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Royal HOliday is a scam
ROYAL HOLIDAY IS A FRAUD!!! 20/20 exposed their scam a few years ago, and more recently "La Facture" exposed their continued scam in Dominican. While on vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic at Grand Paradise we were approached by a guy offering a tour of the resort and free t-shirts. He took us upstairs and we had to sign saying we would listen to a presentation. So much for the tour?! An hour turned into 4 hours. First we sat down with Nelson. He "bought" us several alcoholic drinks. A waitress comes right to your table where they are explaining the program to you. Then when you sign the contract you have to sign that you WEREN'T served alcoholic drinks! (of course, because it's illegal). To make a long story short, some of the points is they showed us this limo that you supposedly get picked up in when you travel, not true, you take a bus like everyone else. They take you to this room with jacuzzi, living room, the works and promise you will always get this sort of room or BETTER. When I called to book they told me it's a regular room, but not to worry becasue it's a 5 star hotel (still not what they showed us during the sales presentation). They told us all inclusive is $35 per person per day, then turned out to be actually $80 per person per day. It's cheaper to book the same room/vacation directly yourself than through Royal Holiday. They'll tell you everything is booked. We weren't even able to use it this year. They will make all kinds of promises during the sales pitch, then after you sign none of those promises are true. THen you find out you signed a clause in the contract stating that all verbal statements are not valid unless in writing. (which by law is misrepresentation) I refuse to pay the annual fee!!! Now my credit score is doomed! Looking for other "members" to join forces and start a class action lawsuit! Put it this way, if you don't pay your membership fees you can use the money for a good lawyer! has anyone had any success in cancelling? I even complained to Better Business Bureau, but don't seem to be getting anywhere.... They are SO unethical!
Aleksandra M.
Yes, Royal Holiday is a massive scam. Do not trust them. We are currently in the process of trying to terminate our membership and no one will even call us back after leaving 3 messages, sending numerous emails. In fact, we get put on hold then the phone hangs up on us. We can't even talk to anyone to try and resolve ANYTHING. We have sent a letter to royal holiday complaining about how they have breached the contract on more than 10 occasions, and we are seeking money back, 13,000 dollars for all the inconveniences. We sent in almost a month ago and still have had no response. If anyone needs a copy of the letter we sent, please write us so we can help!
Shauna H.
Please help me to understand. I bought into Royal Holiday in 2010 in Cancun. But I only purchased the 7yr plan (they call it introductory). I have never had a problem getting a place (my dates are normally flexible). but from what i am hearing a lot of people are getting "Royal"ly screwed over. some people are saying they have bought in and never can get a date. i have gone 4 times already and never had an issue. now i will say this. the room scam is true. they show you a great room during the presentation, even let you get a great room for a good deal your first few times. now when I try to get the presidential they tell me i need to activate a certificate and pay another 760.00. that is not going to happen. i will stay in the studio. heck all you do is sleep there anyway. but i know i will not be renewing anyway.
Gerard G.
bonjour nous aussi nous nous sommes fais avoir avec royal holiday.en revenant de la republique dominiquaine(PUNTA CANA)26 fev.2012.nous avons envoyer email pour annuler pas de reponse.mais notre agente pour choisir un voyage nous a tel.nous lui avons dit qu on voulais annuler.mais elle ne peux rien pour nous.il nous avais dit que nous pourrions annuler en tout temps.
Ginette C.
I hope you understand English because that's how I'm going to respond. If my French understanding is correct, you are looking to rescind your purchase. If so, then follow the rescinding instructions to the letter. It may require you sending your request via registered mail.
Lance C.
