Complaint Review: El Cid Vacation Club - Mazatlan Mexico

We were stopped at the Mazatlan Airport and asked if we had a taxi to our resort. We were then told that El Cid would pay our taxi, give us 4 tickets to a Mexican buffet, as well as 4 tickets for a Stone Island tour if we would take a 90 minute presentation at their resort. We agreed to meet them on July 15, three days later.

Upon arriving at El Cid Moor Resort, we were greeted by our sales person, Bob. We were taken to the restaurant to eat breakfast, where Bob sat down with us and told us that he had a way that we could earn back all the money we would invest in a timeshare, and more. He falsely promised us that we could make $28,000 a year. He also explained to us how the good Lord had given him this idea several years ago and he and his partner in the states had a way to help us make this money. During the meal, he did not provide any details.

As we took our tour of the facility, he continue to tell us how much money we would save by booking all our airline reservations through RCI, giving us examples of how much he and his wife saved on tickets to Africa last year. He showed us the Owners Tower and took us to the top floor which were, of course, the nicest units. He told us all owners' units looked like this 2 bedroom unit. (We later learned that this is the VIP

Tower and we did not purchase enough points to ever stay there.) He falsely represented us to believe that the Disney Corporation was planning to build a Disney resort across the way. The salesman also showed us a golf course across the way that he falsely promised that members had free access to it. He told us that an island across the water was Stone Island and that it belonged to El Cid. When we took our tour of Stone Island the next day, we found out that all of this was intentionally misrepresented. That island was not even Stone Island, much less owned by El Cid.

After the tour of the facility, we followed Bob into the sales room, where Bob told us he was the Sales Manager. Here we were offered drinks, and Bob pulled out two sheets of notebook paper. His computer screen was turned around backwards, as he told us he preferred to just use paper and pen, the old-fashioned way. Bob explained how vacations could be taken using points. He said that it wasn't just resorts, but also intentionally exaggerated that it was most major hotels across the U.S. (the only hotel included is Windham). Bob also continually misrepresented to us that El Cid and RCI are one and the same. This would allow us to easily exchange our unit for wherever we wanted to go without denial or delay. He then falsely promised to us that there were no exchange fees for exchanging with RCI, because they and El Cid were the same. However, page 18 of the El Cid Vacation Club catalog clearly states that there are RCI exchange fees. Also, page 19 of the same catalog states that there are fees for reservations internally at El Cid resorts, as well. Again, we were falsely promised that there would be no fees involved with reservations at any resorts. And, of course, El Cid and RCI (the major one that everyone knows0 are not the same.

We asked Bob if these points expired, or if they could be passed on to our children. He falsely stated that they never expire. The contract ends in 20 years.

Next, Bob explained to us the points system and what was available. There were 3 categories of points sold. There were 300,000 points, 154,000 points or a smaller amount. He explained to us that by purchasing 154,000 points, we would essentially have four weeks to use or exchange. By just calling Bob and giving him our points, he, in turn, would take our weeks and exchange them for units wherever the Super Bowl was that year, and rent them out for approximately $10,000 per unit. His company in the states would send us a profit of $7,000 per unit, netting us $28,000 per year in profits. He intentionally misled us to believe that he could do this not just one year, but every year, making us a substantial income. He showed us a printed sheet of paper with pictures of a rental listing on a web site. By doing this, our cost into El Cid would be paid for in one year. When asked if every sales person in that room offered this same deal, Bob assured us that he only offered this to his clients and that his company in the states would not want to become flooded with requests renting out the Super Bowl week. He stated that if we let him know by October 2008, that we wanted him to rent our units out, he would have them rented by January 2009 and send us a deposit check for $5,000. The rest would follow in February. After returning home, we realized that we do not even receive any points through El Cid and RCI until January, 2009, thus making it impossible to rent our unit out in time for the Super Bowl in 2009, had there ever been that possibility!

We also inquired what size unit the 154,000 points would get us, and Bob falsely stated that they would be 2 BR units. After receiving our written materials 15 days later, we quickly realized that our 154,000 points would not even get one week in a 2 BR unit at an El Cid resort during the summer (which was when we were there, so it makes since that is when we prefer to travel). Regardless of when we traveled, we would never be able to exchange or rent 4 weeks and receive a 2BR unit for 154,000 points.

Once we decided to purchase, Bob took us to the bar area that opens to and over-looks the pool. Again, he brought us drinks and told us he would go and prepare the paper work. The first paper he brought out to sign was the authorization to charge our credit card, which we signed before we were given the contract to read and sign. Another round of drinks were offered, as we waited at least 30-45 minutes before being escorted into the business office to sign the contract. Upon completion of signing, they showed us all the members' books for El Cid and RCI, but said that they would mail them to us, as to not burden us with additional weight in our luggage. In those books was the information that showed exactly the value of the points purchased. Upon leaving, Bob gave us his phone number to call anytime. We tried to call Bob when we were trying to get this contract cancelled, but he never returned our phone calls.

We returned home on Sunday, July 20, and decided to cancel this contract. On Monday, July 21, we penned the attached letter and faxed a copy to the number indicated on the letter, but with no success. This was the only number provided anywhere in the contract material provided us. (Later, we found out this is the number for the cruise exchange program with RCI). Then we took a copy of the letter to Fed Ex. The resort refused to cancel our contract. We have been in touch with and are clients of The Owner's Advocate that are helping us resolve this issue and cancel this contract.

Gary

McGregor, Texas

U.S.A.