Complaint Review: Vida Vacation Group - playa del carmen

Every year my fiance and i celebrate our birthdays in wonderul Mexico, sadly we will end this tradition after our last visit.  If you are reading this -- you were ripped off or doing some research because your gut feeling is that you may be getting ripped off.  Well please listen to your gut feeling!

My fiance and I stayed in the Grand Mayan and we were greated by Katerina and right away she invited us to a "timeshare disclosure" meeting.  We quickly declined becuase we currently own timeshare (US property).  She was not pushy and promised us we would find it interesting specially since we were already timeshare owners.  We were offered two tickets to the "Fiesta" dinner, since it was something we had planned on attending, we accepted the offer.  They recommend you attend the very next morning in order to attend the dinner or they will run out of capacity.  This is where the lies start!  The reason why the Vida Life ("Vida") staff wants you to attend a meeting upon arrival is to hopefully trap you into buying a --- non-existent luxury golf resort timeshare.  

The day of the presentation we were paired up with Eduardo Vega.  Eduardo claimed to have traveled the world through Vida Life and even showed us pictures of various vacations.  He even cried when he got to a picture of his so-called ex-fiance that was killed in a car accident.  My next comment may sound cruel but i think this was all part of his sales tactic!!  How can I believe anything this man said when everything he represented was a huge SCAM!  

Through out the walkthrough of the premises we got to know Eduardo and he got to know us.  Little did we know he was gathering all the details for his sales pitch.  We shared the fact that we had recently gotten enganged.  Worst mistake we did!  Once we said this Eduardo promised us a honeymoon vacation anywhere in the world through Vida Life or SFX.  He even printed out resorts in Bora Bora, Turks and Caicos and Thailand with availability in the timeframe we needed.  These were all locations we listed as "dream" honeymoon locations.  These print outs were sent over during the presentation from a fictitious concierge department.  

The hotels Eduardo showed us do not participate with Vida Life or SFX.  We discovered this once we were back home.  We could not book our honeymoon and now we are out of our honeymoon fund = $5,000.  Vida Life claims to have access to 5 star resorts all over the world.  If you are already an RCI member, you will see that it is no different.  By the way, RCI is the same company Vida tried to discredit during the presentation but at the end of the sale they give you one year membership for FREE.  They said it is given away for free so you can compare the sites and see that SFX is a better deal.  

We already tried disputing the $5k deposit we gave to Vida with our credit card company.  These funds were supposed to go towards our honeymoon and unfortunately they were not able to help us recoop our loss.  Even the 2,000 Vida points that were promised were never deposited into our account.  I wish I could paste a screenshot to thi review, the current balance is 3 points.  When using the Vida website all hotels, car rentals, airfare rates have been inflated.  There are no discounted rates on this site ($300 yearly membership fee we also paid in full) (AGREEMENT CPRT0448)

Additionally,  Vida claims to acquire US based timeshares for wealthy Mexican business owners.  Owning US property will allow these business owners to be granted US visas by the Mexican government.  Another LIE!!!  This is where Equity Acquisition ("EAS") comes into the mix.  This company applied a $12,500 credit towards our Grand Mayan purchase.  However, when EAS received copies of my timeshare contract they stated they have a "vast amount of properties to transfer and resell"  so now they are selling my timeshare back to me for ONLY $700.  If I decide to move forward with my transfer then I have to send them my original deed, power of attorney, original membership contract, certificate of use, copy of my ID.  They basically want all documents and money up front but there is no guanrantee that the transfer will go through.  I have gone through the purchase process in the US and closing fees are paid at closing of a deal and nothing up front.  Another SCAM!  Tatiana Kay and Oscar Fink seem to have pre-scripted responses when replying to any of my emails. (EAS 34720 RM)

I wish I had done more research!!!  I feel i was manipulated by the sales representative - Eduardo.  He knew we were looking forward to our honeymoon and advised us to purchase the timeshare putting down only $5,000 and we could go anywhere in the world.  Even Bora Bora that would normally cost approximately $10,000.  How could we do our due diligence if there is no wifi in any of these 5 or 6 star resorts?!?!?  Initially I was happy to be disconnected from reality but his is part of the SCAM.    You can only cancel within 5 days of signing but by the time you get home, it's TOO LATE.  When we contacted Vida they offered to lower our debt from $11k to $4k.  This sounds great but it will not solve my problem.  I still cannot book my honeymoon and i'm out of $5k and now stuck with the US timeshare I thought i had traded in and $4k debt.   We are at the mercy of these people and no one has offered a fair solution to this problem.  

Even if we keep this property, we have discovered we will not be able to rent out the weeks we will not use.  The five companies Vida suggests you contact for ownership rental or resale are:  Golf Network, Resort Rentals, Vacation Time Company, Destination International and Global Golf Connections.  These companies are all listed on this site as possible ripoff companies.  From reading other complaints these firms will ask for money and you will never hear from them again.  

All this explains why you can't go back to the resort for the first 5 years from date of purchase!  Little do they know, I don't ever want to go back to any of these properties and will make sure word gets out there of their SCAM. I will use any site and all social media possible.  Hoping i also reach someone that may be using a hotspot while staying at these shady resorts and help them!!

AGREEMENT CPRT0448

EAS34720RM