Heard of "M" Resorts in Puerto Vallarta? [AKA Castles & Condos]

[PapaBearAB]

yes, I forgot to mention the driver - I believe we will get that

I believe we will get the driver service, but I will ask later when I get the primary replies - it is part of the main residency privileges provided, part of the main contract and its supplementary descriptions, and not part of what I refer to as the 'secondary contracts' - II, PPM, golf, yacht - I have my doubts we will get those, as they are not mentioned in the primary residency contract - I am not worried about II, as I believe you will be able to buy that yourself if you have to and will be able to exchange C&C inventory for other timeshares when the facility is ready - and PPM you can buy, but maybe too expensive for the plans were were offered as part of the sale, but maybe not - need to investigate II and PPM in more detail soon, once have answer from DNG first

that's likely all until I hear from Resorts Advantage (reservations) and from DNG (secondary contracts)

Joe

 

[CC6031]

Letter asking for a refund

When Adrian Toca at R-A confirmed our contract number and I told him that we wanted out of our contract he said to send a letter stating what we were promised and why we wanted our money returned.
We did and faxed it to Adrian on 7-30. He called today 8-3 to confirm receiving the fax and to tell me he sent it on to the C&C site in PV. He also told me to send a copy of the letter to castles&condospv@gmail.com. I did so immediately addressing it to Sylvia Herrera and/or Mae Garcia.
I am hoping that issues will be resolved soon but am not overly optimistic.

 

[pittle]

I believe we will get the driver service, but I will ask later when I get the primary replies - it is part of the main residency privileges provided, part of the main contract and its supplementary descriptions, and not part of what I refer to as the 'secondary contracts' - II, PPM, golf, yacht - I have my doubts we will get those, as they are not mentioned in the primary residency contract - I am not worried about II, as I believe you will be able to buy that yourself if you have to and will be able to exchange C&C inventory for other timeshares when the facility is ready - and PPM you can buy, but maybe too expensive for the plans were were offered as part of the sale, but maybe not - need to investigate II and PPM in more detail soon, once have answer from DNG first

that's likely all until I hear from Resorts Advantage (reservations) and from DNG (secondary contracts)

Joe

We got our II membership with Castles & Condos as the resort - we received the II membership packet and Directory in late April.

We also have the Yacht Club membership. We had to pay the $100 fees for 2009, so we plan to rent a yacht or sailboat when we go to Cabo in November.

We also have the golf - that is why we added our kids to the contract. No bills associated with that yet.

I think the Platinum Membership with the Vacancy Rewards Vacation Club and the points to be deposited each year is probably gone. That site has been down for quite some time - maybe April or May. Once I found out that points could not be used for airfare like we were told, I figured we would not renew it whenever it came up for renewal. We already have several vacation clubs that we can use.

I am concerned about anything that says "M" something now that M Dreams and M Hotels no longer exist. I would not be surprised if the "M" weeks may be gone too..... How can they give 2-3 extra weeks each year to members with only 16 units? There are only 832 available units per year and if the 300 member we feel they have right now, that leaves 532 weeks left for rentals and "M" weeks. If a lot of members have more than 1 bonus week, there are not enough to go around if they did not sell another contract. Actually, even 1 bonus week could fill it up if they do sell any more contracts. My contract says the bonus week is depending on availability.

I'm just trying to be patient. We had not planned to go this year anyway. Actually, in December 2008, we received a letter that MF would not be due for 2009. Once the resort was opened, we would then have the option to pay MF and reserve a week. I am hoping they will do the same for 2010, but do not expect it because of the wording in the letter from Nick Demare. "In order to achieve our objectives we do need all active members to continue with the payments for the purchase of the vacation club weeks as well as the residence club dues."

 

[lvarey]

Castles and Condos in PV

I have done a little research on everybody involved and have come up with the following: 1) If you go to the I.I. website and look at the Castles and Condos site click on the www.castlesandcondos.com site and you will see that it no longer exists. 2) I went to google and typed in: who is DNG Capital Corp., S.A de C.V. with the following web site http://usaincmexico.com/normarodriguez.aspx. This is the law firm that represents Castles and Condos and DNG Capital Corp. in P.V. interesting reading. 3) The substitute location Villa Quinta Del Mar, as an alternative place to stay is the same location that we went to in May of 2008 as an information site before we went to tour the hard hat location that we went to in May of this year. It is really not as nice as everyone leads on to be. 4) we have been trying to contact all of the same people that everyone else has and have come to a dead end. We have contacted our credit card companies who have stated that it sounds like a fraud situation and is sending us paperwork to fill out. 5. I decided to try the address bar for www.dngcapital.com and came up with Duncan Narfeldt Group who is in the business of private investment and financial management company.

