When you are in Mazatlan, beware of any offers to attend a presenation at Residence Club LaJolla. It is a total scam! No mater what they offer - don't go to a presentation.
Unfortunately - we did attend their presentation in Feb. 2011 and signed a contract for $8000 USD which also guaranteed us to sell another timeshare we owned for a larger price that would more than pay for the contract. They are very good at selling and making promises.
After the presenation - we looked up Residence Club LaJolla on-line and found multitudes of other very unhappy people who also signed contracts. Club LaJolla did not honor the contracts and did not sell the other timeshares for the prices they promised. Even though contacts were cancelled - LaJolla would not return their money.
We did some research and found that we could cancel the contract within 5 business days and get help to do this through Profeco. (Mexico's consumer protection agency)
We went to Profeco in Mazatlan the very next day and they helped us with a letter. This must happen often in Mazatlan - because they have a form letter they use to file complaints against timeshare companies.
We sent the letter by Registered Mail that day (one day after we attended the presentation) to Residence Club LaJolla as well as the Profeco office in Mexico City. We also called our credit card company to try to stop the charge, but they said they could not stop the payment - that we would have to file a dispute after it showed up on our billing.
After it showed up on our bill, we did file a dispute of the charge and mailed all the documents indicating we cancelled the contract within the 5 days. The credit card company (Citicard) gave us a credit. However, we got a letter from the credit card company (Citicard) about 30 days later indicating that they could get no response from LaJolla, so they charged back our card.
We received one phone call from a customer service rep from LaJolla and he said we would have to wait for Profeco hearings. Profeco sent us an email indicating there would be a hearing in June. We do not have to attend. From our understanding Profeco is only a mediator and cannot force LaJolla to pay. The hearings are spread out over 1-2 years. Out of the many, many complaints about LaJolla that we found on-line, we have only been able to find 1 success story where people have received their money back from LaJolla.
We have written about our bad experience on other websites warning other travelers to Mazatlan about LaJolla. We also filed a report with the BBB in Texas. LaJolla's customer service office is in Laredo, TX.
We are very disappointed in ourselves for falling for the scam in the first place - never again!
We are also disappointed in our credit card company for not stopping the charge when we called, making us wait until it appeared. Then after filing a dispute and sending all the documents - charged us back again because they got no response from LaJolla.
Our only option now is to wait for information from Profeco for the outcome of the hearings. If that doesn't work out - we will have to hire an attorney in Mexico to file a lawsuit.
Again - Beware - of Residence Club LaJolla, Mazatlan, Mexico
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