Sierra Club Rental and Resales review: Possible new scam 125

The jury is still out on this. I just returned from my week in paradise where I learned that Sierra Rentals and Resales were now not the management company in charge of selling my Royal Elite Weeks which I purchased in 2009. I got sucked into those 90 minute timeshare meetings and 8 hours later purchased a 1 bedroom (Sandos) week and 4 Elite weeks which would be managed by Sierra. We were told that un-used weeks would be sold and the value of the weeks sent to us. We are still waiting. We went down to Mexico and spoke to another sales rep, who tried to 'up-grade' us by doubling our investment. Here, we really wanted to know what was going on, and their agenda was to take more money from us. Its all a scam. I could have booked this entire vacation on-line for so much less that what I purchased this time share for. It's not worth it.

Un-happy looser in Cold Canada

Sierra is also in bed with Torrenza Resorts in Mazatlan, Mexico

Its a scam. I gave money to transfer the property to "Scott Alvarez" of REMAX Equity Group Realty and "Arturo Zarate" from Mexic Sales Financial Services is also involved in this. Mexic Sales is the company that was holding the money in escrow. Alvarez assured me my property was sold. After numerous e-mails I never heard from them again.

It's all BS

We purchased a Torrenza timeshare in 2008. They were going to take our mayan in trade and we would have money left over even after paying Torrenza. 2009 we went back and they scammed us again by saying they were going to make it right and having us sign a credit card app for them to put the $58, 000 back that we were owed when the dust settled. Fortunately we went to Perfeco and took up our cause with the three B of A cards that the money was split up on as charges. We have all of the money from 2009 back but still have the Jr Suite.

We had been approached by Scott Alvarez but didn't do business with him. Now we have had two guys call us from Sierra offering us $9, 000 for our Torrenza. We will not send them any money. I think we learned that much. The form for us to fill out had two statements to the effect that certain fees might be charged and payments of transfer fees, and maintainance fees (which is a joke because there is nothing to maintain) and the closing to take place once a full timeshare (52 weeks) in each unit have be committed. (spelling error theirs)

It is a Purchase Offer. We can check if we accept the above offer/terms and allow Sierra to verify ownership or check if we decline the above offer/terms.

Has anyone else received this type of offer?

I WAS ALSO SCAM BY THESE PEOPLE AND AM WORKING TO GET HELP AND MAKE SURE THIS HAPPENS TO KNOW ONE ELSE

ITS ME AGAIN I FORGOT TO SAY IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO HELP PLEASE WRITE SO I CAN TALK TO YOU I AM NOT GOING TO STOP TILL I STOP WHAT THEY ARE DOING.I AM GOING TO EMAIL NEWSPAPERS, TALK SHOWS MAGAZINES WHOEVER WILL LISTEN I SURE COULD USE SOME HELP

Kayecat:

I too have delat with Scott Alvarez and his cohort Arturo Zarate from Mexic Sale Financial services. I gave them 1000.00 for the closing costs for my Mazatlan property. The 30 day transaction has now gone into month five. Mr. Alvarez will no longer respond to my e-mails and the e-mailbox for Mexic Sales has been closed down so I can't even contact Zarate. Hope that answers your question. I was later contacted by Aaron Dixon from Sierra Rentals and Sales who said a large Mexican resort wanted to purchase my Torrenza Suite. He too wanted about 1000.00 for the closing costs for my Torrenza property. I was told by one of Dixon's associates that in Mexico real estate, the seller pays the sales cost. Mmmmmm, if I had to pay the closing costs as the buyer for my suite then why isn't the large Mexican resort paying the closing cost as the buyer. It just doesn't make sense. I don't trust Torrenza or Sierra as far as I can throw them. The Torrenza sales rep lied to me at the presentation and made numerous claims that turned out to be BS. Hope this info has helped you

I AM GOING TO DO WHAT EVER I CAN TO STOP THIS NEWSPAPER, TV TALK SHOWS, INTERNET, GOVERMENT. I WILL NOT STOP TILL IT IS MADE RIGHT

Greetings- Thanks so much for the posts. I was contacted to sell my time at Torrenza Mazatlan as well. Again, up front fees for closing costs etc. I suspect they will not provide me a contract that allows paying closing fees at time of closing. Also 30-90 days to close.

