Vallarta Gardens Timeshare Scam

My wife and I have owned time shares for over 30 years. We are using them differently now and rather than vacation, since we are retired, we are wintering most often in Puerto Vallarta. We went to a timeshare presentation to Vallarta Gardens. We own two timeshares in Florida, and since we do not spend that much time in Florida, we were interested when Vallarta Gardens offered to buy a Florida Timeshare as the bulk of a purchase toward one of theirs. This was the only reason we bought as it made sense that we could use these for more time in Puerto Vallarta.

I was thrilled at first. They even offered to set up a follow up meeting for any questions we might have. Even after a few contacts, the meeting was not set up until more than a week later, not where we had discussed but at the resort with the Manager, the person who had offered the meeting. This was well after the 5 day cooling off period.

I googled their website as I wanted to see if they had pictures of the type of unit we bought as I had some questions for our meeting which was now set up. Out of the corner of my eye I noted some other links and what caught my attention was the word scam next to Vallarta Gardens. After reading all of the information I felt ill. I had checked out Vallarta Gardens on Trip Advisor but there was nothing that would have raised red flags about the information I later found.

While there were many issues, including units not being built, dissatisfaction bout alternative units that people were placed in etc. etc. the most frequent and common was failure to sell the resort as part of the payment for Vallarta Gardens and then the buyer is stuck paying the whole amount.

I freaked. I went on the TUG (Timeshare Users Group) and read something about Mexican Timeshare Solutions. The receptionist and Carlos were fantastic. They responded immediately and gave me advice. In the meantime I contacted VISA who advised me they had a cooling off period of 15 days so I immediately sent notice to Vallarta Gardens that I wanted to cancel. They fought it all the way to the end. It took about 6 months but VISA upheld my cancellation and returned my deposit, preventing further payments. But, this did not fully cancel the contract. This whole time I was also working with Roberto Guzman at Mexican Timeshare Solutions.

He was in regular contact with me. I was guaranteed no payment to them unless they got the contract cancelled. They were as good as their word. Never once did I get asked for a payment until finally Vallarta Gardens agreed to cancel the contract. That was well over a month after VISA decided in my favour.

Roberto was fantastic throughout the time that he worked on my case. He explained things to me, was very patient and was very responsive to my emails and questions. It was only after the contract was cancelled that a request was made for payment. I was happy to comply.

I am thrilled with the services that I received and it was a small payment compared to what I might have been liable for had the contract not been cancelled.

SCAM !!! These bottom feeders have been trying to push their scam in here over and over again. They always come in the forum posing as satisfied customers to lure you into their scam. It's all lies . They claim there is no upfront fees but they lure you out of the forum and set the hook. Once you take the bait they claim there is a " fee " that has to be paid before they can complete the transaction. Whatever you do don't give them your credit card number !!

Anyone can create a website and use a mail drop box for an address. If you are dumb enough to get involved with these scammers then you will get put on the " sucker list " and someone will contact you later claiming they can get back the money you lost for another " fee " . This continues until you stop sending them money.

Has anyone started a class action suit against them? So many people have been scammed I was just wondering if anything is being done as a group?

I think one thing we can all do that will at least hurt Vallarta Gardens is to put your review on Trip Advisor. At least this way we can hurt their business or at least warn others that might make the mistake of staying there. If we put enough reviews on TripAdvisor we may do something good at least. Many people look to TripAdvisor to decide where to stay. I already did mine and told everyone to run for the hills and look elsewhere.

Are you an owner there? If you or anyone else is an owner please email me at Natasha.phipps@hotmail.com

Who can I contact to fix this problem,all their informations at the presentation was completely lies.......I like to know if people with the same problem so we can communicate how to resolve this very bad and costly situation

My L. wrote:

Who can I contact to fix this problem,all their informations at the presentation was completely lies.......I like to know if people with the same problem so we can communicate how to resolve this very bad and costly situation

Unfortunately, what they told you, whether truthful or untruthful, has no bearing on your contract. It depends on what you signed in the contract, not on what these deceptive sales people told you.

I am assuming you have passed your five-day rescission period. If so, then your options are to either learn how to use what you bought or just stop payments and let the resort terminate your membership. You might face a lot of collection calls and letters but the collectors will eventually give up an let your membership terminate.

Just do not pay any of these outfits that claim they can sue the resort or somehow get you your money back. And do not pay anyone an upfront fee who claim they can sell, rent out, or "cancel" your timeshare as those are scams.

Hello, recently we received a phone call from a mysterious buyer, offering to buy our membership that we, unfortunately, purchased no more than 14 months ago at Vallarta Gardens. Apparently, this mysterious buyer asked us for money in advance, so we declined to go on. We do not doubt for a second that Vallarta Gardens has compromised and filtered our information and that is why this company got hold of us. This company states it has a relationship with the company that, also recommended by Vallarta Gardens, was going to take care of liquidating our other timeshare and also the marketing of our weeks at Vallarta Gardens.

When we purchased our membership several months ago we found forums similar to this one and we got scared, we called them and expressed our fears to the sales director. They gave us all the guarantees that we would have our promised money without problems, we tried to cancel but they told us that it was too late and they could not cancel our contract and return our money. The warrant was “no more than 300 days to get the money” and we have not got any payment so far. Now, they do not even answer our emails.

We cannot see how it is possible that apart from ripping off us with lies the day we bought, they have compromised our information as members and immediately there is another company wanting to cheat on the phone, it is just something unscrupulous what Vallarta Gardens does. We lost our savings by trusting these people. Our lawyer explained that the law to protect the buyer in Mexico, regulated by PROFECO, is 100% effective if you want to cancel within the first 5 business days, regardless of special conditions or threats from the company, as it is a right to the buyer, unfortunately, we knew this too late.

