Complaint Review: Puerto Bahia Villas & Spa - Private Residence Club - La Cruz de Huanacaxtle Other

Puerto Bahia Villas aka Private Residence Club in Nayarit / Puerto Vallarta - SCAM

I am a real person who was scammed, Ricardo Sanchez and  other sales ppl will say their "competitors" are posting these things about them. They said that to me, I should have researched further.

If you are still in Mexico:

If you have just bought into this scam and are still in Mexico you should immediately return to cancel the contract either by going to see them or by going to the government agency Profeco which is in the area. By law you have at least 5 days to cancel the contract, even though they state in their contract that you cannot do so, this is illegal of them to do and you do not have to abide by that.

If you are back home:

If you are back home and have fallen for their scheme, immediately contact your credit card company or bank and begin the process of cancellation through them. You are more likely to have better luck with credit card company. I was able to retrieve half of my money because half was paid by credit card. Also make sure to get new cards so that they do not have the ability to keep charging you payments.

My Experience:

We were convinced to go to the presentation by a street vendor in Puerto Vallarta in return for free shows - BIG MISTAKE - we met with 3 different people, all telling us what to say when at the presentation, this is only so you will pass the test and they will get their commission for bringing in possible victims. Once there we were given the sales pitch, fed and liquored up.

The sales guys repeated they were from REMAX, they even wore name tags with the logo and said they were not a timeshare but actually selling you property which you were guaranteed to be able to sell back to them and earn a profit. They also told us like many others that they could buy our current timeshare and use that money to bring the cost of their property down for us. They then when on to show us phony mathematics in which the sales price of the property which was initially $50k came down to $20+k, all they needed was a down payment of $10k. They said they would "sell" our weeks and send us a check for $8k in 3 months which would pay for the property. They added more free shows and promises. The sales guys Chava and Mayo also said they would give us a side deal but that we could not tell the other sales person we were to meet with, this is all a scheme so that you do not ask more questions before signing their contract. They showed us one property which was what they said we would get but then when it came time to sign they said we were to get a new property which would be built by December.....I can bet big money its still an untouched hill. The truth is what they have built so far is all that will be built....the one room they showed us already had leaks in the ceiling. They have gardeners around so you think work is being done. And you'll see people walking around who they say are owners, but they are not. These people are staying there because Puerto Bahia is letting tourists reserve the rooms as a hotel through hotels.com and such.

Sadly we found out we had been scammed a day before having to leave, the guys at Puerto Bahia will warn you not to speak to anyone on the street about them. Why is it? Because all those people know that Puerto Bahia is a scam and has not continued to contruct anything for the past 3+ years. If you talk to locals you will find out that Puerto Bahia is nothing new, there are many unfinished properties in the atea that once promised tourists the same things and were eventually closed down after they stole enough money.

After finding out we sent them an email telling them we were cancelling and we immediatley started a dispute with our credit card companies in order to cancel. Once we did this the guys at PB called us and tried to offer us a new timeshare via a company called Barefoot Vacations, and Global Vacations, these are all made up companies. I contacted Remax to ask if they really did have reps in Mex at that place. Surprise surprise their senior legal rep responded and said they have no business in Puerto Vallarta or Nayarit and that they have had many complaints about this company defrauding consumers by making them believe they are buying real property. I repeatedly emailed Ricardo Sanchez and Gregg Triggs about the Remax claim and they never responded.

They also will repeat how they are backed up by First American Title, also false, I contacted them and they say they do not cover companies in Mexico.

These people are all snakes. A lot of them are Americans living in Mexico who use that to convince tourists that they can be trusted. They ruined my vacation, stole our money, and hopefully they get whats coming to them.

After everything they were able to only keep half of our money thanks to one of our banks being so incompetent, we have since left that bank. They of course stopped harassing us after the dispute was closed, they were content with taking us for $5k. They still attempted to call us 2 months later to see what was the status of our contract (they made a new person call us and pretend they had no idea what was going on), we of course told them we wanted nothing to do with them and we had cancelled, the lady Ivon Zuno said she would begin the cancellation process. We have not heard back since and of course we dont expect to for them to all of a sudden honor our cancellation and return our money.

*If someone could or has taken a photo of any of these sales ppl with the Remax name card, you should send to the Remax legal department using the email below. Remax is looking into pressing charges against these ppl for using their name. Stephanie Dunn - [email protected]

Tips on disputing:

1. Do not take their calls if possible, make email your primary source of communication as this is the way to make sure you have everything they say on record. They will attempt to call rather than email as they will promise you new things via the phone. Ricardo Sanchez is not to be trusted nor is Gregg Triggs, these ppl are scam artists.

2. Banks will rule Puerto Bahia to be a timeshshare and by law in this country you have 14 days to cancel, just make sure you cancel in writing and that you have it saved, in which it shows who it was sent to, time and date. They will attempt to say you did not cancel in time.

3. Send your banks the information given on the Profeco site which states it is illegal for these companies to make you believe you have no right to cancel your contract. Document found here: http://embamex.sre.gob.mx/canada_eng/images/consumer.pdf

4. Send them this article in which the company is reported as being fraudulent in the past by the BBB: http://www.startribune.com/local/203932301.html

5. Contact Remax senior legal department so that you can have an email from them in which they state they are not related in any way to this company: Stephanie Dunn - [email protected]

6. Make sure to mention all the various names they work under. They present themselves as Puerto Bahia, they have sales ppl with Remax tags, and their contracts will say the Private Residence Club.

7. Make sure to post on this site so that ppl know this is a true scam, Ricardo Sanchez and the other scammers will say these posts are from their competitors, they are not, do not believe a word they say nor agree to a renegotiation as they will likely just continue to take your money.

8. They will also threaten you with sending you to debt collectors, they are lying, they know they are full of it and cannot do anything.

9. Also other timeshare ppl from the Mayan for example will say they can help you with your problem if you go to them, do not do this, you will only end up with another timeshare. Although at least they have an actual building unlike Puerto Bahia which is just a farce.

**If you work for Puerto Bahia and are reading this, you are a despicable human being for taking peoples money and ruining their vacation, I know I for one will tell everyone I know about your company, and will not be returning to the area anytime soon**