Vida Vacations Reviews

We refused to pay today then they bring us to another guy. The guy is offer us pay 2500 then we will become member, enjoy one week free for vida property and 2000off for all inclusive hotel. We don't want to it, since we reviewed online, everyone said it's scam. Then he offered 750 to enjoy Disney cruise. And we still not do it, he was piss off and became rude. We felt lucky walk outside of the building without paying anything. At last, we pay the taxi fee to get back our cruise. We totally wasted one day there and pay 20 dollars for taxi.

When we got there they said that to her would take quite a bit of time since their property is over 3,000 Acres so we opted for the short one which was in an office building upstairs is a typical timeshare presentation. So once breakfast was done I was looking at my clock and what ended up we were being told was 1 hour presentation the hour didn't even start when we finish with breakfast it started when we got back up to the up to the timeshare presentation room again after several minutes touring the property scene rooms going through visuals of future properties blah blah blah.

Total time spent there was just about 4 hours. I was livid on our last day of vacation. I wanted to spend more time relaxing by my pool, not putting up with their multiple layers of sales people that all didn't seem to understand the word no. The people themselves were very nice sweet talking and pleasant, but they were kind of like someone mentioned before, salesman in a snake suit. They had one motive and that was to pressure you into something when you balked at the price, they brought somebody different and put you in another room to get what you were offered, then another person comes to ask how it was then they stick you with another price and it went on and on and on.

They saw that I was getting upset and at this point trying my best to be pleasant with them but forcefully kept on asking for the damn taxi to leave period they had no problem escorting you right where you needed to be when you got there but when it came time to leave they pointed you the direction and we were kind of lost and stuck in Jurassic Park. I'm very thankful we walked out of there without spending and dying but people that have not been in as many tours as we have would definitely have a problem say no to them. But that would be the biggest mistake of your life, when you can rent it from Airbnb, from someone else, regardless of the cost, and the long term would save you thousands of dollars rather than paying and exorbitant fee up front and then continually paying for every week you want to go to on vacation. And they conveniently ask you a front if you have any other appointments.

If you are tempted to go on a tour, which I'm warning you not to, at least tell them you have an appointment like in three hours from the time you walk in their door, although I'm not sure that would help you. They would probably try to argue and fight with you that you was supposed to have no time limits, yet you were promised a one-hour tour after breakfast or lunch whatever meal you went to, which is not going to happen I guarantee.

After check-in: Greeted by personal concierge, given potent drink, do not drink it until after you decline free breakfast and 1-hour presentation booking slot, even if they insist that you must attend.

If you attend breakfast your salesperson joins you for breakfast then takes you to the isolated sales area, note, no guest WiFi access. They will draw rectangles, acronyms, lines, a dollar sign and cross it out, etc. Ask for a standard contract to review while they are doodling. When they step away note the laptop camera is pointing towards you, they are waiting for you to discuss information to use on the sale closure. Make something up and watch them return to use that information to close the sale. You then meet the manager, taken outside to meet the unscrupulous used car salesman, then taken to a basement to meet the “closer” who actually is a used car salesman. Then told how to leave, unescorted, back to shuttles.

Time wasted: 4 hours.

Gained: Breakfast, tour of property, water view from best balcony, discount on resort fee (keep receipt.)

I have sat through sales pitches on timeshares, travel clubs and the like my share of times; but this one was over the top. The free breakfast buffet and one-hour sales presentation turned into far more than that. My wife was in serious physical distress going through the gauntlet; but little care was shown by several layers of sales people we interacted with.

Things at one pointed nonetheless sounded good; and I actually initially put a deposit down on one deal. Yet in the final, video-recorded close process, yet more things came to light that weren't prior. After another LONG process through a few last-minute pitch attempts, I was able to get these people to refund my money...and THEN finally get on with our honeymoon. Further, after added investigation, we found that most of what was promised was disingenuous (and in part, after visiting with other vacationers there, a couple of whom regretted their own prior purchase but were now making the best of things).

The part aggravating, part comical aspect of all this is that the property was most impressive (though not exactly cheap; we wondered how the families with small children did cost-wise). The grounds were beautiful and impeccably maintained, landscaped, etc. Pretty much to a person, the employees were wonderful and attentive to our every need. We ate some of the best meals we have had anywhere.

In the end, Vidanta's Founder Daniel Chavez has a mid-size Cadillac equivalent of a vacation experience to sell. How and why he sees fit to allow people to sell it as if they were trying to move an old Chevy on its last legs to an unsuspecting sucker I don't understand. So if you vacation to Vidanta, enjoy the experience...but refuse ANY and all attempts to hook you.

We own several timeshares in the states and have been to many sales presentations, but these folks take the cake. They are as smooth as slick Willie in a snake suit. We had to go thru 4 layers of snakes, sales people, to make it out of Jurassic Park. The whole process, from the 20-30 minute cab ride, twice, to the 3 hours of lunch and sales, put us at about 4 hours. We were glad to get back to our cruise ship and sail away, way away. So, please take our advice, us and the other reviews, stay clear and save your money.

To allow an example, I asked him to show me Lucerne Switzerland for August 2023. I knew how much a week's rental was running on Airbnb (where I often book) so this would be a fair test if the package would save me money. At $499 per week, I would be saving at least $1,000 per week in rental if the package was legit. He brought it up on his computer and showed me dozens of places. I asked if they were all available at the cost of $499 per week. He said yes, all of these would be available at $499 per week in Lucerne, Switzerland. So, thinking it was a good deal I bought it.

Then, after the rescind period passed I find out that NOTHING in the WHOLE country of Switzerland is available. For any date, let alone in August. Whatever Darryl showed all 6 of us was NOT the real deal. And the contract states that Limitless Vacations does not assume any promises made by their sales people. In other words, the sales people can demonstrate the product, you think you're going to get that product, but you won't. And you also won't get your money back. If you are reading this, and within your 5 days to rescind, do so!

The free stays they’ll pressure you to upgrade and spend an arm and a leg to do it. When you refuse all of it and ask how to cancel, they’ll either A) Put you on hold indefinitely so you can’t get through to talk to someone, B) Sound understanding and tell you to just stop paying the bank your Loan (horrible, dangerous advice), C) Try and ignore all your concerns and get you to book your “free” week or, D) Ignore you and all of your follow ups going forward. It’s horrible. It’s sleazy. It’s dishonest. The hotel isn’t even that nice and everything they say in the meeting is misleading. I could not have worse things to say. And I actually have parents and friends with timeshares that ARE good and helpful so I’m not a total timeshare hater. But this my friends… this is a flat-out scam.

I received a phone call from Hawaiin Vacations last week to find out that in order to receive what we were promised we would have to pay an additional $3000 & they do not SELL our current timeshare. They can only have us deposit our points with them. We were verbally told that I would be able to get everything that the platinum package provides but they omitted to tell us it would cost us an additional $3000.

After paying the $3000, the platinum package includes a reoccurring fee of $99 a year instead of $299 a year for basic plan, 100% inventory, 40 weeks on the platform that never expire, 4 authorized users on the account, 2 free cruises a year, airfare, prorated nightly room rates, gain full access to Hawaiian Vacations Maintenance fee Protection & Platinum Rental Program which means Hawaiin Vacation would be our property manager, small brokerage fee, to advertise and rent out our units for us for the units we don't use to receive money back to make a profit.

I also thought and was told that if we don't use our timeshare, we would be able to rent out our units on our own, to get cash back, through VRBO or Airbnb using Vidanta website pictures and descriptions BUT to do this there is a $3000 fee to initiate rentals through those websites and the lowest I can go to rent for a week is $850 - $1900 BECAUSE I'M NOT PLATINUM, which means NO PROFIT! Platinum for a week is $699 to $899 and I am currently $850 - $1900 for a week in the basic plan. Under the platinum plan at additional $3000 if we chose to rent out our units, we would make a profit ... that one's a kicker because without the platinum package our weeks will cost is $850 for a room and $1900 for a suite for a week!

Here is another issue I have and that's the Ambassador Program. We were told we were chosen because we live in Washington State, and they wanted more people from our State to check out the Vidanta properties. We were given 10, 8-day 7-night accommodation certificates which include ground transportation from airport to resort. They stated for us to donate these 10 certificates to Make a Wish Foundation in Washington State and when Make a Wish Foundation auctions them off, we get paid for each certificate auctioned off. We could get up to $5000 a year if all 10 are auctioned off and any money collected gets put on a Vidanta visa which we would collect when we go on a vacation at a Vidanta property. We are supposed to get 10 certificates this year and an additional 10 certificates next year which could bring in $10,000 in 2 years.

In the paperwork, there is no directions on how to donate these certificates to Make a Wish Foundation in order for us to get our certificate credits. I contacted Vidanta and requested help on the process to get a return email that states the following "Make a Wish Foundation & Vidanta Resorts are two separate and independent companies. Therefore, to receive accurate information regarding my request to donate certificates, I should contact Make a Wish Foundation in Washington State directly." WHAT!!!! Vidanta is who signed me up for the Ambassador Program and now that I have questions, they can't help me!!!? Nowhere in the paperwork does it tell you how to donate certificates to charities nor is there any contact information for questions. We are left in the dark on how to donate and make sure that we get financial credit for the certificates we are donating.

We don't want to donate and take the chance that Make a Wish Foundation doesn't know anything about the program, and we do not receive the $5000 as was stated to me once all 10 certificates have been auctioned off. The welcome package for the Ambassador program does not mention CHARITIES. It only mentions friends, family, colleagues and also states that guests only pay the usage fee for the room type in our contract which without platinum it's $850 (room) to $1900 (suite) for a week depending on if they want an entire suite or a bedroom. That's a rip-off for a week!!!! Nobody is going to want a certificate for a week for that price, therefore, we won't get any money back.

When we were sold this Ambassador package, we did the math and thought to ourselves that there was no way we could lose but this is farthest from the truth! We feel that we were frauded for their gain. We signed the contract, after being there 6 hours and wanting to leave, TRUSTING that what we spoke about was what we're receiving. Shame on us for trusting them!!! We will be going all over the internet to let everyone know to steer clear of purchasing ANYTHING with Vidanta properties because we feel we have been ripped off!!! We DEMAND ALL OF OUR MONEY BACK otherwise we will be very vocal about your lies on ALL PLATFORMS!!!

I just found out that club freedom is another type of luxury timeshare with prices out of my pocket. That club freedom is useless unless you are a millionaire. We wasted our hard earned money on this crap. My mother is retired and is living out of his pension, part of her money went there. It's so shameful. The park was supposed to be opened this month and did not happen. They also sold us a suite in the Kingdom of the sun which is still under construction. It was too much information and we were already tired of being there. Hopefully, this helps someone save their money.

After six hours of being there and being sent from room to room to room to room four different places one of the places making a complaint about the whole thing I felt targeted. I felt pressured. I felt I couldn’t leave. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know how to get back to my resort. I insisted several times for them to get me my taxi. Instead they would take me to another area where another Man was waiting to talk me into this. All of a sudden they brought the price down from $40,000-$5000 so I felt the only way to get out of there was a sign a contract for $5000. They also promised me that this could be used in Europe. It could be used all over the world. It’s not just in Mexico. They gave me a song and a dance and in the contract it mentions Europe but it happens to be a whole other thing called Limitless vacations which is something separate entirely that I have to pay for.

They had me so confused what was going on. If you can only imagine six hours of sitting there or being brought around from place to place how tired I was. I just wanted to get back to my resort onto my vacation that I wanted to be on. They wore me down. Fast forward now I’m home looking at everything and I realize none of the things were true about Europe. This can only be used in Mexico and they already don’t have the weeks available I was looking at. So now After trying to make it work I realize this is not what I wanted. I called up immediately to try to get out of my contract. The woman was very nice. She brought it to another person called Luke. Luke brought it to corporate and today I received word from corporate that it’s not happening. I said, "Well I guess you guys like targeting single women and keeping them hostage for six hours against their will and so on and so forth until they sign."

Just giving everybody a heads up do not buy anything in Vidanta. - Vida Vacations. They are snakes. They lie. Looking back I truly felt like they mentally wore me down and my only way out was money. Now I’m stuck with a timeshare I will never use. I lost 5000.00 and I feel like a fool. Corporate did not even take this seriously. Again treating a woman like she is beneath them. They told me to find a Spanish speaking lawyer. The nerve of these people.

Also be aware that the place is huge and very confusing to get around on the property. It’s also very far from town, and they do this on purpose to confuse you. Do Not Book a room here, prices on the resort are very expensive and they will use bait and switch tactics to get more $$ out of you. Also, you cannot use all the pools and restaurants, only the ones associated with your unit, which invalidates the point of going to a big resort. The gondolas are not available to guests either and if you want to see Cirque de Soleil you must buy an expensive ticket.

BUT IN CASE you went and were pressured to BUY, if you are within 5 business days of signing the contract, YOU CAN BACK OUT without penalty. Type a letter and sign it & take it along with all the documents you signed & deliver them back (don’t tell them you are canceling, or they will try to block you). In Mexico you have 5 days by law to cancel. Internet has more information on this. I honestly do not know how this place has not been investigated for fraudulent practices but nevertheless the WARNINGS are real!

Orestes picked us up promptly at 9am, and took us to the largest construction area I’ve ever seen. Just by dropping us there, he has earned his commission. The the resort is stunning…I mean absolutely breathtaking. You feel like you’re in Jurassic Park, it’s honestly that massive, & it’s not even completed yet. We were given bright green VIP wrist bands and whisked to the front desk for check in. They want a lot of info up front. This is where you start to see how complex this scam is. It’s very layered and very well thought out. Dean from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan greeted us with a firm handshake and an ex police officer smile, He gave us a warm Canadian back story to make us comfy and trust him and then sent us to brunch with “his best” sales guy Enrique.

We liked Enrique, great kid with a big heart. He’s in the wrong business though, his colleagues are cold, and lack his empathy & understanding. My partner & I watched elderly couples, single mothers, & newlyweds go through this confusing sales tunnel. It was really awful. After saying no to Enrique, he asked us to think about it. Saskatoon Dean was not impressed, he told us to sign at $20K or leave. Wow. Okay…no problem Dean. (It’s more about the Canadian dollar, not the flag for him. Dean is also a flustered man because his son cost him too much money at Pilot school.)

But now there is a problem, you can’t leave! You get sent into more rooms, and more sales reps are after your money. You can’t walk throughout the resort. You have to wait for a golf cart. But they won’t call you a golf cart until they’re done with you. Ultimately we paid (can you believe it?!) $4K and were waiting to sign the final contract when the smoke and mirrors came crashing down. There is no specific final contract!!

Vida Vacations sales reps are mandated to record the last stage of their sales “scam” (which in itself already says a lot about this company). During this recording we were asking for the exact details that had been promised to us. They said they “couldn’t change a legal contract, but rest assured, our deal was good and everything we had agreed on would be fine.” We asked for an instant refund. They sent in one final sales rep to convince us things were safe. Up until now, every other sales rep had been like minded in some way. They all had either a Canadian or USA connection and were all very attractive, active people with great smiles. This guy looked, and spoke like he was fresh out of prison. He then offered us another $2K off the final total, and was just pissed about it.

My partner had been very upfront about being a nerdy lawyer who would be looking the contract over closely. I cannot tell you the joy I felt while watching their scam fall apart as my partner ripped apart all the legal issues with the Vida Vacations “contract”. I thought Luke from BC, the Vida Vacation’s legal representative, was going to cry. I wanted to applaud at the end. It was an interesting day. I’m glad we went there but I don’t recommend it. Dean, their Director of Sales, from Saskatoon will be leaving for Australia soon. Maybe things will better? I doubt it.

After paying for almost 1 year, I inquired about using 2 weeks and was told it would be $1700 to use 2 of the weeks that we had "purchased" and that we would only be able to use a "studio" unit, a glorified hotel room. We were led to believe we would have 2 bedroom unit at the time we purchased. They are incredibly dishonest and will tell you anything to get a sale. Avoid these crooks AT ALL COSTS!!!

I was lead to believe that the Weekly cost to rent a room with the purchase of the Vidanta program was at a discount because I paid the large upfront cost. But in doing research and talking to several members I have found out that the weekly cost to stay on one of Vidanta resorts without the Vidanta Vacation program is well below the price you would have to pay in being part of the program. (So I paid a large upfront cost so I could pay more for the weekly rate!) Does that sound like a good deal? I don't believe so. I would be a richer person today and get a better weekly rate l if I did not purchase the Vidanta vacation program as it is only a deal for Vidanta and not their customers.

The customer service rep’s name is Mark **!!! Yes you heard me **! ** later sent an email apologizing, and only because he was forced to do it by his boss! You see on the same day, I thought that I was fortunate to meet another Mark, his name is Mark **. After I complained to Mark ** about **’s behavior, an apology came in email from Mark **. That apology was never accepted, and needless to say, both Mark are simply part of a shady company. I later received an email from Vida Vacations with a complaint case initiated by customer service, and a promise to follow up, no follow up ever happened.

Now, please help me out!!! I am going to file a class action lawsuit, based on what happened to me and you at the hands of this company! We can't let this company continue to swindle hard working people and generate such negative emotions in all of us. All I need from anyone who was abused by Vida Vacations is your support "NOT MONEY"!!! We are all victims of shady practices based on lies and fabrications. I will create a group on Facebook by the name of "Vida Victims.” I would like to look up each and everyone of you on Facebook, ask you for your story, and hopefully create a Vida victims’ group. We can only do it TOGETHER!

We called twice to reception to inform that we were unable to sleep due to the activities next door. They did not do anything. We spent 5 long days and the day that we were checking out our returning flight was cancelled. We could not take it no more, we just wanted to leave. We booked a new flight reservation to avoid two more nights at this hotel. We needed to spend a credit of 1,375 dollars for food and we did not spend we also lost it. We were supposed to spend 7 days but our flight was cancelled at our departure day from New York. We ended spending more money than we planned.

I told my friend to keep a picture of this place because we are not planning to come back or recommended to anyone else. Too expensive for the poor quality of service offered. Be aware of the 1:30 minutes meeting. It will take all day. There is not need of having a membership to enjoy a good and quality vacation in a five diamonds resort. The marketing crew is full of corruption, lies and ethical values.

Our first sales person in 2020 was Loren and the second two in June were Frank and Claudia. Then again VIDA VACATIONS failed to have the two other timeshares transferred when I called to remind them in September, 2021. Frank said that he would waive on transfer fee. When it still hadn’t gotten done, he said that they would waive both fees and pay our Maintenance fees for 2022…thus admitting failure to follow the contract. We then decided that we did not want to be associated with VIDA VACATIONS and requested our contracts to be cancelled and all monies refunded. After MULTIPLE emails back and forth, For several months, VIDA VACATIONS just cancelled our contracts but are not refunding the monies that we have paid since October, 2020.

They are a fraud and deserve any negative ratings that they receive and they should put out of business…they have a reputation of being CRYING MAYAN and I understand why now. I will blast them on every social media venue, file a complaint with the Mexico Protection Group PROFECO, and then probably get an attorney…places like this need to be put out of business.

