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VIDANTA SUCKS

PanaJack

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So I felt a need to share our experience with Vidanta.......

about 4yrs ago we purchased a Mayan Palace contract through the TUG Resale listings. At the time we understood that the family, no longer had a copy of their original contract, and was told by the intermediary (Broker) that it would not be a problem to get a copy from Vidanta, and provided a phone number to contact. Which we did once the sale was complete.

We've enjoyed 4 yrs of Vidanta, visiting Riviera Maya, and Nuevo Vallarta numerous times. We've been in awe of the services provided by the staff, and the beauty of both properties.

Now the current level of frustration started those 4yrs ago. Once we contacted Vidanta Member Services in 2019 requesting a copy of our Contract, we were informed that we would need to request it in person on property. So our next trip to Riviera Maya, we made an appointment with "Member Services" for a "Contract Review" please take note of those terms, as they seem to be quite interchangeable within the nightmare world of Vidanta. At that time we met with a guy who said he was Member Services and that we would be required to "upgrade" our existing 1999 contract at approximately $25,000, and he would not be able to get us a copy of our contract as it required us to have at least 72hrs remaining onsite, and the frustration continues.......

fast forward to 2023, we are currently onsite in Nuevo Vallarta, upon arrival we requested an "Contract Review" with "Member Services" with a very specific request of receiving a copy of our contract. At the point that they also offered a "free breakfast" we should have realized it would be yet another sales meeting.

Upon meeting with Martine, a personable nice guy, we were seated in the Bisto Bleu restaurant for a quick breakfast (after being left waiting for over 30 min for a menu, (yes they are all digital, but they had no placard to scan for the menu) and no waiter for even coffee or juice, even Martine became irritated. Finally getting some service, which we were only offered a single cup of coffee during the entire meal. Yes the general frustration from everyone in our group was being felt. Then onwards to their "Flash, ooohs, and awes" as Martine continued to attempt to impress us with their "Vision of Vidanta."

First thing once we were seated in their I'll call the sharks tank, he states that they will try to find a copy of our contract, but he can paraphrase the important parts. To which he begins by stating we have our 25yr renewal coming due next year (yes we knew this was coming) to which he starts by inflating the numbers, (at least 4 different times) and how if we would sign up for their legacy upgrade offer it would save us thousands over the course of the next 75yrs. Oh and it would relieve us of any further fee's associated with our Contract, and upgrade us to a "Grand Mayan" level of luxery with the option for free Cruises, Free Airline tickets, oh and discounts to their partner program in Hawaii, at a low cost of $18,000, to which they began negotiating down to $13,000. When we requested to think about the "one time offer" as we would be on property for 4 days yet, we were informed that this was a one time offer, and they could not hold it for the 4 days, so yes we declined.

At the culmination of this meeting we still did not have a copy of our contract, but Martine provided us with an email for customerservice@vidavactions.com to request a digital copy of our contract.

Now, with that in hand (note we'd already been down this path 4yrs prior - I did email them while we were still on property (NOTE: as of this writing we have 2 days left on property) the next morning we received a response stating we had to contact Member Services at 800-292-9446..... Of course now by now my frustration with them has reached a peak.

The first woman who I spoke with - I immediately asked to speak to a Supervisor, to which she promptly refused until she was able to get to the bottom of what I was calling about. I did warn her that I was not in a good mood as I'd already been jerked around, and that she should get her supervisor to speak with me first, and yet she refused. After rehashing all we'd been through already to just get a simple copy of our contract, she finally got a supervisor, who also stated was the Person in charge of Customer Service for Vidanta Member Services (I Call BS.) Now after yet rehashing the entire line of BS that we'd been given yet again - she states "we do not have a copy of old contracts" Hmmmmmmmm So I politely ask if they cannot prove that our contract exists, how do they think they can enforce any such contract? Did I mention the 25yr renewal? (NOTE: it has been noted in other threads here that it is an optional renewal, as their priority weeks roll over to RTU, and any and all Maintenance Fee's cease) Our 25yr renewal would be an approximate $7500. To which the "Vida Sales Guy Martine" tried to use as a threat against the $18,000 upgrade. Also noting that after the 25yrs any benefits that were associated with the original contract (read Legacy) would cease as well. Oh and the fact that the Mayan Palace would basically cease to exist within the next 5yrs.


