Another Grand Mayan Cabo nightmare

[jengel]

I spent a week with a friend, owner of a timeshare in the Grand Mayan system. She bought it about 3 years ago as an upgrade to what she already had. She paid for the upgrade because she was reassured that she would not have to pay a yearly maintenance fee or the five year renovation fees. We went to the timeshare presentation there as the gifts we were promised were very good (and in fact were what was promised, money and discounts). My friend had not brought along a copy of her contract so they had one faxed. It turns out that the contract did include the payments she had to make. She would not have upgraded, paying more money, if she knew she would have had to pay the maintenance fees. She was crushed. The timeshare salesperson we were working with, Francesco, was very nice, seemingly understanding. He called over the supervisor, a Canadian named Cody, who was just plain rude. Continued a hard sell. We left the room.

I sent email to the customer service account complaining about Cody. No response. This is the first of posts I will make on timeshare websites until there is some response from Grand Mayan about solving my friend's problem and Cody's behavior.

It's too bad. We loved the resort. Beautiful accommodations, friendly employees, great food.

 

[PigsDad]

I always wonder why people will ruin a perfectly good vacation by signing up for a high-pressure timeshare sales pitch. No amount of trinkets would entice me to do that.

Kurt

 

[rpennisi]

Did your friend check their contract when you got home? I wouldn't trust that the sales got the correct contract faxed to Cabo. Just wondering.

 

[Karen G]

In previous threads about Grupo Mayan/Grupo Vidante/Grand Mayan, a representative of the company has invited anyone having an issue with the company to contact her.

Here is part of her message: "contact us directly at 1 (800) 292-9446 or by email at: grupomayanblog@grupovidanta.com.

Karen Rose
Customer Support Representative."

Maybe she can help you.

 

[MuranoJo]

I spent a week with a friend, owner of a timeshare in the Grand Mayan system. She bought it about 3 years ago as an upgrade to what she already had. She paid for the upgrade because she was reassured that she would not have to pay a yearly maintenance fee or the five year renovation fees. We went to the timeshare presentation there as the gifts we were promised were very good (and in fact were what was promised, money and discounts). My friend had not brought along a copy of her contract so they had one faxed. It turns out that the contract did include the payments she had to make. She would not have upgraded, paying more money, if she knew she would have had to pay the maintenance fees. She was crushed. The timeshare salesperson we were working with, Francesco, was very nice, seemingly understanding. He called over the supervisor, a Canadian named Cody, who was just plain rude. Continued a hard sell. We left the room.

I sent email to the customer service account complaining about Cody. No response. This is the first of posts I will make on timeshare websites until there is some response from Grand Mayan about solving my friend's problem and Cody's behavior.

It's too bad. We loved the resort. Beautiful accommodations, friendly employees, great food.

Please let me know if I correctly understand this:
Your friend had already upgraded to what she understood was a no-m/f, no 5-yr-renovation fee contract, 3 years before you went to this presentation?

And she just discovered this was not in the contract (according to them)? So, does this mean she has not been paying m/f in the 3 years? Grupo would certainly remind her if she owed m/f. Sounds like a sales bamboozle, not unique to the Grupo sales team. Maybe their 'fax' failed to include updated documents.

I'd never waste precious vacation time attending one of these, but I'd also never bring along my contract unless I knew beforehand I wanted to negotiate.

Unless this 'sudden discovery' led her to sign up for yet something else, I would not jump to any conclusions just yet.

 

[rpennisi]

Grupo would certainly remind her if she owed m/f. Sounds like a sales bamboozle, not unique to the Grupo sales team. Maybe their 'fax' failed to include updated documents.

That's the point I was making also. It would be good to hear again from jengel.
I would put nothing past salespeople doing to those trapped in their "update".

 

[curtbrown]

As a Grupo Mayan owner I have never heard of a "No Maintenance Fee" contract. What they do offer is a "No Use / No Pay" clause in many of the newer contracts. Perhaps she misunderstood the concept?

To my knowledge, whenever you use the time you need to pay the MF. However,with the NU/NP clause, if for some reason you choose not to vacation that year, you pay nothing. My personal feelings are that this is a great clause, and one that most of the other timeshare organizations aren't offering. If more contracts had this written into them there would be far fewer people walking away from their contracts when times are tough.

