Vida Vacations Reviews

Original Review: April 29, 2016

My wife and I bought into the Mayan Palace/VIDANTA Timeshare Resort company in 2003. For the most part we have been very satisfied with membership. The resorts are fabulous and the service is exceptional. We have upgraded several times and are now at the Grande Luxe Level. This past March in 2016, we were asked to have an update presentation in regards to the future plans of the VIDA resorts. We were vacationing at the Riviera Maya and planned to see the Cirque de Soleil show later in the week which I must say is fabulous. Anyway, the sales representative, Nicole **, toured us about and explained to us about future plans. In the past, we sometimes upgraded but not always. We are quite pleased with our present contract from 2013.

I've been attempting to resolve this deceitful solicitation with membership services but to no avail. We would like to go back to our previous contract but the VIDA corporation will not do so. So in conclusion, if anyone is a member of the VIDANTA Resort Vacation Company and you are offered an update on future plans, do not go to a presentation unless you have your present contract. As I mentioned before, the resorts are fabulous but the marketers are not to be trusted.

After signing on to purchase at Vidanta, I had a change of heart. I set up an appointment 2 days later, and was able to undo the entire thing. Yes it took me a few more hours, but it was handled professionally and calmly. Frankly, a much more pleasant experience than the sales cycle had been. If you read clause 11 of your contract, you can see that you can even cancel via registered mail. ALWAYS read the contract. Understand your options.

Anyway after realizing that I messed up BIG time and bought into this awful deal I decided to mitigate my losses and take advantage of the 10% discount they offered me and pay off this darn thing. So now I'm out $13,500 for a 10-year membership where I supposedly have a total of 4 weeks. I have 1 registered week in a one bedroom suite at the Mayan Palace or Bliss towers within the resort complex for an $800 usage fee and that is subject to change to their liking as the years go by. Supposedly this one week has no restrictions and I can use it anytime, but I don't see that spelled out in the contract and it remains to be seen when I try to book this for next April during Easter week. I have 2 weeks in the "red" time classification and those are weeks that cannot be used during high season, that being from Jan-March, Easter and Holy weeks, Thanksgiving week, Christmas week and New Year's week.

And then I have one more week that's a promotional week and it can only be used on whatever inventory is available at their resorts 90 days before my selected check-in date. Although it's true that I'm experiencing a HIGH dose of buyer's remorse I accept responsibility for my choice. These sales people pry on your dreams and aspirations, they feed off your desire to be able to travel and enjoy a lovely time with your family, and they DO LIE, LIE, LIE! But we're all grownups here and no they didn't put a gun to my head and make me sign so just beware. Their tactics are misleading and they start by asking you what is it that you don't like about your current timeshare and what you like about their resort. Once you answer they've got you hooked! They tell you exactly what you want to hear and you just buy right into their deception.

The only thing I have left to do is try to use this in the future and although I got burned I am looking forward to spending a week at their beautiful resort and making memories with my family. There is no question they've built a truly beautiful resort. I'm also aware and it's perfectly clear in the back of my mind that once I do go back they'll try to get me to upgrade and lie some more, but I've learned my lesson and no way will I ever accept any freebies they or any timeshare company offers because now I have 2 timeshares and don't need any more! To anyone reading this, STAY AWAY from all of those people who want to give you free stuff. Unless you're a truly rational being you're very likely to give in to the promises/pressure. If you're really wanting to buy a timeshare look into the resale market, you'll get one for 50-70% off of what resorts sell them for.

I reluctantly fell for this absurd rationale and was passed off to the next "layer" of filter, what I term the "pre-salesman" who takes you to a remote area of the property, sits you down at a table to ask you a litany of non-sense questions about your vacation travel history. When I stated that this table and seat area was in the Sun, and I wanted to move to another table in the shade, the salesman simply re-positioned me to another seat at the same table which had a little less Sun on it.

I later discovered that the reason we needed to stay at this table was that we were strategically seated next to my salesman boss, who was at the next table eavesdropping and taking notes of all of my comments. Presumably, this information to be used for the next level of "divide and conquer" in the sales process. These salespeople are sociopaths who most likely take drugs to rid themselves of any remaining conscience that they may have left. They have absolutely no shame or boundaries. The people give even the most unscrupulous timeshare salesperson a bad name. RUN FROM VIDA. DO NOT WALK!

Our Playa family were REGISTERED to come to visit us during the first week of our stay in Riviera Maya. We followed all the rules and requests. They were refused at the gate once more. This is the second time this has happened at Riviera Maya after paying for special taxi service with car seats for the children. Needless to say, we are very very very displeased with this. Is Vidanta such a fortress to keep us in and them out? They have made a terrible mistake. My family was very excited to view your beautiful location and may have purchased so that they may vacation with us. Now, they will never try to visit again.

We made golf reservations before we arrived. When my sister and her husband arrived, they were refused golf. We found out later that my benefits were not moved along with my change of room to the Grand Bliss. By that time, it was too late to make other golf reservations as we had made other plans. This is soooo unacceptable. It made us feel so small!!! Better communication is required so that plans we made are carried through our entire stay. I am certainly not impressed.

We attended the update only to be lied to about Deeded property. Please, I have been in Real Estate all my life and I know you cannot have a Deeded Time Share. We cannot own a piece of pie in the sky. Only Real Property is Deeded. I know that we can now purchase houses and land in Mexico, but not waterfront. I truly dislike being misguided and outright lied to.

