Complaint Review: Grand Bahia Principe

My husband and I fell in love with the Bahia Principe complex in Akumal during a Mexican vacation a few years ago. We noticed a sales kiosk for a brand new community being buit by the hotel selling condos, residences, townhomes ect. We viewed the property and saw ourselves retiring there in the future with grandkids to enjoy the laid back Mexican lifestyle. 

Originally we purchased a townhome and were talked into buying a residence before it was completed. We happily forked over all but the hold back amount with visions of our retirement dream home in our heads. Then came the nightmare.... When our home was supposed to be ready we were sent a document which we were told was to rename the property to finish the sale. Upon review we realized they were trying to trick us into changing the home we were buying to smaller one on a 50% smaller lot. Obviously we became concerned and so the emails and calls began. Turns out at some point they just gave our lot and home to one of the owners family members. thats it, just gave it (even though we had paid for it and had it under contract) to someone else.

When we demanded our property or at the very least our money back they sent an email letting us know they would sell another property (the one we didnt buy) for us and split the proffits with us. As ludicrous as it sounds we considered doing it as we didnt care about proffit at this point just to not loose our money. When they sent over the contract for the sale we realized that in fact it said WE had decided not to complete our house purchase which means they would have charged us a 60k penalty. Obviously these people intended to scam us from the get go and now here we sit. Devistated about the loss of our retirment dreams and having to hire a lawyer in the hopes of getting at least our money back.

Did i mention this place is run by Canadians and Americans opperating in Mexico? We did some research prior to purchasing and one of them is a minister who was even featured in Forbes magazine as an ethical buisness person! I understand people can change doing buisness in another country with different laws, but to become theives? We werent prepared or expecting that as a possibility.

We are lodging a complaint with the police (there locally and also the RCMP here in Canada) and the Canadian and American embassys but who knows what good that will do. We will also be working with a local news station to get the information out there and help other consumers avoid these scams.To any other people or families with a dream of retiring in sunny Mexico, let our story be a warning to you. Stay away from the Tao Residential Community and the Grand Bahia Principe and save yourself an ocean of hurt, disspointment, and financial loss.

If anyone else has had a similar experience and can offer some advice or additional information for us to provide to our local media please contact me.