Recently finding myself to be one of numerous victims of the El Cid Vacation Club scam, I have decided to dedicate efforts to warn as many people as possible against El Cid, and try to provide remedies for the countless who have already been scammed. Below is my story, but please visit my website at: www.elcidvacationclubfraud.com for more details, helpful links, and follow my story to find out how I am going to defeat this organization.
In February my husband and I stayed at El Cid La Ceiba Beach in Cozumel, Mexico. Although we had no intention of buying a timeshare, the concierge at El Cid convinced us to sit through a 90 minute timeshare presentation by offering us numerous discounts.
We made it clear that a timeshare would not work for us because we enjoyed traveling worldwide, did not want to be constrained as to where and when we took vacation. The sales rep, Alex Diaz, told us that the ECVC would be perfect for us; that the system used points instead of weeks so that members were not constrained as to when they travelled. He further explained that we would also be members of an affiliate called RCI, which had a vast network of vacation resorts around the world. Most importantly, Alex stated that, if we booked 12 months in advance we were "100% guaranteed" to get the place of our choice.
We spent hours reviewing the RCI book of resorts, running through sample itineraries, and calculating actual costs of the vacation club. We were also informed that we could use our points for airfare, and that there were no blackout dates or restrictions. If we purchased 300,000 points per year, we were told we would be VIP members and would receive even higher priority over other members when booking. We were also informed that we could accelerate our points over a 10 year period instead of spreading it out over 20 years, combined with the 100% guarantee and unrestricted air, we decided that the vacation club was worth the money.
I began trying to book a vacation using our points soon after returning home and found that we could book virtually NONE of the vacations we wanted to take within the RCI network, even 13 months in advance. An El Cid employee even confirmed over the phone that it was not unusual for members not to be able to book what they wanted. Further, none of the airfare we requested was available either. Additionally, buried in the materials we were given, was a clarification that we could only accelerate our points in order to use them at El Cid resorts, and NOT at RCI resorts as we were led to believe.
Realizing that the contract had been sold to us under fraudulent circumstances, we immediately opened a dispute with our credit card company for the down payment, and cancelled the card so that El Cid could no longer put payments on it. I wrote El Cid and demanded that they terminate the contract and refund the down payment to our credit card, explaining that the contract was void due to their misrepresentations. The dispute is now pending. Please visit for more details and to follow my course of action, and leave comments on my blog. The more hits and comments, the more pressure and the more it will hurt their bottom line!
Judy
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
0 comments