Unfortunately, I was very ill at the end of our presentation and had to cut it short. Otherwise, I would have certainly let you know that this kind of over selling and pressure tactic is not only offensive but contradictory. My son and I found that one salesperson contradicted the manager and vice versa. How sad that you cannot be out front with your information, instead of feeding everyone misinformation.

We found that there were many great changes to the Riviera Maya site including the Beach Club and the walking trails. The beach sand is great, but the swimming is still not ideal as you need to be very careful in the water and not what they are telling everyone. The site is becoming much too large and trying to keep in contact with everyone is a nightmare since we did not buy a Mexican sim card... A must if you want to stay in touch.

It is also much too expensive now to go off resort by Taxi due to its location. Myself, my 2 son's wives and children, as well as my sister and family, have decided that this is our last visit with Vidanta Riviera Maya. It is time Vidanta came to terms with their terrible scheduling process

As with all Timeshare pitches, they insist that you can't take time to think about it. The decision must be made on the spot. Hours and hours went by. I sent my family to go enjoy the beach without me. Finally the crazy acts and different guys coming over to write the numbers out in a dozen different ways, mixed with my hypoglycemia and dehydration, got to me and I just said, "Fine. Whatever." A couple hours later I was released and I thought immediately, "What did I do?" When we finally checked out, having spent tons of money & the whole family having gone to their Cirque du Soleil show, they refused to give us 10% off the whole bill.

We spend $800 on Cirque tickets and they said they didn't count - even though they were on our bill. I said the representative didn't say, "everything EXCEPT Cirque tickets and a bunch of other random stuff" - she just said "your whole bill at checkout!" But they're just like, "Oh, sorry." Meanwhile, I had a plane to catch. I should have anticipated something like this and gone to check out like 3 hours before I needed to.

Besides that, the check in and out processes were horribly slow. Now, we already paid a $2750 down payment on the Timeshare that I want to get out of, but everyone says "they refuse to let you out." Wondering if I can dispute the charge with my CC company. When I think back on what should have been a great vacation with wonderful memories, all I get is a bad feeling about this Vida ** and the fact that I'm on the hook for thousands of bucks and a long relationship with this unscrupulous company. Really a bummer.

5 hours later, after countless offers and pressure, I signed the contract. My husband, the levelheaded one, refused. I had doubts after signing the too good to be true offer so when we got back to our resort I went online, ran a search for the company and found these lifesaving reviews. Under the general provisions of the contract (section 11) you have 5 business days (including Saturday) to cancel the contract. You either go back to the office where you signed and get a receipt or you send the contract back via certified mail, return receipt requested. I do not trust these people so we went back. I knew that they would try to change my mind when I arrived so before going back I mentally prepared myself. I knew would have to take charge.

Once I arrived I told them I was cancelling and that they had 30 minutes to give me a refund. I was told I needed to give them a reason for the cancellation and I responded that I don't have to as per the contract. If you don't give them a reason then they can't try to change your mind!!! Long story short, I was in and out with my receipt in hand and back to my vacation within that time frame. As for my refund, it's been 6 days and, of course, no money has been returned to my account. So I called Citibank, my credit card company. Within an hour they credited my account and are now investigating. I have the receipt so I'm not really worried. PS: As per the contract provisions I knew they would be taking the contract back, so I took photos of it just in case I need it as evidence of the cancellation provision. I urge you to do the same if you read this after signing.

They picked us up at the shuttle to breakfast which took 30 min. Gave us a brochure stating the presentation was 1 hr. Six and half hrs later and 6 people later, exhausted we agreed to a $2,200.00 deposit for membership and ability to join the travel site and pay for usage to all timeshare resorts and 5 weeks a year to Vidanta resorts. Upon returning to our room, I discovered a page that stated the 5 exchanges to expire in 5 years, but we would continue to pay $99 a yr for the travel membership site. I emailed the final closer stating this was not what we were told.

I woke up at 5 am the next morning with a big red flag in the pit of my stomach. Found this site and completely freaked out. THANK GOD we were still here. We went back to sales first thing in the morning and finally spoke to the closer who took signatures and CC info. We explained our objections and along came more people to tell us how we could renew the 5 years with a "Vida" check (but only once). Well, after getting back on that "turnip truck" once, we were not fooled by more lies and deceit. When they would not change the contract, we cancelled everything and made them sign the CC receipt page we had.

We also called our CC bank to make sure we could "dispute" the charge if they wouldn't change it. We still do not trust them but we trust our bank. What everyone is saying on this site saved us!! BEWARE!! We'll never get duped again. We also confirmed with our timeshare that they could not steal it, but what everyone here is saying is true. When we asked for a copy of the document for our timeshare, they said they threw it away cause we weren't going to release it for 6 months... what a bunch of hooey!! They were never going to take it and we're glad!! READ these reviews carefully and next time go stay at Paradise Village. Presentation is also long but not the nightmare it is here.

Now we are talking to the fourth person who was very mean and I began to feel trapped. They would not take no for an answer. The noise in the great big room was very annoying. I asked to step outside to finish our discussion on a patio table. They didn't like that at all. At this point I had a full blown anxiety attack. I was crying and told them to get me out of here now. Okay they said. Just one more person to talk to. I was feeling like I was taken prisoner. This was not an easy place to get out of. You cannot just walk out and get on a bus or take a cab. Only their transportation is allowed in and out with the presentation. We waited another half hour for a van to get us back to our hotel. 6 hours of wasted time for these monsters. I will never ever get in a situation like this before. RUN RUN RUN when you see them coming.

