Velas Vallarta Scam

[FM]

If anyone has any experience dealing with Vellas Vallarta time share buying, please send me some mail on it ? I just purchased a plan, and feel queasy about it. Some things don't add up, and I was wondering if there are others who have had this problem, and what they could do about it?

Please feel free to contact me at the above e mail address!

Thanks !

[sal favazza]

we were also scamed .in dec. of 2005. have never received a return on socalled investment as of this time,amost 18 months later.i am sending e-mails to evevery agency in mex. and u.s. i want to put as much pressure as possible on this resort.if you want to contact me ,send e-mail to hammerme @verizon.net.

[Leo Garcia]

Recently returned from Velas Vallarta vacation. My husband and I were lured to the Mexican 90 minute presentation (American 6 1/2 hour presentation);since then I have lost coutless hours of sleep and rest. Upon our return, we immediately received the RCI awards mastercard upon which the downpayment was placed on. It's been two weeks since our return, and I have not activated the card. We have received copies of the contract, as well as the equity exchange application. Part of this scheme is to exchange our present time share for the one offered at Velas Vallarta; that is 75 weeks in addition to 13 weeks (fractionall with Velas). In receiving an e-mail from HSI a week ago, they have confirmed my suspicions. The timeshare rep. explained that we can sell 3 weeks a year of the 13 weeks to HSI and recoup the property expense. After reading HSI's contract, I realized that it is not as easy as the rep made it out to be. We will have to be making quite a bit of contacts between HSI, Velas, and potential buyers in order to receive any return. HSI merely finds potential buyers for the weeks that are alloted. We were also told that if we paid a thousand dollar in insurance for anuity, in twenty-five years from now we will recive the full amount of the property purchased. Other then placing a downpayment on a card that has not been activated, and signing a contract where we were told we could not rescind because we were doing an equity exchange (lie), we have not signed any other papers. My understanding is that according to mexican law, one has up to five days to rescind the contact. Unfortunately, those five days have expired. If you have any words of wisdom to offer that will help get us out of this predicament, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm desperate and looking for direction.

Leo

[vellasscam]

If anyone has any experience dealing with Vellas Vallarta time share buying, please send me some mail on it ? I just purchased a plan, and feel queasy about it. Some things don't add up, and I was wondering if there are others who have had this problem, and what they could do about it?

Please feel free to contact me at the above e mail address!

Thanks !

We stayed at Velas Vallarta 3 times and really liked the resort. We felt it was very family oriented and a fun place to stay. The food was good, and the service was great.

However the time share presentation was a scam. We were told at the presentation that we would get our money back through rentals, and we could get an annunity to get our money back.

Unfortunately we upgraded on our second visit and put even more money into the time share. On our third visit they told us that everything we had been told was not true, but for $22,000 we could get $6,000 back each year. They told us many lies again at that time. We still had a balance on some of the second deal. So we wrote them a letter and told them we would not pay the balance, and outlined all the lies and misrepresentations. We had not heard from them until Sept. 2008 when they sent us a letter indicating they have canceled our contract for non payment. I have called them - and hope to get this resolved. When we were there the third time they quickly moved us to a back room to keep us from being heard by others. I think if we all went down there and told the guests what was really going on . we could make a real mess for them.

[vellasscam]

Recently returned from Velas Vallarta vacation. My husband and I were lured to the Mexican 90 minute presentation (American 6 1/2 hour presentation);since then I have lost coutless hours of sleep and rest. Upon our return, we immediately received the RCI awards mastercard upon which the downpayment was placed on. It's been two weeks since our return, and I have not activated the card. We have received copies of the contract, as well as the equity exchange application. Part of this scheme is to exchange our present time share for the one offered at Velas Vallarta; that is 75 weeks in addition to 13 weeks (fractionall with Velas). In receiving an e-mail from HSI a week ago, they have confirmed my suspicions. The timeshare rep. explained that we can sell 3 weeks a year of the 13 weeks to HSI and recoup the property expense. After reading HSI's contract, I realized that it is not as easy as the rep made it out to be. We will have to be making quite a bit of contacts between HSI, Velas, and potential buyers in order to receive any return. HSI merely finds potential buyers for the weeks that are alloted. We were also told that if we paid a thousand dollar in insurance for anuity, in twenty-five years from now we will recive the full amount of the property purchased. Other then placing a downpayment on a card that has not been activated, and signing a contract where we were told we could not rescind because we were doing an equity exchange (lie), we have not signed any other papers. My understanding is that according to mexican law, one has up to five days to rescind the contact. Unfortunately, those five days have expired. If you have any words of wisdom to offer that will help get us out of this predicament, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm desperate and looking for direction.

