[ 2023 ] Sunset World Resorts (Ultimate Loyalty Program) - FRAUD

[byeloe]

I would cancel any credit card if the payments are set to be charged to it. Then stop paying, you will likely be out the down payment. They will send you letters or call you but it is a Mexican right to use contract so eventually they will give up or sell it to a collections outfit. If you really want out then just ignore all communication from them.

Your other option is to figure out how to best make use of what you purchased and try to enjoy some vacations

 

[mishi]

I would cancel any credit card if the payments are set to be charged to it. Then stop paying, you will likely be out the down payment. They will send you letters or call you but it is a Mexican right to use contract so eventually they will give up or sell it to a collections outfit. If you really want out then just ignore all communication from them.

Your other option is to figure out how to best make use of what you purchased and try to enjoy some vacations

I have convinced myself to accept the consequence of losing a significant amount of money. My mental health would be compromised if I don’t accept that fact. This has been a difficult and depressing situation. I just I don’t want to continue losing more given that this is not a good investment. I still dispute the transaction with my CC. All I want is to get out of it specially trust has already been compromised. I did sign a promissory note which states “ The validity, construction, and enforceability of, and the rights and obligations of Maker and holder under, this promissory note shall be governed by, construed, and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to its conflict of law rules.” Is there anyone that have a promissory note similar to this who stop making payment? What were the consequences?

Any information regarding this is appreciated.

 

[Moonster]

I have convinced myself to accept the consequence of losing a significant amount of money. My mental health would be compromised if I don’t accept that fact. This has been a difficult and depressing situation. I just I don’t want to continue losing more given that this is not a good investment. I still dispute the transaction with my CC. All I want is to get out of it specially trust has already been compromised. I did sign a promissory note which states “ The validity, construction, and enforceability of, and the rights and obligations of Maker and holder under, this promissory note shall be governed by, construed, and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to its conflict of law rules.” Is there anyone that have a promissory note similar to this who stop making payment? What were the consequences?

Any information regarding this is appreciated.

Hey,
So in your situation you are pretty much out the down payment, some websites like MESCAM say that you can get a settlement by giving the timeshare company you're dealing with a bunch of negative publicity online. However I don't think this will actually work anymore, they we're doing this stuff during the infancy of the internet.

You have a few options with very limited success potential.

You can contact PROFECO and file a complaint if you have evidence that you were served alcohol and you were intoxicated, or that they misrepresented what they're actually giving you. Though even if you have sound evidence PROFECO is just a mediator and cannot enforce the vendor to pay you the amounts owed. You would have to hire an attorney or represent yourself in Mexican Court.

However the part of your contract stating that it's governed by the laws of Florida does give you the opportunity to file a complaint with the Florida Division of Consumer Services, I haven't dealt with them but perhaps they might have more authority than PROFECO.

Your best option is to stop paying all together, it is worth noting that they absolutely can sell your debt to collections and it could potentially effect your credit score. Though with that loser making legal threats against you says to me that he's just peacocking and trying dissuade you.

If you have any other questions I would happy to answer, and please do share the outcome of your situation even if you don't get the you your desired result, it will absolutely help others in our situation.

 

[mishi]

Hey,
So in your situation you are pretty much out the down payment, some websites like MESCAM say that you can get a settlement by giving the timeshare company you're dealing with a bunch of negative publicity online. However I don't think this will actually work anymore, they we're doing this stuff during the infancy of the internet.

You have a few options with very limited success potential.

You can contact PROFECO and file a complaint if you have evidence that you were served alcohol and you were intoxicated, or that they misrepresented what they're actually giving you. Though even if you have sound evidence PROFECO is just a mediator and cannot enforce the vendor to pay you the amounts owed. You would have to hire an attorney or represent yourself in Mexican Court.

However the part of your contract stating that it's governed by the laws of Florida does give you the opportunity to file a complaint with the Florida Division of Consumer Services, I haven't dealt with them but perhaps they might have more authority than PROFECO.

Your best option is to stop paying all together, it is worth noting that they absolutely can sell your debt to collections and it could potentially affect your credit score. Though with that loser making legal threats against you says to me that he's just peacocking and trying


Thank you for your input. I have already sent an e-mail to PROFECO complaining about misinterpretation of service by Sunset Royal. With regards reaching out to Florida Division of Consumers Services, I am not sure yet if I have to do it at this time but I will surely hire a lawyer if this has become a legal issue here in the USA. For now, I will do whatever I could ( and from what I gather here in TUG) to get over this matter. And if stopping payments affect my credit score then be it.

