Complaint Review: Krystal Hotel-Cancun - Krystal International Vacation Club - Cancun

NH KRYSTAL HOTEL SCAM! My family and I went down to Cancun in March 2008. We fell into Krystal Hotel's scam by a convincing yet false timeshare offer. I've inluded our specific story is below, but first we wanted to give you some important recommendations and warnings:

We HIGHLY recommend you do not attend any of their hotels and especially DO NOT listen to any of their "timeshare offers".

If you have also been affected by this scam, do not be afraid to speak out. This is exactly what they do not want and if you are loud enough, you may be able to get some of your money back. Send them e-mails and faxes and request a cancellation. Also contact PROFECO (the Mexican Federal Consumer Protection Agency).

If you have had a bad experience like this with Krystal Cancun you can fight back.

Here are some of the steps you can take to get their attention.

1.Email them a cancellation request(We have some samples if you'd like to see them.) The bottom line is: emphasize that you are aware of their scam and that they have committed 'fraud' by being deceitful and untruthful.

2. Write them a letter, the same letter you e-mail them, and send it via

snail mail (US Postal Service).

3. Call/e-mail your credit card company and request dispute of charges.

NOTE: The Credit Card Company may put a hold on the charges and give you a

temporary refund pending investigation, but, chances are the charges will

stick. So, don't rely solely on this to get your money back--remember, you

signed a contract :-(

4. Put your own complaint in the Squeaky wheel website. Also, write

comments on the major travel agency websites: i.e. Trip Advisor, The ripoff

report, etc. Remember, they DO ONLY CARE about one thing--MAKING MONEY. If

you can take money away by spreading the word and giving them bad PR, eventually they will be willing to silence you by giving you a partial or full refund.

PLEASE INCLUDE OUR NAMES in your dealings with KIVC if you want to. Doing this would help YOU and us to get our disputes resolved!

We can also also send you a copy of the official document we've sent to PROFECO, the Mexican Federal Business Bureau.

IN addition to the completed form, you will need to

send other documents to PROFECO including: 1. Copy of charges (i.e. Credit

Card Bill), 2. Copy of your Driver License or Passport, 3. Copy of the

entire contract and other papers given to you, 4. Copy of any other letters

or supporting documents.

Hope this information is helpful if you were scammed as we were. Please feel free to email us with any ohter information or quesstions you may have. We have heard of others who have gotten their money back.

Sincerely,

Jan and Drew

Details of our story: Steve Levy, a timeshare salesman from KIVC, sold us the idea of buying the timeshare only for the purpose of immediately turning around and renting out all 25 of our weeks and what they call bonus weeks from Krystal Cancun Hotel to convention attendees for a profit. He set us up with a brokerage firm that he said said could easily re-sell/rent out the timeshare weeks. All these statements turned out to be false. Specificially, Steve Levy promised during the presentation we could get over $40,000 back during the next year. Since we told Mr. Levy that we did not have money to pay, they pressured us into applying for and getting a Bank of America Credit Card for each of us, which the resort opened at 0% APR for 6 months. We were promised that we would easily get back our $27,000 investment in rentals over the first 6 months in which to pay off the credit cards. Steve Levy and another associate Ray Rubio assured us that because of the high demand of the nearby convention center and the new expansion on the hotel, there would be high demand to cover the first payments due on our credit cards and to ensure a high profit over the next year and beyond.

We were told because the hotel consists mostly of timeshare holders, it was difficult to capitalize on the major annual conventions that took place across the street and that this type of lodging is really how they make their money. Mr. Levy said that if we buy a unit and then rent out all 25 weeks, we would help them by allowing for more convention visitors' business. This, we were told, would be a win/win for everybody. There was supposed to be a high rate of return with this type of property investment...

To this day, none of our weeks have sold even though we were required to pay a brokerage fee to the company that Mr. Levy recommended (Regal Resales and Rentals). We've been researching this and found that many people have been told and sold this same story and NOBODY is getting any rentals or money back.

Thanks very much.

Jan and Drew

Waunakee, Wisconsin

U.S.A.