There have been many instances since we joined with them but this most recent instance got my blood boiling. We renewed our membership with Limitless Vacations for 5 years on the promise we were to receive a certificate that would cover our stay fully, meaning nothing out of pocket. Ooops, the inventory updates every 6 months and now that is no longer the case. We tried to book and were surprised to see it was going to cost us $1,000.00 when we were promised that there was nothing out of pocket. Our contact is unable (unwilling) to do anything to honor the deal. Only refund the amount we paid, effectively freezing our account, which is not helpful at all. Asked to speak to a manager and we'll see what happens. This has been ongoing for over 2 weeks, with no resolution.

They said they are competing with Disney - they have a contract with Cirques du Soleil. We were treated to a lunch on the premises in an Italian Restaurant. The person giving our presentation sat with us, asking us very specific questions, trying to understand our need or desire for a timeshare; "A different way to vacation," he said. He shared pictures of his family. He said from the beginning, for us to say yes or no (and we did). He walked us to a few rooms in the resort and then to their show rooms, then through a hall of advertising specific to this tour. Three times the representative said, "But this is not how your rooms will look." (How would they look?)

He would ask us very pointed questions to get our buy in. I asked some specific questions, that were avoided until the end. The more either my friend or I declined and wanted to wait to make a decision, the more they pushed how wonderful their product was and the longer we were there. Each time we declined, toward the end of this lengthy diatribe, the cost was reduced. What started out to be a $16,000+ product for single bedroom/queen sized bed with bath, no cooking area, for a 20 year membership, went down 2x to a final $10,600 membership to their exclusive members only plan. The actual rental of the room for a week or two weeks was not included in this amount.

In review, We were dropped off at the shuttle shortly after 11am. Approximately 11:10. We started our lunch with the representative around 11:30 am. We left the resort about 4:45 pm, back in town at 5:05pm. I told them at least 4 times, I wanted to do my research on their company, look at the reviews, consult with people I trusted. I explained I was a single woman and I wanted to make an informed decision. I explained I would enjoy finding a place to return to, but I would not make an impulsive decision. I explained I have bought 4 houses in my history and this was an investment. They pushed harder by sending another manager or supervisor.

On the 3rd supervisor, I told her, "I want to go back to my room. I have heard the same information 4 times." There was an awkward moment while she sized me up, never smiling, Not once did she acknowledge that we wanted to go. (Very poor people skills.) She proceeded to give us more information, we had already heard, showing us the same pictures, graphs, numbers, again. She showed us pictures of she and her family in an 8 bedroom rental on vacation in Bali. The Ambassador program felt too good to be true and felt like a scam. A win/win situation we were told.

My friend ended up putting down a $600 deposit so they would let us out of there. It was an additional 20-30 minute ride back to our location. We did not go to the island tour and performance that we were given as a perk. We got back too late to get ready for the event. They could have cared less that they took most of one of our vacation days at their resort. I won't use their coupon for the week stay the original rep gave us. I don't want to go through their hard sell again and it is only a coupon for some of the stay.

I call it Sophisticated Intimidation! I'm not sure who comes up with these marketing scams, and I'm not sure how they sleep at night. One of the managers took the shuttle with us to return us to where we arrived and finally got us a taxi. The experience was grueling, not pleasant for a first time visit. These types of things are about the experience. I've participated in 3 timeshares in the past and none of them were nearly as weird and pushy as this one.

Original Review: Sept. 6, 2021

My wife and I recently traveled to Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta. Prior to leaving on our vacation, a Vida customer service representative talked us into prepaying $1500 for our resort food and drink and we would receive $250 bonus. During checkout, we were told we had a balance and did not use all of our pre-paid funds. We asked if we could have a credit back to our card for the funds we did not use. Our understanding of how it worked, based on the terms and conditions is we would not get the $250 bonus. However, we did want our unused money credited back to our account. Reading their terms and conditions of the promotion, it does not specifically state unused funds are lost. After speaking to multiple customer service representatives and a manager, their stance was we lose any unspent funds that were prepaid.

We are not happy with Vidanta because of this. It ruined any positive feelings we had about the resort and Vidanta as a company. For anyone that is travelling to a Vidanta resort, please do not use their pre-paid promotion. They will take whatever money you do not use and not refund it back. We loved our experience at the resort and staff, but this policy in our minds is a scam. We will never do this promotion again and we will let the sales people know of this horrible experience every time we travel to the resort.

Also if you're a native Spanish speaker use it to your advantage or else they will assume you're a stupid American or foreigner. This is a pyramid scheme through and through. If you have a day to waste for perks and benefits do it but piss them off in the process. I have successfully visited all 8 locations and am proud to have said no and gotten my benefits. Enjoy your time and remember to say NO no matter what.

We should have read what we were signing more carefully, but that is how these sales people work: they wear you out and assume that by the end, you’ll just sign and walk out the door. Add to that a number of problems on our first visit, including no hot water in one of our rooms for several days and sub-par housekeeping. DO NOT PURCHASE FROM VIDA VACATIONS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

We are both in our 70's with no grandchildren. We will never use this property. To make a long story short, we were told it several lies by this man. We have contacted Vidanta Member Services requesting help with getting our money back to no avail. We know that we should have walked away, but based on the lies told to us by the agent, we did not. Any information on how to proceed with battling Vidanta will be greatly appreciated.

It was also very high pressure. I believe the check-in was around 5 PM so no matter when you get there they have you for a long period of time before you can check in. So they work hard to sell you the timeshare. Like most times your pictures you will hear from several people who will all tell you slightly different things. The contract was not at all what they told me. They never told me about it only being 10 years. But the contract stated that. I cancelled. And thank god I did. Don’t be sucked in. You have very little recourse if you sign the contract and pay money. They also tell you they will help you get out of your existing timeshares. This is also somewhat of a sham because that will cost you another two to $3000 to pay someone to pick up your timeshare and probably default on it. Who knows what your liability will be in this situation. Again the resort is fairly nice. I would suggest you spend the week. Enjoy yourself. Do not buy a timeshare and go home.

One year we had a 2-week battle (at the resort) to resolve damages done to our rental car in valet parking. The Grand Mayan kitchens are generally outdated and under-equipped but are OK for snacks and light meals. Do check out the Mayan Palace property in Puerto Vallarta at the marina. It's a little gem. With so many good last-minute, all-inclusive, 5-star deals out there, we wish we had never succumbed to that first sales meeting! Caveat emptor.

- Vida Style dollars is a myth: it is NOT treated as CASH and can be spent only as a partial payment for a limited number of grossly-overpriced options. The initial promise to deposit $4,500 with no expiration date in total resulted in $1,000 showing up and expiring in 6 months. I was able to reinstate a portion of it (took me a number of phone calls and long correspondence), the reinstatement showed up with 1 year period. The rep stated that she could do no better and I had to call them annually to re-instate the balance... I gave it up, and, when the membership bill came in, I just ignored it.

All in all, the experience left us with a bitter taste in our mouth and I would never ever recommend it to anyone I know.

My experience whether it was looking at options for an upgrade or contract brief to review contract particulars was in no way unbearable. I've had the same sales rep and his assistant and they know why I'm there (told them upfront) and when I'm ready to leave. I do allow them a short period to discuss any options they think I'm interested in and if not I leave. No dragging of feet or hard feelings. I don't waste their time and they don't waste mine.

What may be helpful is I talk to the sales rep or his assistant at least once prior to vacationing. Discussion is to let them know what I'm interested in talking to them about when onsite and also to discuss where we'll stay. Also when we arrive, during check-in, and the "greeter" sets a time to meet with sales staff I again make it known whether I expect a short meeting or longer one. Lastly, if you're comfortable with your contract there's no requirement to meet with the sales staff unless you want the breakfast and the discount on your bill. Bottomline if you go to a meeting let them know up front what you're looking for.

While we applaud the creativity and vision of the Vidanta Group, the tactics used to convince you to upgrade are disrespectful and deceitful! We were told that many MP rooms at the PV site were going to be converted to a higher level room so we would no longer be able to get rooms easily there with our current contract. So really this company is NOT honouring the contract they signed with us!!!! However, if we upgraded we would stand more chance of getting a time slot. Also with an upgrade, we were told we could book 12 months in advance. To sweeten the deal when it looked like we were going to walk away without upgrading, we were given significant monetary deposit to our Vida Lifestyle account so use for other travels (as we like to do). We were promised another significant addition when we returned in 2021. These two additions were supported by written documentation.

All Vida dollars were to be added without an expiry date to use them. We signed the paperwork and provided a deposit then finally returned back to our PV room 7 - 7 1/2 hours later. We read the details of the contract (43 pages) over the next couple of days - only to see much of what we were told was either not in the contract (eg. no expiry date of Vida dollars) or contradicted what we were verbally told (able to book room 12 months out - was either 4 or 6 months)! We tried to contact them to discuss these discrepancies but were not able to connect.

In the end, we decided to cancel our contract as we could not trust them. As per the contract, we had 5 working days to cancel so we notified them of the decision to cancel. As it was inside the timelines, the request was honoured and our deposit was refunded - so that is good. We have walked away from half of our initial contract but decided it best “to cut our losses” rather than continue to invest in them!

However, the experience left us with a feeling of disgust and distrust for this company and we wish to warn others! Do not go to the presentation- it simply is not worth the hours and aggravation. If you do go and purchase- make sure you read all the documents in the contract to ensure it confirms what you were lead to believe from the talks! If not, cancel within the time notes in the contract! We are relieved to have no further dealings with Vida Vacations but will continue to enjoy annual visits to PV!

Original Review: March 6, 2020

Beware: Vida Lifestyle dba: Our Vacation Center/Vacation Privileges/International Cruise and Excursion Gallery. Inc. We purchased a timeshare through Vida Vacations in June of 2019. It was a big mistake. Not only was it expensive but it came with many promises that have restrictions or cannot be fulfilled. The contracted timeshare we will continue to try and get something out of it but membership with Vida Lifestyle is a joke. Again, promises of great deals if you buy into the “Preferred” Membership $$. Yes, they are anxious to give you all sorts of vacation and merchandise deals and bonuses like extra weeks and Vida Dollars - if you pay more when you use them!

My original sales rep for Lifestyles was very pleasant and convincing. I don’t blame her; she’s only trying to do her job. Since my initial interaction, it has been hard to contact her or anyone else in the Company. Either I must wait on the phone for 20+ minutes, they don’t return calls or follow through on appointments to speak to management. The only way to communicate is by phone, your emails are blocked (or the ones listed don’t work), customer service will not give out management phone numbers or addresses or even a name.

One of my biggest complaints is that their membership promises that you can use your contracted weeks to access more than 10,000 unique resort properties in the world (they have a terrific directory.) When I tried to use a week to access the 59 resorts listed in Oregon and Washington, there was no “Availability” (I tried to access any week over the period of an entire year.) I could bank or exchange my weeks with SFX exchange company (you must be a member $ too), but even that has proven to be difficult if not impossible. Every exchange or banking has additional fees and you must pay your designated “deposit” up front. No guarantee that you will get what you want.

Since our purchase my family has gone through some difficult and expensive health and family issues. Vida and Vida Lifestyles were kind enough to offer monthly payments with no interest, but they will not cancel or take back the timeshare or membership. Why should they? I just feel so stupid and violated. I’ve lost sleep and having digestive problems. Well, it’s just thousands of dollars, what’s the big deal?

I requested to get out of my contract due to financial hardship. They convinced me to go with a downgrade and since my monthly payments were going down by almost 200, I didn't question much, but I started doing some digging and realized that I never received the 13,900 credit. At this point what I had paid put me at an overage of several thousand over the downgraded cost, but not without the 13,900 credit. What I uncovered is that Vida had no record that they had promised this to me. And basically I transferred my other timeshare back to its old company and paid 1750 to do it! Losing basically 15,650. On top of that Vida has me paying off 9,500 now even though I technically am in overage. So I've lost 25,000. Do you understand the zero stars? :(.

Now we have been trying to dump our Barrier Island Beach Resort for a few years, at this point, but could due to our week being in Feb. So always had to pay exchange fee for summer, and always last minute as we were trading blue for red. Not to mention the special assessment fees of $3K that we recently had to pay. So when they said "we'll take your time share and credit towards this "private residence", and "you won't have to pay maintenance fees every year cuz you only pay when you go," we were onboard. Little did we know we HAD to join their exchange co, Vidanta, which cost $400/year, unless you give them another $3600 to bring that down to $99/year. I didn't find this out till I got home. I thought, well if I use the other timeshare (I still had a Massanutten Timeshare that I liked) to go other places, and only went to Mexico with this one, I wouldn't have to pay, but not the case.

At the time of the presentation, they gave me VIDA Dollars and 1 complementary year for SFX and Interval, but I never used them or the Mayan Palace Studio we bought in Nuevo Vallarta yet. We bought this for $15,000 in 4/18 + gave them our worthless Barrier Island, even though we had to pay an additional $1800 for Timeshare Resale Market to sell ours. They said the process would take up to 15 months. We still own it, but here's the twist. They have paid 2 maintenance fees of $830 each since! And the attorney's office either answers the phone or gets right back to me when I call. Now I have to say, that my BI timeshare has gone through 2 management companies since and I can see it would be hard to get anything done with it. But there's been no money out of my pocket on it since we did it.

Now they did say that we had to use it by 2022. And I have to say I am dreading as far as the "Ownership Review" process everyone is talking about. But my 1st bill for the $400 is coming up and I guess I have to pay it, not to mention I really want to go to Mexico for vacation, and what's the point of paying $15K for something I don't use?

Bottom line: If I had the chance to do over----I would NOT do it!

We were picked up 2 days after we landed at 8:00 and brought to The Vida Maya. It looks amazing, but after a while with no way to get back on your own, you will feel like you are trapped in a horror movie. Yes breakfast was okay, but you aren’t offered anything more to eat or drink for 6 plus hours when you sit down for the hard core sales pitch. You've been walking in the hot sun for over an hour. Then finally offer you warm tap water, which we aren’t supposed to drink. It is 2:30pm and we are finally on our way back to our hotel. My husband is a diabetic and he needs to eat - they didn’t care.

After Edwin toured us, had breakfast with us and gave us the First pitch, we had 5 more people give us another sales pitch. We kept telling them that we had to get back home! When we said no to Edwin, he got irritated and said that he told us up front not to waste his time. They don’t tell you any details about their resort, prices or terms. How are you supposed to know whether this is a good investment? I wish The airline or some other entity warned you about the sales pitch at the airport. This was our first time off USA land. We had no clue. We have sat through Time Share spiels before but they were not as underhanded as this. You are literally at their mercy. And when they finally send you back, expect a “chilly” ride from your driver. You know they are not happy with you.

I will be speaking to the Hilton Manager about our experience. I’d like to see if there is anyway to prevent this from happening to someone else. If a resort as beautiful as this was/is, had to use these underhanded sales tactics to sell their properties, there has to be an ugly “Catch”. They tried to sell us a one bedroom apt for 1 week a year for $10,000 plus an $800 reservation fee for each year that we go. Supposedly, after you pay the 10k, you only Need to pay that $800 per year to reserve your apt. This deal is supposed to be good for 100 years and it’s transferable to your kids. No, you don’t get to think about it or read the Fine print. They even tried to get us to sign documents that were written in Spanish. Not good folks! Now that beautiful property has a very dark shadow over it. We will Never consider it for a vacation.

They promise certain free tours or other little perks and getting them is part of the check out process which is partly why one would stay until they release you. NO perk is worth that type of treatment! There is a reason they have a 1star rating and my testimony is the “why”. Read the other reviews about being forced to attend meetings every time owners book with Vidanta or they retaliate against you in some fashion. This is a type of forced sales. The resort itself is beautiful, but find another way to stay there if you want to go. Don’t fall for “just listening” to the presentation or worse yet, buying from these scammers. One can only imagine what doing business with them going forward would be like.

The sales presentation itself was long and painful just like every other timeshare presentation I have been to except for one thing. None of the salespeople were rude or aggressive just long-winded. Much better in that regard than other timeshare presentations. In the past we belonged to Interval International which I found to be relatively good but not perfect. I am curious how the new timeshare trading situation will work out with Vida Vacations. I will post more when I see it. One last thing – the Mayan Palace or the Grand Mayan are on the Vidanta compound. It is very very safe. Lots to do just staying at the compound. The beach is great and there are lots of pools. You could stay on the compound the whole week and have a great time especially with the family. Good luck. John Jan 2020

When we asked for a room change, we were told that was impossible unless we attended a 'facilities review'. A sympathetic "Jose" presented himself at breakfast as a Customer Service representative that was assigned to help solve our "problem", but in reality he was just another sales representative bent on pressuring us to upgrade. After some pressure from us, he finally admitted that our poor room was a result of not "accepting" an upgrade, and that we would continue to receive poor accommodations unless we upgraded to the Grand Luxxe (they purportedly have no more units available in the Grand Mayan, our logical, step up).

Once he admitted that we were intentionally assigned a sub-quality room, we were angry. We asked him how he expected us to spend even MORE money when Vidanta wasn't even honoring our initial purchase of a "$500 per night" room. As expected he feigned insult and hurt feelings, then enlisted the help of 3 additional people to assist in pressuring us, all of which we said no to.

After we escaped, we decided to to go home and read our contract thoroughly to see if our 25-year "renewal" is optional. If so, we will not renew. If not optional, we'll be contacting an attorney. We hope to use the facilities that we paid for at least a few more times before then, but not hopeful that we'll get what we paid for. The resort that they are building at Nuevo Vallarta is so grand, it's impossible to believe that they did it all with a sales team that barely speaks English. They use the 'language barrier' to keep you from understanding your contract and what you are actually buying, and that hasn't changed since the beginning. If you are thinking about purchasing with Vidanta, I'd advise having an attorney review the contract before signing. Unfortunately, this too is impossible, because you can't take it with you without signing it. Just DON'T do it. Enough said.

Recently I have been contacted by a lawyer in Mexico saying he is representing the Mexican government who is trying to put an end to these fraudulent practices. At this point he is attempting to go through the courts to rescind my contract. He did say it might be possible to recover some money and basically not to hold my breath. He assured me that there would be no fee for this service, but at this point I am feeling a little skeptical in the event that he may ask for a retainer to go after money. I have done some research, and it appears that his license is legitimate, a Google Earth search for legal premises. I am wondering if others have had this experience of lawyers getting involved and if this is legitimate, or if I am being led to another scam.

Our last upgrade to the Grand Luxxe number one building, 2 bedroom villa, high floor ocean view, has only been fulfilled twice in last ten years. Each year it is a fight to try and get close to what our contract reads. If you don’t upgrade more money each year, you get less and less of what you paid for. The room you get is determined by sales staff and rude front desk clerks, depending on how much money you spent the previous year. Nothing to do with original contract! I don’t know any business that teaches their staff to be so arrogant and rude. This is how Vidanta keeps growing. Once you have bought in, you're at the bottom of list!

Best rooms are given to exchange people off the street in hopes of sucking money out of them, and this goes on year after year. Your original contract means absolutely nothing to them if you don’t upgrade every year. Vidanta is growing too fast without proper infrastructure. The smell of sewage every morning that is sprayed on the golf course is quite evident! I guess if you never worked and lived in the real world, you might not recognize that pungent odor. We are never coming back to this resort, we have had enough of overpriced, poor quality food and services after 20 years!

