Sunset Beach Group review: Scam 8

There is a big rip-off scam going on and the company is using a lot of different names to lure innocent people to sign with them. They can contact you with the name of “Marketing for Sunset Group” or “m4sunset” and promise you the all the best of Cancun. The company I also know as The Sunset Group, Sunset Royal Hotel, Sunset Fishermen’s Resort & Spa, The Sunset Seastar Resort & Spa, The Sunset Lagoon Hotel, Marina & Spa, Cancun Sunset Club, Promotora Sunset Beach Clubs, Promotora Sunset S.A de C.V Promotora Beach Enganches Cancun and Cancun Service Center, Legal Department PMB 477 (collection department located in Miami, Fl, USA) as well as the attractions they offered like the VIP Caribbean Yachting S.A de C.V (known as the Yachting Club or the Admiral Club) and the Hacienda Andalucia Equestrian Center (know as the Equestrian Club). With the following addresses:

PMB 477,
444 Brickell Avenue Ste, 51
Miami, FL [protected]

And

Av. Xpuhil No. 3 Suite 588, S.M. 27
Cp. 77509 Cancun,
Quintana Roo, Mexico

In early 2008 a lady called me from marketing for Sunset, based in Miami, FL. I was told by that I was offered this promotion, so that I could enjoy some good vacations. The only thing they asked from me was to tell everyone I new about the great time I had had at their hotels, what a sac of lies.

About year after I had paid about $800.00 CAD for this vacation, I was contacted several times by phone to book my vacation or I would lose that money. Once I had booked the vacation and the flights ($250.00 booking fee and taxes and about $1, 599.00 for flights), I received a letter where I was to give Sunset agents all the details of my flight so the would know when and where to pick us up, as well as to sign the letter promising that my wife and I would go to a 90 min viewing of resort and presentation or we would be charged at full rack rates upon departure. I showed the information I had received to my wife and we discussed the fact we were never told that we were forced to go to a session. She told me that that was fishy because they did not said anything about the session until we had paid for booking and flights. I should have listened to her when she told me that we would be better off to lose that money because she felt that something was telling her that what we were getting was a big rip-off.

Once we were in the session, they make you think that whatever you buy from them is a win, win deal. After 5 hours or so of showing you the different hotels and draining sales presentations with unstopped interruptions, harassment and loud music, we were coaxed into signing the contract on April 2, 09 with a $6, 670 USD down payment. After we signed, were asked if we wanted to see the Equestrian Center. We then were taken to the Equestrian Center and came back to the hotel late that day, but during the bus ride we were also offered to go to the new hotel, Tres Rios, for breakfast and them to the Playa del Carmen, where we were left on our own? We think that, that was used as an elaborate scam to keep us busy so we would not pay attention to the bunch of lies we were told. The next day we were able to check over the contract, this would be the third day after we signed the contact, April 4, 09. We found all the hidden extra charges and the missing Mercado Technia or marketing credit of $4500, 00 USD, they promised for renting the two rooms in our membership, had not been applied to the purchase price of $16, 000.00 USD, the down payment, or the amount to be financed. We read the contract and find that we could, under section twelfth of the contract, cancel the contract without penalties within five days of signing it. We then went back to the same place we signed the contract, to cancel it. We found out, like others, that we were not permitted to cancel the contract. The sales manager on shift, Jesus, told us that we had signed the Marketing letter, which was over and above the contact. He also intimidated us by telling us that we should not even try to contact the legal department to cancel the contract because if we did, they will turn back against us and get us to pay them all the money without any benefit to us. Also, that if the Legal Department contacted us, because he had requested a copy of the marketing letter, to deny that we were ever there to cancel the contract.

We experienced a lot of different emotions, disappointment, deception, anger, helplessness and fear. Jesus intimidated us and made us feel like all the documents we’ve signed and had in our possession were not usable in our defense. Since that night, we had not been able to have a good night sleep.

The next day, a couple that had seen us in the office where all the would-be victims are taken, asked us if we had signed. I told them the nightmare we had got ourselves into. The guy told us that he had had the same problem years back and the only way he was able to stop the company to rip him off was to call the credit card company to cancel the charges. I did call my credit card company and told them to cancel the charges on April 5, 09. Once I was back in Canada, I was requested from American Express (AE) to send them the information I had received from Sunset. AE took out the charges from my statement pending notification from Sunset on April 16, 09. In the meantime, we were told by phone by a Sunset Agent, Wendy Sadko that we still had 15 days grace period to cancel the contract in writing, and that we could just fax it to her at [protected], so my wife and I typed a cancellation letter and faxed it to her on April 14, 09.

We stated the fact that we never gave up our right to cancel within five days Section Twelfth: Accelerated termination of the contract, but that we were told we had give up our rights once we signed the Mercado Technia/Marketing letter. The Mercado Technia /Marketing letter, we were explained before we signed it, was to accept that we were not going to be able to rent the two rooms under our membership for 3 years and for that reason we would receive a one time credit of $4, 500.00. What we have in our contract states otherwise, as we can’t find where that credit, was applied. The above was the only explanation we got about that letter.

