Lisa

We have been owners for 3 years and fortunately for us we have dealt with PDS on many occasions and have not had any complaints.  I have yet to be told there is no availability for the week I am requesting.  Accomodations have been fabulous at the Grand and also Los Cabos.  Everyone who has made claims that PDS is a scam may be exaggerating the truth. I find it hard to believe parts of the accusations.  I was surprised with the additional fee they were asking for this year, but mostly because when I got the email, it stated it was due in a week to pay the fee without extra charges.  I called them and they gave me an extra 30 days to pay it.  I feel sorry for the people who have been duped, lied to, are really unhappy with their purchase.  While PDS is a small resort, I feel that for the money that I am charged for my week is great.  I live in the Bay Area of CA and the price of my 1 bedroom for the week is practically cheaper than one day for a beachfront room down in Monterey.  Not everyone feels that PDS is a scam.  I am one of these people.

Marg Palfy

Purchased 4 primary + 4 secondary weeks of floating fractional ownership in 2005, a 2 BR lockout - was told I could easily pay for it by renting it out - maintenance fees have nearly doubled, we have received a 'special assessment' fee as well this year, when we want to book we are told there is nothing available. This has been a disaterous experience.

Nancy

I just received a letter from pds requesting payment for a special assessment. I haven´t received my original contract yet (Seems like I never will). Also, pds has not paid the association dues for over 2 years and are in arrears. Can they charge me for this fee?

Susanne

We are having problems with Playa del Sol. We purchased a fractional ownership last august based on them giving us 50 grand weeks that their "sister company" was going to buy from us at 700 USD each, to offset the cost of the membership. When we realized the contract we signed didn't reflect this, we went back to cancel before 5 days of the purchase. The salesperson then threatened to sue us for 18,000 USD, they guaranteed the purchase of the 50 weeks with a written contract from Grand Xcapes, which they said it was their sister company, and everything was a lie. We have contacted Playa del Sol and they deny the salesperson allegations to be true.

Frank

I purchased a timeshare back in 2002 with Playa Del Sol Grand and was told all sorts of half truths and false claims. My original maintenance fees were 650 per week and now they have gone up to close to $1300 in just 6 years. I am not sure how that is possible if they can only raise the fees by 10%.

Billy

All I can say is that Playa Del Sol Group is the bigest scamers in Mexico . BEWARE    DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THEM

L.

I just received an email from Playa del Sol stating they are charging extraordinary fees for 2010 for upgrades they have done.  the amount for my 1 bedroom is $348.

I bought this timeshare in 1997 and i have my agreement but it does not state anywhere that they have the right to charge this. They are only allowed to raise the maintenance fee 10% per year.

Also I have week 20 every year. When I paid my maintenance fees i asked that the week be deposited with RCi which has not been done.

I was told that they were not allowed to deposit with RCi at this time, but as soon as they were they would deposist a week in the future for me.

When I asked why they were not allowed they said the manager was looking into this and would have an answer for me in 72 hours.  that was on May 17th and still nothing.

I am so frustrated with this company and feel they are not doing things legally.

Benjamin, I am interested in joining forces, how do i do this?

thanks

Jill

I just purchased a timeshare at Playa Del Sol with the promise they would sell 10 of my bonus weeks, thus basically paying for the cost of the timeshare. I came back to my hotel and researched on the internet to find this is a scam! Help!

Jay

We feel the need to cancel the timeshare contract we signed. We have already paid them $6,000usd. We were informed that we had no opportunity to cancel this contract once the money was posted by American Express. We do not beleive this to be true. Can you assist us?

Neal

My wife and I purchased a Playa del Sol timeshare for $15,900 in June of '07 d(payed in full). When we signed the papers we were told that it was a resale and we could not change our minds. We have only been able to use the timeshare once because it is never available when we want it, even when calling a year ahead. What are your fees for cancelling the contract?