My children were calling, we had no idea where we were and when they took us to a lower level, we actually feared for our lives. The final offer from a very rude man was for THEM to GIVE us $5,000 to take their timeshare. Again, we said no, and that we just wanted to leave. The man got up, stormed away. It was an awful experience and a huge waste of our time. We were compensated with the $300 and $1,000 in “VIDA” dollars(JUNK), our maintenance fees were NOT paid. These did not pay for our maintenance fees as promised. They are junk unless you spend more money to use them. I will never visit the Grand Mayan again, nor will I stop to talk to anyone at the airport. It was a very scary and huge waste of our vacation day. The only good thing is the life lesson learned by us to teach our children.

I can only hope the owners watch this "film." I doubt they would employ him. By the way it was my mother's 71st birthday. He was horrible. All decked out in Louis Vuitton and Ferragamo and clearly thought he could speak to people as he did. How sad. He felt accomplished threatening two old ladies. We have several friends we have sent here via recommendation. Never again will we recommend this group. This should not be allowed.

It was extremely inhumane, uncomfortable, and not right. My bf and I said NO about 100 times. At the end of the day and about 6 hours after arriving and sitting through different presentations and sales pitches all day my bf and I agreed to a $5k vacation home package. In hindsight we should have stuck with our original NO. However being bribed all day and just wanting to get back to our vacation I was tired and over it. My brain was mush. I do not even remember any details of the contract as I just wanted to leave. Normal time share companies allow a 5 day grace period for you to rescind your offer. However VIDANTA is clever and is not considered a time share so the 5 day rule does not apply. I would never recommend this to anyone. We were scammed. And now stuck with this offer we do not event want.

The manager proceeded to insult us saying "it costed him 2,000 pesos for our lunch and drinks", implying we were trying to get something for nothing. My husband gave him a $100 bill and we left. A few days later when we arrived home, we discovered that $10,000 had been charged to our AMEX card. In addition, I received a RCI Mastercard in which $14,000 had been charged. We had to immediately call these companies and dispute the charges. I will never, ever go through one of these sales pitches, again!!!

When I got home, I reviewed my contract and found out that already have what she was offering me to buy. I am so glad that I got that presentation out of the way on my second day at the resort. I was so tired after the presentation that I couldn't do anything else but rest. I was exhausted. I think it's a system that they've perfected. It takes a while at check in to get to your room. You get an envelope and your wristband then told to wait about 30 to 40 minutes until your room is ready.

I waited about an hour. Once I got to my room, I had to call the bellman to get my bags delivered. I had a nice view of the pool and the ocean. If I had said no presentation would I have gotten that view? There is no need to use tactics on people who already have a membership because we like the property, so what if we don't want to upgrade or modify our contract. Let us vacation and enjoy our time there and maybe refer others who might want to visit also. Who wants to refer people to walk into the lions den of harassment.

Turns out that there is no free week or free flight and that we were told that we actually had only joined a travel club called Destinos which is associated with Vida Resorts. We did not know that we were only joining a travel club and would not have agreed to pay 1,999 to only join a travel club. When we found out that we had been misled and lied to we asked for a refund which they are now refusing to do. We would definitely NOT recommend Vida resorts and warn other unsuspecting vacationers to be careful when dealing with Vida Resorts. We feel ripped off.

Upon arrival at the hotel/resort, we were swept up by a gentleman who said he had some information for us and asked if we would be interested in saving 50% on our hotel bill. SURE! It turns out, that was the beginning of the end (for me). He took us to the empty bar and proceeded to tell us about breakfast and that we just needed to listen to their pitch. We were told that all-in-all it would take about 1 hour to 90 minutes. HAHAHAHAHA! It took hours (4, at least)! In the beginning, the salesman was fine, talkative, etc. However, after breakfast, we were taken to a different resort, to a different room. We ended up in our resort, but behind the wall and upstairs on a floor level that the general public cannot see and the regular, general public elevator does not take you to; the sales floor is omitted from that elevator.

Once we got to the sales pitch, I repeatedly, told them no; not interested. I finally got up and left; but he told me I had to sign something. Then, he didn't give me anything to sign. So, I left and left my husband there, by himself. ****HE*** wanted to stay and hear about their foreclosure sales. ***I*** was not happy because there was no way I was going to agree to ANY purchase.

Oh, and lest we forget, they wanted OUR Hawaii Timeshare, too. The prices of their timeshare was outrageous. Of course, that's where they start. The price gets better and better. NO! I don't care! So, dude brought in his "supervisor." Yeah. Gang up on me! That works - NOT! I left. However, my husband called the room, I answered and he said I had to come back. WHY?! Because they wouldn't talk to him about the foreclosures unless I was there AND that I needed to sign something.

I begrudgingly, went back and asked for the document that they wanted me to sign. There was none. So, they had some document there that some of their information on it. I grabbed it and a pen, reviewed the document, wrote that I had received the discounts, dated it and signed it. I sat there with my arms crossed and an attitude. So, they took us to the elevator, telling us that this is how we would get our $20 deposit back from the breakfast payment (in case you don't show up). We were taken downstairs, turned over to 1 fellow, who tried again, to sell us a timeshare; then a second person; then, we were told, "I'll go get your $20." NOPE! Turned us, again, to yet, another person.

Then, when it was obvious that there was going to be NO SALE, we were sent out the back door, from the basement without our $20. We went back and we were told that the concierge at our resort hotel would make the refund. GOOD GRIEF!!!! At least we were not so confused by our location, being sent out from the basement, to the back of the property, that we could not find our way. But, they were not going to make it easy. They were rude! I never needed to go back. There was nothing to sign. They did not talk to my husband about foreclosures, etc. They just became rude and sent us out the back from downstairs. Our day was wasted! 90 minutes MY FOOT!

My husband was irritated with me, but why? He wanted to hear about their foreclosures. WHY? We were NOT going to buy one. OH! Keep in mind that if you have a different timeshare, from elsewhere, DO NOT PART WITH IT! They will take your timeshare, use it, own it, but they do not own or pay for the payments due or the maintenance. Now, all you have is a debt for life on your former timeshare.

My husband and I agreed that we would not tell them that we own a different timeshare. Yes. I agreed to participate in yet, another one of these degrading experiences because my husband still wants to listen to their mean-spirited, high push, intense sales pitch. Me, I could live my life without it. So, if you use Vidanta Resorts, at any time, for anything, BEWARE! You will lose one, whole day of your vacation and time, if you participate in their so-called sales pitch. You need to have a VERY STRONG constitution to say no. The tone of the conversation will change when you repeatedly, say no. You will be treated like garbage when you say no. The employees were kind and helpful. The place was clean. The food was great (except the room service pizza - the pizza was awful). Despite that horrible experience, we had a good time as to the remainder of our trip. So, participate in that sales pitch at your own risk.

Our pool in tower IV did not open until the day before we left. This is a huge resort & b/c several of our pools were closed, we ended up walking miles, (yes miles!) to reach other parts of the resort. Unfortunately, sometimes this did not even work like the day we wanted to spend the afternoon in the lazy river. Closed early due to repairs, again NO notice! I understand that a certain amount of repairs and maintenance is needed, but there was no notice anywhere on any closures, so we would end up wasting hours in the heat & humidity walking to parts of the property that were under repair. All Vidanta had to do was inform me when I called. We all save and spend a lot to go on vacation. Next time, Vidanta, be transparent and let me make the decision on whether I still come to your resort!

If I had known Vidanta was associated with The Mayan Group, I would have just walked to our hotel instead of accepting the taxi ride from the airport. That's where it started. At the airport. My advice: run as fast as they can from this Group. Gill kept telling us "Vidanta will CUT YOU A CHEQUE EVERY YEAR for $5,500, whether you use the timeshare or not. No one. Ever. In Mexico. Promises to cut a cheque for $5,500 every year. Shady shady shady. Gill's supervisor approached me at the travel arrangement desk and told me he was going to get rid of Gill because he saw what was going on at our table and he witnessed the insults. I remain hopeful.

As we were leaving the lobby to take the shuttle to our building/suite we were stopped by someone in the lobby asking to help us get onto the correct shuttle. Alberto proceeded to chat and ask what brought us here, we mentioned how much we enjoyed Nuevo Vallarta previously and said we were pleased to visit a resort a bit closer to home (being from TX this was only a 2hr flight). Then Alberto said that since we had visited Vidanta before he wanted to offer us a coupon for a free Breakfast buffet, a resort 10% discount card and 50% refund of our resort fees. I said ok and took the ticket.

Then the crap started... We arrived at the salon Sunday morning to sit for a relaxing breakfast buffet and we found we were walking into a sales office! Never were we asked if we wanted to participate in a timeshare/vacation club/resort sales presentation. Naive maybe, but since nothing like this every happened when we visited Nuevo Vallarta I was not expecting it here in Riviera Maya. When the sales associate told us that we were expected to sit through a 1-hour "Informational Meeting" about Vidanta I told Sonya I was not interested in siting in a presentation... "We're here on vacation".

I told her that we were told that we were receiving a free breakfast because we were visiting Vidanta for the 2nd time. She excused herself and came back with a 'supervisor'. He began to ask what our intentions were and why would we agree to accept a free breakfast and other discount if we didn't intend to participate in the information presentation. Again, I told him we were not told about a presentation requirement; had we been we would have declined. It's not like we can't afford a $20 breakfast.

The supervisor got downright belligerent. He asked us if we had attended a presentation in Nuevo Vallarta and when we said no and not only no, but we had never even been asked to he flat out said "I don't believe that they must have asked you". That's when I refused to listen to anything more. Don't call me a liar! I am an intelligent individual and have ownership in multiple vacation club resorts. But when someone tells me "Thank you for coming back to Vidanta, we'd like to buy you a breakfast and offer you a discount card"...that doesn't sound like "Hey, if you listen to our sales pitch we'll give you....etc.

We travel often, we've stayed at multiple brands of properties that offer us discount cards to use on the resort throughout our stay... Of course they want us to shop at the resort rather than leave the resort. Bottom line, Vidanta resorts are beautiful with lovely grounds, outstanding service staff and amazing restaurants. Just stay away from the sales staff and the sales scams. If they offer you something "Just Say No".

On Monday, May 27, 2 days after our arrival, we were met by Kim. It started out with breakfast as usual and then to the office. During the meeting, we presented her with the questions and had repeatedly asked her. She kept on avoiding it and implied that the contract we had signed with Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta was HALF of the value we should have (trying to mislead us?) and she will help us to fix it. We kept on asking for our original contract but was told that they don’t have information (another lie as she knew what we had the whole time). We were also met by an Italian sales rep (can’t remember the exact name) to clarify questions that Kim couldn’t answer.

After exhausting 7 hours of high pressure sales, confusions and concerns that they had placed in our mind with our current contract, we were also told that we have 5 business days to cancel. With hesitation, we gave in and upgraded to the new contract with additional $25,000 we had to pay. The same night, we asked our daughter to scan our existing contract and sent to us. We then realized we had upgraded to something that we don’t need and NO we don’t own any “deed” as they implied with the new contract either. We just have the membership to the newest Kingdom of the Sun. We immediately sent an email the same night to cancel the contract we just signed. The next day we made an appointment and were met by Moses ** at the membership office to proceed with cancellation and shockingly found out that we actually “CANCELED” our previous contract in the process as the result.

They claimed that they couldn't reinstate our original contract as it had put back to inventory. At this time we were presented with 2 options. 1. To walk away from everything. 2. To rewrite us another contract which is closed to the value to had. Moses then invited Enrique ** from contract office to rewrite us another deal which included all our previous benefits and some booking upgrades which we may not use as it involved much higher usage fee. This new deal ended costing us $14,000. Anyway, I blamed it on our stupidity as well as we should have walked away instead of letting them do that to us.

This is the most expensive lesson we learned and would like to share with others, so someone else won’t be falling into the same scam as us. Just over 1 year of membership with Vidanta, it has costed us over $40,000 and got 3 weeks of vacation (of course, with paid usage fee as well) so far. At this point, we still had balance to pay after we get home in 3 months. With this forum, I don’t know whether anyone knows how to reach their membership Head Office to file an official complaint. Any feedback is appreciated!

Be sure to read all of the reviews before you decide to buy into this resort! Be sure to read and understand all of the fine print in the contract! We thought we understood the contract based on verbal assertions, but they never told us we had five days to cancel, even though we told them several times we wanted our attorney and accountant to receive all of the paperwork. You'll be promised free airline tickets (but they aren't free, they come with hundreds fo dollars of fees). You may be shown a unit with a kitchen, but many units don't even have refrigerators, which means you'll be spending a lot of time in the resort's restaurants and what good is the on-site grocery store if you cannot cook?

We tried to cancel after five days, and ended up losing a deposit of several thousand dollars. We tried to negotiate some kind of compromise, but to no avail. My best advice to anyone reading this review - don't sign anything the day of the presentation. If you like the resort, have your attorney review the contract. Make up a list of questions that must be answered before you sign. Make they explain how the (very limited) Vida dollars can be used. But my best advice is: look elsewhere. You want to deal with a company that is honest, trustworthy, and transparent. In our opinion, we would not do business with this company.

Your VP acknowledged that his team was less than ethical the first time we bought but he assured me that it had all changed and that the agents had all been retrained. You even had another gentleman sitting with us from your company that could vouch for what I am saying but she wouldn't even listen to that... Her only line was, "You signed the contract and that is that." Once again I am so disappointed in your attitude and your knowing what is going on with your sales staff that the only line you have is that "you sat through the verification and signed the contract". Why do you need to verify if this was a one time event... Sounds like it is going on all the time and I intend to let everyone I can know how you operate.

You are receiving weeks and can ultimately trade on their Vida dollar site. I still said no, and ultimately walked away happy to let you all know that I got them to 1300. Don’t overpay, you can find others on AirBnB that will allow you to take their weeks if you pay their Usage Fee. The investment is ultimately whatever they can sell you on.

Is it expensive? Well, it’s not cheap...but I have never felt that I did not get my money’s worth. The meals are on the higher side, but the quality and presentation and service are wonderful. We have gone off the resort for meals and I must say that it is nice to see the feel of the community...but in every case, the meals on the resort were better. I would tell people to decide on their priorities and if there is a match...this might be their paradise.

Took a cart, walked downstairs and here comes Daniella, no nonsense serious looking Chicago. Even showed us picture of her bulldog! She claim she worked for the developer unlike Karla who work for commission. She made us a deal to sell our timeshare and enter contract for no money down and $94/month. We considered the deal as we were trying to rid ourselves of a timeshare. Daniella was nice but very confident in thinking she had us for a done deal... NOT! When it came time to sign contracts, she walked away. Another lady sat in to "witness" what the signing. We had a few questions to which she couldn't answer and had to constantly summons Daniella back to our area. After the 4th question and waiting for Daniella's return, we decided this resort was not for us. We did NOT sign any contracts, but our info was printed.

I then wrote NULL & VOID on one contract, the lady then tried to quickly retrieve the other contract before I could do the same. It was a tug of war for a second or two, but I retrieved the second document and wrote the same. She then warned me that we were on camera. We were then finally escorted to the check out guy who gave us everything as promised (1000 pesos, taxi fare, bottle of tequila blanket, bag and 541 in Vida dollars).

On the way to the desk, the lady rudely thanked me if she loses her job tomorrow. We were then told to walk down a long walkway, and make a couple of turns to get to taxi stand. I found it odd that the area was completely empty, as if this was a walk of shame! We waited several minutes for a golf cart to pull up. This guy was the most pleasant person we encountered and had no idea what we'd been through over the past SEVEN HOURS!!! We were relieved to get off that compound! Sort of reminded me of the movie that starred Matt Damon, I think it's called "Downsize". My advice, enter at own risk and keep track of time!!

We declined and then spent another hour going over options with him, which we politely declined. He continued to lower the price through special deals, which we also declined. Then another sales rep came in to question our reasons for dealing their offers. All this was done amidst continuous promises that our $40 deposit would soon be refunded and we could leave. We were followed down the hall to the exit under the guise of a survey but it was still more questions about our decision not to purchase. At that point we received our deposit and were abandoned to find our way out. We half expected the taxi driver to continue the sales pitch but were happily surprised when he didn't.

Brenda, she was so rude I have no good words to describe her so I am not even going to try. Please beware when you go to these places. This “lady” insulted my husband and I told her that we were done, but she just kept talking. The only reason we stayed was because I had already paid the first rep (because it was not free, I was just trying to help the first sales rep, big mistake). I was told by the first rep his name was Miguel that the taxi to go to the aquarium was paid and it was not true. I ended up paying that too. By the time we finally go to the aquarium my kids only got in the water and were not allowed to touch or swim with dolphins. That was reserved for VIP. Never again!!!

The lure of "brunch" meant sitting uncomfortably with a sales rep. Though the food was sumptuous, it felt like a set up. Our sales rep could not have been more friendly and honest, but when we said "no", two senior sales reps appeared. They were both rude and one was downright hostile. This place felt like more of a prison than a resort and the presentation it wasn't worth the $200 of money you got back for attending it. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

We were told that we would be picked up, the next day, by the gentleman who spoke with us at the airport. What he MEANT by that, however, is that he would meet us at our resort and arrange for a taxi to take us to the presentation. He said that the company didn't want to take away business from the local drivers, which I could appreciate, and that he would follow us there. I believe that he did, though I stopped looking after a while. We were told that the resort was five minutes away... What he MEANT by that, however, was about THIRTY-FIVE minutes away. Still trying to have a positive attitude about the experience, we just enjoyed the ride and looked forward to having a great breakfast.

When we got to the resort, we had a great time! Our "presenter," John, was amazing. He wasn't pushy, at all. He was personable and "hands off." He let us know, early on that we could say "no" -- and reiterated that we had a choice throughout our entire experience. It was like hanging out with a good friend... who was sharing with us a place that he loved. John is an owner of the "Non-Time-Share" Timeshare and between interacting with John and the resort itself... we were sold on something that we weren't supposed to be buying. Whoops!

Everything changed, however, once other people (sales, finance, contract) got involved. It lost the warm/friendly feeling and soaked up hours of our day and all of our energy. We left, initially feeling like we had just completed a triathlon... and were too tired to do much else, but return to our resort and try to salvage was the left of the day, poolside. We took no time to process our decision, or review documents or even online reviews... which we would ordinarily have done WELL BEFORE COMMITTING TO BUY ANYTHING!

A few days later, we arrived home, and had the time to do what we should have done before we signed anything, and immediately regretted our decision... for many, many reasons! It didn't make sense for our family; the reviews were horrendous; parts of the process didn't sit well with us (in hindsight) and seemed to be magnified/confirmed by what we read. I began to panic, a bit... but in doing research, I realized that I had options to undo what we had done (through Mexican law)... if the company were a reputable one... and even if it wasn't. Although there were no "cancellation options" outlined in the contract that we signed.

