How I fought and won the TS battle

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions posted in this website. It has helped many, many people like me, new owners, to understand more about time share and our rights. With all the helpful information, I was able to fight with the developer and got my money back (2 months later). Now I would like to post my experience and hope it can help anyone else in similar situation. Summary: We bought our 1-WEEK time share in Mexico for 30 years. Paid for by credit card (RCI Elite Rewards) applied at the resort. The Resort made us sign our waiver – non refundable, non cancellation with penalty contract (we did not know that there are rescission period in Mexico). Then a month later, we received a CERTIFICATE of ownership that worth about ¼ of what we originally signed and paid for. I sent a letter to the resort request for an explanation of the incorrect information. While waiting to receive the resort’s response, I did my research and realized that we were deceived by the waiver that they made us sign. Understanding that I have a case here, I proceeded to seek for contract cancellation. First, I contacted and filed my case with Profeco (Mexican’s Consumer Protection agency) and also filed a claim dispute with my credit card. - 3 weeks after sending letter to the resort, we received a revised Certificate which now matched our contract. But at that point, I was no longer interested in being TS owner, so I decided to pursue with my cancellation goal. - 20 days after I filed my dispute with credit card. I received a denial letter from credit card company. I then wrote 2 letters, one to the resort stating that I want to have my contract cancels and , and another one to my credit card, requesting my dispute claim to be re-reviewed and why my request is justified.

Here is my letter to the resort:

To Whom It May Concern:

RE: Contract Cancellation Request – Contract XXXXX

Dear Mr. XXXX

I am writing this letter to request our contract (No. XXXX) to be cancelled and have our deposit be fully refunded due to the fraudulent information that we were given. 1. Our signed contract clearly states that we bought XX week per year for XX years, but the certificate that the resort provided shows "bi annual odd year for 15 years" and only from week 01 to week 50, which excludes X Mas and New Year weeks. This exclusion was never discussed at the presentation. According to Article 32 of Mexican Consumer Protection Laws, the intention to give falsified information is a fraud.

2. The resort and your sale rep. deceived us by requesting us to sign Contract which includes Penalty Clause (Item #10), and the Cardholder’s Acknowledgment to acknowledge that our contract is non-refundable, non-cancelable. This is ILLEGAL IN MEXICO. According to Article 56 of Mexican Consumer Protection Laws, it states: Cancellation Period ”There exists a five (5) day period of cancellation, during which the contract does not become perfected, for sales that are described as "at domicile, mediate or indirect". This indicates those sales that are proposed or carried out, outside the local or establishment of the provider, including the rental of chattels and the rendering of services. This also applies to the selling of timeshare rights.

This 5 day right of cancellation is not waivable (the buyer cannot give it up) and even if the buyer is convinced to sign a document to give it up (waive the right) that waiver is not valid and the buyer still have (sic) the 5 day right.” The resort knew that this Cancellation Waiver is against the law in Mexico but continues to request its customers to sign away their rights. Because of this fraudulent information which indeed made us believe that we can’t cancel our contract; therefore my actual rescission period would expire. This is fraudulent, deceptive and illegal business practices.

We, therefore, request that our contract be cancelled with deposit be fully refunded.

For your information, I have filed my dispute with the credit card company, Profeco, California State Attorney General’s Office, Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and few other agencies until a satisfactory solution is reached.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. I hope this matter will be resolved very quickly.

Here is a letter to RCI Elite Reward Credit Card requested to have my case be re-reviewed.

Account No. XXXXXXXXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

In response to your finding letter dated 9/24/07 in regard to my dispute claim of $_______ from__________, on the above account.

I disagreed with your finding and found that it is an unfair settlement against me due to the conflict of interest of RCI Elite Rewards and the developers.

1. I found that it is unjustified that it took more than 20 days for your company to acknowledge the receipt of my dispute (your letter dated XXXXX); yet only 4 days to conclude your finding (your letter dated XXXXX).

2. Your letter claimed that you attempted to contact us, but were unable to reach. I don’t believe this is true because we gave you our email, work, home and even cell phone numbers, which all have answering machine available, but no messages were left.

3. Your letter stated “the information that we received was not what we specifically requested or was not complete.” This again is not true because you never sent us any letter indicated that you need any additional or specific information.

4. The contract, which this credit card was approved and used to pay for, is proven to be a fraudulent, deceptive and illegal because of the following: a. Our signed contract clearly states …..(see above) , the intention to give falsified information is a fraud.

b. The resort and sale rep. deceived us (see above) This is ILLEGAL IN MEXICO. According to Article 56 of Mexican Consumer Protection Laws, it states: Cancellation Period ”There exists a five (5) day period of cancellation, during which the ….) the 5 day right.” The resort (see above)…..; therefore my actual rescission period would expire. Therefore, this is fraudulent, deceptive and illegal.