 

[Moonster]

Hey,



Just wanted to provide an update, my bank has finally processed the dispute and my account has been credited with the total amount. I can't say for certian wither or not they're going to waste their time and money pursuing arbitration with Visa, from what I've read on trip advisor they have done this in the past. I don't really care however if they want to spend 500$ fighting a lost case that's their money to spend, I have statute on my side and they have an illegal contract.



They can spend their time fighting lost battles, I'll continue to cost them money by helping others receive their rightful refunds.

 

[sherine0415]

Hello,

I have the same situation. I signed a contract on March of this year and also already made the first payment. I wanna cancel my membership and file a dispute on my bank but I am not sure how to move forward about it. They told us that we will be only paying a certain amount for every booking we will have in the future and when I tried to booked it is way more than the amount they told us. The representative told us we have to call a different department if we were promised something like that but we kept getting different people to talked to and have no idea what is going on. Please help me on what would be my first step be.


Thanks in advance

 

[Eagle23]

Hey,



Just wanted to provide an update, my bank has finally processed the dispute and my account has been credited with the total amount. I can't say for certian wither or not they're going to waste their time and money pursuing arbitration with Visa, from what I've read on trip advisor they have done this in the past. I don't really care however if they want to spend 500$ fighting a lost case that's their money to spend, I have statute on my side and they have an illegal contract.



They can spend their time fighting lost battles, I'll continue to cost them money by helping others receive their rightful refunds.

Hi! I'm new to this forum, I filed a dispute with my CC, I got a provisional credit. I am in a similar situation, have been threatened by apparently a representative of Club Sunset when I kept repeating myself that I cancelled the contract within 5 business days and according to the representative I cannot cancel the contract as the credits has been activated and he was referring to the incentives/gifts that was given to sign the contract (international week certificates, 7 day all inclusive in one of their hotels, etc.). After 3 months I have received an email that I have a balance due of missed monthly payments. I was wondering if you have received any notices from them, if so, did you do anything about it? thank you, I appreciate the response.

 

[Moonster]

By "activated" does that mean you used them? If you have used those "gifts" and they are listed under the contract the amount refunded to you may be lessened, I would need more clarification to give a clear answer in this case.

The monthly payments that they think you owe to them are completely unenforceable if you have cancelled your contract within 5 working days as per statute, even if you didn't they have little recourse in getting that money from from you and often times will just make empty threats of ruining your credit/civil action if you don't pay, just ignore them in regards to this issue.

They never bothered with me because I made it clear to them if they make me work to get my money back I would cost them more in refunds than they would ever end up getting out of me, now my result is the first on Google when you search for this scamcation club. I made sure to let them know how much money I've costed them and they want nothing to do with me anymore and have blocked me on whatapp. Very satisfying, hope you're reading this Sandra!

 

[Eagle23]

By "activated" does that mean you used them? If you have used those "gifts" and they are listed under the contract the amount refunded to you may be lessened, I would need more clarification to give a clear answer in this case.

The monthly payments that they think you owe to them are completely unenforceable if you have cancelled your contract within 5 working days as per statute, even if you didn't they have little recourse in getting that money from from you and often times will just make empty threats of ruining your credit/civil action if you don't pay, just ignore them in regards to this issue.

They never bothered with me because I made it clear to them if they make me work to get my money back I would cost them more in refunds than they would ever end up getting out of me, now my result is the first on Google when you search for this scamcation club. I made sure to let them know how much money I've costed them and they want nothing to do with me anymore and have blocked me on whatapp. Very satisfying, hope you're reading this Sandra!

Thank you for your response. I was sent an image with my signature (I don't remember signing) that I requested the immediate activation of those trips that were thrown in as incentives to sign the contract, but I haven't used any of it.

 

[kreeket]

We are currently in the process of cancellation (within 5 days). We got Mexlaw to help us with it as I was panicking and I read somewhere that it's better to get legal assistance.

Anyway, lawfirm has sent them an email and mail 2 weeks ago and no response from timeshare company. The sales rep reached out to me to give me a new offer which I declined.

With those who have experience with Sunset Group, how long before you got the refund?

I will also be calling my credit card company tomorrow to dispute the charhe as they said I had to wait for 2 weeks from the time cancellation was sent.

They also moved us to Sunset Royal from Sunset Marina for the remainder of our stays. Do we have to pay for these? The vacation package that we actually paid for was for Sunset Royal but since they said there's 5 of us, they told us they had to put us in Sunset Marina.

