- Report: #439634
Complaint Review: Occidental Allegro Vacation Club - Ft. Lauderdale Florida
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Occidental Allegro Vacation Club
Occidental Flamenco Xcaret, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico Ft. Lauderdale, 33301 Florida, U.S.A.
Phone:
888-538-8048
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Occidental Allegro Vacation Club Coerced us into signing a waiver of our cancellation rights; BEWARE - THIS IS ILLEGAL! Playa Del Carmen Ft. Lauderdale Florida Mexico
We stayed at the Grand Flamenco Xcaret for 2 weeks to March 9, 2009. We were invited to breakfast and a presentation regarding Occidental Allegro's Vacation Club. We were subjected to a high-pressure, coercive sales pitch, first by Arturo then by the manager, Ryan.
We asked about a cancellation period and were told we were not entitled to it; we were told by Ryan to sign a waiver as it was a resale package and therefore, the cancellation clause 15 was null and void. This was also reiterated by the legal verification officer, Grace. The sales pitch was accompanied by champagne and the sound of popping corks to celebrate yet another happy customer - part of the whole scam. We ended up signing but immediately regretted it.
We reread the contract that evening and noticed that the cancellation clause was not voided or initialed; it indicated that any attempt to have someone sign a waiver was "unlawful" and we were entitled to a 5-day cancellation period. We also noticed that there was no copy of the waiver included with our contract documents. We immediately followed the cancellation procedures to the letter and received our money back.
Before we cancelled, we were showered with flowers and personal phone calls welcoming us to the "family"; clearly, this was intended to distract us so we did not second guess our decision and read the contract more carefully. What likely would have happened had we not read the contract carefully and the 5 days had passed was that Occidental staff would deny the existence of the waiver - given that it's illegal - but still bind us to a contract obtained under fall pretenses.
Although we were fortunate and got out of this illegal and fraudulent interaction, we just want to be sure that no one else is taken advantage of by the unscrupulous and dishonest staff we dealt with. I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone and hope they are fully investigated to prevent this fraud.
Shannon
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada
We asked about a cancellation period and were told we were not entitled to it; we were told by Ryan to sign a waiver as it was a resale package and therefore, the cancellation clause 15 was null and void. This was also reiterated by the legal verification officer, Grace. The sales pitch was accompanied by champagne and the sound of popping corks to celebrate yet another happy customer - part of the whole scam. We ended up signing but immediately regretted it.
We reread the contract that evening and noticed that the cancellation clause was not voided or initialed; it indicated that any attempt to have someone sign a waiver was "unlawful" and we were entitled to a 5-day cancellation period. We also noticed that there was no copy of the waiver included with our contract documents. We immediately followed the cancellation procedures to the letter and received our money back.
Before we cancelled, we were showered with flowers and personal phone calls welcoming us to the "family"; clearly, this was intended to distract us so we did not second guess our decision and read the contract more carefully. What likely would have happened had we not read the contract carefully and the 5 days had passed was that Occidental staff would deny the existence of the waiver - given that it's illegal - but still bind us to a contract obtained under fall pretenses.
Although we were fortunate and got out of this illegal and fraudulent interaction, we just want to be sure that no one else is taken advantage of by the unscrupulous and dishonest staff we dealt with. I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone and hope they are fully investigated to prevent this fraud.
Shannon
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Mark Miles
New York,New York,
USA
Reply
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, May 11, 2016
It is always best to hire someone skilled to do so, unfortunately in most cases these companies dedicated to cancel timeshares usually cheat for the second time to their customers since they are vulnerable and desperate. If you are thinking of hiring them you just have to make sure you do not have to make any payment upfront ... I found these articles that speak precisely about this, you should read them, that might help you to resolve many doubts:
timesharescam.com/blog/46-timeshare-cancellation-or-donation-should-not-cost-you-anything-upfront/
timesharescam.com/blog/158-how-to-cancel-a-timeshare/
janie78j
Hayward,California,
Royal Elite Timeshare
#3General Comment
Mon, May 27, 2013
It seems like timeshare scams in Playa del Carmen are the order of the day- I was ALMOST scammed by Royal Elite/Sandos Playacar. They convinced us to attend the presentation, but of course we just wanted the free gifts, but as soon as we said we were not interested, they treated us like garbage. My husband had to call the police, because they basically wouldn't let us go without signing the contract. NO MORE timeshares presentations for me. This is a forum from Mexican Timeshare Solutions with more complaints made to this company:
SDipp
Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic
OVC Response
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 23, 2012
We're sorry this happened to you, here at Occidental Vacation Club we're constantly improving and taking care of our customers and we would like to help you.
As of today, we serve more than 23,000 happy families who have entrusted to fulfill their vacation needs year after year. The club has been serving ever since 1993 while winning numerous prizes and recognitions within the hotel industry.
We would like to talk to you in order to get into an agreement and solve your problem, it would be very helpful if you could send your info to [email protected] and we'll get in touch with you as soon as we can.
Thank You and have a nice day
Steffi Dipp
Marketing Officer
Occidental Vacation Club
