ResortCom International Timeshare Ripoff! Lies, Deception & Bad Business Practices Internet

While on vacation in Cabo San Lucas in April of 2009, my wife and I attended a presentation at Villa Del Arco for a timeshare with ResortCom International LLC. We were not interested in buying a timeshare, but we were offered free tickets for some excursions if we sat though their "no obligation" presentation. This "brief" presentation was supposed to last approximately an hour. It ended up being a six hour long intense sales pitch with a woman named Patti M. We were frustrated that this was wasting the better part of a day, but they seemed pleasant at first and kept bringing us plenty of free alcoholic drinks. When it was finally over, we were sat down to discuss our options. We declined the offer to buy numerous times. But they lowered the price each time and eventually offered us what sounded like a good deal. When we finally agreed to make the purchase, we were rushed through a closing process and signed the documents in under 10 minutes flat. Little did we know that when we signed the contract for our "slice of paradise", we were also signing to be haunted by a financial nightmare with no end in sight.

The employees at ResortCom misrepresented the material facts pertaining to the contract during the sales presentation. They told us various things that have been proven to be false. As that information was used to make the decision to ultimately make this purchase, the contract therefore was entered into fraudulently. We were told that this was real property and that this would be a prudent and gainful investment as it would be profitable in the long run - just like real estate. The truth of the matter is that this isn't real property and in fact is time and therefore holds no value, is not an asset and is absolutely not a prudent and gainful investment. Patti also told us that we could refinance it when we got home at a lower interest rate. We later found out that no bank lends on timeshares as mortgages which proves that she was lying to make a sale.

Patti also said that if we couldn't use the time at the resort, we just needed to call the resort and that they would rent it out for us. This was a major part of why we decided to buy. Later, when we called the resort to use this service, we were told that it wasn't true and that we were responsible for finding our own renter! She also mentioned in her pitch that we could sell our timeshare for a profit any time we chose. Patti said that because we were buying in so low, that it wouldn't be an issue at all to sell this down the road. Three years later and we are still unable to rid ourselves of this nightmare.

We were also sold on the fact that we could use this to travel all over the world and would be able to see a castle in England, or whatever we desired. We have no interested in returning to Mexico year after year. What wasnt disclosed to us was that in order to travel to other resorts, we would have to be members of Interval International and that came with another fee. To then book something with Interval International brought to light yet another fee. So this entire concept of traveling anywhere at any time was an utter lie and fraught with undisclosed fees in a system that is oversold with zero availability based on our attempts to make reservations.

ResortCom also failed to mention that after our initial investment of thousands of dollars we would be stuck paying maintenance fees that continue to increase. This was never once mentioned in the sales presentation. Not only were the increases not disclosed to us, they have also gone up over 50% in the three years that we have owned the timeshare. Even worse than that, is the fact that it is impossible to book our annual week long vacation that we paid so dearly for. We found out that we had to book our stay a year in advance every time. Unfortunately, every time we called to make our reservation, the place was completely booked and we could never get in. Three years and thousands of dollars later and we still have not been able to use our timeshare!

The option to cancel was never pointed out to us. When we reviewed our contract when we returned home from vacation, we noticed that we had three days after signing to cancel. We found it interesting that the rescission period is so short that most people are still on vacation in Mexico when it runs out. We were and the last thing that we would have done while there is sit down and review the contract while on our short and hard-earned vacation.

It didn't take long for us to realize that this was a huge mistake. We were lied to and mislead from the very beginning. The ResortCom International representatives are manipulative and their practices are unethical. We have done everything we can to try to get out of our contract. Resortcom will not help us in anyway. For the first two years we kept up on our end of the bargain and paid the bills every month even though the company ignored us and we saw nothing in return. We eventually decided to stop paying in an attempt to make them take the timeshare back. We sent them a detailed letter explaining our situation. Instead, they sent us to collections and ruined our perfect credit.

Three years later and Resortcom has not only cheated out of thousands of dollars and destroyed our credit, but they refuse to acknowledge any of our complaints. We recently hired an attorney to help us with this matter, which has cost us more money on top of all the money we have lost.

We have also taken our complaints to outside agencies such as the Better Business Bureau and Profeco - Mexico's version of the BBB, designed to protect consumers against abuses or fraud by companies operating in Mexico.  The BBB can't do much because the timeshare company is in Mexico and Profeco has not been in the least bit helpful even though it is their responsibility. It took them six months to respond to our first letter and when they finally did, they told us that there was not much they could do. Profeco is supposed to protect the rights of the consumer, but they have done nothing to help us. We are extremely disappointed with them.

We know now that this timeshare was a worthless investment. We can't use it. We can't sell it. We can't give it away. We have been met with so many restrictions, it is clear that this was never meant to be used, but to simply be sold and scam money from tourists. We are so frustrated and angry that we were roped into such a terrible scam.

At this point, we just want Resortcom International to drop the collections and take back their timeshare so we can restore our credit. We just want this nightmare to end.

To read more about our ordeal, please visit our website here.