Marketing Service Solutions?

[LorieKT]

Received a call from this organization out of Indiana, wanting to put an offer on our Mayan Palace timeshare. Has anyone heard of or dealt with this organization before? I'm guessing it's a scam, but don't know. Thank you.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Received a call from this organization out of Indiana, wanting to put an offer on our Mayan Palace timeshare. Has anyone heard of or dealt with this organization before? I'm guessing it's a scam, but don't know. Thank you.

Tell them to sell it and send you whatever is left after all their phony taxes, attorney fees, international fees, broker fees, etc. and see if they hang around. No, they will want you to pay them a lot of money up front so they can go shopping and leave you hanging from the vine until the end of time.

With that said, of course it is a SCAM. Don't give it a second thought.




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[RX8]

Received a call from this organization out of Indiana, wanting to put an offer on our Mayan Palace timeshare. Has anyone heard of or dealt with this organization before? I'm guessing it's a scam, but don't know. Thank you.

@LorieKT You are a good guesser.

An unsolicited call from an unknown outfit promising to pay you tens of thousands of dollars for a Mexican timeshare that can be had for practically free anywhere else is always going to be a scam. In fact, this is one of the oldest timeshare scams there is.

The BBB has an alert for this scammer already.

Marketing Service Solutions | Better Business Bureau® Profile

This organization is not BBB accredited. Timeshare Resale and Rental Marketing in Indianapolis, IN. See BBB rating, reviews, complaints, & more.

www.bbb.org

 

[LannyPC]

...wanting to put an offer on our Mayan Palace timeshare.

Did you even have it listed for sale?

 

[LorieKT]

Tell them to sell it and send you whatever is left after all their phony taxes, attorney fees, international fees, broker fees, etc. and see if they hang around. No, they will want you to pay them a lot of money up front so they can go shopping and leave you hanging from the vine until the end of time.

With that said, of course it is a SCAM. Don't give it a second thought.




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Thank you everyone for your replies and advice! Those were my thoughts, too, but love hearing it from others.

 

[zendog500]

I was called also and they (Escape Travel) offered to buy my Vidanta Timeshare. (see email/info below on company). I figured it was a scam, but played along. I told her that I loved my timeshare, it is so beautiful I got a great deal... LOVE IT! She ignored that and continued anyway! So I let them send me an email (see below text); it was a nice offer. When I talked to her she told me the process in great detail (..from my memory) here is the process as follows: I should initial the offer sheet, and also send us proof of ownership, (so they can actually see what I purchased from Vidanta) then they will make a contract and send it through a US law firm (with BAR Number to prove they are a real law firm) if you agree with the contract sign it and return it to US law firm. Then we will send money to the law firm and you will get the money deposited to your bank account. Once you have the money we will have you then sign over the release of the timeshare and pay a 5% commission fee to Escape Travel. But they warned that Vidanta would be calling and say that they are a scam, then Vidanta will offer you upgrades if you do not to except deal. "They (Vidanta) does not want us (Escape Travel) to get your timeshare because we complete with them"
The part that got me was that they said they would give me the money first before I had to sign over the timeshare. Maybe the contract turns over rights or something. I have not returned the nice offer or provided any proof of ownership. Here is the offer email.
-----------------
_____, hoping this email finds you well,
Attached to this email you will find an offer for your Vidanta membership, based on the information you provided during our call. Please send us your Proof of Ownership, so we can confirm the different benefits that you may have and give you a more accurate offer. The name of the document needed from your contract is:

Contract for Lodging Rights and Services Cover Page
On the same page, the Closing Cost has to be visible

What do we need from your contract in order to purchase your membership / timeshare? Owner’s Name, Contract Number, Membership Description (Type, Unit Size, Weeks/Points), Length of Contract. All this information can be found on the page of your contract named above.
If you agree with the offer all we need from you is the Proposal Offer attached to this email with your initials or signature send it to us and a copy of your Proof of Ownership in order to begin the process.
You can contact us at the number below or replying to this email for any question or doubt you may have. Thank you for your time and prompt response.