They also offered some tour packages or some perks that some we availed of and some we didn't. What will happen to these?

If we had to pay for these, is there a way to negotiate to lower down the amount?

 

[Moonster]

We are currently in the process of cancellation (within 5 days). We got Mexlaw to help us with it as I was panicking and I read somewhere that it's better to get legal assistance.

Anyway, lawfirm has sent them an email and mail 2 weeks ago and no response from timeshare company. The sales rep reached out to me to give me a new offer which I declined.

With those who have experience with Sunset Group, how long before you got the refund?

I will also be calling my credit card company tomorrow to dispute the charhe as they said I had to wait for 2 weeks from the time cancellation was sent.

They also moved us to Sunset Royal from Sunset Marina for the remainder of our stays. Do we have to pay for these? The vacation package that we actually paid for was for Sunset Royal but since they said there's 5 of us, they told us they had to put us in Sunset Marina.

They also offered some tour packages or some perks that some we availed of and some we didn't. What will happen to these?

If we had to pay for these, is there a way to negotiate to lower down the amount?

So firstly you wasted your money with Mexlaw if you haven't paid/owe them anything I would stop wasting your precious time and money with them, you're just going to dump more money into an already won case(provided you cancelled within 5 days via provable method)

When I filed the dispute with the CC company I was provided a credit for the amount pending a decision, Once the ball gets rolling sunset has 30 days to reply to your dispute, if they do not reply you will get a default judgement, they may reply and lose and appeal afterwards(they can only do this if they have new evidence and I believe their window for appeal is 30 days) in reality you'll get your money usually right after you dispute.

If it was stipulated in the contract that the hotel switch was part of what you bought the amount refunded to you could be lessened, The same goes for the tour packages.

If you do have to pay they would have to give a value to what they gave, it would generally be whatever is considered reasonable by the CC adjudicator.

 

[Moonster]

Thank you for your response. I was sent an image with my signature (I don't remember signing) that I requested the immediate activation of those trips that were thrown in as incentives to sign the contract, but I haven't used any of it.

Honestly if you haven't used anything I wouldent worry, they're just trying to find ways to get around Article 1 of the Federal consumer protection law(not being able to waive your rights). They can easily "inactivate" those incentives if they really want to, it's not like you've seen any material gain at their expense.

So scummy, I haven't heard tell of this method before please keep me posted on the outcome.

 

[jules54]

How’s it going with your letters to Profeco? I own several Sunset Fishermens contracts. In 2023 I ran into a major problem with the organization. Very Long story short. I had 11 reservations confirmed and paid for 2024. I mean I had the paper confirmations. One day after I got my final confirmation for 2024 Sunset stepped in and sent me an email cancelling my reservations. I had over 16,000.00 worth of maintenance fees already paid. Bottom line Sunset did not want me discussing my ownerships with other owner and they took action. Don’t think they can’t do it cause they can and they did.
I sent 2 emails to Profeco and heard nothing. I then finally called I was still at the resort. First they had to find someone who spoke English. She told me I had to make an appointment and bring someone with me who spoke Spanish. Unfortunately I don’t think that organization is what it once was.

I finally came to an understanding with the company. I’m sure you can find my post if you search for it. I was a longtime owner who probably owes more timeshare contracts at that resort than anyone else.

The best advice is dispute the charge on your credit card. Credit card companies see this all the time. If your too far past your rescission period and have a loan stop paying it.

I still love my piece of paradise and will continue to spend my winters there as long as I’m able. I used to profess it was only sales that were sleazy but now it seems the entire organization has gone to the sleazy side. Don’t waste your time trying to smear their reputation. It’s been smeared for years.

 

[kreeket]

So firstly you wasted your money with Mexlaw if you haven't paid/owe them anything I would stop wasting your precious time and money with them, you're just going to dump more money into an already won case(provided you cancelled within 5 days via provable method)

When I filed the dispute with the CC company I was provided a credit for the amount pending a decision, Once the ball gets rolling sunset has 30 days to reply to your dispute, if they do not reply you will get a default judgement, they may reply and lose and appeal afterwards(they can only do this if they have new evidence and I believe their window for appeal is 30 days) in reality you'll get your money usually right after you dispute.

If it was stipulated in the contract that the hotel switch was part of what you bought the amount refunded to you could be lessened, The same goes for the tour packages.

If you do have to pay they would have to give a value to what they gave, it would generally be whatever is considered reasonable by the CC adjudicator.

Oh. That's too bad about the lawfirm. I paid the initial payment. And I would owe them about 15% of the amount I would get back from sunset.

