Sunset Lagoon- Sunset Group- Fisherman's Village- Resorts International

Sunset Lagoon- Sunset Group- Fisherman's Village- Resorts International

March 4, 2006

This past summer I went to Cancun and was given a tour of Sunset Lagoon. To make a long story short, I was pressured into purchasing a timeshare with a lot of verbal promises that were not incorporated into the written contract.

I was shown a property that I was promised WOULD be rented out at $1700 per week and it would be paying for itself within 5 years. The salesman said it was a "win win" , ''no lose investment'', etc. When I said it was out of the question, they showed me a property of lesser value with the same promises of rental income to offset the purchase price.

They kept persisting with their sales ploy, giving me free drinks and offering me better deals, in spite of the fact that I insisted that I was not interested or financially able to purchase a membership. They pressured me relentlessly assuring me that this was a profitable investment. After being placed under duress, (3 hours and 5 drinks later) I finally agreed to sign a contract, however, they insisted that I must waive my right to rescind, which in of itself is illegal in any contract. None of the extra perks were delivered.(Free trips, weeks, etc.) Upon returning home and doing internet research, I have found out that these timeshares are not able to be sold at any price nor rented- both of which were promised to me at the time of purchase. I quickly called to cancel my contract well within the 14 day grace period. After the runaround of constant disconnections and being placed on hold, I personally spoke to Alberto Benray who said he would call me back, but never did. When I called back they claimed that they were not technically open due to hurricane Emily. I finally spoke to someone named Alicia and was told that I couldn’t cancel my contract for any reason. They promised me that they would make arrangments to downsize my timeshare or be flexible in order to accommodate my financial situation. They promised to send me additional information to review and they never sent it.

They have placed me in collections (through their own company of course)and told me that not only are they refusing to refund my $6,078.53 deposit but they want $16,000 more , totaling more than $22,000, or they will sue me. The original contract was only for $16,000, so now they are trying to scam me out of an additional $6,078. This company needs to be stopped in their tracks so that other people aren’t scammed in the same manner out of money for which they work very hard.

In the meantime, they have $6,000 of my money and I have absolutely NOTHING except headaches and threats. I am working to resolve this....get my contract cancelled and my $6,000 returned.

WATCH OUT FOR THIS COMPANY THEY ARE THEIVES!!!

Company

Sunset Lagoon- Sunset Group- Fisherman's Village- Resorts International

Address:

444 Brikell Ave. Suite 51

Miami Florida 33131

U.S.A. Click this link to e-mail the message author: Email User

Comment On This

1) Sunset contract # 24-3-75 2) Profeco complaint # 912-2010 3) econsumer.gov #26633968

We purchased a timeshare contract with Royal Sunset Beach Club after a VERY high pressure sales presentation that lasted for several hours with our 2 small boys in tow (ages 5 & 1 at the time) July 22, 2006 at the beginning of a week long vacation in Cancun (we were not leaving until day #6 & there was no readily available means to further evaluate this contract plus the 6 month delay to even access any of the "proposed benefits" presented in the contract / presentation). In addition to the fraudulent timeshare contract fee (discrepancies noted below) we were also required to pay a separate fee of $549 to Resorts International Marketing Corp. for exchange purposes & for Sunset to use the first several years worth of weeks as credit towards contract fee. This (RIMC) was also to be used for rental purposes to provide rental income for our timeshare as an investment which they also strongly pushed as a benefit.

As multiple issues became apparent with our contract, we referred back to pages 5-6 regarding clauses 12, 13 and 14 that paraphrased states "Failure on the part of the "Promoter" to provide the service means the penalty is then that the "Promoter" is obliged to reimburse all amounts paid by the "Member" for the undelivered services. We attempted on a number of occasions to work out the issues with Sunset and their only solution was 1) either to continue to pay on the fraudulent contract or 2) to accept a contract cancellation with no refund of our monies already paid to Sunset (neither of those options were acceptable).

After multiple attempts to rectify the situation we escalated our complaint to PROFECO as well as registering our complaint with econsumer.gov. Our primary problems are:

1. FRAUD (charge #1) - Pg. 1 of Membership Purchase Agreement shows balance financed as $9,815.00, however Amortization schedule, pg. 1 shows balance financed as $10,295 in addition to the fact that this was financed at a 6.9% interest rate. There is nothing stated in the contract to justify the additional $480 added to the $9,815.00 balance.

2. FRAUD (charge #2) - Pg. 1 of Membership Purchase Agreement shows annual maintenance fee is $719 which matches the fee for Cancun Sunset Club (Royal Sunset - on the beach), however when 2008 week was paid for Royal Sunset, the week that space banked with RCI was for Sunset Lagoon which has a lower maintenance fee of $616 per the 2006 schedule. Therefore we are being charged a higher maintenance fee and receiving a lesser accommodation exchange with RCI.

