Info on Sunset Resorts, Cancun & Playa del Carmen

[lavy]

Just received an assessment for damages incurred by hurricanes beyond insurance coverage. It was not signed. 1. Has anyone else received the same? 2. Is this legal? Thanks.

 

[tonyg]

Is anything the Sunset Group does, legal ?

 

[jules54]

Yes I also received the special assessment. I am pretty sure it is legal. I hope others with more legal expertise post on this. I don't know how many owners there are in that organization, but you are talking about alot of owners. All the owners will be required to pay this assessment no matter which resort you own at. That will be alot of revenue.

 

[tkinpa]

We to recieved this mailing. They say they have a legal right to do so under the contract. Please if any members have further thoughts or remidies let me know. It's not the money, this outfit is always trying to squeeze more money out of members.

 

[lavy]

We checked our membership purchase agreement Article #10 says that the Developer is responsible for all insurance to cover full and partial damages. We are rather disgusted with Sunset and would like to chat with any/all about this.

 

[lavy]

sunset group. Cancun & Playa del carmen

We are thinking that recent storm assessments not only are inappropriate but may be illegal. There was no signature on recent postal letter...scam?? We are also disillusioned because all communications with this organization seem difficult. Can we have additional comment?

 

[lavy]

We just posted a thread regarding Sunset Group and the assessment for storm damages on the bulletin board. Check your Article #10 on Purchase Agreement about the insurance coverage. We are very frustrated with Sunset.

 

[tkinpa]

I e-mailed Sunset at the address given on the assessement paper. I asked where in my contract does it state they have the right to a "special assessment". Rosario Gonzales responded that it is allowed under " Internal Regulations Of Sunset Clubs". She did not answer my contract question but sent me this regulation that is not signed or dated. As a member since 1998 I had never seen these internal regulations before. What to do? I don't have a clue.

 

[Spence]

I'm not a lawyer and don't pretend to be one on TUG, but you can bet that somewhere in the fine print Sunset has reserved the right to levy special assessments. If you want to use your unit/week in the future, you're going to have to pay up.

 

[edward]

our response to the Extraordinary Expense Letter from the Sunset Group

To whom this may concern
We have received a letter from your company Board of Directors concerning an " Extraordinary special assessment fee" over and above our maintenance fee being imposed on us. Because from what we understand from the context of the letter, that although all of the Sunset Group properties are fully insured for our security -- that there is still a lot that has to be done above and beyond what insurance covers. Your beachs and upgrades on your facilities. The letter is stating this is an extreme case that the Sunset Group is facing, and that the club reserves the right to assess an extraordinary assessment fee over and above our maintenace fee. The letter continues to state that the Board of Directors had decided to implement the assessments in order to rebuild all of our facilities with high quality so as to keep bringing you our best service, and to make you feel at home everytime you visit. The special assessment will be as follows:
2 bedroom $229.00
1 Bedroom $179.00
Studio$149.00

We have great reservations about this extraordinary assessment fee. The tenth clause of our contract states:
I put in the tenth clause verbatim

When we went over the what if scenerios concerning insurance coverage before we signed the contract, the Sunset Group employees we dealt with did not mention that an extraordinary assessment feel would would be imposed on us over and above what insurance would not cover in extreme circumstances such as a hurricane or flood or fire.

The contract fails to specify the rights or duties of the parties under these conditions - and or this situation - there is no inclusion of clauses about the occurance of such conditions. Also there has been no notification of an adendum or amendment concerning these conditions and or this situation. This reveals an insufficiency in the contract not apparent in the face of the document.

The letter does not provide sufficient insight into the intent of the extraordinary special assessment fee. The letter is ambiguis, there is no Operating Budget Report that came with this letter. There is no explanation in the letter as to why the Sunset Group did not anticipate the occurance of the Hurricane and overlooked the extent of the damages, and had not set aside other funds to cover the problems that come with extreme circumstances.