It really sucks. In another forum, someone advised to get a lawyer to let them deal with it as they're not from Mexico so that's what we did.

 

[Moonster]

Profeco has been useless at best, they seem to just run the motions to justify their budget, every "hearing" I had was basically them playing a game of telephone between Sunset and myself, unfortunately it seems they have no teeth to enforce anything even if they wanted to and if their performance is anything to base the performance of other mexican government institutions, I imagine the court system in mexico isn't much better. They have also for some reason been sending me transcripts of other people's litigation that was not intended for me and have not stopped despite numerous emails telling them that I have been receiving other people's cases not intended for me.

Really embarassing government organization, may not be their fault however it seems like most government departments in mexico are facing extreme budget austerity, when I was communicating with PROFECO they only allowed me to send one attachment with a maximum size of 25mb and if anymore was required to be sent it had to be done via letter mail. That in and of itself is very telling.

 

[Moonster]

Oh. That's too bad about the lawfirm. I paid the initial payment. And I would owe them about 15% of the amount I would get back from sunset.

It really sucks. In another forum, someone advised to get a lawyer to let them deal with it as they're not from Mexico so that's what we did.

I would wash your hands of them, your credit card company is of much more use to you than that law firm, they're also used to dealing with this type of chargeback.

 

[jules54]

I also went to see MexLaw in Playa Del Carmen I was very impressed with the gentleman I spoke with. He asked me exactly what did I want to do. He basically told me Profeco was not what people think it is. It’s basically an arbitration system that you really need an attorney to navigate. I had set a timeframe where Sunset needed to return my reservations or compensate me for those maintenance fees. The attorney charged me nothing it was a free consultation and I felt a lot better after I spoke to him. Mine was a different situation than the OP. My problem was all about existing contracts and 16,000.00 worth of paid maintenance fees and cancelled confirmed reservations that the funds had already covered. Sunset and I did finally come to an agreement which means I didn’t pursue the problem through the Lawyer. MexLaw did contact me with a follow up email asking me if I needed anything.

 

[jules54]

How’s it going with your letters to Profeco? I own several Sunset Fishermens contracts. In 2023 I ran into a major problem with the organization. Very Long story short. I had 11 reservations confirmed and paid for 2024. I mean I had the paper confirmations. One day after I got my final confirmation for 2024 Sunset stepped in and sent me an email cancelling my reservations. I had over 16,000.00 worth of maintenance fees already paid. Bottom line Sunset did not want me discussing my ownerships with other owner and they took action. Don’t think they can’t do it cause they can and they did.
I sent 2 emails to Profeco and heard nothing. I then finally called I was still at the resort. First they had to find someone who spoke English. She told me I had to make an appointment and bring someone with me who spoke Spanish. Unfortunately I don’t think that organization is what it once was.

I finally came to an understanding with the company. I’m sure you can find my post if you search for it. I was a longtime owner who probably owes more timeshare contracts at that resort than anyone else.

The best advice is dispute the charge on your credit card. Credit card companies see this all the time. If your too far past your rescission period and have a loan stop paying it.

I still love my piece of paradise and will continue to spend my winters there as long as I’m able. I used to profess it was only sales that were sleazy but now it seems the entire organization has gone to the sleazy side. Don’t waste your time trying to smear their reputation. It’s been smeared for years.

I forgot to mention that once was a simple procedure for me to book my reservations for the next year has turned into a total nightmare. Before I could work with any agent that answered the phone I had a special rep I worked with for years. Since Sunset must have deemed me a problem child I can now only work with reservation manager of the entire organization. She is very difficult to get in touch with and doesn’t answer calls or return emails. She tells me I am a VIP but it sure doesn’t feel that way. For the last few years I have made over 22 reservations for Jan.-Mar. I used 7 myself and the rest I rented to friends, other owners, sometimes strangers. After 2023 *bleep* show Ive actually sold 2 of my contracts. I have reservations made for myself in 2024 and sold 3 reservations to the folks that bought the contracts. There is only one week I actually have to purchase from another owner for myself because I could not get that back, which makes me want to scream.

 

[kreeket]

I would wash your hands of them, your credit card company is of much more use to you than that law firm, they're also used to dealing with this type of chargeback.

How do I do this? Is there still a way so I don't have to pay the 15% of whatever I'll get back from sunset?

 

[Moonster]

How do I do this? Is there still a way so I don't have to pay the 15% of whatever I'll get back from sunset?

