Las Palmas Las Palmas Travel NetworkLas Palmas CR Timeshare purchase with promise for timeshare resell and rental Playa del Coco Costa Rica

We purchased a 3-bedroom/3-level  Private Residence through Las Palmas in Coco Costa Rica in March 2013.  As part of the contract negotiations was a "Marketing Contract" with Timely Travel which "guarantees the marketing and resale" of our current timeshares and rental of half of our weeks with Las Palmas.  There was a fee of $899 to go with this contract.  The contract indicated the payment would be made in 300 days to allow for marketing and resale.  At about day 280 you can no longer get hold of Timely Travel. 

I checked the Internet at that time and there were no negative comments about Las Palmas or Timely Travel.  That is not the case today.

 Checking with South Dakota (their listed address), they do not have a license to do business.  If you look at Google Maps, you will see the address listed on Timely Travel's contract (794 East 41st Street, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57105) does not even exist. It was all a scam.  There are two more reports to the South Dakota Attorney General's Office as well. I also filed a report with them, the Federal Trade Commission and IC3 (http://www.ic3.gov/), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Also, Timely Travel now has a D+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

 Las Palmas has distanced themselves from Timely Travel in their contract documents we signed, but they justified this saying that since Timely Travel was not part of Las Palmas, legally they could not be responsible.  However, all this took place in their offices at Café de la Playa (http://www.cafedeplaya.com/suites.html) in the town of Cocos.  It was part of the contract negotiations.  After signing, I asked to talk to the Las Palmas manager because I still had concerns.  Bill (bill@myprclub.net (407-574-6008)) and I talked for quite a while about my concerns with the contract deal to include the guaranteed resale of my other timeshares.  He reassured me all was in order.  In fact his word were "if it seems too good to be true, be quiet -- good things do happen".  Of course he now disavows everything and points to the contract. 

So if you are thinking about buying from Las Palmas, be very careful, especially if they offer to buy or rent any of your current timeshares to include any weeks of the Las Palmas timeshares -- it is most certainly a SCAM.

 By the way, the 3 bedroom villas we were buying into were just beginning construction in March 3013.  They are still not finished and according to Bill, the Las Palmas manager, he cannot say when they will be finished --- hmmmm  might be another scam????