Has anyone purchased from Vallart Gardens?

I was able to get my money back two years after signing only because I purchased a studio unit and they never built them. I was denied by my credit card company the first time, but prevailed the second time. Unfortunately it will cost you more money to try and sue them in Mexico than it's worth. You may be able to re-coup what you put on your credit card if you can prove they lied to you - but what they promised needs to be in the contract and you have to prove they failed to deliver. They are very clever - they don't put most of their promises in writing, so then you have nothing to stand on in order to get your money back. Saying they will buy back your old timeshare and/or market your weeks to pay for your purchase is all just a big scam - but unfortunately many timeshare places use that sales ploy because they can then blame the marketing company for not following through and they are off the hook. It's shameful and I hope the credit card companies start flagging these places and denying the charges from the start. I wish you luck. I know this caused me many nights of heartache before it was resolved.

The studio unit that we purchased is still going to be built and will be available in 2016. Our GV use year will start in 2015. The sales agent, Mike Garcia who when I called last weekend does not work with GV anymore (I was told and who knows if true or not) promised us to allow us to use the 2 bedroom unit when we decide to come down Mexico next year as long as we pay the difference.

Most likely this studio unit will never be built at all.

Yes, I have faith that Amex will help us recoup the funds we paid when we start processing the cancellation.

Did you also go through Profeco to file the complaint against GV?

Thank you again for responding. We will keep you posted.

I never filed with the Profeco because you had to translate all documents into Spanish - which would have been a lot of work - and from what I hear they are of no help. VG has changed the date for building the studio units at least three or four times. I wouldn't trust anything they say. Yes, you can always use a 2 bedroom for the difference, but if you only need a studio for $350, why would you want to take a 2 bedroom for $800? That's a big difference to pay for room you don't need. I would definitely start a dispute now - you may have to wait until the start date to actually win. I had to wait until Aug 2014 passed because that is when they said my studio unit would be ready to use - and of course, there was no studio unit. Good luck!

We had hearings with our credit card company and did not have to go anywhere. All was done through a secure website they set up for this. I was able to convince them through different web sites that they were corrupt. It was about 9 months to get this all done. Did they use RE/MAX to suck you in? If so I may still have my letter from them denying any affiliation with them and saying they are a scam. That really helped us. Trip Advisor was helpful and many other sites. I just googled Is Vallarta Gardens a scam and was shocked to see what was out there. Hope this helps....The question you asked has me stumped. what is PLs? But yes, we bought in Nov. 13 and started working on this in Feb. 13. We also bought something that wasn't constructed yet and was able to prove that we bought something that didn't exist and probably never would....

Deborah and Janet thanks a lot for your input. Our big problem is the portion of the full payment that we paid off was from our personal check. We completely trusted their words that our other timeshare will be sold and didn't want to pay finance charges on the balance. Big big lesson learned here that you will get protection from credit card payments on situation like this even if it takes forever. We left a post dated check for the balance to get processed on the due date. If only we paid the balance by credit card we will take all our money back like your case. We are still thinking of Profeco. Some got successful after two years and we can wait that long as well.

Janet and Debora: My wife and I lost several hundreds of thousands of dollars to this group of VG crooks mostly on there RE/MAX scam coupled with a buy back promise. I would love to know how to get some documentation from RE/MAX that could help us. We unfortunately wired money to VG. Our experience happened in 2014.

We are happy to report that the real crook behind this scam is Carlos Rivera who lives in San Antonio, TX very near Trinity University in a million dollar historical mansion. You might want to let him know how you feel about his ethical behavior. Several of us have tried to sue him bur he seems impervious to the law both in the US and especially in Mexico. His father was the governor of Jalisco....I wonder if Carlos' father knows how many people his son, the dentist, has scammed?

What a shame! He must have really sold his soul to the devils.

At anyrate I called Amex to get their fax to send over the necessary documents and am gladly reporting that they will credit our account for the credit card portion we paid. I only called Amex last Sunday (the very time we knew VG scammed us) yet very surprised to be told that the resolution is being made to our favor. It must have been the previous disputes they have investigated VG and currently investigating who knows how many more that made them credit us back our hard-earned money so quickly. Our biggest challenge is the refund of our personal check payment portion. If we have to translate a Profeco form in spanish just to get back the remaining funds will definitely do that.

Good luck with Profeco. We used them for another scam and they had hearings with our scammers and just fined them for not showing up. They are all on the take. We went for almost 3 years working with them and they finally told us they were not able to help us knowing they were scams. We are now in a class action suit and they are in jail. Keep posting bond and scamming others and ending up in jail. They keep letting them go free. These are not just Mexicans but also Americans from Las Vegas...It is a mess out there so others beware. The time a paperwork we sent Profeco was endless. All for not. They don't do anything for you.