Your letter mentioned that “At Bank of America, our Customers depend on us for the highest level of customer satisfaction, and we are committed to providing the superior service you deserve and expect.” That is exactly what I expect and believe that it is your duty as our credit card lender, to protect the rights and the interests of your customers, especially when you knew that your customer is being deceived by an illegal business practices. Perhaps my original dispute letter was not clear; I don’t believe that you have thoroughly investigated my claim. Therefore, I once again request to have my case be re-reviewed without any bias, conflict of interest and hope that it will be settled according to the facts.

I have sent my cancellation request letter to the Resort, complaint letters to Profeco, California State Attorney General’s Office, Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and willing to continue taking any further actions until a satisfactory solution is reached.

Attached for your review are all the documents that support our claim and reasoning.

I had also forwarded a copy of my cancellation letter request to Profeco to update my file. I also filed complaints to Better Business Bureau; Federal Trade Commission;

Within a few hours after emailing a copy of my cancellation request letter, the resort credited back a full amount to my account. I just received a confirmation from the Resort, yet have not received any words from Credit card or Profeco.

That is how I fighted with this battled and won. It takes lots of energy and effort to make it happens. So anyone, who has the hard evident showing that you are requested to sign away your rescission rights, you have a case. Please be persistence and prepare your energy to fight this battle; it pays off. Good luck!

kimyn proclaims victory, but perhaps a bit prematurely, by stating (quoted only in directly pertinent part): >> That is how I fighted with this battled and won. <<

With all due respect, you still have a signed contract in place to deal with, one which has not yet been in any way invalidated or cancelled. While you may have received a credit card resolution, that credit card action is legally separate from (and not in any way connected to) the legal validity of the contract itself. You still need to stay right on top of the contract status with Profeco. You can't just unilaterally proclaim on your own that the contract is invalid ---that alone does NOT make it so. In the absence of actual contract cancellation, the resort can (and likely will) still chase you for maintenance fees and file negative reports with credit agencies if/when you don't pay them, as long as that contract remains "on the books" without invalidation or cancellation.

I applaud your persistence and your progress, but don't wave the victory flag too hard until the legal status of the contract itself is much more conclusively resolved. Keep up the fight --- you haven't really "won" yet.....

I did receive a contract cancellation confirmation from the Resort yesterday. Isn't that concluded the contract termination with the resort?

kimyn wrote:

I did receive a contract cancellation confirmation from the Resort yesterday. Isn't that concluded the contract termination with the resort?

I may have been mistaken in interpreting your original post to have stated that the resort confirmed cancellation of the PAYMENT (as opposed to cancellation of the CONTRACT), since your original post did not actually specifically say CONTRACT cancellation (as your most recent reply does). If the notification specifically identified that the CONTRACT (not just the payment) has been cancelled (please make very sure about this critically important distinction), then you have indeed prevailed. Congratulations!!

Kudos Kim. That's what's called consumer activism. More people should be as diligent as you were, but many people just give up. I would have done the exact same thing you did as I'm not one to give up when I know I'm right and I know I've been scammed.

I am trying to get a contract cancelled. Is a penality clause considered Liquidated Damages? We were also told that if we cancelled our deposit would not be refunded. Can anyone help. Joannv

joann486 wrote:

I am trying to get a contract cancelled. Is a penality clause considered Liquidated Damages? We were also told that if we cancelled our deposit would not be refunded. Can anyone help. Joannv

In your contract it states that you have a certain amount of time to rescind depending on the state where you bought (usually 7-10 days and 5 days in Mexico). If you don't rescind within that timeframe then I'm afraid you're out of luck in getting your contract cancelled. That's why it's so important to read any contract before signing. And be aware that your credit will be negatively affected if you default on your timeshare financial obligations.

Joaann You did not said where did you buy your timeshare. If in Mexico, you have 5 days to rescind. However, I did not know that since my contract did not state our rescission right; it did, however, included "Penalty Clause" as you said deposit would not be refunded if cancelled. This is against the laws in Mexico. Another advantage in my case was the paper that they asked us to sign when we applied RCI credit card, clearly states that we waived our rescission right. This is illegal in Mexico. The resort knew all of these laws apply in Mexico, but they ignored it. If anyone know their rights and confront them, they will refund the money. Like in my case, only a couple hours after I emailed my cancellation request, the credit already issued back to my credit card. If you need more information or ideas, please clearly state your case. Hopefully, with all the helps of others, you can make your case legitimate. Good luck!

kimyn wrote:

Joaann You did not said where did you buy your timeshare. If in Mexico, you have 5 days to rescind. However, I did not know that since my contract did not state our rescission right; it did, however, included "Penalty Clause" as you said deposit would not be refunded if cancelled. This is against the laws in Mexico. Another advantage in my case was the paper that they asked us to sign when we applied RCI credit card, clearly states that we waived our rescission right. This is illegal in Mexico. The resort knew all of these laws apply in Mexico, but they ignored it. If anyone know their rights and confront them, they will refund the money. Like in my case, only a couple hours after I emailed my cancellation request, the credit already issued back to my credit card. If you need more information or ideas, please clearly state your case. Hopefully, with all the helps of others, you can make your case legitimate. Good luck!