Can anyone post that has actually had this work?

tjrod-

I too was contacted by Sierra Rental and Resales about Purchasing my 2 br Sandos, 1 week. Get this, they are offering me $27, 000! If that alone doesn't send up red flags. Of course, i must pay $1, 995 up front to move forward. I have questioned the sales guy up and down, even suggesting he google the company he works for. He still insists it is on the up and up. If this is all legit, why does my money go to a bank in Buenos Aires. I also saw a posting on here regarding their mailing address: 848 N Rainbow Blvd, Suite 2110 Vegas, this is really a mail forwarding company http://www.maillinkplus.com/, so, the Suite is really a Box. I'm sure mail is all sent straight to Mexico, where we will have no rights.

I am going to call Sierra and say we will be flying into Vegas to continue our paperwork in person, just to see how they squirm. Contact me if you need any further information.

Thanks, Melissa

We were just contacted by Ben Hermez email address corpsales4@sierraresortservices.com regarding a company wanting to buy our Sando's weeks. Afer negotiating a price for the two weeks we contacted Sando's and were told it was a scam and they would ask for fee's up front then once we paid we would never hear from them again. Since not having much luck with Sando's, Sierra, HSI, RCI etc we were excited to just get rid of this vacation ownership without taking a huge loss. I really didn't know who to believe, Sando's or Sierra. I am so glad to have come across these postings because we were really leaning towards selling. Has anyone ever had any luck with doing week exchanges or are these vacation ownerships really only good if you always go back to the home resort? Is there any way to REALLY sell this vacation ownership? What about Lloydshare, did we get scammed there too? This is so frustrating.

Thanks
Tanya

OK so I get a call from Ben's boss now "Kim", the name of the company she claims to be selling these weeks to is Joy A Residence Club. She challenged us on the price we want and requested we send her more information. I asked if there would be any upfront closing costs that we would be required to pay. YES, aprox $2000.00 and it would be held with Escrow until the title is transfered (30-90 days). I challanged her for an explanation to all the stuff I have been reading about this scam online. She claims that people just like to post bad things. I advised her of my conversation with Sandos regarding this and she tells me that the lower down people don't know anything and I would need to talk to someone higher up. I asked for a person to contact at Sandos to verify that they have had successful sales and transfers. She doesn't have a name. I guess she didn't like that I was questioning what was going on and she advised me that if I was not comfortable with the transaction that I should not do it but they would have to take me off the sellers list. I replied with PLEASE DO. I found on other complaint boards that others are having the same problems and are also mentioning Joy A Residence Club in connection with Sierra and different Escrow companies. If you google joy a residence club scam you will find some of them. Thank you to whoever started these posts because I am sure that I would have gone along with this deal otherwise. I will also be contacting Sandos to thank the fellow who I spoke with earlier.
Thanks
Tanya

I also got a call from Kim Hart asking me if i wished to sell my 2 weeks at Sandos only a week ago. I have a 2 bed 2 week at Sandos. Within a couple of days she confirmed that Joy A Residence Club would pay me $32, 000 for my inventory and today I received a Transfer Expenses form and Payment form. The first mention of paying a "refundable" fee or $1995 was yesterday. I am not a lawyer but I have had extensive experience of contract law and I was suspicious from the start so i decided to look deeper in Sierra and i am very glad that i found this website and all the very useful information people have kindly posted. I have no intention whatsoever to continue with this transaction or sending them any money as this is clearly a scam.
Thanks

That's what we're all here for...to help each other out.