I immediately contacted customer service, via e-mail, and within 12 hours, the process for a refund/cancellation had been initiated, an agent had been assigned to our case, and we were contacted by phone in order to complete the process (and, of course, to consider alternatives to cancellation). Everything happened as promised, and we received assurances orally, and in writing throughout the process. Within 1 week from the time that we contacted customer service via e-mail, we had a full refund.

I can only speak for my experience with John and other representatives at Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta (and the reps at the airport in Puerto Vallarta) but I would absolutely give them another chance. I plan to return to Puerto Vallarta and to stay at their resort (which I DID NOT do on this trip) and to make other judgments for myself. In my experience, however, the only person that misled me was the rep at the airport... slightly... but enough that it had me questioning everything else, until the process had concluded.

My biggest takeaway for anyone reading... if you've made a mistake (and we all do, at some point, if we're human) you have remedies to get out of one like this. Know your rights. Mexican law protects you from being "taken." You have five business days to research, review and reach out to the company in order to undo a signed contract. Period. Send your request in writing. Contact PROFECO if you need assistance.

On the day of my update, I was picked up in one of their golf carts and was taken to the buffet breakfast. The set up was the same as before when they make you (you are literally held captive) waste a whole day of vacation listening to their overbearing sales presentation. When I saw this, I told the lady there I had been deceived and just left. She tried to call someone else and came running after me. I just stood my ground and left and walked back to my tower.

A word to the wise: Do not, under any circumstances, unless you want to waste an entire day of your vacation be sucked into the sales staff antics, go to a sales presentation or an owner's update. It is a ruse. These people have no morals, ethics, or scruples. In the United States, such overbearing tactics would not be tolerated but they are in the US. They are like sharks and piranhas. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

There is a better way to make a living. Be honest, forthright and succinct when making a sales pitch. It goes a long way to building confidence and believing in your product. Their method needs to be reevaluated and analyzed as it is deceptive and misleading. The hotel and grounds are luxurious, if you are in the Gran Luxxe. I told the sales representatives that the place itself is a selling point and they do not have to resort to their questionable tactics but to no avail. As I read the many reviews on this site, they all resonate with me. To all of you who may be thinking about going to a presentation, just say No and continue to say No.

When we were suppose to leave the SALESPERSON giving us the tour took us into a room that looked exactly like a timeshare sales floor. And every time we asked to leave they told us to wait for somebody else that would give us our sign out sheet. Once we hit noon AND LOST 1/2 A DAY I started to get upset and aggravated and they started to get rude and aggressive, the sales pitch that these people use need to be against the law. I came for a vacation to relax and not have to deal with these kind of people.

Just before they finally showed us the way out, BECAUSE WE DIDN'T KNOW THE WAY OUT, WE KEPT ASKING WHERE THE WAY OUT WAS WITH NO ANSWER, I FELT TAKEN. The people that showed us the way out asked us about our experience and when we told them how they brought us here with lies they laughed and tolds us how bad of a time we had, "You guys went through all of that for nothing, we usually give you a tour of ruins or passes to a park, but you are getting only 50% back on your resort fee".

It's been 2 weeks since we came back from the vacation and still no deposit back $300.00 and nothing on the resort fee $ 75.00. I called and only got transferred from person to person with nobody having answers for anything. I will go back to Cancun but definitely will stay away and everybody should STAY AWAY FROM VIDANTA RESORTS, they will lie to you any way they can to get a sale. They don't care for their customer at all, all they care is about making money. If you decide to go and they offer you anything make sure you get it in writing.

When I questioned this I was told I was wrong. Then I presented a copy of my offer stamped approved. Then they started making ridiculous offers. I said I want what they approved. They said no, they could not do that. I asked for my credit card and ID back. Took over an hour to get my ID and credit card. Kept sending us to different places, finally I said, "If I do not get my credit card and ID back Now I am calling the police." It was finally returned. What can be done? It is the principle now. I want what was approved. I lost a whole day of vacation and got the runaround at the resort when I asked for the person in charge of sales. Never being given a name. Went to member services, Alex, and he handed us a form to fill out. Offered exact same deal as sales force. Also he already knew we were coming. Never acknowledging that we have an approved offer, saying that it would not be honored.

I responded, "What part of No do you not understand?" They are pushy - becoming rude when they do not get their own way. I am done, The last one in San Jose Cobo - at the end with the big hit guy came in - he called you stupid if you do not get this deal and your chances getting a reservation in the future will be slim. Will look for a way out to dump this timeshare. The person in the Nuovo-Lux that where just irritating was MIMI ** - Captain Lux team - along with her sidekick Bernardo. She just did not understand no-thank you. I spend my money and that is all I am interested in - period. They are not the only show in town for a week in Mexico. Many good deals on Travelocity.

We have nothing but high praise for the staff taking care of you to include the housekeeping ladies, waiters, bartenders, etc. I totally agree the sales staff can be overbearing. If you do not want a sales presentation then say no at check-in AND MEAN IT no matter what you are offered to attend. If you do attend then when enough is enough excuse yourself and do not look back. Go enjoy your vacation. Do not allow yourself to be persuaded by anything. You are after all an adult. We have found you do get what you pay for on whatever level you have purchased.

Trying to be honest I will tell you that you cannot use the beach at the Los Cabos location due to the immediate drop off and the rip tide. Next do not stop at go exiting the airport. No matter how they hound you. Push right through them and contact a transportation attendant outside the doors. The people inside do not work for anyone but themselves. Disregard whatever they try and tell you. Again JUST SAY NO and keep walking. Good luck and do not let the one star reviews deter you from Vidanta. JUST SAY NO and do not fold.

Complained to concierge and manager and no one did anything. I had to refund $350/week for each of the couples traveling with us who expected a KING size bed for a total loss to me of $700. Then I get home and have a bill waiting for $1137 renovation fee. I have contacted Vidanta who says they want to show excellence in service and make owners happy, but after that no apology or offering to reduce the renovation fee for the bait and switch room I was given. Then to top it all off they put me in the building with construction. Owners who book 6 months in advance should be given the best rooms not the worst.

Got conned into the "owner update" which was to be a short presentation on the new "Park" and held hostage for 5 hours and told we would not be able to get the units we were used to in the future at the Grand Mayan unless we upgraded to a new more expensive contract and wanted to change us to a 1 bedroom Grande Luxxe instead of our 2-bedroom Grand Mayan for an additional $20K in taxes. Why the heck would I want to do that. Never had such a horrible experience at Vidanta in the past and now wondering how far downhill they are going and how badly we will be treated next vacation.

We were escorted to our room by the bellboy who showed us around the unit and also showed us where the safe was. We did not realize that the safe in the room was not working and we failed to report it. On the fourth day of our stay, the CLEANING staff entered our room while we were out and they went into the drawers where we had placed not only our clothes but hidden our valuables (cash and passports). We left the room at 1 pm to go meet up with the rest of the family… we had lunch, and all returned at 4 pm. We noticed that during that 3-hour window the room had been cleaned (Confirmed by the concierge). We all showered and when we went to get dressed to go out for the evening, we noticed our clothes drawer had been disturbed. We immediately went to our passport folder to find that we had been robbed of $1750 cash!

We called the front desk, and they directed us to the concierge. The concierge for our building came to our room with the security staff member. They took pictures, searched our room and belongings (even under the bed) like if we were criminals or weren't sure where we had left our valuables. They confirmed that the safe was inoperable and told us they would send someone to repair it. They also told us that they would send someone to check the door lock reader (keyless entry) to see who had been in the room and they would get back to us. This is at approximately 6 pm.

You would think that at the first opportunity someone from management would contact us. NOPE, we had to go to the concierge again (the next morning) because that is where you are directed. You can’t directly talk to anyone in management, and NO ONE comes to you! Finally, the concierge supervisor came to tell us that one of their employees did enter our room in the time we were out of the room but are still conducting an investigation, and they would get back to us. They moved the current cleaning staff to another area in the hotel for precaution. Here we were two days later and because WE are the ones on top of concierge and calling the security supervisor and all they had to say to us is that they are investigating.

We feel that the SAFE was tampered with by the cleaning staff to gain access to our room and any valuables left behind. Please keep in mind that the hotel stresses that it is a CASHLESS resort. No need to travel with your wallet or money. (They do not accept cash.) We checked out of the resort as if nothing happened. No contact from anyone as we were promised. Three weeks later, we have yet to hear from anyone. We are not expecting the company to refund us the money but at least take some responsibility as well as be more compassionate and sympathetic over the problem. A heartfelt apology would have been enough!

We’ve reached out to them again when we returned home to find about the “investigation,” but no one has any answers or even acknowledge that this happened at their resort. We pray that the money that was stolen will be used to buy medicine for a sick child or elderly person or to put food on someone's table who needs it. If you are planning on staying at the Vidanta Grand Mayan Riviera, know that they have a security problem (which they do not acknowledge). Make sure your safe and door locks are working and make sure you secure all of your valuables. We’ve traveled all over the world and have never had anything like this happen to us.

Their website states “At Vidanta, we are about creating happiness. Over the last 40 plus years, we’ve carefully cultivated a collection of resorts where families from all over the world can come to spend time exploring, relaxing, and making memories together”. Unfortunately, we are not happy about the way the problem was handled, and we did not take away good memories.

I think the resort sells itself, but with their lying and cheating ways you get turned off and end up running away. I know the sales people are on commission and perhaps if they don’t make a sale they do not eat that night but the reality is they push more away than they sell to. Final analysis, just say no. Say it over and over again and forget owners' update which is another sales presentation wasting hours for 10% off and a free breakfast. It cannot possibly replace a day of vacation. Just say no.

We had breakfast and once we started presentation they wanted to run the equity on our timeshares and we refused them running our information and they denied our gifts. They did false advertising and lied. The agreement was for us to attend the presentation and we would get our gifts and they denied based on them not able to run our information. After we refused to signed anything else they were rude and basically walked us out to outside so other people would not hear us complain. Do not ever attend their sales presentation or anything they offer, it is all a scam!!!

The final straw was when they inquired about my marital status and I refused to answer as it had no relevance to the situation. The main female, whose name I don't recall, stood up suddenly, walked away and came back moments later with my Facebook page displayed on her phone. I was so angry at that point that I demanded a return ride back to the original starting point. Back at the resort, I was abandoned with a dying cell phone, no taxi voucher and no money/gifts as promised. I ended up paying $40.00 for a taxi to be reunited with my family. This was one of the worst experiences of my life and should be illegal.

About 6 hours later, we were badgered into paying more for what we were told we purchased the first time. After talking to many people, we found out that it is their sales tactics to keep up-selling every time you visit. When we returned home in March, I sent a letter (within the 5 days) to cancel our contract. They said they would let us out of the 2nd contract, but we're going to reinstate the original contract. I have told them several times that the original contract was cancelled when we signed the 2nd contract. I want out of all contracts and will not stop until I am released of everything.

So, we look for the cancellation of the contract, it was difficult through the resort but on the internet, we found Mexican Timeshare Solutions through Facebook and we were calm when they told us that the consultation was free and nothing was pay in advance. Throughout the process the contact we had with them was very professional and empathetic. We were always kept informed and the best is that the problem ended favorably for us, the contract with Vidanta group was canceled as it was promised. We are grateful to had put our case in the hands of this company, so we do not hesitate to recommend them.

We have a 25-per year contract, and it ends in 2031, we have used it about 4 times total. The resort is not convenient to get around in, way too many kids, and the food isn't great and is very pricey. If you are looking for a quiet place to relax, this is not it. But if you are going just for the sun, pool, beach, etc., - then it may be for you.

He then informed us of a new place as 100% Mexican owned and in order to help his country in the future he has some special offers for us if we would agree to visit, Vidanta Rivera Maya, I specifically asked if this was a time share type of promotion. The official stated this was not a time share type of offer, that if we would visit the property, consider staying there in the future, take some pictures, then we would get discount of some of the tours we were interested. We agreed to the visit based upon the repeated assurances and promises by Jose **, that he would personally take us to the property. He offered us discount, 1/2 off two attractions, a bottle of tequila and a $500 gift card to Vacation Privileges. We were told, promises by Jose the visit would only take 45 minutes. We agreed to pay Jose the $100, our half of our selected tours, the transportation to and from the property was to be paid by the property.

By this time we missed our transportation and had to wait for the next shuttle. First thing the following morning we received a call from Jose apologizing that he was not going to be able to pick us us but he had arranged for someone else to take us. We take the approx one hour drive accoss town to the very nice, exclusive property. We were taken by multiple seat golf cart to the sign in area, we were then introduced and guided to the breakfast area by the first non time share representative, Yamin, she had breakfast with us, toured the property with us and then briefly explained this was not a time share but an opportunity, she made a presentation explaining if we paid $64,800 with $12,000 down payment we could become members.

When this was immediately rejected we were introduced, to her supervisor, he asked how everyone has treated us so far and was there anything he could do to change our minds, we said no but he proceeded to lower and reduced the price of the exact same package to $42,800. We again said no, we were then introduced to another person described as his boss. He reduced the price down to $15,000 and added some golf privileges. We again said no so we were thinking they had got the message no means no.

By this time we had invested 3-4 hours. We thought we were being taken to the transportation back to our resort but instead we were introduced to a lady who professed she worked for the “company”, the actual owners, and everyone else we had talked to prior worked for a marketing company. Since she worked directly for the owner she could make deals they were not able to do. She reduced the exact same deal from $15k to $9,000. We said no and we want to leave, she said okay and we were yet introduced to another person she described as her supervisor. He took a look at the deal and sweetened the deal to the same package now for $5,900 then $5,600 and then offered to increase the tier level for “free” and included two discounted cruises, he would pay for one, increased the number of weeks we would be involved by adding weeks up to 200.

With our daughter wanting to go on a cruise in a couple of months we gave the offer some consideration which lead the now company owner representatives to have us complete a credit app to see if we would qualify, they wanted us to complete two and submit both. We said only one. When they submitted it the information came back marked pending with a number to call for providing additional information. We were told it was a rejection and needed to submit to another one of their accredited lenders. Since this lender would charge interest they agreed to lower the purchase price to cover the interest. Come to find out we only needed $5,400 but they submitted for much higher for $10,000 and the second for $8,000. It was approved but thank God, by this time we smelled a rat, the unscrupulous acts, deception became clear.

We cancelled any further discussions and demanded they take no action to take our money. We did not sign any contract. We received a copy of the credit app marked void, contacted the first lender advising them we were no longer interest. We contacted the second lender confirming no payments to be made. The fake friendship, the fake kindness, the out right lies, deceptive tactics of the individuals we encountered became obvious. There is no telling how many thousands if not millions of dollars are spent training individuals to turn people into willing victims. As in our case we were mislead, were lied to repeatedly, the greed demonstrated, the character of the persons who employ tactics against people is concerning at best.

The individuals we encountered loved us and were our best friends until you say NO! Then their true character comes out and the greasy slimy side of their intentions are exposed. Did they keep their end by paying for half of the two tours we selected, yes and no, there were hidden charges, the tequila, not expecting Jose Cuervo, was given, the $500 gift card in the name of Vacation Privleges appears to be where you have to buy something to receive any benefit.

Now, this experience was horrible, we lost a whole day of our vacation because a company chooses to use methods to separate people from their hard earned money by any means at their disposal. They may choose to use quotes such as buyer beware to justify their actions but to me when you have to mislead, misrepresent and out right lie in order to “successfully” take peoples money then you are not a credible company or a group of people I would ever choose or recommend to have any relationship with. In all we had interactions with a total of eight people representing this company, we can say with certainty seven were misleading and or out right lied to us and were our best friends with the intent to convince us to trust them and give them money, until we said no and then we were treated with disrespect.

Finally agreed to purchase, but asked that I wanted to review w/ my husband who wasn’t with on vacation. Said I could cancel if I came back before returning to US. I reviewed contract and reviews online & didn’t want to keep membership. Went back on 04/10. Was told I couldn’t cancel, refused refund. I mentioned Article 56 of Consumer protection law. Told me that applied only in US and too bad for me I was in Mexico, I originally paid $4500 & after over an hr of arguing they said they COULDN'T refund full amount, but modify my membership down to $1999.00. I was kept in a dark room and after starting to fear for my safety I agreed to sign new contract.

It was wait on this person, switch to this person and then finally they have you held captive for so long that you will sign your life away for freedom. I got to the hotel and attempted to call the marketing reps Mario and he told me I would not be able to go in person to cancel a membership or any other funds. Please be aware and don't even listen to these predators. They specifically target women, single women and outline this in the class pitch. It's bizarre.

He found out I was a member of AA and used that to close the deal. He was so good I walked out of there thinking I had just got away with only paying 3800.00 for a developer deal. This meant I could use the Mayan Palace for one week complimentary and 5 weeks at 800.00 per week. What a scam! I used the week in Riviera Maya. The sales staff there told me they were no longer using high pressure tactics and no longer using the same developer weeks that they were. That was all a lie. I talked to several people that got the same developer week they just talked about discontinuing.

You are profiled. They know all about you before you get there. They target you and your income. They are experts at scamming people. Do not kid yourself as I did thinking I was getting off lucky not having to pay huge amounts of money. ANY money they get is way too much. And they do it in the most polite way. I have other time shares, I will simply use them. My hope is that this review helps another person not buy into Vidante, they are most gracious crooks you will ever meet, but do not be fooled, it is all a sham.

The price dropped in half from their "Premium - all inclusive program" plus the amount they were crediting for our current timeshare. By the time we finally received the receipt for a refund, that price dropped another 4 times. My suggestion to the Vidanta Corporation is this... Give the talk, show the value and 5-star quality amenities...then let your "guests" go after the one hour you promised it would take out of their vacation, and give the very lowest price (what the obvious value is otherwise we would have never been offered that price)...tell people that there is NO NEGOTIATION, let them think about it and sign them when they feel it works for them.

I would have far more respect for the company if they did it that way. After showing the cost of $168,000 and ending up under $15,000 - it looks very SHADY. Stop the high pressure sleazy sales tactics and SELL the benefits your amazing resorts and what owner membership in your properties avails people. Don't get caught up in the nightmare program that the timeshare corporations have created. You say you are different than a timeshare - so sell it that way. The low customer service rating is based on the "membership sales pitch" and not the review of service we received at the resort. The resort is amazing, a place we would love to return to. Don't attend the sales program whether they give you breakfast or cash until they change their sales strategy to where customers in this new millennium are treated honestly and professionally, and that their vacation time is precious.

Next, the car rental for those of you thrill seekers wanting to drive around. Yes, it's nice to have the convenience of having a car but it comes with some painful side effects. First, they want you to get the full insurance. The rental of a compact may be $35 USD or less per week, but the full coverage insurance will be that, at least, daily. If you have a credit card that you trust, see if it has coverage for CDW or coverage for the car, then you may only need liability insurance which is still about 20$/day. That is the minimum coverage you must carry. And forbid you get stopped by the local police. 90% of the time you will pay something. Just depends how good of a negotiator you are. Police in Mexico seldom and I mean very seldom let you off on a warning. And almost always you will pay a bribe.

