Whatever you do, stay away from a company called (I'll refer to as)The Sunset Group (also known as - The Sunset Royal Hotel, The Sunset Fishermen's Resort & Spa, The Sunset Seastar Resort & Spa, The Sunset Lagoon Hotel, Marina & Spa, Cancun Sunset Club, VIP Caribbean Yachting, SA. DE CE. (know as The Yachting Club) or The Admirals Club, Hacienda Andalucia Equestrian Center (also, known as The Equestrian Club) and Prom Beach Enganches Cancun QR00 MEX and Promotora Sunset Beach Clubs, SA. DE, CV. and Cancun Service Center / Legal Dept. - PMB 477 (their very own Collections Dept. located in Miami, Florida) and Condo Marketing International located in Houston, Texas and Resort Management International (also known as RMI) may also be involved in the timeshare scam, they are located in Mobile, Alabama (another Collections Dept.).
To try and make a long story as short as possible my husband and I need to inform people how our long awaited for vacation turned out to be the vacation from hell in August 2006. Our complaints aren't any different then anybody else filing a complaint about The Sunset Group. These sales people will look you straight in the eyes and lie and mislead you through the whole sales presentation.
They make you think the timeshare is a great investment and you'll make alot of money by renting you weeks out. They give you extra weeks called VIP or Corporate weeks, said they could by rented out as well. Sure, you'll be able to rent them out, but not for the $1,700.00 they claim you can get for them. They split the timeshare cost by having two contracts involved, said it was done for tax purposes, so they can get a larger deduction.
After the long and draining sales presentation, we get back to our hotel, look over the contract and notice they have numerous additional fees that you have to pay yearly and no one bothered to mention them. We went back the very next morning to cancel (less than 12 hours after signing the contract) and all we heard from Arthur Marroquin (VLO Officer) and Eddie Faraon (Sales Manager) was a bunch of lies about waiving our right to cancel and received nothing but threats if we didn't accept whatever deal they had to offer. We were told under no circumstances, we would be allowed to cancel.
Nothing was mentioned at the time of signing the contract about waiving our right to cancel. If someone would have said something to that effect, we would have never signed the contract. We had no paperwork with our copy of the contract saying we waived our right to cancel and we still don't have anything stating we waived our right to cancel. The contract states we had 5 to 15 days to cancel and we made the cancellation request within five days as allowed by Mexican Law.
They wouldn't give us a signed statement saying we went back to cancel withing the five day time-frame and they would not accept our letter to cancel. They said there would be no way we could prove it and it would be their word against ours. The trust we had in them, just kinda faded at that point. We did not know at that time, what they were doing was illegal, according to "PROFECO" (Mexico's Federal Consumer Protection Agency). Check it out for yourself, go to www.profeco.gob.mx or call 01-800-468-8722 - PROFECO Consumer Call Center in Mexico or try the call center in Mexico of the Ministry of Tourism at 01-800-903-9200, these are toll free numbers. By law, you have five business days to cancel the contract after you have signed it.
We didn't find out until we did some research on the internet about The Sunset Group and their timeshare scam when we arrived home. Once we received the information, we emailed The Sunset Group and told them again we wanted the contracts canceled and once again, we were told we could not cancel. This was followed by several harassing phone calls from Hector Tornell threatening us (said he was head of the legal dept. one time and said he was a lawyer another time). Hector said, there is no way we can win this because we don't know Mexican Law. He said he intends to sue us for $37,000.00 plus, if we don't pay them more money.
We have filed complaints with PROFECO, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, the U.S. Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission and credit card company's involved. We'll continue to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the U.S. Dept. of Justice, RCI, American Airlines, ASTA, Foreign Affairs, Travel Magazines, the Travel Channel, Newspapers and whoever else we can think of.
We will continue posting our complaints on the World Wide Web (((ROR REDACTED LINKS FOR SECURITY PURPOSES))), just to name a few, to warn others of The Sunset Groups way of doing business and how they deceive everyone.
We'll go on National Television if we have to just to let other innocent victims know what a bunch of lying crooks The Sunset Group is and what they are doing is wrong. We were misled and intentionally lied to. We will not stop until this matter is resolved and we receive a full refund of our down payment and verification of cancellation of cantracts. We will be pursuing our rights vigorously and with all agencies and legal recourse available to us. We know what our rights are under Mexican Law and our deposit is refundable.
