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[ 2021 ] Conned into buying Fiesta Americana Vacation Club

hawkwood

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Hi all,

Starting December 1st my wife and I stayed a few nights at the Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Cancun. It was our first time staying at a resort like this and our first time in Mexico. Foolishly, we agreed to see the sales presentation for the Fiesta Americana Vacation Club (FAVC), due to the promise of some free massages in exchange.

I won't go into detail about the "presentation" because I think everyone here knows how it goes, but suffice to say that it was a slick, high-pressure, one chance only offer to save a lot of money on wonderful all-inclusive holidays are resorts around the world...After almost 4 hours my wife was enthusiastic, I was keen to get to the beach, and the offer sounded like good value, so when they put the papers to sign in front of our faces, we signed.

I generally like to think that I'm pretty smart (now doubting) and skeptical of sales tactics and I'm absolutely stunned that it didn't occur to me to look up reviews of the vacation club as I was sitting there. One google search for "fiesta americana vacation club review" would have sent me running.

In the end we accepted the deal because of the salesman's ironclad assurances that with our 2400 yearly points, we would be able to stay for at least a week during peak season at hotels around the world. He explicitly clarified multiple times that the points required to book a resort or hotel were uniform and did not change according to the hotel. He also explicitly confirmed that this plan would allow us to return to the Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Cancun and stay in the exact same room for at least 7 nights.

We have since looked on the website and found that the same room for just 4 nights on the exact same dates next year costs more than 7000 points. We have also found that the only hotels that can be booked with the points are the Fiesta Americana properties in Mexico. So what we were told in the sales presentation appears to be a bald-faced lie.

We were also told explicitly at the beginning of the presentation that this offer was NOT A TIMESHARE, and then find in the contract that it is called "contrato de compraventa de derechos de uso y goce temporal bajo el esquema de tiempo compartido", which translates quite literally to "contract for timeshare".

One of the main reasons that we agreed to sign the agreement was because the salesman told us that we could cancel at any time and still use the sign-up bonus points for a holiday. So in effect our deposit of around $6000 would be used for a great holiday and we wouldn't really be any worse off. Now that I've sat down and looked for the information about cancelling the membership in the documents we received, I have not been able to find a single mention of how a membership can be cancelled, let alone our right to a refund due to fraudulent misrepresentation of the contract being offered.

Given all this, I have been researching our options for getting out of this scam and it doesn't look pretty. Obviously I would love to cancel the membership and get a refund of our initial payment, however at this stage with everything I've read it seems like just getting the membership cancelled and losing the initial payment would almost be a win. These are the options that I'm aware of to reach this outcome (keeping in mind that we're past the legal 5 day period since signing the contract):
  • Request cancellation and refund via the official FAVC email address (infofavclub@favc.com) - I have done this and have extremely low hopes
  • Contact the salesman directly and ask for assistance in cancelling and refunding the membership - We have done this and he has for two days in a row promised to call and then not done so. I have extremely low hopes of this going anywhere.
  • Email other senior company leaders explaining the fraudulence of this particular salesmen and threaten to leave negative reviews everywhere we can think of. This has apparently helped in some cases, for example, in this one. This would be quite a lot of work for also a very low likelihood of success.
  • Send a complaint to the PROFECO Conciliation from Abroad arbitration process. Seems worth doing but it's not clear to me exactly what they will do and apparently they don't really have any power to enforce anything. I'm not sure it will make much difference.

In the worst case, if they refuse to cancel our membership or just ignore us, it seems that we would have no choice but to either continue paying forever or cancel the credit card and let the charges fail, in which case I would like to know what could be the negative consequences of doing that in my particular case? I am an Australian citizen and my wife is Colombian. We are residents of Colombia. The credit card is from a Colombian bank.

This question feels particularly important because it seems to be the most likely outcome. I have seen conflicting advice regarding this here on the forum. Some people seem to suggest that it's not a big deal and others say to never do it and it's better to go to whatever lengths necessary to pay off the debts. I hate the idea of acquiescing to my own robbery so I would be extremely reluctant to do this unless it was clear that the consequences were truly dire.

Any advice regarding my situation would be greatly appreciated.

Note: This is the linked page of the salesman who sold me this scam https://www.linkedin.com/in/julioivanlemushuerta/
 

hawkwood

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Just cancel the card and move on. There is zero they can do to you.

Thanks. It's a relief if that's the case. I'll still give them a chance to do things the right way (with the help of PROFECO), but if they refuse to, it's nice to know that we can do that.
 

dioxide45

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Just cancel the card and move on. There is zero they can do to you.
How can you cancel a card when you have a $6000 down payment balance sitting on it? I guess you can simply stop paying it, but the OP is a resident of the same country where the card was issued. Not sure that Colombia has the same type of protections for credit card transactions and defaults as we are afforded in the USA.
 

bjones9942

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How can you cancel a card when you have a $6000 down payment balance sitting on it? I guess you can simply stop paying it, but the OP is a resident of the same country where the card was issued. Not sure that Colombia has the same type of protections for credit card transactions and defaults as we are afforded in the USA.

And as has been reported by some others (I said some, not all), they do sometimes come after you and ding your credit.

