March
2007
UPDATE on
Grupo Playa del Sol
de C.V., in old town
PV
Mexico
More Complaints 2-23-2007
October 30, 2006
Membership Services
Playa Del Sol Resort
Malecon 1 Esq. Abedul Col. Emiliano Zapata
Puerto Vallarta , Jalisco Mexico
We are formally requesting cancellation of our Playa del Sol Resort agreement #76-08417 for the reason that it was based on illegal sales practices and fraudulent information.
We arrived at the Playa del Sol sales presentation office on December 7, 2004 . We were greeted and introduced to Linda Filler and were told that she would be our sales representative. After a full presentation and free alcoholic drinks, we attempted to graciously pass on the offer and walk away. Linda was very insistent and would not take “no” for an answer. She continued to sweeten the deal by lowering the price, adding more Breakaway Weeks and discussing how much money we will be making as a ‘business’ by renting out several of our unused weeks.
We still did not want to purchase when she left the room and returned with more drinks and what she referred to as a “Re-Sale”. She told us that her manager just gave her a recently purchased contract that did not go through for some reason and the property had to be returned and that she was able to make us a great deal on this property. She advised us that this is not normally permitted and that due to these circumstances and because the deal was going to be so great that we would have to waive our 5 day cancellation period. She lowered the price again, added more Breakaway Weeks (now totaling 36) and reminded us once more how much money we stood to make on purchasing this great money-making deal.
Not knowing, or being advised that this was against Mexican Law, we decided to purchase. We signed the contract, we signed the 5 day cancellation waiver and were given what we thought were copies of all the legal documents. When we asked for copies of the waiver and of the notes that she wrote showing us how to make money using the property as a business, she refused stating that she cannot allow those documents to leave the office and did not want anyone else to know the great deal we were getting because then everyone else would want to get the same low price that we did.
We left the building feeling very uncomfortable about the deal that was just made.
After discussing this amongst ourselves most of the evening, we returned the next day and found Linda. We advised her that we wanted to cancel our contract based on the fact that we were still not convinced that we were getting a good deal, or even a legal deal at that. She advised us that we had signed our right to cancel away and when asked to produce that document, she told us that it was already given to the processing people in the office and that it would be impossible to find with so many contracts being signed. We asked to speak to her manager and she told us that he was the one that instructed her to have us sign the 5 day waiver and that we were basically bound to this contract, but she continued to assure us that we were in a good position to make money on this deal using it as a rental. We attempted to talk to someone else in the office, but no one would help us as Linda was the one to make the deal and they were not authorized to make any changes on her deal. We left feeling that we had been had, and that we were just going to have to make the best of it.
Since then we have made an attempt to cancel our contract based on the fact that it was so difficult to make reservations for any of the desirable time periods. We did spend one week at the resort and found the accommodations less than desirable with broken floor tiles, backed up showers and bedding that was faded and stained to the point that we insisted that they be replaced before we used them. While we were there we even contacted Karsten Saller, the Director of Member Services. After advising him of how dissatisfied with the deal and the accommodations we were, he informed us that there really was not much that he could do and that we should contact the main office. We exchanged fruitless emails, but soon lost interest feeling that we were getting nowhere.
It wasn’t until recently that we were made aware that under Mexican Law it was illegal for Linda to have us sign the 5 day cancellation refusal form. We discovered that information on www.timesharebeat.com/mex-fraud.htm. The law is Article 56 of LEY Federal de Proteccion Al Consumidor. We realized at that point that Linda Filler had intentionally lied to us about the cancellation period and that that was the reason that she refused to let us have a copy of the waiver. Had we known the waiver was not a cancelable period, we would have continued our efforts to cancel the contract that very day.
We are now requesting a full refund in the amount of $73, 688.50. This amount represents the sales price of $70, 844.00 and (2) years of Maintenance Fees at $1,396.00 each and Annual Golf Maintenance Fees of $26.25 per year.
We have been in touch with several other dissatisfied owners on site and through the internet, have an active complaint on www.thesqueakywheel.com and are considering joining the class action law suit that is being prepared a U.S. Attorney that has advertised on the internet.
