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Sunset Group - Royal Fishermam, Playa Del Carmen Mexico BUYER'S BEWARE ! Do not purchase a time share with this company. They are Unethical, dishonest and should be put out of business. I am writing this complaint to warn every potential buyer of this horrible business and to hopefully bring total resolution to our experience. We vacationed in Playa Del Carmen in October 2007 and in the process of picking up our rental car, we were asked to attend a no pressure-quick 90-minute seminar at the Sunset Fisherman Resort.
This turned out to be a Big Mistake! The presentation was very high-pressured and very distracting. The whole ordeal took over 6 hours, surrounded by multiple sales staff taking turns talking to us. It was very overwhelming and confusing. The first offer to purchase was around 68 thousand dollars. This dropped to around 38 thousand when we were told they would purchase a U.S. timeshare we had for 30 thousand dollars. They said that they needed some business write offs for their firm. This seemed very odd since they did purchase this timeshare from us, then sold it back to us for one dollar.
They said this was a standard business practice in Mexico. This enticed us to purchase since we have tried to sell this timeshare in the U.S. with no success. Our thought was this would be a great time to sell this timeshare and get a very generous price for it. This was again was a bad mistake.
After signing the contract they offered to move us from the place we were staying in Playa into their resort for free to finish off our vacation. We decided to take advantage of this. During our vacation at Sunset Fisherman, we met a few other people that also purchased a timeshare from this firm but at a lower cost (exact same package).
After further review of our contract, we decided to cancel since we did not feel very comfortable about the whole business transaction. Therefore, we used the five day right of rescission as stipulated in the contract. We followed the terms of the contract termination clause (13) as written in the contract.
We wrote up a cancellation document and presented it to Sunset Fishermen (which was easy since we were staying there). They accepted this and said they would process the paper work and credit our accounts. When we arrived back in the United States we were pleased with our decision to cancel, especially after we found out there are thousands of complaints on the Internet about the Sunset Group. The problem we encountered was our credit card charges were never reversed so we wrote the Sunset group and requested refunds. They wanted us to send them a copy of our cancellation letter since they claimed they didn't seem to have it. This is when we knew the postings on the Internet were so very true.
We were being scammed and taken advantage of financially. We sent in the documents and waited for closure. This never happened, so we wrote several additional emails to this firm. We finally were contacted by a person named Rosalia Silva Campos. This person was useless and was very dishonest in her statements to us. We decided to fight this through our credit card companies. We did so and provided proof of our claim.
Now the Sunset Group threatens us with a collection agency and is attempting to ruin our credit. Un-believable, this firm must be put out of business. We are seeking total resolution.
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I cannot use my name but was scammed also. Have you ever thought of a class action suit or is that possible for an American citizen to file a class action in Mexico? Just a thought. I hate those people with a passion.
i would love to find even a class action suit which i can cite when attempting to get out of our contracts because all the stories are similar.
i wonder is there is a law firm willing to undertake one? not being from the USA it makes it difficult for us to find someone
So would I Earl. I was scammed in May 2018. I have been trying for months to speak with someone on the phone. I only get emails. I was specifically told I was not buying a timeshare. Not sure who to start legal proceedings through. I live in Australia.
Hello I was scammed too. Hopefully one day their tactics will end, I meant they are professional scammers. I’m praying one day there will be a law suit against them.
Same thing happened to me. I lost $5,000 and threatened for their "actions" I was told to reportaje to FBI if in USA.
My fiancé and I were suckered into purchasing a "vacation package/timeshare" and absolutely can't believe that we fell for this!
It all started the moment we stepped off of the airplane in Cancun, Mexico. We needed a cab to our hotel from the airport. I was directed to a lady at a counter where I could pay our cab fare there. I then noticed this same lady signaling another worker to direct us to one of the many kiosk type desks set up in the airport lobby. There sat another lady who showed us where our hotel was for the week and gave us a map of the area.
She then offered "free tickets" to area attractions (deep sea fishing, theme parks, snorkeling, diving, etc) if we would attend a 90-minute presentation over lunch the following day. Didn't seem like a bad deal to us. We should have known when she asked for a $40 deposit that would be returned to us upon completion of this presentation that something was up. We were at this so called "90 minute presentation" for the entire day, almost 8 hours! They fed us a nice lunch, we toured 2 very nice resorts, were served free alcoholic beverages and then it all began.
They presented a vacation package that was so outrageously priced for two people our age that we felt quite certain that we could just turn this down and be on our way. Not the case at all, they worked and worked on prices and packages for hours continuously offering more alcoholic beverages along the way. We wanted to leave several times, telling them that we were not interested but they wouldn't back off! Eventually got the price down to something we thought we could actually afford. After spending the entire day there with these pushy salespeople we finally agreed to purchase one of the packages.
My fiancé and I looked at each other the entire time wondering why in the world we were doing this. We were told that we had time to cancel if we changed our minds so that made us feel somewhat better. After signing all of the paperwork, they did return to us our $40 deposit that we had paid at the airport as well as the cab fare of $24 that they promised. We received our "free trip" tickets but ended up not even using them because departure times and actual trips were so limited compared to what they showed us at the airport. We did continue our vacation and had a great time in Cancun.