Now per the "Supervisor" they could verbally go over said contract, even though they could not produce a copy as they do not have it on file anywhere. LOL

I gotta say I think we are finally at our breaking point with Vidanta, the fact that they can't even distinguish their own departments i.e. Member Services / Vida Sales as their own entities is kinda ridiculous, the fact that they cannot even keep a copy of a contract for which they want to use to threaten their own members with, yet even more ridiculous.

oh and dont bother with Profeco complaints - I was told here onsite by another member that his complaints against Vidanta to Profeco were met with a wall. Vidanta's deep pockets have basically bought Profeco's silence. (yes this is heresay but the fact that they can get away with all the stupidity that they do, must hold some truth to that rumor.)
 

Beach57

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I would finish out your contract and walk away.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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Taranova
Well - @PanaJack
That is quite a venting about Vida Sales tactics (& somewhat par for the course for them .)
In my opinion - Vidanta has very high quality resorts and does honor what is written in their contracts.

I assume your 2023 MF is about $ 1250 and your ownership is a 2 bedroom Mayan Palace
and the contract was originally sold in 1999.

Most of the contracts in that era seem pretty similar (IMO)

1) 25 year renewal at 5 x MF ( of current year)
2) Registered Week Renews as a Registered Week / MF is required annually.
3 ) There is a 6 month advanced booking window . This allows you to book into peak / snowbird season of the following year
(ie) July 1 2024 you can reserve any Jan. 2025 week --Aug. 1 2024 you can book any Feb. 2025 week
3) A optional use Vacation Fare is included . MF is paid if / when used . The booking window is 6 months [ except for reserving Feb. & March weeks- where it is 45 days ]
4) There is an every 5 year reno fee that is the cost of a MF **
5) Your 2 bedroom can be split into a 2 week stay for the MF cost You spend 1 week in a 1 bedroom & 1 week in the hotel room side.
Vida Sales used this feature as a sales tool when these contracts were sold. You can stay for 4 winter weeks if you split use the VF week for the last
two weeks in Jan. and split use the registered week for the first two weeks of Feb.
6) You MF has an increase cap . It is USA cpi +/- 3% for Mexican Inflation. [ later contracts have 5% listed ]]
7) Transfers to non family were 1 MF until after 2001 dated contracts. Note: [ this feature should remain after a 25 year renewal ]
8 ) You can deposit your week into RCI after paying the MF. A two bedroom should get about 30 - 35 Trading Power (TPU's) when deposited as 2 units.
( deposit as a 1 bedroom and a studio )

** [ note - If you renew at 25 years : it is likely you owe the reno fee + the 5 x MF ]

TUG members @pittle and / or @rpennisi may have copies of contracts of this era
My contract is a 25 year renewal but later so it has the MF on use only feature.

PS - They really want your registered week - newer contracts (since 2010 /11) do not renew as registered weeks
[ The 25 year renewal contracts were replaced by 10 year renewals with two additional weeks .After the first 10 years the
Registered Week goes away and you have two Residence Weeks ]
 
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PanaJack

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@T-Dot-Traveller you are correct......

My venting is in response to the way they are treating a simple request, and the absolute lies about who is responsible, and which business unit it is that is speaking.

We've loved the Vidanta that we've seen in the past - Vida Sales on the other hand I do believe every single person whose dealt with them have some choice verbage to define their experience.

And yes our contract being a 1999 one, has the 5 and 25yr renewal - however what their "Member Service" rep (actually a VIDA Sales rep) stated to us was not the 5X MF but a 5+1+1 which did not make sense. We do have the 2br lockout unit, which has served us quite perfectly - 3 adult kids plus US - so we book 2 rooms for a week and can vacation together. We have not utilized any trading in or out of other programs, as we consider ourselves quite new to this still.

And yes between yourself, @Plittle and @Eric we've learned quite a bit about the inner workings and nuances of Vidanta over the last few years.

Once we return to the states I do plan on contacting Member Services and seeing how to get some of their mess straightened out - and eliminating the possibilities of dealing with Vida Sales further.

Thank you for the information and assistance, it is always quite welcome.
 

rpennisi

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@T-Dot-Traveller you are correct......

My venting is in response to the way they are treating a simple request, and the absolute lies about who is responsible, and which business unit it is that is speaking.

We've loved the Vidanta that we've seen in the past - Vida Sales on the other hand I do believe every single person whose dealt with them have some choice verbage to define their experience.

