Sticky - Know Your Rights Of Rescission Before Attending A Mexican Timeshare Presentation

[tdjo1978]

To be sure I am providing all the information we have, when they transferred us to the new resort, they had us sign a transfer form. At least, we were told it was only a transfer form. This form was entitled: Instant Service Activation Request. We are being told that this form is what gave us "immediate activation" and the reason we can not cancel the contract.

 

[aliikai2]

Again

According to Mexican law, " You can not sign away your right to cancel"
Keep making this statement. We are cancelling, we can not according to Mexican Law sign away our right to cancel.



Greg

To be sure I am providing all the information we have, when they transferred us to the new resort, they had us sign a transfer form. At least, we were told it was only a transfer form. This form was entitled: Instant Service Activation Request. We are being told that this form is what gave us "immediate activation" and the reason we can not cancel the contract.

 

[Karen G]

We are being told that this form is what gave us "immediate activation" and the reason we can not cancel the contract.

That's just another lie trying to make you think you can't rescind. There is a toll free number for Profeco on their brochure: call the
toll-free Consumer call center in Mexico: 1-800-468-8722.

 

[tdjo1978]

I just received another email from the financial advisor. She sent me this from Mexican law:
ARTICLE 56.- The contract shall be perfected five business days from the delivery of the good sold or the signing of the contract, whichever comes later. During such term, the consumer shall be entitled to revoke his consent, without any liability whatsoever. The revocation shall be made by giving notice or by delivering the good sold in person, through registered mail or through other means to serve such notice in a legally unquestionable manner. The revocation made pursuant this article shall render the transaction null and void, and the supplier shall reimburse the price paid to the consumer. In this case, the freight and insurance costs shall be borne by the consumer. With respect to services, the above shall not apply if the date when the service is rendered is within ten business days or less from the date of the purchase order.
She states that this last sentence refers to the form we signed while being transferred to the new resort. She says that this DOES waive the right for us to cancel our contract because we received services of the club.
I must admit (very sadly) that this sounds feasable....do we believe her and pay what we owe or do we keep fighting it?

 

[Karen G]

It doesn't sound feasible to me. It sounds like their attempt to get around the Mexican law that pertains specifically to the sale of a timeshare. They were selling you the right to use a timeshare property for a specific number of years--not a one-time stay at a hotel. Stick to your guns here. You rescinded within the legally specified time period. Keep reiterating this to them and don't let them wear you down. Follow through with Profeco. Dispute the charge with your credit card.

 

[tdjo1978]

My credit card has issued a temporary charge back to our account. Sunset now has 60 days to rebut against it & I am sure they will because they are adimant that we can not cancel the contract. I have tried calling Profeco, but the 1-800-468-8722 is not in service and when I call the direct line 52 (55) 5568-8722, everything is only in Spanish, no option for English. I emailed Profeco a couple of weeks ago but have not heard anything back from them. I feel like we are against a brick wall! We were held in the sales presentation against our will and now we are still being bullied by these people to give in & pay them our hard earned money. I have NEVER felt so violated or robbed!

 

[Karen G]

Well then, just sit tight. You've done all you can do. You did what was required to rescind. Don't pay them anything. Stand your ground. Just be as adamant about your position as they are being.

 

[Karen G]

With respect to services, the above shall not apply if the date when the service is rendered is within ten business days or less from the date of the purchase order.

Going back to this part of the law that the "financial advisor" quoted. I assume your contract was for the right to use the timeshare for a given number of years. You didn't receive that service, therefore this part of the law doesn't apply to you.

 

[Passepartout]

You might try this number: All complaints by Americans are handled by PROFECO's English-speaking office in Mexico City at 011-52-55-5211-1723. It's from a 2008 TUG post.

Good Luck!

Jim Ricks

 

[tdjo1978]

Our contract was supposed to be a "Lifetime" membership. It started out being for 25 years, but somehow the salesman ended up having it altered to lifetime.

Thanks for the other number for Profeco, I will try it now.

Also, interestingly, I have just tried to reply to this financial advisor by email (as I have done many times over the past couple of weeks) and now I am getting a "Failure Notice" that my emails can not be delivered to her email address! I have tried to reply to her 3 times now & each time I get the failure notice. She just sent the email to me about 3 hours ago. Like I said, I have been in communication with her through this one email address numerous times. How wierd!