Upon arriving back home we entered our house all to find out that the air conditioning unit had broken and that it would now have to be replaced. After being faced with such an unexpected expense my fiancé and I decided that there was absolutely no way we could afford the "vacation package" that we had signed up for. Reading further into the many pages of documents that we had signed off on we find out that the plan had to be cancelled within 5 business days. You mean to tell me that I was suppose to sit in my hotel room reading documents during my vacation. We never would have dreamed that the deadline to cancel would be before our 7 day vacation was even over.
I was so mad upon reading this that we called immediately to complain and to see what we needed to do to cancel. Just sick to think that they get you right at the airport wanting you to come the very next day because they know if they can get you to sign that day that you will more than likely not read the pile of documents before your vacation is over.
We are now being told to write a letter to "the board" who will review it and see if we are approved to cancel our contract. We are also being told that even if we do get approved to cancel that we will not be credited our 25% deposit which is over $3, 500. This deposit, which we didn't even realize was being applied to a credit card that they apparently opened for us. They had us fill out a form and told us that is was in order to get our credit pulled to see if we could get a better percentage rate on our monthly payments.
My fiancé and I are well educated individuals and are absolutely sick at ourselves for getting suckered into this whole deal. My heart rate is through the roof as I write this letter and I get more and more upset as I look back to even proofread it. I wanted to share this with anyone that might be planning a vacation to Cancun because I do not want you to be a victim as well. Please be aware of these types of schemes. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out for us, but so far it is not looking good!
Signed,
Absolutely outraged!
How did it turn out for you guys? Me and my mom were mislead and not they said our membership cancellation is not valid
Please help! We are in the same boat and now they are threating us to ruin our credit. What should we do?
Hello I was scammed too. Hopefully one day their tactics will end, I meant they are professional scammers. I’m praying one day there will be a law suit against them.
This is multiple scenarios with the same story.
Can’t wait for a law suit.
My husband and I were scammed also. Have you been able to get any resolution?
Same here would love to know how to resolve. Other than flying over and disrupting their sales with leaflets to potential suckers like us.
Our experience was similar:
On August 31, 2007, my wife and I attended a sales presentation at Sunset Fishermen’s Village in Playacar. After a lengthy and compelling presentation given by Jose Luis Hernandez and Patricio Muldowney, my wife and I agreed to purchase a membership.
On September 5, 2007, we notified Patricio Muldowney, a sales manager at Sunset Fishermen’s, of our intention to exercise our rights and cancel our contract within the 5 working days provided under Article 56 of Mexican Federal Consumer Protection law. Mr. Muldowney agreed to help us facilitate our request to terminate our contract, but when we had arrived at the office later that afternoon, we were told by Jose Luis Hernandez that Mr. Muldowney was “sick”, and had left the office for the day. We then informed Mr. Hernandez of our intention to exercise our rights under Mexican law and cancel our contract. Mr. Hernandez told us at that time that we could not cancel our contract, and he refused to accept our cancellation, either orally or in writing. Mr. Hernandez and another sales associate presented us with a copy of a document entitled “Marketing Agreement”, which he claimed waived our rights to cancel our contract, even though this waiver is not implicitly or explicitly stated in the Marketing Agreement document, and directly contradicts Mexican consumer law, which states that the right to cancel a contract cannot be “waived”.
Additionally, we have repeatedly requested a copy of the catalog promised us so that we may exercise our additional membership privileges, but were recently informed by customer service representative Alvaro Cardena that we would not receive a catalog for as long as 90 days.
We are seeking an immediate cancellation of our membership, and an immediate refund of all monies paid, for the following reasons:
1. By not allowing us to exercise our rights to cancel our contract within the time period set by Mexican law, Jose Luis Hernandez, Patricio Muldowney, Alvaro Cardena, Rosalie Silva, Jennifer Snyder, and other participating members of the Sales, Marketing, Management, and Legal staff employed by Sunset Fishermen’s violated Mexican law and committed fraud. This effectively nullifies the contract.
2. Sunset Fishermen’s is in breach of contract because of their failure to deliver the membership materials promised to us. As a result of this failure, we have not been able to exercise the membership privileges promised to us.
Sunset has thus far refused to refund nearly six thousand U.S. dollars, and has turned our account over to their collection agency, RMI.
Have you had any luck with your fight against these crooks? Our story is similar only we were foolish enough to pay in full and at our first opportunity to use the resort we were refused a reservations with over six months notice. There are so many complaints, is a class action lawsuit possible?
If there is an Action Lawsuit going on some one please contact me thank you
Hello If anyone is filing an Action Lawsuit against them please contact me, Thank you.
What is your contact christina?
I have evidence showing the lies and how Sunset promotes it´s memberhsip.
If someone wants to make a discussion forum and share information, contact me ...
sunsetgrouplies@hotmail.com
My wife and I had a bad experience with them also. At the airport they offered us nice rental SUV for the whole week for $99 if we would tour the "hotel". Basically, we gave them $99 cash, and then rented the car for 1 week, and they would give us a form to cover the rental at the end of the tour. I got suspicious when they kept adding 'requirements' to the tour that they did not mention before we rented the vehicle. Things like, you must be a married couple, must bring a credit card, must stay for the whole presentation. I wanted to cancel but my wife wanted the SUV for the week.