Now, Michael Johnson, from Sierra corporate sales wants me to sell my Torrenza property as he has a buyer that is going to buy the property as Torrenza is now in default of their timeline for completion, as per Mexican law. Of course the refundable $1900, is due up front for closing costs. Now that I have read these comments, I will hold to two adages; "If it sounds too good to be true, it must not be" and "Don't pay up front for time share resales." By doing so, I hope I'm saving $1900 rather than benefiting from the $35, 000.00 offer from an unknown developer.
Bud, CA

We too feel this is a scam we were contacted by a Bryan Burke from Sierra Club to purchase our membership in the email of forms to sign nothing is mentioned of the $1995 paid by us for them to do a title serch on our property and they will give it back once the title comes back clear. I told them that as the purchaser they sould be responsible for this. I was told that in the past people have not been honest about their memberships being available so in turn now the seller has to pay all these costs to trust they will get them back. I asked for some people who have had success in the past selling and was told for privacy issues they could not give me any names. I told him that we were not going to pay any more money up front for anything to do with this timeshare and he gave me a web address to check the company out. The web page is very uninformative and quite plaine just a bunch of flashy pictures. He then told me that their lawyers could sign the contract verifying my agreement to better ease my mind. How would that ease my mind they are paid by Sierra Club? Do not fall for this it is a SCAM i fear unless someone has had some success I will NOT give them any more money. Please post if you find a way to sell this legitimately.

Thank you for the posts you saved us the 2 grand.

Lisa

Well it so happens that I recieved an email from Sierra Rentals and resales asking if I wanted to sell my membership to some interested buyers. What they didn't know is that in 2008 I had agreed to give weeks to them to sell but they got an upfront fee and disappeared, so when I recieved the email from Kim Hart and a 800 number, and yes it was in Las Vegas at the same suite as before, I called and asked to speak with Kim Hart and they misheard me and a man picks up the phone and says this is " Tim Hart" ! I almost burst out laughing and said I wanted to speak to Kim Hart. After a few minutes, during that time they wanted to know my name and apologized for not having music to listen to while I was holding. I finally spoke to Kim Hart, if that is her real name and was given the dog and pony show about investers wanting to buy my comlplete membership but would need an upfront fee which would be put in escrow until the paperwork was completed. Needless to say I declined her offer and told her it was a scam and I was going to contact Real Resorts about this whole thing, but Iam wondering that they are in on this too. I had spoken to a higher up and she actually said Seirra Rentals was on their list in 2008. Also anybody heard of Global Services?Thganks for any feedback.

We have one week at Royal Elite Sandos - plus 3 Elite weeks and we have been approached by Bryan @ Sierra Rentals and resales. He wants a$ 1, 500 transfer fee to be paid and has promised that the week would be bought By Joy A residence club and we would have $17, 000 + our transfer fee refunded AND THE $ WIRED in 60 days..
I am sooooo glad i found this posting ... We paid $8, 000.00 for the week 1 1/2 yrs ago, why would someone want to buy it for $17, 000.00?
If it sounds too good ... it IS!

Seems this is a popular scam. I received an offer of $52, 000 for my $48, 000 2 bedroom suite 3 weeks at BlueBay Grand Esmeralda. I would have to pay $1995 up front to complete the deal. Same person from Sierra Resale and Rentals (Katherine Diaz) has been contacting me for the past 2.5 weeks to complete the transaction. I'm glad I'm seeing all these posts and have saved myself $1995. I called my resort and complained to the sales person that referred me to this company (cost me $688 one time fee for them to advertise) and they have offered me another 10 weeks on my membership for free.

I just received an email from Kim Hart-we have been trying to sell or LeBlanc menbership. Same thing regarding Joy A Residence Club-whose web site does look legitimate. They say they have been commissioned to acquire inventory in our resort. We have beenburnt too much on these so called sales resorts that claim to have buyers-showrooms etc. Glad I'm reading these posts-this one actually looked legit.
Has anyone ever dealt with Kim-and yes, that is her hame.

BEWARE! It is a scam and you will be throwing away your money. I know because I found out the hard way. I wish there was a way to warn everyone that has been approached by Sierra Rentals, also beware of Sunset Group Timeshares and Global Resort Services. These companies keep sufacing after a few years looking to scam again. Please don't be fooled as I was. They change there approach when they surface. When I bought into it they told me they would rent my weeks for me, now they are saying they have a buyer and want to purchase all my weeks for an ridiculis price but of course would need an upfront fee to be put in escrow and they even metioned the Joy Residence Club. Interesting what comes up when you google those places mentioned. I have spoken with Kim Hart and don't be to sure that is her real name or just one she goes by until they scam enough money to dissappear again.

