ilene13
TUG Member
First I want to thank all the Tuggers who have warned us all about the Vidal Group sales presentations. We held our ground and walked out without buying. That said here is a summary of our 4 hour experience.
We used a Royal Sands lock off and exchanged into a junior suite at the Grand Luxxe in the Mayan Riviera. We checked in late yesterday afternoon. We were told that we were invited to an orientation breakfast today so that we could get a tour of the property since it is so big. The RR have Sunday orientation breakfasts so we thought that was what it was.
We realized it was a sales pitch when we got there. They offered us some gifts--10 percent off of all our room charges and a $1500 peso room charge credit. So we stayed since we were already at the breakfast. They said it would be only 90 minutes--what BS.
Our salesperson, Dorothy, was lovely. She asked us questions about the weeks we currently own. Her big issue was how much we paid in maintenance fees. She wanted to know if we wanted liquidate any of our current weeks. I said no as we own where we want to go. She then brought her manager over--Jose. He kept saying that the program was NOT a timeshare but a Residence
Club. So USAir what is the difference---here was the opening so we were allowed to go to breakfast.
So we went to breakfast and chatted with Dorothy. At breakfast she said that if we wanted to buy into their program we would have to buy into the Mayan Palace level the upgrade to the Grand Luxxe after a year. I said if I was interested it would only be at the Grand Luxxe. She said that was not possible but we went to see the models.
We thought the Mayan PAlace model was awful, the Grand Mayan model was fine, but we really only liked the Grand Luxxe model.
From the models we went to the sales office. By now we had been there about 2 hours. We sat with Dorothy at her table on the patio. Interesting how her briefcase and all of her materials were already there.
Here is how the next 2 hours went:
She offered us 4 weeks at the Mayan Palace with the Vidal group giving us 4 more weeks for a mere $199,000. We could put down $65,000, and finance the rest. Then if we wanted to liquidate our other weeks we could use them towards the price. Of course we said no. She then asked us if we wanted to charge the $65,000 on one credit card or did we want to break it up. We reiterated that we were not buying. I did not want 8 weeks at the Mayan Palace. She then went through some "full disclosure" issue about ITP numbers and RCI. She then said that because of the RCI lawsuit II was using the same numbers and our platinum Marriott weeks (Aruda and HH) no longer had high trading power, but of course the Vidal Group properties had the 3rd highest rating. So we should liquidate and buy theirs. Again we said NO.
She said she was going to get our gifts but instead she came back with Jose, the manager. Now all of a sudden he would do us a huge favor and let us in to the Grand Luxxe family without buying at the lower level first. He offered us 3 weeks(2 bedroom lock off units) for $59,000 but if we did not finance it would be $49,000. We said no as our 7 current weeks are enough. He couldn't understand why we wanted to pay our maintenance fees and not liquidate. We told him Not interested. So the two of the left and Charlie came to finish up with a questionnaire.
Charlie then asked us if they had appraised our current weeks-- we said no because we would not liquidate. He then offered us a 1 bedroom unit for 1 week at the Grand Luxxe for $30,000. Again we said No. So Charlie escorted us to the closing area to get the gifts.
There another man asked us questions on another questionnaire. He asked why we were not buying and we said we were not interested. So he said thank you and a woman, Rosa came over. She again asked us if they had appraised our current properties. I said no because we have no interest in liquidating as we own where we like to go. She then said how about 1 week in a 2 bedroom for $10,000. At that point I was really annoyed and I wanted to go to the pool, so I said read my lips NO. She said that I should not be so rude and she jumped up and another woman came over. She was trying to be sweet and pleasant. Sh told us that the $10,000 offer was not for the Grand Luxxe but something called the Mayan Regal( I think). She then offered to put us into a drawing for a free cruise or a free week. She asked which we wanted, my husband said the week-- she started again trying to sell us something. We said we were done.
So she told us to go out to the National Sales office to get our gift certificates. As we walked out salesperson #7 came running after us, asking what is my husband's nationality. He said he was interested in last names. My husband said German and we walked away. That was bizarre.
We then went to the National Sales office to get the certificates. We waited in line for 30 minutes. When we finally spoke to someone they said our certificates were stored in their computer system. I insisted on a receipt stating what they had given us-- they did give it to us.
So 4 hours later we went to the pool.