I agreed, but we agreed that if things got too far out of control we would walk out and just pay for the rental which was through hertz and eat the rental cost. The tour was nice, then came the HIGH pressure sales pitch. They started out at $300K for 4 weeks, plus you pay $99/per person per day every time you come, plus $1000 per year per week maintenance fees. I kept writing down there numbers and showing them how they provided no value compared to what we pay just by renting. The 90 minute presentation took 6 hours and they tag teamed 3 sales people on us trying to wear us down. By the end of the day they were down to $4000 for a 10 week base, + 10 weeks options, + 10 weeks corporate giveaways, + a free cruise for a 10 year contract. And every deal included the $1000 per week maintenance fee and $99/perday/person to come to the resort which is no deal considering that is 2x the amount I pay by NOT being a member of the club. At that point though I had caught them in so many lies and fraudulent claims that I just kept saying NO NO NO. Some of the lies:
1. There is equity in the "purchase". Big lie. I insisted on reading a sample contract under the guise of, if I like it I'll sign. It says right in the contract that you own nothing, it is a membership fee. I asked that if I decided I didn't like the "private residency" after using it a year or two from now, and since they claim these "private residencies ONLY go up in value" would they agree to buy it back from me at the same cost I paid. After all, they claimed it only went up in value and I was willing to agree in-writing to sell it back to them AT-COST if I ever decided I didn't want it. Of course they refused. That proved to me they were lying about the value of the "product". And they have right of refusal if the owner tries to sell it themselves. The contract also says a sale or transfer may take "60 days to a year and even that is not guaranteed."
2. They said it was tax deductible. It's a lie. The document they show is a complete fake. Ask to use the internet to download the real form from the IRS. Or tell them to hold on for a minute and use a cell phone to call your accountant or tax-professional. That really shakes them up.
3. The resort they showed us "Tres Rios", is not even listed in the contract as part of the deal. Lie #3. At this point I asked them to put away the marketing material and let's review the contract line-by-line so I "understand what you are selling".
4. I wanted to see what they were required to provide to us in the contract. All it says is "access to services". It does not guarantee you any actual access to a room for any amount of time. It does not guarantee any level of quality of the room. It does not say what "services" are. They showed us 1 great looking room, but would not allow us to randomly select an empty room in the building to check. They would not allow us to roam the facility or talk to any of the guests. When I pressured them about a guarantee regarding the quality of the room and services they completely balked. All they would say is "that is what your maintenance fee guarantees". My answer was that "the maintenance fee guaranteed they got paid to provide quality, not that I actually would get it."
5. If a hurricane destroys the building, there is no required repair or fix. And you cannot trade your 'private residence' to go somewhere else if it is destroyed.
6. The contract referenced a set of "rules" that we had to follow and says we agreed that we were shown the rules and agree to them. I asked to see the rules and they changed the subject. They refused to show me these mysterious rules.
7. I asked to take the contract home to have a lawyer review and if OK I would mail them a check and signed documents. They refused. They said they cannot do business via phone, fax, or email. I said "I said mail, not phone, not fax, and not email". They still refused to let me leave with a copy of the unsigned contract to review with an attorney. They offered to let me review with their on-sight lawyer but I refused that for obvious reasons.
8. If you pressure them. they will admit that trading your private residency with someone else costs $189 each time. Membership in RCI is extra and you have to pay that yourself if you want to trade any of your time at another resort.
9. They said we could come anytime to use our 'week'. But the contract actually lists only 7 months out of the year that we are allowed to use our "week".
At the end of the day, staying at an all-inclusive private residency 1week that they say I would 'own' would cost $971 maintenance fee + $99/pp/pd x 2 people x 7 days = $2357 not including any trade fees. While staying at the all-inclusive hotel we booked in cash only cost about $1000 for the whole week for the two of us. What a rip off and that's before considering the "membership fee" which varied but I had them down to $4000 for 10 years.
The whole thing is a rip off as far as I can tell and very stressful for anyone. I'll never agree to waste a full day of my vacation with these scammers again. I'd rather just pay for the SUV rental and enjoy my vacation. They did honor the initial agreement and pay for the SUV rental, and our transportation to and from the resort. But I had to say NO about a thousand times and really dig into them for details to essentially prove to them that they are rip off artists. It was very uncomfortable going back and forth with people that I caught in lie after lie, and half-truths, all day especially since we felt "captive". After coming home and investigating some more, I feel lucky to have gotten away from them alive.
They got me too. I actually thought we had a decent price, and wanted the deal to work. But they lied about everything. We couldn't get reservations 9 months in advance. Our "VIP week" couldn't be booked at all. We couldn't use the 2 weeks concurrently (travel w/family). We couldn't extend a stay (at our cost) ouside of the proscribed 7 days. I did talk to the Tourist Police & a couple of quasi-consumer agencies the next time I was in Mexico, but everyone was extremely not helpful. I got a kick out of the Bilingual such & such agency for consumer complaints that was staffed by Spanish-only speaking staffers; not too helpful given my pidgin Spanish. If there is somesort of class action please count me in
We have the same story as you. Same lies...A class action is not possible, you would have to sue them in Mexico. Try Profeco, and don't take no for an answer. We were able to get our contract cancelled and $1, 000 of our $14, 000 back. So many have been ripped off it's amazing that the Mexican gov't allows these crooks to continue to operate.
The tmeshare industry in Mexico is taking almost a Billion Dollars every year from Americans and Candians. They are taking away their earnest money based on lies and misrepresentation. I have collected evidence to support the claims of thousands of people deceived from this company. Share this info with your general attorney, the Federal Trade Commsision, the Consulate of Canada and USA in Cancún as well as any government agency that you believe might be interested in putting pressure in the Mexican Government to stop these companies from scamming more honest people.