We are filing a formal complaint with Profeco at this time and we will be forwarding copies of this letter to: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mexican embassy in London, the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C., the U.S. Consulate in Merida, Mx, State of Quintana Roo, the Mexican Tourism Board, the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, Arizona, The Mexican Consulate in Phoenix, Arizona, The Mexican Consulate in San Antonio, Texas, The Mexican Consulate in San Diego, The Legal Department at the Consulate in Chicago, The Head of the Department of Protection at the Consulate in Chicago, The Deputy Consul in Sacramento, California, The Consul at Dallas, Texas, Tourism and Press at Mexican Consulate in Dallas Texas, Outside Communication at Mexican Consulate Dallas, Texas, Assistant to the Consulate General at Mexican Consulate Dallas, Texas, Better Business Bureau, American Automobile Association, AARP, our local newspapers and news stations.
We are prepared to continue this effort as far as we have to go now that we know that the Mexican Law had been intentionally broken in effort make this sale. Through our research on the internet we have discovered that this practice is becoming more and more common and it needs to be addressed.
We would like all email correspondence sent to gthba@yahoo.com and all written correspondence sent to:
Jesse Martinez
43551 W.Arizona Ave
Maricopa , Az 85239
USA
Thank you for your timely response.
Sincerely,
Jesse Martinez
Stephen Murzi
Tory Gibbons
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1“just came back from Mexico this last Saturday and purchased a 1 bd on Playa del Sol in Nuevo Vallarta after all the lies the sales rep and manager told us and feel very stupid and stressed out, we emailed and call them telling them we want to cancel and they said that cancelation is not an option and if we do Playa del sol have the right to ask for 100% of the purchase price to be paid in full or at least 30% of it. Please help!”
David & Lucy Bober
**********************************************************************************
“ I, too, got scammed by Playa Del Sol and a guy named Carlos Sosa, and after reading all of the information on the net about the inability of people to get any relief from them, I'm pretty ready to just give up and suck up the loss. Is there nothing that can be done?”
Brad Drake
**********************************************************************************
“I too have recently been scammed by Playa. Fortunately I'm only out my deposit as all the info on the internet (yours included) soon led to the relevation that I was taken. I'm interested in supporting the cause in any way I can. I too will be filing a formal complaint with Profeco if my Visa cancellation does not work out. Keep up the good work!”
Mike Pelletier
************************************************************************************
I am an owner at Lindo Mar and I and many others are distressed
at the way Playa Del Sol marketed the weeks that they owned at Lindo
Mar. Three years ago my husband and I went to one of theDel Sol
presentations and told them they WERE NOT TELLING THE TRUTH...we were given
from manager to manager and then out the door as fast as they could.
We just came back from LindoMar two days ago and since I had read in
our owner news that Del Sol group had "returned" over 100 weeks to us, I
asked about that. The weeks were not "returned" they were taken back
because of non-payment of maintainence fees...so your situation with
regards to using Del Sol group weeks at our resort are going downhill
fast.
Lindo Mar is a wonderful resort that if fully owned, both land and
building, by the owners for life. The resort is well run by Trading Places
in California.
I feel badly for all of you dealing with the Del Sol group and hope
that you will be able to put enough pressure on them to get them to
correct their way of doing business. It is my opinion that they have brought
nothing but bad - bad - bad problems to Lindo Mar Resort and the
owners, “
Judi Groth-Sanacore
*********************************************************************************
Hello Mr. Martinez, My name is Maria Hernandez. Sorry to disturb you
but i'm
hoping that you might be able to help me with a problem I have with the
Playa del Sol, Puerto Vallarta company. I saw your testimonial
complaint on
"thesqueakywhell.com" and noticed that you had problems with Playa del
Sol.