By the way, I feel that since DNG, Castles and Condos did not submit our memberships into I.I. and Platinum Preferred Memberships, then they are in violation of not completing the contract in it's entirety. I did speak with a Mr. Coleman, today, who is the manager of Vacancy Club in Cancun, who oversees the Platinum Preferred Memberships and advised me that there are about 125 members of Castles and Condos who are blocked from use. I am not even on his list of potentials. He said that they did not pay his company any monies for about 4 months and that's why people are blocked.

If I find out any more information I'll pass it on to everyone.

Here's hoping we have a strong enough team.

 

[TimeShare Junky]

M Hotel & Belaire Resort

This sound like the same scam run by Belaire, are these guys brothers . Maybe we should join forces and hire the same lawyer. I think there might be value in this to try to stop Timeshare fraud in PV.

 

[D&D]

I inquired about our Interval International membership and initially received a positive response that our membership would be activated if I sent additional information. I sent the requested information and received the following response from II.


Thank you for your e-mail message. Our records indicate that a
membership account has not been established at this time. Please contact
your sales representative directly at your home resort to inquire about
the status of your Interval International membership application.


If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

[PapaBearAB]

please be sure of facts when posting, & check prior posts too

regarding comments made in posts today that need further comment:

1) DNG Capital (www.dngcapital.com) is not DNG Capital Corp. Mexico, nor the DNG Capital Corp of USA and Canada either, so don't go down that link and wherever it leads you

2) DNG Capital Corp. of Mexico, the owner/developer of the C&C property, is not the main problem, and in fact so far is part of the solution - I still believe we should give them time to work this out (see my next post).

3) Norma Rodriguez no longer represents DNG Capital Corp or Castles and Condos, and maybe has not since long before there were problems at C&C - another poster has already confirmed she does not represent DNG or C&C

4) I don't think any of us believe the alternative accomodation is as good as C&C - it is just a very fancy villa turned into guest house type accomodation and does not come close to what we will have at C&C - but it may be the best that can be offered and afforded under the current circumstances, and you could likely bank your week(s) and use them later if you want to wait till C&C is ready - my only concern of the alternative accomodation is what if you end up there with other users that you don't get along with, that maybe are loud and roudy and hard to live with given you are sharing all but your bedroom

5) this has nothing to do with Belaire and everything to do with Danial Mamann and likely fraud carried out on C&C and Enchantment purchasers and on the Enchantment and C&C property owners - and Danial Mamann will be a very hard legal target to catch and get anything out of, despite he perhaps having other properties and assets in USA and Mexico that you could go after, but it will be hard to do and costly, but in the end may need to be done, especially by those involved in Enchantment

more in next post

Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

possible scenario of what occurred

this yet to be confirmed - one scenario that might have occurred - speculation plus pulling together what I am seeing and hearing from many sources

hoping C&C developer(s) / owner(s) (not us, but of building and property), and any other financial partners in the project will see this and clear the air eventually on what has happened and what will happen, though their hands may be somewhat tied due to legal actions they may be pursuing as per the speculation below

so this is my theory - developer(s) / owner(s) / partner(s) at C&C is building his / their resort, in part to sell some suites directly (not timeshares), or maybe to sell all suites directly originally, or maybe planning to sell some by timeshare, but not all, but no firm plans yet

Daniel Mamann and his associates comes along and offers to sell timeshares and give developer / owner revenue from those sales, keeping some profit for the 'professional' and hi-tech sales effort, as he is creating this M-hotels enterprise and has at least one other developer also interested in joint marketting effort (Enchantment owner(s) etc), and says they will build further properties also, creates this marketting / sales company M-hotels, and starts acting as the agent (with developers' permissions) for these timeshares (fall 2008), hires staff for these sales, etc - very professional slick marketting, includes extra benefits such as II and PPM, golf, etc. that may not have been part of original plan - all encompassing plan so developer does not have to do anything now except build the building

turns over some or all initial developer portion of monies of initial timeshares sold to owner(s) / developer(s) (this not confirmed, maybe turned over none claiming needs revenues to further market the project), somehow develops extreme trust so that owner(s) / developer(s) giving company free reign, little monitoring eventually, but soon M-Hotes / Daniel Mamann starts not turning over most contract funds (or maybe all contract funds), starts sending money elsewhere, redirects it elsewhere, gets behind even maybe in monies owed to sales staff

staff doing the selling aren't aware they are part of the scam, developer(s) getting no monies, for whatever reasons or excuses given - M-hotels even offering discounts to get more people to pay balance owing

developer catches on, realized been scammed, fires sales company immediately, staff angry, trash offices, scammer disappears with a huge amount of money (in C&C, if 300+ units at avg $20,000 (some less, some more), that's $6,000,000 if all paid in full, never mind Enchantment also, but of course perhaps only half or less than half paid in full (hopefully less from developer point of view)