Please visit this website (specially the video section) to know in detail how these companies operate.
www.sunsetscam.com
www.sunsetscam.com
www.sunsetscam.com
www.sunsetscam.com
www.sunsetscam.com
www.sunsetscam.com
These guys are scammers and worst is that the Mexican Government lets them do to who ever they want.
We contacted the Mexican Embassy in Canada who told us “Ill help you” and guess what we never heard back. Go figure.
Mexicans are Mexicans they have no scruple and actually enjoy ripping hard working people off that they don’t have to work hard they are all scammers and probably in some type of Mexican Mafia.
Unfortunately we used to enjoy going to Mexico many times in the past but now we will never go to Mexico or buy anything that is made there.
We should all boycott that country.
They just called my house. Never spoke to them before. As the caller went on and on about this great deal, I googled them and page after page there were sites, like this, exploiting them for what they are. I want to thank all of you for your posts. I am sorry they stole your money, scammed you, but am glad that you are warning people, like me. I basically told the woman on the phone that I was reading posts about them and they were not good. Then told her I know they are scammers and not to bother me anymore.
The Sunset Group is a scam. They tell you lies to make you buy their packages. I bought their package and regret it very much. I wish I had done some research about them...Ocean Spa Hotel, Laguna Suites Golf and Spa, Premier Cancun Vacations are all part of the Sunset Group.
just got a call from them..there number is [protected] and the manager is named nelson..they were offering an 80% off on my wife for a vacation..good thing my wife is not at home and i'm the one who answered there call..i turned them down telling them that i can't decide yet and i need to talk to my wife..the guy is a filipino..i knew that cause i too am a filipino and he keeps on talking filipino dialect when he knew that i'm from the philippines..when he knew that i can't decide, he abruptly put the phone down..and because i feel bad of what he did, i tried to open my computer to see there website and file a complain on there customer service..but this is what i saw..a lot of complain and soon i realize that good thing i didn't fall for this scam..thank you all for posting this..you did really help a lot..just a simple advice, see more details before you decide..they are good, very good..but too good to be true..(Mr. J from California)
We purchased a timeshare contract with Royal Sunset Beach Club after a VERY high pressure sales presentation that lasted for several hours with our 2 small boys in tow (ages 5 & 1 at the time) July 22, 2006 at the beginning of a week long vacation in Cancun (we were not leaving until day #6 & there was no readily available means to further evaluate this contract plus the 6 month delay to even access any of the "proposed benefits" presented in the contract / presentation). In addition to the fraudulent timeshare contract fee (discrepancies noted below) we were also required to pay an additional fee of $549 to Resorts International Marketing Corp. for exchange purposes and for Sunset to use first several years worth of weeks as credit towards contract fee. This was also to be used for rental purposes to provide rental income for our timeshare as an investment.
As multiple issues became apparent with our contract, we referred back to pages 5-6 regarding clauses 12, 13 and 14 that paraphrased states "Failure on the part of the "Promoter" to provide the service means the penalty is then that the "Promoter" is obliged to reimburse all amounts paid by the "Member" for the undelivered services. We attempted on a number of occasions to work out the issues with Sunset and their only solution was 1) either to continue to pay on the fraudulent contract or 2) to accept a contract cancellation with no refund of our monies already paid to Sunset (neither of those options were acceptable).
After multiple attempts to rectify the situation we escalated our complaint to PROFECO as well as registering our complaint with econsumer.gov. Our primary problems are:
1. FRAUD (charge #1) - Pg. 1 of Membership Purchase Agreement shows balance financed as $9, 815.00, however Amortization schedule, pg. 1 shows balance financed as $10, 295 in addition to the fact that this was financed at a 6.9% interest rate. There is nothing stated in the contract
to justify the additional $480 added to the $9, 815.00 balance.
2. FRAUD (charge #2) - Pg. 1 of Membership Purchase Agreement shows annual maintenance fee is $719 which matches the fee for Cancun Sunset Club (Royal Sunset - on the beach), however when 2008 week was paid for Royal Sunset, the week that space banked with RCI was for Sunset Lagoon which has a lower maintenance fee of $616 per the 2006 schedule. Therefore we are being charged a higher maintenance fee and receiving a lesser accommodation exchange with RCI.
3. UNAUTHORIZED ATTEMPT TO ACCESS OUR CREDIT CARD - 6/8/2010 documentation showed verification from our bank that Sunset tried not once BUT twice to access our Visa Card for $822 on May 17, 2010 & again on June 1, 2010 (which Sunset denied the first time I notified them regarding
the May 17 charge, in an email dated Sat. May 22, 2010 @ 12:56 PM).
In addition to these serious issues, other problems noted, included:
1. Interclub transfer was not just an even exchange for only $89 as presented - instead Sunset tacked on additional fees that basically came to the full price of a week long hotel rental at an Interclub resort. The majority of resorts available through the interclub program were some of the worst rated resorts in the RCI manual.
2. Resorts International Marketing Corp. was not the rental program that was presented and that Sunset required us to pay an additional fee for. Once we initiated the contract dispute / cancellation, we were told that the RIMC fee would be refunded but after 2 unauthorized attempts to charge our credit card, I am leery of providing that information to them again.