So, now back to the sharks, when you go out to the pick up area with contract in hand, there will be a very nice person, not employee of the rental agency though, guiding you with a map of the city and directions to getting on the road. It seems like they work for the agency as customer care, but no. I don't know how these people are allowed by the agencies to prey on people. This person is so nice, harmless right, wrong! This person will then ask about your activities and then she or he will offer free tickets or reduced tickets to some theme park.

So then you ask, "How do I get these great tickets?" and the answer they will give you is that you only need to go to a 90 minute presentation with breakfast included. Wow, that seems unreal! Then you say, "but I'm not going to buy anything." And she will reply, "no worries, you don't buy anything, just listen and enjoy the breakfast." Your senses by now have kicked in that this doesn't sound right. Listen to them! So you have now spent 45 minutes with this individual who is now your second best friend, and you are inked for the presentation in the morning. Oh boy!

Now, to the presentation. You drive to Vidanta and you are mesmerized by the huge concrete entrance walls. The place is nice! The guards let you in and as you're driving through the road that is landscaped with lush vegetation, you see the golf course on the right. Yeah, you see yourself hitting that 9 iron to the back of the green. Then you park. Nice place! You get checked in. Man these people are nice! They drive you to the restaurant and deal making warehouse or ballroom, and it all really begins now. You are presented to a salesperson who is going to take you to eat. The buffet is good. The salesperson is asking a ton of questions. A ton! They want to gently find out all about you and your travel habits. So breakfast is not with your partner, you get to eat with the agent. Actually the agent is pretty nice. He walks you through the property and tells you about the options, and the place is Nice!

Oh forgot, right before the agent takes you to eat, he brings a big boss over to look you over, literally he stares you down and asks, "If we offer you an option you like, are you open to purchasing a product from us?" Yes, I guess. What else could you say, I drove 45 minutes to get here just for breakfast and a pair of free tickets to snorkel. So back to the walkthrough of the place. You see and you hear, but now it's time to put the numbers down. If you have been to timeshare presentations, you know they never give you the best deal until the end. So by now we have met three sellers. And the offer from Vidanta is that you only pay for the week you use. So you can get 1 week for 50 years or 2 weeks for 25 years. No maintenance fees.

I don't remember the purchase price to be a member. Regardless, we weren't making a decision right there. But, "Why" the salesman says, "What's keeping you from this opportunity." Slash. Price goes down. "Mm, no we want to talk this over." "Why? What's there to think about this. Is it the money?" "Well no, we like the easiness of making vacations on the fly, we jump on package deals," I explain. Well, guess what, they have a travel agency that you will save tons of money from. Air, cars, limos, private jets, you name it. "And We will give you this free." Hmmm.

So I know the offers are unique but the point is that their style and approach are the same with everyone, from the reviews I have read. The more I said no, the lower the price went and a few perks were added. Then a fourth agent came in to give it a go. They kept referring to my current vacation cost and what I had spent to try and entice me that this was so much better than how I was currently vacationing. No, no, no. We cannot make a decision in one day. Also, it said 90 minutes and we are now at 3 hours. "The time starts after breakfast, so we have not met the 90 minutes," the fourth agent says. "Also, on two occasions your wife was on the phone so we will have to make up for that."

So he gets up and goes to have a chit chat with the gang. He comes in one more time full throttle this time, and finally my uppercut is, "No, we will not buy." He gets up, and leaves. No goodbye, no thank you for your time, no more Mr. Nice Guy. These people are no longer nice! So now to the gifts right...wrong. Four agents down one to go. At the gifts room they have one more chance up their sleeve, a hail mary. This guy is the good guy. He wants to know how his buddies did. And he says he just wants you to take back a good word to your friends and family. And you feel comfortable with him.

And all of a sudden the survey is now, "You know what, we have one very special deal for you." And guess what, he is going to write his phone number and we can call him if we are interested. $5600 for 100 weeks at exclusive resorts and all you pay is $199 per week stay. Worldwide! No blackouts! Hmm that is good. But we're tired and were sticking to our guns, no purchases when I cannot think straight. Okay, but how bout 200 weeks for $3600. What??? How can anyone say no? Well, I did. Finally, we could go. Just another 30 minutes hopping from room to room to get the tickets. Not anything worth my time and vacation time lost.

So the point to all of this rambling. You can have a nice vacation in Cancun, just avoid all timeshare presentations or the like. Unless you're willing to go through all of the agony, stress and bullying. Some people can handle it and that's ok. Also, the place is nice, no arguments there. But don't look at this if you're a deal hunter. This is not a deal as mentioned before. It's a vacation package that is not cheap. You are going to pay. How much depends on many factors. And as I read many of these posts, you realize there are many hidden stipulations that no one knows until they come across them by accident or necessities. I can imagine their contracts go on and on and I assume they are made that way so that the common person cannot make it out. This is not a little place, it's huge and the cost to maintain is huge money. The last agent said it was a million dollars a day. I can believe that.

So, it's too bad that this is such a bad business, in general. Compare it to buying a different product, say a mattress. You look for certain qualities and the needs are not the same for everyone. But you know what you're paying for as the price changes depending on brand, material, and options. But it's right there, and I don't understand why with this business they keep it all hidden. And even when they explain everything, it comes up differently in the contract. It just seems like the consumers of these places really have to do a lot of work just to break even. And that just doesn't seem fair.

I feel sorry for all of the people that purchased and got lied to. Hey, I was there, they wear you out. The place is nice. There are just too many negative vibes and feelings. No one should feel like that when you think of a vacation. Based on what I have read, I am not sure you really get what you paid for with Vidanta. But I'm staying away because their tactics suck. I didn't buy so I won't know if they are liars as well, but that wouldn't surprise me. I felt so worn out, worse than buying a new car. That's not how I want to purchase a vacation. I will keep doing it my way.

Look, I can't speak to my in-laws' personal experience of the sales presentation, which I imagine felt high-pressure, intense and long (I've not been to these presentations, but I have been to other timeshare ones in the past) - but, I can honestly say that I was quite surprised (and relieved) that Frank was being reasonable and amenable to their concerns. While we did not cancel the new contract, we were able to get everything my in-laws need to feel comfortable - and moreover, HAPPY - with this new contract, and to get them to a place where they didn't feel swindled or tricked. I think my own complete 180 - which I was NOT expecting - is testament that light can shine through in dark places, and that was my personal experience with Frank.

While I have never been to the property, my in-laws have enjoyed it and brought their friends for over 10 years with rave reviews. But for this one sales presentation experience, they have been satisfied members. We are all glad that it looks like this relationship can continue with good faith and good feelings.

Original Review: Dec. 3, 2017

My elderly in-laws have been members of Grand Maya resorts for around 8-9 years. They've been reasonably happy with their membership and the facilities are beautiful, but these "upgrade" presentations are totally unconscionable. On their most recent trip, they were offered an "upgrade" to fractional ownership from timeshare ownership, with the lure of significantly reducing impending renovation fees and upgrading to a Grand Luxxe Loft. They were not interested in the Loft because it has less square footage than their existing arrangement, and do not enjoy "loft" style (no closed walls) units. Gerardo, their salesperson, however, insisted that their upcoming renovation fees were going to be significant.

They couldn't remember how much they had been paying, but Gerardo got some "papers" about their account and showed them the numbers. Using these "papers" with different numbers, he convinced them that their renovation costs were going to be $37,000 in the next few years. They were extremely alarmed to hear that, but he showed them their "account papers," so they assumed he was telling the truth. As a result, they upgraded to the Loft.

When they got back to the United States, my in-laws checked their existing contract and found that their renovation fees were very small, and would not amount to anything near $37,000 in their current contract. In addition, when they looked more closely at the "papers" Gerardo had given them - it had SOMEONE ELSE'S NAME on it! Gerardo printed out someone else's numbers and used that to deceive my in-laws. This is a SERIOUS PROBLEM - first, they used erroneous information to intentionally pressure my in-laws into an upgrade, and second, they gave away someone else's PRIVATE information.

We have sent emails, letters, and phone calls asking for the original agreement to be restored, the equity trade-in agreement to be canceled, and the down-payment to be refunded. So far, the customer service representative assigned to the case has only offered "extra amenities or benefits." Vida Vacations acts in BAD FAITH, using sales tactics that are unconscionable, particularly on the elderly. STAY FAR FAR FAR AWAY!!!

Secondly, obviously don't fall for their first, second, third or even fourth offer. It's painful but if you think of it as a game, they will drop their fees down to almost nothing. Our "final offer" was less than 1/10th of their starting price. My main complaint is that they don't have a fast-path option. Just show us the condo and give us the final price and we'll say yes or no. The whole thing could take 5 minutes and be a lot less painful for everyone.

Book our next vacation in Puerto Penasco at the Mayan Palace and arrive November 4th. Nice place. Beautiful beach. Just 7 hour drive from home. At registration they asked us to attend a sales presentation to "review your contract". Actually not a bad idea, since after 6 hrs on the initial sale, I did not have a clear understanding of what I purchased and she said just "30 min" with breakfast.

Then I got the key to my room, trying to unlock the door to my surprise it was not vacant. The lady who was staying there said she was not leaving till tomorrow so I headed back to reception. They gave me another key. I opened the door and was floored - like Motel 6 if you know what I mean. Two small beds, no jacuzzi tub, no sitting area. Back to reception I went with the picture of the room I purchased in Cabo in January. The receptionist said the "motel 6" room was the room I purchased in the Mayan Palace, there was no room that matched what I purchased in this hotel.

BUT... For an upgrade price of $60/per day they could move me to a Master Suite. Of course I paid, who would spend a week in that tiny little room? Not happy with this experience. I went back to my original room to see what they were going to give me had it not been occupied. Guess what? Yes, it was a Master Suite. In other words I had to pay extra for the room I would have had, if it had not been occupied. On Tuesday at the "review my contract presentation" I told the sales rep what happened and he admitted that they normally upgrade you on your first visit to Puerto Penasco so you can see what you did NOT pay for and then ask you to upgrade your timeshare in order to get what you thought you were getting originally.

Is this "bait and switch"? What we found out during this 3 hour contract review is that we can only have the room we purchased in Cabo, any other resort we are downgraded. But this was our opportunity to pay another $9000.00 to get what we wanted. I am not sure if this is legal or not. They threatened that if we did not upgrade right now we would not have the chance to upgrade in the future. I took copies of every document on the table with all their promises and threats; when you pass away your estate is liable for $6500.00 transfer fee so you better upgrade which will eliminate this cost to your family.

Your Vidanta dollars expire and you can only spend them on "stuff in the catalog". Originally we had been told we could use those dollars toward airfare and hotels. They tried to get us to sign a resignation letter stating we understand "this promotion will no longer be available, that I am losing $11,900 in equity, they will not eliminate the maintenance fees times 10 as a transfer fee and that we will be responsible for all contractual fees and future modifications to contract". What does all that even mean? I got up and walked out. Warning; Take copies of everything they write down. You might need to show it to a lawyer. I am so confused by this transaction. I have asked for a lawyer to contact me.

Please understand all of our ownerships: Westin St. John USVI, K'anapali beach Maui, Tahiti Village Las Vegas are all top rack resorts, so making a good trade is never a problem for us. Having said that, this resort is hands-down, bar none the most opulent, luxurious, cleanest, nicest resort I have ever been in in my life. The staff are consistently friendly, efficient, and absolutely bend over backwards to give you an over-the-top experience. I simply cannot say enough good things about this resort and the people who operate it.

As for the bad and the ugly. There honestly is nothing I can classify in the "ugly" category. Having said that, this is a vacation ownership a.k.a. timeshare opportunity, so what do you really expect? Are they high-pressure? In a word, yes. Probably some of the highest pressure I've ever seen in the timeshare business. They are not rude at all. I was here two years ago, and actually went to two separate presentations at two separate resorts, one of them being Vidanta.

No one was ever rude, although the pressure is definitely there, and you're kidding yourself if you think you're really going to get out of one of these in anything close to one hour. They play a lot of numbers games, and if you've never been through a timeshare presentation, I could see why that would put you off a little bit. But clearly all of these one star reviews here are from people who have already owned other timeshares, so the only thing I can think is that they have a serious case of buyer's remorse.

The bottom line is You don't buy one of these things because it's a great value. There are opportunities to buy timeshares on the secondary market if you want to get into a cheap vacation. However, again this is the nicest resort I've ever stayed in in my life. The sales presentation is one unfortunate reality of dealing with timeshare and timeshare-like vacation deals. If you haven't figured it out yet, the best way to tell when a timeshare representative is lying is when their lips are moving. Yes, like another reviewer we got tons of "Vida dollars". But if you really think they are going to buy your old timeshare ownerships from you at retail value, and then give you thousands of dollars worth of "Vida dollars" and those Vida dollars are worth anything close to dollar for dollar for actual cash, you are as stupid as the salespeople think you are.

In the end, you are purchasing a vacation. It is a vacation with a few perks that you may or may not use. I honestly have to say though that Vidanta runs an absolutely amazing resort that by far surpasses the quality of anything else that I've ever owned or used, and I have been to some very nice places. They will continue to grow as they expand, which makes them highly motivated to keep the resort in good shape and keep current owners coming back (because if you don't, you don't have to pay your "usage fee" and it is that usage fee that keeps their operating budget alive.) In summary, I think that all of the one star reviews here are a bunch of crap. They don't really reflect the quality of the resort, and most of them clearly reflect the buyers' dissatisfaction with the timeshare business deal with it. You excepted a bribe for as much as $400 to go sit through a sales presentation, so what did you really expect?

I asked if I had a period to cancel and they said this was not that kind of a deal. Well, come to find out I had 5 days to cancel. 3 weeks later at home I get the brochure about the $299 rentals, only they aren't $299. I go online to their website and searched for hours and found only 2 and they were 1 1/2 stars! Plus, the terms of use at the website, tell you that the prices can change and they take no responsibility if they are inaccurate. Oh, and the savings, well about $50.00. Let's see at 4,800 I will have to take 96 weeks of vacation to break even. Oh, and then I have to pay $99.00 a year to renew. So that will be 2 more a year. This is a total scam.

I can get better accommodations used Interval and RCI. And I would never stay in a 1 1/2 star hotel for a week. They pressured me all day, lied to me, and hurried me through the paperwork. The next day I find a representative from the timeshare I am staying in outside telling people not to go to Vida Vacations. I thought it was because the initial thing they try to do is have you sign over your timeshares to them and charge you extra money. I thought he was worried we would trade our timeshare. Now I know he was there to warn you against buying anything Vida Vacations offers you.

I wish I had encountered him before I made this giant mistake. Oh, by the way, the people who sold me this scam said they didn't work with vida vacations and even said disparaging remarks about the salesmen. Well, my credit card charge is for Vida Vacations! Lies, upon lies. Whatever you do, do not take these reviews lightly, we are all regretting we ever encountered the people who signed us up to waste a day and be scammed.

I paid in full $20,278 on my 2 credit cards American Express and Bank of America. I am in the process of first contacting Vida to give them an opportunity to refund my money and cancel my contract before I file a dispute with my credit card companies and the United States Department of State requesting they (Department of State) issue a warning regarding the mass fraud and deception taking place at this company. The State Department should warn all United States citizens to steer clear of these predators.

They lie and sweet talk U S and Canadian citizens out of millions of dollars a year and really offer no real value for your money. They say you don't have to pay an annual fee, but you have to pay at least $1,050 or $1,080 each visit. What is the $20,000 for. Membership in an exclusive club? This is a luxury I hardly can afford. They tell you they are going to pay your SFX, RCI and Registry exchange for a certain period, 1 years. Also, hidden annual fees after a period of time. Read the 40 page contract before you sign anything. The entire staff from the owner, lawyer on down are in on this scam and laugh all the way to Banco of Mexico.

We've been trying for more 5 months to get some resolution, and the most recent e-mail said: "you have read and fully understood the contract which you acquired. Your signature on these legal documents confirms that you are in accordance to the above and any further clauses of the contract in its entirety." Trouble is that they misrepresent what is being signed, don't give you enough time to actually read the 25 pages you are signing, and then leave you hanging when you complain or try to cancel. The properties are amazing, and we always have a great time except for the presentations. I would recommend that people rent weeks from eBay or another timeshare rental, but absolutely avoid the presentations.

So, let me tell you about the offer they made me. Their purchase price started at $68,000.00 for a two bedroom unit 5 times a year for the next ten years. After ten years it drops down to four weeks per year. There is no annual maintenance; you just pay $1,050.00 each time you use one of their resorts. Sounds like a lot of money, but they give you 10 - $300.00 donation vouchers that you send to their recommended charity or your own; and when they use your voucher as a gift for a charity event, you get the credit. So it is possible to have $3,000.00 banked to go towards your $1,050.00 usage fee. Confused; so were we, but our salesperson said the vouchers are always used and you get another 10 once the first ten are gobbled up. Still not sure; that $68,000.00 still is too much money for me to spend.

So here comes the trade-ins on what I own. They offer me full value for my two properties; more than what I originally paid for them. Too good to be true; right. With some fancy math the price of my new purchase now only be $21,000.00. They show me that in the next ten years I will be paying that same amount for my ownership fees at my properties that I already own. So would I like to still pay the fees that I have or do I want to start with something new. Remember, no maintenance fees at Vida. So, I buy it and set up automatic withdrawals of $209.00 per month for 10 years after putting down $5,000.00 on my VISA card.

We get back to FAVC where our adult children are waiting for us. They are upset that we were gone for so many hours and had shut off our phones while we were out. I tell them what we have done and my son is really upset. I already set up a tour for him to see what I purchased, but he has no interest. He goes on Consumer Affairs and brings up all the terrible reviews. Now I know I have to get out of this deal that was too good to be true. I write Vida and call them to set up an appointment to cancel with them. My children will go with me for this.

We get there and after sitting down with several people, we are out of the deal. But wait; there is one more person that grabs us on the way out. Are you ready for this? He offers me everything that I purchased at $21,000.00 for $7,000.00. 2/3 off what I thought was a great deal originally. What the hell is this place really worth? Now I am concerned about what I already own and its value and I will never go on another sales presentation again.

If you don't believe me, go google reviews for this place and their business. You will find a 1 out of 5 stars and see scam over scam consistently. I hope to god you don't get sucked into this. Somehow they disclosed how their operations work due to the salesman opening his mouth too much. The owner takes 50% of all proceeds to his pockets. They have roughly 2500 employees on staff. I can only imagine they get paid next to nothing while the head guy takes all the money. It doesn't help their story at all. Please stay away from any offer this resort tries to offer or it will waste half a day. They say it will take 1 hour, but it WILL be at least 3+ hours. I will never come back to this place and would ever recommend this place to any friends and family. Horrible Horrible horrible. SCAM beyond SCAM.

We went inside and begun to show me pictures and kept repeating how they were number one blah blah blah. But he would never get to the point, I finally got fed up and told him to stop beating around the bush and get to the point. He got upset and asked me if I had somewhere to be, I told "no", That I didn't came to Mexico to listen to some bs sales pitch. He told me if you don't finish my presentation you are not getting the Price. I said "ok." He immediately called his supervisor and told him that we were done.

The manager begun with his pitch but he was not getting to me. I told "Not interested." He went from $1060 per year for a week for 10 years to $600 per year. I told him that I was just interested. He kept on pushing, until I finally got angry and screamed at him "I NOT INTERESTED." And walked out. After that they got very hostile. This is Totally a scam. Don't fall for it.