On principle I would probably pay them since they didn't mislead or lie to you. I just wouldent dump anymore money in than you owe already.

Also a good backup to have them on your side just incase your credit card despite goes sideways(it probably won't though).

 

[kreeket]

On principle I would probably pay them since they didn't mislead or lie to you. I just wouldent dump anymore money in than you owe already.

Also a good backup to have them on your side just incase your credit card despite goes sideways(it probably won't though).

I agree. I'm seeing some work being done from their end as sunset has been telling me that cancellation is not an option at this point and will be sent to cancellations.

 

[kreeket]

Hi! I'm new to this forum, I filed a dispute with my CC, I got a provisional credit. I am in a similar situation, have been threatened by apparently a representative of Club Sunset when I kept repeating myself that I cancelled the contract within 5 business days and according to the representative I cannot cancel the contract as the credits has been activated and he was referring to the incentives/gifts that was given to sign the contract (international week certificates, 7 day all inclusive in one of their hotels, etc.). After 3 months I have received an email that I have a balance due of missed monthly payments. I was wondering if you have received any notices from them, if so, did you do anything about it? thank you, I appreciate the response.

Hello Eagle23!

Any updates on your refund?

Sunset has been refusing my refund due to same reasoning - that I used their services already. Also, they're offering to cancel without refund if I take an international week certificate 8 days 7 nights for 8 people

 

[Eagle23]

Hello Eagle23!

Any updates on your refund?

Sunset has been refusing my refund due to same reasoning - that I used their services already. Also, they're offering to cancel without refund if I take an international week certificate 8 days 7 nights for 8 people

Hi Kreeket!

As I have mentioned I disputed the charge and received a provisional credit and same with you I received an email that they cannot cancel the contract as they have activated the credits, even if I did not use any of it and to take the international week certificate and they will cancel the contract and the Promissory note, I emailed back and said "no", which was of course followed by threats of bringing it to the legal department and collections. I just ignored it as per Moonster, so far I haven't heard from them, I just hope to never hear from them again. It's been 90 days since I filed the CC dispute, I am assuming the credit is now permanent. I hope you disputed the charge with your CC.

 

[kreeket]

Hi Kreeket!

As I have mentioned I disputed the charge and received a provisional credit and same with you I received an email that they cannot cancel the contract as they have activated the credits, even if I did not use any of it and to take the international week certificate and they will cancel the contract and the Promissory note, I emailed back and said "no", which was of course followed by threats of bringing it to the legal department and collections. I just ignored it as per Moonster, so far I haven't heard from them, I just hope to never hear from them again. It's been 90 days since I filed the CC dispute, I am assuming the credit is now permanent. I hope you disputed the charge with your CC.

Yes, I disputed it earlier this month by calling them. I haven't heard since. They haven't even reached out to ask for documentation or proof. Was yours through mastercard or visa?

Since you cancelled, have you been charged for the monthly payments? I'm hoping they won't charge us that as well as the annual fee due this January..

Just a bit of a backstory. We signed Nov 9th and when I read the contract there were a lot of discrepancies from what we were told or what the rep wrote down. I brought it to their attention and so they cancelled that contract and applied the downpayment to the new contract we signed on Nov 13th. Now they're saying since it's a second contract and the credits were applied from the first contract, they're unable to cancel.

I just blocked them from WhatsApp.

I hope this nightmare would end

 

[Eagle23]

Yes, I disputed it earlier this month by calling them. I haven't heard since. They haven't even reached out to ask for documentation or proof. Was yours through mastercard or visa?

Since you cancelled, have you been charged for the monthly payments? I'm hoping they won't charge us that as well as the annual fee due this January..

Just a bit of a backstory. We signed Nov 9th and when I read the contract there were a lot of discrepancies from what we were told or what the rep wrote down. I brought it to their attention and so they cancelled that contract and applied the downpayment to the new contract we signed on Nov 13th. Now they're saying since it's a second contract and the credits were applied from the first contract, they're unable to cancel.

I just blocked them from WhatsApp.

I hope this nightmare would end

I have mastercard. I locked my card when I disputed the charge and when I followed up with the CC company so far they have not attempted to charge the monthly payments. I still have my card locked to date just in case they try. I did receive an email from sunset stating that i missed my monthly payments and told me to pay it with no interest. I emailed them back that I cancelled the contract and I owe them nothing. Maybe you can follow up with your credit card company and lock your card perhaps if your concerned about them charging anything. If they do, I guess you will have to dispute it again. I received the provisional credit a month after my dispute. I followed Moonster's dispute process.