3. Billing discrepancies of not charging the biennial maintenance fee when they had the credit card info on file and were charging monthly payments and then charging us a late fee. Charging our credit card for the monthly finance fee after we had contacted Sunset and told them specifically they were no longer authorized to debit payments from our card (late 2009). After this they charged our credit card and cashed a "check" payment for the same month's payment. This took several months to correct.
4. Multiple issues requiring emails and phone calls to get the RCI membership fee paid that was in the contract and also to take care of various other administrative issues with limited response.
While Sunset continues to argue their case to illegally keep our money during negotiations with PROFECO, we are continuing to present justification to prove our point of Sunset's failure to uphold the terms of our contract (clauses 12, 13 and 14) and the fraudulent means they have taken to maintain this position. I will continue contacting appropriate websites and agencies to present and/or post my case and the ongoing issues I have with Sunset and their goal to keep our money.
Thank you for your time and if anyone has any further suggestion regarding how to solve this, please let me know. email: gatorpachris@hotmail.com
It's such a shame that these crooks are taking advantage of vacationers. Same happened to me in Playa del Carmen. but this timeshare by Royal Elite/Sandos. We attended the presentations just to get the freebies, , after 4 hours, we started to get a little frustrated, we just wanted to go out of there, we didn't care about the free gifts anymore, the swore the product they were selling wasn't a timeshare, but pretty damn sure it was. NEVER again, I feel sorry for the people who end up falling for the Royal Elite Timeshare trap. Beware of timeshare scams in Mexico! this is a forum with more complaints made to royal elite:
http://www.timesharescam.com/timeshare-complaints-resorts-black-list/6-royal-elite-sandos-timeshare-complaints/
Same thing happened to us. We purchased the membership in 2008 for Tres Rios cancun and went to the resort for the first time this year. While we were there they started to pressure us about meeting with them - since it was our first trip back - so they can tell us how much the value of our purchased had gone up. We told them that we were there to relax and did not want any meeting. I can't even begin to tell you how they continually bother us to meet...with a promise that it was not to sell us anything but just to provide us with new information. We finally caved in and agreed to meet the last day that we were there. I totally regret this. They kept us there for almost 4 hours pressuring us to upgrade our contract to receive extra weeks and other privileges. I can't begin to tell what a horrible experience it was. We kept telling them that we had some place to go and were late and we needed to leave. They kept bring a new person to promise us more and after 4 hours I was so nervous and couldn't think anymore - we agreed and gave a deposit. BIG MISTAKE! However since it was our last day there, when we got back the very next day I called to cancel the contract upgrade as was my right according to - THE EARLY TERMINATION OF THE CONTRACT paragraph in our contract. We were well within our 5 business day window. I emailed the contract attorney that was at the meeting to inform him of our decision to cancel and if I sent an email was it legal and he said it was and there would not be a problem. I also sent registered letters immediately just to be sure and cover all angles. They had already charged my credit card for the deposit. I got a call for a Jose Aguirre, who said he represented the Corporate Membership Services and the legal department. He very nicely said that they would refund my deposit - HOWEVER there was a reactivation fee - to reactivate my old contract at a cost that was more that the upgrade cost. Now there is no mention in any part of the contract of any reactivation fee, "so how could this be legal" I asked and he told me that it was there policy. Well! You can imagine that I that point I knew something was wrong with this and I was dealing with cons. I kept going back and forth with them. Since we had already paid for our first contract we felt we couldn't afford to let that go so when they offered to give us two other options we listened. The first was to continue with the upgrade - which we did not want. The second was - they would keep our deposit as the activation fee and gives us 20 extra corporate weeks and a paid membership for two years with Ice Gallery, which is suppose to be worth thousands according to them. We accepted the second option. This was in March and up until this day they still haven't paid our membership to Ice Gallery. I keep calling but to no avail.
I wrote them and informed them that they were in breach of our contract - for failure to honor refund policy stated in the contract and for undisclosed or unsubstantiated charges, not mention in contract and for service never received. I would very much like to escalate this and would be willing to be part of a class action suit, but I don't know where to go from here. If anyone has information on contacts I would appreciate the info. They have an office in Miami - which they do business from there. I'd like to see if any of our government agencies can at least stop them from doing business in the U.S.