The media needs to have a full report warning US Citizens about these type of frauds happening down in Mexico. Daniel Chavez Moran karma will get you because you're taking advantage of innocent people who "think" that they're dealing with a reputable company. No wonder the premises are spectacular. They robbing people from left to right and from all parts of the world. The new Cirque du Soleil is going to be the new avenue for more SCAMS! Stay away!!! The free food, cheap tequila, blankets and airfares is not worth your precious vacation time! I hope Citibank helps me! If not, I will pay the price for my ignorance but I hope I can save you from falling in their trap from hell!

The bad: They had a pool of specially train sales rep waiting for us. They split people (one groups) one sales rep per family with the goal of signing up "68%" of the group. I was shocked to see older Americans & Canadians families sign up for Vida Vacations Membership contracts for $80,000.00, 70,000.00, 60,000.00, 40,000.00 etc. So I listened to the sales rep assigned to me. She covered all her material and it boiled down to a Vida Vacations Membership sales. They had 3 different levels. 1 being the very basic ($500k-30k USD), 2 the mid range ($70k-60k USD) and 3 the most expensive ($100k-80k USD). Lady from Florida hit me starting with vacations memberships (1 and 2 bedroom suites) ranging from over $100k USD to $50k USD. Notice, for some reason, they don't like to work with Mexican pesos.

Anyhow, they were taking one whole day out of my vacation and I was not happy, so I politely and respectfully told the 1st sales rep, No thank you. She got up and send a manager, pushing the sale. I told him that I was not after going down on the price. They started at $110k USD, and we were at the $20k and kept on asking how much I was willing to pay for the entry level Vedanta membership, so I kept on saying none (nada) not interested, but keep posing and adding all kinds of incentives ($1,000.00 Vidanta Dollars, Exchange membership, RCI membership etc).

Me and my wife were the only ones left with the sharks and keep switching sales rep on us. I finally told the 4th sales rep, We will pay $10k for their mid range ($70k-$60k) Vacation membership in payments or cash for the 100 years membership and the 5 days cancellation agreement. I was shocked, they accepted the $10k with a $3,500.00 down and give me the 5 days to cancel.

On Monday May 2nd, 2016 at 8am, I called Vidanta customer service to cancel my contract with 2 days from the 5 days cancellation policy. They took all my info and told me that it had been canceled and that they had not charged my credit card as of that AM and that I will not be charged. We went back to the US and check my credit card statement and notice that they did process the charge late on May 2nd, 2016, so I called Vidanta customer service and was told that my contract was not canceled and everyone I talk to, refused to cancel my contract and kept referring me to others and others play phone tags with me and finally, a lady left me a message telling me that my contract was cancelled, but they will not credit my $3,500.00 for breach of contract. So I call back and informed her that I was going to dispute the charge and so I did, but my Bank (JP Chase) was not able to do it.

Bottom line, Vidanta Group took $3,500.00 from a hard working family without providing any type of services and that not right. My advice to other families, stay away from Vidanta Group "Vida Vacations Membership." They show you nice resorts, but they are after your hard earned money. They want you to deposit a monthly payment for a timeshare and still charge you market price for staying in any of their resorts in the form of "maintenance and usage fees." We hope this post help other families avoid Vidanta Group deceiving business practice. We use an email alias to post this message, but will read the emails from time to time. Be safe.

I was transferred to accounting and was told that they could only remove the late fee of $36. I spoke to three people that day and I realized that they were going to do nothing about the renovation fee for this timeshare that we don't and won't use. It's unfortunate that we lost over $10,000 for a timeshare that we used once. We pray that people see these stories and avoid vida vacation. Vida Vacations staff are not human and worship money. Our other timeshare company was courteous enough to at least remove the renovation fees, but vida vacations are sticking to the contract that was deceivingly presented. I am going to be sure to spread the news about this timeshare and have others do so as well. There are other ways to fight back when you have been wronged. We are going to send special prayers against these money-sucking demons who work for vida vacations.

When Claudia, the "lawyer", came back with the contract I informed her I had changed my mind. The sale had already been processed. I was assured that it was voided. That was two weeks ago, still no refund. I've spoken with them several times, no progress. This morning they advised me to keep waiting because it was refunded and just unsettled with the banks. I let them know I was going to dispute the charge and was told they would reject it because they processed the refund 2 weeks ago. I hung up and proceeded with my dispute through the credit card company. Pure foolishness, please don't waste your time.

The following letter is what I sent to Vida and The Registry collection. Beware of buying with them, apparently to them it is okay to change the deal we have with them at any point without notice... "I am a very dissatisfied customer and have several issues that require your immediate attention. My wife and I are owners at the Grand Bliss through Vida - we have been customers since 2004. Initially we bought into the Grand Maya and then upgraded to a "no maintenance fee unless we use it" benefit in 2008 and ultimately to Grand Luxxe in 2012. Eventually we downgraded to the Grand Bliss. These upgrades were substantial expenses that we incurred but we did so with full faith that we were working with an ethical and honest corporation."

"The downgrade was soon after the Grand Luxxe upgrade - this was due to the first of numerous disappointments and unpleasant encounters. We attempted to deposit a week with The Registry Collection - I was informed at that time that as an owner with Luxxe we no longer had access to the properties through Registry Collection. This was NOT told to me and I was misled in this upgrade. I lodged a formal complaint publicly and through a resolution process I was downgraded to the Bliss so that I could once again have access to The Registry Collection. This was a very unpleasant experience and challenged my trust. Several months ago another incident caused me to lose faith in this arrangement altogether."

"In October 2016 we deposited our weeks from Grand Bliss with The Registry Collection. When I did, I split my weeks into a 1 BR and studio and was unexpectedly charged $500.00 more than I have been previously charged. When I questioned this increase I was informed it was due to my unit splitting. I have been able to split units all of these prior years without any such exorbitant fee and I have not been formally notified of any such change to my agreement. This is certainly not the rules in which I had been operating for the last several years. I feel I was pushed into a corner so that I did not lose my time requests and reluctantly paid this fee that had not been adequately explained to me."

"Once the weeks were with The Registry Collection, I called in to try and book a week at the Franz Klammer where we enjoy staying. I was told that the values of my Grand Bliss units were not enough to secure the Franz Klammer. I asked for an explanation and was told that the 5 points and the 4 points were not enough to get the Klammer that now required 17 points total. Nor could I combine three Bliss units as Registry only allows a max of two units to be combined. I have certainly never had this problem before and told the Registry employee this and they did say that the Klammer used to require only 9 points. I asked the question "so under this scenario I can never stay at the Klammer in this method" and the person agreed that this was the case."

"During the conversation it was agree that I could use three of my units to stay at the Klammer in this one instance so I again reluctantly agreed because I had no other option. I asked why this changed and the Registry person told me that Vida directed them to change the point values. I expressed my concern that this was not the agreement that I had been working under for the last several years and had to ask - "why had the rules changed?" After the conversation it occurred to me that even with three units that had a 5 and a 4 value respectively I still could not get to the 17. This would also be the case at the Montecristo in Cabo San Lucas where we have enjoy staying in the past."

"On December 23, 2016 I called Vida to discuss my experiences and spoke with Juan **. He informed me that Vida did not assign property values which I can appreciate however my initial investments and ongoing maintenance fees were paid to Vida as well as the fact we were assigned to The Registry Collection by Vida, I felt Vida had some ownership in this situation and needed to assist in its resolution. Juan ** agreed to facilitate a three way phone call between Juan **, a Registry Collection representative (Cindy) and myself. For a large part of this conversation I was listening to the other two politely argue as to who set the values each pointing to the other. Once again I was caught in the middle between Vida and Registry Collection."

"The fact remains that we agreed to a set of rules and changes are being made at your will with no input from your patrons and certainly with no regard for our allegiance and loyalty to you - this loyalty is obviously one sided. We are not newcomers - we are loyal owners for over a decade. We deserve better communication and certainly more communication and interaction when such substantial modifications are being made to agreements we signed over a decade ago. We have made investments with you in good faith and expect to be treated in a fair manner."

"Attempting to schedule a vacation through our investment has become a miserable experience. I certainly accept that times change and situations have to be adjusted for incoming new customers but I fully expected that the annual 5% maintenance fee escalator along with new customers you bring in would handle these adjustments. I feel I have been taken advantage of and would sincerely appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible regarding a resolution."

We were paired up with Leanne, supposedly also a Canadian. She is very good at being deceitful. She hooked us with the trade-in, trade-up scam. Her comment was that "if I say that we take over your timeshare and you have no more fees to pay". We told her that our property was a fractional ownership and she said it was still a timeshare. Not totally true especially when it comes to disposing of the property. When questioned how this would be taken care of, she said our resort would take the property back using Right of first refusal rule. She also said that she would take care of booking our 2018 summer vacation at our home resort.

After we returned home we had a phone call from Alex at Timeshare Resale Marketing (TRM). He offered to buy out the equity of $65,000.00 that Vida Vacations had put on our property for $12,495.00 USD. We said no. Then all of a sudden he had a promotion and could do it for $8495.00 USD and he said they would sell our property for us and keep 20% of the proceeds. We said no. The other option was to pay $1879.00 USD upfront for legal fees to dispose of the property and they keep the proceeds. We said no to paying fees upfront. We called Norma at the Grand Mayan, Riviera Maya, and she said she had the power to change the upfront fees to be paid later. We said that their deceitful sales tactics do more harm than good to Vida Vacations. She said "no, no, business is good."

We then called our home resort in Canada only to find out that no contract had been made for selling the property and no 2018 vacation had been booked by Leanne. Also the Right of first refusal would not happen as Leanne so unjustly had assured us that it would. Our contract was terminated at this point as it was very obvious that a "Viking Ship contract" was in the making (Google it) and our property would never be disposed of.

It was made clear to us by legal authority that the Trade in/Trade up Equity Agreement is totally deceitful and full of suggestive issues and therefore worthless. Furthermore, the information presented to us by Leanne was misleading, confusing, imprecise and false. And yes, Norma, our contract has been cancelled and we also request a full refund of our money based on the above information.

The Vida dollars are not even usable. Tried multiple times to activate them and you have to be a fight a member which means you sold and bought into their timeshare at thousands of dollars. Definitely not worth the time and effort when someone is on vacation. Would not recommend to anybody to put themselves through the hassle of persecution, the pressure, the demand they put you in. As far as I am concerned Vidanta is just a pressure pushing, money grabbing, monopolizing company.

On the 6th we had a meeting with a verification officer named Maria ** aka Rosario ** in the Riviera Maya office. We told her we wanted to cancel. She tried to convince us not to but we told her no. She then said she would start the cancellation process and issue us a refund. She then had us meet with another sales rep whose name I cannot remember. He said he represented the owner of the resort. He also tried to convince us not to cancel, and we told him no we wanted to cancel. He then brought over another rep named Tania. We told her the same. Then he brought some boss sales rep named Victor and we strongly told him no we wanted to cancel. Victor then brought over a letter of cancellation with refund. My wife and I both signed it and we received a copy. The letter states that our contract was cancelled and that we would receive a refund within 15 days.

After we got back from Cozumel I waited for 15 days which was to the 21st of April. There was no refund. I thought maybe it was fifteen business days which was to the 27th of April, and still nothing. I contacted Vidanta who transferred me to Maria and she was rude, uncooperative, contradictory and dismissive about my refund. At first she said she that the refund was already issued. Then she said she is going to issue the refund, that that it should be in my account at the end of April and if I want she can send me a letter in my e-mail. I explain to her that I have a copy cancellation and refund letter stating that my refund should have been issued within 15 days of cancellation, and it should have already been issued. She then said because it is international that would be at the end of the month and then just transferred me to some unknown rep who would not transfer me back to talk to her.

Of course I checked my account at the end of the month and there is no refund. I tried to contact her but she is of course refusing to accept my calls now. Not only am I now writing about my bad experience but I also had to end up filing a dispute with my credit card company to try and get my money back. Warning to all. Stay away from this company. They say they are not like other timeshares but they are. If not worse.

We arrived, introduced to a very personable associate that took us to breakfast, made a lot of small talk, even befriended us. Gave us the update we were looking for. Then the HOOK. Our account showed "active", which was troubling to her. She had someone else come by and told us they would investigate our file. More small talk while we waited and waited. We are at the hour mark by now. The active status meant that the property owned and sold on our behalf was worth more than typically exchanged for a timeshare. They wanted us to consider being a resident owner in an upgraded property that we were staying in. However, that was sold out as well as the upgrade to that one. So their top of the line Grand Luxxe was offered for more than we cared to invest.

Negotiations on selling part of that interest for us so we could afford it commenced. Teaching us how to use the Ambassador program to make money so we could afford it was offered. Another hour passed. The price ended up being around $7,000us. We were not interested in any further investment. The sales person left in a huff and sent someone else, who told us we needed to write up a reason why we did not want to take the worth of the property we sold to purchase a residence to absolve them from any liability, with whom I do not know. I did so, but he had more offers and negotiating to do, and it not so coincidentally came was around the same $7,000 offer as before, but this time we would get a credit card for $6,000 to offset much of the cost, only it could be used on their website but for just about anything.

I was already fed up talking to them, now in the third hour. He got mad when I insisted we were not interested and were ready to leave. He finally called on someone to check us out. This person introduced their self as working for the resort and asked how we had been treated. We told him, he apologized but said they were part of the sales team and it was their job. Why we ever were put with a sales team for an update was ridiculous to me, but calculated by them. This associate said he would help us "certify" our ownership to get it out of active status and be on our way. All was needed was my signature. As they are no longer offering timeshares but residences only, he had one of his associates explained "the situation" and could get us residence status for only $6000us. That was the last straw.

I said, "I wanted to think about it, how much time do have." April 15th is the deadline. They would check on me the 9th to confirm my interest. Hour four completed. No call on the 9th. We did not pursue, relieved, but irritated is an understatement of the way we felt. We loved our time on the resort, the staff throughout the whole experience other than the pitch were great. The Mayan Palace is showing a lot of wear, but the grounds were immaculate. Restaurants very good, just too few to get in at a reasonable time.

This year we were in Nuevo Vallarta March 18 - April 1/2017. We are Grand Luxxe Residence owners. On the evening of March 25/17. I had a terrible fall landing on my back while walking in the hallway of our Tower 3 because of a large spill of water in the hallway. I went down to the main floor to file a incident report to the concierge and then had a Doctor come to my suite to examine me and had meds delivered to our suite at my cost. $80.00 USD for Dr visit and then another $87.00 USD for meds to be pickup and delivered to our suite.

I spend the next 3 days laying flat on my back in bed. The sales people were very pushy about having us go to a sales meeting. So on the Friday March 31/2017, my husband and I attended this meeting that lasted from 9:15 am- 4:30 pm. The whole time I was in great distress because of my back pain. Oh they promised us upgrades of Premier/Park/Ambassador status to compensate me for my hallway mishap, which they knew had happened because of the hallway security cameras, and the incident report I had filed, the report from the Doctor, and the fact that my last week of holidays was spent in bed. We as a family love going to this resort but hate the presentation meetings so in future will not attended any more of them. Be happy with your placement at this resort and enjoy the sun and holidays in the future.

We were contacted by the "RCI contact person" at the hotel and told that the only way they could upgrade us to a 1 bedroom with a kitchen is if we attended a 90 minute timeshare presentation. We hesitantly agreed, because we didn't want to be crammed into the compact (less than normal sized hotel room) room. (When my husband later checked his voicemail, which didn't come through until we returned to the US for some reason, RCI had left us a voicemail that day indicating that they had arranged for us to have the 1 bedroom we had reserved with a kitchen without having to attend a timeshare presentation.)

Not knowing that RCI had left us the voicemail, We attended the SIX HOUR timeshare presentation. We were told the following things that ended up NOT being true: 1. We could keep our RCI points we had already accrued, as long as we banked them with Vida. It was later explained to me that we had to relinquish our RCI points for the remainder of the year. 2. We would get THREE WEEKS, as opposed to our two weeks with RCI for $850/year. This actually turned out to be $850 PER WEEK used, or $2,550/year. 3. We believed we were getting ownership interest at the Grand Mayan, yet our paperwork said that we cannot use the Grand Mayan resort.

The contract stated our home resort as being in Nuevo Vallarta at the Crocodile Resort, instead of the Grand Mayan resort in Acapulco, despite the fact that I had told the sales lady that I have PTSD from having been chased (& almost caught) by an alligator as a child, so I would never plan on visiting that resort. We had already signed the contract & paid $1,000.00, so I contacted the Sales Rep to notify her that same day that we were intending to cancel the contract. (I had read online that in Mexico you have 5 days to cancel this type of contract.) She advised that I call Brenda ** to cancel. Brenda is in place to attempt to bully potential owners into remaining in their contracts. I couldn't leave a message, so I emailed the customer service email.

After not responding, I contacted the customer service telephone number of corporate headquarters to initiate a rescission of the contract. I also notified my credit card company that I was disputing the transaction. Only after doing that did Brenda email me back, then she contacted me and left a voicemail saying that HAD I waited and worked directly with HER, then she could've refunded my credit card within 5 business days, but because I went around her and contacted the credit card company, now I was going to have to wait 15 days to get my refund of my deposit. VIDA then charged an additional $4,000.00 on my credit card after I initiated the dispute!

VIDA then presented me with a document that they "Require the consumer to sign in order to cancel a contract." This document has a liquidated damages clause in it that states that in the event that you fail to remove any negative comments you've made online OR you at ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE post any negative comments about Vida Vacations online, that you are authorizing them to automatically charge your credit card the full amount of the contract price (or deposit, I would have to verify.) Either way, it's a large sum of money. I refused to sign it, because by LAW, you don't HAVE to sign it. Brenda continued to send me snarky emails and continued to play games with me regarding refunding my money back to my credit card.

It has been 25 days and VIDA STILL hasn't credited the $5,000.00 to my credit card, but has assured me that my contract with them in canceled. Brenda continued to email me after the 15th day stating that she had never been told that I had disputed the contract, that this was the first she was hearing about it and had I gone to her originally, she could've ensured a prompt refund of my deposit. I sent back her voicemail that she had left me two weeks prior stating the same thing. She continued to play games in getting my credit card charges reversed.

So... make sure you ask to see the contracts before you agree to anything. I won't elaborate on the financial aspects of the transaction, because they're just a business trying to get the highest price possible for a product/service they sell, so each consumer will pay a different price, but our sales rep was definitely NOT honest with us about the lowest price possible because we encountered many other couples who were offered the same room size for 1/10th of the allegedly "lowest price." But hey... that's timeshare sales for you!

Original Review: March 10, 2017

We bought timeshare weeks at Mayan Palace in 2010 and have been paying maintenance fees every year. We turn over the week to Holiday Systems International who rents the week out and pays us back the maintenance fee minus a small admin fee. We have accepted the fact that we shouldn't have been talked into buying and have kissed the amount we paid for the contract.