This link leads to another forum, where there are more people who fell into the trap and lies of these scammers, 21 pages:

https://www.redweek.com/forums/messages?thread_id=18775;page=21;query=

It is hard for us to think that they are still open, selling lies and deceiving more and more innocent people. Stay away from them!

Vallarta gardens, are the biggest scammers out there,,,,,,they deal with a bank in usa,,,,,,,their is a law for banks,about embedding fraudulant company like vallarta gardens

Hi Joe R. would you mind giving me the Roberto contact info as we needed help cancelling our contract as well. We are on the process with visa right now but need to legally cancel the contract with Vallarta. Thank you..looking forward to it.

Virgie

They were going to buy our timeshare in Mazatlan, to make a long story short, now we have two timeshares. They never sold the other one. Big SCAM! Don't buy into their words, they dont mean anything.

gerim36 wrote:

They were going to buy our timeshare in Mazatlan, to make a long story short, now we have two timeshares. They never sold the other one. Big SCAM! Don't buy into their words, they dont mean anything.

Sorry to hear that you got taken in by another one of these ploys used at Mexican timeshare sales presentations. Unfortunately, we see and hear this method quite often on these boards.

The best advice I can give you now is to not use any of these firms that claim they can help you "cancel" or get out of your deal.

Has anyone attended the 5 night stay they offer for $199 (as long as your listen to the presentation)

janetk255 wrote:

Has anyone attended the 5 night stay they offer for $199 (as long as your listen to the presentation)

I personally have not but pay attention to the math here. Suppose your five-night stay has you checking in on Sunday late afternoon. You can't do much at the resort on Sunday other than unpack and get settled in. Consider Monday gone as your day for the presentation.

You can't do much there on Thursday morning, the morning of check out. That just leaves you with two full days of activity --- Tuesday and Wednesday. So you might want to consider if this is really worth the $199.

The best lesson is do NOT have another company NOT in the United States, broker your timeshares. Do it yourself through one of the many brokerage houses in the US and of course redweek. I did get a call from these guys for the $199.00 deal and passed. Never ever give your credit card to any person selling anything UNLESS you call them back to first make sure they have a legitimate US number and AFTER you have done your due diligence on the product they are selling. Think about it....I am selling you Hula-Hoop Gardens in XYZ, Mexico. I tell you wonderfull things about it, show you a dummy website full of nice pictures and then ask for your credit card. This is like so many scams...just do your due diligence first!!!

Do not take the “free” 5 days. First of all, we were put in a different place across the street. The presentation was horrific - they won’t let you out, feed you and even getting something to drink was like pulling teeth. After 6 hours in there I was worn down. They make a lot of promises that are no good. Just...don’t go.... do yourself a favor. Or just plug your ears thru the whole talk and repeat after me: no, no, no, no

julieu27 wrote:

...they won’t let you out, feed you and even getting something to drink was like pulling teeth. After 6 hours in there I was worn down.

Uh, that's the idea. After many hours there, people are mentally and sometimes physically exhausted and will do almost anything to get out of there including signing a contract for tens of thousands of dollars.

We reserved the 5 night special, received our confirmation and were then pressured to buy plane tickets. Relatives of ours did the same. Then 6 weeks prior to our arrival date, we were notified that our dates were being cancelled due to violation of the group travel policy. This is obviously a scam.

My Wife and I Still a happy owners at Vallarta Gardens and that is that.

Whatever happened to your ENDLESS VICTIMS, well… I don’t know…

All we have to tell you Sir is that we went there, we liked it, we bought it, we use it, and we are happy with the purchase.

I’m here to tell you that we pay $45,000 for the fraction at Vallarta Gardens, we love it, we use it, and we have never in all of our years of timesharing our contracts had ever sated as much as we did in Vallarta Gardens, it is gorgeous…

I’m aware of the stretches that a salesman can go to get his sale, but Sir you would have to be complete mental case to NOT be able to know how much truth is.

Come on…

Please don’t tell me that you are as gullible as to believe that you are going to get $1,000,000 USD for the timeshare contracts that you paid $3,000 USD…

Come on…

When the salesman told us precisely that, we laugh about his proposal…

We purchased Vallarta Gardens, because… WE LIKED VALLARTA GARDENS and the exquisite higher level of vacation possibilities via REGISTRY COLLECTION, and nothing more.

We bought Vallarta Gardens because we loved Vallarta Gardens, and that is that.

The salesman was a salesman, and I Sir, was a buyer, and I don’t buy stupid things as I am not buying your negativity.

We still have 3 of our old timeshare contracts, and up in the crown of our timeshare experience is my procurement in Vallarta Gardens.

You get $45,000 USD to luxury purchase a property of this caliber, maybe that day you would stop Tying One On in the obscure corners of a negative timeshare website and explore what the world has to offer.

Good day

Gayla B. In cases like this, it's akin to being in a movie theater when a fire breaks out, you have to save yourself first.

If you are paying for a mexican timeshare (any of them), you are being scammed!! Sorry, it's a fact.

Vacationing anywhere in Mexico or South America can be done in great local Americanized locations for about $300.00 to $600.00 per week, for 2 and 3 bedroom homes and including your very own pool near beach locations. (And NO Maintenance Fees!). You just have to do a little homework.

Lastly, if you're locked into a contract, no matter what you spent, you gotta get out. Save yourself. Bueno suerte!