Tried Rescinding and was denied.

[gpdr_11]

My parents have had a 1 week membership with Sunset World Resorts/Tres Rios for a few years. I've mostly been removed from this timeshare until I finally had a chance to attend one of the meetings with them at Tres Rios in the Riviera de Maya region.

We were sold an upgrade to their highest plan a 4+4 Studio Flex plan with a few other add-ons like 25% of a condo sale, corporate weeks, "equity" and the ability to sell our weeks for marketing. We signed thinking that this would be a better "investment" than their current membership (which I believed to not be worth it anyway). I ignorantly thought this would be a way to actually make some money. I felt bad for my parents whose English isn't great and likely didnt understand the first membership.

After reading the contract and doing some initial research, we decided we shouldn't move forward with the membership. There was nothing in the contract guaranteeing they would be able to sell our weeks, their promise of selling a $3M condo unit seemed too good to be true, and we realized that even though we could get our maintenance fees back in credit cards, we'd have to sell them as we cannot use American gift cards in Canada.

We saw a 5 day rescision period in the contract and decided to ask to cancel and just go back to my parents' old membership. We were within this period but still had two days on our stay. They booked a meeting with us near the end of their legal team's closing time making the process high-pressure. They then also told us that the rescision period was not valid since we bought a resale contract from them which wasn't discussed in our initial meeting. So, to avoid conflict and an uncomfortable last two days on vacation we ended up just staying with the membership. We felt like we'd need professional help to get advice or find a way out.

Should we have stuck to our guns and cancelled? Do you think there's still a way out? We're speaking with a lawyer here in Canada and are nervous we'd get any type of return (or even our "guaranteed" money back) after seeing all the complaints...I feel like I've been fed empty promises and a hefty debt to pay.

 

[TUGBrian]

very sorry to read this, those "trade in/trade up" schemes are almost universally a rip off for owners.

do you have any proof that you submitted your rescission form? or have a recording that you booked the meeting to cancel with whomever that was?

unfortunately it sounds like you may have changed your mind in said meeting (due to them lying to you and telling you you couldnt rescind) and instead told them to move forward with the purchase and that you didnt want to cancel?

is that figure accurate? are you truly discussing a 3 million dollar purchase?

what are the details of the new contract you signed? how long has it been? in all honesty, given the situation that this is a mexican timeshare, and you live in canada...you might just seriously consider stopping all payment/contact as the "best of the worst" courses of action moving forward depending on how much money we are talking here.

 

[gpdr_11]

very sorry to read this, those "trade in/trade up" schemes are almost universally a rip off for owners.

do you have any proof that you submitted your rescission form? or have a recording that you booked the meeting to cancel with whomever that was?

unfortunately it sounds like you may have changed your mind in said meeting (due to them lying to you and telling you you couldnt rescind) and instead told them to move forward with the purchase and that you didnt want to cancel?

is that figure accurate? are you truly discussing a 3 million dollar purchase?

what are the details of the new contract you signed? how long has it been? in all honesty, given the situation that this is a mexican timeshare, and you live in canada...you might just seriously consider stopping all payment/contact as the "best of the worst" courses of action moving forward depending on how much money we are talking here.

We did not submit a form and maybe should have just gone ahead and spoken to their legal team to cancel but we were extremely discouraged anything good would come out of it after they said the period to cancel was void. So, that's correct we ended up just taking a lower payment strategy.

We still have the email exchange requesting to cancel with the sales person.
They promised they'd sell a property for $3M and we'd get 25% of that sale. But I feel like it will sell for much less and after taxes and fees, we'd get nearly nothing.

We left Mexico on three days ago and have only made the initial deposit of around $6K USD split between two credit cards.

The contract includes what I mentioned above, 0% interest rate on our monthly deposits (they had said this was also on the maintenance fee which we later learned is not the case).
Along with the amount my parents already paid, the total amount payable is over $70K with a biennial maintenance fee of $1.1K.

I asked in the initial meeting if we could cancel at any time and they said we just need to make 6 maintenance fees but that it nowhere in the contract.

 

[NiteMaire]

We still have the email exchange requesting to cancel with the sales person.

Do you think there's still a way out?

You're likely locked in to the new contract (but I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice). I'd send the email exchange and contract to the credit card companies along with you stating the charges aren't valid. There have been times that credit card companies have removed the charges.

 

[easyrider]

We did not submit a form and maybe should have just gone ahead and spoken to their legal team to cancel but we were extremely discouraged anything good would come out of it after they said the period to cancel was void. So, that's correct we ended up just taking a lower payment strategy.

We still have the email exchange requesting to cancel with the sales person.
They promised they'd sell a property for $3M and we'd get 25% of that sale. But I feel like it will sell for much less and after taxes and fees, we'd get nearly nothing.

We left Mexico on three days ago and have only made the initial deposit of around $6K USD split between two credit cards.

The contract includes what I mentioned above, 0% interest rate on our monthly deposits (they had said this was also on the maintenance fee which we later learned is not the case).
Along with the amount my parents already paid, the total amount payable is over $70K with a biennial maintenance fee of $1.1K.

I asked in the initial meeting if we could cancel at any time and they said we just need to make 6 maintenance fees but that it nowhere in the contract.

You can dispute the credit card charges and have 14 days to do so. Call and explain that this is fraud or unauthorized.

Bill

 

[gpdr_11]

You're likely locked in to the new contract (but I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice). I'd send the email exchange and contract to the credit card companies along with you stating the charges aren't valid. There have been times that credit card companies have removed the charges.

You can dispute the credit card charges and have 14 days to do so. Call and explain that this is fraud or unauthorized.

Bill

If I get the charges reimbursed, wouldn't I still be on the hook for the rest of the payments and still be locked to their contract? We want to avoid cancelling these cards outright if possible.

 

[easyrider]

If I get the charges reimbursed, wouldn't I still be on the hook for the rest of the payments and still be locked to their contract? We want to avoid cancelling these cards outright if possible.

You don't need to cancel the cards to stop payment. In fact, all you have to do is tell the credit card company that you don't want them to pay if you are unsatisfied and in the 14 day window. I would still say they misrepresented their product which is what you are telling us anyway. Look at page 19 and see the special notation for timeshare purchases. So if you do not fund the payment to the resort in Mexico they might cancel your membership. So what if they do ? You can get another for probably nothing.

Bill

https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/merchants/chargeback-management-guidelines-for-visa-merchants.pdf

Timeshare You must provide a full credit when a transaction receipt has been processed and the cardholder has cancelled the transaction within 14 calendar days of the transaction date.

 

[TUGBrian]

to answer your other question, yes youd still be the owners of whatever deal you had before you purchased the "upgrade".

would absolutely use that email proof to support your claim that you tried to cancel legally yet were told you could not.