We had the misfortune of getting sucked into a "90 minute" presentation for the Allegro Vacation Club while in Playa del Carmen. We had purchased discounted tickets for Xcaret and this was a part of the deal. After breakfast and the tour of the very nice resort the salesman, sat us down and went over multiple plans which while interesting, since my wife and I like to travel, we not financially feasible. They had our licenses and credit cards and we could not leave and the salesman and his wife, the sales manager, kept presenting different plans over 2 hours. Finally there was one, a 3 year "test drive" that actually sounded good as it contained aspects that worked for us, so we agreed after confirming multiple times that the aspects of the plan we needed were in it (primarily 24 hour booking since we fly stand-by).
After we received the materials we learned we had been the victim of a bait and switch and what we had been given was unfeasible for us. We had to book 14 days out and pay up to 48 hours out with no refund for cancellations! We returned 2 days later to cancel and get a refund. The salesman refused and kept saying that what he told us trumped the contract and language of the certificates! He then started swearing at us and threatening us. We were then ushered into an office and the woman posing as an attorney pretended to be powerless. She then summoned the sales manager who denied ever meeting with us the previous day and saying we were lying about what her husband had told us! We offered to forfeit our deposit to get out and were told we were stuck and had no legal rights because the company was headquartered in the Dominican Republic (it isn't)... Unless we agreed to a 50 year contract. We had to leave due too our flight departing before we could get anything resolved.
Upon return to the US we learned that Mexican law does not perfect contracts of this sort for 5 days, giving people like us the opportunity to cancel without penalty! The company is counting on people not knowing their rights and then being stuck. My wife and I sent numerous emails to addresses we found, sent requests to cancel through the website and called the membership service number - nobody answered! We have filed complaints with the BBB and the Mexican Consumer Protection Agency.
Beware - these people are excellent salespeople who will wear you down and create an offer based on what you say during the presentation, then screw you. Also, the date on the contract was wrong, probably to prevent a challenge of the 5 day window to cancel. Fortunately we caught that and made the changes to our copy of the contract. They are dishonest, sleazy people!
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