developer at Enchantment maybe gives up, or just not ready to decide what to do until legal pursuit of Mamann is tried, losses too big, maybe not enough resources, maybe legal costs to pursue too much too - thus no one at Enchantment has an contact yet with anyone

developer(s) / owner(s) / partners(s) at C&C willing to take a loss and honour at least core elements of all contracts, since DNG are the residence provider in at least some of the contracts, and perhaps should have kept tighter tabs on sales side of things and maybe feels there is some obligation, legal or otherwise, to try and salvage the project, and thus hires RA to be liaison for timeshare side of things (which was the plan anyway had their been no problems even)

developer(s) / owner(s) / partner(s) needs time to find what contracts they can, what's been paid, know the full extent of their situation, whether to proceed, etc

developer(s) / owner(s) / partner(s) also can't say too much because there is likely much legal action going after M-Hotels, Danial Mamann, etc, and note developer(s) / owner(s) / partner(s) likely have a far better chance getting anywhere than timeshare purchasers

thus if this scenario is true (my speculation as to what I think may have happened in lieue of any better information), and if C&C project is proceeding, then I want to give them my support if I can if it means I and other timeshare purchasers will see most of their value from their purchase, but we need more communication yet from developer(s) / owner(s) / partner(s) to indicate what really is happening and what are their plans

booking us into alternative accomodation shows some evidence they are working with us, and if construction really does restart in next 60-90 days, and their is further encouraging communication, then I would encourage those not paid in full to consider continuing or resuming their monthly payments, and for all to be patient

and if things don't work out, we can try to go after Mamann, since he stole your money / the developers money, and maybe you have some legal right to go after the developer too, especially USA assets, especially if you live in the USA, especially if any of your payment cheques were mailed directly to a USA address (thus USA mail fraud)

if things do work out quite as well as hoped, don't be surprised if things like II and PPM and golf and yacht discounts etc take a while to get put into place again, or maybe we will lose some of those expected extra benefits completely, but still have access to using C&C and to putting our timeshare week(s) up at interval exchange and/or other exchange and rental services also - and don't be surprised if the maximum rate increase of 6% per year is applied every year to the registered week and m-week fees

all just a guess - let's hope we hear more soon - and I have reason to believe we might, as Mae at DNG has indicated there is another person who will contact me regarding the many questions I recently sent to DNG in my email (that name is Keith Thomson, will fill you in as I learn more)

Joe Faubert

 

[jeronimo]

Another curious member

Thanks PapaJoe for all your efforts. We purchased 1 week 1 BR + 1 extra M week + 5 weeks PPM in Dec /08. Our membership # is ICC0149. Email me at jerrygedir@sasktel.net if you would like more detail.

 

[oncebitten]

our happy ending

We purchased in late April and decided to rescind our contract upon arriving home. Profeco assured us we were still within our 5 day window (lucky for us they don't count the Mexican May 1 stat holiday) and so we went by the book and did what was required to rescind and get our money back. Still we got the run around from Tracy G. saying she would cancel our contract but we weren't entitled to any refunds etc. We went ahead and promptly filed a dispute with our cc issuer and lodged a complaint with profeco. Meanwhile we were still receiving invoices for monthly payments and having fun trying to sort it all out with the change of management issues and every thing else. Anyway, I guess it was lucky for us that nobody seems able to answer anybody's questions, because our cc issuer finally got fed up and went ahead and reversed the entire amount charged to us by Castles and Condos (over three months later).
Best of luck to you all - you seem to have some hardy individuals attempting to turn this sow's ear back into the silk purse that we were all sold (kudos to Joe F.).

 

[pittle]

Saver's Express

I just got an email from Keith Thomson about Saver's Express - a vacation club. There was a please reply that you received this message to Castles & Condos GMail address. So, at least they are doing something to contact and try to appease us. This may be a replacement for Platinum Vacancy Rewards Club that we were originally "given".

Hello, my name is Keith Thomson and I am the CEO for Saver Express LLC. We are pleased to announce that as of September 15th 2009, we are the new marketing and sales company for DNG and QDM properties.

A new and improved vacation program has been installed. While the value of this program is $10,000 per week, there will be no additional cost to existing members. Through this program you can access over 8,000 resorts worldwide at the wholesale rate and you may access as many weeks as you need. Simply pay the incredible low rate, book and go. Furthermore we have access to every cruise line serving 2,000 ports of call, 39,000 hotels, and several thousand tours, all at the wholesale rate.

To explore the website go to www.saverexpress.com, login with the Email address “demo@demo.com”, password "demo". Go to the top to Support for overview of services. You are able to book certain services in 17 languages. We offer 24/7 customer service with toll free numbers to our 32 offices worldwide.