Now, were into I for $38,000. This year when we arrived, they had curtailed much of the shuttle service. I have to use a walker and need the shuttle. They provide a handicapped shuttle with usually a 1/2 hour wait. Next, the shuttle no longer goes to the local bus stop, because they have changed the roads. You must take a cab for $12.50 each way. They try each time you arrive to make you go to a presentation. I flat out refused and we got our bands and went to our room. Never in our 3 visits have we been given an ocean front room which we paid for. I wrote a scathing review on TripAdvisor and the company wrote back, "We sorry for the inconvenience, but it is for the future good of their development plans." My advise, "Run!!!"

After two hours my husband got up and left. I stayed and tried to explain that we would not be able to qualify due to a short sale. They insisted on me filling out an application. I did it to shut them up. They went down on the price of the timeshare three times. After 5 hours I walked out and the salesman followed me to my room. He threatened me by saying "would you like us to bill you for your breakfast." I said just put it on my room tab. I don't want anything of what was offered to us. The guy even said he would give us the wristbands for the new lazy river for my boys to enjoy. They didn't even come through with that. I was so upset and promised myself to never attend another presentation ever, especially in MEXICO. Be careful and cautious!!!

I have been more than patient. I can't wait to sit around the pool on my next visit and spread the word to all unsuspecting tourists - DO NOT BUY OR TRADE HERE! Happy to share my experience. If I were other timeshare companies in Mexico - I would run them out of business, because they are giving everyone a bad name. In the US, we would be sent to prison for what they are doing!

I made a reservation just one month later in November for January. It was then that we realized that none of their resorts were all-inclusive and asked to terminate the contract as we often have our kids and grandkids travel with us. They are refusing, saying they will keep our $5465 down-payment, which they sold us on a credit card to utilize for their down-payment. They actually bumped the down-payment from $3500 to $5465 and lowered our monthly payment. Now I know why (more for them to keep upon our canceling). A customer service representative "Fredy" is now offering a 1 week "master bedroom" a year for $54 a month for 60 months on top of our down-payment. That also means paying them an additional $800 per weekly reservation per year on top of $8705. For what?

I want nothing to do with this company. This is a bait and switch operation and there are RICO laws they should adhere to. Is there any current Class Action lawsuit against Grande Mayan/Vida/GRAND LUXXE Groups to join or shall we file a complaint through PROFECO, the Federal Mexican government consumer rights agency. My payments are supposed to start in January and I want out now!

There are lots of restaurants at the resort and I liked all of them. The nightly entertainment at Sanctuario is a great way to end a wonderful day at the resort. We went with another couple and they too fell in love with the resort. We bought several weeks. Going to the resort is our happiest time of the year. Because the rooms are so luxurious and accommodating, we have loved taking our adult children and other friends back to the resort with us.

Considering The Grand Mayan was their mid-level resort, we were quite pleased with our stay. Resort rooms and amenities were top notch. Everywhere we went, service personnel were friendly and stopping to greet us. The pool was perfect for a family with a small toddler. Restaurants were kid-friendly as well. Check-in and check-out were quick. As for the timeshare sales aspect, as always, caveat emptor meaning buyer beware. Know what you're getting into and you won't have buyer's remorse.

We went to breakfast buffet at De Lago which was disappointing, it wasn't very good. Thank goodness we didn't pay for it! Then we went to the presentation. They said an hour... we were there for almost 2! We were talked at by a kid named ** who was a jerk. To me, sale presentation is everything in order to get people to buy, he had none of that. At first he didn't know what to say to us, since we were so young. He flat out told us that they thought it was my in-laws coming and when they saw it was us they were bummed. That made me mad! Then we kept telling him no and for a white kid he didn't understand English! He kept asking us questions like, "How often do you want to travel, where would you like to travel?" IDK!!! We are on our honeymoon and haven't even thought about other trips.

We told him that we were in college, planning to build a house next year, and maybe start a family in a few years and vacationing is not a priority right now. He kept hammering us with questions, then my husband said "we are not interested." ** starts laughing and says that we are too funny. He sat there and laughed at us because he hasn't even given us the price and we are saying we are not interested. We walked in there knowing we were NOT going to buy a timeshare! We only went to get the free stuff and we honestly told him that. Then he calls over his jerk boss and says that his boss lives in a nice penthouse at a neighboring resort.

The boss was even ruder and yet was trying to give us a better deal! He didn't even look us in the eye and when my husband said we are not interested, he just got up and left! Then another lady comes over and tries to sell us another deal! Finally, they let us go by making us sign a paper saying we refuse their lowest offer!!! What a joke! I will never buy into that company because of the way we were treated. THEY ONLY WANT MONEY to build a theme park by one of the resorts! *Food at the Grand Mayan is so expensive. Average $15 a plate, 3 meals a day... yes very spendy.

In December 2014, we visited the Grand Luxxe on the Mayan Riveria on a trade and now we know why. It wasn't that we owned the same trade value, but that they "allowed" us to come and experience, so that they could hopefully upsale us. When we didn't want to make that kind of jump, they pressured us at every level, bring out the next highest "Closer" to get some kind of a deal. In the end, they were willing to take two of our timeshares that we own in trade in order to bring us into the "Mayan Family". 5 months later, the transfer has yet to be finalized, but they have their money. They had their money in less than 30 days and now we currently own more vacation time than we can possible use.