3. UNAUTHORIZED ATTEMPT TO ACCESS OUR CREDIT CARD - 6/8/2010 documentation showed verification from our bank that Sunset tried not once BUT twice to access our Visa Card for $822 on May 17, 2010 & again on June 1, 2010 (which Sunset denied the first time I notified them regarding the May 17 charge, in an email dated Sat. May 22, 2010 @ 12:56 PM).

In addition to these serious issues, other problems noted, included:

1. Interclub transfer was not just an even exchange for only $89 as presented - instead Sunset tacked on additional fees that basically came to the full price of a week long hotel rental at an Interclub resort. Plus, the majority of resorts available through the interclub program were some of the worst rated resorts in the RCI manual.

2. Resorts International Marketing Corp. was not the rental program that was presented and that Sunset required us to pay an additional fee for. Once we initiated the contract dispute / cancellation, we were told that the RIMC fee would be refunded which has not occurred and after 2 unauthorized attempts to charge our credit card, I am leery of providing that information to them again.

3. Billing discrepancies of not charging the biennial maintenance fee when they had the credit card info on file and were charging monthly payments and then charging us a late fee for failure to pay the maintenance fee. Charging our credit card for the monthly finance fee after we had contacted Sunset & instructed them specifically they were no longer authorized to debit payments from our card (late 2009). After this they charged our credit card and cashed a "check" payment for the same month's payment. This took several months to correct.

4. Multiple issues requiring many emails and phone calls to get the RCI membership fee paid that was in the contract and also to take care of various other administrative issues with limited & often inadequate responses.

While Sunset continues to argue their case to illegally keep our money through negotiations with PROFECO, we are continuing to present justification to prove our point of Sunset's failure to uphold the terms of our contract (clauses 12, 13 & 14) & the questionable stance they have taken to maintain this position. I plan to continue contacting websites and governmental agencies to present and/or post our case & the ongoing issues we have with Sunset and their goal to keep our money so that hopefully we can resolve this situation to our satisfaction, instead of Sunsets goal of keeping peoples money when they have continuously failed to uphold the terms of their contract & therefore have defaulted on that contract.

Thank you for your time and if anyone has any further suggestion regarding how to solve this, please let me know.

Comment On This

I am dealing with the same issues, contract paid in full. They are still asking for additional monies. I have never stayed at the resort. I paid over $17,000 and now they want another $1300 to be paid in the same day. The manager is never available and they won't give me the CEO's information. They are scam artist.

Comment On This

Sorry to hear. I bought a timeshare from sunset but i kept it. It's not bad at all. I like their resort. I had a few problems at the very beginning but worked them out. You should try calling member services, they have always been helpful.

Comment On This

I, too, was duped by these people. They apparently have a set of tactics that they use on unsuspecting consumers. I was also given a verbal explanation of the contract that was quite different from what was written on paper.

I tried to get out of it a few days later only to be ignored and later denied the option.

They claim that due to the supposed language barrier, interpretation of the contract is at the discretion of the company (a.k.a. Sunset Group which has a main office in Miami, FL U.S.A.). Not to mention the guy who sold me my "property" (they refuse to acknowledge that it's a timeshare) was from Canada and spoke perfect English.

I've been trying to dispute the charges with my credit card company, but their sorry excuse for a legal department sent them a phony interpretation of the supposed contract I signed. I only hope my CC company can see through their smoke and mirrors. These guys are scam artists and should be fined heavily and prohibited from doing business.

Comment On This

I too have been there and told things that were not in the contract. The contract is quite different than the verbal.Also promises of a Mexican Fiesta and a Yacht Cruise never materialized. I was there for about 8 hours!Of course they portray it as an investment you can't lose on and they will buy it back (at fair market value!).The "free weeks" offered mean you pay ~$50 per person per day, not exactely "free"!.The "free"weeks are also for the 5 low season months.I talked to numerous other travellers with similar stories who advised me to contact Visa and cancel Sunset right away, which I did by double registered mail.I did get my Visa credited after a long wait and a lot of paperwork. Keep copies of everything you send them and your registered letter receipts.A collection agency also called asking for way more money than before.I told them repeatedly that I cannot afford this. I'm very glad I cancelled, which the written contract allows. I could write much more but I'm a hunt and peck typist.

Comment On This

We had a weak moment and went to timeshare presentation at Sunset Lagoon Resorts in Cancun. They pressured us and made unbelievable promises. That should've been our clue. Anyway we bought a presidential suite. Then $ 595 to Resorts international to rent it out at supposedly $2500. Yea right. We went back the next year. I had brochure that said " Free massage". That was now $ 100 or more. Coupons to go out to dinner for 2 --was a $10 coupon. They charged 10% more for All inclusive. Then we get a bill after the hurricane for $250. This month we get maintenance fee of $695; supposed to be $450. WE FINALLY had it and just let it go . We are taking total loss of our money and they will leave us alone!!! They don't care-- they got alot out of us. CORRUPT What kind of a bargain is a 2 bedroom condo for 8 -10 people when you have to pay $695 for the wk and $70 AI each per day. That is $630 / day for our " owned timeshare". They must be laughing their heads off.