Please note this is not part of your original contract. This is a new program to welcome you to our organization. I look forward to meeting all existing members to go over the benefits of this program. We will be sending personal access codes in order to book live vacations.

We don't need another vacation club - especially one with annual fees. I looked at the site and was not very impressed. Airfare was the same as everywhere else but there was a $20 fee for booking 2 tickets.

 

[Barbeque]

Waarning especially if this is another"NEW" company dont pay them any more upfront money you cannot afford to lose.

I dont want to sound negative but buyer beware Especially in these economic times.

 

[PapaBearAB]

more to follow, but first notes on Keith Thomson, SaverExpress

Hello C&C members known or lurking (and others lurking too, which there of course are),

DNG had Keith Thomson from Saver Express call me on Wednesday. I missed his first call, spoke with him for about 15 minutes on Wed evening. Got the email and letter attachement on Thursday, which I requested, some apparently having received it sooner. Others will get it later, as it is going out in batches. I also have access to personal contact with him via phone and email, and will be contacting him again today. I also have done an initial review of the website, and will also comment on that soon. I first have a few more questions for Keith and for DNG and then will let you know what I think and what I think we should maybe do as a group of connect owners now (28 and seeming to grow about a person a day still).

I also had a very interesting phone call from someone who was in contact with Danial Mamann, recently perhaps, on another matter other than M-Hotels. Danial Mamaan is, as many suspect anyway, 'somewhere out of country', which I think means out of USA and out of Mexico. I cannot say too much at this point about that conversation. I keep in confidence matters asked to be kept so, thus also from another source close to C&C and its continued development, so I respect people's privacy and anonimity if requested, otherwise they won't continue to talk to me, and thus talk to you also from what they do say I can share.

I will be posting on TUGS and emailing all members about the conversation with Keith Thomson and information provided by him, and sooner or later other information also regarding other conversations. I would have posted already regarding Keith Thomson except had to get in a lot of work Wed and Thursday morning, then a 1/2 day of vacation travel, another 1/2 day today (doing this email from BC Ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island). Future posts and phone calls from the next several days will be from Comox Valley area of British Columbia, then off to Tofino and a night on a boat bread and breakfast called Innchanter (looks wonderful) moored adjacent to Hot Springs Cove, then back to Calgary before this Thursday. But expect several updated posts before that return as I hopefully find out more information and get clarification from Keith, from DNG, from other sources.

Separate subject on next post immediately to follow.

Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

re Fraser Smith, Frank Taggart, Donald Busby - further info needed

Trying to find out more information on other persons involved.

Anyone know anything about another 'partner' referred to in the M-Dreams initial email'd letter in July, that being Frank Taggart, whom I have not contacted, who has not replied to emails.

And anyone know anything regarding Fraser Smith. What is his connections with Daniel Mamann (I am sure there are connections) - for now we consider him and DM to be on the wrong side of the fence from C&C members and C&C development, but who is Fraser Smith - I am for now assuming he is a close partner to Daniel Mamann when M-Hotels was involved with C&C and Enchantment, and likely still closely connected with Daniel Mamann.

I am also trying to find out more about Donald Busby's involvement before and after the changes in late June / early July 2009. He may be on our side of the fence, (residence club members and DNG working to get C&C completed), perhaps involved still, and perhaps still connected with DNG and C&C and Minus Villarta, or maybe he has disappeared, maybe for his own safety, maybe more connected with Daniel Mamann than we want him to be, maybe not.

Or maybe he was never directly connected with the project.

I don't want to speculate. I like facts. I like written correspondence in addition to phone calls, because it is easy to say things over the phone and then say they were never said or were misunderstood. Written words can be examined and further questions asked.

Anyone who can clarify anything regarding Donald Busby's past or present connection with C&C, please contact me either privately or through TUG, my contact info below. Is Donald Busby connected with DNG still, or just previously. Does he or did he work for Minas Villerta, for DNG. Nick Demare is president of DNG. Is Donald Busby an owner of DNG? or just work for them, or no relationship at all? (Maybe I need to also look back at my previous research, but on a long ferry ride at this time, no notes in front of me). How does he fit into this picture, other than his son was alledgedly abducted and beat up (seems just by number of people saying this that it might be fact) by some group due to some connection with C&C, or perhaps either mistaken for Daniel Mamann or mistaken for Donald Busby (very unlikely in both cases) or just because he is somehow connected to the project, or just because his Dad is Donald Busby and it has nothing to do with C&C, or maybe just because he was who he was and nothing to do with C&C.

Donald Busby certainly is an interesting character from what can be found on the internet if all references I have found so far are about the same person. But where does he fit in then and now regarding C&C. We have not heard anything from him, though his name has surfaced in posts and conversation.