On July 16, 09, AE put the charges back in my account $8, 614.12 CAD, even thought Sunset supplied them with some of the information, I had supplied to them (the contract and the signed receipt). AE, dismissed the fact that they have the only record, that Sunset would not take our cancellation letter, which we finally found, nor give us any confirmation that we can use to prove that we were there on April 4, 09 to cancel the contract within the specified time period as per Section Twelfth of the contract. The contact was signed April 2, 09, the cancellation was tried April 4, 09, and the call to American Express to cancel the transaction was made April 5, 09. NOW, WHO BRICHED THE CONTRACT’S SECTION TWELFTH! We would like to know what kind of explanation would our credit card company had gotten if they would ask SUNSET for the letter where we gave up our right to cancel the contract, or if AE would ask why didn’t they let us cancel the contract, as per what we told them on the phone when we asked them to dispute the transaction.

After calling PROFECO (Mexico’s Federal Consumer Protection Agency), we found that by law you have five business days to cancel any contract after you have signed it. We confirmed that what Sunset did to us was and is illegal. We have sent this letter and file a complaint with PROFECO www.profeco.gob.mx phone [protected], the Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism, the Canadian embassy in Mexico [protected]@international.gc.ca at phone [protected] fax [protected], the Canadian Consulate in Cancun [protected]@canada.org.mx phone [protected], the Federal Trade Commission https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en, the credit card company involved in the down payment transaction, the Canadian Better Business Bureau, the Foreign Affaires and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) [protected]@international.gc.ca, the Department of Justice Canada [protected]@justice.gc.ca, the Canadian RCMP kdivision.[protected]@rcmp-grc.gc.ca, our local TV stations CFRN and Global (with stations all over Canada), We will also send it to all the Mexican embassies in Canada, the British Columbia fax [protected], the Ottawa, ON fax [protected], the Toronto, ON fax [protected] and the Montreal, Quebec fax [protected], Newspapers in Canada and Mexico, the Canadian Travel Channel and Magazine, the Federal and Local Mexican Police, all the travel companies that service Mexico, and any one that will help send the message out to the public about the way that Sunset Group is doing business and deceiving people, including the world wide web. We will keep track of the time and resource spent until we get this matter resolved to our satisfaction, so that we get remunerated for our extra troubles.

We will let everyone know, through any means necessary; about what the Sunset Group are doing, the misleading, the lying, the harassment and the coaxing to make you take a membership with them. We’ll not stop until the matter is resolved and we receive a full refund of our down payment and verification of cancellation of contract. As said before, we know our rights under Mexican Law and will pursue them vigorously with all the above-mentioned agencies and legal resources available until our deposit and any other resources expended are refunded.

We have a record, through our credit card company that we tried to cancel the contract within the specified time frame, but we were not allowed. We send the cancellation letter to sunset; we emailed about the cancellation; we emailed Adriana Lecuona at [protected]@sunset.com.mx. After that on September 7, 09, we received a call from a lady based in Cancun, and of course pro Sunset, saying that we had not paid for the last three months and that we owe them three monthly memberships payments plus interest. I explained that we had requested the cancellation of the contract and that we were told that we could not cancel it. Again, I explained everything that happened, but she still said that we were not cancelled and that we had to pay the amount owed to them. She was going to give me her email address when my phone batteries died. On September 17, 09, I was called by someone from Mexico saying that his name was Mike Woabolis (as recorded). He also said that he was the lawyer that Sunset had appointed to be in charge of my contract and that I should call him as soon as I heard his message.

After a few calls to the lawyer to a phone # that was never going to work as he left it on my answering machine [protected]). I decided to look at the international code to call Mexico and trying the different numbers, I was able to get a hold of his secretary, who promised that he was going to call me the same day. Two days after, he called and left me a message. I called a few times after that and finally his secretary asked for my cell phone. On Oct 01, 2009 the lawyer contacted me and from what her secretary said, his name is Michael Alvarez. He started by saying that he is there to help me, but neglected to pay attention to the fact that I tried to cancel the contract. He focused more in telling me the if we do not pay he would send our file to collections and that they would make sure that my credit gets bad as well as repossessing any of our values to pay for what we owed them. In a few words, he was trying to intimidate us. At the end I told them that I need to discuss what he was offering, with my wife. His offer which was made the same day he called was for us to keep paying the membership with a low interest rate of 4.9% which would lower our monthly payment to $201.00 USD and that he was going to forgive the late charges, but I have to accept the membership.
Similar complains about the scam this company is doing can be found at /link removed/ or just Google Sunset Group to get more info and complains about the dishonest way this company is doing business. My wife and I are not the only Canadians that this company is trying or tried to scam. Any help from you would be appreciated.

We contacted him on Oct. 1, 09 and told him that we did not wanted his deal that all we wanted was to get the contract cancelled and our down payment returned. Needles to say, he was not happy. I can’t believe that these people want us to keep paying for their big rip off membership. After requesting his email address many times, he said that it was [protected]@sunset.com.mx and that he was the director of Sunset’s legal department. He said that we were going to get harassed until we pay what we owed them, and if we did not want what was coming to us we should call him Oct. 5, 09 and accept their conditions. The last email we received from Angelica Vazquez Alvarez [protected]@sunset.com.mx, on behalf of Michael Alvarez, was Friday, October 2, 09, (as follows): PS. I was not able to open the document attached in their email.
Oct. 5, 09, Michael Alvarez called to see if I still wanted to be sent to collection. I told him that we had not changed our minds. All the conversation we have had, I’ve been recording. Thanks.

