EL CID Vacation Club EL CID Resort Club ELCID scammed us by selling to us a timeshare which resulted to be fradulent and worthless. this costed us $16,000. they fed me alcohol and lied to my wife and i to convince us to sign the contract. Cozumel Quintana Roo

On August 3, 2016, we purchased a membership through EL CID vacation club in Quintana Roo, Mexico. In due time, we learned the points associated with the membership are not of the value presented and it is actually cheaper to book our accommodations through methods that do not require the use of points. We’ve sought out a cancellation in the past, only to be told we must satisfy a $20,000 penalty. We’ve also learned we’d had five days, according to Mexico law, to cancel the contract and have our money returned, without penalty, That detail was not disclosed at any point in time, even when we specifically asked about a termination policy.

There were several people involved in the providing of misinformation, beginning with the first solicitor, in the lobby of the hotel. We’d traveled to Mexico for a family vacation, and were looking forward to seeing our daughters, ages 3 and 1, experience the beaches of the Caribbean Sea. When we arrived at the El Cid Resort, a woman in the lobby approached us before we could even get checked in. She invited us to attend a presentation to learn about the area. We explained that we were very tired and would go the following day.

The very next morning, at 8:00 am sharp, the phone in our suite rang and it was a man insisting that we tell him what time we would be arriving for the presentation. We were not pleased by his aggressive nature, and told him we would be there after we ate breakfast. We hoped that once we sat through this presentation, they would leave us alone. We were also influenced to attend with promises of a voucher for a $200 massage and other gifts. He promised us it would take only one hour of our day, but that was not true at all. Even though we had our two small daughters with us, and even though we said no several times, we were kept there for more than three hours.

We met a salesperson in the lobby after breakfast and I mistakenly accepted when he offered me a drink. I did not know this one drink would turn into three, and that all three would be mixed incredibly strong, I suspect, to help lower my defenses. This man of Indian origin wanted to know how often we go on vacation and some of our habits as they pertain to vacationing. After about 30 minutes, he convinced me to go with him into another area, where he had his computer and paperwork and could provide me with more information.

Two hours later, he had convinced me to purchase the platinum package with 300,000 points he said could be used for flights, cruises, car rentals, and vacation activities, in addition to lodging at all-inclusive resorts worldwide. I asked this man specifically if there was a catch to the scenario, any hidden costs, or any surprises that were waiting on us to try and use the program. He falsely said, "No, Mr. Hidalgo, this is the real deal.” He even talked about his parents being Platinum level members and said they were thrilled at the vacation plan benefits. He then claimed we would save up to $150,000 over the course of the 20-year membership.

To seal the deal, he pulled up a website (www.leisureclubmemer.com) to show me the bonus weeks tab where hotel rooms were priced at $100 for five nights, without the usage of any points. This man failed to mention that after paying the $100, we would owe an additional $100 to $135 per person, per night, for the all-inclusive package at the resort booked. We would also owe continuing fees to El Cid and RCI. My wife heard only bits and pieces of the presentation, as she was in and out of the room, caring for our daughters. I was basically on my own to understand and evaluate the offer, while under the influence of alcohol and being subjected to a series of lies. I asked if the membership included access to hotels in Europe, Argentina, and Hawaii, areas we planned on visiting, and he answered to the affirmative. It took them 2.5 hours, and much persuasion, deception, and information manipulation while making sure I’d consumed enough alcohol to lower my defenses, but this man and his manager talked me into buying the Platinum membership at a price of $48,000. Another man (his manager) arrived to congratulate us, and we were then given several gifts.

They charged a total of $12,000 on two credit cards to cover the down payment and financed the balance at a staggering 18.99% APR with 120 payments of $671.79, for a total payout of $80,615.80, not the $48,000 I’d agreed to pay. When I questioned the high APR, I was told "Mexico doesn’t believe in credit scores”. It was then communicated to me that we could take out a home equity loan to pay off the balance on this "investment”. When it was time to sign the documents, we were moved to a small, noisy room with no ventilation and a notary officer who was obviously sick. She was sneezing and sniffling the entire time we were with her, which motivated us to hurry the signing along and get out of there.

The last thing we wanted was to spend our vacation sick, or worse, for our girls to spend it sick. She explained the terms and conditions very quickly and we could barely keep up with the pace when it came to signing or initialing. She was apparently just as motivated to have us out of the office as we were to be out of there. We did not have time to read much, but one item we did notice was the termination clause that indicated there to be a penalty for early termination. She explained the penalty to be $20,000, but assured us the $12,000 we’d paid that day, plus any payments we made in the meantime, would count toward that amount.

Unbeknownst to us, we’d been provided with a five-day period to cancel and have our money returned in full. Although that information was printed in the very next paragraph, the notary did not mention it or otherwise refer to it. She talked only of the cancellation with penalty that applies AFTER the fifth day. Lesly then convinced me to keep the membership by offering 14 bracelets for our next stay.

I verbally accepted, then tried to use the points to book the necessary flight. Lesly informed me the points provide very little discount toward flights and paying for them out of pocket would be a better option. I then told her I wanted to book a cruise and she provided me with the contact information for doing so. After playing phone tag with the vacation coordinator for the cruises, we found that if we used our 300,000 points, our out-of-pocket cost for the 7-day cruise would be $2,400.

I called Royal Caribbean Cruise Line directly and they quoted a price of $2,900 for the identical package, booked directly through them. I forwarded the information over to Lesly and explained my disappointment in the lack of value in the membership points. Her response was that points are most valuable when used for bookings at El Cid and RCI properties. This is yet another detail that had not been disclosed and it proved the points are useless for flights, cruises, and most lodging, although we’d been told otherwise. We were led to believe we would receive amazing benefits by purchasing a membership. As it turns out, the membership is extremely costly and has left us with a high interest loan for ten years, and maintenance fees for the next twenty years.

Everything about the reality of this membership is in direct contradiction to what we were told by the sales representatives at El Cid. We would not have purchased points with so little value, had we understood them to have little value, but through the lies and falsified information, the sales representative and his manager were able to convince us otherwise. He outright lied about the contract not having a catch and assured me it was absolutely not too good to be true, although that is exactly what it is.

After going back and forth with EL CID through PROFECO for several months (Attorney General equivalent) we were able to cancel the contract but EL CID still forwarded a debt of $35,000 to Monterrey Collections Services (4095 Avenida De La Plata, Oceanside CA 92056) who harassed me and my wife for several months with phone calls and letters trying to collect the money that we allegedly owed. Monterrey Collections Services reported this debt in December of 2017 as a collection item in my credit report and my wife’s credit report and now (Dec 2018) the debt has increased to $44,465 due to penalties and interests. We don't wish this nightmare on anyone out there. Please be aware of these scams from these resorts in Mexico.