I am hoping they will come through and I can recant my complaint about the Mayan resorts. I have emailed the Sales Supervisor ** and hope that she will be of assistance. ** and **, our sales team have yet to respond to emails, but we have spoken on the phone to **. This is good forum for sharing, but so is poolside and at the beach.

Our guard was down and we foolishly bought here. On our next trip, they tried to strong arm us into "upgrading" our unit and we said definitely not as we were unhappy with anything purchased in the first place. This company looks for "ambassadors" to talk up the benefits of their "fractional ownership" to their friends and family. Our goal is to be ambassadors and to inform as many people as possible, via every mode of communication, to not go to a sales presentation at any of the Mayan resorts and be aware of the deceitful, high pressure tactics they will be exposed to if they do. We've already stopped some of our family and friends from falling into this trap as we did and hopefully on sites like this one we can warn lots of other people to not attend a sales meeting.

The story he had was they rented the units to high-end golfers for the golf tournaments Mayan hosted for $3,700 and we got $2,700. We already had some 4 timeshares that we used and didn't really need anymore weeks. Well, that was another one of his lies. We traded in all four timeshares for a discount of 59,600. I have since found out that we could have bought the same contract without them taking our timeshares. So, you stole our four timeshares that we paid good money for. We actually wound up buying those timeshares back, another $4,000 to do so, which further proves that part of the sales was a lie too -- How can the value given on those just not matter anymore? The math works out to over a $100,000 when you add up all the lies. If you think I will just let you do this to me, that would be a mistake. This is not a couple thousand dollars, its 54,000!!! I'm pushing 70 and cannot afford a hit like this.

Their contract states: "9.1.D: The Company does not buy, sell or acquire as trade-ins Member-owned timeshares at other resorts. Such transactions are between Member and the trade-in company and are not in any respect the responsibility of Company." This entire portion of the transaction was conducted by the Vida sales team. As I said, just vile liars!

All this sound so good that 1 free ticket and 2nd ticket for free. All-inclusive resorts for 2 weeks in a year for 10 years just with a deposit of each week. We took the package. When we came home called to make booking with sister resort, they said “You have to pay fees for all inclusive per person.” We were shocked. I almost fainted, it was triple the amount that we pay for our vacation. They lied and trapped us in their fraud deal. We called the credit card company to ask if we were getting 2nd ticket for free if we buy one ticket. They said, “No there is nothing like that.” We were literally cheated, deceived.

I do not have any major complaints, overall very happy, we have been to several resorts, all nice but the rooms are exactly the same, kind of boring. This last vacation the timeshare presentation was typical. They try and sell you on upgrading, for us the Grand Luxe is too far from the beach and using the trams gets old. We like the Grand Mayan, it works for us. We are thinking about selling our timeshare because we have been to Mexico every year since 2004.

We contacted SellMyTimeshare. com and they said they could get up to $50K-$20 K for our unit. I doubt this, seemed like a come on, they wanted $998 upfront for "marketing costs". I need to look further into this, explore other companies. In summary, we only paid $27,000, probably more than some, less than others. I would not recommend buying from the Mayan Resort, if you buy, I would buy from a current time share owner, probably a lot less, I would estimate 10K. Timeshares don't seem to be a solid investment.

Back home, unable to shake the emotional trauma, research first turned up: "Cancun Airport Arrival/ Hucksters: avoid them like the plague" and Time Shares: don't buy them... and don't think... you'll beat... sales professionals at their own game (TripAdvisor). If you typically spend under $10,000 a year on travel we don't recommend joining a destination club (SherpaReport). Complaints by other victims of Grupo Vidanta can be read on a dozen websites, helping us find words for our experience: Magnificent resort with a dark side where despite apparently friendly attitudes... Even after you have emphatically said no.. The free breakfast...turns into...being held prisoner... (TripAdvisor). No obligation? How free were we to leave as long as the system was holding our travel voucher?

How does Grupo stay in business 40 years with 100s claiming fraud, a class action complaint, and a disappeared Youtube expos of its CEO? A whistleblower says lying is on an institutional level, we were trained to lie. The full seduction process needs explaining. I too let my guard down and fell for their...credibility. Superior aesthetics overwhelms and cheap access to luxury breeds lust. Timeshare sales staff prey on your weaknesses, whether it's guilt, vanity, fear, or... laziness (Money-watchCBS). Inquisition found out things I didn't want others to know (envy, resentment) that I didn't even know about myself (No, I don't run my family like a corporation).

And contradictions tumble out of The Grupo Vidanta Mission: ...to inspire generations of happiness... we... control every facet of our projects in order to guarantee...the final product. Coerced pleasure? The freedom in happiness is crushed by control being run through the gauntlet of a sales machine. Detoured-tourists herded through paradise is like Walmart stocking its shelves, or bugs in a web. The economics of happiness even evidences diminishing returns from upgrades after a point. And causes of happiness material and efficient aren't likely the whole story, either.

