We are writing to provide additional information for our case against Monterey Financial Services, Inc. The basic facts of the case are as follows:
On August 25, we signed an agreement with a representative of BD Real Hoteles, S.A.De C.V.in Playa del Carmen, Mexico to pay $7,550 for preferential rates and premier travel arrangements with Premier Travel or Royal Holiday Club. We paid $1,132.50 and $775 via credit card on this date (page 30), and agreed to pay $1,132.50 via credit card on October and $117.30 each month thereafter.
After being dissatisfied with the customer service and response of Premier Travel and BD Real Hoteles, we attempted to cancel our agreement under paragraph 8 that states client may cancel this agreement only if the Hotel is in the default in any of their obligations.
After numerous attempts to contact BD Real Hoteles and no response, we contacted American Express and VISA in October to dispute the charges made on August 25. We received responses from the credit card companies honoring our request to receive credit for these amounts. We also sent a letter to the Hotel Gran Caribe Real address on the contract via certified mail from an attorney notifying them of our cancellation and unwillingness to pay on the contract.
We received no response from BD Real Hoteles or Hotel Gran Caribe Real.
In early February approximately 18 months after we thought our agreement was cancelled, we received a phone call from a collection agent from Monterey Financial Services, stating that we were two months behind on our payments, and that we needed to make a payment of $234.60 for a travel services contract that we signed with Premier Holiday Travel, Inc. The collection agent from Monterey stated that Premier Holiday Travel apparently sold our contract to Monterey and that we now owed Monterey for this contract. If we didn't pay, we would be reported as deliquent to the credit bureaus. I attempted to explain that we had cancelled our agreement with BD Real Hoteles to representatives of Monterey, and faxed documentation to them on February 16. Rick Dunn of Monterey stated that he needed a written cancellation letter from Premier Holiday Travel to cease collection efforts. I requested that a copy of our what Monterey showed as due be sent to us. This was received February 26. Upon review of the information received from Monterey, I noticed a statement apparently from Premier Holiday Travel that alleged the amounts we paid and our balance as of December. The statement noted that we made 5 monthly payments to Premier Holiday Travel August 4, September 4, October 1, October 30 and December 1, for a remaining balance due of $4,954.06. This is the amount of the contract that Monterey purchased and was attempting to collect. As previously stated, we received credits from American Express and VISA, and no further charges or payments were made to Premier Holiday Travel or BD Real Hoteles.
I made numerous attempts to contact Premier Holiday Travel via telephone and email at the end of February and early March. The only information I had to contact them was provided on our contract. I did get a name and address of someone at Premier Holiday Travel, but again received no response. Finally, on April 13, I received a response from Mario Jimenez of Premier, who stated that I needed to contact Carlos Drucker. Mr. Drucker stated that I did'nt (sic) have any cancellation request in my recordsyou have to deal with Monterey
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We attempted to protest the collection efforts of Monterey, but to no avail. Since February they have continued to harass us with collection phone calls stating that they will report us to the credit bureaus and send our account to legal collection efforts if we don't pay. Concerned about the effect on our credit rating, we have continued to pay. On a credit report dated 2/13/06, Monterey reported that our outstanding balance was approximately $3,264. We have made approximately $2,000 in payments since February.
The original attorney we retained explained that by making payments we were acknowledging the debt we owed to Monterey, however we did not want a derogatory credit rating on our credit report, as we have been involved with buying and selling investment properties, and that many lenders stated that they would not look upon us favorably, even with an explanation that the debt with Monterey was in dispute.
We finally want to get rid of this obligation to Monterey and to recoup the more than $1,700 paid to them to date. We appreciate any legal means you can provide to do this.
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