Please only reply in TUGS posts with reliable facts. Other information or speculation to follow up on can be discussed privately by contacting joefaubert at shaw.ca (remove ' at ' just noted and replace with '@' for correct email address (don't want automated web crawlers or web-bots picking up the email address), or by calling me at 403-510-5667.

As I will say to all involved on all sides of this web (M-Hotels, residence club holders, DNG/C&C, Resorts Advantage, Saver Express, others), we need more upfront communication and clarification, otherwise those that don't reply, we as Residence Club members at C&C have to consider you not be be trusted and perhaps advisaries.

Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

what is being offerred to C&C members

I am waiting confirmation from DNG and from Keith Thomson to confirm what I believe is being offered to C&C members, but I wish to have them review what I believe first and confirm what I think is being presented before presenting that summary on this TUG post. I will post on Monday about mid-day, then I will be unavailable until late Tuesday. Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

anyone got a letter from DNG about Keith Thomson

Though I have received an email from Mae at DNG telling me that I woud receive a call from Keith Thomson, which I did, I did not get any letter from DNG regarding Keith Thomson, though Keith Thomson did indicate that he believed some correspondence was also coming from DNG.

If anyone has received such correspondence, please post the contents, or send an email to me if you are not able to post on TUGS.

Joe Faubert (joefaubert at shaw.ca - replace ' at ' with '@')

 

[PapaBearAB]

credit card refund success for Enchantment members at Cabo

I will note for those interested that at least a few members of the Enchantment in Cabo have had success in getting their monies refunded from their credit card companies, in particular Bank of America and Chase (Visa, but another Visa user from another bank not as successful).

This information can be found at Trip Advisor, on the forum "The Enchantment at Cabo". Work backwards from the end of the forum posts, page 16.

The main difference at the Enchantment, and so it may not apply at C&C yet, is that Enchantment likely has failed, whereas so far what we know is C&C is delayed in opening and that they are providing alternative accommodation in the meantime, though this is yet to be proven (so if anyone did get a week in PV already as an alternative, let me know). However, this picture could change if we find out we are not getting m-weeks and not getting other privileges and sub-contract memberships or their equivalents.

At the Enchantment, the members are not getting any correspondence or other communication from the resort developers or anyone else other than Resorts Advantage, and we all know Resorts Advantage knows very little or can say very little since they are under contract not to members but to property / resort owners.

And of course this only applies if you used your credit card for everything. I used my credit card for the downpayment, but did a bank wire transfer from a line-of-credit for the balance, so the latter will never qualify.

And of course, I would still like to be able to use my registered C&C week and 3 weeks, and if I can, I won't be concerned about the loss of any other perks.

Joe Faubert

 

[indigo502]

I tried a credit card refund

Just as an FYI, I tried to get my Citi MasterCard to refund my down payment which was about $12,000 US and they said they couldn't do anything b/c it was outside of the 60 day window (I paid Sept 08). I also paid the balance by wiring the funds so I can't do anything with that.

Hopefully if any other C&C owners try to get a refund (or file a dispute) they're not with Citi MasterCard or they're within the 60 day window. If you're within the 60 day window I'd hands down file a dispute.

Indigo502

ps- I haven't had any letter/email from DNG to date, even though I've confirmed with Adrian at Resorts Advantage and Sylvia at DNG that they have my contact info and copy of my contract which I emailed. Not good.

 

[PapaBearAB]

contact from DNG - transition period, more talk with Keith Thomson

I think DNG is being very careful in its correspondence with members, as they want to get it right this time around and they have a big mess to sort out and it will take time. I believe the letter addressed to C&C members by Nick Demare was sincere. I do get to talk to Sylvia and Mae at DNG, though they are not the owners, so are very careful what they say. But they answer calls. They answer emails. They communicate with us. If they wanted to just dump the C&C members contracts and fight it out in legal actions, they would. I think we will see most of this flushed out over the next 30-45 days and some very exact details of what we will and won't get provided to all purchasers. I don't think DNG wants to be in the position of running a timeshare or resort business, so they will find another agent that can be more trustworthy than M-Hotels turned out to be, and of course they will be very careful, and thus their current discussions with Keith Thomson. We need to give DNG time, but I think they are sincere in their wish to have current C&C members get something for their money.

But keep in mind we also all got a deal that almost seemed too good to be true in terms of what we were getting for what we paid, so of course many of us bought because it was a really really good deal, and too good to be true it turned out to be, and I think there will be some concessions for those that wish to continue to have a timeshare at C&C, but that it is still likely be fair value for the money and better than loosing it or spending large amounts of money on legal action, but joint legal action it may be if it does not work out. But I believe it will work out.

