Complaint Review: ROYAL HOLIDAY CLUB

I was scammed into signing a contract at the Wyndham in the Bahamas on July 25, 2010 and June 5, 2012 (upgrade) that was based on lies, FRAUD, DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES, misrepresentation of the offer during the sales process, failure to disclose terms and conditions of the offer and misleading me into believing that I can cancel my membership anytime by calling customer service, exaggerations by the aggressive sales tag team using high pressure sales tactics, together with offers of alcoholic beverages, by the Royal Holiday (RHC) Club sales reps, Pedro Young, Marvin Barr and 2 others ladies.  

RHC sales reps used dishonest and deceitful sales practices in order to get me to sign a contract.  Nothing that they said is true (even the CD that they give you is misleading). And I found that out when trying to book a vacation and the major difficulties I encountered. I became so frustrated that I had the membership for 2 years before being able to secure booking a travel date. Turns out my first time being able to use the membership I purposely went back to the Bahamas on June 5, 2012 primarily to go see Pedro Young the sales rep that told me all those lies and violated the federal consumer rights law.

For instance,"The right to be informed - To be given the facts needed to make an informed choice, and to be protected against dishonest or misleading advertising and labeling"; and "The right to redress - To receive a fair settlement of just claims, including compensation for misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services".

After that I simply canceled the 2 vacations we had booked because they charged me to use a Mexico Privilege Certificate that never came in the mail and that the sales reps said was supposed to give us TOTALLY FREE vacations to Mexico and Punta Cana and all I was responsible for was the airfare.  I was also given 2x60,000 points to be used anytime I wanted to go to Baha Mar because according to Pedro Young, Baha Mar was going to replace the Wyndham and was going to be better than Atlantis (which is why we go because my son likes the waterpark at Atlantis). But I found this out to also be a lie!

NO YOU CANNOT: sell, rent, cancel when you wish, write it off your taxes, rollover 100% of the points, get 50-75% airfare discount, free airport transfer, no minimum length of stay, go where you want when you want and for as long as you want, does not increase in value, Baha Mar does NOT replace the Wyndham, no mention of yearly maintenance fees, purposely staples contract in non-sequential order so the signature page is on top and not given appropriate time to review additional pages, clubs operating rules hidden in back of the 376 page resort guide so you won't read it, no mention of the few days in which you are allowed to cancel by law, luxury suite shown during sales pitch is NOT what you get when you travel and getting to Hawaii/Las Vegas and now Bahamas in the summer or at christmas time is IMPOSSIBLE.

Customer service is non-existing and I have requested cancelation of the contract 4 times to no avail. Although my payments are all up to date I finally sought legal advice and thus disputed the charges with my credit card company (as many as they would allow) and sent RHC an immediate termination of auto debit authorization of my credit card and on 7/6/14 I initiated contact with BBB/FTC/Consumer Affairs/Attorney General's Office/PROFECO, and the DEA.

I learned from BBB "that on 4/16/14 RHC accreditation was REVOKED by BBB board of directors due to failure to eliminate the underlying cause of complaints on file with the BBB" and RHC has 280 complaints. However, as of 7/9/14 RHC website reads "Royal Holiday is an accredited business by Better Business Bureau, and have an A+ rating". False advertising!

Finally on 7/9/14 Alex Pantoja QA Supervisor at RHC 800-961-1810x2522 called me & left me a message asking if he can assist me with any travel plans for this year or any questions that I may have. I responded back quickly and I provided him with a 36:40 minute statement of how his sales reps are dishonest, deceitful, committed fraud, their deceptive trade practices, and the RHC website has my balance incorrect showing that I owe $1,868.07 more than I really owe and for the 5th time requested that my membership be canceled;

(When asked what prompted him to call me he denied getting my complaint from BBB; he stated and I quote ("I read the notes in your contract and found that you are not satisfied with your account".) When requested the cancelation of said contract, he stated that he cannot make any promises but he will talk to his administration, investigate my complaint, and get back in touch with me.  He verified my phone numbers and email address.  So we will see if he does anything about this FRAUD! Acct#807104 Contract#49-101568