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Re: Vida Vacations & Grand Mayan lies

Sales representative, Dalia Venckauskas, expounded on Grand Mayan leader resort group-Cirque Sol Lai complex being built, etc. This is a new concept in timeshare ownership centering around 10,000 units purchased by owners then golfers stay (ones flocking to this area). A golf network handles al transactions for the Mayan. Mexican government taxes hotel rental at a rate of 38% of the room rate, but having this timeshare owed by you, the group can rent it out at a 10& rate to the government. It's a win, win, situation as this bring in _____ millions (can't remember how many) for the Mayan and the owner receives an annual monies. Dalia drew boxes on paper representation the 2 units we could purchase. These would be in our name, but we'd never use them as would be handled by the golf network with NO maintenance/user fees for us like our current timeshares. It would be taken care of. Over & over it was stated about the yearly money we'd receive. Or current timeshares appraised by the Mayan at outlandish retail value. We refused. A sales manager came with better offer. We could own a 3rd unit that would be ours to use or we could turn it over to the golf network for additional yearly income to us. She jumped from subject to subject-vida dollars, SFX, 1 800 Away I Go-very confusing. She assured us of the program benefits. No annual fees to pay-you only pay when you use the unit with the Mayan. We agreed after sitting there 7 hours. Papers placed in front of us-sign here, here,& here with only a brief 2 or 3 sentence explanation of what we were signing-basically, some headings were read. (Shame on us for being so trusting, we felt the fine print was a true reflection of what as stated during the presentation). This took about 12 minutes. Neither Dalia or Jean Bergoin (legal dept.) stated a word encouraging us to make sure to read over the contract thoroughly. NEVER a statement made about a rescinding clause. Both made sure to instruct us to "LOCK UP THESE DOCUMENTS in safe and DO NOT TALK to other guests about our transaction". We arrived back home 12 days later after staying a week at our own timeshare resort. We thought we had until 12/18/13 to read over this contract as we were told numerous times 12/18/13 is our due date. My wife called the Mayan to inquire about sending our current timeshare paperwork. She was told to call the golf network and the acquisition company. She spoke to Emma at the Golf Network first inquiring what month in 2014 we'd expect a check for our two units they were handling for golf renters. WHAT AN EYE OPENER!!!! Emma stated that NO funds released until our unit rented/NO guarantee!! This was NEVER relayed to us at the presentation. Wife inquired about the number of golfers who stay. She replied that some are golfers, but it's popular for couples/young families. Wife inquired about occupancy criteria. Emma stated the computer pulls which unit to be rented-no member's name attached. When asked if a record or list was kept to make sure the owners had their unit equally pulled for rent, she stated NO. So some owners wouldn't have any rental income for the year or year without being rented. My wife tried to contact Dalia through the Mayan without success. Wife googled her name thinking she might find an email address. Surprising her name appears on a website-Red Weeks under heading, "Vida Vacation & Grand Mayan Lies". What an eye opener!!! My wife contacted Petra Beck, Mayan legal dept. She listened to my wife then advised her to turn to page 5, section 9.1, paragraph C of the contract. She read it FAST and stated "if we read the contract we shouldn't expect funds from rental or investment". At the time, we didn't consider the finds from the golf network as income, but bonus monies from letting the Mayan use the units to circumvent the Mexican tax percentage. In summary, emphatically, Petra voiced, "It's your fault, you do not understand. You didn't read your contract. I don't need to hear, you were tired, hungry, rushed, blah, blah, blah. That's stupidity. Anyone signing a contract should read it." My wife explained their neglect of not bringing the 5-day rescind to our attention. Petra answered, "that's your problem, it's in the contract. It's your responsibility ." The sales staff and legal certainly made sure to remind us several times to lock up the documents in the safe so maids and others wouldn't snoop, also NOT to talk to other guests about details of our contract. It's odd we were instructed at length to protect our documents from snoops, but the legal dept. nor Dalia couldn't make a 30-second reminder statement, about the 5-day rescind. I'm sure they enjoyed labeling us "suckers". Dalia stated several times the due date on our contract was 12/18/12. Wife relayed information to Petra that the main theme of the presentation centered on the benefit of receiving funds from the golf network starting in 2014. Over & over we were reminded of yearly funds. Petra stated, "the sales department is NOT employed by the Grand Maya (this was news to us), but a subcontractor". She firmly added, "that she nor the Mayan have NO control/No authority how the sales dept. is run or what or how is presented at these presentations". My wife added, "that's a poor way to run a business, not having any say how your product is marketed-no accountability." Petra added that she doesn't work for this subcontractor, Vida Vacations. Strangely, in an email to us-dated 12/11/13, she signed off as Petra Beck, Vida Sales!!!! Who do you think pays her pay check!!!!! She assured my wife that the transfer of our current timeshares would be processed. She would contact Equity to put a rush on it. My wife share with Petra information she fund on the websites about the Mayan especially timeshares NOT being transferred. Petra replied the reason why, "It's the member's fault. They fail to fill out the paper work correctly or fail to send all the correct documentation." She also stated that it is NOT imperative to use the golf network for renting out our unit (surprise to us as this was exactly what was stated over & over at the presentation) - the golf network would handle it all. Petra informed my wife, we could even rent out our units ourselves. Petra was very uncaring and forceful in her response at times scolding and barking at my wife. A time share attorney is now representing us. We do not make it a practice of attending presentation and will NEVER do it again. NEITHER should you!!!! A total waste of a vacation day. BEWARE!!!! P.S. this is a brief summary of our wasted vacation day. The issue has been resolved to our satisfaction. April 2014