On January 21st, My girlfriend and I (hence forth referred to as We) arrived at the Cancun Airport. Upon clearing customs, we were trying to get outside to get a shuttle to our hotel, when we were stopped by a man named Jose (Unknown Last Name) claiming to be a Mexican Government Travel Representative. He offered us general travel information and advice. He told us that he could give us the best discounts on Tours during our vacation stay, if we agreed to attend a 90 minute presentation. He said that the Krystal had won an award for best hotel last year and that they wanted to impress us in the hopes that next time we vacationed, we would stay at the Krystal Cancun. We agreed and paid him $900 pesos for two tours, one to Chichen Itza and one to Isla Mujeres. We agreed to attend the presentation the next day.
We were called the next day, January 22rd, by and NH Krystal Representative to set up transportation to the Krystal. We were told not to let anyone from our hotel know where we were going. If they asked, we were supposed to tell them we were going shopping.
In route to the NH Krystal Resort, we were asked if we were married. We said that we were not. We were told that we should lie to anyone who asked. We then sat down with a female sales representative who asked us a few brief questions and then asked us to show her two of our major credit cards. She then introduced us to another man named Jose who would take us to breakfast and give us a tour of the resort.
During breakfast and the tour, we were told that the hotel was undergoing renovations, and that he could not show us any rooms. He then told us that he would take us upstairs for the presentation and that at anytime we could say yes indicating that we agreed to the deal or we could say pass indicating that we were not interested in the deal. He then mentioned a Mexican version of the Better Business Bureau and said that because of new regulations, he could only offer this opportunity to us once, and that if we said pass we could not be contacted by them nor could we contact them about doing business for 5 years.
We then went upstairs and were presented the RCI membership information. After about half an hour, we were introduced to Rafael Septien (Former Kicker for the Dallas Cowboys on '78 Superbowl team). Rafael then began telling us what a great money making opportunity this was. He told us that for our investment of $13,375 he would set us up on a program called accelerated rentals. He would provide a broker and the broker would handle all of the renting of the vacation weeks. 13 one bedroom weeks would rent at $1400 each and 15 Krystal Plus weeks would rent at $700 each for a total of $28,700..
We then asked if the profit stated above was guaranteed. To which Rafael responded Yes. We continued to discuss the investment opportunity. I again asked Is this profit from renting the weeks guaranteed? To which Rafael again responded yes. I then asked how can you accept the risk for the weeks if they do not get rented. Rafael responded that the statistics show us we can.
My girlfriend then mentioned concern about refinancing our current home. To which, I agreed and said we have to pass, thank you. We were assured that the investment would not show up on our credit report for an extended period because it was in Mexico. At that point, I said no thank you, we have to pass. Rafael then sweetened the deal by adding 10 more Krystal Plus weeks, and could show us a way to finance the purchase through Bank of America at a lowered interest rate of 3% for the first 6 months. Knowing that Bank of America was behind the financing of the purchase, we felt reassured of the validity of the investment. He then continued to tell us that because we would receive a check for $15,000 in July which would more than cover the credit card bills. He then told us that now was the time to invest, as the cost of these properties would increase price by 30% at the end of the month.
He then laid out a timeline for the payments we would receive. We would receive our first check, which would more than cover the money we invested, for $15,000 in July. We would receive a second check for $10,700 in July and a third and final check for $10,000 in July.
He then said Let's go ahead and run the credit to see if you can even qualify for the purchase, informing us that he had a college student who qualified for $25,000 and a millionaire who could not qualify at all.
In light of the fact that the profit from renting the weeks was guaranteed, we decided to proceed with the purchase. We were then introduced to Estela Medel who went through the paperwork with us. One document she went through with us was entitled Resort Solutions, INC Property Advertising Form.in the comments section of this document, it states accelerated rentals starting July $15,000 July $10,700 July 211 $10,000, payments totaling $35,700. We then asked Estela if these payments were guaranteed. She responded yes. We then continued to sign and/or initial the documents Estela presented us and were congratulated by the sales team, including Rafael and Jose.
We were given a ride back to our hotel and enjoyed the remainder of our vacation.
When we returned to the United States, we began contacting the recommended broker, Brian TJ Jackson with Resort Solutions INC. On January 30th, I spoke with Brian Jackson. Brian informed me that the rental income was not guaranteed. We then went through all of the documents associated with the contract again and discovered a document entitled Helpful Hints. On this form we discovered a section titled Rentals.in this section it states that the Krystal International Vacation Club does not handle any rental or resale program and does not guarantee any rental income. Estela did not go through this document with us, nor did we sign or initial the document.
We were distressed, but continued the process of putting our weeks up for rent through Resort Solutions INC. We wanted to do everything possible to try to recoup any of our money. Upon discovering that our weeks were just a small portion of the hundred available on just this website (Resort Solutions INC.), we began to worry that we had been scammed.
I then searched Krystal International on the Internet discovering many, many complaints against the company. Upon reading the complaints, we found that people are having a very difficult time working with NH Krystal. We have decided to hire The Owner's Advocate for representation, hoping to get our contact cancelled in it's entirety and our expenses fully refunded. We have also contacted Profeco and have received a response, but no dates at this time. Finally, we have phoned and emailed our concerns to Tom Fischer at the NH Krystal, but have not received a response.
We are willing to contact national media outlets, travel agencies, competing resorts (who maybe losing vacation club customers because of Krystals fraudulent deal).
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