We are also victims of Sunset Group. Unfortunately we didnt realize we were being scammed until later. We have NEVER even gotten a chance to use this timeshare so we decided to try the "buy back" option. Of course after trying for almost 2 years, we have been constantly been given the " not interested at this time" respond. I would also be interested in any class action lawsuits or any way to getting our money back. Please contact me at zillayh@gmail.com
We are unfortunately on the same boat as everyone else. We have tried many times now to practice their "Buy Back" option which was promised to us on their presentation when we purchased. Of course they continue to respond with the "we are not interested at this time" for the past 2 years. It is sooo frustrating to know that business like these continue to exist and rob others of their hard earned money. I would be very interested in a class action lawsuit also. Please contact me if anyone is able to find a better way to deal with these criminals. zillayh@gmail.com
I know how you feel, and it seems like this is a common problen in Mexico. I purchased a travel program through Sandos Playacar at Royal Elite Timeshare Resort in Playa del Carmen last March and I requested to cancel within the 5 day grace period but they still have not refunded my down payment of over $9000 US dollars. I have been in touch with people there and they say they are working the process but it takes time. It has now been almost 5 months and I am losing faith they will ever pay me back. This is another forum with more complaints about this company:
http://www.timesharescam.com/timeshare-complaints-resorts-black-list/6-royal-elite-sandos-timeshare-complaints/
I believe we should do something about it, as I understand Mexican regulations forbid the offering of gifts, free vacation certificates or any other promotion strategies without informing the consumer the specific purpose of the offer. I want to complaint with PROFECO about this, and get my money back
You know what they say: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" My husband and I were scammed in Cancun with a Royal Elite Timeshare last August. They promise you everything and deliver NOTHING! We were sucked in by their promise to get us a balcony for an inside cabin rate. We do alot of cruising and thought-Wow this is really a great deal. However, it turned out to be more of a great rip off since everything they told us was a lie. Fortunately we only joined the club and NOT buy a timeshare. That was enough though. $2, 000 down t he drain. They gave us 4 of those worthless vouchers for Sandos resorts which are also worthless. That HSI exchange is suppose to sell the vouchers for you at at least $500 is also abunch of bull. Please don't fall for anything that has Royal Elite's name on it. I'm in the process of calling the BBB and seeing what they can do. Possibly the attorney General also! These are more complaints about this resort:
http://www.timesharescam.com/timeshare-complaints-resorts-black-list/6-royal-elite-sandos-timeshare-complaints/
Salesperson promises to buy back the timeshare at a better price should the client ever decide that they no longer want to use it.
Salesperson promises that they can rent out their weeks for over 4 times the price of the maintenance fee. They can choose to use some weeks and rent others so that they have free vacations, or rent them all so that they can pay off their membership quicker. The clients are referred to a rental company that charges them a listing fee to market the property and does not rent any weeks.
In the presentation, they claim that the all-inclusive is for corporate weeks only, and for regular weeks they can choose whether or not to pay for the all-inclusive. In reality, all-inclusive is mandatory for usage at all their Cancun locations. http://www.timesharescam.com/
Salesperson promises to buy back the timeshare at a better price should the client ever decide that they no longer want to use it. http://www.timesharescam.com/
The first thing you need to watch out for is the timeshare sales pitch. Timeshare vendors often encourage people to go to a timeshare sales presentation by offering incredible prizes if they stay the entire presentation. Also, they will tell you that you are making an excellent financial investment, and that you can rent or sell your timeshare weeks for a profit. So, if you listen to these promises, you better go away, is probably that you will become a victim of a Royal Sunset Timeshare.
if it was a scam there would not be more than 20, 000 happy members of this group, it is not a scam, you have to use correctly your opttions and the ones who do so, have an amazing expirience with their purchase.
i personally would beg to differ. in our case we were threatened with original contract items to be removed by Sunset head office if we did not buy into the real estate group of the resort. then they wanted to combine 2 contracts in 2018 into one and sell us more perks. items we already possessed in the terms of the contract e originally had. the marina which is not even built yet was one of the best though. however we only have 1 contract... unsuspecting guests need to be aware of the fact that the resorts are ruthless and when confronted they refuse to respond so you cannot get any further in your complaints.
Thank you it’s nice to see another side of this as me and my partners went in and signed a contract… we are most concerned about our maintenance fees which they add so much in the. contract an ordinary maintenance fee(every other year) and extraordinary maintenance fee (not sure what this one is about), then another maintenance fee every time we book? we have a biennial membership and plan to vacay as much as we can….without TS membership, resorts like tres rios are about $500/night and fisherman is like $250-$300/night both not including taxes and fees plus it’s always sold out unless your a member…I think it pans out even if you just go on the vacations.
The obligation to pay maintenance fees is never ending as it is passed on to your beneficiaries. (Finest of fine print). That isn’t explained in the contract. Victims are told that beneficiaries have the option to decline assuming the timeshare but not true. The estate, thus the beneficiaries, is saddled with the contract if beneficiaries were added to the contract at the time of sale. Total and blatant deception. We pay our maintenance fee and enjoy our week every year but you must make reservations a year in advance to get the week you want. We were no longer living our children will be stuck with this liability.
Hi! Has anyone successful stopped paying maintenance fees? We had enjoyed going to the Sunset Royal in Cancun for many years. We did not buy the all-inclusive. We liked going out & trying different restaurants. Now that my husband has passed away & I had a stroke, I cannot use & pay the fees! Has anyone had succes contacting a lawyer or another company to get out of their timeshare? I cannot even sell mine for $1.
Is there any legal action being taken against the Sunset Group? We are attempting to get out of our recent membership to "The Ultimate Loyalty Program" which was completely misrepresented during the sales presentation. If they do not refund our $8000, WISH TO FIGHT THEM LEGALLY! Has anyone asked for a review and gotten their contract cancelled? I am so furious right now AND IT SPOILS ALL THE 15 YEARS OF GOING TO SUNSET FISHERMEN! SHAME OF THESE PEOPLE FOR LYING TO THEIR MEMBERS!