And yes our contract being a 1999 one, has the 5 and 25yr renewal - however what their "Member Service" rep (actually a VIDA Sales rep) stated to us was not the 5X MF but a 5+1+1 which did not make sense. We do have the 2br lockout unit, which has served us quite perfectly - 3 adult kids plus US - so we book 2 rooms for a week and can vacation together. We have not utilized any trading in or out of other programs, as we consider ourselves quite new to this still.

And yes between yourself, @Plittle and @Eric we've learned quite a bit about the inner workings and nuances of Vidanta over the last few years.

Once we return to the states I do plan on contacting Member Services and seeing how to get some of their mess straightened out - and eliminating the possibilities of dealing with Vida Sales further.

Thank you for the information and assistance, it is always quite welcome.
I went through all the steps earlier this year to get copies of my two MP contracts that I bought on Ebay back in 2007. I had to request copies from member services. I did this in person at member services last January in NV, and was told to make the request in writing to member services. I then got letters from them, one for each contract that had to be signed and sent PDF file to them with a photo of my driver's license attached to the signed letter. These were for contracts that originally were signed in 2001 and 2004. The original prices were $17,010 (2001 for 2 bedroom suite) and $12,960 (2004 for one bedroom suite). They are 25 year contracts, then 5X MF for renewal, mandatory MF each year, and each has VF week if wanted.
 

pittle

TUG Review Crew
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Sorry that I am late in responding. The past week has been crazy busy and I have not looked at TUG. I have been busy getting my house ready for Christmas because I leave Saturday for PV and will be there 3 weeks. I like to have the house Christmas ready when I get home the first week of December.

Basically, you have a Registered week and a Vacation Fair week (the newer contracts use Residence weeks for the same as VF.) Newer contracts however, drop the Registered weeks at the 10 year mark. That is not true of your contract.

I do have two 1999 contracts in my oldest notebook. One is for Sea Garden (February 1999) and one is for Mayan Palace (November 1999) when we upgraded our Sea Garden to MP. They are exactly the same except for the words Sea Garden and Mayan Palace. This was when it was the resorts were Vidafel. If you do not get one from Vidanta, I can scan my MP one and email it to you via the conversation section of TUG the only page that has our names on it is the page with the receipt of payment. The Sea Garden one is the same. No initials. We also bought numerous MP weeks on ebay and none of those came with contract copies, but only one had the different transfer fee amount.

I also have a contract for Grand Mayan (April 2006) when the resorts were Grupo Mayan. It is also the same as it was before they started the 10 year renewal program.

I now have a Grand Luxxe contract that I will be renewing in January for 10 years and hope that I live long enough to go 10 more years as I am fortunate enough to have the Senior Certificate and will be going free after paying the renewal fee. I am counting on friends or family to go with me even if I am in a wheelchair. :) I can sit on a balcony while they play. This was our first year to use the Sr. Certs and we went to Acapulco GM and Puerto Penasco GM earlier this year. I will be at the Grand Luxxe for Thanksgiving with our son, daughter-in-law and grandson.
 
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PanaJack

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One item that I don't seem to have mentioned in my previous rant above - Does anyone know or have you heard about Vidanta's plans to do away with Mayan Palace? The Vida-Sales guy kept making a point to mention how in the next couple of years - Mayan Palace would not exist except in 3 locations total.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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One item that I don't seem to have mentioned in my previous rant above - Does anyone know or have you heard about Vidanta's plans to do away with Mayan Palace? The Vida-Sales guy kept making a point to mention how in the next couple of years - Mayan Palace would not exist except in 3 locations total.
It was a sales guy .........The goal is to panic you into upgrading & thereby padding his bank account.

Your resale Mayan Palace is a Right to Use Contract & it has a registered week every year. If you renew at 25 years it renews as a yearly registered week.
If you pay your MF & Vidanta had no Mayan Palace they would still have to give you a week's accommodation under the RTU .

I once met a couple who had taken over her dad's 1980's Vidafel Sea Garden Puerto Vallarta Marina contract. They were at the
Mayan Palace PV Marina under the RTU concept / contract .

FYI - when Grupo Mayan stopped selling Sea Garden contracts to gringos around 2010 - they continued to sell SG to
Mexican Nationals ..........
 
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davidvel

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What a hassle. For those who may be in OP's shoes, be sure to get a copy of the contract prior to closing your purchase.
 
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