Has anyone purchased from Vallart Gardens?

I'm glad to run into this forum, and I want you to know that I'm not going to get tired of exposing the fraud and deception practices that take place inside Vallarta Gardens Resorts in Puerto Vallarta. We purchased almost a yr ago, Gareth was our sales representative and none of what he sold us is real, the use of our weeks is limited, not guaranteed, as it is subject to availability. They gave us a 180-day payment guarantee, guess what, they did not pay us our money for our other timeshare and marketing for the use of our weeks because the company they use under the name PILA does not exist. And besides the company of Cromwell & Berkeley in Panama does not exist either, none of those companies answer the phone. We knew of all this deception because after wanting to cancel and we asked for our money back, they denied it completely, so we went to local authorities and banks to try to get out of this. We employed a private investigator and he told us that Vallarta Gardens serve only as a resort and private houses and everything that links up to them in terms of generating money is fraud, it is not real, it does not exist, there are not even records of those companies! Be careful if you are considering about buying a Vallarta Gardens membership. Run from these scammers!

Is there any other way we can get money back from those scammers. Or of every one can go together and sue them.

Sorry to say , but you won’t see any of your money again. A very costly lesson learned for many of us. 😱

I am sorry you lost money in this scam. What everyone needs to realize is these company's that they say are going to buy your timeshare or sell your weeks do not exist. If you go through the posts you will see at least 20 "companies" that partner with VG. The one they tried to use with us was located on a vacant lot in Oklahoma. These companies in reality are Vallarta Gardens. They are one in the same. They wait for a while. Usually a month or two, and then claim company went bankrupt or another excuse and then come up with another company name for the next batch of victims. We were able to get a refund from our credit card company by showing all the different "companies" and were able to show the pattern they use. We got our refund well after rescinding period was over. Haven't been on this site for awhile and it makes me sick this is still happening !

You are one hundred percent correct. These companies do not exist! That is how we were able to get our refund!

How did you prove it? Did u hire attorney? Or just bank? My bank wont help me.

If the bank to which you refer is the card issuer, tell them VG committed fraud, and you won't stand for it. Cancel your card, or tell your bank you will, review your contract and highlight any parts - there are many - that represent fraudulent misrepresentation. Even if you reference only some of those you can recognize, that may do it. You only have to prove fraud in ANY part of the contract, not all parts of the contract. Point to statements where they state they will sell your current time shares, rent your time share you buy, and so on; in other words, what you have read in this forum, and any thing they told you or promised verbally. Fraud does not have to be only in writing. And give your bank a link to this forum, or better yet print off the most significant posts and provide those.

Any charges to a credit card that are the result of a fraudulent action by the vendor (VG) are invalid. Not Legal. Visa Rules can be found online. Just Google "Visa core rules" - and you will find a PDF with over 1000 pages, but with an index. Select those that you feel relate, copy them, and present to your bank. Tell them a copy has gone to your lawyer - even if you don't have an attorney.

I went through all of these posts. I pulled the names of all of the "companies" that VG supposedly did business with. I was able to prove these companies did not exist. The one they used on me was Berkshire Financial. The address for them was an actual vacant lot in Oklahoma city! Our argument was that the fraudulently induced us into signing a contract with them so contract was null and void. We made this argument with our cc company and they sided with us. My best advice would be to take a few hours and I as well as some others, have posted the names of these companies , which have to be VG posing as them, and how they are fake.

Joan C was a great help! Hope you are doing well C

We got scammed in May of 2019 and were recently awarded a dispute in our favor from our credit card companies that we had used to pay in full our balance. We "purchased" a Hampton Penthouse Suite from Miguel Lopez and were promised the lease of our weeks in order for the "resort" to use them for marketing with new clients by Gareth (British accent) and Ricardo Ballesteros. After we got back from vacation we googled Vallarta Gardens to look at the photos of what we bought and found nothing but scam warnings and links like this one. After reading A LOT of posts we realized we had to act fast in order to get our money back. Thanks to all of those that took the time to share the detailed steps they followed to get out of this nightmare! We called our credit card companies to start the dispute process at the same time we were sending a cancellation notice to Vallarta Gardens in accordance with Visa's 14 day cooling off period mentioned in their core rules. This rule allows you to cancel your transaction even after the 5 day return period stated in your contract. They made us sign a waiver removing our 5 day cancelation period due to the fact that we bought a foreclosed unit which is illegal in Mexico. This along with ALL the information on the fraudulent business practices and fake companies (PILA Management in our case) connected to Vallarta Gardens given to us by this link was the proof we needed in order for Amex to rule in our favor. We hope that our post will "pay it forward" and helps someone else that falls for their lies or prevents the nightmare from ever beginning!

