Timeshare Companies

Puerto Vallarta area-Joe Potter salesman

Dec 13, 2012

It is a scam...ALL of it

ba79 wrote:
Too late to rescind. Just want to warn everybody to be careful of Joe Potter and Vallarta Gardens. They also sold me an annuity with Swiss Alliance Group. 3 months and not policy number or email or mail from them. Vallarta Gardens said they have a local rep but they still haven't contacted me. Got triple screwed with Vallarata Gardens price, Omni Corp Development re-sale scam with a guarantee price and sale, Swiss Alliance Group annuity scam. Be careful!!! They never seem to stop on new schemes.


Ray J.
Mar 28, 2013

I'm guessing Orlando is cut from the same cloth then? What about Ernesto and Lorraine?


Brad M.
Mar 29, 2013

Ernesto is a scam artist. I ran into him in the marina area. He was the one who pulled me into the VG ts presentation.....which then and now was illegal. He got a kickback from VG mgmt for getting customers out to the resort for the sales spiel. If he is one and the same Ernesto that I ran into, he is nothing but a fast talking scam artist. Very convincing....


Paula H.
Apr 16, 2013

Yes we also were scammed in by Vallarta Gardens. We dealt with Luis Marcado and Cynthia Gonzolez. Luis was the salesman and Cynthia verified all he had promised us when we questioned some points. After it was all done, papers seem to have gone missing from our file, promises made about HOA fee terms have all changed. The property we had purchased has not been built, the customer service number they gave us for help doesn't work and no one answers a phone call, email or text. Bob Stockton, supposedly he was to be contacted for customer support is MIA. They have handed our credit card number out to their "collegues" they deal with and we are being contacted that we owe them money also. Be very, very wary if you are approached to tour the Vallarta Gardens. We were approached by someone at Dugaralds when we stopped for a drink on the beach. We are feeling very frustrated and very foolish for being scammed and now being harassed by these people.


Karen L.
Apr 20, 2013

Could you please give me some more info on this resort. I was talked into buying the two bedroom penthouse. They have even sent photos of a building that they say is it being constructed. Am I even going to be able to utilize the facility for my holidays?

Thanks


Brad M.
Apr 20, 2013

Perhaps if we approach this as a group we can recoupe some of our losses or at least get what we payed for? Profeco will have no choice but to listen when they are inundated with all of our concerns regarding Vallarta Gardens.

We can let them know that our voices are being heard and people will cease to visit Mexico! Let's them see what empty resorts do for their economy.


Brad M.
Apr 21, 2013

Did you purchase your package onsite during a sales presentation, or through what means. To my knowledge, there is no construction ongoing. When I was there in October 2012, it was stated that a marina was going to be built but nothing was said about new construction.

Sadly, most of us did not perform responsible research "before the fact" and now are struggling with the afterwards effects.

I actually was in the Perfecto's office in Puerto Vallarta in October while I was still physically in Mexico trying to obtain assistance in my personal situation.....this organization (Vallarta Gardens) is one of many, many, many the Perfecto is trying to police in their interactions with visiting tourist. I doubt the office would assume full responsibility for a class action suit.

However, contact the Perfecto Office as well as the Attorney General office in your state. I have also copied the Mexican Consulate in my state (we have a huge population of Mexican emigrants in my state) regarding the treatment I received at the hands of this organization.


Paula H.
Dec 02, 2013

Hello everyone, my wife and I buy with Vallarta Gardens, on our way back to Canada I search in google about them and almost died of everything I read, we call right away after we arrive, we talk to a few people and they keep telling us to relax that everything was fine, something about a Mercury company, but I didn´t want to know anything about anything else, I was really worry, so we push with Vallarta Garden, took another 2 weeks off at work and went back to México, I must say, we had the greatest time… Vallarta Gardens it’s a paradise… We were so happy that we got almost all they promises, one little thing here or there, but we were we expecting the worst but everything went very well… I’m really sorry for all of you that had such a bad experience


Josh J.
Jan 17, 2014

We just bought a one bedroom unit at Vallarta Gardens in December 2013. We never dealt with this Joe Potter but with two guys who said they were with Re Max and this was a real estate transaction. We also got an annunity at a Swiss Bank and guaranteed rental of our unit. They were supposed to trade in our Grande Mayan. We still owe them more money. Does anyone know any recent information on this place? Help we are soon supposed to pay the balance.


Janet C.
Jan 18, 2014

Read all related messages above ----- how similar is your situation to what these people have stated their situation is? Seems to be one and the same to me. VALLARTA GARDENSHAS NO CONNECTION (IN ANY MANNER) TO REMAX!!!! Learn from the victimized customers who have taken the time to document their situation on this website.


Paula H.
Jan 18, 2014

Totally agree with Paulah -- read everything above! Re the Swiss annuity thing -- a SCAM. Joe Potter was involved with one in Costa Rica, called Lloyd's, which everyone assumed was the famous Llyod's of London -- a reputable organization well over 200 years old. But, it was Lloyd's of Panama -- with a cheesy web site, no history, and probably gone by now. Annuities "guarantee" payment over a long period of time -- Potter talked about 20 years. Right! An organization with a web site that was set up six months ago, and which probably will not be around six months from now you trust to provide an annual payment -- for the next 20 years??? Get real! Get out of this as fast as you can -- and spread the word as far as you can through complaints to everyone you can think of (many are mentioned here and on other RedWeek forums). Good luck -- and be thankful you're not spending more good money after bad. PS -- I wish someone would truly kick the sh...t out of those scumbags...


Patrick T.
Jan 19, 2014

Well, there is some good news. Potter was let go early last year by VG and the other problem there, Tim Lester is gone also but working somewhere in Nuevo Vallarta. The interesting thing about Potter is he also went by the name Joseph LLOYD (Potter) - wonder if he is behind the Lloyd's of Panama scam - nothing would surprise me with him.


Sucked I.
May 10, 2019

I have bought there, and so sad about it, they treaten me to stop writing bad reviews about vallarta garden, or they will cancel my ownership but i would still have to pay ,the monthly fees, because i send them an article posted on red week, they taugh i wrote the article,,,,,what can i do,,,,,,,to get those scammers of my back and my credit card,,,,, i informe the bank thry are dealing with, they didnt like the fact that they dealing with a company that fraud people ,i also send the article of may 8, about the vallarta garden scammers,,,,the men at the bank was checking into it,he said he would phone me back, at this point i dont trust nobody,,,, i hope the bank is not a scam also,,


My L.
Apr 12, 2021

we were scammed 5 years ago with their investment I think his name is Lius It would be nice if someone could do something about it Laura


Laura B.
Apr 13, 2021

laurab731 wrote:
we were scammed 5 years ago with their investment I think his name is Lius It would be nice if someone could do something about it.

There's not much you can do about it after five years. If you do not want to keep what you have, then your best option would be to just stop paying the maintenance fees and let your membership terminate. There's no need to go get "help" from any of these companies or law firms that claim they can help you.


Lance C.
Apr 14, 2021

laurab731 wrote:
We were scammed 5 years ago with their investment I think his name is Lius It would be nice if someone could do something about it Laura

As already mentioned in the good response above, after five years there is nothing you can do about your unfortunate purchase decision. At this point, all you can do is stop paying them anything more and turn around and walk away --- with an expensive lesson learned.


KC

Last edited by ken1193 on Apr 14, 2021 06:10 AM


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