bait and switch

we bought 40 weeks and they claim we only purchased 20, all documents say 40 weeks. they will not return calls or acknowledge any correspondence.

I would send a letter to Profeco the Mexican agency or if you have a fax number for the resort fax them and see if they respond.

Kevin , Did you ever get your dispute resolved ?

No , the resort acknowledges the language and said mistakes happen. They told me i could talk to their attorney who doesnt speak english. I would strongly recommend that nobody ever sign a contract in Mexico. I read an article in what i believe was the gringo gazzette down there and it indicated that you have essentially no recourse if they violate or change the contract. I also found out that the owners perks they claim you get have zero meaning. In my package was free transportation to and from the airport. They indicated they cancelled that service and were not obligated to provide it. I am not sure if all resorts are this way, but i would definitely stay away from Hacienda Encantada !

johnb2241 wrote:

Kevin , Did you ever get your dispute resolved ?

Kevin , sorry to hear that ! Are you still with Hacienda and if so are you happy with it other then your stated problem ?

Yes i still own it, don't plan on going there again. It is away from town and it has no useable beach that they showed in the sales pitch. So unless you are an older couple that just wants peace and quite I would not recommend it. The sales folks there are also extremely pushy, the restaurants were marginal and there was no night life at all. And quite frankly when they admitted there was errors in their contract, and the transportation was eliminated i really have no desire to contribute to the place in any manner. I will just bank it and go elsewhere. Lesson learned and I hope anyone considering signing a contract down there knows what they are getting into. Buy in the US where you have legal rights, and you can trade to go down there.

Hey I understand what your saying , but when you signed you knew the location and that there was no beach. We bought cause it gives us the option tot go Cabo when we want and interval . We bought on even years and it was under10 k and we go go too Cabo we do about 5 presentations and make a 1000 bucks . I guess what I'm asking do you regret buying or it's a matter of principle ?

I will tell you I probably been too 25 presentations and none of them make $ sense then the one we own . We bought @ grand Sirenis in Tulum 50 weeks no user fees or maintenance fees plus they gave us 3 weeks back all inclusive free for 12 K so all we do is bank and exchange for 175 $ . No buddy can beat that deal even if you bought on E bay or bought some one timeshare for a dollar ! In the end it's the maintenance or user fees that kill you . Still on the fence about buying this but if you do the presentations then you can cover the fees and most of your meals ! You either do the time or pay the dime and you can beat them at there own game . We do not do any presentation for less then a 150 cash ,

Kevin, I'm sorry about your issues. You could have easily disputed this with your credit card company for up to 120 days after the transaction, or PROFECO, but I see now you bought it 4 years ago. When did you find out you only have 20 weeks? Who told you that- did you contact member service? They have a new timeshare Sales manager there named Carlos who has been very helpful to me on some questions I had. I would contact him personally via phone if you don't want to go back and sit down with him and Ms Livier the head of sales. I think they are reasonable people. I have been to Cabo 12 times and the location appealed to me FAR greater than any downtown location, so that is why I bought there. Many people love being out of the hustle and bustle so if it makes you that angry and that is no way to spend a vacation then just trade it. We go with a group of 6 and LOVE it.

Do you have the contact information for Carlos and Ms Livier? I'm having lots of problems now and I've owned for a whole now and upgraded twice. They promised things that are not turning out to be valid.

Eric, why would you upgrade if you were not happy in the first place? What did they promise you. ANYTHING they promise you HAS to be in writing. I found out the hard way. I don't have any direct lines for Ms Livier or Carlos- I just call the Hotel direct and ask to be transferred, but it is difficult. The best way to handle things with Mexico is in person UNLESS you speak the language. If not you will just end up frustrated. In order to get hold of Carlos or Ms Livier you have to call the resort directly and then have them transfer you which is a real pain as 99 % of the time no one answers their line and they don't have voicemails like in the US. It took me weeks to get a hold of them. So if you have been at the resort why not ask for Ms Livier,Head of Sales and Marketing, or Carlos manager of timeshare sales- that's the best way to go about it. Sit down with them, show them your contract and then what the problem is (by the way who is telling you you only have 20 weeks- Member Service? )I'm not sure what other problems you are having, but when I did, I called my credit card company. If you have a contract IN WRITING that says you have 40 weeks, and then another piece of paper that says you have 20 weeks, just call your credit card company, and ask them what to do- but I'm not sure now that its been 4 years. Has anyone mailed you anything that says you only have 20 weeks? Get that in writing , scan both papers, and email them to Ms livier- they are very good with working with email there. The hotel can give you her email. Or show them next time you go down .Once you take the offer and go there, you pretty much accepted the terms, so if you have had it for 4 years it may be pretty late to get out of it with PROFECO. I will tell you anything NOT in writing- anything promised to you by the salesman they WILL NOT honor. OUR salesman was a lying SOB, promised us a cruise, we left not realizing it wasn't on the contract and thought they would mail us a certificate. Carlos was Very emphatic they cannot control what the salesman promised UNLESS it was in writing and we signed everything, which we did, so our fault for not being more careful. However they are going to give me some vouchers for some resort credits. Perfect- no, but it was my fault. No one is going to do anything about the location- you were there and saw the beach was not swimable. Overall I would not to it again- Yes, I love the resort, but I could have bought it for half the price on the aftermarket. Everyone goes and gets all excited, they do give you tons of alcohol, which we all signed and said on the contract that they didn't, you sit in the hot sun for 4 hours. Then you have to deal with all the extra renewal fees for RCI, the deposit fees for RCI, and trying to put a search in 2-3 years out. Overall timeshares are great for some folks- if I had purchased this 12 years ago I would have made my money back as I have gone to Cabo 1-2 weeks for the past 12 years and paid about $250-300 a night for a hotel room. But now trying to plan out a vacation 2 years in advance is difficult. So looking back yea its a beautiful resort, but I'd rather have saved the $ You can't even rent it out on this website as the prices are so competiitve you barely even get paid what you have to pay for your week. Plus you can't rent or gift any RCI vacations, which we were not informed of either. Sorry I can't be of more help, but if you are going down a lot the best bet is sit down with them at the Resort.