Awesome! Glad to hear there is one less victim out there!

Well done, congrats! Never quit. The shame of it all is that both Visa and AmEx especially are very familiar with the scam, and are complicit. They have aided and abetted the scam over many years, demonstrating that the almighty corporate dollar overrides integrity, ethics and morality.

Happened to us to in 2011. Still never revisited Vallarta gardens.

We bought over a year ago, they also tricked us in the worst way. The lies about liquidating our timeshare and not receiving the promised money put us in a very tight financial situation, so we had to ask for a loan at very high interest. Not even the promised guaranteed money for the marketing of our weeks have we received. And the worst, the annuity company that you are referred to in Panama, does not exist. It's too late to try to get our money back, that's what the lawyer told us. I curse the day I agreed to take the presentation at Vallarta Gardens. Vallarta Gardens is a synonym for Fraud, as well as Ricardo Ballesteros and Gareth both thieves and liars, who will perform or say anything to make their commission. I ask for you to alert innocent customers, posting on Trip Advisor and any other social media account that Vallarta Gardens has, the fraudulent operations that are covered within that Resort. It may be late for us, but not for somebody who is thinking of buying and came across this article. Stay away from these scoundrels.

Sorry to hear about your experience. EVERY "company " they use is fake. It is actually them coming up with a company name and 2 or 3 months from now it will be a new one. If you go through all 23 pages of posts you will find at least 20 company names that VG has used. It's a shame people don't take the time to do it. The basis for us getting our refund is all right here in these pages. Sorry about your loss of funds to these crooks

The activity is fraudulent. Regardless of how long ago it was, go to your credit card company (bank, the issuer of your c/c) if you used one. (Disregard c/c rules for time lines.) Explain thoroughly why you are submitting your case only now. Do your homework - due diligence...and raise hell. You have a good chance to recover funds if you act responsibly and diligently. You need paper work - copies of contract, written details of promises, whether verbal or written, and copies of these posts (5 years worth preferably). VG has been at it for over 10 years, with Visa, AmEx and others complicit in the activity. The c/c entities have files covering years of complaints and submissions, and court proceedings. C/c entities cannot legally support fraudulent activity.

Too bad did not read this information ahead of time....September 2019 purchased from Vallarta Gardens with some of same promises read in previous discussions.....1) sell our other timeshares through a company Arrow Marketing Group and to receive cash for these, 300 days or less, 2) guarantee option to resell contract back to Villarta Gardens within 24 months of signing contract $69,000, 3) some of same sales reps were there the day we purchased that were previously mentioned, Gareth and Ricardo. 4) and all the promises on the weeks we purchased (which we have not ever stayed there so don't know if that is true or not). Hard to tell at this point if marketing company is fake or not. Had not heard from them since the purchase, so I made a call to the marketing group to ask general questions about the process. As soon as I hung up, I get an email saying "Congratulations, your guaranteed liquidation agreement has been successfully recorded....and to complete liquidation....a list of all kind of copies etc that we are to send them. At no point in the conversation did they say we are going to send you information, etc...Vallarta Gardens has been trying to call us saying they want to go over what we purchased and go over member services. When we called back, they were only interested in finding out how we are going to make our first payment. We have only made the down payment the day of the sale. So now seriously considering paying no more money at all, and cancelling our contract, even though they told us all the reasons why we can't do that. This is a big mess.

Make no mistake, as grifters go, the Vallerta Gardens people are really good at what they do. My wife and I are not easy marks, and even though we followed the 'letter of the law' to legally get out of the contract, the VG people continued to assert that we had not, and it took months and multiple contacts with American Express to get out of the contract. Throughout this, we had multiple contacts with the VG people who continued to act as if we were willing members. They are very good at sticking to the script.

I just came back and bought into Vallarta gardens.home I tried calling them to cancel contract.there phone lines are not working and so is their email. Could not get any information after looking through the contact so I called my credit card company and stopped payment. Thanks for this information I did feel thease.companies were not leglith. Thank you guys

made a purchase a week ago .had a gut feeling that it was all a scam when i tried to reach them when i got home and all phone numbers were not working numbers. the sales people names are ( bill he is mexican ) and (gareth he is british )contacted my credith card company and made a stop payment.