The other timeshare we own in Florida suffered the same problems from the Hurricanes that the Mexican coast did. The same amount of damage as well.
The Operating Budget includes the cost of the insurance that gaurds against such extreme circumstances. Therefore there is no need for and Extraordinary Special Assessment Fee.

At this time we are reserving payment until we have sufficient information relating to all the concerns we have addressed in this email.

CC Copy Sunset file, Profeco file, SEC File, FTC File, FDIC File, US State Attorney, Our state attorney, Bank file, Tug File, BB file, Econsumer.gov, Timesharebeat, Mexicantimesharefraud.com, Baddealings.com, Fightback.com

 

[Jim in Cancun]

Edward:
(also info for the rest below)
You say "We have great reservations about this extraordinary assessment fee. The tenth clause of our contract states:
I put in the tenth clause verbatim"

Please put the clause in here on TUG so that everyone can see exactly what it says.

BTW and FYI, the General Manager of Fishermen's is a friend of mine and I asked him to send me some new pics. I have added them to my album at
http://community.webshots.com/album/291434788PBfULs

Some are pics of the beach club, some of the pool rebuilding process and some of Wilma and most are of how it looks now. He also says that everything is up and running at 100% as was scheduled for April 1 except the Spa which should be ready by the 15th. The beach recovery project in Cancun is currently right in front of the Royal Sunset and will be finished by tomorrow probably. Here are some pics of that and in front of Le Blanc.
http://community.webshots.com/album/549194379GmTeTS
(keep an eye on this link as I will be updating in for the next day or two at least once a day.)
In fact the whole Cancun beach recovery project should be finished by the 15th of April. If I hear anymore I will report it as well.

 

[wvanly]

Pics

Thanks for the pictures of Sunset Fisherman's, we will be arriving in a few weeks and it looks great!

Thanks again!

Wendi

 

[jules54]

I also e-mailed the assessment department and got back an e-mail that said yes it is an assessment. Also other sources have said it is legit.
I am going to be traveling to Fisherman's on 4/15/2006 for a week. I plan on taking my documents along and discussing the assessment to make sure about such things. Keep posting information.

 

[melizzard]

Well done, Edward. We got this assessment too and emailed Rosario and got the same reply everyone else did. I still don't think it's enforceable. We read our contract several times, as a result of this assessment, and nowhere does it say that Internal Regulations even exist. We never received a copy of them and we certainly never signed anything that even referred to them.

We emailed that to Rosario and, of course, haven't heard back. I'm not paying until they can prove, to us, that we HAVE to. They're supposed to have been fully covered by insurance.

So, please keep us posted as to what anyone finds out!

Thanks!
Melissa

 

[jules54]

I have no doubt the assessment is enforceable! The next time you try to make or use RESERVATION WEEK the reservation dept. will check your contract to see if you paid the assessment. I can almost bet they won't let anyone reserve weeks that is not paid up.

 

[Jim in Cancun]

Since everyone wants to say they have read the contract but no one here wants to post what it says, I decided to investigate with some contacts I have and here is what they say:

1.- Sunset Contract says:
"CLAUSE NINTH.INSURANCE

Promotora undertakes to maintain a current insurance policy to the provisions of NOM (Mexican Official Norm) that regulates time-share services."

and for Fishermen's, I am told it says:
"CLAUSE TENTH: INSURANCE .

The Developer under takes to maintain a current insurance policy in conformance with the provision contained in Mexican Official NOM -029-SCFI-1998.

In conformance with the legal provisions for time share service providers Developers agrees to maintenain insurance policies covering full or partial damage to the movable real assets destined to the provisiom of the time-share services, and covering reconstruction or repairs to the stablishment. Developer further agrees to cover in their phisical integrity and their belongings."

I put them pretty much the way I was given them with typos/misspellings, etc. If someone has a copy of their contract and wants to post what it says, please do--it will help.