We were contacted last week, by Loui Bourben at Sierra Rentals, and it sounds exactly like many of you have warned against! We to were hoping to sell the timeshare since we haven't used it in the two years since we bought it and the maintenance fees just keep going up. We also paid Sierra money upfront when we bought at Velas Vallarta (at VV's suggestion) to rent our timeshare and have NEVER heard from them. I called them and they said, "Oh yes, soon, soon".

Tanya we also have Worldmark, which we love. Not as good as it was before Wyndham took it over, but still the best timeshare around... We should have just bought more shares with them!

- Karen

Nice play Angela. Congrats on keeping your money.

Now to touch base on these sales reps from Sierra Club Rentals & Resales. They too are full of it. Another waste of money. The only response I got to selling my property was from Scott Alvarez from Remax Equity Sales. I can only presume that he got my name through Torrenza or Sierra as they were the only two entities that knew my property was for sale. I found out through the RE/MAX home office that in March 2010 they about Alvarez and sent me the following letter: "Please be aware that Scott Alvarez is not and has never been a legitimate RE/MAX agent". RE/MAX took legal action to have his websight shut down. He's is probably using another name now.

Tips I've learned during this fiasco.

1.) Never give any money up front at presentations (even deposits) until you see the contract first. If you see anything about a color week, you are buying a timeshare regardless of what they tell you.

2.) Never send money to start closing fees on the property you are selling. NEVER sign the back of the check you are sending with your signature. There is no need for that. Let them deduct the closing costs out of the proceeds of the sale.

3.) Never fill out applications to open up an "escrow account". The application contains alot of your personal info that can be used in other dubious ways by others.

Jesus H. Looks like we got scammed as well. Kim Hart called us and asked us to sell our timeshare. We sent them a check for $1995 and were getting updated "checklists" about every month for the last 3 months and then nothing. I've called the 866 number four times and left messages. I've emailed Kristie Johnson four times and Kim Hart twice, all in the last week and a half and nothing. This sucks. This whole thing has been a disaster.
DON'T do it!

I was also contacted by Bryan Burke from Sierra. I was hooked and was really interested in doing the transaction but got that "funny feeling" that something just doesn't sound right. So I googled it and ran across a lot of information where it was a scam. When Bryan called back, I told him I didn't have the $1995 upfront and he tried everything to get me to commit. Then we he finally got the message, he hasn't emailed or called since. I feel like I got scammed from the beginning at the resort. I never received my membership to RCI and then I got a piece of paper saying RCI was the only ones that could rent my weeks out. So I start emailing Sandos and after about 6-8 months finally got my RCI book and information from them. We purchased 3/09. And when we came home, we paid another $599 dollars to Sierra Resort for them to rent out our weeks. I called them about every month for a while and they said due to the economy they couldn't rent them (which is understandable). Nothing about this purchase is as it was promised. I don't have thousands of dollars to just throw away but apparently..."leasson learned"! If anyone knows how to get out of the entire contract, please let me know. I have another year and half to pay. Thanks

I was suprised to hear that RCI was up to no good again. You'd think that after that massive class action lawsuit a while ago they would have learned. I guess they just reworded their presentation.

As far as Sierra, we have no idea if they sell our weeks or not. They probably do, then pocket the money.

Where is your Sandos property ? Mexico ?

I would have to agree with NJ resident. They probably sell our weeks and pocket the money. I have been in contact with Real Club people a few months back complaining about Sierra Rentals and a month later they sent out email saying that Seirra Rentals is not recommended by them and Real Club is not affliated with them, but I only recieved that after complaining about Sierra Rentals. I would love to tap into Sierra Retals data base and sent an email to everyone they contact. Know any good hackers out there? That would shut them down in a hurry. Unfortunately probably not legal, so I am not condoning that. just a thought.

so does this mean i do not have a time share anymore? i too got screwed by Sierra. i almost just sent them another $700 but just saw all this crap. velas vallarta

What did you send Sierra another $700 for ?

I too got involved with this. I am suppose to have funds wired to me by Friday-they keep changing the date-I tried to email Tim Hart and the email came back as 'bad". I called his ph# and it says mailbox full. They have never rented a week as promised and then approached me to sell. If this is a scam someone from the resort or through our contract we should beable to get our money back. Someone please help, I am very very frustrated.