Royal Holiday is a scam. Do not be fooled by this group. This company uses misleading high-pressure sales tactics as well as false, fraudulent claims and outright lies to induce consumers into signing a contract. They will stop at nothing to get you to sign. In April of 2004, my girlfriend (now wife) and I visited Puerto Vallarta. Upon arrival....still in the airport...we were bombarded by several individuals offering all sorts of 'free' gifts if we were to attend their presentation. This continued at our hotel. We were approached in the hotel lobby by a Royal Holiday representative claiming we had won a prize for a free lunch and several free activities. She called a taxi and took us to a resort where we found ourselves in an orientation that took 3-4 hours. The high pressure sales-pitch that ensued had us being passed from one representative to another, all while being continually served spiked drinks (in our opinion.) They promised that we could travel anywhere at any time....we have never been able to schedule a trip. They stated that our membership was an investment that would increase in value and that we could sell our membership and make money....a huge lie. They told us that we could rent/lease our membership and make money. We were told that we could write the membership off on our taxes.....another lie. They offered discounted air tickets to use when we scheduled a trip...never able to attempt to use since unable to even schedule a vacation. They did mention maintenance fees, but claimed they would not increase...they increased almost immediately. The contract not only made no mention of the right to cancel within five days (we have since learned this through ABCs 20/20 segment & postings from others), it actually declared, "This agreement cannot be canceled by either party."....a misleading, untrue statement. We have requested to be released from our contract with a full refund. We've been offered a release from our contract without refund or we can pay to be reinstated. Since they have now turned us into a collection bureau, we responded with a cease and desist letter. We are now filing a complaint with Profeco citing misrepresentation and plan to share that information with the Mexican Administration for Tourism. We are also setting up a website at www.royalholidayisascam.com that will provide another outlet to warn consumers about this group, but also provide input on a course of action to take against this fraudulent company.
Kelly V.
Last edited by kellyv57 on Mar 06, 2012 06:58 PM
Hello Kellyv57
From what I know, What this company did to you is completely illegal. Under the mexican laws, all the timeshare contracts MUST mention the 5 days cancellation period agreement, so if the contract didn’t mention it you have the right to proceed legally and get your money back.
hope you’re able to solve your matter soon!
Greetings, Eva
Eva C.
Last edited by phyl21 on Oct 25, 2012 03:52 PM
Royal Holiday is a complete scam. I wish I had read reviews like this before I signed my contract. Good luck trying to cancel because all the people you talk to will know that you were scammed already so they don't care. The only thing they care about is trying to extort more money out of you. You will regret it if you sign a contract with them. Whatever you do just stay away from them. If anyone has had success with them releasing you from your contract please let me know. tylerjamesedwards@yahoo.com
Tyler E.
I agree with you that RH is a massive scam and I had the same problem as yours to cancel our membership. I don't know if you make your cancellation or not. We are seeking money back for $11880. I need your a copy for the letter you sent to RH. Thanks, -Mo
Mo Z.
moz wrote:I agree with you that RH is a massive scam and I had the same problem as yours to cancel our membership. I don't know if you make your cancellation or not. We are seeking money back for $11880. I need your a copy for the letter you sent to RH. Thanks, -Mo
In your contract there should be a rescission clause naming the amount of days that you can rescind .... after those days are up and you haven't rescinded then you own a timeshare.
However, if there is no rescission clause in your contract then you have a legal leg to stand on. If you bought in Mexico then you can contact PROFECO (the consumer advocacy agency in Mexico) to file your complaint. They have helped many people that were told that there would be no rescission period and none was stated in their contract.
It's the law that developer bought timeshare consumers have a certain amount of time to rescind.
R P.