I have talked to at least one inside source that is impressed that DNG is keeping in contact with us and trying to make this work. I am also in good contact with Keith Thomson, again today by phone in fact. He did not have a full understanding of our contracts and what we purchased and that an m-week is more like a registered week than a vacation club perk, and in response to several emails I sent him and DNG yesterday, he will be in further conversations with them in the next two days. He has more access than I have, and is talking at level(s) above Sylvia and Mae. If have found little on Keith Thomson and Saver Express on the internet, other than he was incorporated in 2007. He does say he has the biggest travel discount site on the internet. I will be spending more time tonight on the internet in a demo account of his site to learn as much as I can about what he has. I think Keith jumped the gun in his email to some C&C members and the wording he used before a fuller understanding of what members have purchased, but obviously he was given access to the emails by DNG, so they are serious about looking at using Keith to look after the timeshare side of C&C and have asked him for a proposal or agreed to accept a proposal to exam. Whether he approached them or they approach him does not matter. I disagree with the post on the other TUG thread about C&C about Keith Thomson being just another scam, but thanks also for the additional information on Danial Mamann, Fraser Smith, and Donald Busby, which I think is accurate. One would not have paid contruction costs etc if one was out the millions of dollars that did not come into the company to pay out, but perhaps that will get settled eventually. DNG is a real company with real assets and a sideline outside its normal area of expertise in which it got swindled, and I think they will be very careful in what is done next with the C&C property, and trying to keep on the edge of operations only, as that is not their core business.

More on Wednesday hopefully, as I will be out of internet range and access from Monday through Tuesday, and I have provided Keith with more information and asked him to go back and talk to DNG some more with that additional understanding from the members point of view. Seems at least at this time that we have some access to upper echelons of DNG through Keith than we have directly, because, again, they don't want to deal with everyone individually, because timeshares are not their core business.

Joe Faubert

 

[soccergirl]

an email from grand xcapes recieved today

Hello,

We thought this would be a good time to send each of you an update on what we have been hearing concerning Castles and Condos. Since the developer has sent out letters to each of you concerning the change of their marketing company, we have been getting lots of questions from our clients on what this means to you. From what we are gathering, it seems that the developer will start building again on this project in 90 days, or around the end of September, in other words there is no construction happening at the site at this time. His intention is to complete the resort in 9 months, which puts March as the earliest date that reservations can be made for guests desiring stays at the resort beginning in May or June of 2010.

Secondly, those of you that were enrolled into the Platinum Travel Program in which “M Resorts” was to have paid the first year of membership fees have gotten another letter from SaverExpress. From what we can ascertain this program is replacing the Platinum membership that you were to be enrolled with as part of your purchase. After reading through the information on SaverExpress this seems like a good trade out although possibly lacking some of the perks. There are a lot of wonderful resorts and cruises available for you to choose from and the cost of these appear to be extremely reasonable.

Please understand that since we are not owners at Castles and Condos we are not privy to all the information that might be out there. We are continuing to investigate and will endeavor to continue to pass on all relevant information we acquire. We are sharing the above information with you as “our understanding” of the information we have recently obtained. So this too may not be set in concrete and may change but it’s the best we can give you at this time.



Thank you,

Alx Anders

 

[PapaBearAB]

additional good news, even if from late June

Here is some good news from a C&C member who was in PV in late June that confirms DNG, at least even at that time, when the size of the scam was just being realized even by DNG perhaps, seemed to want to keep the C&C going, as they still do now - I post this even though it is dated to boost the confidence of those that doubt the sincerity or ability of DNG to try and make this project work ...

Hi Joe,

My huband and I were in PV in June (Joes note - late June, from phone conversation with this author). Before our trip, the C&C members website had quit working so I started sleuthing. I found two Mexican newspaper articles accusing Mamann of fraud and not paying the workers, so we were suspicious.

When we got to PV we took a cab to the business address on our C&C contract. It was a back street in downtown PV—looked like it had been pretty nice, but it was vacant, although there was a forwarding address on a sign on the window. So, we had the driver take us to the address—it was a home in Conchas Chinas…literally up the road from Castles and Condos. Turns out it was Busby’s place (which you can read about online): Villa Quinta Del Mar—he rents it out. It was gated, but we said that we were C&C members who wanted to talk with the owner, and they let us in.

We had an interesting conversation with Busby’s assistant, Jaime (Busby was not there). Jaime said that there were C&C members who were currently staying there since they were unable to stay at C&C. He asked me when our contract said that the resort would be ready (in case we needed accommodations). He asked how we had found that place, and we told him—also about the newspaper articles. He said that Mamann had been picked up by police the night before and he thought he was in jail (although the letter from the C&C employees that came out a few weeks later said otherwise). Jaime said that Busby owns the land that C&C is on, and that he had split from Mamann and wanted to finish the project. (Joe's added note - according to another post on the other C&C TUG thread today, DM was indeed in jail, got out, left the country)

Anyway, that is the crux of what I know, but feel free to contact me if you need anything. We also have that business card from Jaime.

