# [ 2012 ] Timeshare Scams



## maddog2 (Aug 7, 2012)

Timeshare Scam artists are getting smarter all the time by re-inventing their sales tactics and aproaches.  They are also enlisting 2, 3 and 4th company affiliates who become responsible for executing area's in your contract so that when you are not recieving the services promised by your initial sales rep, they can pass the grievence along stating that it is not their problem, and that you will need to contact the company yourself to have your dispute settled.  Ya right?  Suddenly, numbers don't work and emails are suddenly returned as "undeliverable".  I am posting my situation here in the hopes that others, with simular stories, can share what they did, and the results that they achieved, when trying to cancel/modify their contract.  There is strength in unity and it will be up to us to act collectively if we are going to have our Government recognise the impact that Timeshare Scams are haveing not only on the individual, but on Tourism as well.

Here is my story:

Letter of Complaint for Timeshare Scam

Hello;

I wish to log a formal complaint against the World Residence Club, and The Property Place, for fraud and

misrepresentation, to the sum of $40, 701.00. In March (Spring Break Mar.9-15, 2012) we were vacationing at

Vallarta Gardens (see attachment). While there, the resort had contracted the World Residence Club to sell

timeshares for their resort, Vallarta Gardens. Miguel (Mike) Lopez, Judy Bailey and Candi Ross were the salespeople

that we were assigned. We informed these salespeople that we already had 2 timeshares and that we didn't

need a third. Miguel then offered to purchase our existing timeshares via their affiliate /sister partner The

Property Place, for the purchase price of $51,840.00usd/$20,404.00usd net and that we would be paid this

amount within 120 days. Everything seemed in order, and they even put 10% of the purchuse price of our

timeshares as part of the down payment for the purchase at Vallarta gardens,so we agreed to buy there. About 6

weeks after we returned back to Canada, Miguel (Mike) Lopez, of the World Residence Club contacted us by phone to

inform us that we could upgrade our present contract WRCxxxxxxxxx  from a 1 bedroom to that of a 2 bedroom

penthouse, at Vallarta Gardens for just an additional $12,000.00. Since they had seemed to be genuine people

who were routinely sending us documents via the email, we agreed. We were informed that we needed to wire

transfer the money, to a bank in Mexico. We did, and they emailed us a 2nd contract WRC xxxxxxxxxx which

apparently superceeded our first contract. We were also informed by Miguel, that if we didn't want to use our

weeks (8 in total), that The Property Place would rent them out for us @ $1800.00 provided that we purchased

the weeks first. So a 2nd wire transfer was sent to the World Residence Club for $3600.00 (4 weeks @$900.00

our cost). AWorld residence Club then issued us a confirmation number #xxxxxxxxxxxxx which was emailed

to The Property Place with a letter giving them (The Property Place) permission to rent these weeks.

We didn't start to become suspicious until emails and phone calls suddenly weren't returned, and the window

closed for being paid the monies that were due to us from The Property Place. I contacted Vallarta Gardens to

find out the status of our Timeshare and was shocked to learn that the World Residence Club had had their

contract with Vallarta Gardens, terminated on April 12, 2012, approx. 6-8 BEFORE they had contacted us for the

upgrade. When we informed them of our supposed upgrade, but were informed that the new contract with the

World Residence Club would not be honoured, nor compensated,as they were no longer dealing with the World

Residence Club, or anyone associated with them. In fact, Vallarta Gardens will be taking legal action against the

World Residence Club themselves, for fraud and misrepresentation. I have emailed both companies, the World

residence Club and The Property Place numerous times requesting payment or a full refund but unfortunately

they have stopped communicating with me altogether.

I have begun lodging complaints with US, Mexican and Canadian Agencies and Bureau's, and will continue to do

so until we have been compensated for this deliberate act of deceit, fraud and total misrepresentation. This is the

information that l have for these companies:


Vallarta Gardens Resort and Spa
Km.1.2de la carreteraa Punta de Mita, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico
+52 1-866-500-4938
Contact: Mr. Greg Bloom
greg.j.bloom@gmail.com
Manager: Juan Becerra
Sales: Hans Snyman
Email: www.vallartagardens.com


World Residence Club  (Also see recent new address below)
Av. Francisco Villa 1505 6
Residencial Fluvial Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta. C.P. 48312
1-866-978-8424 or (fax) 1-800-4509-236 or 1-305-704-2254 (Miguel Luis)
Email: memberservices@worldresidenceclub.com
Email: mikelopez20@yahoo.com
Sales Reps: Miguel Lopez, Judy Bailey, Candi Ross
Agents: Eddie Torres, Sarah Lares


The Property Place
2250 NW. 114th Ave. Unit 1N.
Miami, Florida
33172-3654
PH: 1-305-935-0659, 1-866-978-8514, 1-800-935-0659, 1-305-704-2126 Fax: 1-800-935-0659
WEB: www.thepropertyplacesite.com
Email: members@thepropertyplacesite.com
Agents: Sam Aguirre, Sam Lopez, Sam Patches, Eric Delgado


UPDATE:  Upon further research on these 2 scrupulous companies, l came across some additional information, should any of you readers out there be in the same situation as we are with the WORLD RESIDENCE CLUB, VACANCY REWARDS, and THE PROPERTY PLACE:

World residence Club "NEW" Address
Av.Francisco Villa 1505-6
Fraccionamiento Fluvial
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, C.P. 48300
Mexico
Owner:  Carlos Gadea
PH: (Mexico ext ??)  322-117-2113

Please respond if you have any additional information to offer.  Thanking you in advance.