We sent emails to The Sunset Group to -
Orlando Arroyo Marroquin, Owner -
[email protected]Rosalia Silva Campos, Legal Department-
[email protected]Diana Hernandez, Legal Dept.
[email protected]Hector Tornell, Head of legal dept. or lawyer -
[email protected] and
[email protected]Alicia Palomo Puente, Customer Service -
[email protected]Sunset Group, Customer Service Center -
[email protected]Sunset Group, Sales Dept. -
[email protected]We sent letters to The Sunset Group to the address listed on our contract - Promotora Sunset Beach Clubs S.A. DE C.V.
Kukulcan Boulevard KM 10, Lot 13-B, Hotel Zone
Cancun, Quintana ROO Mexico C.P. 77500
Sent to the attention of Orlando Arroyo Marroquin, VLO Officer
Sent again to the attention of Eddie Faraon, Sales Manager
We sent letters to Customer Service -
Cancun Service Center Clubs
PMB477
444 Brickell Ave., Suite 51
Miami, Florida 331-2492
Sent to the attention of Ferida Barriero, Corp. Manager, Customer Service & Reservations
Sent again to the attention of Yenenia Ceballos, Collection Dept. and sent again to the attention of Fidela Salas, Collection Dept.
At this time there has been no response from The Sunset Group, I guess they think we'll go away if they ignore us. But they are WRONG!
So far, we've received one bill from their Cancun Service Center Clubs, Collection Dept in Miami, Florida wanting to collect over $6,000.00 more for the down payment. We're also receiving bills from another collection agency called Resort Management International (also known as RMI) located at -
1110 Montlimar Drive, Suite 310, Mobile, Alabama 36609
First, we received a phone call from RMI, Shirley Lunnon, Collection Dept. Sr. Claims Adjustor, wanting payment in full of $28,000.00 plus. When that wasn't accepted she tried to make a deal that we could pay less money. We made it clear we didn't want to make a deal, that we didn't owe any money to RMI or The Sunset Group or anyone else for that matter. We told her that The Sunset Group owed us over $10,000.00 for our down payment and the matter wouldn't be resolved until we received a full refund and verification the contracts are canceled / Null and Void. She said we signed a contract and she is reporting us to the Credit Bureau.
We told her that what The Sunset Group was doing is illegal, that you can't waive your right to cancel a contract and this was all part of The Sunset Groups way of doing business, their illegal sales practices and giving out fraudulent information. We told her to research it herself and get on the internet and see the hundreds of complaints about The Sunset Group.
A few days later after speaking to Shirley Lunnon from RMI, we received a bill wanting the balance of $28,000.00 plus. The following day, 2/24/07, we received another letter from Shirley Lunnon and this is what is said -
Ref: Client: Royal Sunset Club
Ref. #: XXXXXX
Account #: XX-XXXXX
Balance: $28,365.17
This amount is comprised of principal, interest, collection costs and late fees, if applicable, as authorized by your agreement with the Client.
Date Feb. 21, 2007
Dear Richard & Lynn,
This letter will confirm that upon receipt of $5,600.00 on or before February 27, 2007, your membership balance assigned to Resort Management International on February 16, 2007, will be settled in full.
Upon receipt of the settlement amount, we will furnish releases to be signed and returned to our client. At that time, you will be released from all rights, title, and future liability to ROYAL SUNSET CLUB.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.
Cordially,
S. Lunnon
Sr. Claims Adjustor
Can you imagine, they want to scam us out of $5,600.00 more in addition to the $10,000.00 plus, down payment already paid before the contract will be canceled. Somebody please, tell me what planet these people are from. Do they actually think we're going to pay them more money? WRONG! ! ! Anyone interested in filing a complaint about RMI / Resort Management International for harassment, you can get information for the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, go to www.ago.state.co.us.
We purchased a timeshare several years ago in the Bahamas, we love it. That purchase was nothing like this and we haven't had any problems. It is really hard to imagine why The Sunset Groups so called "Professional Sales and Marketing Organization" would jeopardize their reputation by purposely deceiving potential clients.
If anyone has any more suggestions to resolve this matter, it would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Lynn & Richard
Manchester, Maryland
U.S.A.
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