Mayan Palace Vacation Club Mayan Palace, VIDA Vacations MAYAN PALACE SCAMS, LIES, AND DECEIT Marina Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisoco Nationwide

The sales pitch at the Mayan was deceitful and a big SCAM and unfortunately, I fell prey to their unethical sales practices. If someone could please give me some sound advice on how to end this contract or fight it, I would greatly appreciate it. These practices cannot continue to happen!!

My story begins by being greeted by an attractive and bright young lady when we arrived at the Mayan. I was invited me to a sales presentation (rather enticed with gifts of half off a massage, $100 credit towards my stay, free breakfast at their all-you-can-eat buffet), and the promise to return the bonus week used while I vacationed there. She brought up the class action suit against RCI and asked if I knew anything about it. I did not and thought this presentation might help me learn about it.  As most of you know, the 90 minute presentation turns into a 4-5 hour ordeal.  In addition, I did not get that bonus week back as promised.

This is how their strategy plays out: I sat there in the sales presentation room with many other people was told that my current time share in Palm Springs, CA was rated 2 in a category on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. Not sure who does this rating, but the Mayan was rated in category 5 (the highest  and number 3 of all time share resorts).  I was given a trade in value for my time share in Palm Springs that was used to offset the cost, I believe they gave me $12,000. They presented me with the most expensive plan in which I couldn't afford (they shoot high) so they came back with a less expensive version, a studio (no kitchen) and then began to re-crunch the numbers. The price dropped but little did I know that the price was so inflated. I was misled to believe that I was getting such a great deal.

They further discuss the issue of maintenance fees and how timeshare owners are burdened with these fees over the years. The salesperson pulled out a chart (in her bag of tricks) to illustrate how much a person is paying over a life-time. They get you to think about how much a person is paying over 20 or 30 years (somewhere in the range of $30,000 or more.)  I said, "hmmmm, Yeah, I am paying all that money. That doesn't make sense if the Mayan isn't charging any fees."  Yet, they don't point out how the $570 fee to use a week at the Mayan is really a maintenance fee in disguise. If you own at a resort, why do you pay a fee to use your week? In Palm Springs, if I want to stay there, I book my week for free. NO FEE using it since I paid for the week.  

They used scratch paper to show you the money you would make renting these units and how fast they would pay for themselves, which was untrue. That was the hook that made me believe that I could afford paying for this purchase and that they could rent out a unit for $1,000 each year and I could use this to pay for the balance of my loan (or any way I chose).   I wasn’t given any guarantee in the final contract about that fact that it was a guarantee to rent.   To add to the confusion, I was told that I have one week to use for 10 years and could not use it immediately (for 2 years) because they were going to rent it to the high-rolling golf clients.  

That darn class-action suit was brought up about RCI. Was this another deceitful tactic to lure people into a sales presentation and learn about something that has NOTHING to do with buying a room at the Mayan?  I think so. How would this knowledge really help me? Again, another LIE. The ironic thing is that they gave me an RCI free-year contact huh?

I get back home and a few weeks later GOLF NETWORK calls me to pay them $399 a year to have them list and rent out this unit.  WHAT????  I was very hesitant and then offer me $399 for a lifetime instead.  I received  a call a week from Equity Acquisition who is supposed to help me trade the timeshare in and remove the deed/maintenance fees off my back.  I was quoted $749.  Again, hesitant….. He further explains that my time share as a “First Right of Refusal” which means that I can keep the time share if I pay them $1,800 to do so.  So, I pay them $1800 and I can keep it??  This makes NO sense and red flags are popping up everywhere.  This is where I start searching for SCAMS at the MAYAN PALACE.  And believe me, I have never seen so many sites with people being ripped off and screwed.  Oh no, I am now another one??!!

I have been reading other complaints from various websites about people who can’t get their units rented out and are stuck with the inventory and NO money to help pay for the financing.  

So much information was being thrown at me and I was trying to understand and process it in a limited time. Plus, I was tired of being there for over 5 1/2 hours. YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT. When I was told them that I needed a day to think about it, they said, oh no we can't do this. I was having a difficult time understanding buying one week for 10 years, and then 2 more units for another 100 years? Then add in the rental and easy money that I could make to help pay the balance of the purchase?  Yikes!

And finally, the issue of rescission was never brought up by the salesperson. Funny that this should happen that you don’t get to place your initial by some very important piece of information.  They so conveniently bury it deep within the contract so you can’t notice it right away.  When I buy real estate in the US or any big purchase, they disclose this information in plain sight for me to view and understand.  By that time of the end of the presentation, I couldn’t think clearly.  I felt  so worn out that I really didn't know I had that option. Why did I let the pressure get the best of me? Why didn’t I just get up and walk away?  When something sounds too good to be true, it isn't. I should have trusted my gut. All of this should have been a BIG red flag.

I am venting because I need others to know that the MAYAN PALACE and all of its affiliates are frauds, cheats, and have unethical business practices.  They do not practice honest sales and should be sued for all the harm they have done to many other countless people. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO BUSINESS WITH ANY MAYAN PALACE GROUPS.