I was hoping if you knew of anyone else with similar problems or
complaints
with playa del sol, so that i might be able to get in contact with them
or
have testimonial prove to present in court. I'm under a legal battle
with
Playa Del Sol, and this information is vital towards overcoming this
legal
issue. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerly,
Maria E. Hernandez
********************************************************************************
“I too am a victim of Playa Del Sol scam artists. I don't like to label myself a "victim" because I will fight back, if there is any solution. What put me over the edge was when I was told TODAY that I did NOT purchase at Playa del Sol Los Muertos (where I signed my contract and was shown my unit) but at the Playa del Sol Grand! I should know where I bought and I bought a unit at Los Muertos. ALL dialogue was about purchasing at Los Muertos. ALL pictures were taken at Los Muertos. Why after 2 1/2 years is someone telling me I bought at the Grand? Interestingly, when I looked more closely at my paperwork where it says "Resort Ownership is at ____________ " it was left blank. It only says "Located at Puerto Vallarta". Obviously, this was done intentionally so they could switch me later. I could go on and on, but my complaints are the same as yours. So many lies. I have even found an error in their financial calculations - they charged me twice for closing costs. I am trying to get that corrected, but I have my doubts. I have no leverage and they have no motivation to reduce the amount owed.”
Joy Schmidt
*************************************************************************************
“So, unfortunately, I think we smelled the stink of the operation a little late, but fortunately were in the 5 day window, so yesterday we faxed our notice of cancellation that this morning they said they could not honor because we purchased a "resale unit". My wife spoke to a woman named Drucilla who did in fact confirm receipt of our notice but told us we were stuck.”
Jeff
GUESS WHO IS BACK ON THE RADAR SCREEN? YEP, THE PLAYA DEL SOL HOTEL GROUP. READ THIS RECENT EMAIL THAT WE RECEIVED AND IF YOU ARE ALSO A VICTIM OF A TIMESHARE SCAM, EMAIL US IMMEDIATELY AT INVESTIGATIONS@MYCOLLECTOR.COM
Dear
Robert Paisola:
Thank you so much for your recent article regarding Playa de Sol---I've been dealing/trying to deal with these folks since 2001.
Wendy, our sales person was very down home and charming. We were told that we were purchasing 2 weeks that could be used every year; or both weeks could be traded or banked (later we learned only 1 week could be used for these purposes) this was the 1st in what we later learned would be many lies.
We were assured that we would always be able to stay at the Resort in old town (since we've only been able to book 'our' time once, and have twice stayed by trading to get our own time?? or with friends who reserved as quests of the resort! Lie #2
We were assured that we would be able to book our time electronically and that if we needed to speak to someone we could always call and receive top notch customer service, lies #3 and #4. The 'resort' did not get electronic booking for 3 or 4 years after we purchased, and when we called we waited an average of 25-30 minutes to speak to the customer non-service rep.
I have worked in the home building/real estate business for 20 years and was confident that since Stewart Title (a company I was very familiar with in the States) was working with this group, it must be legit. A big mistake on my part.
In January 2004, we received a glossy new Playa del Sol Club booklet, at this time there was a whole new system of contacting the 'resort' and strangely enough an exact definition of what 'award' week was, and what 'primary' week was, essentially re-writing the terms --as we understood them-- of the contract.
I could go on and on! Able to pick ocean view room--you bet. Easy to trade--not even, if you 'bank' to Interval International thru them, they keep the good slots and re-sale retail at the 'resort' hotel. Un-fortunately the biggest mistake I made was to pay off my 'investment' with home equity line. If not I would have walked away from any monies down.
If anyone gets anything going re legal action against this bunch of crooks let me know, and/or please contact me directly as I have some ideas on how we might 'network' with others who feel the same.
The sadest thing is we love PV and the 'resort' to bad they had to cheat and lie--they had a good product!
Take care, AND
DON'T BUY AT
PLAYA DEL SOL
Mike Uivary
mikeuivary@msn.com
206-320-0909
Are you the Owner or Operator of an Interval or RCI Resort? Does this sound like something that could happen at YOUR PROPERTY? We have the solution!
WATCH THIS VIDEO!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7890558632918597748 and then visit www.RobertPaisola.com and save your company millions of dollars!
Sometimes One Must Take A Stand In Life, and Dealing with The Playa Del Sol Resorts in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico equals an ABSOLUTE SCAM, A Review by Robert Paisola, CEO and President of The Western Capital Group of Companies and Trump Worldwide Travel.

To
Our Readers and
Listeners around the
World:
Visiting Puerto Vallarta, Mexico can be the most incredible experience of anybody's life. With the pristine beaches, the fantastic culture and the local traditions, Puerto Vallarta is is rapidly becoming one of the busiest tourist destinations in Latin America.