Joe's note - names of authors omitted for confidentiality, as they called me and emailed me but did not post - they are the 29th C&C member we are now in contact with - still adding a member a day - the more the better, so other lurker's who bought at C&C, please contact Joe Faubert as per contact info on previous posts here

 

[Skins]

"Comparable Accommodations"

Anyone out there in the same boat we're in? Besides purchasing C&C (and wondering about those ramifications), we made reservations for 2 weeks in November earlier in the year. Lynda MacPherson, et al, had no problem in accepting our payment in full for the weeks.

I have contacted Resorts Advantage several times now for those "comparable accommodations". RA staff has been very pleasant to deal with, but unfortunately can't provide all the answers. About 2+ weeks ago, RA contacted me by phone stating that Villa Quinta del Mar was to be the substitute resort and that I would be receiving a hard copy confirmation the following week. When that didn't occur, I called RA and was now told that Q del M was NOT going to be the sub. No word on any other resorts at this time.

Since our stay is now less than 3 months away, I am anxiously awaiting a response. We already have airline reservations and need to know if we need to make alternative arrangements. I understand that there are C&C 'owners' that have travel dates as early as mid-September and October.

If any of you are in that position, please let me know what info you may have and your course of action.......

 

[tweety25]

DNG Capital Corp and Nick Demare

Nick Demare president of DNG Capital Corp, SA de CV is Donald Wayne Busby'sbusiness partner. Don Busby sold the property on paper back in December to avoid a lein and embargo n the building that was taking effect the 1st week of January 2009. He did this so that the labor union couldn't lein his property for the $2.5 Milion Dollars that Don Busby owed the construction company. Do not fall into another scam by these individuals. Daniel Mamann as he calls himself is in the Los Angeles area living with his mother. I believe the town is called Tarzana. Fraser Smith is Las Vegas and owns a structural engineering company. I believe that we all need to sue Daniel Mamann for running the scam, Fraser Smith for bring his partner in crime, Don Busby for running his own fraud, Nick Demare for pretending to be the new owner of Castles and Condo and Rob Anderson for being their partner.

 

[indigo502]

Check This Out- Daniel's Mother???

So I Google the maiden name of Daniel's mother according to Tweety25 on the other TUG post about C&C, see his posting below- and lo and behold within a few clicks I find myself on some random website where she is listed as the owner of http://www.paradiseweeks.com/index.html which is a timeshare rental place and lo and behold within a few clicks I'm looking at images of our precious Castles and Condos.

Now, there's no physical address or phone number in the "contact us" link- they've cleverly left it up to a person to provide an enquiry via email, to which one assumes they'd respond (I'm not trying).

I don't even know if the website is still active and they have listings outside of Mexico, but I find it a little too coincidental that her name would be linked as the owner to this website and there would also be pics of C&C on it if it wasn't actually her (since it shouldn't even be released as being "rentable" to the masses at this point).

I also know for a fact that Daniel has many family members who might be resources (in whatever way) in the future, including a well known immigration lawyer in my home town of Toronto. This Tweety25 person, whoever he/she is and however they know what they claim to know, stated that Daniel's mother filed false papers and got him a Canadian passport (read Tweety's post below which I've copied from the other TUG link), which may make sense with a famous uncle in the biz.

personal info removed...please avoid posting personal information without permission, or making allegations without providing proof to back it up. -tug admin

_______________________________________________________________
There are also several other family members I could dig up if necessary, In this day and age it's pretty simple to follow a trail with some due diligence to many people who might be of use somehow.

So just some interesting digging and potential sources of future info should we need it, who might have had a hand in helping along that Canadian passport as he would definitely have the right connections (for legal I'm not accusing, I'm alleging. Don't want a lawsuit for defamation of character or slander- I'm merely pointing out the unusual connection). Makes some kind of sense- hmmm.

Here's Tweety's other post I've referred to above dated August 8, 2009:

Daniel Mamann is an American citizen who committed some crime in California and fled to Mexico. His mother filed false papars in Canada and got him a Canadian passport. His real name is Sabastian. He is now in the Los Angeles area living with his mother after leaving Mexico 2 days after he was arrested in Puerto Vallarta for mutiple crimes. He talked his way out of jail and fled.

Donald Wayne Busby is no angel either. He is currently being sued for not paying the construction workers and construction company. He is now and has always been the owner of Castles and Condos. He has his lawyer draw up papers in December 2008 to sell the property to DNG Capital Corp, SA de CV which he did to avoid an embargo and lien against the property for not paying the construction people. He filed for all the construction permits and the building has no condo regine, no electricity, no water and no sewer hook ups.