 

[aliikai2]

You didn't buy a Service

You bought a timeshare, and they are just trying to bluff you into accepting this deal, remember, I have served you with the rescission of this transaction, I will not be bullied or bluffed, we are canceling.


fwiw,

Greg

I just received another email from the financial advisor. She sent me this from Mexican law:
ARTICLE 56.- The contract shall be perfected five business days from the delivery of the good sold or the signing of the contract, whichever comes later. During such term, the consumer shall be entitled to revoke his consent, without any liability whatsoever. The revocation shall be made by giving notice or by delivering the good sold in person, through registered mail or through other means to serve such notice in a legally unquestionable manner. The revocation made pursuant this article shall render the transaction null and void, and the supplier shall reimburse the price paid to the consumer. In this case, the freight and insurance costs shall be borne by the consumer. With respect to services, the above shall not apply if the date when the service is rendered is within ten business days or less from the date of the purchase order.
She states that this last sentence refers to the form we signed while being transferred to the new resort. She says that this DOES waive the right for us to cancel our contract because we received services of the club.
I must admit (very sadly) that this sounds feasable....do we believe her and pay what we owe or do we keep fighting it?

 

[tdjo1978]

Well, the issue with the email must have been a fluke because she did receive my last email. Guess I was hoping to be lucky enough that she would disappear. Anyway, now she tells me we have the rest of this week to come to an agreement with them or they will send the case to collections. Funny, not sure why it would be going to collections when we really don't owe them anything yet. Our payments were not supposed to begin for 6 months after we signed the contract!

And so far, no luck with the new number for Profeco either. I will try to email them again.

 

[Passepartout]

Keep fighting the good fight, but if in the end your account gets sent to collection I wouldn't worry a helluva lot about it. In today's economy, with the millions of people who have genuine credit problems, appealing to the 3 credit agencies and showing them (a)the Sunset contract, and (2) your rescission letter within the legal time period, I think they will amend any damaged credit report for you. I know it shouldn't be necessary, but it's not the world's end.

You may have to cancel a credit card, but that's not a credit killer either. Thousands do it every day in conjunction with fraudulent card use. There's a current thread about this in the Lounge.

Tell the 'financial councilor' that you don't owe anything since you rescinded on(date). Dare their collection agency to take you to court. If they do, you automatically win. Then you go for damages.

Good Luck.

Sorry you are having to go through this.

Jim

 

[tdjo1978]

Thank you all for your advice and help. One minute I am ok with the fact that the worst case scenario is that we have ruined credit and may have to appear in a Mexican court where we don't speak a lick of Spanish & don't have a clue what is going on. Then the next minute, I feel as though I am going to have a panic attack my anxiety level gets so high. I just have never had to deal with anything like this before & it is scary. Thanks again for any help and advice provided. I will update on our situation & I am following this thread if anyone can offer anymore assistance.
I do have 1 question: if we were to end up having to appear before a court, I assume it would be in Mexico....how do we find a legitimate lawyer (who won't try to scam us out of more money) who can practice law in Mexico & speak English?

 

[aliikai2]

I would never appear in a Mexican Court for

a civil matter. I can't advise you to appear either. The Napoleonic Justice system is far different that we are used to, just ignore them if it gets to that point, let them get a Mexican judgement, they still need to collect from you where you live. Greg

Thank you all for your advice and help. One minute I am ok with the fact that the worst case scenario is that we have ruined credit and may have to appear in a Mexican court where we don't speak a lick of Spanish & don't have a clue what is going on. Then the next minute, I feel as though I am going to have a panic attack my anxiety level gets so high. I just have never had to deal with anything like this before & it is scary. Thanks again for any help and advice provided. I will update on our situation & I am following this thread if anyone can offer anymore assistance.
I do have 1 question: if we were to end up having to appear before a court, I assume it would be in Mexico....how do we find a legitimate lawyer (who won't try to scam us out of more money) who can practice law in Mexico & speak English?

 

[Karen G]

Then the next minute, I feel as though I am going to have a panic attack my anxiety level gets so high.

I think if I were you I would have nothing more to do with that "financial advisor" or whatever she calls herself, and I would not respond to any more of her emails.

Just make sure you have a copy of your contract, your rescission letter, your notification to your credit card co., and whatever other documentation you have. Continue to try to work through Profeco.

If you hear from a collections agency, submit to them your simple statement that you rescinded in the allotted time and provide copies of everything. I seriously doubt that you would ever have to appear in a Mexican court. I've never heard of anyone from the U.S. having to do that because of a rescinded timeshare sale.

I think these people are just trying to scare you, and they are doing a good job of that. You don't owe them anything based on what you've said.

I'm so sorry that you've had to go through this. Maybe your experience will help someone who comes along later and reads this thread so that they can avoid getting into a situation like this.

 

[tdjo1978]

We were finally able to get in touch with Profeco, and Thank God we were able to. After explaining our situation: they agree with us so far. I am sending them a copy of all of our paperwork and they will look at the claim after the New Year. Below is copied directly from an email from Profeco:

1. As informed your right can not be waived. (this is in response to my asking about the form we had to sign to be transferred to the new resort)

2. The law just established send the letter not that they should receive it, so your receipt showing the date of sending would be enough.