However there is one property in particular that we feel that the world wide audience that we have must be warned about. That property is owned and operated by The Playa Del Sol Chain of Resorts in Mexico. (322) 29-3-24-52-3 and 29-3-47-54
The property at The Playa del Sol Grand looks nice on the surface. The rooms are well decorated, but really small. The resort is also small with not lots to do or eat. The food at the resort is sometimes cold and pricey. When we got up to leave the "Free Breakfast" that we were promised as part of our timeshare presentation and our salesman asked us to pay the VOLUNTARY TIP, however all that we had were hundred dollar bills, and they refused to give us change in American Money, so our salesman, GERRY, turned to the waiter and said "Lo Sciento" which means SORRY IN SPANISH! This was the beginning of the end.
And the most important thing to know about this resort is that it is out in the middle of nowhere, and that is the good news!
Now here comes the part that will leave you speechless. We were invited to attend a timeshare presentation that was supposed to last for "no more than 90 minutes". We were promised that if we spent the time looking at the property, that we would be compensated in merchandise and services that were valued at over three hundred US Dollars.
We were also
guaranteed that they
would pick us up at
our beautiful hotel,
The
Casa
Magna
Marriott Puerto
Vallarta Resort,
which we HIGHLY
RECOMMEND!
Now, back to the hotel from Hell, the The Playa Del Sol Grand.
We were picked up at our hotel one hour late in a taxi that had no air conditioning, and we ended up driving around in circles looking for a friend of the gentleman who invited us. Apparently the actual individual who asked us to visit the property was not licensed, so he had to have us sign up under his buddy who was approved to ask us to join in the timeshare celebration.
Finally, We
ended up at the
resort, The Playa
del Sol Grand and
we were greeted by
three ladies who
looked as if they lived in a grass
shack. They
looked at our
invitation like it
was a formal federal
document and said "I
can not believe that
they gave you this"
(referring to the
"free gifts that
were incentives for
us to visit the
property.
Then,
we
met our
salesman, Gerry, who
stated he was from
Canada and had lived
in town for "years".
He took us to the
"free" breakfast,
where he told us
that "Nothing is
Free" ( Refer
to the tip comment)
We should have taken
the hint right there
and left.
After the breakfast, we took a short tour of the property and could not believe how small the rooms were. With sincere desire, we asked to see the suites, as the rooms were not big enough for our dog, let alone a family.
Needless to say, we never saw the suite.... Does one even exist? We will never find out!
GERRY THE SALESMAN

Next
we entered the
"Boiler Room" where
we met the all
mighty master closer
KIRBY. (Who,
by the way, is the
person who basically
told us that he
would not pay us a
dime for our taxi
fare to return to
the Marriott-
"Because it was not
in the paperwork-
Which we have
removed from this
website as a
courtesy to our
friends at Wal-Mart-
Whom have NOTHING TO
DO WITH THIS!) He came
over, spent three
minutes reviewing
the paperwork that
contained the
demographical
information that we
provided and left in
a flash. He
was the same person
who had to approve
us to take the tour,
as we were told that "The resort
prefers to deal with
people who have
purchased time share
in the past" and
that their
product
"was revolutionary,
in that they were
selling "fractional
ownership"
opportunities.
Once we were told that we qualified ( WE WERE ALSO TOLD THAT NO MEXICANS ARE ALLOWED TO TAKE THIS TOUR REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY QUALIFY (See List Below) , NOR CAN THEY SELL THE SELL THE PRODUCT!)
Now, lets dig a little deeper to see what it takes to QUALIFY to take a tour of the Playa Del Sol Grand. It just so happens that we have a copy of the qualification list, just for our readers!
(The front of the Invitation was removed, as the original is not available for publication. This was done due to a request by another salesman whom we dealt with who is extremely gracious to our office for removing the front of the invitation. His invitation was added to show that the Salesman at Wal-Mart had integrity and kept each and every promise he made to us. He was in NO WAY involved with this event.)
CAN YOU SAY ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION?
Hey, Look What We Have Here! Here is the Price List! How Much Did YOU Pay?

