Mexico Tourist Dept. investigates my Timeshare experience

[broomfield]

Yesterday I received a telephone call, and later, an e-mail from a gentleman who told me he was an attorney and told me that he represented the Mexican government Tourism Fraud department and that they were investigating Timeshare fraud.

The documents he e-mailed to me appeared to be authentic. He gave me his name and telephone number and asked that I wrote up a report on my previous experiences with the
Mayan Palace Timeshares. He told me that he had gotten my name, address and phone number from their records.

I told him that I had previously signed a contract to purchase such a Timeshare, but that I had extracted myself from it several years (thanks to TUG), but that I continued to receive calls from various individuals and companies wanting to buy or rent my Mayan Timeshare.

The lawyer told me that his government was investigating Timeshare fraud, that an action had been filed against Mayan and that I might have some sort of financial claim against them.

I got the impression that the Mexican government is quite concerned about rampant Timeshare fraud in their country and that they are trying to clean it up.

I also told the lawyer about a recent bad experience I had with a person at the Westin Regina/Cabo/ Raintree Vacation Club. I've owned a Timeshare there for 15 or 20 years.

After receiving my yearly billing a month ago, I called them and spoke with a lady who, after a 20 or 30 minute conversation advise me that she could find no record whatsoever, of my ownership. I gave her my account numbers and plenty of detailed information, but she could not find any information on me.

I asked to speak with her advisor, or anyone there and she told me she was the only person there. I then told her that I did not intend to pay the Maintenance fee unless I heard back from someone. She assured me that I would. That was several weeks ago and I have heard nothing.

I told the previously mentioned lawyer about this incident and he told me not to pay the maintenance fee and he asked me to file a written report for him on this matter as well.

My question is, has any one else been contacted like I have? Any one with similar experience?

Please reply.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

ALL - unsolicited calls about timeshare ownerships - are likely to end up in a request for some kind
of payment .

You will likely be asked to pay for - document retrieval , translation services . etc etc

IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT FRAUD - and make payments for nothing - it is your money
If not - I would end contact with this person

THIS IS A SCAM .

I get at least 10 calls a year from scammers who (now ) have my cell number
Some , like your caller are more sophisticated in their presentation . ALL are SCAMS !!!

By the way : the term " attorney " in Mexico , ( as well as Canada )does not mean
lawyer . It means - someone who acts on behalf of another person . So this person who called can be your "attorney " and charge you as much as you will pay for - NOTHING .


******
Raintree / Club Regina runs 3 quality resorts in Mexico - Cabo - Puerto Vallarta - Cancun . We have exchanged to the Cancun resort . From reading TUG , I understand that there are Club Regina RTU contracts that end in 2026 and cover these 3 resorts . There are also Raintree contracts that are RTU and end in 2046
and include the USA Raintree properties . Whatever the confusion during your call to Cabo,I would NOT stop paying MF , and I would follow up with Raintree's USA office with your member information .Not paying MF is likely to put you in collection .

Vidanta - Grupo,Mayan - is an employer of 15,000 and runs high quality resorts.
Their sales arm Vida Vacations sells Timeshare Weeks . Hard Sell is common in many TS systems - developer sales . Vidanta is well know for hard sell .
If someone buys on promises that are not listed in the contract - they have 5 days (Mexican TS law ) to read - and can choose to rescind .

 

[Phydeaux]

You bit. This is a scam.

 

[DonnaD]

I agree that you should call the member services office in USA about your Club Regina or Raintree membership. They will have your information.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

As others have said, almost assuredly a scam. There is a common scam involving people outfits who claim to be representing the Mexican government, and they have money to disburse to people who were duped in timeshare purchases due to a settlement that was made. When the person signs up, invariably there are fees that need to be paid before the money can actually be disbursed. The victims pay the fees, expecting to be compensated when the final disbursal is made, but it's all a scam.

It's almost certain that you've been contacted by someone running a version of that con.

The agency of the Mexican government that is involved with timeshare related issues is "Profeco", which is the Mexican consumer protection agency. Roughly analogous to the Federal Trade Commission in the US Government. And Profeco doesn't call people out of the blue. They respond to complaints; they don't call people out of the blue.