Last week we were at Mayan Palace in Riviera Maya and were encouraged to go to a business meeting so they could explain how the business had changed etc. We refused but after thinking about it for a few days my husband started thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to learn what was going on with Vidanta and how it might impact our contract. Luckily, the only time slot available that late in the week was the morning of our departure. Breakfast for all 6 of us and late checkout plus the usual reduction in room expenses was promised and delivered. We made it very clear several times that we had to be on the road by noon. Then the fun and games began.

Yes we got an update on the business (Amazing!) and then the salesman started into a song and dance about how Vidanta is no longer in the timeshare business and is only selling fractional ownerships and for a paltry $567000 we could be the happy owners of 4 weeks in their Grand Luxxe collection. Yeah right - like that was going to happen. Amazing mathematical wizardry unfolded before our eyes showing us what fools we would be not to accept such a fabulous offer.

Once he finally got the message that no meant no, salesman 2 shows up. He explained to us how much we would be paying over the course of the next 25 years in annual maintenance fees and special assessment fees every 5 years. Well we pretty much get back the entire maintenance fee but special assessment fees? Never heard of them and certainly have never paid it. That fee is 2x the maintenance fee every 5 years and 5x the maintenance fee every 25 years - why had we not remembered that detail of the original contract and not been billed for it in 2015? Salesman #2 didn't believe us that we had never received an invoice for the special assessment fee. Of course he didn't have a copy of our contract and neither did we.

The next sales pitch starts - for $4200 we can rewrite our contract and not have to pay maintenance fees or special assessment fees. We only have to pay when we want to stay at Mayan Palace or one of the sister resorts. Seems like a deal especially in light of the huge special assessment fees we have to pay over the next 25 years so we agreed to the rewrite. But we are now at 11:15 and we still have to pack and checkout so we can be on the road by noon and there isn't time to have a contract written up so they agree to email us a contract on the next business day when we are at home but we need to make a 25% deposit and follow-up with the balance within 120 days. We will sign the contract later after a phone call from a business manager later in the week. Fair enough.

Now that I have the new contract and have examined it in the quiet of my own home and compared it to the original contract, I see that there really is no reason that we should enter into this new agreement. There are no special assessment fees mentioned in the original contract. The only additional fee is a renewal fee that is payable every 10 years but that applies to both the old and the new contract and is the same amount in both. So now I come to my question, we won't sign this new contract so will we automatically have the 25% deposit refunded? What should I do proactively to ensure it is returned? I will contact the credit card company to start a dispute claim but is there anything else you advise?

They make ALL THE FALSE PROMISES IN THE WORLD REGARDING THEIR PROGRAMS, which include, (but is not limited to) world-wide travel options, multiple weeks, "no hidden fees" and only a 1 time fee you have to pay. Little do you know, (IF YOU'RE THAT DUMB TO AGREE TO IT) that it's a 30+ page contract, with more fine print than you'll ever take the time to actually read, (cause it legal jargon) that simply states this: Vidanta aka Vida Vacations has you by the balls, and you can't do ** about it because of international laws. Oh, they also make you do a virtual recording that you agree to all the parts of the contract.

They really cover their a$$, so that yours if left wide open. Agreeing to buying anything here is something I promise you will regret. I know more about them, than any of their clients. They ever try bribing you with promises to experience Cirque Du Soleil, and worldwide travel options. All complete and utter B.S. If you actually know what you're signing up for! They training people to lie, cheat, and steal from you - that says it all! Do yourself a favor; book your vacation online and tell these con-artists to go ** themselves.

BTW, we were promised no more than 1 hour of our time - that's **- We started at 0900 hours and finally got out of that ** at 1648 hours. That's nearly 8 hours of high pressure sales tactics. I wish I could share pics because I have some of the people at Vida that tried to scam us. Marcia, Jeff, Luke, and some fatty couldn't get his name. It was almost comical at the end. They went from offering us this bs at $79k USD, then it went to $39k, then $21k, then $15k, then when we thought they finally gave up on us and was in the process of "checking us out" - it then went to $5700 THEN (yes, wait there's more) to $2000... all the way down to $1300. At that price if figured it was worth it UNTIL they refused to update the contract to reflect their VERY VERBAL promises about 50 additional weeks to stay anywhere we wanted - but they refused to confirm these would NEVER expire.

Contract person LUKE (** thin guy) then started saying (reverse psychology) - "then maybe you shouldn't sign it... I wouldn't if you don't trust us..." HA - we went around and around for about 3 mins - then all of a sudden he grabbed all the UNSIGNED paperwork and walked out. Then I told the other guy how rude and unprofessional that was and his (fatty) reply was "well you just wasted an hour and a half of my time." I said you guys are bs and you wasted 8 hours of ours. I actually showed fatty these reviews here and he said how can that be they must be fake because they have over 400,000 (yes, 400,000) very happy customers.

Guess what. The charge is on my CC under description? It says "timeshare" Hahahahaha. I already emailed my CC company to tell them this is not an authorized charge/I never signed anything. We also found out the "discounted" prices of massages and a cat sailing trip was actually supposed to be free - so Angel (above) cheated us out of $180. That's cool though - it's only $180 instead of $79K or $39K or whatever. I'm going to post some pics of people - hopefully you'll never see them because if you do that means you fell for this pos scam. Like my better half says - if it's too good to be true then it is... Thank GOD we never signed **. They should all burn in Hell.

One day, my wife found the services of Mexican Timeshare Solutions online while trying to find someone who would rent our Grand Mayan weeks. We were tired of having to keep paying the monthly maintenance fee as it was like throwing good money after bad. The process took about 6 months but my timeshare contract is cancelled. I did verify the cancellation directly with the resort before submitting payment to Mexican Timeshare Solutions. Fortunately we are free from this contract. DO NOT ATTEND ANY PRESENTATIONS AT THE GRAND MAYAN, MAYAN PALACE OR ANY RESORTS OWNED BY VIDANTA/VIDA VACATIONS. Their sole purpose is to run timeshare/vacation package scams.

Our friends warned us in detail of the time we would spend with the salesman (Rod). But for doing it we received four free massages, and they too were wonderful. We started with a great (free) buffet breakfast after which the fun began. It's very similar to those mentioned here. We ended up talking to I think (I honestly lost count) 7 different salesmen for 5 plus hours. The offer started at $45,000 and after saying no many times they were down to an offer of $2000 including 2 free round trip airfare tickets including one week at the resort. My wife and I were both overloaded on the number game they played making it very overwhelming. But we endured and walked away. The result was having experienced one of the best vacation we have ever had. The bottom line is just say NO! Sometimes not easy to do, they are so good at what they do.

The morning came for Johnny to pick us up and it was a different guy. We drove 40 min to this resort. Pull up to a huge group of people waiting. They come and get my husband and I right away take us ahead of everyone, to another van waiting to drive just a little ways up the hill (the van was packed full of people). They take us up to the entrance. Nobody says a thing. Just follows through around to the pool. We are thinking maybe breakfast? NO!!! We turn right there is a huge area with lots of counter space. They want us to give them all of our info on our timeshare and flash our credit card. My husband said "No. I'm not showing you my credit card" and the guy was nasty.

Immediately another guy showed up, we told them "This is not what we came here for or what we were told about." They try and make you feel like it is and it's your fault. Ended up being 2 guys coming over to us. They took us over by the pool and lobby. As soon as we were away from the other people. It got nasty. I finally told them "I didn't care about anything free and I could pay my own way back to my resort so where do I get a taxi?" At that point he said "Oh no we will get you back" and escorted us back down to where the first van dropped us off. I said "I better get back to my resort and not end up in the middle of nowhere!" He said "I assure you... you will." I have to say I was a little scared! Never again will I do that!

Now we meet with Oscar. We tell him we want to go and get beer - we've had enough! Out comes the beer. Now he telling us he has a foreclosure deal that is too good to pass up. We can pay $7566 and then we will use this credit to pay for the vacations that we book. He even gives us his cell number to call. Not sure why but we fell for it. We even gave him a Canadian shirt, he was so nice.

So now we go to book a trip and find out that we have nothing but access to a timeshare we already had. So we try to call and straighten out the mistake... Haha. Finally got through and spoke with the lawyer who said we did not have what I explained. I told him we already had 4 timeshare between us so there is no way we would buy another one. He said he would look into it and call me back. Have not hear a thing. Now I cannot even get through. They must have my number blocked. What a load of crap. We work hard all our life and get ripped off by these guys. They were so nice to our faces telling lies the whole time. I will never go to a time share again!! Now I just want to get my money back.

This all takes place away from the point of check in so beside the fact that the resort is not publicly accessible and away from the main roadways you must be shuttled back, so walking away is not a option. When I was finally shuttled back to the main building I thought I was finally free. Again I was told they would get me signed out, only to have the 5th salesman come. Again the purchase price was lowered. At this point I realized that I might have to buy my way out. I remembered being told that "I could cancel the contract within 5 days".

After hours and hours I was mentally and physically exhausted. (After reading all the other reviews this is a normal process for Vida vacations sales people.) I just really really wanted to leave so I finally agreed, under duress, to purchase. I felt like I was being held prisoner. The paperwork was prepared and it was then upon really reading the fine print that I discovered that yes, you can cancel the contract. But you would have to pay a $99 membership cancellation fee and you would LOSE any DOWN PAYMENT.

There was no way, even now, that I would ever return to that resort, even if I was paid to! So I physically wrote void on the contracts and demanded to leave. I kept the financial credit card document to ensure that my card was not charged. The salesman was angry and told the lady to "get her out of here". I was finally free! The two gifts that had been offered were very insignificant but nonetheless, I never did receive them. I contacted Vidanta's customer care to relay this and complain giving them a chance to amend somehow but just like my continuing "no's" and plea to leave was ignored so was my complaints. Whether it is your family or friends, please tell them to NEVER go to a presentation. It's not worth a tormented destroyed vacation day.

She said she would be five minutes showing us another cheaper timeshare, which we told her we were not interested. She continued on with her sales pitch. We told her that her five minutes were up and we were done. She threatened to not give us our gifts. She left frustrated. We got up again and again we were quickly moved to another area which we demanded to leave. We were lucky that we escaped without spending any money. The only thing we lost was precious vacation time.

I showed up at the agreed time, and shortly thereafter I was introduced to the Vida Vacations staff, and assigned to one staff member, Max. We had a lovely breakfast buffet, followed by a few drinks. The 90 minutes on the appointment paper expanded to more than 7 hours. Clearly, this was a sales presentation from the beginning, as Max spent quite little time responding to my questions about my membership with Vida Vacations at the Grand Luxxe Residential Loft (which I had purchased 10 months earlier in Nuevo Vallarta). About 6 hours into the presentation, I finally agreed to purchase another timeshare for $27,440 (which included 4 timeshares which Vidanta would write off). I was given a written guarantee that Vidanta would buy back my new membership after 2 years, and I would receive at least 65% of the purchase price.

When one purchases at timeshare at a timeshare presentation in Mexico, you have 5 business days (excluding Sunday and Mexican holidays) to cancel the contract agreement. You may cancel your contract: by returning to the sales office and receiving a canceled receipt; or by mailing all documentation to the address provided in the contract (Vidanta's offices are located at Marina Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta).

I signed the contract on December 13th, which was a Tuesday. That evening I read all the documentation provided by the sales staff, including the contract. I was quite disturbed that I was only guaranteed a 65% return on my financial investment after 10 years. Why would I find a 35% devaluation on my investment to be acceptable? The 65% refund could only be used towards another Vidanta property (Mayan Properties), and it could not exceed 20% of the total purchase price.

I had told Max that I had already booked my attendance at Joya, the Cirque du Soleil dinner theater for Wednesday evening and that I would be spending the day relaxing at the resort prior to the show. One of my "prizes" was a tour of Tulum (which included a visit to a jewelry store and a (tequila tasting room & souvenir shop), prior to the bus trip to Tulum. Max was going to meet me Thursday after the bus trip and go into town for dinner. Friday, I was returning home. The purpose of the salesman's efforts to wine, dine, and provide activities after the sale is to show you a good time and control your activities. The salesman doesn't want you to have time to review the contract documents and return to the sales office to cancel the contract. If you do decide to return to the sales office, they have staff members who specialize in rescuing the deal.

I returned home 3 business days after the contract was signed. On the 4th business day (Saturday), I went a certified letter receipt requested to Vidanta's contact center at Marina Vallarta providing notification that I was canceling the contract agreement. I followed the matter up with an email to Vidanta, also on Saturday, December 17th. On Tuesday, December 27th a staff member of Vidanta Resorts left a voicemail message on my cell phone, asking if there was anything Vidanta could do to consummate the contract. I did not return their call. Clearly 7+ hours was not enough to satisfy a 90 minute attendance requirement. "No" never means "no" to these sales people. By sending the certified letter return receipt requested, I had met my contractual obligation to cancel the agreement. No further communication is necessary.

While in Nuevo Vallarta in February, I upgraded from a Grand Bliss membership to the Grand Luxxe Residential Loft (pre-construction). My membership includes: 2 weeks per year for 100 years in a Luxxe Loft; 1 week for 10 years in a Luxxe Loft; and 2 privilege weeks for 100 years. I believe the 10 weeks (1 week per year for 10 years) are what most Developers call bonus weeks (weeks owned by the Developer made available upon request by members who pay the maintenance fee). Developers need cash to finance construction. Payment of maintenance fees for bonus weeks provides additional cash for the Developer, until the unit is sold to a buyer. Privilege weeks basically works the same way.

Vidanta provides: an RCI membership (largest exchange company in the world); SFX Exchange; the Registry Collection (an elite exchange company), and Vida Vacations (discounted travel, tours, & marketing). Why would anyone need RCI, SFX Exchange, and the Registry Collection? It appears that one exchange company should be sufficient to meet anyone's needs. Multiple exchange memberships provides annual revenue to multiple exchange companies and brings new blood into the home resort (providing additional sales opportunities). However, these multiple exchange memberships provide limited additional benefits to the Member (the owner of the timeshare). Vidanta Resorts provides beautiful upscale vacation experiences. Unfortunately, their sales staff is too aggressive.

First of all, there were no free gifts. They offered a deal at the airport which we later found was not a deal... so, we had paid for the "gifts" already, but even if they had been free or a great deal as they had claimed at the airport, this is what their claimed business model is, "We offer you free gifts in exchange for your time to listen to our **, and hope you fall for it". And hence Ash should not be upset that we said no.

Bottom line, this company is out to fleece people. We got cheated at the airport for the "free gifts" they offered, but thankfully we didn't fall for it big time as we said no at the presentation and got out... It was supposed to be 90 minutes, but I don't know which minutes they talk about, as we were there from 9 am to 1:30 pm... Take out 45 minutes for breakfast, and that is almost 4 hrs of BS we had to listen to. Do NOT accept their offer at the airport, and if you do fall for it at the airport, DO NOT buy at the presentation.

In our case, even the Hertz rep at the Cozumel airport counter gave us wrong information... He said the amount we were paying was US$ X (and wrote it on the contract, but of course, he wrote it with his pen and so it wasn't printed on it. What was printed was the peso amount, and their conversion rate was written on the Hertz counter wall, which looked official, but again, it's not on the contract). Later after coming back to US, I checked my credit card bill and see I was charged $16 above what the rep told me. Sucks that Hertz was not truthful.

Unfortunately we were unaware of this when we visited and were beaten down, promised a bill of goods that was just not true. Fortunate for them the wifi is so bad where we were in Mexico and at the resort we could not do adequate homework before we were sucked in. We said "No" so many times before we were given a deal that you couldn't pass up. If there is a class action lawsuit against this company I would gladly participate.

After 4 saleswomen tag teamed me, I was so beat down I started to sign contracts. They would get me out of my timeshare, hook me up with guaranteed weeks at a lush property, the price went from $68K to $8k to $6K. And I'd put $1850 on my Visa for a deposit... when suddenly reality struck: Get away FAST! It's a scam. So I said no. I said No over and over until I got the Visa cancelled. And I kept saying No till I got the hell out of there. So my advice about Vidanta Vida: just say NO.

After abuse from two more sales people, we agreed to buy in at $2K for 4 years of 1 week stays each at use rates of ($299, $499, $699 studio, one br, two br)... We fell prey due to suffering from exhaustion from 8 hours of abuse and just wanting to get out of the situation. When we read the contract back in our room, we saw the $299, $499, $699 rates they quoted were not actually in the contract. We went back and asked that the contract be rescinded (which they are required to do my Mexican law according to PROFECO). We are still waiting for the refund of what we paid. The whole thing is a fraud. Avoid Vidanta!!! It ruined what would have otherwise been a nice vacation.

I was totally against it but my husband signed and before I knew it they had opened up a B of A Card and charged the $8900. Sadly once we got back to our hotel I went online to read reviews and wished I had done this while waiting 6 hours in a room full of sales persons. Now we are desperately trying to find a way to cancel this contract...even though they tell you it's guaranteed you will get a 2 bedroom suite for $499 I'm now finding out every year the rate will go up. PLEASE IF I could just help one person not fall for their gimmicks like we did I will be happy. Of course they show you the nice clean smelling room but what you will end up with is a musty smelling room with worn out sofas.

After some talks we were offered a nice packed, which seems attractive, but we reasoned, if we could trust them after all their lies and mistreatment. We left very disappointed. After two hours of our arrived, we beg them for a cup of coffee, even asked them to sell us the coffee, but they were adamant in their rule of don't given anything before we hear their presentation. You lost 4 possible customers for your untrained employees and a cup of coffee.

They say some other guest upgraded so this 2 bedroom apartment was 30 thousand and gave you 3 weeks in the resort for the same $1000 USD. ALSO they promised that for each week at one of their 7 resorts could be exchanged for 4 weeks at almost any luxury hotels in the world thru RCI or ICI. But there is costs to join those organisations that Vida didn't disclose to us. Surprise surprise. They get you to sign many papers which is the contract. If you want to think about it overnight then Vida says it's only a one-time offer good for today only... which you assume is an offer too good to pass up... but if it's too good... then buyer beware. So my suggestion is DO NOT GET SUCKED IN.

Our story is very sad because we got into this by helping a good friend. We were given a timeshare that my old friend could not use it because of his old age, so he ask us to take it over. He thought this was a simple transfer, but no, we had to pay over $1,400.00 just to transfer to our name. When we went to book a week we were asked to pay the usage fee and up to this was okay. The real problem started when we went to Vida vacation to the Mayans. After enjoying our time for few days, we were invited to a free breakfast and free boat ride. We enjoyed our breakfast but refuse to use the free boat ride. A sales person came to us prepared with full information what type of package we had.

After talking to us very nicely, she started to explain to us that the package we were given is not good. She told us that we would have to upgrade this. If not then we will have to pay maintenance of over $10,000.00 but if we upgrade then, they will give us a better package and will not be required pay this amount plus we will get better hotels/suite. We had no choice but to make the decision right there because if we refuse the offer will be over and we will have to pay that $10,000.00 on the renewal of the current package because there were lots of changes happened since my friend had purchased this timeshare. Furthermore, we were told that this was the last package and if we failed to grab it will be gone. We had no choice so we agreed and paid the deposit which got increased during the process because she told us that we could transfer the timeshare without the transfer fee if we need to sell this timeshare.

