Complaint Review: Vida Vacations

We are Vida vacations timeshare owners and agreed to attend an ‘update ‘presentation.  Of course, we knew this would be several hours but we held out for a 10% account discount, MEX 3,000 credit and a late check-out.  The focus of the presentation was to convert our membership from the ‘timeshare’ side to the ‘real estate’ side.  The main benefit was to eliminate the 5-yr and 25-yr anniversary payments in our current contract for a lower 10-yr payment and credits in the form of ‘Vidanta Lifestyle Dollars’.  Our 2 Grand Mayan 2-bedroom ‘Registered’ weeks would be converted to one Registered week for a Grand Luxxe 1-bedroom loft unit for only 10 years, plus 2 “Residence’ weeks plus 4 weeks exchanged through San Francisco exchange.  Other bits and pieces were tossed in as well. 

This took Ruben, our sales rep 3 hours to explain with incredibly complicated notes, figures, etc.  Final price: $17 K.  We declined, Ruben became belligerent (“you were not paying attention”)  then we were introduced to ‘Natalia’ who presented an alternate deal where we could ‘keep’ our Grand Mayan weeks and avoid the anniversary payments.  The elimination of our ‘Registered’ weeks (except the 10-yr room) was still part of this which is important since we have ‘A Status’ which means we can book 12 months in advance (vs. the normal 6 months) but this only applies to Registered weeks.  We confirmed with Natalia three times that our ‘A’ status would now apply to the new ‘Residence’ weeks and she replied “yes”.  Final price: $10K.  We agreed to the deal but waited and waited for contract corrections/omissions to be printed, signed ,etc.  Finally, at 5.30 pm during the “verification” process with Paula we were told flat out that we would not have 12-month advance reservations except the one ‘Registered’ week for 10 years.  A few other lesser details were also clarified such as Vidanta Dollars are capped at 2 weeks’ maintenance fees and can only be applied to as little as 20% of the value of your purchase  - all these ‘clarifications’ contradicted and/or reduced the value of the deal for us. 

We were very upset having spent EIGHT hours in the gauntlet (not counting breakfast).  Over the next three days, Vidanta tried to sweeten the offer but could not deliver the 12-month reservation benefit we currently have.  They promised us compensation for the wasted day/misrepresentation of the presentation but so far, nothing.  Do not engage in discussions with this organization. See my article in Trip Advisor “Top 10 Timeshare Tips…” for more suggestions.