge rental price.

Then we were told people were waiting in line to rent these places, and but the Mayan needs "us" BECAUSE they can't rent direct to people. And they need people, in order to make this same offer to them. Each time a person stays there, they make sales, and thus They need us. And since we would make this $2,400 a year, how can we possibly pass this up.

Again, we continue to question and question as it was the old too good to be true. Thankfully my package was written where I only have maintance dues, if we use it, so at least I am not being billed for that as well. Probably the only smart part of our contract.

After countless reassurances that these units will rent, with a "waiting line" for them (same promise they make with almost everyone they manage to get to the presentation) we took a package that cost just over $8,000. Thankfully we only put $3,000ish on our credit card, so at least I am not in as bad of a spot as others are. After paying another $299 to the company that gets these people that are waiting in line, to advertise your unit, nothing happened. I MEAN NOTHING. We made our monthly payments for 12 months and then decided, nothing will ever happen, after reading all these posts about Mayan's scam and the lies and the dishonest business practices.

As it sits right now, I have quit making my monthly payments, Mayan made a small offer to credit us for 2 rental spaces, if we keep giving them payments. Hummm, now does that sound like a smart option? Give them more money and they will take off a small amount of our purchase price. And since I haven't found these waiting in line people . . . . I think the offer is not even close to where it should be.

I now have their collection agency calling me several times a day, as well as a recording several times a day for me to contact Mayan. I have an email to one of their people that works for the developer, the on that made me the offer to settle for the 2 weeks credit . . . . and he will no longer answer my emails. So I am now being harassed, even though I have tried to work this out with them.

ONE OTHER VERY IMPORTANT THING: The Mayan does want you to be bothered by carrying your literature home with you. Isn't that just so nice of them . . so they will mail it for you. That makes it so that you can't read over any of your stuff nor are you told about the 5 day recession although it is in that mailed packet that gets to you after the 5 days. NICE HOW THAT WORKS. Yet another conieving plan, because there is no way to reach them, once you get home until the package arrives.

I am hoping to get back my down payment, as all I have purchased to date is air, and that sure isn't worth the $5,000 they have of my monies. But for now, I wish to warn anyone that might be even thinking of going to a presentation. I have been to others, and they treat you with respect. I have been a member of Paradise Village in N. Vallerta for 10 years and love every aspect of their ethics and their resort. Good people. Go somewhere where you will not be lied to.

[Rick Lasker]

Dear readers,

The resale and rent companies are mostly fraudulent companies. The real value of timeshares membership is very low. A quick research in ebay.com will give you a broad idea of how low they are. If you have been lied by assuring you a rental program, you still have chances to get out of the contract and recover your money.

Rick Lasker.

[seakingjustice]

This matter as been satisfactorily resolved.

[Rick Lasker]

Dear PJTSytms97,

It is true that contracts are legally binding instruments in both countries. If you have been misrepresented it's your legal right to get a settlement; of course you have to fight for it. You will not get your money easily.

If you require assistance don't hesitate in contacting me.

Sincerely,
Ricardo Lasker.

[Rick Lasker]

Originally Posted by seakingjustice

We are Canadians that visited The Grand Mayan in Playa Del Carmen for the Christmas holidays, the resort was very nice. Upon arrival we were solicited to attend a 90 minute sales presentation that lasted 5 to 6 hours….. The Mayan sales people were named Howard and his partner’s name was Nick. We explained many, many times to Howard and Nick that we were not interested in their timeshare as we already have a timeshare and could not afford a second one. (Please note that this sales group also operates under the following names: Vida Vacations, Grupo Vidanta, Mayan Palace, Grand Luxxe, the Grand Bliss and The Bliss.)

But we have come to realize that these Mayan/Vida sales guys will say anything to get a signature. They lied and misrepresented on important aspects that were critical to us, and they knew it. First, they said we could sell our Intrawest timeshare through their agency and they repeated this many times over and over…. that it would be sold within 4-6 months for at least 25K. When we got home we looked into the so called agency and we discovered this was a lie and that we would be better off putting our own add and that maybe we could get $8K to 13K, nowhere near what was promised to us. The agencies they refer us to are as bad as the Mayan guys!

Second, they said that we could rent the Mayan weeks for $1700 USD/week (net of the $800 maintenance fee) and that just with this we could pay off the Mayan Timeshare. Howard and Nick repeated to us over and over that if we could not use the weeks, that we just needed to rent them and that we would get a cheque in the mail for $1700 per week rented. Plus at one point they gave us an extra week for 10 years and told us that this week alone would help us pay for the whole timeshare (Timeshare was $17,000 = $1,700 X 10 = $17,000), this was very appealing to us and this made us buy the Mayan Palace timeshare. BUT again when we got home we looked into this and we came to realize that this was another lie.

Another item that we expressed to Howard, was that it was important for us to travel during Christmas and Easter holidays and that what he was selling us could not access these periods, he then threw in 10 “Elite weeks” that we could use as he said over and over at any time at the Mayan Resorts and that this was over and above the weeks we were purchasing. Again, when we got home, we called the “Mayan Customer Service desk” only to find out that this was yet another deception, as they were not “Elite weeks” to be used with the Mayan Resorts, but rather “Breakaway weeks” through an exchange company called HSI, and that they are basically worthless….

The statements made by Vida Vacations/Mayan Resorts during the 5-6 hours were instrumental in making us sign our timeshare contract. During that time there was not only one, but numerous misrepresentations made. These misrepresentations were used to confuse us and bring us to a point where we could no longer focus on details. The signature process lasted a mere 10-15 minutes during which, numerous complex documents were shown to us for signature. The documents signed did not reflect on so many levels what we had been told for 5-6 hours. This is how they bind you. They make you believe their lies for 5-6 hours and then they make you sign legal documents that say the opposite in 10-15 minutes. There is no consumer at that point that can possibly identify all the discrepancies contained in the written documentation.

Given our experience with Vida Vacations, and all the stories we read to date, it seems obvious to us that Vida operates in a very systematic and deceitful manner to obtain business. It seems obvious that Vida has taken great care to insert legal wording in their contracts to counter the numerous misrepresentations that they know take place within Vida Vacations sales team.

To date we have paid a little over $4000 USD on our credit card and they claim that we are due to pay the remaining balance at the end of this month. We are disputing the validity of this contract (due to the numerous misrepresentations) and have requested that they cancel and nullify it. They have refused. We want to warn you about Vida Vacations systematic, deceitful tactics, lies, misrepresentations and the way they operate to sell their Timeshares. I did not think that in this day and age this would be allowed to continue to happen over and over to innocent people. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!! DO NOT GO TO THE SALES PRESENTATION, they are much more prepared then you could ever be and they are prepared to scam you into signing their contract (a contract that they won’t let you get out of). THIS IS A SCAM!

Dear Seakingjustice,

This kind of misrepresentations are very common in the timeshare industry; specially Mexican timeshare industry. Although it's not usual credit card disputes recovers the credit cardholder's downpayment. It doesn't cancel the financial obligations.

Remember all timeshare contracts have a promissory note attached which must be cancelled in order to get a zero balance with the resort.

For inquiries please contact me.

Sincerely,

Ricardo Lasker.