Look through your contract again, specifically for a section that discusses rescission. You are likely slightly past the point where you can rescind, but you never know. If you are still within the defined time frame, follow the steps exactly. If it says use Fed Ex, then use Fed Ex.

Good luck.

Edit: As an aside, I just left the Fiesta Americana property in Acapulco. It was nice. Not anything to go crazy about, but a solid nice - and in a popular area. If you can't get out of the contract, at least you can get some use out of it.
 

hawkwood

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How can you cancel a card when you have a $6000 down payment balance sitting on it? I guess you can simply stop paying it, but the OP is a resident of the same country where the card was issued. Not sure that Colombia has the same type of protections for credit card transactions and defaults as we are afforded in the USA.

We paid this amount with cash so we wouldn't have any problem cancelling the card. It has no debt currently, it is just set up for the future monthly payments.
 

geist1223

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Dispute the charge to your. Credit Cards. You will be allowed to submit a statement. List all the lies the Sales Person to,d you.
 
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hawkwood

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And as has been reported by some others (I said some, not all), they do sometimes come after you and ding your credit.

Look through your contract again, specifically for a section that discusses rescission. You are likely slightly past the point where you can rescind, but you never know. If you are still within the defined time frame, follow the steps exactly. If it says use Fed Ex, then use Fed Ex.

Good luck.

Edit: As an aside, I just left the Fiesta Americana property in Acapulco. It was nice. Not anything to go crazy about, but a solid nice - and in a popular area. If you can't get out of the contract, at least you can get some use out of it.

I honestly can't see anywhere in any of the contractual documents they sent us a single mention of anything to do with rescission or annulment. I will have another look and update if I find anything. Feels like another aspect of the scam that the contract is missing so much information. Very stupid of me to sign something without reading thoroughly, I know!

I can't imagine wanting to use Fiesta Americana ever again. We left extremely happy and ready to bring our entire families next time, and now we feel like our holiday was completely ruined and Fiesta Americana are nothing but a bunch of lying thieves. It's ironic because the entire sales pitch was about how they don't do any marketing and rely on happy customers to spread the word...
 

hawkwood

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So there is definitely no mention of anything regarding how to cancel or rescind the contract.

Screen Shot 2021-12-10 at 3.35.07 pm.png


I just saw this clause where I apparently agreed that any verbal offers not in the contract are not valid. The part I covered is where they wrote our initials for us. I never actually marked an "x" or initialized anything myself. Any chance I can get any mileage out of that fact?
 
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Passepartout

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PROFECO MAY help, but the worst that can happen is that you are out whatever cash down payment you made. Cancel the credit card that was set up to make payments to the thieves. You might or might not ever see the refund. One thing I have seen work, but nobody has suggested here is to post derogatory posts all over the internet travel sites, Travelocity, Expedia, Yahoo Travel, etc. outlining their scams. I've seen refunds be made when people agree to pull down their complaints.

I agree that there is little chance they will post a negative credit report on you. In Mexico, there is no deed on timeshares, so it's just a vacation club, you don't actually 'own' anything and they have no choice but to cancel your 'membership'.

Good Luck!

Jim
 
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dioxide45

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Dispute the charge to your. Credit Cars. You will be allowed to submit a statement. List all the lies the Sales Person to,d you.
This is a credit card issued by a bank in Colombia. It may not have the same protections as cards issued in the United States.
 

easyrider

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Since it was bought on Dec 1 and the rescission period is past a person would need to claim fraud on the credit card charge. When the fraud is claimed the type of fraud that is recognized is unauthorized charge. Sometimes to fight a liar a persons easiest route might be to claim they didn't sign anything , buy anything or have knowledge of the charge other than they vacationed there. The business in Mexico would have a hard time disputing this type of claim made in the USA because it happens frequently.

Bill
 

hawkwood

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PROFECO MAY help, but the worst that can happen is that you are out whatever cash down payment you made. Cancel the credit card that was set up to make payments to the thieves. You might or might not ever see the refund. One thing I have seen work, but nobody has suggested here is to post derogatory posts all over the internet travel sites, Travelocity, Expedia, Yahoo Travel, etc. outlining their scams. I've seen refunds be made when people agree to pull down their complaints.

I agree that there is little chance they will post a negative credit report on you. In Mexico, there is no deed on timeshares, so it's just a vacation club, you don't actually 'own' anything and they have no choice but to cancel your 'membership'.

Good Luck!

Jim

Thanks Jim. I will certainly be happy to share my experience far and wide, if only to help others avoid the scam (and perhaps to let off a little steam).

I'm happy to hear that you think that cancelling the card and moving on is viable.

This is a credit card issued by a bank in Colombia. It may not have the same protections as cards issued in the United States.

Since it was bought on Dec 1 and the rescission period is past a person would need to claim fraud on the credit card charge. When the fraud is claimed the type of fraud that is recognized is unauthorized charge. Sometimes to fight a liar a persons easiest route might be to claim they didn't sign anything , buy anything or have knowledge of the charge other than they vacationed there. The business in Mexico would have a hard time disputing this type of claim made in the USA because it happens frequently.