Escape Travel
Alejandro Llaguno, Sr. Supervisor
Rachel Diaz, Sales representative.
Danielle Jardim, secretary.
Phone: 1 888-203-5217 | Fax: 1 888-490-2994
marketing3@contractsolutionsco.com | From Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 5:30 pm CST
Av. Paseo de la Reforma 343 Piso 17, Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, 06600 Ciudad de México, México
www.escapetravel.se/
other phone numbers 8882035405, 8882073524

 

[RX8]

I was called also and they (Escape Travel) offered to buy my Vidanta Timeshare. (see email/info below on company). I figured it was a scam, but played along. I told her that I loved my timeshare, it is so beautiful I got a great deal... LOVE IT! She ignored that and continued anyway! So I let them send me an email (see below text); it was a nice offer. When I talked to her she told me the process in great detail (..from my memory) here is the process as follows: I should initial the offer sheet, and also send us proof of ownership, (so they can actually see what I purchased from Vidanta) then they will make a contract and send it through a US law firm (with BAR Number to prove they are a real law firm) if you agree with the contract sign it and return it to US law firm. Then we will send money to the law firm and you will get the money deposited to your bank account. Once you have the money we will have you then sign over the release of the timeshare and pay a 5% commission fee to Escape Travel. But they warned that Vidanta would be calling and say that they are a scam, then Vidanta will offer you upgrades if you do not to except deal. "They (Vidanta) does not want us (Escape Travel) to get your timeshare because we complete with them"
The part that got me was that they said they would give me the money first before I had to sign over the timeshare. Maybe the contract turns over rights or something. I have not returned the nice offer or provided any proof of ownership. Here is the offer email.
-----------------
_____, hoping this email finds you well,
Attached to this email you will find an offer for your Vidanta membership, based on the information you provided during our call. Please send us your Proof of Ownership, so we can confirm the different benefits that you may have and give you a more accurate offer. The name of the document needed from your contract is:

Contract for Lodging Rights and Services Cover Page
On the same page, the Closing Cost has to be visible

What do we need from your contract in order to purchase your membership / timeshare? Owner’s Name, Contract Number, Membership Description (Type, Unit Size, Weeks/Points), Length of Contract. All this information can be found on the page of your contract named above.
If you agree with the offer all we need from you is the Proposal Offer attached to this email with your initials or signature send it to us and a copy of your Proof of Ownership in order to begin the process.
You can contact us at the number below or replying to this email for any question or doubt you may have. Thank you for your time and prompt response.

Escape Travel
Alejandro Llaguno, Sr. Supervisor
Rachel Diaz, Sales representative.
Danielle Jardim, secretary.
Phone: 1 888-203-5217 | Fax: 1 888-490-2994
marketing3@contractsolutionsco.com | From Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 5:30 pm CST
Av. Paseo de la Reforma 343 Piso 17, Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, 06600 Ciudad de México, México
www.escapetravel.se/
other phone numbers 8882035405, 8882073524

I sometimes find these scammers to be hilarious. You got a call from Escape Travel. The website on your email from them shows it to be escapetravel.se. That website looks legit and was created back in 2003. It is also completely in Swedish and obviously just being used by the scammers to appear legit. So this scammer wants everyone to believe that this Swedish company is cold calling people in the US with offers to buy their Mexican timeshare.

The other website in your email that is being used as their contact info is contractsolutionsco.com. That is their “real” website that they use for scamming and was created May 10, 2021.

 

[zendog500]

How do they scam you, if they send you the money first before you relinquish control of the timeshare? I mean if I actually have the money in my bank account and the check is cleared(?) how do they beat you? Maybe just getting the proof of ownership info is enough for them to take the timeshare, and you are stuck with maintenance?

 

[RX8]

How do they scam you, if they send you the money first before you relinquish control of the timeshare? I mean if I actually have the money in my bank account and the check is cleared(?) how do they beat you? Maybe just getting the proof of ownership info is enough for them to take the timeshare, and you are stuck with maintenance?

Their first goal is to make you feel comfortable with them. They will tell you NO upfront fees. They also want you to start dreaming ways of spending the huge check they say they have for you. Once you are hooked, they will tell you that there is a tax or fee that is due before payment to you can be made. They could call it a “Mexican transfer tax” but it doesn’t matter what they call it because it is made up. They may ask for $4,000 for that “tax”. You pay it (typically wired to Mexico) and then they come back to you with another new tax/fee. This one could be a $3,000 “non-citizen capital gains tax”. You pay that and they will come at you with yet another required tax/fee all the while telling you that you will get reimbursed for these fees with your big check. Once you get wise to the fact that it is a scam and stop paying the company stops responding to you and will close their scamming website only to create a new one. There are stories of people paying the scammers hundreds of thousands of dollars before they realize it is a scam.

