Peace of Mind
newbie
In the Spring, my husband and I purchased a timeshare at Velas Vallarta in Mexico. At a sales presentation, our sales representative told us that we had to sign a waiver of our 5-day right of rescission to obtain ownership. We questioned him many times about this right but he continued to tell us that we had to sign the form in order to get this “special package deal.” We tried to cancel within the 5-day period but were told that we had waived our right to change our mind. When we returned to the States we mysteriously found that the signed waiver was missing from our contract documents packet. We later found out that Mexican law requires the purchaser to have 5-days to think over the purchase and to cancel the contract and obtain a full refund. Clearly, we were victims of fraud.
We also later determined that numerous items from the sales presentation had been misrepresented including:
1) We were told that through Holiday Systems International (HSI) we were entitled to a 30-day reservation guarantee. The 30-day guarantee was supposed to assure that we could vacation at a like property at a city of our choosing during the requested time-frame, so long as reservations were made 30 days in advance of travel. If HSI was not able to perform on this element, then Velas indicated that it would pay for us to go on a vacation of our choice. Of course, this turned out to be untrue. When we complained to Velas, they would not let us out of the contract.
2) The sales team told us that if we purchased the timeshare at Velas Vallarta it would be a good financial investment. We were told that a one week rental of a 2BR unit would yield us approximately $3,000 a week. However, when we returned to the States and looked at rental listings, it became clear that it could only be rented for $1,500 at best.
3) We were told that our property could be sold for twice as much as the market bears in the U.S. This was untrue, as well.
4) We were also told that if we rented out no more than four Velas weeks a year, our rental income would not be subject to Federal taxes. Of course, no evidence was found to support this assertion.
Keep in mind that many times, timeshares, rental companies, etc. are all in cahoots. Don’t fall for the scam. It is probably best not to make major decisions in one day.
We also later determined that numerous items from the sales presentation had been misrepresented including:
1) We were told that through Holiday Systems International (HSI) we were entitled to a 30-day reservation guarantee. The 30-day guarantee was supposed to assure that we could vacation at a like property at a city of our choosing during the requested time-frame, so long as reservations were made 30 days in advance of travel. If HSI was not able to perform on this element, then Velas indicated that it would pay for us to go on a vacation of our choice. Of course, this turned out to be untrue. When we complained to Velas, they would not let us out of the contract.
2) The sales team told us that if we purchased the timeshare at Velas Vallarta it would be a good financial investment. We were told that a one week rental of a 2BR unit would yield us approximately $3,000 a week. However, when we returned to the States and looked at rental listings, it became clear that it could only be rented for $1,500 at best.
3) We were told that our property could be sold for twice as much as the market bears in the U.S. This was untrue, as well.
4) We were also told that if we rented out no more than four Velas weeks a year, our rental income would not be subject to Federal taxes. Of course, no evidence was found to support this assertion.
Keep in mind that many times, timeshares, rental companies, etc. are all in cahoots. Don’t fall for the scam. It is probably best not to make major decisions in one day.
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it is for time share owners!:whoopie: You may want to check this thread 
