El Cid Vacations Club Timeshare Scam Riviera Maya

We arrived at El Cid Marina in Puerto through one of the sales representatives from a Rental Car company where we had rented a mini-van for our vacation (and who works for the company as a scout). But, we found out that this resort was pretty shady in dealing with us.

1) We were conveniently never told of the 5-day cancellation policy that exists under Mexican law to protect consumers from illegal sales practices from timeshares companies. In fact, as soon as we tried to get refunded, we were told that there is a legal and binding contract and that it is too late.

2) We were told that we were to be given 4 extra free weeks in Mexico and 4 extra free weeks in Spain & England to use in the next 18 months for a total of 8 free weeks. After receiving these certificates, we found out that none of these were actually free. We have to pay anywhere from $339-$699 for Mexico and $399-$599 for Spain/England, not including other fees required by the company in order to take advantage of this offer.

3) We were told that in the eventuality that something occurs to us, such as untimely death, or in the event we will not be able to use our timeshare, we could will our timeshares to whomever we would want to. This again is inaccurate as there is nowhere in the pamphlets and or documentation that have been given us to make us believe that this would indeed happen.

4) We were told since we have purchased 300,000 points, we were given VIP status and were promised first priority in getting our choice of weeks and/or units at any time. Nobody told us we had to reserve 12 months in advance before we can really get anything we wanted when it comes to El Cid Vacations Club. Everyone on your staff at the time of the sales representation also failed to mention that the free weeks given to us had blackout dates. We were told we could also use them whenever we wanted.

We have started a Dispute with the Visa card provided, and have started a claim with Profeco, California Attorney General, US Dept of Justice, and a few others in the next few weeks or so. We are still waiting to hear what the outcome is....

Diwata
Canoga Park, California
U.S.A.