Occidental Allegro Vacation Club blantently dishonest and hostile scam artists Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

The best advice is NEVER buying a timeshare anywhere. It is a scam and the so-called timeshare you buy is sold over and over again to other people. It is very difficult to sell your timeshare now and renting isn't in the deal. It will cost you more to buy a timeshare and maintenance fee than to rent a hotel room or a full ownership of a condo. Don't do it. There is good information about timeshare scams: http://www.timesharescam.com/blog/68-timeshare-scams-mexico-vs-us-why-are-there-more-situations-of-fraud-in-mexico/

>>>DONT FALL FOR THE OCCIDENTAL ALLEGRO TIMESHARE SCAM<<<<< They attack you as soon as you sign into the hotel and will hound you until you agree to go to their presentation.They offer you a whole list of "gifts" but dont follow thru on their promises. We were told ( in writing) that the presentation would be no longer than 90 minutes after 3 1/2 hours we finally stated that we HAD to leave as we had family members waiting for us as we wanted to go enjoy the day. 1/2 hour later and 2 more "salesmen" we finally had to get rude and basically walk out. They promised us $50 Diamonds international gift cards, which we did get, we went there only to find out nothing in the store is under $200 and the few things that were priced cheaper the gift cards were not able to be used on them. We were promised 3 bottlesw of Tequila, which we never received. We were also promised 50 % off any excursion tickets, ha what a joke. The next day when we went to purchase Xplor tickets they tell us that we were never offered that deal. They stated to see the paper where our gifts were documented but odd isnt it that its the same paper they made us hand in to them when we went to hear the sales talk. So we had no proof.

They take you to another resort and offer you breakfast ( we had already eaten at our resort) but our salesman still wanted his free breakfast so we wasted 45 minutes so he could eat ( as he stated the free breakfast was the best part of his job) When we finally arrived back to our resort and stated that we werent interested they hounded us about how they were giving us so many free gifts and that the higher ups would not be happy to hear that we werent going to become "members" They then went on and on about how this never happens, cant believe we are the only ones that werent suckered into buying a timeshare. I could go on and on but long story short, SKIP THE TIMESHARE TALK, they will not follow thru with what they promise. Hotel itself was ok, food was good. No night life at all. Hotel did nothing to assist us with the timeshare/ticket issue.

Yes i've been a member of occidental vacation club for the past five.  I also own two timeshares in florida.  Occidental has made me and my husband very happy.  My kids love the resorts in the riviera maya, especially x caret flamenco.  
We go twice a year and planning on visiting the new puerto vallarta in december.  the first couple of years i used the rental broker and was very pleased and now i just use all of my weeks for the family.  We love having the kids stay in their own suites.  
Rci has been great with us and have also traveled on spring break because of the kids out of school. never a problem. just make a reservation a few months in advance it you should be just fine.

Are you currently a member of the Occidental Vacation club?  If you don't mind me asking, what time shares do you own?

I recently bought in Occidental Vacation Club.  It is not supposed to be a time share.  I would like to know how difficult it is to have the resort's brokers rent out my owners weeks, how difficult it is to book at an Occidental resort for Spring break in March, how easy or difficult it is to use the RCI portion of the contract, and in general whether or not First Club Occidental Members are satisfied with their purchase and the service they receive.

thank you
Jackie

i've owned 3 timeshares in my life with my wife....they have by far superseded our expectations.....its funny how you people complain especially because you couldn't afford the membership and that's why you bought an exit program.  Occidental has thousands of happy members so please go get a life!

BBB came back and said no response came from the Miami address.  Your best bet is to do the following:

contact the Profeco, the Mexican Consumer Protection Agency.  Send a written letter email Occidental through their website.  This will provide a record of emails being received any email address you can find you should send to.

send a letter to the Mexican Consulate in Manhattan.  I think my wife actually took the letter and copies of the contract there in person.

Good luck!

Hi this is great to hear they are completely dishonest I will go about reporting them everywhere. Thank you so much. By the way did you use their Miami address for BBB? 

Laura, I am sorry for not seeing this until now.  The organization you should contact in Mexico is "Profeco."  The email address I got from them responding to my complaint is extranjeros@profeco.gob.mx.  Good luck.

Hi, I am happy to hear that you resolved your issues with Occidental. I currently own a timeshare with Occidental and also had a terrible experience. Unfortunately, we bought back in 2004. I didn't think we had any recourse since they were in Mexico & we are in the US, so I am glad you were able to come out on top. It may be too late for us, but can you mentionthe organization(s) that were able to assist oyu in this matter? Everytime we try to plan a vacation, Iget more & and more upset about how we were also scammed.

after 2 months of challenging Occidental Allegro's dishonest bait and switch we received word that they are canceling the contract. It was not easy, after first being denied the right to do so in person (while being ridiculed, lied to and physically threatened by the salesman, Erdam, and his wife, Jessica, the sales manager) we used every legal avenue possible to cancel the contract due to Occidental's blatant dishonesty. We sent multiple emails to Occidental directly through their website, we filed reports with the Better Business Bureau in Florida (where they are headquartered) and the Mexican Consumer Protection Agency and Consulate, our credit card and the Attorney General Offices of every state where Occidental Allegro has a presence.

While they refused to respond to the BBB and told our credit card their policy was to not allow for cancellations of contracts apparently the complaints we filed with the other organizations, particularly those with investigatory powers, put enough pressure on them to cancel the contract and refund our deposit. Most likely they did not want these agencies looking into their sales practices and discovering other scams they were pulling on consumers.

Amusingly, when we first went to cancel we offered to forfeit our deposit, now we get everything back and they get nothing!