I know there is probably still a long fight ahead of us, but I feel a huge relief after finally getting a couple answers from someone who deals with this stuff all of the time. At least it is a start of something hopeful.....

 

[Karen G]

We were finally able to get in touch with Profeco, and Thank God we were able to. . . .
I know there is probably still a long fight ahead of us, but I feel a huge relief after finally getting a couple answers from someone who deals with this stuff all of the time. At least it is a start of something hopeful.....

Thanks so much for letting us know. I'm sure this is a big relief for you and I hope it will help you not to worry. I really don't think you have a big fight ahead of you at all. You followed the legal procedure afforded you under Mexican law and you rescinded within the stated time. End of story.

 

[Passepartout]

tjdo1978, If you don't mind, would you please post how you were able to finally contact Profeco? It might help others who find themselves in your situation. Thanks.

Jim

 

[tdjo1978]

I emailed Profeco at extranjeros@profeco.gob.mx and waited for about 2 weeks. I had not heard anything from them & I could not get through with the phone number we had (011-52-55-5211-1723 for US & Canada). I looked up the brochure again from the link in the 1st post of this thread & I called their direct line +52 (55) 5568-8722. Please note this line is answered by an automated system and it is all Spanish. I do not speak Spanish so I just continued pressing 2 after each prompt. Finally I was transferred to a human & as soon as she spoke, I said “Hola, mi nombre es Tia. Habla English?” And she told me to wait a minute and she found someone who could speak English. I then explained to the 2nd lady that I was in the USA and had contacted them regarding a timeshare that we had recently purchased in Cancun and that I had not had a response. She then transferred me to another lady. This 3rd lady asked for my e-mail address and she told me that she had replied to my message, I had not received it so I gave her another e-mail address and she forwarded the reply to me which was requesting more information from us. All 3 of the ladies I spoke with were very nice & did not seem to mind helping me get in touch with the right person. She also gave me a number to reach them at, and it is the same number I tried the first few times without success (011-52-55-5211-1723). I have not had to try to call them again as I have gathered up the info they need & have mailed it to them. They even notified me that they will be on holiday until after the New Year and they will review my complaint then.
At this point I have only received one more e-mail from the "financial adviser" in which she told me I have to accept their new deal within 48 hours to prevent legal and credit consequences. I guess we will wait and see what happens...

 

[tdjo1978]

I would never appear in a Mexican court for a civil matter. I can't advise you to appear either. The Napoleonic Justice system is far different that we are used to, just ignore them if it gets to that point, let them get a Mexican judgement, they still need to collect from you where you live. Greg

Do you mean that Sunset would go to court in Mexico for a judgement & we would not have to appear? Wouldn't that get us in trouble? Trust me! I do not want to appear, but don't want to get in trouble either. I don't know how any of this legal stuff works & I am not excited at the thought of finding out. I obviously still worry about the worst case scenario.

 

[aliikai2]

Pretty much yes.

I don't want you to get the idea that I dislike either Mexico or the Mexican people because I really love both.:whoopie:

But, since Mexico was ruled by France during the Napoleonic era, they adopted that judicial system.

There you are guilty until you can prove your innocence or in this case that you are in the right.

Therefore I would never ever intentionally appear at any court action in Mexico.

Greg

Do you mean that Sunset would go to court in Mexico for a judgement & we would not have to appear? Wouldn't that get us in trouble? Trust me! I do not want to appear, but don't want to get in trouble either. I don't know how any of this legal stuff works & I am not excited at the thought of finding out. I obviously still worry about the worst case scenario.

 

[tdjo1978]

I agree

I agree with you, we loved Mexico and the people there (with the exception of the people working with Sunset). But to be honest, even they were really nice & hard working...just the sales team had some unethical tactics to pressure people into buying. Speaking of their judicial system, I never knew the history, but I did know that it was easier to be "guilty" than innocent, especially for non-mexicans. That is the sole reason why we did not show our butts and cause a huge scene when the salesman would not return our IDs to us. I was scared that if we caused a scene & they didn't give them back to us, then someone called the police, we would be in trouble because we don't speak Spanish & we would have been the ones causing "trouble". I hope & pray it doesnt get to the point of court hearings, but I guess only time will tell.
Thanks again for your opinions & your help!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

[deleted long, off-topic ramble on the Napoleonic Code]

 

[louiso]

outcome

I just spoke to them(G&G) today, received the contract via email and it looks like its legit. No up front fee, they cancel your contract and stop the collection agency for $999.00 You pay nothing until you receive written proof of the succesful cancelation. I think I have no choice but to place my trust in these people and hopefully save some $$$$.... unless anyone has a better solution. So far this website has helped me with information, unfortunately it does a better job for people with timeshare knowledge and not so much for people like me, after the 5 day rescission period and now in a "life changing pickle"

what was your outcome with g&g
louiso