Ron Ca. Yes I am another one that was taken, which I paid upfront $1505 for a so call escrow fee, which was going to be re-imburse when escrow closed. Also in order for Gibalter escrow to finalize the unit I had to pay a govt office by the name of Servco $695.04 for a tax for the right to use for the time I owned the unit. Another scam. Today I sent to the legal department asking when my funds will be wired which they sent me a e-mail stating that it would be this week. My e-mail came back and then I send one to Tim Hart and that one came back. Then I tried calling 3 numbers and 2 of them rang up as buzy and one said the voice mail was full. I guess I am another victim of Mexico. My legal rights in Mexico are almost impossible to pursue. I hope others will read my comments in order to save them for losing any monies.

Yes, this is exactly what has happened to me. I send the $800 for taxes to Gibraltar also. I am also out the upfront fee of $1505 and the money to Gibraltar. There must be something we can do...I can't believe I got sucked in! Can anyone help in telling me who to conatact for help? I feel something definately needs to be done!

Maybe we are looking at this from the wrong angle. I hear Ron Hillman asking about legal rights in Mexico. I dealt with Sierra offices in the U.S. which is where I think their base is. I know they have supposedly have a office in Las Vegas. My point is that maybe someone (either individually or as a group) contact the Attorney General for that state and see what recourse there is. Just a thought.

Me too!
I think we all need to get together via email. My email is jhfox2004@yahoo.com
I was approached back in January and suckered for the 1505, then paid the damn maintenace fee for 2 years to make it up to date, and also the 'tax' thing for ?895
This guy Tim said he lived in Mexico City, btw but I think their offices are in Las Vegas.
Lets start emailing one another so we can pool our resources.
Jack

Yes, I am definately in. We need to all pool together and see what we can do. I am going to contact Sandos where I purchased my contract also again today. We need to do something...

Sierra has taken me for $1995 back in may. I was supposed to receive a payout today. Please add me on to any complaint you make. I am so angry. I was referred to them by Sandos Playacar in Playa Del Carmen. They tried to get me to wire some money or Western Union it for some fraudulent tax and I refused. All emails come back as having a permanent failure, their website was taken down and all phone numbers are busy. My email is jaimeelaw@gmail.com.

I 100% agree with everyone. I spoke with Tim Hart and Ben at Sierra Corporate sales. I kept thinking something was wrong but couldn't imagine why they'd go through so much trouble of sending the monthly checklists and all that crap. I mean, you already got the money! But then after about 5 months, they asked for $900 in taxes. I said I was questioning everything and thought this was all strange. WHy would I pay taxes before I ever sold anything. They finally said it's okay and they'll deduct it from my payout. The following week they said we were finally getting paid out this week. It's Friday and nothing. I emailed and EVERYTHING - EVERY SINGLE email has bounced back to me: the general account, the people's direct emails, the legal department emails. The phone numbers don't work. I get a voicemail box is full on one and the other just is out of service.

I am embarrassed that I was stupid enough to get looped into this. After three years they never once sold a single week. We bought the timeshare with the expectation that renting it out would help cover the cost. That has never, ever happened. We 100% got suckered out of everything - the timeshare, the $1500 fee and maintenance fees. I refuse to pay another dime. It only took me this long to figure it out. Totally upsetting. I'm willing to do whatever to help too. Please let em know. Jack - I'll email you at your yahoo address you provided.

Thanks.

We hare having the exact same issue. We were innocent lambs slaughtered at the airport barely after we stepped off the plane. We bout a time share, asked to sell and received the same checklist showing the progress. We stupidly did pay the "taxes" for this "sale" just a couple weeks ago and now e-mails bounce back and phone just rings continuous busy. We are SO embarassed and ashamed. Is there any recourse at all?

Forgot to mention that we were dealing with Tim Hart as well.

Hello, I posted previously. I am filing a consumer complaint with the Pennsylvania and US Attorney General's Office. Hopefully they can prosecute these people. I don't know if we ever will get our money back, but it's worth a try. I also filed a dispute with my credit card company even though the charge was back in May. I printed out all emails to and from these people as well as proof of what we paid them. I suggest you do this too.