Any updates on this? We are tying to cancel our membership too but they said that it is not valid. We wanna fight them too because we dont want to lose our $4, 000
Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor (texto consolidado publicado en el Diario Oficial de la Federación el 25 de junio de 2018)
Refer to ARTICLE 99 - I was scammed by Sunset and would like to recover my USD 3, 000. looking for group to file
a complaint VS. Sunset . I wanted a cancellation and return of my money. Please read and let me know what you think. jeannette in Canada
refer to my post to CHELLE E28 RE: Article 99 of FEDERAL CONSUMER PROTECTION Mexico
Thanks
Janet in Vancouver. Greetings from Earl in Fredericton
i am assuming that you will get this message?
this is a site in teh USA who says they files a case.
http://timesharelegalaction.com/timeshare-attorney/sunset_group_lawsuit.php
has a reference to a class action law suit filed in 2017
Promotoria Sunset Group Timeshare Owners Lawsuit
Case #PSC 1701479
Filed March 20, 2017
i cannot find anything out on this case though.
we were scammed and then threatened with contract removal of items if we did not buy into the Sunset group real estate group (if they even have one is yet to be determined) last April we went to Tres Rios and at their highest end rooms the ceiling of the shower was covered with black mold. this triggered my PTSD. when we went to the sellers office we were told they do not buy back units. they wanted to combine our 2 contracts - only problem is we have 1 contract not 2. wante to sell us rights to the Marina which is 5 years away from being built.
(told in the presentations especially into the real estate group that they do and in an email from customer services that they buy back daily their units but havent opened their real estate offices yet?)
we aso believe that they released our contact information which led to us being scammed out of $55000 USD for a resale the brokers stated they were working with the resort regarding 42 units.
FBI are investigating on that matter for international crime.
when i go there this is what i get...
Article 99.- The purpose of rehabilitation is to reinstate the person sentenced in civil rights,
politicians or family members who had lost by virtue of a judgment handed down in a proceeding or in whose
I was in suspense.
If there is a lawsuit please let me know, I was a victim too. This scammers has to stop.
We purchased our Sunset Fisherman's timeshare 10 years ago, my daughter and son-in-law also bought when we did. After years of going we were surprised about 4 years ago and taken to Tres Rios for our week because of renovations at Sunset Fisherman. Unfortunately, the stay there started off with a sales pitch to upgrade to this destination. When we offered to give them Sunset Fisherman's contract on an even even trade they made us sign a contract that said we could not stay or visit Tres Rios in the future. Our original contract told us that we could use those or any other Sunset property at any time. (By the way when we returned to Fisherman's the next year, no improvements to the property were noticed) We paid our timeshare off and now just see the maintenance fees increasing every year. At the bottom of our most recent maintenance invoice (doubled for updating property) purposes, there is a statement: "would you like to stop paying maintenance fees? please ask me how: maintenancefee@sunset.com.mx". Guess what? No such website! Are you surprised, you shouldn't be. We will not pay anymore maintenance fees and will not return to any Sunset Property. Sue me [censored]es!
I am having the same issues with Sunset Properties bought in Nov should checked this sight out first! Everything said was identical, currently arguing with them to cancel the contract. They are refusing of course, luckily my credit card company is standing by me right now and have pulled payment back. I am sure this will cause them to threaten a law suit and other tactics. Has anyone been affected by them via a lawsuit or credit ding? Please repost.
Thanks
Hi goaliemike, we are here in cancun, we were scammed. We signed yesterday and they said we cant cancel it. What should we do? What are the process you did? Please we nees help.
If there is a lawsuit, let me know guys, I was a victim too. This scammers has to stop.
Update: Did get my money back from the credit card company, was sent to a collection agency. My credit score got dinged by 150 pts slowly climbing back up. I did hire a lawyer cost around $4000.00 he sent letters to the agency with little response. I forwarded all calls from agency to the lawyer. Have not heard much and really do not want to deal with it, still burns me. The lawyer says most of the time it just disappears after they ding your credit. Not much else he can do he says.
Hello. Update question - did they finally stop calling? I am about to cease my payments after being on a freeze and mulitple letters on not wanting it / not affording it any more. I am okay to take the 'hit' with collections, but did you make any more payments? Did they finally move on? Thanks! - Tom D
Got a bill from Meridian Financial Services, Inc - DEBT COLLECTOR for $26, 307 yesterday.I am currently a victim of SUNSET WORLD RESORTS TIMESHARE fraud. I was there 2 years ago with a friend.First of all the room where we checked into was full of water and we had to pay extra to upgrade to another room .I signed up for their 1 BEDROOM TIMESHARE with a deposit of $5000. When I got home, I wasn't satisfied with their reviews and some clauses in the information packet, I quickly called the number given to me for early termination & membership cancellation.I made hundreds of call for 3-4 days to both USA &outside the country numbers before I was able to get through and was finally able to express my concern to one of their top managers & request to cancel via phone as directed by the sales /tour officer. I specifically told the sales manager that I might not meet the 7 day cancellation by mail by the time I returned home on Friday being weekend, he gave me a number to call for cancellation by Saturday/Sunday which I did. The top manager now telling me that phone cancellation is not acceptable & was forcing me to keep the Timeshare which I totally refused. After, I kept on receiving various offer to consider & I told them NO, just wanted a refund of my $5000 deposit & membership cancellation with immediate effect .Please, I need help to stop the debt collector from harassing & threatening to mess up my credit.
Same issues here, please let me know if you found solutions or atty, or any lawsuit. Thanks.
