EL CID Time Share

[rolly]

need a bit of help! I purchase a point time share in cancun with el cid resort . but luckily cancelled it within the 5 day of signing the contract. In fact cancelled it within 2 days after a grueling cancellation meeting with the head of administration. I got a signed letter of the cancellation and at once informed my credit card company. My credit card company informed me to stay put and give elcid 15 business days to send me back my refund, that 15 days has passed (19th sep). I have tried emailing el cid and they are not acknowledging my email. I have informed my credit card (master card) company and they responded and have told me that they will "try" to resolve the issue and get my refund credited, a total of $7500 Canadian $. Do you think I have to do anything or should I trust the credit card company. The only thing going for me is that I have a signed letter on there letter head. Can someone tell me if that enough or do I need to contact profeco (sp?). thanks

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

....I got a signed letter of the cancellation and at once informed my credit card company. My credit card company informed me to stay put and give elcid 15 business days to send me back my refund, that 15 days has passed (19th sep). I have tried emailing el cid and they are not acknowledging my email. I have informed my credit card (master card) company and they responded and have told me that they will "try" to resolve the issue and get my refund credited, a total of $7500 Canadian $. Do you think I have to do anything or should I trust the credit card company. The only thing going for me is that I have a signed letter on there letter head. Can someone tell me if that enough or do I need to contact profeco (sp?). thanks

I 100% believe your refund will happen - but in longer than 15 days .
You have a signed letter of cancellation & notified the credit card company . You are in good shape .

Based on reading TUG - All resorts in Mexico , USA , and Canada process recissions / because they are legally required to do so .

Timelines seem to be 30 - 45 + days approx. - and in general they have no obligation to answer your emails
Contacting Proeco is not a bad idea - BUT like contacting the BBB - it is more a recorded detail then something that will significantly speed up the refund .

You mention that the payment was $ 7500 Canadian . If this was converted into US. dollars or pesos , when processed and then is converted back into Canadian $ upon refund , you could end up with a slightly different amount (plus or minus ) based on currency exchange rates . You also may have a foreign transaction fee cost that is standard on many credit cards .
Speak to your credit card company .

You saved a lot of money by cancelling / on balance these are small details .
.

 

[oldbuyer]

You are in good shape. I've had two similar experiences (yes, I'm a bit slow and have made two rescissions). The smooth one (Pueblo Bonito) documented as yours took about 60 days as the resort said they would not process the refund for 30 days (float?).

The second time was a generic vacation club. I talked to Chase while in the VLOs office making the rescission as the VLO said they were unable to issue credits-just charges- ya sure. Chase issued a temporary credit to my account and the developer then never processed a refund. After 3 billing cycles Chase was going to reinstate the charge because no credit was issued so I faxed Chase a second time the signed rescission as the original that was faxed previously was somehow not in my complaint file. The credit was then finally made permanent. For fun I asked Visa/Chase to yank their merchants account for their fraud. The CC companies see the merchant as their customer not the consumer as their customer. Hopefully Canadian banks have better consumer advocacy than US banks.

Ours were a hassle but you have the golden nugget with the signed cancellation within 5 days. Keep in mind if they provided any accommodations etc above and beyond the presentation gifts they will claw back the value of such from their refund they issue.
Once the credit posts, ask your bank to issue you a new CC and number to replace the one you had used as a precaution- just in case. Then you can sleep well again.

 

[rolly]

Thanks T-Dot & oldbuyer for your response and assurance . I had them put down the exact amount that was charged to my cc in the letter and also the contract number. Our contract talk started off in US $ but eventually switched to Canadian $ once the timeshare person sensed we were not interested and came back to us stating he would throw in a $300 spa certificate (given back at the time of cancellation- infact they snatched it back from us) and that the co-operate was in a "good mood" this morning and would convert all monies into Canadian $. At the time of cancellation they even tried to deduct penalty fees in the amount of $3500 C but I at once piped up and said this is a fraud and I will talk to a lawyer in mexico ( they literally ruined our last few day of vacation). I were there with my wife and 3 teenager kids for a week and had only the last 3 days to settle this mess I managed to put my family into, all for one lousy $100 certificate for free Wifi if we here the timeshare presentation. Never again will I ever ever ever ever attend with those disgusting people any timeshare presentation. the method they use and the sweet talk and sharing family pictures between myself and the timeshare shark (seller) to gain our confidence to buy into their fraud programme is incredible , they are really trained in all aspect of human behaviour and they match every client to the right shark for maximum outcome in their favour. The office staff are so entuned and took signatures and initial on several of the contract papers not even allowing us to go through them and when something important came up she just talked us out of that very smartly. I will talk to my cc company to issue a temporary credit to the refund so that I don't incur interest charges on that $7500 . Canadian CC are same and see the merchant as their customer and will only involve themselves if you have all the right document to proof , in this case my golden egg is "my cancellation letter stating the contract number and the exact amount to be refunded". There is so much I can say what transpired but I will save it after I get my refund .

 

[rolly]

happy to report my $7500 CDN was credited back after 27 days . Much relieved ….never ever will I go near those two face liars . It was such a high pressure sales tactics and especially the cancellation process the next day was just grueling …. so much pressure that we almost gave up and were about to agree on their second package which ironically was worse than the first one we signed. I feel so great that we stood up our ground as he quite frankly told us that I will not be getting my money back and I would be better off to take this second deal and call it a day. He started accusing me off taking wages away from EL CID employee by cancelling my contract . He put some other offers on the table but at that point in time I was just so frustrated and insisted in a very polite manner that I will decline any offer he put out as I am not interested. I was so good to see him leave the room and someone else come in for a change. After about 2 hrs we managed to get a signed letter of cancellation and got the hell out of that office.

 

[Passepartout]

That's good news. You could've avoided 99.9% of the stress by rescinding by mail, but of course you didn't know that at the time. We're glad it worked out for you.

Jim

 

[rolly]

didn't know anything about timeshare and just learnt everything the day after signing the contract at the resort via this website. I just wanted it resolved before we left the resort, so I took that extra step to confront them. I am glad I did, or I would have been out $7500. Never felt much relieved after I got the signed cancellation letter from them. Infact I started enjoying the few day left in our vacation much more than I started .