We were mesmerized. A travel column on the high pressure of timeshare sales says they will always be associated with fast-talking... ethics codes...not withstanding (Washington Post). Avoidance of ...false, untrue, deceptive or misleading information is core to the Ethics Code of the American Resort Development Association, and I don't see a Mexican version holding them accountable, but an Off Premise Contact (A. J. ) conveyed false...information about Grand Mayan. And after our lack as adjunct academics of an international business-class budget was exposed, J. indicated wed be beneficiaries of an investment secured by the permanence of the golfing clientele for whom these inventories were designed. But anyone else says timeshares are poor investments.

In brief, we reiterate others travel advisories for Vidanta properties. But again, why few terrible ratings and many excellent? Might every facet of the tourism infrastructure seduce us all into assuming we are in paradise forgetful that perversion of the best is the worst, or of Dante's spectrum of paradise-purgatory-hell when false gods (like money) are worshiped? Further, our suspicion is piqued that codes of business ethics aren't up to containing the neo-liberalized, inter-locking conglomerates of world tourism. Its tempting to re-read Marx on the source and power ideology. At least be mindful that exploitation of human beings in any form...is the negation of tourism (UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism), and it can happen to you soiling your vacation investment.

Here's where it gets sleazy, I was complaining about what a pain it was to make reservations for Jan-March on a short notice as I was promised it would be when we upgraded to the GB, and how come my Marriott equity is nowhere on any of the contracts. They fed us a bunch of BS then they say to make it up to us they would give us a FREE UPGRADE TO THE GRAND LUXXE! Turns out it’s more Mayan BS! What they were doing was telling me that the upgrade was $91,000 but we didn't have to pay it... we thought wow that's a lot to upgrade but since it was free we thought great it's about time they do something nice since they've lied every time they've spoken to us. Then the sales rep comes to the table and tells us "it's approved" however we do need pay the taxes. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!. $17,500.

When you add up all the money we've spent there plus the 17,5k it's almost 100k, which is about what the GL sells for anyway. MAYAN MATH! It was not the loft or spa unit it was Grand Luxxe, period! We've given these people around 80k and this is how they treat us. Absolutely despicable. The developer has given them the best resort in the timeshare world and this is how they sell. Never again.

Another part of the deception was the opening price was $50,000, turns out this was an inflated price. The scam is they discounted the price and gave us rental credit, giving the false impression that there is a huge demand for rental weeks (this really helped convince us) then they gave equity credit for the Palladium. There were some other credits which we can't remember but in the end we paid $13,500. I repeat we would have kept saying no, but having an "independent broker" begging us for weeks he so desperately needed was the tipping point for us. When we got back to our room and the broker called us anxious to sign us up which made us feel like there was a genuine need for rental weeks and we signed up.

We have tried to settle this offline but the Mayan refuses because we have decided to use a third party. After what they did to us can anyone blame us? They are masters of deception and we need someone who has more knowledge of the situation. BTW there is nothing in the contract that states we cannot retain assistance. They rely on the contract when we complain about the bogus rental/resale scam. They say you shouldn't have bought for rental/resale even though they put us on the phone with a broker...astonishing.

We understand that if we take it upon ourselves and seek out rental brokers and get no results that's our fault. But the Mayan colludes with brokers as we mentioned then they stand there with their hands up saying they have no responsibility here. We have the absolute legal right to seek assistance, they are accustomed to taking advantage of unsuspecting consumers and we are just trying to level the playing field and get someone who know what they're talking about. We will continue to spread our story until this situation is resolved.

Original Review: Nov. 9, 2014

Beware of the deceitful bait and switch sales presentations at Mayan Palace/Riviera Maya/Grupo Vidanta. Our story of deception takes place at the Mayan Palace located south of Cancun. Based on reports I have read on this site and others like it, Mayan Palace/Grupo Vidanta uses the same sales tactics at all their resorts. What we were told during the 6 hours of sales presentation is not what we got in writing. My husband and I exchanged for a week at the Mayan Palace for our honeymoon in July 2014. The resort and staff were wonderful but - stay away from the sales presentations. Whatever they offer you Say No.

Our initial sales person was TK. Over the time spent at breakfast and a tour of the facility, my husband and I expressed some of our frustrations with our existing timeshare in Florida. Our primary issue is that we have discovered that at this time in our lives, it is often difficult for my husband to take a whole week off from work. We expressed that we would prefer to be able to use our timeshare time for long weekend getaways instead of full weeks specifically at Lake Tahoe where we ski during the winter. TK used our frustrations to deliver a deceitful sales pitch that specifically stated how Mayan Palace is different and would address our frustrations.

The entire sales experience from check-in to signing the contract was more than 6 hours. Over that time, we spoke with TK plus two other sales people. The ONLY reason we eventually decided to sign with Mayan Palace was because it was presented as having specific benefits compared to our existing timeshare. At that point, we received tons of paperwork to sign and initial in just over 20 minutes. Unfortunately, we did do any research on Mayan Palace after signing the contract as we wanted to get on with our honeymoon! After we got home from our honeymoon, it took many hours of poring over the written documents to figure out that we were scammed. What we were told is not what we got in writing.

In a nutshell, the four major lies we were told are: There is no annual maintenance fee. You only pay the usage fee when you want to use or exchange a week in any given year. NOT TRUE. Your week can be used as one or more days at high quality hotels throughout the world. NOT TRUE. We will sell your existing timeshare through an outside broker. NOT TRUE. The White Time will be modified from June and September to May through September. PARTIALLY TRUE but only for 5 years. Unfortunately for us, these 4 benefits disappeared (or were severely limited) when we signed the contract with Mayan Palace. We feel that we are the victims of a very deceitful sales process used by Mayan Palace.