Leo

Leo - here is our experience. However - You should do a charge back on your RCI credit card immediately. Sometimes they will only chargeback within 6 months. Call RCI Credit immediately.

We stayed at Velas Vallarta 3 times and really liked the resort. We felt it was very family oriented and a fun place to stay. The food was good, and the service was great.

However the time share presentation was a scam. We were told at the presentation that we would get our money back through rentals, and we could get an annunity to get our money back.

Unfortunately we upgraded on our second visit and put even more money into the time share. On our third visit they told us that everything we had been told was not true, but for $22,000 we could get $6,000 back each year. They told us many lies again at that time. We still had a balance on some of the second deal. So we wrote them a letter and told them we would not pay the balance, and outlined all the lies and misrepresentations. We had not heard from them until Sept. 2008 when they sent us a letter indicating they have canceled our contract for non payment. I have called them - and hope to get this resolved. When we were there the third time they quickly moved us to a back room to keep us from being heard by others. I think if we all went down there and told the guests what was really going on . we could make a real mess for them.

[sam]

I bought time share back in 99. I have only returned twice. When we were at the presentation we were feeling good about buying, unfortunately we were suckered in. It was about the third day of our vacation when we bought and it ruined the rest of our time. The next day we tried to void the contract but they said it was to late and there was nothing they could do. when we returned they tried to get us to upgrade to Grand Velas or buy thae annuity for our current studio. I dont remember the price but I know it was outragos. I was very suprised at how pushy they were even with us being owners. I told them I didnt even want my time share any more and asked if they could sell my remaining weeks. They said they cant sell them but what they could do is buy them back for $1500. I told them what about inflation and how much it would be worth according to there presentation. He had no answer for me. What I plan on doing is getting as many friends and family to go so I can advance my remaing weeks and use them before the maintence fee goes up again. Now I take advantage of other timeshare presentations. Just got back from Vegas. Paid $99 for two nights on the strip, $50 in gaming or dinner, two tickets to a show. The show tickets alone were valued at $115. All we did was go to a two hour long presentation. Once you been through it before it's so much easier to say no!. I was straight up with the salesman and told him im just here for my gifts and left at that. I know there nit the ones that suckered me into buying a time share but we have to get back one way or the other. Anyone have any success on selling or renting at Velas.

[Guest]

I too have bought one of those Velas Vallarta time shares that was recently traded by a member, I was told they were upgrading. i spent 15,000.00. I did not pay any thing for a maintenance fee, i refuse to. I was told by the sales person, YOU ONLY PAY YOUR MAINTENANCE FEE WHEN YOU USE YOUR WEEK. I found out that was miss leading. I was told that with a THIRTY DAY NOTICE I COULD ALSO TRADE MY WEEK AND GO ANYWHERE, I found out that was not right . I am not sure what to do now. I know one thing that Velas Vallarta will not receive one more cent from me.

[VelasScammed]

I also experienced this unconscionable timeshare scam at Velas Vallarta. The sales representative, Ken Waller, told me that Velas would take a trade-in of a timeshare I owned at a different resort to offset the purchase of a Velas upgrade from a studio unit to a one bedroom. He was essentially offering me the same amount for my other timeshare that I would be spending on the upgrade and closing costs. Mr. Waller referred me to Sierra Rentals and Resales for the closing services.

When I sat down to sign the upgrade documents, I could find no mention of the trade-in in the documents. I asked Mr. Waller why the trade-in was not in the documents and he told me that it would be on a separate document and that I would receive the confirmation of the purchase before I left. He said he expected the fax very shortly. I told him that my purchase of an upgrade was based on the trade-in and I would not be doing it otherwise. After signing the contract, I was ushered downstairs into the lobby. Mr. Waller came into the lobby with what he told me was my trade-in/purchase confirmation from Sierra and put it in my sales folder.

When I looked at this document after returning home, I noticed it stated the trade-in timeshare was being accepted into a listing inventory. The forms Sierra Rentals e-mailed were also not the closing documents I expected and appeared to be for the purpose of listing the timeshare for resale or rental. There had been no mention of listing the timeshare for resale or rental in our discussion. Any discussion was solely about the trade-in to Velas. Sierra Rentals was unresponsive to e-mails and the customer service person from Velas acted as if Velas knew nothing about the trade-in. He stated that the issue was with Sierra. They said they had no copy of the fax from Sierra in their file. That was when I realized this was all a fraud!

When I asked Mr. Waller about a cancellation period before signing the documents, he told me that no cancellations were allowed on upgrades. This was an outright lie as I later found that Mexican law requires a 5 day cancellation period. This also applies to upgrades.