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## Karen G (Aug 7, 2012)

Welcome to TUG. So sorry to read about your experience. At the top of the opening page for this Mexico forum there is   this thread about a buyer's rights in Mexican timeshare purchases. In the first post is a link to Profeco, the Mexican consumer protection agency. If you haven't already done so, you should contact them about your situation.


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## Happy geo (Mar 27, 2013)

I also purchased at Vallarta gardens with World Residence Club and felt a bit cheated after finding out our contract had not been with VG as it was some people from Chicago that purchased a few villas and claimed to be the whole property vg didnot sell any type of fractional ownership at the time just full time Real Estate.

VALLARTA GARDENS has been legally selling fractional ownership since may 2012 and contacted all people that went through the same thing as myself and offered to fix my issue which i got a free stay in a beautiful villa and helped my wife and I into the fractional contract now we own 3 months there and will be staying there again may 2013 reservation confirmed and excited to take more family with us!


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## Dingle (Jun 9, 2013)

*Grand Miramar/The Property Place/Goldstein Funding Sources*

We are in a similar situation as you.  In Aug. 2012 we went to a Presentation at GRAND MIRAMAR, PUERTO VALLARTA. The Sales People were RICHARD BOUNDS and JUDY BAILEY. After a great deal of sales pressure, we were persuaded to purchase Timeshare from them for 34,088 USD plus an additional 9,475 USD to belong to WORLD RESIDENCE CLUB (SARAH LARES).  It was further agreed that THE PROPERTY PLACE (based in Miami, Florida - SAM LOPEZ/AMANDA COOPER) would purchase some other Timeshare Points we owned in the US at an agreed upon price and take over and pay us rent for the six weeks we had at GRAND MIRAMAR.
Needless to say  it was months of never ending excuses and false promises regarding a buyer of our timeshare points.   Sam was also very poor at responding to our numerous phone calls and emails. We also made multiple attempts to contact RICHARD BOUNDS for the assistance he promised, but  never returned any of our calls and emails either. 
Finally,  we sent a formal letter on Jan. 24, 2013 to GRAND MIRAMAR exercising our option to cancel the agreement we had with them. MIRAMAR responded that this agreement had nothing to do with them since it was with WORLD RESIDENCE CLUB. RICHARD BOUNDS had previously advised that we could cancel anytime within five years from the date the contract was signed. When we contacted the WORLD RESIDENCE CLUB, they said we had to wait five years before exercising. As a result, we were not even able to cancel the contract, as promised and agreed upon. 
On February 6, 2013 we received a telephone call from SUSAN CRAWFORD of GOLDSTEIN FUNDING SOURCES (based in Los Angeles, California) stating that they were handling the sale of our timeshare points to an buyer located in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. However, CRAWFORD requested several different fees over the following 9 weeks indicating that the Mexican Government required these fees to be paid by us before the sale of our points could occur. She did say that the buyer of our points would reimburse us for these various fees so we should not worry about it. The first three sets of fee requests consisted of a Transfer Fee (13,000 USD on Feb. 7); Taxes (12,597 USD on Feb. 25); Excess Income Tax (9,750 USD on Mar. 21) plus 150 USD wire transfer costs, totalling 35,497 USD. We reluctantly paid all these fees in good faith to a bank trust account in Puerto Vallarta. However when a fourth request for State of Nayarit and Municipal Tax for Bahia de Banderas (7,150 USD on Apr. 9), we realized that GOLDSTEIN was also taking advantage of us, and refused to pay anymore fees and cancelled the sale of our points to the unknown Mexican buyer. 
All of the documentation from GOLDSTEIN requesting these fees also indicated that if we cancelled the sale of our points, GOLDSTEIN would refund all the monies we wired to the bank account in Puerto Vallarta. 
We are currently trying to follow up on our refund from GOLDSTEIN.   The main line is still active (receptionist is JOANNE COOPER) but is never answered and CRAWFORD'S phone is no longer active.  Since cancelling the deal, none of our telephone messages or emails are returned or responded to.
We have tried to contact RICHARD BOUNDS (GRAND MIRAMAR) multiple times for his promised assistance throughout this whole fiasco but as mentioned previously he refuses to return any of our phone calls or emails. We have not been able to talk to him since Aug. 2012. It certainly appears that this whole ordeal has been one well rehearsed scam which includes all parties involved GRAND MIRAMAR - RICHARD BOUNDS/JUDY BAILEY,  THE PROPERTY PLACE - SAM LOPEZ,   GOLDSTEIN FUNDING - SUSAN CRAWFORD/JOANNE COOPER/ROBERT MARSHALL.
We have forwarded all our documents concerned to PROFECO in Mexico City as requested by them.  We are also going to lodge a complaint to the Attorney General of Los Angeles about GOLDSTEIN FUNDING SOURCES including SUSAN CRAWFORD, JOANNE COOPER and ROBERT MARSHALL, the parties involved in the scam at GOLDSTEIN.