Thank you all again as we got out without buying. The funny thing was had they been honest and given the Grand Luxxe 1 week as an option in the beginning we may have bought it.
Ilene
We used a Royal Sands lock off and exchanged into a junior suite at the Grand Luxxe in the Mayan Riviera. We checked in late yesterday afternoon. We were told that we were invited to an orientation breakfast today so that we could get a tour of the property since it is so big. The RR have Sunday orientation breakfasts so we thought that was what it was.
We realized it was a sales pitch when we got there. They offered us some gifts--10 percent off of all our room charges and a $1500 peso room charge credit. So we stayed since we were already at the breakfast. They said it would be only 90 minutes--what BS.
Our salesperson, Dorothy, was lovely. She asked us questions about the weeks we currently own. Her big issue was how much we paid in maintenance fees. She wanted to know if we wanted liquidate any of our current weeks. I said no as we own where we want to go. She then brought her manager over--Jose. He kept saying that the program was NOT a timeshare but a Residence
Club. So USAir what is the difference---here was the opening so we were allowed to go to breakfast.
So we went to breakfast and chatted with Dorothy. At breakfast she said that if we wanted to buy into their program we would have to buy into the Mayan Palace level the upgrade to the Grand Luxxe after a year. I said if I was interested it would only be at the Grand Luxxe. She said that was not possible but we went to see the models.
We thought the Mayan PAlace model was awful, the Grand Mayan model was fine, but we really only liked the Grand Luxxe model.
From the models we went to the sales office. By now we had been there about 2 hours. We sat with Dorothy at her table on the patio. Interesting how her briefcase and all of her materials were already there.
Here is how the next 2 hours went:
She offered us 4 weeks at the Mayan Palace with the Vidal group giving us 4 more weeks for a mere $199,000. We could put down $65,000, and finance the rest. Then if we wanted to liquidate our other weeks we could use them towards the price. Of course we said no. She then asked us if we wanted to charge the $65,000 on one credit card or did we want to break it up. We reiterated that we were not buying. I did not want 8 weeks at the Mayan Palace. She then went through some "full disclosure" issue about ITP numbers and RCI. She then said that because of the RCI lawsuit II was using the same numbers and our platinum Marriott weeks (Aruda and HH) no longer had high trading power, but of course the Vidal Group properties had the 3rd highest rating. So we should liquidate and buy theirs. Again we said NO.
She said she was going to get our gifts but instead she came back with Jose, the manager. Now all of a sudden he would do us a huge favor and let us in to the Grand Luxxe family without buying at the lower level first. He offered us 3 weeks(2 bedroom lock off units) for $59,000 but if we did not finance it would be $49,000. We said no as our 7 current weeks are enough. He couldn't understand why we wanted to pay our maintenance fees and not liquidate. We told him Not interested. So the two of the left and Charlie came to finish up with a questionnaire.
Charlie then asked us if they had appraised our current weeks-- we said no because we would not liquidate. He then offered us a 1 bedroom unit for 1 week at the Grand Luxxe for $30,000. Again we said No. So Charlie escorted us to the closing area to get the gifts.
There another man asked us questions on another questionnaire. He asked why we were not buying and we said we were not interested. So he said thank you and a woman, Rosa came over. She again asked us if they had appraised our current properties. I said no because we have no interest in liquidating as we own where we like to go. She then said how about 1 week in a 2 bedroom for $10,000. At that point I was really annoyed and I wanted to go to the pool, so I said read my lips NO. She said that I should not be so rude and she jumped up and another woman came over. She was trying to be sweet and pleasant. Sh told us that the $10,000 offer was not for the Grand Luxxe but something called the Mayan Regal( I think). She then offered to put us into a drawing for a free cruise or a free week. She asked which we wanted, my husband said the week-- she started again trying to sell us something. We said we were done.
So she told us to go out to the National Sales office to get our gift certificates. As we walked out salesperson #7 came running after us, asking what is my husband's nationality. He said he was interested in last names. My husband said German and we walked away. That was bizarre.
We then went to the National Sales office to get the certificates. We waited in line for 30 minutes. When we finally spoke to someone they said our certificates were stored in their computer system. I insisted on a receipt stating what they had given us-- they did give it to us.
So 4 hours later we went to the pool.
Thank you all again as we got out without buying. The funny thing was had they been honest and given the Grand Luxxe 1 week as an option in the beginning we may have bought it.
Ilene