Of course because only Ameticans like VG's sales rep Mike Garcia (from Orange County, CA accdg to him) can persuade to fool trusting clients like us. Karma will somehow catch up with them someday. All I do is blog to social mefia their deceitful business ways and report to authorities to help others and prevent to be in our position.

I feel really sorry for anyone that paid them with cash. If you were making payments, you could probably just stop, and if you used your credit card you can dispute, but if you paid them up front, then it seems you may be out of luck. They know the system and they know you can't beat them in Mexico. At some point I wouldn't be surprised if they stop taking credit card payments, since they now know that people are winning disputes and getting their money back! I have owned a timeshare in the past, and although you never get all that is promised, they can be a good pre-paid vacation if the company is reputable. This company is the worst I have ever run across. The amount of people they scammed is just shameful. I agree - keep up with the social blogging - at least we can try and keep others from falling into their trap!

Btw, VG's property management company now called Premiere Property Management is based in Euless Texas but the payment of their fees our processed by ETI in Mexico. PPM are willing participants to sell your old timeshare and market your VG weeks to recoup the VG timeshare cost but it is not going to happen because it is all in papers. All they do is collect the fees for ETI and get their commission. Crossing our fingers that Chase will decide in our favor.

That's our biggest mistake bec we did not want to pay almost 20% on finance charge and VG would not take all Amex payment at once. We will not have problem even if we also paid using debit card bec it is still a credit card and they can credit you back. That is why this is a big lesson learned!!!!

I went on the internet and searched Re/Max in Puerto Vallarta and came up with several companies including one in the states that was a main office for them. I got ahold of these people and they wrote to me about Vallarta Gardens being a scam. I used this E mail in my protest against VG and sent it to our credit card company along with several other sites I found discrediting VG and calling them a scam. I had to keep finding more proof and just kept sending them the findings I found. We used Discover and after our third hearing with them they finally got VG to admit liability and scam that they are doing. It takes time but stick to it.

Last Friday and yesterday we had received a phone message saying from legal affairs department which they did not leave the company's name urging us to call them back and that we should be prepared with a lawyer. I suspect this is from VG as we had emailed them to nullify our contract as it was executed based on deceit, unfair, unlawful business tactics and demanded our money back. We also had received communications from Amex that they cannot provide a resolution at this time due to the amount of time that passed since the charge was incurred but they assure us that they making every effort to complete their detailed investigation. Deborah and members who cancelled, did you receive the same type of calls too? Thanks for responding.

I did not, but I didn't try to cancel - I disputed the charge since they never built the unit I purchased. But they did threaten me because I wrote the truth here, so I'm not surprised they are doing that with you. I would suggest gathering all the info you can on the bogus marketing company and their false statements about being linked with ReMax so that you can prove fraud on their part. You may want to consult an attorney. I was lucky that I charged the whole thing and my credit card company did all the fighting for me.

Yes I was threatened and collection e mails were unreal. I looked on the other sites about VG and heard some horror stories. Everyone just ignores them. They are a joke to think they can scare anyone. They don't have a let to stand on with their threats.. Don't worry or respond to them. Or if you do tell them you are filing for harassment. They are the ones who are scams and they know it.

Thanks Deborah and Janet! That is why we ignored them because they defrauded and owe us the money. Can't believe these people are part of the human race!!!

Please tell me what Timely Travel does, how it and Vallarta Gardens work together, and what benefits this association provides to members who have agreed to pay for these services.

I would love a copy of the ReMax letter if you still have it please.

Best,

Ken

Well - we waited and we waited hoping that the scam wouldn't turn out to be true. Our "ocean garden" 2BR units were supposed to be built by August 2014. We went down there and stayed in a "reef" unit in January. It was located up by the road. The amenities they promised were non-existent. We set up two meetings with Michael Gordon and he was too "ill" to meet with us. Finally he pawned us off on "Ian" who never responded to our concerns. It is obvious the units sold to us will never exist. They haven't broken ground on any ocean front units. We are filing with Profeco today. We have filed with Chase. I will keep you posted. By the way, they are still telling people that they are affiliated with REMAX and the REMAX logo is displayed. They are also showing prospective buyers the same pictures of the "Ocean Gardens" buildings but they are now a one bedroom product. Another thing, that refund in two years clause will not be honored. They use that heavily in their sales pitch. Buyers Beware!