I almost got scammed myself. I insisted that they email me the properties that are offering n the package as destinations. They refuse. "You get a detailed email after paying for the package, there will be a link where you can make your payment". Very unusual procedure. I asked for the details of multiple travel destinations package. The initial contact person posted on FB that she is a supervisor in a Cancun Resorts and she wants to sell her vacation. What a lead in! She added that the package is a great value, that it is transferable, and has no expiration date. I promised nothing. I said I'll keep an open mind.
Then she had someone call me to close the deal. I refused to proceed and insisted travel package detail. Her "closer" finally agreed to text me the details. I looked at the internet those properties and added up the costs if bought separately as needed. The combined costs was equal to or greater than what was being offer. So there is no value or savings hence, there was no benefit for buying the package amidst the Pandemic when international travel is still restricted. When I asked who is really the travel agency that I am paying to, they were vague about it. I politely declined the offer.
The initial contact who pose in FB as a supervisor in a Cancun resort blasted me with abusive text for not pursuing the offer. Remember at first she said she was trying to sell her vacation as an employee. When I did not take the bite, she texted that she needed to sell at least 7 of these to supplement her income!
I became suspicious these series of complaints of others. They offer via text Ocean Spa Hotel and Laguna Suites and Spa under the website: www.sunsetworldresorts.com. The above comments confirmed my suspicion of a potential scam.
Since I was not conned into buying the travel package, I can not confirm that each of those properties are complicit with this apparent scam. I can not confirm that the person on the FB is not really a supervisor in a Cancun resort as she portrays that she is. Something is really off. Beware!
I’m Michelle. I also almost got scam by Sunset World too . I was in Cancun Mexico last November 2020 and stayed in Sunset Royal Beach . It is part of the Sunset World Company. I attended their vacation ownership presentation and also bought in to the sales pitch of the sales agent . He is saying that it is an investment and that you can sell your weeks to the company if you don’t use it and they will buy your weeks and then you will earn money from selling your weeks to the company . That night I googled them and saw a lot of bad reviews about them . And I also check my contract and nothing in the contract that says they will buy my weeks so I know they just wanna scam me. The next day I was able to meet a person from their verification department and handed him my cancellation letter that I wrote myself. He said they will process my deposit refund. When I get back to USA, another man from their company called me and asking the reason of my cancellation and said that the refund will be delayed because the reason of cancellation is personal and has nothing to do with them. And after that, the sales agent called me and he said that their legal department will not issue a refund so I need to keep the contract. After this threat of not issuing a refund, I filed a dispute claim to my credit card visa and submit all the documents that were needed including the cancellation letter that I handed to them .. I have a duplicate copy of that . There was an arbitration between my bank and the merchant bank and the case was resolved in my favor so the bank permanently credited the money back to me and that money was charged back permanently to the merchant . I got all my $22, 275 Full amount back to my account … I was so happy that I filed the dispute and got my money back . Filing a dispute claim is also helpful especially if you have proof that you cancelled your contract within the 5 days time frame . I feel Sorry for those who have suffered from this kind of scam. . It’s very important to google the company and read reviews about them especially if you put out big money .
so we just put down a deposit and told that we have 5 days to cancel. Sunsetworld Resorts, did you find out the other locations of their hotels prior to this?
I’m Michelle. I also almost got scam by Sunset World too . I was in Cancun Mexico last November 2020 and stayed in Sunset Royal Beach . It is part of the Sunset World Company. I attended their vacation ownership presentation and also bought in to the sales pitch of the sales agent . He is saying that it is an investment and that you can sell your weeks to the company if you don’t use it and they will buy your weeks and then you will earn money from selling your weeks to the company . That night I googled them and saw a lot of bad reviews about them . And I also check my contract and nothing in the contract that says they will buy my weeks so I know they just wanna scam me. The next day I was able to meet a person from their verification department and handed him my cancellation letter that I wrote myself. He said they will process my deposit refund. When I get back to USA, another man from their company called me and asking the reason of my cancellation and said that the refund will be delayed because the reason of cancellation is personal and has nothing to do with them. And after that, the sales agent called me and he said that their legal department will not issue a refund so I need to keep the contract. After this threat of not issuing a refund, I filed a dispute claim to my credit card visa and submit all the documents that were needed including the cancellation letter that I handed to them .. I have a duplicate copy of that . There was an arbitration between my bank and the merchant bank and the case was resolved in my favor so the bank permanently credited the money back to me and that money was charged back permanently to the merchant . I got all my $22, 275 Full amount back to my account … I was so happy that I filed the dispute and got my money back . Filing a dispute claim is also helpful especially if you have proof that you cancelled your contract within the 5 days time frame . I feel Sorry for those who have suffered from this kind of scam. . It’s very important to google the company and read reviews about them especially if you put out big money .
OMG, this scammers need to be stopped. Hopefully 🇺🇸 USA will read all of these issues; FBI please help😡 😢 😭
you paid 22 275, how many weeks and were you non the platimun plan?
I am a victim too, like everyone else I have been scammed by this company, please let me know if there is a lawsuit being filed to get these [censored]!
Hey. I was víctima of this Sunset Royal Scam as well. One year and a half trying ho get this fixed and all I get is poor traatment from Sales Reps when I call. Anyone able yo get out of this? How?
The whole travel club membership is FRAUD. The member service lie about everything, you cannot get an honest answer to any inquiry. I have lost thousands of dollars as well to these people. DO NOT TRUST ANYTHING THEY TELL YOU! Please if the is a class action lawsuit against this company, include me in it. They epitomize disgraceful business dealings!