Any additional help or comments that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


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## Karen G (Jun 9, 2013)

I am so sorry to read how you were scammed out of so much money. I surely hope Profeco and the Attorney General can help you. Please let us know how it turns out.


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## timeos2 (Jun 9, 2013)

OMG over $35,000!! How could you have believed them after the initial purchase turned out to be mostly misinformation? This is terrible to hear but you have little chance of recovering your money. Go to every official agency you can & press for recovery. Good luck. You really got conned.


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## tomcoo (Jun 13, 2013)

*I won*

All timeshare contracts are adhesion contracts and have to be registered with Profeco in Spanish.  Get a copy of the registered Spanish contract from Profeco and compare it to the English contract.  Use the Mexican Consumer Protection Laws to look for violations (get the English version online).  I found some and therefore my contract was void, it was fraud.  I got my money back.  Profeco helped and the American Embassy in Mexico City.

This took a lot of work and dragged on for two years.


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## yarmawvl (Jun 29, 2013)

*more*

We too were victims, but only for about $7000. Richard Bounds and Amanda Cooper were the ones,  Vallarta Gardens (Tim Lester-the new management there after they got rid of Greg Bloom) was incredible !
"I'll do everything I can to make you  whole" he said.  And he did. Our loss wasn't big enough to warrant proceeding on our own, but we'd join any action that was already taking place.


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## timeos2 (Jun 29, 2013)

yarmawvl said:


> We too were victims, but only for about $7000. Richard Bounds and Amanda Cooper were the ones,  Vallarta Gardens (Tim Lester-the new management there after they got rid of Greg Bloom) was incredible !
> "I'll do everything I can to make you  whole" he said.  And he did. Our loss wasn't big enough to warrant proceeding on our own, but we'd join any action that was already taking place.



You may want to consider the source here before taking any type of action. Just sayin'.


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## josh.jonas (Dec 3, 2013)

*Vallarta Gardens*

Greetings all, I feel really bad about what I'm reading. My wife and I just bought a timeshare at Vallarta Gardens and rented with Mercury. A couple of days after making the purchase, we were having a beer in PV and met a couple who came from San Francisco. They mentioned things like what happened to you. I went pale and blood rushed from my head. It’s all terrible, shocking and really sad...
We went to Vallarta Gardens to see what was happening and I confess that despite my anger, everyone treated me very well being very polite. It took us a couple of hours but everything went ok. We came back to the US and gave my son our weeks to confirm that everything was working as promised. He said everything went great ...
What has happened to you is shocking but I have to say that for us everything went well. My kids enjoyed a couple of weeks at Vallarta Gardens and returned very happy ...
We are counting the days to go back!

Hopefully you’ll have the same luck and all your problems will be solved.


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## Zephyr88 (Dec 4, 2013)

*Yikes!!*

What a horrible, hard lesson you are having to learn... God bless and good luck!

For anyone reading this thread who may be thinking about buying a timeshare:  There are literally thousands of FREE timeshares available right now for the taking.  So many people either got in over their heads, or bought something on impulse and now want out.  There is NO good reason to pay thousands of dollars to a resort for a timeshare.  ALWAYS, ALWAYS do lots of research and start with the resale/free market first.


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## rene.jones (Jan 29, 2014)

*So sad*

Hello everyone I had read a lot about Vallarta Gardens, and some people love it and some people hate it...
I got my ts with them and I had a great time, my sister and I love it, we can´t wait to go back...

For what I see most of the problems are on the side of renting the timeshare you got from them...
I think if you get the timeshare and use it like us you wont have any problems...
The place is just beautiful and people its so nice, I love Mexico, but I´m really sorry about all the problems you guys had...

just use it don´t rent it


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## Dandc3 (Jan 29, 2014)

*Wire transfer*



maddog2 said:


> Timeshare Scam artists are getting smarter all the time by re-inventing their sales tactics and aproaches.  They are also enlisting 2, 3 and 4th company affiliates who become responsible for executing area's in your contract so that when you are not recieving the services promised by your initial sales rep, they can pass the grievence along stating that it is not their problem, and that you will need to contact the company yourself to have your dispute settled.  Ya right?  Suddenly, numbers don't work and emails are suddenly returned as "undeliverable".  I am posting my situation here in the hopes that others, with simular stories, can share what they did, and the results that they achieved, when trying to cancel/modify their contract.  There is strength in unity and it will be up to us to act collectively if we are going to have our Government recognise the impact that Timeshare Scams are haveing not only on the individual, but on Tourism as well.
> 
> Here is my story:
> 
> ...



Asking for a wire transfer is a giant red flag.....


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