The salesman where my wife and I purchased our timeshare (Cabo San Lucas, Mexico) told us about VacationWeeks.com and how they could rent or resale our timeshare. The salesman said they were the best.
I contacted VacationWeeks.com (operated by Resorts International Marketing Group). Their salesman, Larry Peters, said, "Your timeshare is one of the best, and these will rent right away. For every week you rent we pay you $3,000." Then he explained about a lifetime membership of $549 and all sorts of benefits to using their service, travel discounts, etc. He said he would email me a packet of information including a contract. He said the contract would arrive in 2 weeks. He also said our vacation weeks would be placed on the website right away.
A month went by and finally a contract arrived (no other information was ever sent). The contract misrepresented the type of timeshare we owned, stating it as a larger room capable of sleeping double the number of persons. There was also a reference to a 21-day time period to request a full refund, however the date was post-dated and long since passed. Both items raised red flags and I researched Vacation International Marketing with the Better Business Bureau to discover the company has a terrible reputation.
I phoned the company and was told Larry Peters was unavailable. On a second call he was also not available, and the operator insisted on knowing why I needed to talk to him. I explained about the errors on the contract and demanded a refund. She transferred me to "customer service". The customer service person told me to fax a written letter asking for a refund. I faxed it, and never heard back from them (they never return calls).
Repeated calls to customer service were always answered the same way, "Let me look at your account. Yes your request for a refund went to the accounting department. Oh, they denied it because you are past the 21-day limit." I explained about the errors and a customer service rep named "Gail" said she would send the request back to accounting as "disputed". I should hear something by the end of the week. No word ever came back from them. I called her back and she went through the same, "Oh they denied it because of the 21-day limit"; at which point I reminded her of the errors on the contract which I never signed in the first place. She then told me that the $549 is only for the first 60-days, and IF you sign the contract it is for a lifetime membership. I told her that I monitored the VacationWeeks.com website and NEVER saw a listing for my timeshare. She answered that it was under a "general listing" not listed by the contract number. She became very angry when I demanded a refund or I would call the Attorney General of Florida. She said you need to put something in writing, a long letter, and fax it to me. I told her I had and she lied and said they never received it, but this was all she could do. I asked to speak directly to the accounting department. She refused. I asked to speak to a manager, and she said she was the supervisor and I couldn't speak to anyone else.
To date there has never been any activity on my timeshare rentals. Most calls to customer service are denied because they are in a meeting or at lunch. They don't care about providing good service or helping customers. I mentioned that they have a bad reputation with the Better Business Bureau and usacomplaints. Coms, to which they scoffed and said, "We are really busy, besides ten unhappy people are nothing compared to the 30,000 customers we have."
I am referring this case to the Attorney General's office in Florida, and to the bureau which regulates timeshares, and to anyone else that will listen.
Buyer beware: Vacationweeks.com is a scam.
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