Rip off or great deal?
Last Christmas I was in mexico with my 2 daughters for a dream vacation.
I approached an "info" desk at the airport thinking it was government sponsored but it turned out to be a representative of Fisherman's Sunset Resort,
We were offered all the usual freebies if we would only attend a promo visit. Since I already owned 2 weeks at an RCI resort I knew I wasn't interested in purchasing any more.
We went to the meeting and they pulled out all the high pressure stops.
The prices were simply unrealisitcally high - laughably high.
After lowering the prices a number of times, Neil Cooper, the sales manager, came across a special deal (an estate sale or something) that would entitle me to one week in a huge 2 bdrm Master Suite PLUS 3 VIP weeks (weeks that I can use without purchase, just by paying the maintenance fee).
I was told that my 2 bd Master Suite could be divided in 3 studios (therby having the use of 3 separate weeks if I traded the Master suite for studios) plus, I was told, because Fisherman's Resort is 5 star, if I trade it through RCI with another resort I would get 2 / 1.in other words, my 3 weeks would be turned into 6 weeks. Of course, this had nothing to do the with extra "VIP" weeks.
Then I was guaranted $1700 / week if I didn't want to use or trade it in any given year but wanted them to rent it.
If I used their rental agency, I would pay a one time fee of $550 USD and in exchange, receive a voucher for 2/1 airfare and 2 weeks in a resort in Hawaii.
Because of the pressure they put on me, and the fact that they made it look like such a good deal, I accepted.
By the end, they had "purchased" our previously owned RCI weeks and "given them back". Apparently they only needed the tax advantages - not the actual weeks.
In the end I paid $24,200 USD.
I paid the $550 to the rental agency.
At the end of April (4 months later) I got the contract from Resorts International Marketing (the rental agency).
The package I got back from them was for 2/1 airfare with only a select few airlines AND ALL WERE TO AND FROM AMERICAN DESTINATIONS!!! I WAS DEFINITELY LED TO BELIEVE THAT THESE PLANE TICKETS COULD BE USED TO GET ME TO AND FROM THE RESORT IN HAWAII!
As a canadian these tickets are of no use.
Then my Hawaiian vacation turned out to be in Thailand instead. So now I had a voucher for a vacation in a resort on Thailand with no way to get there and a voucher for 2/1 plane ticets I cannot use because I live in a different country.
There was also nothing in the contract about the $1700 / week. There was actually a clause staing that they didn't guarantee rentals at all!
I have phoned and emailed Fisherman's Resort and even Neil Cooper personally and have never heard a word.
Have I been ripped off?!?!
Update - July 27
As soon as this appeared on line guess what! I started getting phone calls from Sunset Fisherman's Resort. They wanted to "help".
I spoke with the representative and told her my concerns. She said there was never any trip to Hawaii and that Neil Cooper must have been misinformed. (Neil is the Sales Manager - there's no way he was misinformed!)
I asked about the $1700 / week I had been guaranteed for renting and the lady told me that all rental agreements are negotiable. She said I might choose to have them rent it or $600. I asked her why I'd do that when I'd been gusranteed $1700 and she just kept repeating herself. Obviously, she didn't understand the situation and was given stock answers.
I told her I couldn't do business with a company that would lie and deliberately deceive me. I wanted my money back. She offered to have me speak with her supervisor who would be better able to answer my questions.
I told her again that I had no more questions. I wanted my money back. Then she said I should talk to Hector Tornell, head 0f their legal dept and he could tell me if there would be any penalties.
Mr Tornell got on the phone and immediately started blasting me saying that he was going to strat legal proceedings agaist me for $10,000 USD for every day that I had negative info about them on the internet. I tried to talk to him about the situation and twice asked him about a refund. He repeated that he was suing me for $10,000/ day and hung up on me.
I called MasterCard and was told that in instances of fraud, there in no time limit and that they would try hard to help. For normal "disputes" MasterCard has a 3 month limit in how ar back they can go to help you. Sunset Fisherman's must be well aware of this because it was the contract from Resorts International Marketing that alerted me to the dishonesty. They carefully waited from January until the end of April to send me that contract. These people are despicable! I faxed MasterCard everything I had and a detailed letter (who, when, where, what etc) and I'm crossing my fingers that they can get my money back.
Further Update: January 15
Unfortunately, MasterCard was unable to help me. Their legal office reviewed over 60 pages that I faxed them and decided that I had simply made a bad decision and that it was my responsibility.
Initially I decided to keep my timeshare and see if I could get passed all the bad feelings and enjoy some vacation time. I called RCI to trade my weeks and they said they copuld not do it - it had to be done through Sunset. When I called Sunset to do this I was told that my maintenance fees had to paid in full first and, FOR THE FIRST TIME I was told that to use my large 2 bd suite as 3 studios, my maintenance fee would jump from $669 USD to $1500 USD! Part of Neil's selling strategy to me was that for $669 I could get 3 weeks holidays in a smaller suite rather that 1 week in a huge suite. ANOTHER OUTRIGHT LIE! It seems that as long as I'm involved with these people I keep finding out more inconsistencies between what was promised and what (if anything) is delivered.
Finally I took all the info - old and new - an accountant. He reviewed the situation and although I've lost over $20,000 his advice was to RUN AWAY - DON"T WALK!!!
I looked up re-sales on the web and there are many people trying to sell time at Sunset Fisherman's. They'll never sell because there are so many other time shares available at a fracton of the price.
Catherine
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
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