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Grand Mayan Riviera Maya Timeshare - Scam During our Thanksgiving break, my wife, my two children, and I planned a vacation through RCI who recommended us to the Grand Mayan Riviera Maya Resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. On our arrival at the resort, at check-in we were directed to a Ms. Dianna who lured us into going for a “90 minute” presentation with incentives such as free meals and tickets for events. The next day, my wife and I were met by a Ms. Dorothy Duodos who was a sales representative assigned to us by the resort. She was very animated and took us for breakfast at approximately 8:30 AM. She delivered a sales pitch about how the Grand Mayan Vacation Club was not really a timeshare, but rather a real estate investment and that our investment would grow over the years and could build us enough equity to even exchange it for a property or a vacation home, if we considered that in the future. I mentioned to her that we already had a timeshare since 2011 from Pueblo Bonito in Los Cabos, Mexico. She waxed eloquent about how the Grand Vacation Club was ranked higher in the industry and therefore had better exchange purchasing power than my previous timeshare. She, along with her manager, who joined us later, showed us a chart and literature, which indicated that we could easily exchange it for more expensive hotels in Europe and North America. We were made to sit for more than six hours and each time we declined their offer they would raise the stakes by saying how good this investment would be and that it was a financial investment and we could make money by renting it out. She also mentioned that the plan had a concierge service, which would discount our airfare tickets and extra days at other properties, and also would have tax advantages. When I asked about the maintenance fees, she told us that their management company would take care of it and they would sell our weeks every January and would send us a check of $1800 per week that we sold. Since this was not just a timeshare, they told me that I could get a tax break because it would be considered another vacation home. We were in a vacation mode and were duped by the high-pitched sales technique and were put under severe emotional duress. While on vacation we had a late night before and also nursed a hangover and had a severe headache. In fact, my wife constantly pleaded to head back to the room because she was feeling pressured and sick, and she requested to have a few days to review the documents. However, Dorothy and her manager kept skillfully persuading me and my wife with more false promises that we would reap a good profit. They even gave an evaluation of the property at $190,000. When we told them that it was too expensive, they asked us for the particulars on our previous timeshare at Pueblo Bonito. They quoted a price of $31,900 and stated that this amount was the value of the property, Pueblo Bonito. They said they would apply said amount to the value of the Grand Mayan timeshare. They told me that their concierge, HSI, would discount airfares and gave us false hopes. We kept telling them we are tired and exhausted. The whole situation in retrospect was surreal and it went to a point where it made us unprofessional, rude, and ill mannered if we suddenly got up and left. We were then taken down to another room where a contract specialist made us sign complex legal documents. They at no point, informed us about a 5-day cooling period in Mexico, which is required by all sales representatives. They did not advise us for legal help for signing such a complex legal document and when we asked them what the contract summarized, they explained what they had mentioned earlier. At no point did we receive drafts or copies, which revealed that the property was valued at $190,000. After adding all the credits, we were supposed to pay $41,000 before December 22nd. We paid approximately $14,000 and later charged the remainder on December 22nd. Since then, we have been contacting our sales rep, Dorothy, and asking her how we get our weeks into the marketing program. She gave us a phone number, which we called, who then charged us another $400 to become a “platinum member” and said that they would sell each week for $2400. We deposited four weeks, but have not heard anything since. I have sent emails and called them regarding a reservation that I wanted to make for Spain. Their concierge service did not discount any fares, and quoted us prices higher than Travelocity. At this point, I realized, a fraud had been perpetuated on us. There were no replies to my emails or returns of phone calls. When I called there 1-800 number again, they said that they would have somebody call me back. A woman named “Rita Bourges” sent me an email saying that she was assigned to see about my case. I was extremely agitated and wrote her back about how I’ve been duped, and none of their promises were coming to be true. A few days later, I got a call from Dorothy Duodos, who kept telling me that I should not worry and that they would definitely sell my weeks, and I would get what I was told. When I told her that they had made similar promises to other customers and the promises were never kept, she said that I was in a special marketing contract as compared to others. When I told her again that the whole pitch seemed silly, she said that they had a 18-hole golf course, and through which they would book reservations from customers, who would pay $2400 for their reservations. I was very upset, and requested her to speak to my wife, and gave her my wife’s phone number since I was busy at my office. She did not call, but within an hour I received an email from Rita Borges who told me that since I had not as yet received a check from the marketing company to rent out my weeks, she would credit $3,484 for the next 4 maintenance fees. This only means that the promises made by the marketing company about selling my rented weeks, will never materialize and therefore to pacify me, they are offering me this “credit” after which I would be left high and dry contrary to what they had promised me during the sales pitch. Also, I had received a call from the transfer company about the possibility of me buying back—from them—the Pueblo Bonito timeshare. Grand Mayan Vacations had ‘bought’ it from me for an illusionary sum of $31,900 and then sold it off to this transfer company for $7,500. In the process, they received a 75% tax write off. The transfer company was willing to sell me the same Pueblo Bonito property for $1500. They told me that regardless, I had to pay them $750 to transfer the title over. It is amazing that something, which had a purported value of $31,900, is now being sold back to me for $1500, which questions its original value. As far as I am concerned, it appears that the value of these timeshares varies from person to person, and apparently seems to be random prices they mark on. I feel this is a huge scam and there is no value to any of these properties, or what the sales representatives have been trying to *** me into. Mexico is a beautiful country but resorts like Mayan ruins the name of there country.