Last edited by jayjay on Dec 04, 2012 07:48 AM
Yes, I agree with your points. NEVER TRUST Royal Holiday (RH). I was scammed by sales manager in Cancun of Mexico. As many victims of being Scammed, we tried very hard to terminate our membership with RH but no response from RH. Instead of response, RH sent me many emails every asked pay membership fee and threaten us the international divisions of united state credit bureau will collect money from us. It is ridiculous that we paid $11,500 to RH for 10,000 holiday credits for 30 years and we never used them since we had terrible experience for booking a Europe trip with RH last summer. We decided to terminate membership with RH. Here are our story to share with you and please see the follows: Alleging Royal Holiday for bait-and-switch selling practices to outright fraud In March 29, 2012, my family signed a vacation club membership contract with Royal Holiday (RH) in Cancun, Mexico and we were convinced by sales managers for their permission of incentives in RH club dream vacation packages that appeared to be a great deal if we pay in full for membership fee $11,500 to RH for 10,000 holiday credits for 30 years. Based on the email from a manager in Cancun promised for two free air-tickets to Australia and the statement for "These incentives that you were given could save you up to what you paid for this entire package!!!" as well as incentives described as below, we signed a contract with RH and made the full payments to RH. The sales manager promised that we would receive those of entire incentives and dream vacation packages in two weeks and can be used in any time in 2012. 1. The RH sales managers in Cancun promised that we would receive two incentives for free 7 nights cruises and two incentives for free 3~4 day nights cruises that we would only pay for the taxes on cruise vouchers. 2. The RH sales managers in Cancun promised that we would receive two free air-tickets to Australia that should be around $4500 at the time of March of 2012. 3. The RH sales managers in Cancun promised that we would receive free 30,000 RH credits for two weeks of free hotel logging in Australia with only a tax charge for$799. 4. The RH sales managers in Cancun promised that we would receive free hotel rooms with only tax charge at Cancun of RH for 5 years for our relatives and friends that if they visit Cancun in Mexico. 5. The RH sales managers in Cancun verbal warranted that we would receive 20% lower cost for a trip and air tickets that booked through RH. 6. The RH sales managers in Cancun verbal promised lifetime Hotel discount, airfare fee reduction of 20%, and ability to sell extra point to recover your membership fee. After we were back to U.S and made full payment to RH, we never received any incentives certificate as RH sales managers promised and even RH vacation packages from RH. We spent almost 4 months to fight with RH by countless phone call and emails. Most of time, the RH sales managers in Cancun refuse to answer or no response and I was extremely surprised by RH execrable service. We finally got RH vacation package in 08/07/2012 but none of the incentives has been received instead we received so called RH dream vacation certificates with undetermined price. For example, we received 7 day cruise dream vacation certificate (incentive) with price FROM $529 + the Tax and meals charge instead of a free 7day cruise only pay for Tax that RH promised. In this certificate, the minimum cost is $529 each person but no maximum price specified because RH can charge you as much they want to. Therefore, those given dream vacation certificates are useless when you actually use them. Here is the terrible experience for booking a Europe cruise by using RH membership credits. 1. It took as long as 3 months working with RH for simple registration on dream vacation certificate, you have to call or email through several different departments. 2. After registered for dream vacation certificate, RH refused you to use it said you have to book several vacations by RH without using certificate before you can use dream vacation certificate. 3. We discovered for the cost in a same Oceanview cruises in a Europe trip booked by RH even using 9824 RH membership credits would be much higher than other famous travel agency in US. 4. We could not get any Hotels room in France and Italy if we booked by using RH dream certifications 5. We were very disappointed by RH terrible service and we had to cancel the Europe trip that we prepared for two years. At that time we realized that we were wrongly assigned a contract with RH. Two days later after we refused the Europe curies offer from RH, we discovered that RH was a well-known fraud. Like many other victims of RH, we have immediately begun to try and resolve the problems with RH since we realized that we are also victims of being scammed. We have tried to contact RH including our bank, but there has been no response. Recently, we sent an email to RH service and provided them with information above and asked to cancel our RH club membership contract but they replied with no answer as I expected. In addition to no answer, the RH service department offered some of incentives as RH sales managers promised before but we refused to take their offer since we can’t tolerant their service and no longer trust them. At this time, we have decided to take the legal matters and other actions on our own for alleging RH Sales managers in Cancun of Mexico for bait-and-switch selling practices and outright fraud. We will continue to post this article and more other articles at the famous websites in US, Canada and Europe. We will work with other victims of RH to file a group of class action lawsuit against RH scam and ask help in famous Media press and newspaper in US to share our terrible experience by RH SCAM to public to avoid more peoples will be involved in RH SCAM.
Thanks,
-Mo Zhang
Mo Z.