SIX MONTHS OWNERSHIP 249,999
FOUR MONTHS OWNERSHIP 179,999
TWO MONTHS OWNERSHIP 99,999
ONE MONTH OWNERSHIP 57,999
Now here is the best part of the story, we were promised that if we would attend the presentation that we would receive round trip transportation from the Marriott Resort where we were staying (Which again is fabulous) and the Playa Del Sol Grand Resort which is in a completely different state in Mexico!

We ended up finishing the tour after being sold by 5 SALESPEOPLE (See Closing Team Above). The last lady said that there was no reason to really buy timeshare or fractional ownership, because she was representing ANOTHER COMPANY CALLED HOLIDAY SYSTEMS which is located at www.holidaysystems.com and www.vacationweeks.com . They were mad that we wrote the domain name down, as they clearly stated that "They were the only ones who could sell this product" and "If we were interested in it, why didn't we buy it right then? The final offer on this product was $2,000 USD"? We still were not interested.

Now comes the horrid part of this story....
We were then shuffled to a small hut that served as a travel agency. This is where we encountered the TRAVEL AGENT FROM HELL, MINA BAUTISTA (Pictured Above). Mina Bautista is perhaps the most incompetent travel agent in the world. She was RUDE, CONDESCENDING and MEAN. She demanded that the visitors that saw what we were going though (All of the other Americans that had similar problems, that came to assist us, LEAVE, as they were not welcome and we were told OVER AND OVER that "this was her job".
Well, the fact that we are very clear on the business of timeshare and travel and tourism, we were completely speechless, as this woman treated us like the worst piece of garbage that you could imagine.
We then had an argument with her on whether we could get what we were promised. She did all that she could to make us give up, so that we would just leave and forget about the promises that were made to us for attending the "presentation" This HAS to be against the law. Can you say LIE?
There is ONE GOOD POINT TO THIS WHOLE ORDEAL. We met an African American Salesman named Rory, who was from Texas, (If you know his last name, please email us at investigations@cnnlegal.com ) because he is the only staff member who came to our rescue, he is the only one that knew how to deal with the TRAVEL AGENT FROM HELL. She even tried to kick him out also!
The final straw was when we were told to get into a cab and return to the sanctuary of life that we have come to know as The CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort.
So we said our goodbyes, gave a high five to RORY, and left in a taxi driven by Fernando (Fernando The Taxi Driver is Pictured Below!).

Once we got back to the Marriott, Fernando, the driver of the taxi ran out of the car and demanded that we pay him the cost of the fare to return to the hotel! We explained that we were told that the Playa del Sol Grand would pay him as agreed! We figured it was a mere misunderstanding, No Luck... Another Lie!
We immediately went to the concierge desk at the Marriott and spoke to Denis and a whole cadry of Senior Marriott Employees that were there to rescue us from this terrorizing experience. Every single manager and executive on duty asked if there was anything that they could do. Not one person at the Marriott said anything but calming words as we tried to now resolve this issue. They called the Playa del Sol Grand over and over and tried to find out who would be paying for the return fare, as the driver was standing there and refused to leave (A security guard from the Marriott had to be called to calm him down)
Finally we told the Marriott that we were not worried about the taxi fare from a monetary standpoint, but we wondered out loud how many other victims this happens to each year at this Hell Hole of A Property The Playa Del Sol. And how many people get scammed each year like this?
Well you know Western Capital, and when we smell fraud, we report it to the world, on our worldwide platform, the media.
Even when the Marriott offered to pay the fare, we refused to have the property take the loss, and decided that we has no other option than to tell our story using the power of the media that we command. For we know that this forum is much more powerful than an American Sales Manager named KIRBY who REFUSED TO HONOR HIS AGREEMENT WITH US. (If you know his last name, please email us at investigations@cnnlegal.com )
My friends around the globe, the bottom line is that YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER STAY AT THE PLAYA DEL SOL RESORTS. YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER BELIEVE WHAT A SALESMAN FROM THIS COMPANY TELLS YOU AND ALL AMERICANS SHOULD BOYCOTT THIS HOTEL CHAINS PROPERTIES.
WHEN
YOU ARE IN PUERTO
VALLARTA, Call the
CasaMagna Marriott
Puerto Vallarta
Resort
and ask for our good
friend Dennis, the
Manager. He will
make sure that you
get not only what
you pay for, but
MUCH MUCH MORE!