Velas Vallarta started calling about monthly payments for the timeshare and I refused to pay any more to the resort when they were not acknowledging the trade-in. I gave Velas ample opportunity to follow through with either their purchase of my other timeshare or the cancellation of my membership upgrade and the refund of my deposit which amounted to over $7000. They have not done so. Velas recently notified me that my contract was being cancelled.

Please do not do business with this company. Their lies and deceptive practices are plausible enough to believe. The resort appears to be upstanding on the surface and it can be very deceiving. Unfortunately, most people expect timeshare sales staff to exaggerate and embellish their product. This company goes far beyond that to outright lies and fraud in their timeshare scams. Stay away!

[bay765]

I was also mislead to thinking that this was a good real estate investment and told that I had to waive my 5 day cancellation period to get a better deal. I have been in contact with others who have never received a dime from Sierra. I am in the process of canceling now but it was an uphill battle. You must not give up regardless of how long you have had the contract.

If you were mislead by Velas Vallarta, by either being coheresed into signing a form to waive your 5 day cancellation period or lead to believe this was great real estate investment and would receive dividends after 6 months please sign this petition.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/vela ... index.html

[Thomas]

STOP! THIS IS A SCAM! This is not a reputable company! If you have already bought in, it is too late. You will not be able to get your money back. The PROFECO amnesty for buyers is over. Face the fact that you got suckered by another generation of con-men (the one before Doug Lockett got his thumb cut off by a dissatisfied customer so he couldn't sign anymore contracts, and subsequently retired). DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM BY THROWING MORE MONEY AWAY ON UPGRADES. This is the second level of the scam. "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." I made friends with a former sales person. That person couldn't stomach the scams and left the country. He told me they prey on the fact that there is no available recourse for those such as us who have fallen for the scam. I was sold all the typical time share lies that you all reported, by Doug Lockett soon after stepping off the plane. When I returned to the USA and tried to make some money back on my investment, I realized I was scammed. It was already too late for the PROFECO action against them. I was on my own. So I asked them to just refund my money and I would give them back the paperwork. Monica Delagrava (replacement for Johnny Kno who was siding with us) said I could give up my ownership but they were keeping the money. She said "read the contract or hire an attorney to read it for" me and hung up on me. This scam pays well enough for them to satisfy the needs of the law and covers the few refunds they were forced to give. They will not willingly give up the scam or refund to anyone. The good guys who worked there have either been replaced or left. It seems the best success story in getting satisfaction from these people would be the gangster who cut off the thumb. That seems to be a tactic that Velas Vallarta and their staff respect.

If you are stuck like me, consider making up fliers and also advertise on craigslist and eBay type sites. Sell off your room nights and the cost of maintenance. Make your money back as fast as you can and get rid of this white elephant. Don't buy into the RCI, Holiday Systems, or any credit card or other stuff either. Just stop spending on it and sell it off ASAP.

Also, pass the word around to everyone that you can about the reputation of these liars and thieves. They do bad business. The only way to stop them is to make such behavior unprofitable for them. Otherwise, they get their way.

On another note for a different complaint, if the sales staff and managers can't be trusted, can their room staff be trusted? Are your possessions and money safe? How about your security? Are they corrupt as well? I don't know, but they sure were rude to my Mexican friends who would visit me when I stayed. This has been a pretty, expensive, and well packaged nightmare.

Thomas
greendragon27@msn.com

[kevbopeck]

What can happen if you refuse to pay? Will it affect my credit. I am in a similar position as you, but have not paid a penny yet.

If anyone has any experience dealing with Vellas Vallarta time share buying, please send me some mail on it ? I just purchased a plan, and feel queasy about it. Some things don't add up, and I was wondering if there are others who have had this problem, and what they could do about it?

Please feel free to contact me at the above e mail address!

Thanks !

We stayed at Velas Vallarta 3 times and really liked the resort. We felt it was very family oriented and a fun place to stay. The food was good, and the service was great.

However the time share presentation was a scam. We were told at the presentation that we would get our money back through rentals, and we could get an annunity to get our money back.

Unfortunately we upgraded on our second visit and put even more money into the time share. On our third visit they told us that everything we had been told was not true, but for $22,000 we could get $6,000 back each year. They told us many lies again at that time. We still had a balance on some of the second deal. So we wrote them a letter and told them we would not pay the balance, and outlined all the lies and misrepresentations. We had not heard from them until Sept. 2008 when they sent us a letter indicating they have canceled our contract for non payment. I have called them - and hope to get this resolved. When we were there the third time they quickly moved us to a back room to keep us from being heard by others. I think if we all went down there and told the guests what was really going on . we could make a real mess for them.