Since early August, we have had numerous e-mail exchanges with Member Services at the Mayan Palace regarding our dissatisfaction with the deceptive sales tactics and the discrepancies in the final written documents. Mayan Palace has not been able to satisfy our request to live up to its verbal commitments. We have requested that Mayan Palace cancel our contract and return the $4,500 deposit in full. We feel this is a reasonable request as we have not used or received any services or other items of value from Mayan Palace after signing the contract. After several unsatisfactory solutions offered by Mayan Palace, we have reached a standoff. They will not cancel the contract and we will not pay the remaining balance.

You can check out other websites in addition to this one and/or Google search for Mayan Palace or Mayan Palace Timeshare Scam and you will read several horror stories similar to this one if not worse. The Mayan Palace is listed in the top 3 of the Blacklist of Timeshare Resorts on **. We will not stop disputing this agreement and hope that our story may prevent others from being taken advantage of by Mayan Palace.

Several years ago, we upgraded to the Grand Mayan plan based upon the presentation that this plan offered an option where future unused time share weeks could be sold to Wyndham Hotels at a profit. That turned out to be a total lie when we contacted Wyndham; it was only a one time deal. So, BUYER BEWARE, especially when dealing with any Vida Mayan sales. Best suggestion, do not buy into any Vida Mayan program; their words mean nothing.

The next morning we took a cab to the other resort as we had been instructed and went inside to find "Martin" who was supposed to pay the cab driver. Instead we were met by a lady who seemed surprised to see us, but went ahead and paid the driver, then asked us a bunch of questions as to why we were there, asked to see ID, etc, then introduced us to Miguel who would eat breakfast with us and give us the tour. Instead, as soon as we sat down, he said, "Are you going to buy a time share today? If not, I don't want to waste time talking to you. I will get fired if I don't make a sale."

We were stunned, and said we could not promise to buy anything before hearing about it, but he kept insisting that we had to agree immediately. When we kept saying no, he said, "Ok, will you agree to forego sales presentation," and we said, "ok, we don't want you to get fired because of us." He took us back to the lady who said we would not get the tickets to snorkel, nor get our deposit back, as Grace had promised us, since we were not staying for the sales pitch. She said we would have to go back out to the Mayan to get it - now this was at least a 45 minute ride from our hotel.

At this point I lost it and accused Miguel of "blackmailing" us by telling us he would lose his job if we didn't buy something. I demanded to see "someone in charge". At this point we were back in the hotel lobby and I was speaking loudly, so they backed down, gave us our money (in pesos, not dollars as we had paid Grace) and we left. I am still confused as to the purpose in all this - whether they were working with Grace to con us out of $50, or if Grace was trying to con them and us out of the money, or she was just making trouble for the competition. Whatever, we did not do anymore sales presentations that week, or will again. And get this, before we left, Miguel offered to sell us discount tickets on any tours we wanted! Guess what, we declined.

A year and a half later nothing has happened. I now own 4 weeks that I don't use, cannot sell and cannot rent. I feel like fool because I believed them. I couldn't imagine how the developer Daniel Chavez would allow his sales people to do such things. But after reviewing the internet, sadly I'm not alone. In fact, I have just seen the YouTube video The Philanthropist and his Mayan Empire, which is an indictment of the entire fraudulent Mayan sales process. I'm originally from Guadalajara and it's sad for me as a Mexican to see how a man capable of such greatness has allowed this.

The resort in Riviera Maya where I signed the contract was beautiful, and the sales man said that because Puerto Penasco resort was so close to Arizona and California the plans were to spend over 50 million to make it the best of all the resorts because Americans could drive to the resort. I was told the resort had an 18 hole Jack Nicolas championship golf course, with plans to build 2 more; indoor pools, spas, restaurants with massive acres of property that were going to be built into the paradise of Mexico. It was going to be so big that they were building their own airport. The photos and plans I was shown were very impressive. So I bought and paid for the very best. I wanted only the best ocean view only, any time of the year availability.

As soon as possible, my wife and I decided to check out the resort, before sending our employees. We purchased special splitting rights, not only splitting the suite into a single room and a Mimi suite, but splitting the week into 4 day, and 3 day vacations. This was going to be perfect for our workers. Drive 3 hours and spend 3 or 4 days at a luxury resort. Doing the math I could split the vacations up and give my employees 64 vacation per year. I was also given 4 additional Maza packs, this was 4 additional weeks a year. I could send my workers to Mazatlan sea garden resort as well. My wife and I drove the 7 hours from Southern California to stay at our newly purchase Luxury Grand Mayan Resort. We were Shocked upon our arrival, the Grand Mayan In Riviera Mayan has large flowing pools, lavish gardens, lovely manicured golf course, many elegant restaurants, large entertainment room, activities galore.

Puerto Penasco Mayan Resort (Not) is a dump. My wife and I had just arrived in hell. It was February, the grounds were dead, no green, the golf course was brown, all the grass was dead. No heating in the rooms, only the lobby had makeshift patio heaters set up. Barely enough to get warmed by. We were hungry, there was no nice restaurant only a sandwich shop. The rooms were nothing like the elegant rooms were sold, the bathrooms had cheap fiberglass shower/tub stalls. The rooms we were shown had travertine showers, large 2 person Jacuzzi, a dipping pool on the balcony. Not Here, This was a cheap no heat, low class dump. The pool was covered with a plastic dome that was all fogged up, you were trapped in a cloud and could not see more than 15 feet, no ocean view here.