They make reference to the NOM-029-SCFI-1998--which is the "Norma Oficial Mexicana" or Official Mexican Norm or regulation #29 SCFI-1998 which regulated the timeshare vacation industry in Mexico. I found it on the http://www.economia-noms.gob.mx/ website and what it says is that before a company can register the contract it must present--and I quote from that regulation subsection 6.1.1.3.
"A simple copia of the insurance policy with total or partial coverage of damages and accidents to the buildings and furnishings destined to the service of timeshare, for the rebuilding or repair of the establishment and to protect the physical wellbieng and belongings of the users. Said insurance must never have a value below that established for the hotel services."
(my translation)
That is all I have been able to find so far.

 

[edward]

Hello Everyone, This is another email we sent regarding questions we have about our contract and perpetual use certificate.

We have some questions about our contract and perpetual useage certificate.
We have been looking over our contract No. 11-1-1111 and perpetual usage certificate No. 1111 B and have discovered that neither document has been notorized. According to the laws this is a major problem we are faced with.
We would like to know what is the procedure that Sunset Group has in place for this problem? Also I have spoken to Rosario Gonzales in april of 2004 we have the dates of these phone calls, we spoke to her about the contract and the perpetual usage certificate. We needed to be assured that the contract and the perpetual usage certificate were legal and binding documents. Rosario Gonzales assured us that both documents were legally binding. Because we were told that the timeshare we purchased could be passed on to our children - which is stated in our contract through an addendum - that: This lifetime membership will be automatically rolled over every fifty years without additional fee. Please get back to us this week with the proper information on the issues we we have addressed in this email.

cc copied all the same files in our previous email on the Extrodinary Assessment Fee. The email on the "Fee assessment" was sent on 4/2/05
the email on the contract and perpetual usage certificate were sent on 4/3/05. As of today we have not heard anything from the Sunset Group on the any of the issues we have addressed with them.

Also: To Jim - nothing has been provided (from what I understand) - for any of us who have purchased timeshares from the Sunset Group - no proof on insurance from the Sunset Group, as well as any other comprehensive information concerning our purchase with the Sunset Group, has been provided for any of us.
There are International Banking, FDIC, FTC, and SEC laws that have to be complied with as well as NAFTA agreements. If anyone is seriously concerned about their purchase with the Sunset Group.
I suggest looking into these things, as well as contacting the US Ambassador to Mexico ( in Cancun ). Also learn about who and what Profeco is.

 

[Jim in Cancun]

Edward et al:

Documents do not get "notarized" in Mexico. The "Notario Público" is as different from a Notary Public as anything you can imagine.

In regards to:
"Also: To Jim - nothing has been provided (from what I understand) - for any of us who have purchased timeshares from the Sunset Group - no proof on insurance from the Sunset Group, as well as any other comprehensive information concerning our purchase with the Sunset Group, has been provided for any of us."

What the law that I quoted says is that they have to provide proof of insurance to the government before they start selling, not to the individual purchasers.

and

"There are International Banking, FDIC, FTC, and SEC laws that have to be complied with....."
Those are American and not international laws. American laws do not apply in Mexico in the same way that Mexican law is not applicable in the U.S.

I am not playing the devil's advocate here just passing on things I have learned living in Mexico for 18 years and working in the tourism business.

 

[jbuzzy11]

to bad Wilma didnt knock the sunset into the ocean and take all those crooks with it....:annoyed:

 

[jules54]

Let's not confuse the sales staff with the management staff. I am not happy about the assessment at all. But I also know the resorts in the states do assessments all the time for different situations for thousands of dollars per person.

 

[melizzard]

So, are all of you just ponying up and paying it, then? I'm not real sure what to do.

Melissa

 

[edward]

We are waiting to see what response we get from the Sunset Group - still no response from them. Anyone else heard from them? Remember there are a lot of options open to everyone, in the way they want to deal with this.

 

[Jim in Cancun]

who are you waiting on a response from? I know some people there and if you send me your e-mail to jimincancun@yahoo.com , I will find out who is in charge and ask them to contact you. Someone here said Rosario Gonzalez. Is that the person?

 

[melizzard]

Jim, that's the person who originally replied to the email I sent questioning the assessment. I responded to her email a couple of weeks ago and haven't heard anything back from her.

Thank you,
Melissa

 

[edward]

read below please