Beware of false gift promises for Timeshare visits

[Snappy Sam]

Obviously with the cut back in tourism, it seems that some of the "timeshare inviters" aren't lving up to promises made.:annoyed: We ran into this twice (ourselves and also friends who had a similar experience) when we were invited by Ernesto to visit the Velas. We had an interest in taking a look anyway, so decided we would spend a morning there. Ernesto who works out at the Marina told us that they were no longer allowed to write the money they would gift you with for going to the presentation on the invitation itself. He promised to pay us at 5 PM that evening.
Of course you already have guessed that he didn't give us the money. However, after a bit we convinced him to at least give us 1,000 PESOS but he did so after screaming and cursing at us and promising to "finger us" to his friends. We reported him to his supervisor and to Velas but I doubt much was accomplished by that.
We had one other invitation prior to that one and again the inviter didn't put the amount of money on the invitation. But he had attached an envelope with it in and we received that on our last stop at the visit. So we assumed it was a new practice and because it worked the first time, we weren't reluctant to do that again. Guess it just depends on whom you work with but of course we knew going in that we might be out the promised cash. And that was ok with us as we wanted to see both places anyway.
Bottom line...STAY AWAY FROM ERNESTO at the Marina Vallarta!!!

 

[Kenrabs]

Always get everything in writing when dealing with timeshare incentives.

 

[Snappy Sam]

You are soooo right! We made our mistake after it worked for us the first time on this trip. But NEVER AGAIN!

 

[Paleta]

I wish I would have seen this post last week!

Ernesto is a crook. I met him with another guy he was working with named Angel. They were both working at the Vellas kiosk in the middle of the marina. Ernesto is about 5'10", short black hair, was wearing athletic clothing and a baseball cap both times I saw him Angel is about 5'8", shaved head, many tattoos. We were walking in the Marina at night. Angel talked to us and tried to get us to go first to Belaire then to the Mayan. He made no effort to send us to his resort. We agreed to go to the Mayan the next day and to meet in the Marina at the light house. At this point, Ernesto came up to us and tried to get us to go to other resorts and steal the booking away from Angel. We did not budge. He offered us drugs (cocaine and pot) several times. I lost my temper with him a little bit, asking if we looked like drug users or something. Ernesto was continually sniffing and he seemed wired to say the least. Angel was a lot more professional in that way; he did not offer to sell us drugs, only to send us on a presentation. We made an appointment for the next morning.

When we arrived at the location the next morning, Angel was not there. Ernesto was there and he acted like he was sending us to the Mayan but at the last minute, he told the taxi to turn around and told us it was too late for the mayan (9:30 AM) and said we would have to go to the velas for the same gifts (2 ATV tours and 2000 pesos). He said that Velas had a rule that cash gifts were not allowed, but he would meet us right after the presentation with cash. It all happened so fast. I insisted on some sort of collateral. He gave me his government ID card which allows him to work. After the presentation he was nowhere to be found. I harassed the OPC on duty until he gave me Ernesto's phone number. He said he wanted to meet us to pay us but his kids were sick, etc but he needed the government ID card to work and to feed his kids. So we met at the Pemex station by the marina. He told us that we had not qualified as a married couple and he had only been paid for a single lady. He gave us 1000 pesos and expected his ID back. He called us "strokers" and threatened to call the policia. I did not give it back and have since discovered it was expired. I saw him working in the marina the other day. If anyone is interested, I will try to post a pic of him. I'm pretty sure he is a crack head; I was a little intimidated by him when he started screaming and threatening me. So far this trip to PV has been a little more stressful than usual.

 

[Karen G]

So far this trip to PV has been a little more stressful than usual.

I would say so! This sounds really scary, especially with the offer of drugs and the guy apparently high himself.

It really doesn't seem worth it to deal with these people. No telling what they might do!