Below is a brief summary of our sales presentation
meeting at Velas Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta on May 27, 2007 with their
sales associate Doug Lockett. We were treated to breakfast then given a
tour of the resort, with is a very nice, clean and beautiful resort. Mr.
Lockett then sat us down to review the Velas Vallarta program. He asked if
we knew anything about fractional ownership, which we replied no to. He
said we are going to love the Velas Vallarta fractional ownership because it
is unique, flexible and offers many benefit, so much more than a traditional timeshare program.
He explained with their factional ownership program we will have 25 weeks to
sell through a broker (Regal Resales and Rental). He said Velas
Vallarta have all the arrangements already set up with this broker and they
will handle everything for us, at the end of the meeting, Mr. Lockett even
supposedly called the broker to have the whole transaction established. He
went into a lengthy discussion on how these weeks would be sold, but with a
maximum of 4 weeks at a time, this is to avoid taxable income issues. He
said the way things will work, we will receive full payment of all 25 weeks
within 6 ½ years. He cautioned us to make sure to save enough of that
money because we will need to pay our annual maintenance fees over a 25
year period. He also told us the way their factional ownership program
worked, that we would never stay at their resort, we would receive so much
more money by selling the weeks, though it was our home resort that we would
be crazy to ever stay at the resort or deposit those weeks into RCI.
He
then told us about the travel beauty of their fractional ownership program,
we will have 75 weeks of vacation to use over a 25 year period. Another
advantage is we can break a week into a 3 and 4 day period, which offers
even greater flexibility in travel. As a fractional owner we would be enrolled and become a
member of Holiday Systems International (HSI) with our 75 weeks, which we will totally love
because he stated how easy and inexpensive it is
to use HSI. He stated as a member how easy it is to go any where, any
time, any place and any size unit rarely at a price above $250 per week at a
5 star resort.
This meeting was scheduled to last 90 minutes, we ended up
meeting with Mr. Lockett for over 4 hours. At least 95% of our meeting with
Mr. Lockett, he discussed everything that we would receive (rentals income
and HSI travel benefits) and how wonderful everything is and the great
opportunity of this unique Velas Vallarta fractional ownership program.
By this time we were exhausted (serious mistake on our part, which they
take advantage of), so he hurried us through the agreements (another serious
mistake) to get us on our way. So PLEASE, use our mistakes to learn from
and do NOT ever enter into an agreement with Velas Vallarta or any of their
sister properties, Grand Velas, Casa Velas and Grand Velas Riviera Maya.
In October 2009, a Velas Corporate Representative informed us that they do not
service anything that is not in their agreement. All the verbal
information about the rental sales and HSI travel benefits are not in their
agreement and not supported by them, though their sales associates spend
hours talking about it. So please, save your time and enjoy your
own vacation by never attending one of their sales presentations. One
guarantee I will make, if you don’t attend a presentation or purchase a
fractional ownership from them, you will definitely want to thank me for
providing you with this warning.
Below are the proven facts
that the fractional ownership program that Mr. Lockett explained to us on
May 27, 2007 at Velas Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta were nothing more than
lies.
During
the presentation, Mr. Lockett informed us how much money we would receive
and when as listed in the schedule below.
A) $16,000 for the 1st 4 weeks, due December 2007
B) $16,000 for the 2nd 4 weeks, due December 2007
C) $16,000 for the 3rd 4 weeks, due December 2008
D) $16,000 for the 4th 4 weeks, due December 2009
E) $16,000 for the 5th 4 weeks, due December 2010
F) $16,000 for the 6th 4 weeks, due December 2011
G) $ 4,000 for the remaining 1 week, due December 2012
Obviously Mr. Lockett lied to us over and over,
because we have not even received a penny of this money.
Also as noted from the
meeting above, Mr. Lockett explained in detail about the wonderful vacation
package we will be entitled to through Holiday Systems International (HSI)
to go any where, any time, any place and any
size unit rarely at a price above $250 per week at a 5 star resort. The few
times that we tried to use it, we found it to be a total joke and rip off.
In October 2008 I tried to plan a trip to
Hawaii, on the Big Island, in April 2009, for specific dates. My first
response back from HSI was for different dates then I requested and worse
yet it was for 2 options, one on the island of Maui and the other on the
island of Kauai (not for the Big Island I asked for). Days later I finally
received another option, which was on the Big Island with a check in date of
May 1, 2009 (the date was not what I asked for), I requested dates in
April. So obviously any where and any time doesn’t work, but I can’t even
begin to tell you how great (and how many times) Mr. Lockett said this
program is and we will travel some much more and save so much money since
most weeks stays will not exceed $250 at a 5 star resort. Well, the HSI quotes for the
wrong places and wrong dates were $699 and $625 for a week. Not even close
to the $250 Mr. Lockett stated over and over we would receive.
So
obviously we were lied to repeatedly during our sales presentation by this Velas Vallarta Sales Associate,
their program ends up being no more then a timeshare. It is also very clear and obvious that the Velas group have their Sale Associates lie to people attending sales
presentations. How can I say that, because in their agreement it states, there
are no verbal agreements, promises or guarantees for which I am relying upon
to make my decision to purchase. Everything told to me during the
presentation is in writing. If the Velas Vallarta Sales Associates weren’t
lying and the company was well aware that no lies were being told, then why
would they even need to include such a clause in their agreement?
Also, with the above clause in their agreement, they are putting the burden
on the customer to insure all items are included in the agreement. Yes, we
made a BIG mistake, so now we want to warn as many people as possible so
they do not make the same mistake we did. Is this the type of resort
you want to do business with?