After waiting what seemed an eternity, we final spoke with a resort manager, explain our horror of the condition of the resort. He matter of factly said, "This is a Mayan Palace, not a Grand Mayan; Our Grand Mayan will be finished in September". I began to let him know very strongly, we drove 7 hours to this hell whole, nothing in your literature or reservation personnel informed us of this. How they could call this a resort is flabbergasting. This was unbelievable. I could not believe I had been coned. But what a slick outfit, they have truly perfected the art of lies and deceit. My wife and I drove home the next day.

When I returned home I called the grand Mayan customer service number and explain my horror, and told them I wanted them to return my money and cancel my contract. They gave me the runaround and told me to send them a letter. I wrote a long letter to Grand Mayan, No call, NO response and No reply was ever given. I called again a month later. Same runaround, be patient, the company is not a fraud, they have great resorts and are a strong company. My wife and I decided we needed to do something fast, so we booked a week at the Mayan resort we purchased from in Rivera Mayan. We went there and told the manager about our experience and we wanted out, he said he could not do that, that he could only give us credit, for time in CRI exchange. That is what was in the contract I signed. I replied, "Yes, but your company lied about what I was in Puerto Penasco, the only reason I purchased the timeshares. No he said, they are building what I was sold.

8 years later, lots of money stolen. Conversation after conversation, promise after promise. No Grand Mayan in Puerto Penasco. The story is still the same, we are building the Grand, be patient. Now I am forced to spend more money in legal expenses trying to get justice in the Mexican courts. Warning. Warning. Warning. Do not do business with Mayan Resorts, Vida Vacations, or whatever new name this criminal enterprise chooses to use in the future. It will be the biggest mistake of your life. Hopefully this letter will protect innocent people form this company.

The almost short version of the story is we were hit up in the Airport by someone who claimed to be with our transportation to the resort (they were not) and they offer some attraction tickets that we were interested in to attend a tour of the resort. We already own a timeshare and knew it was a sales presentation but were dumb enough to think we could get breakfast and our gift in a couple hours.

The presentation is very well done and they sell you on the point that it is an investment where you can rent out your weeks through an affiliate they set you up with for much more than your usage fees. In our case we bought 2 weeks in a 1BR suite that costs us as members $570 each year in maintenance for one week and 2 additional weeks at $570, each paid when you book it. We were told that these units rent all the time for $1000.00 per week and that was a low number and we could expect to get much more. We were also told that they are the top timeshare and the plan we bought would continue to increase in value, so if we ever sold it we would also make a profit. We were then told that demand was so high for these units that they would credit our sales price the $4000.00 if they could keep 2 units for the next 2 years to meet the demand for units.

All lies of course, once we returned home and started looking into renting the week we still had we found a lot of available units for much less than $500 per week even on the 2BRs. We also researched the resale prices to find our same plan could be bought for less than $1500.00. The easy way is go check ebay for Grand Mayan timeshares and see the buy it now prices, then see that very few ever sell at all.

Even if you fall in love with the place you can buy online from an owner any week you want to go for a fraction of the price of the annual fees. Stay away at all costs, timeshare sales are bad but this place takes it to a whole new level. It ruined our vacation and possibly our future vacations as we now are paying much more and stuck in timeshare with little value.

After breakfast as promised (the only good thing about the presentation was the delicious breakfast). After that we lost 3 hours of our lives to what we called the scam squad. The first representative tried and tried to get us to buy, then he called for backup even when we continued to tell him we needed time to analyze and discuss our decision. Similar to other stories here, we endured the same horrible, high pressure "presentation." They initially quoted us $177K for a one or two bedroom unit (can't remember exactly how many bedrooms) for 6 weeks. They also offered to pay us the minimum price per point for our current timeshare. We were told the minimum price was the only price they could offer us. Well they went from $177K to $31K for the same product in the span of the 3 hours, albeit a couple weeks less. This was the result of our continued discussion of the low offered value of our current timeshare points. As a result, they were miraculously able to offer the higher amount for our current timeshare points.

Three hours later and after a series of straight face lies we were placed on high alert. NOTHING SOUNDED TRUE THEN. When we became adamant about not buying, additional backup was called. Her name was Marianna (who just had a baby 3 months ago-this is to help identify "Mariana".) She started from the beginning of the presentation. By this time we were tired and had made up our mind NOT to purchase. When my wife told her she wasn't interested in going through the entire presentation a third time, Mariana told her "I'm not asking you to do it again!" but of course the line of questioning was the same. She was NOT interested in listening to us. She continued to ask us the same questions over and over again. Mariana even laughed at us when we warned her she was making us angry.

After that it got ugly real quick. We got up and walked out. When we got downstairs we were offered $1,800 for 30 weeks (total) or $1,500 or 20 weeks (total). We were also told we could make a complaint on Mariana and her treatment of us. The complaint we wrote was "We will not stay or have anything to do with the Mayan Resort even if it's free!" We highly doubt there will be any reprimand of Mariana. The Mayan Resort we visited in Jose Del Cabo was beautiful and the drawing of future Mayan Resorts will no doubt be beautiful. But we will NEVER have anything to do with the Mayan Resort. We will not do business with people who can lie straight face to us, pressure us to buy, and buy at that very moment, and laugh at us. NO THANKS! And too bad for the Mayan Resort liars, we ended up purchasing additional timeshare elsewhere while down in Mexico.