This Keith fellow he has hired to start sales is probably going to do the same thing as Daniel (Sabastian) did and run off with the money. It is all a scam....


That's all for now.
Indigo502

 

[YFAM_SR]

Some Info on Fraiser Smith

Joe~

I managed to get a reponse from this guy. His reply is below.

The folks at Enchantment are pretty demoralized. The Cardenas family remains silent. We cannot get any communication from Resorts Advantage and the site just sits. Everyone is seeking cc refunds for default on our contracts. We too signed up with II and our access to their web site is what alerted us to the problems. I suspect your previous theories are correct. In our case the owner/developer is left holding the (empty) bag and we owners are left with less. Still we fight on.

Dear Mr. Rouse:

The email below was recently received. This is what I know about the Enchantment Project and Mr. Mamman.

Mr. Mamman entered into an agreement with the property owner and developer as a sales agent to sell time share.
In preparation to sell timeshare, developer had a sales center built, model unit(s) built and systems set up at a substantial cost. Mr. Mamman and his team sold timeshare at the property in behalf of the developer and property owner. The property owners son, Carlos, was the main executive at the property. To my knowledge, approving expenditures and overseeing accounting and the like.

Mr. Mamman set up the Mexican company known as M Enterprises to handle the sales and marketing activities.. I have nothing to do with this company. I have no ownership, nor was I employed by the company or have never received anything from this venture.

M Enterprises was trying to negotiate a new contract with the property owner. Because of my business acumen, Daniel asked me to do him a favor in reviewing the proposed contract. This I did, but as far as I know the new contract was not signed by the owner or Mr. Mamman due to unresolved issues and lack of attention. Mr. Mamman was working under a contract prior to this point, but it was rather short and did not address all the issues..

Please note that I have nothing to do with the Enchantment, M Enterprises or the developer of the property. Mr. Mamman asked me to go to Cabo and assist with the project as it was improperly managed by his current on site management and sales staff which included the owners son. I did visit Cabo, for perhaps 4 or 5 days, but only after sales activities had been suspended. I made suggestions to re-start sales which required involvement of the developer and property owner and the execution of a new contract. Suggestions also included installing new on-site management and sales staff..

The property owner did not follow through with Mr. Mamman and after a few months without sales at the property, M Enterprise could no longer support itself. Mr. Rolland LaFrreiere was nothing more than an employee. His employment with M Enterprises would have ended some time ago.

M Enterprises was an agent for the owner of the property. M Hotels was an “also known as” or trade name. I understand that the property owner is going to install a new sales and marketing company and is moving forward. I must therefore assume, membership contracts are being (or will be) properly honored. The suggestion was made to finish out on-going construction of certain units such that members could use the property asap. I understand that the credit crisis has hampered the owners ability to secure funding to fit the construction schedule. The developer and property owner is an established builder in Mexico and I would say he will get construction done and the project will proceed.

I do not understand any talk about criminal charges. Mr. Mamman was a sales agent. Most or every financial record for the property and the use of funds was under the control of the owners son and another accountant the owner had on the project before mamman group started selling. Records of the operation, including memberships and financials where at the onsite office which is in the hands of the developer. M Enterprises also had a third party accountant out of Guadalajara. All the records from this accounting firm would also be available to the owner. The owner should certainly be disappointed with the net profits generated to this point, as this project was a start-up at a time of unprecedented economic and market challenges, but nonetheless, he needs to move the project forward. I believe they will and they will make it a success. To my knowledge, the owner of the property has contracted with a firm in Miami to handle collections of fees,
bookings, etc., and is looking at other marketing groups.

The attached letter supposedly went out to members of the project some time ago. Within is the contact info for the land owners. I also have the following numbers:

Owner: Cabos Development, SA de CV
Arquitecto Enrique Javier Antonio Cárdenas

Carlos Cardenas: 011-52-624-157-6664 (Cell, owners son)
Please be advised that Fraser Smith (myself) has no attachment to the project. I solely invested in another marketing company in Puetro Vallarta which also went bad due in principle to the weak economy. I do not know where Mr. Mammann is located. He is likely avoiding contact with me as I lost significant investment dollars through his marketing companies.

Likewise, Mendenhall Smith is not associated with any of these projects. IT is an engineering consulting group in the US.

Unfortunately, I do not have copies of paperwork associated with M enterprises or the Enchantment, but fell free to contact me via email fsmithlv@yahoo.com with any other questions. Buyers deserve a completed project. Please be aware of misinformation from others associated with Mr. Mamman; he had to of left a number of creditors when the project did not re-start.

Thanks
Fraser Smith
Best email: fsmithlv@yahoo.com