Bill

Colombian credit cards don't offer the same level of protection as in the USA, however I've checked the bank's website and they do say that charges for things you never bought can be contested up to 60 days from the date. I'd be quite happy to go that route if I can reassure myself that they won't be any serious consequences if somehow they are able to prove that we did make the purchase (e.g. my emails asking for a refund?). Thanks for the suggestion easyrider.
 

dioxide45

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Colombian credit cards don't offer the same level of protection as in the USA, however I've checked the bank's website and they do say that charges for things you never bought can be contested up to 60 days from the date. I'd be quite happy to go that route if I can reassure myself that they won't be any serious consequences if somehow they are able to prove that we did make the purchase (e.g. my emails asking for a refund?). Thanks for the suggestion easyrider.
I would expect that a signed contract is proof enough that you bought something?
 

hawkwood

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I would expect that a signed contract is proof enough that you bought something?

Haha yeah, that would probably be enough.

In my defense, I had just finished writing a three page letter in Spanish to PROFECO, so my brain was absolutely spent when I wrote that. I've since talked briefly with the wife and she's not that keen to try anything like that. Would rather just take the hit and move on.
 

easyrider

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I would expect that a signed contract is proof enough that you bought something?

Most of these contracts aren't notarized because most of the timeshares are RTU memberships is what I think. When I signed in Mexico my signature wasn't notarized. Even it it was notarized it wouldn't prevent the fraud claim to dispute the charge. The credit card company isn't usually asking specifically what kind of fraud to dispute the charge. All a buyer would have to say is I dispute the charges because it is fraud. Then the seller has to prove it isn't fraud in court. If court is somewhere other than Mexico, which it is if you don't live in Mexico, then it isn't going to be worth it for them to pursue, imo.

Bill
 

Janann

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Is the following summary correct?
  • Paid $6,000 cash as a down payment on the contract.
  • Provided a credit card number to make ongoing monthly payments.
If the above is correct, cancel the credit card to stop the monthly payments. The cash down payment will be extremely difficult to get back.
 

Ima Timesharer

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If you can't get out of the purchase, I highly recommend the Fiesta Americana Vacation Club in Cabo San Lucas. And unless things have changed, you can also use your points at any of the Hilton Grand Vacation Club timeshares around the world. If you can't get out of your contract, you will probably wish you had bought a couple thousand more points, but depending on the time of year, you can definitely get a week in a small unit for 2400 points.

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk
 

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Hi All,
Unfortunately I ended up becoming a FAVC member in May/2021 (in Los Cabos). I've been trying to cancel my membership and yesterday they replied saying that I cannot cancel it but they could pause the monthly charges for 12 months.
I live in the US and my cc also was issued here, If they don't agree to cancel my membership I'm thinking in using the points I have available for 2022 and then dispute the monthly charges. Do you guys see any potencial issues if I do that? thank you.
 

Pathways

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Hi All,
Unfortunately I ended up becoming a FAVC member in May/2021 (in Los Cabos). I've been trying to cancel my membership and yesterday they replied saying that I cannot cancel it but they could pause the monthly charges for 12 months.
I live in the US and my cc also was issued here, If they don't agree to cancel my membership I'm thinking in using the points I have available for 2022 and then dispute the monthly charges. Do you guys see any potential issues if I do that? thank you.
uh....I'd love to hear the reasoning to dispute charges that stem from a legitimate contract
 

dioxide45

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Hi All,
Unfortunately I ended up becoming a FAVC member in May/2021 (in Los Cabos). I've been trying to cancel my membership and yesterday they replied saying that I cannot cancel it but they could pause the monthly charges for 12 months.
I live in the US and my cc also was issued here, If they don't agree to cancel my membership I'm thinking in using the points I have available for 2022 and then dispute the monthly charges. Do you guys see any potencial issues if I do that? thank you.
Your only option would be to cancel the credit card and hope they go away.
 

Janann

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Hi All,
Unfortunately I ended up becoming a FAVC member in May/2021 (in Los Cabos). I've been trying to cancel my membership and yesterday they replied saying that I cannot cancel it but they could pause the monthly charges for 12 months.
I live in the US and my cc also was issued here, If they don't agree to cancel my membership I'm thinking in using the points I have available for 2022 and then dispute the monthly charges. Do you guys see any potencial issues if I do that? thank you.
I would bet that they won't allow you to use the points while the payments are on pause. You would probably have to bring all the payments current before going on vacation.
 

Hlee

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Your only option would be to cancel the credit card and hope they go away.
Can they send my info to a collection company here in the us?
What would you do I you were in my case?
 

Hlee

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I would bet that they won't allow you to use the points while the payments are on pause. You would probably have to bring all the payments current before going on vacation.
I'm not considering in pausing the monthly payments, I don't want to grad this for another year. Just trying to find the best way with less liability to cancel my membership.
 

Janann

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Can they send my info to a collection company here in the us?
Of course they can. The collector would be the credit card company. But will they send it to Collections? It depends on the amount of money involved, and your financial profile. Whether they send it for collection activity or not, the card will be reported as a charged-off account on your credit report, and it will hurt your credit score.
 
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