My vacations turn out just fine each time. Also, stay away from scammers to buy your timeshare. They want to get paid a transfer fee BEFORE THEY SELL YOUR TIMESHARE. It's NOT TRUE. You must pay the transfer fee personally to the Grand Mayan, not the scammers. BE AWARE AND THEN YOU'LL BE PREPARED. One company is called Vector Marketing Solutions: 204 East Capitol, St. Jackson, MS, 39201. STAY AWAY FROM THEM. They want money upfront. It's a scam!!!!!!!!!! ANY COMPANY THAT WANTS MONEY BEFORE THEY SELL YOUR TIMESHARE, IT'S A SCAM. Be aware and be prepared.

It was nothing but lies. That never happened. They also sold me on getting 6 weeks, so I could rent at least 4 weeks a year and have a nice hefty income. In their own words, "We will guarantee by April of each year, all your weeks will be rented." Again, to date, not even one week has been rented. Truly, I was scammed! Has anyone else experienced something similar?

After careful consideration and the assurances proposed to us, we decided to proceed with the purchase. We put down $6619 and were going to pay the remaining balance using the sale of our US timeshare plus expecting a refund of almost all of the $6619 deposit. We were given 60 days to pay the balance and were assured that the sale of our US unit would sell in that time period. When the full amount came due in 60 days we went ahead and paid the balance out of our savings because I did not want to risk loss of our $6619 deposit.

It has now been 12 months with no sale and no way for us to contact anyone by phone. I have only been able to contact "Michael" by email. I tried contacting the original sales person and her manager by phone and fax but was unsuccessful. I feel that there has been a bait and switch tactic here that other vacationers at the Mayan Resorts should know about. I know that we are not the only ones who have been involved in this because another friend of ours who happened to be in Nuevo Vallarta at the same time ended up purchasing a unit at Mayan also. He was given the same assurances but because he did not pay off his balance, he had some additional negotiating power and Mayan actually took "transfer of title" of his old resort. In the meantime, we are out $17,200 which is the amount that our US timeshare unit was supposed to sell for to fund purchase of the Mayan timeshare. It goes without saying how far that $17,200 will go in today's economy as we have unfortunately tapped out of our savings due to the downturn in our business.

Not wanting to lose the deposit, we accepted a different contract for a lower price and they kept the higher deposit. Upon returning home we still felt that we had been victims of fraud. Finally, an internet research revealed that it is illegal in Mexico to waive the 5 day cancellation period or to not accept a cancellation with in that period. Six weeks later, we are again trying to cancel the contract and get our deposit back.

The sales people opened a credit card for us to put the deposit on. We now owe $9,870.00 on that card. We have contacted the credit company to dispute the transaction. We have a bill due to the Mayan Palace on June 3, 2007 for the amount of $6,350. I will not pay this. I am concerned about damage to my credit because of this.

We booked a week's vacation over Christmas at Xpu Ha Palace Resort in the Mayan Riviera. We were told on the phone by RCI staff that we would be charged 31,000 points plus roughly $1500 Canadian dollars for the mandatory all-inclusive add-on fee (the 31,000 timeshare points were to cover the room only). We agreed. I went on to purchase non-refundable airline tickets two days later.

A couple of weeks later we received our printed confirmation in the mail from RCI. Not only was the all-inclusive add-on fee not $1500 Canadian, it was $2800 US! We had been quoted the amount applicable only up to and including December 16th; from December 17th to 29th, the price would jump to $2800. When I spoke to a customer service manager, she said they had made a note that they quoted us $2800 US and that I was the one in error. She went on to say she would be happy to find me another resort that might be closer to the cost we were expecting. I said that was absolutely unacceptable, as Xpu Ha Palace was the only resort we wanted to visit and had only agreed to Christmas week (Dec 22-29) because that was the only week available in the next year or so. She then said she could move us to December 1st at the same resort (at which point it would only cost $1500 US), though there had been no December 1st availability when we had called to make the booking in the first place, plus we would also end up with a fee to change our now-booked airline tickets.

When I checked the palace resorts website and went through their online booking process to secure a room from December 17th for 7 nights (within the December 17-29 range that RCI notes a $2800 add-on charge for all inclusive) I was quoted a total of $2400 US for my husband and I to stay, all inclusive.

I'll say it again... to book this hotel without the timeshare was $400 cheaper than using my RCI points, and that doesn't take into account that I have spent several thousand dollars on my timeshare!

We have $2,000 in non-refundable airline tickets booked for a vacation that will cost us a little over $1200 more than we had planned for (and could afford), PLUS the fact that booking outside of the timeshare program is $400 cheaper. That is absolutely criminal.

The list of benefits is this:Elite Reservations rental program (which I had available before),RCI enhanced pkg, certificates for cruise and vacation discounts, 50% off golf green fees (previously it was 20%), senior certificare (I'm NOT a senior), no mandatory maintenance fees after 5 years if I don't use the property??
Lots of free extra benefits and vacation bonuses but nothing tangible.

I owe a cash out of $4,368.00. I wonder what the consideration of this contract is? I have all the paperwork and had to email the sales office to get a list of benefits I paid for.