[oliveoil]

I am an owner at Velas Vallarta. I bought in 2001 after a life threatening illness but I did not feel scammed about the timeshare especially after I tried to do the exchange w RCI which I feel is a 100% useless organization. After a couple of xchanges I decided to go back to Vallarta for the convenience. I was immediately called in the suite and told I needed to attend a membership update meeting since I hadn't been for so long. At the update meeting this Maney fellow tried to pull all sorts of scams. One was telling me this crock about my annuity not existing. I didn't have the certificate w me. He said that he called the dept where they were registered and I did not have one. I was very upset about this because I remembered purchasing. I doubted myself tho because after treatment for cancer my memory has suffered greatly. He told me that I could purchase the annuity with an 'upgrade' for lifetime membership if I wanted. I did not want that so then I asked if I could purchase the annuity on its own now for the original price. He told me this was completely impossible, but that he could include it only with the lifetime upgrade which included the 2 other resorts for only...wait for it, wait for it--Yes ONLY $40 000US!!! What a steal!!! Of course I immediately signed up for that...I mean of course I'd put 40k in a timeshare I can pay a maintanence fees on into my 90s if I'm still around...that makes sense instead of say, pay off my house???? I could believe this stupid guy and his nonsense paperwork that he refused to give me. I told him I wanted it but he wouldn't give it to me. I got home and found the annuity I bought --who the hell knows if that's real or not.

[Smart Traveller]

All - While these timeshare offers sound tempting as well as the free gifts you get for attending the presentation, most smart travellers to Mexico should know to ALWAYS AVOID timeshare presentations. I'm sure some out there are safe and legit, but beware.

[D C]

Please beware of what in my opinion was a deceitful sales presentation, misleading our family into believing we would buy an "investment opportunity" as an alternative to the Rescission going on in the US now.

We took a vacation to Vallarta last January at the Vela’s Resort. We were approached to attend a timeshare presentation in which Doug Lockett was our sales agent. As the presentation went on we mentioned that we owned two other timeshares in Florida but were considering selling as we did not wanted to pay maintenance fees anymore. Doug gave us a speech stating we would never have to pay maintenance fees at Vela’s. He even stated that we could rent our weeks out and recover our costs back by receiving $1.000 for every week that we gave for rent. He even offered a rental strategy described as follows:

$4.000 in July
$4.000 in January 2010
$4.000 in July 2010
$8.000 in January 2011
This sounded great!!!
Doug also stated that we would get 50 weeks from HSI (another scam) for allowing them to rent the weeks since they needed them so much. He guaranteed us:

Studio $199 per week
1 bedroom $299 per week
2 bedroom $399 per week
3 bedroom $499 per week.

Of course, A HUGE LIE!!!

Doug stated that we would never have condo fees or any fees ever again. We decided to trade our two timeshares for this “Magnificent opportunity” and to recover our investment in a couple of years. What a big mistake.

Doug also told us that we could get all our money back by giving back the title to the Vela’s Brothers (the owners). He said that they were generous people and only wanted our money to create more money and they would give it back to our kids.

All these, were deceptive moves to get us to buy the timeshare. We put a $4.800 down payment on a credit card.

When signing, the salesman didn’t even give us an opportunity to read as he stated “It is just formalities, If the Mexican government caught us scamming tourism, we would be in jail for life”. HA HA HA.
My wife and I are so distraught for this nightmare. We will not be able to afford any more vacations unless we recover our monies. We put our trust in this people and now we are not able to travel since we have to pay for this Mexican timeshare.

We have been in contact with Monica DalleGrave and far from helping us; she is treating us like stupid children asking us to “act as per the contract”. She states that she is just doing her job.

Well, I am going to do mine. I’ll make sure the “generous VELAS brothers” will not be able to take monies from Americans and Canadians like they did to us.

DON’T GO TO MEXICO, YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED BY PROFECO!!!!!!!!
Visit http://www.VelasTimeshareScam.com for details on the emails I have been receiving from this people. I invite you if you have been a victim from this resort to get together and file a class action lawsuit. My son is a lawyer and is eager to start one.

[TLM]

Visit http://www.VelasTimeshareScam.com for details on the emails I have been receiving from this people. I invite you if you have been a victim from this resort to get together and file a class action lawsuit. My son is a lawyer and is eager to start one.[/quote]

I tried to go to the link that you provided but it is broken. My husband and I are currently dealing with a very similar scenario as the other several hundred that I have read. We invested approx. $17,000 after all of the fees at the end of June this year. After finding out all of this information much too late we are considering hiring an attorney. What have you heard conserning this class action lawsuit? I am interested in finding out more about this. Please post more details. I think that it is about time that these people get what the so badly deserve and the many people that have fallen victom to this scam regain some dignity!