For Americans, buy an American timeshare in the U.S., then trade when you want to go to Mexico. In the long run, it is cheaper and safer. I would never cave to the dishonesty that goes on in the Mexican timeshare world.

I purchased a unit here that can only be used once every 3 years and just found out I am being charged double the maint fee and special assessment as the every year owners. That makes no sense at all and I am giving it back to them. If they want to foreclose, so be it.

Note the Pueblo Bonito resorts, of which I own at 2 in Cabo, did not charge a special assessment at all for damage from the Hurricane.

We have owned 3 TS's and a home in Mexico. We like Mexico. But all in all I would tell all my friends: 1. Don't buy in Mexico--legal things are in practice, unenforceable, unless you have 15 years of time and lots of money to feed an attorney 2. Don't buy TS at all. With the internet now, there are lots of deals around for vacations 3. Encantada is lovely, but like others we were mislead a lot

Hi Lynn, JUST WANTED TO MENTION THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT MAY BE A SUGGESTION NOT MANDATORY- WE OWN AT THE ENCANTADA AND MARINA FIESTA AND RECEIVED A LETTER THAT LOOKED LIKE A BILL, CALLED TO INQUIRE AND TOLD IT WAS A REQUEST NOT MANDATORY. I am curious you said you are being charged differently, you may be right, although is difficult to compare unless the exact same program. There there is a 2 or 3 day right to cancel policy on your contract. But before you beat yourself up,be sure you are comparing apples to apples. All they all fixed or floating weeks? How much was each initial timeshare- how many weeks per year, etc. My sis and I both own 30 year timeshares in Cabo-she paid about twice as much as me for her initial timeshare, and pays $465 annual maintainece fee for 2 floating weeks but pays NOTHING when she takes her week. I paid less up front, pay only$159 annual maintainece fee for 2 floating weeks vrs her $465 (we both can accelerate ) but pay $750 for my week whenever I come(or $695 at Marina Fiesta the sister property as we can stay at either) Both of us can upgrade to a one or 2 bedroom for a fee. She likes hers as knows she is coming for 2 weeks every years so gets 2 weeks for her $465 maintainece fee.I like mine because I come prime time (school and college breaks with kids) and the resort which I am sitting at now is usually booked for non-owners and even if you can find a night it is over $350 a night even on a cheap hotel website. And I don't come every year so I am not socked with a high annual maintainence fee like hers- i.e. she pays hers regardless of whether she comes or not. If I don't come one year I only loose $159. Different prices but works for each of us. If you are flexible then you don't even need a timeshare as you can see on this site you can book someones room for as little as $75 night- but most have fixed weeks. You also have 90 days to dispute a charge with your credit card company for failure to deliver goods and services. If you have documentation that promises otherwise than you can try to dispute but is sounds like you are upset about the charges as they compare to others, not the charges you agreed to. If everything you signed off in the contract is being honored by them and you are only upset about the charges as compared to others, then you can sit down with them next time you are in Cabo and talk to the timeshare Manager NOT the salespeople. This however is a real long-shot as you know by now after buying 2-3 timeshares. VISA did tell me when I had an issue that once you go to the place you pretty much accept the terms and conditions so perhaps visit them when you are at the Pueblo Bonita. Document EVERYTHING, and send copies to the credit card company, the resort timeshare manager, and PROFECO (equivalent of US better business bureau) Can you explain what "giving it back to them" means? They already have your money right? Do you mean just not pay maintainece therefore foreclose?

lynn485 wrote:

I purchased a unit here that can only be used once every 3 years and just found out I am being charged double the maint fee and special assessment as the every year owners. That makes no sense at all and I am giving it back to them. If they want to foreclose, so be it.

Note the Pueblo Bonito resorts, of which I own at 2 in Cabo, did not charge a special assessment at all for damage from the Hurricane.

We just bought here but have immediate buyers remorse because of everything we are seeing on the internet. I don’t trust them. We are only 1 day post signing and the contract states we have 5 days to cancel it. Has anyone done this successfully? Tips please...

We have owned timeshare there for many years. It is a wonderful place. Did you buy a winter week? If not, I'd say call your credit card and cancel it. Or just tell the resort you are cancelling. We thankfully bought Winter weeks, so never had a problem. My friend purchased Summer weeks and found out you can't reserve them in the winter months so he's trying to sell his because he wasn't told the straight truth when he purchased. If you have any doubts, call the Member Services person, and they can give you clarification. The sales people will tell you anything and it's not usually true.