Kim, The contract was signed in Mexico. Did you e-mail your contract to Profeco? They also ask for ID what type of ID does Profeco need? I am waiting to hear from them. I have also been restricted not to resale the timeshare for one year. Thanks for your help. I have also contacted Resortcom in San Diego. JoAnn

The only problem I see here is that a rescission period was INCLUDED in JoAnn's written contract and unless she was forced to waive it, then I'm afraid she doesn't have a chance of cancelling it.

Kim, your contract did not state a rescission period at all and you were asked to waive any rescission when you applied for your RCI credit card. This is why your contract was cancelled and your money refunded as it's against Mexican law to not state a rescission period in a timeshare contract and it's against the law to ask a buyer to waive that rescission.

JoAnn, would you please look at your contract and tell us exactly what it states concerning rescission.

This is per contract: Cancellation Rights. This Purchase Agreement may be cancelled by Member within five (5) days of the purchase date, without penalty. A cancellation request must be received in writing by Seller at the same location where this Agreement was signed by the Member.

Thanks for your Help, JoAnn

joann486 wrote:

This is per contract: Cancellation Rights. This Purchase Agreement may be cancelled by Member within five (5) days of the purchase date, without penalty. A cancellation request must be received in writing by Seller at the same location where this Agreement was signed by the Member.

Thanks for your Help, JoAnn

JoAnn, thanks for stating the rescission clause. I'm afraid you don't have a case for cancelling your contract. The best thing to do in your situation is to use (and enjoy) or trade your week in Mexico for other locations some years.

You are certainly not the first person to buy from a developer. Most everyone on all the different timeshare forums on the internet bought their first timeshare from a developer (including us) because they were not aware of resales.

Joann Jayyay is right. Your contract clearly stated that you have the right to cancel your contract within 5 days without penalty. I am afraid that you don't have any case unless you think have other good reasons. Fighting with developer is very hard work and you have to have a good reason. Profecco takes a very long time for them to respond but again you must have a case here. When writing to Profecco, I have to email and send them all contract document (including my credit card charge and number, etc.) which is very risky, but I cancelled my credit card right after developer credited my account. Joann, if you don't think you have a good reason to fight and win, don't bother sending in your contract to Profecco; it might do more harm than good.

we just purchased a silverleaf time share today and want to cancel but are not sure what the letter should say. I know we have 5 days but I wanted to know if anybody knows more about the cancelation policy- do we make it so letter has to be signed for? should we include a copy of the contract? do we have to list a reason? is it sent to the address of the home office, the location of the actual time share, or the location where we purchased TS? any info would be helpful

billw161 wrote:

we just purchased a silverleaf time share today and want to cancel but are not sure what the letter should say. I know we have 5 days but I wanted to know if anybody knows more about the cancelation policy- do we make it so letter has to be signed for? should we include a copy of the contract? do we have to list a reason? is it sent to the address of the home office, the location of the actual time share, or the location where we purchased TS? any info would be helpful

And no, you don't have to include a reason to rescind ... just send the signed rescission letter certified U.S. mail/return receipt. It's the date/time stamped on the certified letter that counts when rescinding and it's proof that you sent the letter within the rescission period.

The address to send it to should be in your contract along with other instructions for rescinding, but be sure to send it certified mail/return receipt.

BTW, resorts get rescissions every day so it's no big deal. The rescission period is law and it's called the 'cooling off period' since most people buy in the heat of the moment (on vacation) and haven't thoroughly digested what they have purchased.

Bill In my case, I want to make sure my request get to the resort and to the right person, and in your case, timing is an issue; what I did was: (1) sent an email to the sales manager at the resort (your contract should list name, phone number and email to whom you should call if you have questions); (2) I also faxed my letter to the resort and (3) I want to make sure that they acknowldge receiving the letter, I sent Certified mail with return signature and receipt (for international, it cost almost $15.00, and the process that you receive the return receipt takes 2-3 weeks; however, the most important thing is you can prove that you indeed cancel your request within rescind period. If you don't have rescission letter, just send them a short letter stating that you request to have your policy cancel and make sure they know that you cancel within the allowed time. I made sure that I covered anyone that might be involved in this matter, I sent letter to all of them. If you sent via email, keep all emails for records. It is critical that you act now. Good luck!

Hi I am on the same boat with H10 Premium can you help guide me as to what I can do to cancel my services I signed up April 22 2018 I've emailed the company to cancel and refund me my money I've put down on the package

crissyf wrote:

Hi I am on the same boat with H10 Premium can you help guide me as to what I can do to cancel my services I signed up April 22 2018 I've emailed the company to cancel and refund me my money I've put down on the package

That depends on which state or country you were in when you signed the contract. Different states and different countries have different rescission periods. So if you signed the contract in Florida, you have ten days to rescind and you are currently within your rescission period.

If you are still within the rescission period, then follow the directions for rescinding that you were given in your owner's package. By law, the sales people or resort are required to give you printed rescission instructions. Those instructions will also probably tell you to send in a written letter via certified mail (and ask for a receipt when you mail it) to a particular address which is usually the timeshare company's corporate headquarters and not the actual resort.