The amount got increased further because we had to pay the tax and fee. The deal got up to $26,000.00 American dollars. We paid the deposit and were asked to sign the agreement that was not explained because the sales person told us we would get a package within 3 to 6 weeks. It has been 6 months since then and there is no package.

When we started to enquire by calling their office we were told there is no package and we owe the balance that we should pay. We wrote to several different representatives of Vida still don't have a package. When we called to inquired several different answers were given such as one told us we have 2 free weeks and the other one said 3 weeks. This is just one example and there are still other issues and clarification that we needed information and when we called the information provided were inconsistent so we requested a written information of the package we have purchased and we are still waiting.

We got very concerned and started to look online, the reviews we have read is unbelievable. I can totally relate to those poor individuals that got sucked into this. I went a little further and started investigating about Vida vacation by calling Timeshare buys and companies that help with getting out of it. The Vida vacation is highest on a bad list. I got blown off when reading through the reviews. I am very upset and want to take to the Canadian Government for help. I would like to bring it the attention of the local member of the Federal Government so that they can take to the highest level. Please if you are thinking of buying timeshare do not buy Vida vacation. It is not worth it.

Remember that it's all about controlling the guests money, time, and space through the use of Inquisition-grade "meetings" (no remorse for your lost time, which in our case was a whole day) to coerce you into surrendering your money for a pipe dream timeshare of no value to any but Mr. Chavez Moran and his cohorts; oversized complexes requiring tram-only access and creating unnecessary dependency on the staff. Remember that the powers that be are shameless enough to allow other timeshare owners to trade weeks at their nicer home resort for a substandard room and accommodations - clean but very spartan - enough to create a sense of want sufficient to draw anyone into the Lobby to see how to get more privileges/play the game to get more perks - and you even wear a bracelet identifying yourself as "lower class" than the other guests, complete with lobby and pool for "your kind."

If you can extract the Pura Vida and walk away a more relaxed and healthy human on planet Earth from a stay at one of these programmed, no-inclusive, divisive, class-conscious, respect and timesucking complexes, my hat is off to you. My Sweetheart and I, on the other hand, believe that life is too short, and we will be trading in our Vidanta timeshare to another more savvy complex where people and their experiences and money count. Have a nice life, Mr. Chavez Moran, and remember that Karma will always remain on your guest list.

Original Review: Sept. 22, 2016

I feel ridiculous admitting we got sucked in by this group after all the issues with our present timeshare. We visited San Jose Del Cabo on a family vacation and made the grievous mistake of visiting the Grand Mayan as it was located within walking distance to our present timeshare location. My husband and I had left our teenagers in our room and made it clear to our sales rep we did not have a lot of time as we needed to get back to them. We were assured this was an easy breakfast and he was all about facts and no pressure and if we at anytime wanted to leave and were not interested to just say so and it would be done. Easy as that. He reminded us of our oldest son and we felt comfortable. BIG MISTAKE! I want to add that we had previously assured each other (my husband and I) that we would NOT make any decisions while in Cabo.

We had done that too many times on spur of the moment things and not been happy in the past. It's those pressure tactics they all are trained to use so well that get you. Fast forward to the info we were presented made this seem like an amazing deal. We were told how Vida was planning a new resort and we would have access first at this. How they were building a day club to go along with the resort we were looking at that day affiliated with the Hakkasan Night club in Las Vegas. My husband had mentioned how he loves Las Vegas. We were asked what our complaints with our current timeshare were. We said our maintenance fees and our lack of being able to book anything. He asked how far out we were able to look at properties, all the while smiling and nodding and being super friendly. We said only 10 months and most properties seemed to need to be booked prior to that.

I explained I bought into the timeshare originally because we had wanted the ability to book in California when we needed for things like soccer tournaments and at the time dance competitions. We were never able to do so and always told we needed more points. We bought into that and bought more, but still never being able to book accordingly. He assured us that was what he always heard with others from our timeshare group and he could help us get out of our high fees and guarantee bookings for less. OK...we were not going to get sucked in, BUT that had our attention. So we made the HUGE mistake of listening when we should have known it was lies and walked out the door at that point I suppose now looking back. I wanted so hard to believe there were honest people in this world that I stayed. My husband reminded him we needed to get back to our teens and that we were making NO decisions while in Cabo.

We had already stressed this several times. He said he understood but could he show us something really quick. STUPIDLY again we agreed thinking of how much he reminded us of our oldest son. UGH! Well he explained to us how we could use our vacation with them to book smarter at the resorts we already knew and loved with our present company, BUT because their level in the timeshare world was higher (Private ownership so to speak) we would be able to look for places well over a year out and could get wherever we wanted. He went on to say one week at their resort was equal to 2 at the resorts we loved. That because of the status of private ownership with them we would be more of a priority than as members of the company we were with. That the company we were with was 3rd on the list of being able to book and they were in the top level. Well it seemed to make sense to us and we were interested.

Then he went on to explain how they would credit us for our current timeshare ownership, even though we still owed on one. That we would no longer need to pay those fees with a one time transfer fee so that it would be sold by another company. He warned us to get all paperwork together for the other dept so they could handle everything and that it needed to be 150 days out to avoid another set of fees in January. He stressed that time frame was close and not delay. AGAIN he was stressing time was imperative and we stupidly did not listen to our gut feeling. We again stressed we would not be leaving Mexico with a new timeshare and no decisions would be made that day. My husband reminded him he had assured us we could leave at anytime (we had been here close to 2 hours by this time) and he said of course, but let me show you one more thing.

This of course was him offering yet another discounted plan for us since we did not take his first 2 offers. We passed again and he said he would go get the papers for us to leave and have the person come over that needed to verify we were not interested. He sent his boss who then offered more incentives to TEST the waters. We declined. Money out of pocket was a HUGE issue and we said so to the boss as well. So we were ready to go when he came back with yet another offer. Now let me explain that by this point breakfast had worn off, our kids were texting like crazy and my husband was hungry again. We had been there for hours and wanted to leave. He assured us how easy this would be and how he could get us this last offer he was fairly certain which would save us money come January when our fees were set to increase he had been told by many other owners in our group. UGH and we listened.

I am sure due to lack of food and the simple fact we were tired and wanted to leave; we listened. He went on to explain how easy it was to simply change to a company who cared about you and would guarantee your bookings or they paid you. That we would be getting a personal rep to HELP us with each and every booking to make it simple and fast, unlike the nightmares I was used to. My husband perked up at that knowing I go through a lot trying to book any vacation now and he asked about it. GREAT. The rep now knew he had interest again. He went on to say how they were so easy to deal with and they take care of bookings themselves to take the stress off. I liked that. He then assured us that not only would we get our week we would be buying, but that we got more weeks and that if we were willing to give back a week for the next year we would get a further discount.

That week would allow them being able to bring in more people to look at Vida vacations and helped them. I was fine with it since I wanted to book in our present location anyways and I got 2 weeks with them for one week with Vida. Sounded great. We were told we should book a vacation right away as they could then offer us $2000 in Vida dollars once booked and we paid the fee for that booking. That was in addition to the fact that the first booking fee EVERY year was given back in Vida dollars to spend. HUH? GIVEN back? "Vida dollars that we were able to use anytime and never expired" he said. He explained how wonderful they were and they were the 4th way of booking with their company.

When I said I was frustrated by how our present company had told us we could trade points into booking airfare but it was always high rates, he assured us they used a system set us for them like Expedia. That they were linked with the discount companies and we would get those great low fares. We loved that idea as well. He said we could not book an airline without a hotel stay though, but that was fine with me and I explained I had a trip in October coming up I need that for as well as November. We asked how fast we would have access to this and told it was within days. That was August and we were JUST able to gain access this week! We were very concerned about the down payments and that was one of the reasons we had said no so many times. That was why the boss came over and they changed our offer so many times.

We stressed many times we did NOT want to leave with a new timeshare but he made it seem so important to finalize then to avoid our increased fees come January (fees we still do not have confirmation will increase but were told over and over by our sales rep they would at 6% Increase) that we should do it now. That we would save so much and it was so easy. That once signed over we would save and the company would take care of all the old timeshare problems within 12 months at the most. That they would handle our old timeshare easily and we would be done. He said rarely did it take long, but to be safe they kindly would give us the monies for 12 months of what our payments to our present company were so we would continue to make those payments until it closed.

NEVER was it stated it had to sell to get out of our contract with our present company or l or we would continue to be responsible as we were told recently, unless we chose to pay DOUBLE both fees to this other company. Never were we told we had to PREPAY fees...so now after being mislead about monies yet again, we somehow agree because we did NOT know all the facts! NOT knowing we would be paying a deposit, PLUS prepaying fees to some company that now wanted us to pay them double OR we would be responsible for maintenance fees indefinitely until the shares sold. According to the BBB we find out most don't sell and many people are stuck owing on them for years. That company who is in business with Vida just lists it after taking your monies and runs with it.

They are linked to many names with the BBB as well and when I questioned them about it and more I got a phone call rather than a email response. WHY? Because they didn't want anything in writing of course. I told them I wanted response by email numerous times. Finally I got one saying he had never been asked those questions. Questions like: Are you associated with Sell My Timeshare Now? What is your business address? Why are we being asked to pay a prepayment on our timeshare before it closes escrow? *We asked this since the offer they gave us to get out of paying any future maintenance fees was to pay double the original price and we would get the proceeds of the sale when it sold. I asked if this would effect our dealings with Vida and was assured no it was done all the time since it was the smartest money wise to do.

Pay the additional to not owe anything and once sold make money back to cover the cost of what we had invested. He went on to say how these sold all the time and people are always looking for timeshares to buy with them since they know where to post the ads. I mentioned my husband said nothing sells and that he saw numerous complaints. Again assured that my husband did not have access to the special postings and they sold all the time. We would be looking at around $34,000 maybe. I was happy if we got $10,000 I thought in my head but still concerned at so much upfront as we were not expecting this from the conversations with Vida. *Vida assured us it was easy and once all paperwork was finalized...sometimes that took up to a year...it would be done. We would not owe anymore with our current timeshare company and we would be with a company that cared and was easy to work with.

A company that had strength for us to get early bookings. A company that had customer service who would personally be there through it all. WE FELL FOR IT...hook, line and sinker. We had been there for hours...and after hours of pressure tactics, we signed. We even booked our next vacation tentatively since we were told how easy it was to change and why not try it to test how easy it was to book. I liked the idea of them proving they could book us easily, but said my schedule was crazy and could very easily need to change it. NO PROBLEM! That's why I had their number and email I was told. I stressed how busy I was and preferred emails. No problem yet again I was assured. LIES! LIES! LIES! I have tried canceling and rescheduling our trip multiple times via email only to be told MY email was not on file.

Funny it's in part of the documentation that took weeks for us to receive from them, even though they assured us they would send it within 2. (Another way of making sure we didn't know we had only 5 days to get out of contract...they mail your paperwork weeks after and email you unsigned copies that are so tiny you can't even read them once printed. I still have not located where it claims to say 5 days either.) They requested I send them a photo ID such as my CDL or passport...this made me uneasy as this was through email, and a signed note saying they could communicate via this supposedly NEW email address. Here is the reply I got:

'Thank you for contacting your Customer Care Center by email. Please be advised that the email address that you have used is not recorded on your membership in our system. For security purposes and the privacy and confidentiality of your membership, we will not disclose any information in writing to a non-registered email address. We request that you kindly contact your Customer Care Center on any of the toll-free numbers listed below and once you have answered security questions designed to protect your membership, we will be happy to update your information and change or add this email address to your file. If you wish to proceed with your request via this unregistered email address, we will require a written and signed request and a copy of photo ID (one of the following: *Drivers license *Government ID *Passport).

You are welcome to send these documents as an attachment to this email and once received, we will update your membership accordingly. For immediate assistance you may resend your email through the email address that is recorded in our system. Thank you for understanding our security practices that are designed to protect our members. Sending sunshine from Mexico.' *I needed it canceled and had lost my voice being sick, so I complied. *Mind you MY email was listed originally but they messed up the original docs and had to reprint them...taking yet another 30+ minutes that day. I must have missed that they only had my husband's email on it the 2nd time, BUT it is in the paperwork with my handwriting that we filled out and they have copies of. *I sent them a copy of my CDL and a signed note.

I get back: 'Thank you for your response. Please be informed that in order for us to proceed, we need your signature to match the one on your ID. We request that you kindly contact your Customer Care Center, and once you have answered the security questions designed to protect your membership, we will be happy to update your information and change or add this email address to your file. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you should wish to proceed or require any other assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.'

*This being the 3rd or fourth attempt to cancel and supposedly my signature doesn't match their records or is it doesn't match my ID exactly, YET that same ID was used to secure this timeshare contract? My signature is exactly like what I signed ALL docs they have on file and the same ID they looked at the day we signed there. What records are they claiming do not match? It's my signature, so clearly it seems to me to be another stall tactic. I then text my husband as my voice was shot and told him he needed to request cancellation since it was his email on file. That I now wanted it in writing that it was canceled since I did not trust anything they said at this point. Where was the easy cancellation we were assured was available to everybody? He wrote them asking for it to be canceled. I got a phone call of which I did not answer since no voice and a voicemail asking me to call back.

I messaged my husband again who again emailed them saying he wanted it emailed back it was canceled and I would call them to reschedule once able to do so. That was yesterday and we have had no response. Upon further research I am horrified at the complaints all pointing to the same thing we wanted away from. Lack of ability to book...no more than 10 months to see availability...everything we were told was NOT the case. The fact that I cannot cancel a booking because for some reason they claim my signature does not match and they forgot to add my email even though it's on the documentation is atrocious. The lack of divulging that we may actually remain responsible for our current timeshare as well as the new one indefinitely and then lengthy stall tactics they do to avoid you from being able to get out of the contract in the first place have made us want out of this mess all together.

I wanted so badly for them to be a honest company that I was excited to share the Vida Ambassador Program with my family and friends. I had already bragged how wonderful this company was to many people upon our first week home, but promised them a voucher for a discounted visit once I got the paperwork from Vida. Now I am terrified that this is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. With so many discrepancies and seemingly out and out lies I am not happy at all with this situation and want out. The lack of honest information is appalling. Had they simply been honest and given us the facts it would be different. We still cannot seem to get an honest answer in writing from either company and that is not acceptable. We want out! IF you are looking at this company BE AWARE. LOOK at everything first. DO NOT listen to what they say but look at ALL things in writing. What our rep wrote down, I grabbed some photos of.

He TOOK his papers with him. Now I know why. I would love for this to be a mistake and this company be honest, BUT so far I do not believe it. We want our deposit back and our contracts canceled. The fact we signed on the 23 of August, yet had no paperwork for weeks is not acceptable. We were emailed by our sales rep on the 29th, conveniently 6 days with some docs that were not legible and unsigned. This is all VERY fishy and makes doing business with them a problem.

Why else would they not divulge 5 days to break contract? Why else hide the fact you will be locked into your current timeshare unless it sells? Why is the company they sign you to turn over your timeshare to try to milk you for double the amount and be linked to numerous other companies, all of which had terrible ratings and reviews. A company who is shady in its dealings as well. This practice of conning vacationers has got to stop. Please help spread the warning!

Original Review: Sept. 11, 2016

Our first trip to Mexico started with wasting our first day at the airport trying to find a flight after the airline (Dynamic Air) cancelled their only flight for the day without notice or apology. Next we arrived to pick up rentals that were charging mandatory fees of hundreds of dollars more so we went back to the airport and got ripped off by the taxi to get to the hotel. We had booked the Riviera Maya a year ago and was looking forward to our vacation with our friends and had both exchanged through RCI for 2 2 bedroom suites. Overall, everything was going well until my husband spoke to a desk clerk that wanted to take a few minutes to update us on the resort. We had determined that we were not going to get caught up in any more timeshare tours but unfortunately we walked into one with Steven **, one of their best salesman who had his own table and leather seating.

I have been misled before and had just gotten to where we were comfortable with our one timeshare. I owned a vacation club since 1991 but maintenance was high and I traded when I bought into a Florida timeshare. After paying all the fees to the transfer company it reverted back to me because it was not sold, so now I was stuck with two and was not happy. While on vacation in St. Maarten a few years ago we reluctantly went on a presentation because they moved us into their hotel for the week and promised that they would take our 2 properties as trade toward the purchase price and their maintenance was half what we were paying. We were reluctant but decided to give it another chance. It took us paying some transfer fees and another year of maintenance fees but we were told the properties were transfer and we had no further responsibility. We were relieved.

Imagine our surprise when we were led to believe that we might still own those 2 properties by Steven. Not again. We were in shock and scared at the prospect of all those maintenance fees. We were presented with a paper from ARTA (some Resort and Timeshare Org) that showed that we were still the documented owners of now 3 properties and were responsible to still pay the maintenance fees. It was very scary, especially when he added up the $100,000+ that we were going to pay in fees in the coming years. We had no way of verifying what he was telling us and since it did happen to us before we thought it was true. He assured us that we were not as bad off as other people and they could help us. He told us we could only visit this resort once every 5 year because they were not part of RCI and had to decide at the presentation to accept their offer.

They were willing to take all 3 properties because they had a company that could sell them, we just had to pay the transfer fee to them of $1869 for each, and give us credit towards the purchase of a one bedroom unit and that would solve our problem for good. We don't have to worry about maintenance fees or exchange fees ever again. 5 or 6 hours later, we were turned over to his wife who wanted to know what we were doing all day when we kept asking her to clarify some concerns stating that we were in a bad situation and they were trying to help us. After 7 hours, we felt powerless and tired and was almost in tears and scribbles our signatures on pages after pages of document.

After stressing over it for two days, we decided to go back and asked to cancel the contract which was an ordeal, and in the middle of the signing process another manager came and we again caved in. After returning home the transfer company called to collect their $1869 but informed us that for $4501 we could opt to sell the property we traded due to a clause in the contract. We were very confused and suspicious. The agent also said that Vidanta had sent them a letter stating we do not own the two properties they told us were still in our name.

Vidanta knew that all along and deceived us with misinformation we could not verify. We have not paid the transfer fee and is trying to get Vidanta to cancel and return the $3000 deposit and our property. They say we can cancel but have to forfeit both. After reading all these reviews it is very uncomfortable to realize what we have gotten into with this company. The whole trip to Mexico was a bad experience from Premier Airlines, to the car rental and Vidanta. Won't be rushing back there.

Updated on 10/16/2016: We are happy to report that our issues with Vida Vacations have been satisfactorily resolved.

We understand that they were just trying to do a job, but no ones vacations and more important, time, should be wasted in such an inconsiderate way as the people from Vidanta did to us. I highly recommend that if you encounter these people, you respectfully but firmly deny any business whatsoever. They are salesman and will try to convince you that you are missing out on a good deal and that you are crazy for not listening to them, but I promise and I give you my word (Something that they don't have) that you will be saving yourself lots of precious time and money. If you have any doubt see for yourself and I almost guarantee that you'll be writing a frustrated review yourself. Save yourself the pain, and don't buy their ** and just enjoy your vacation the normal way. Sending love and affection from Riviera Nayarit.