 

[arcsinx]

When you search the address, it pulls up a "virtual office for rent" so it's likely they have no physical location. The BBB also doesn't have any "Escape Travel" on file in Mexico. Finally, a reverse lookup of the phone number shows it isn't registered to anyone. So yeah...

 

[TUGBrian]

how many red flags do they check?

Was I contacted by a Scammer to Sell or Rent my Timeshare?

A checklist for owners to determine if a Timeshare company is legitimate or a scam

tug2.net

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

How do they scam you, if they send you the money first before you relinquish control of the timeshare? I mean if I actually have the money in my bank account and the check is cleared(?) how do they beat you? Maybe just getting the proof of ownership info is enough for them to take the timeshare, and you are stuck with maintenance?

Some of these foreign checks take many weeks before they "bounce". Once they bounce you not only have to cough up the value of the check, but you have pay the bank all their foolish fees for accepting a rubber check to begin with.......




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[RX8]

Some of these foreign checks take many weeks before they "bounce". Once they bounce you not only have to cough up the value of the check, but you have pay the bank all their foolish fees for accepting a rubber check to begin with.......

I don’t think there will be a check. These scammers are in Mexico and their goal is that unsuspecting, hopeful “sellers” will wire them thousands of dollars.

 

[LannyPC]

How do they scam you, if they send you the money first before you relinquish control of the timeshare?

They will not send you any money first. Once you have your mind and eyes fixated on your supposed big payday, they will tell you that there is some sort of fee or tax that has to be paid by you, the seller, and that the Mexican government requires that you pay this fee/tax before the funds can be released to you.

We've heard this many times here on TUG. It's the same thing each time. Unfortunately, the people who fall for this scam are so blinded by the potential payday that they don't stop and think clearly. They just think of how they're going to spend this huge amount of money supposedly coming their way and basically say, "Sure, I'll do whatever is needed to get this cheque. Tell me what I have to do. Wire a transfer tax to you in Mexico? Sure, the $1000 transfer tax is peanuts in comparison to what I'll be getting."

 

[SmithOp]

How do they scam you, if they send you the money first before you relinquish control of the timeshare? I mean if I actually have the money in my bank account and the check is cleared(?) how do they beat you? Maybe just getting the proof of ownership info is enough for them to take the timeshare, and you are stuck with maintenance?

You said it yourself, “they will send the money to a US Law firm”. What they will send is a phony escrow document showing a phony US Law Firm holding funds for you. Thats when they will start with requests to send them money for all the phony fees you need to pay up front before that phony escrow is released to you.

 

[tschwa2]

How do they scam you, if they send you the money first before you relinquish control of the timeshare? I mean if I actually have the money in my bank account and the check is cleared(?) how do they beat you? Maybe just getting the proof of ownership info is enough for them to take the timeshare, and you are stuck with maintenance?

They don't want your timeshare. If nothing else they could be trying to get your personal information including your checking account information so they can sell that to other scammers. Everything they send you could be phony but they get your real information and at some point they will also ask you for money and they will never send you any real check.

They have you hooked. You want to believe it so you do. Feel free to play along but be careful. It isn't real just like a prince from Nigeria doesn't want your help with his fortune. It is just as crazy as someone calling me and offering $10,000 to help them buy a milkshake from McDonalds. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't matter what their angle is, it's a scam.

 

[RX8]

And these scammers are very very good at what they do. They have been perfecting this particular scam, which hasn’t even changed over the years, for more than a decade. They keep doing it because smart people still fall for the scam. They provide authentic looking documents. They provide bar numbers for attorneys they pretend to be (stolen/fraudulent information from real attorneys). All this legit looking detail, and the thought that they can get rid of their timeshare for many thousands of dollars, causes these smart people to ignore the red flags.

 

[Renameduser1234]

I sometimes find these scammers to be hilarious. You got a call from Escape Travel. The website on your email from them shows it to be escapetravel.se. That website looks legit and was created back in 2003. It is also completely in Swedish and obviously just being used by the scammers to appear legit. So this scammer wants everyone to believe that this Swedish company is cold calling people in the US with offers to buy their Mexican timeshare.

The other website in your email that is being used as their contact info is contractsolutionsco.com. That is their “real” website that they use for scamming and was created May 10, 2021.

Unfortunately there was a huge breech in the system that got out and now thousands of members recieve 4 calls almost a day talking about renting or selling their membership it’s a complete scam!