(in the following copy of their email, it looks like they are dismissing the fact that we already pay them $6, 670.00 USD or $8, 614.12 CAD and the Amount of Debt would be $10, 725.00 US not $16, 900.00 US)

October 2°, 2009
Rony Alexander Lopez & Ada Hortencia Lopez Contract number: 19-1-451
Amount of debt: $16, 900.00 usd
Delinquent date:4
According to uor records, you have not settled a debt with the above named installation. You have 30 days from the date of this letter to submit payment and/or evidence that your debt is paid in full, otherwise the (garrison) will automatically refer your debt to the to the Department of the Treasury for collection, to a credit service boreau and possibly to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fax refund offset. A fee of up to 28 percent of the debt may be added to the outstanding balance. In adittion, there may be interest on the unpaid balace that will be assessed yerly. The interest rate is determined by the Canadian Department of Tresury (Canadian Tresury). Interest and penalty charges may continue to accrue until your debt is paid in full. You may request a copy of our recods related to your debt; you may request a review of our determination that you owe this debit, and you may enter into an acceptable written repayment agreement. Refer to encolsed form for details.
Once your debt is sumbited to the IRS, the Canadian Treasury will reduce or with withould any of your eligeble Federal payments by the amount of your debt. This process, known as “offset”, is autorized by the Debt Collection Act of 1982 and the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996.Canadian Treasury is not required to send you notice before your payment is offset. Federal payments eligible for offset include your income tax refunds; your Federal salary pay, including military paid; your Federal reitement, your contractor/vendor payments, including certain loans to you, that are not exempt from offset.
Tax payments who file joint returns should contact the Internal Renueve Service before filling their return regarding the steps necessary to protect the share of the refund wich may be payable to the non-obligated spouse.
If you filed for bankruptcy and the automatic bankruptcy stay is in effect, you are not subject to effset while the stay is in effect. Please notify us of the stay by sending evidence concerning the bankruptcy.
Unless prohibited by law or conract, we will promptly refund to you any amounts pay you or deducted from your payment for your debt wich era later waived or found not owed.
Checks or money orders should be made payable to (garrison) and reflect your social security number. Please forward your payment with the enclosed form to properly credit your account. Include your current address and telephone number. Mail payment to: PMB447; 4444 Brickell Ave., Suite 51; Miami, FL [protected]
If you need to contact us, call [protected] EXT 660 OR 620
Sincerely,
Attourney Michael Alvarez
Legal Department.
Last letter received on Oct 6, 09 from another person Martha Campuzano [protected]@sunset.com.mx acting on behalf of Sunset Groups also follows:

Cancun, Q. Roo. October 6th, 2009.

Mr. Rony Alexander Lopez
Ms. Ada Hortencia Lopez
Membership 19-1-451

My name is Martha Campuzano, I am sending this letter to inform you that when there is an unsatisfied member, I am the last person within our organization who will have your account. My job is to try to resolve it amicably rather than just send it to an outside collection agency., Once that step is taken, it cannot be reversed.

Unfortunately, the “cancellation –without-penalty” option expired 5 days after you purchase .Therefore, there will be no refund. Sunset Group complies with the terms of the agreement and expects the members to do so as well.
Sunset is not going to cancel your Membership and issue a refund. They don’t cancel unless there is a clear ascertainable breach on our part. Since we are always held to the agreement, it seems only fair that the members are held to the agreement as well.

Your account is seriously in default, you are legally obligated to pay the initial investment and the monthly payments cause you signed a Promisory note. You where given a Contact list which includes many e-mails and toll free numbers or fax numbers, etc, so you should notified us if you did not, in fact, receive a bill.

I have limited time to resolve this account or to send it to collections. Once an account is sent to an Outside Collection Agency, that action cannot be reversed. Again the Court of Jurisdiction here in Mexico, and based on the written Agreement, once a judgment is awarded, it can be sent to the court where you live for collection. It may also affect your credit history.

I have 15 days to resolve your account or to forward it for further action.

Please let me hear from you within the next few days so that we will have time to reach an amicably solution. If I have not heard from you within 15 days, I will assume we have reached an impasse, and will release your file, as I do not receive another account until one is resolved or forwarded for Collection,

Sincerely,

Lic. Martha Campuzano
Quality Assurance Manager
Sunset Resorts Cancun
Tel [protected] ext 6835/6836
Fax([protected]

As of now, I am still talking to my credit card company and also to miss Carmen Moreno from Gonzalez & Gonzales law firm who are lawyers that deal with this kind of SCAMMING COMPANIES. Email: [protected]@GonzalezGonzalezLawFirm.com
Web: www.GonzalezGonzalezLawFirm.com

I hope this also help some else, not to ge involved with SUNSET GROUP or any of it other names. Sincerely,

Ron Lopez