UPDATE- September 21, 2006
This news release has caused utter chaos in this town of Puerto Vallarta. We have been contacted by media around the world and former and current employees of this property are emailing, calling and visiting our offices in New York and Beverly Hills. We had absolutely no way to tell that this investigation would turn out to be so hostile. We want you to know that we have absolutely no intention of offending the wonderful citizens of Mexico and we are humbled that you have entrusted us with the additional information that has not yet been published.
To the Employees of this Resort; we hear your cries and pain as you tell us story after story of what you have seen. We want you to know that your confidentiality is assured and anything that you say to us is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
To those who fear of retaliation due to the comments that they have made to our investigators, you do not need to worry. We have worked diligently with the local officials to ensure your safety.
The bottom line is that Puerto Vallarta is a National Treasure to the citizens of Mexico and tourism is the primary venue for business. That is why it is essential that you, our worldwide readers know the truth, so you can make the best decision for you and your family as you Vacation in Mexico.
To Your Continued Success
Robert Paisola, President

ABOUT YOUR AUTHOR, ROBERT PAISOLA:
Robert Paisola is an international motivational speaker, trainer and author. He is an expert in the field of Personal Real Estate Investor Training. He is a professional speaker who has been featured on CNN, CNNFN, and the Wall Street Journal. He can answer your questions on the "Basics of the Real Estate Investing Business" to detailed issues regarding your specific transactions. Life Experience Robert Paisola is a Professional International Seminar Speaker in the Areas of Real Estate Investing, Tax Lien Investing, Rental Property Management, Real Estate Coach and Mentor Training and Business Management. He has served companies throughout the world.
Robert is also an International Travel Writer and has been featured in Worldwide Travel Publications and is a Senior Member is MPI, Meeting Planners International.
If you are interested in learning the business from someone like Rob email his office at robert@mycollector.com or call our offices Nationwide toll Free at 1-877-517-9555 or visit http://www.allexperts.com/displayExpert.asp?Expert=38419
We want your feedback! Send us a message!
Are you the Owner or Operator of an Interval or RCI Resort? Does this sound like something that could happen at YOUR PROPERTY? We have the solution!
WATCH THIS VIDEO!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7890558632918597748
and then visit www.RobertPaisola.com and save your company millions of dollars!
|
Here are some other
comments from other
guests that have had
the same experience:
This was all done in front of a sales staff member.
It was really surreal.
We did not purchase....
We
went to the Playa
del Sol in December
2005. The property
looks nice on the
surface. The rooms
are well decorated,
but really small. We
had a problem with
ants and the smell
of cigarettes in the
room, which the
staff couldn't
really help. They
gave us air freshner
that did nothing.
And they got rid of
the ants only for a
fraction of the day.
The resort is also
small with not lots
to do or eat. The
food at the resort
is sometimes cold
and pricey. Although
the presentation of
food is nice at the
buffet, it is really
limited. They didn't
even have glasses
and as we obviously
searched for one, no
one offered. Don't
bother with room
service. For an
empty resort, it
sure took an
eternity. I fell
asleep waiting for
my food. When the
food arrived I
wished it never
came. First I was
already asleep and I
could've saved my
money and secondly
it wasn't worth
waking up to.
We really weren't
looking for a
crowded resort, but
found it to be a bit
strange that it was
peak season in PV
and nobody was
there...
We had a massage
treatment and it was
noisy because the
timeshare
salespeople walk
through the
hallways, to show
their potential
buyers the spa.
Although we knew we
didn't want a
timeshare at the
Playa (because of
the lacking of
amenities and
service) we went to
compare what they
offered, as we were
interested in buying
a timeshare in
Mexico. The
salespeople are high
pressure. Because we
decided not to buy,
it was awkward to
see the salespeople
at the restaurant
every morning. Even
though we said no,
they would continue
to offer. It was
difficult to have a
pleasant time there,
but there is really
no place else to go
to eat.



Entonces satisficimos a nuestro vendedor, Gerry, que indicó que él era de Canadá y que había vivido en la ciudad por “años”. Él nos llevó al desayuno “libre”, donde él nos dijo que que “nada esté libre” (refiera al comentario de la extremidad) que debemos haber tomado la indirecta.