On a side note, I would suggest your friend sit down with someone who understands the legal wording in contracts and go over exactly what she does and doesn't have in the contract she signed sometime in the past.

Just my $0.02

Curt

 

[rpennisi]

As a Grupo Mayan owner I have never heard of a "No Maintenance Fee" contract. What they do offer is a "No Use / No Pay" clause in many of the newer contracts. Perhaps she misunderstood the concept?

To my knowledge, whenever you use the time you need to pay the MF.
Curt

Curt,
Aren't there no MF contracts (older contracts) that include use that some people have when they reach a certain age? They use and pay no maintenance fee.
Ron

 

[mikenk]

As a Grupo Mayan owner I have never heard of a "No Maintenance Fee" contract. What they do offer is a "No Use / No Pay" clause in many of the newer contracts. Perhaps she misunderstood the concept?

To my knowledge, whenever you use the time you need to pay the MF. However,with the NU/NP clause, if for some reason you choose not to vacation that year, you pay nothing. My personal feelings are that this is a great clause, and one that most of the other timeshare organizations aren't offering. If more contracts had this written into them there would be far fewer people walking away from their contracts when times are tough.

On a side note, I would suggest your friend sit down with someone who understands the legal wording in contracts and go over exactly what she does and doesn't have in the contract she signed sometime in the past.

Just my $0.02

Curt

Good suggestions, Curt.

Ron is correct, after 75, some of us have 50% MF for our primary week; after 77, no MF but we can use. We do lose our free golf in that case; hopefully, at that time, I will still care.

I am at Nuevo Vallarta now; the grounds are really beautiful; construction going on but not disruptive.

Mike

 

[rpennisi]

... after 77, no MF but we can use. We do lose our free golf in that case; hopefully, at that time, I will still care.

Mike

Love your attitude!!

 

[jhac007]

I am at Nuevo Vallarta now; the grounds are really beautiful; construction going on but not disruptive.

Mike

Hi Mike, how long are you staying at GL (assuming)? I have consecutive weeks at Grand Luxxe and Grand Bliss in NV during this time in 2012. Should I go for three weeks?:whoopie:

Jim

 

[mikenk]

Hi Mike, how long are you staying at GL (assuming)? I have consecutive weeks at Grand Luxxe and Grand Bliss in NV during this time in 2012. Should I go for three weeks?:whoopie:

Jim

We are staying at the Grand Bliss for one week. We traded the one bedroom GLV for the two bedroom Grand Bliss; it is nice to have the full two bedrooms when we are with another couple. We also really like the Grand Bliss - close to everything.

Ideally, we would like to stay for two weeks - I just can't stay away that long. Three weeks seems kinda long for me but might have to try it when I really retire.

Mike

 

[mikenk]

Love your attitude!!

Well, we'll see about my attitude on Wednesday; I do the 'Owners update' on Tuesday; it will be interesting to see what new schemes they have devised to separate me from my money.

Actually, I do find these useful as I do learn things and have no problem controlling the time and my money. Lately, the people assigned to me have been OK to deal with. A couple of years back at Cabo, I did have a run in with the Cody the OP mentioned. He was clearly the most obnoxious person I have ever dealt with throughout all my GM sales experiences.

Mike

 

[curtbrown]

Curt,
Aren't there no MF contracts (older contracts) that include use that some people have when they reach a certain age? They use and pay no maintenance fee.
Ron

You're right Ron. I completely forgot about the Senior Certificate. We have that clause as well, but by the time I'm old enough to use it, I probably won't remember to do it...

But I assume when you use it, you will need to notify them of it at the time of booking. Something just doesn't sound right with this story. Since she was down there, how did she book a week if the MF wasn't paid? I'm not sure we're getting the whole story...

One more reason to sit down with someone who understands legalese...

Curt

 

[rpennisi]

..... We have that clause as well, but by the time I'm old enough to use it, I probably won't remember to do it...

But I assume when you use it, you will need to notify them of it at the time of booking. Something just doesn't sound right with this story. Since she was down there, how did she book a week if the MF wasn't paid? I'm not sure we're getting the whole story...

One more reason to sit down with someone who understands legalese...

Curt

Yep, I agree Curt, something is missing in the story.
But in your case, I am confident when the time comes you will remember to use your Senior Certificate. From what I can gather on this site and others, you are a sharp dude!
Ron