Peggy

I was totally dupped by the PDS salesman that told half truths about what they would be able to do to make my timeshare more affordable...buy back my weeks, etc....never happened..sell my weeks...its a complicated arrangement and very difficult to deal with.  I hate the ownership of this timeshare, what was i thinking!  It is definitely a con game for unaware folks like myself.  I have 10,000 left to pay on my timeshae and wish I could get back some of the money I've thrown to the cons.  Where is the saving when anyone can get rooms cheaper just about anywehre in the world.

Donald

I am a timeshare owner at 3 different resorts and have been happy with most of my experiences. I am having a problem with a timeshare rental company called Airtouch Real Estate (Raul Mendez) in Mexico. I have a written contract with them for the rental of my Canto del Sol property in PV. The contract guarantees the rental of my week. Airtouch didn’t rent it and won’t refund the US$699 fee nor pay me the week’s rent of US$1750. I have contacted Airtouch and the resort, without getting any satisfaction.

Deanne

I have a fractional timeshare with Playa Del Sol.  I purchased 1 primary week and one award week Biennially in perpetuity Oct 7, 2007.  The maintainance fee on my contract is $395.  Under \"Maintenance Fees\", in the contract, it states \"The period of use shall be deemed as used by the member and the maintenance fee shall become due and payable only when the member makes the corresponding reservation under the club regultions.\"  I was told when I purchased that I would only pay the maintenance fee when I used the week.  Now they are saying that the maintenance fee for $2008 was $434 and for 2009 $559.26 and for 2010 $587.34.  In my contract it also states \"The Club agrees to limit any increase of maintenance fees to a maximum of 10% per year with the exception of extraordinary circumstances such as an increase in the Mexican Consumer Price Index.

Gregory

Bought a timeshare from Playa Del Sol/Costa Sur. Showed us a beautiful unit but did not mention that other units at Costa Sur may take more than 3 years to remodel. Asked about getting a deed, told that we would receive a \"certificate of ownership\" to a unit...never received and now we are stuck with a \"floating\" week with Playa Del Sol instead of a remodeled one bedroom unit at Costa Sur.

Bruce

We were conned by the slick fraudsters at Playa del Sol, Puerto Vallarta and paid them over $27,000 in Feb. and March of 2006 on their repeated promises that we could access and book time freely at any of their venues of our choice.  We have never been able to make a booking and now we have received a notification from them that our entire contract has been nullified because we refused to pay the yearly \"maintenance fees\" .  We have no wish to use their facilities under any circumstances, having now learned of the immense depth and breadth of their false representations and lies.

Benjamin

I welcome this opportunity to address what has been a horrendous experience in connection with the unrestrained use of false and deceptive sales practices on the part of GRUPO PLAYA DEL SOL (PDSG). On January 2009, I purchased a timeshare at PDSG for $25900 USD, only after lengthy negotiations with PDSG Sales Representatives affirmed that the total purchase price would covered by the sale of my current Timeshares and additional bonus weeks.

At the time of purchase, I made it very clear that I was DEBT-FREE, only a few years from retirement and could not afford nearly $26000 USD in debt. However, I was assured by the PDSG sales representative that, Robert Jones; Director of Royal Vacations would arrange the sale of my timeshares from Velas Vallarta and Westin Regina, as well as the rental of 8 “Playa Del Sol Grand” weeks for a total of $12000 USD ($1500 each).

Before March 2009, I paid off the account balance in full by transferring the debt to my own credit card (When I figured out that I would pay an extra $16796 – or more than 66% in finance charges – for 84 equal monthly installments of $499.13 on a balance of $25130).

To make matters worse, PDSG has achieved this trough an insidious use of deceit, outright lies and other forms of dishonesty. Since August 2009, nobody from Playa del Sol has ever responded to me, my e-mails, and my phone calls. I will not debate the specifics of my case in this public complaint, several points are being reviewed, even now it is difficult to realize how completely I was mislead by PDSG on practically all levels.

The PDSG has refused to my request of the full refund;

I advise to anyone who reads this letter, to take maximum precautions when traveling international the following:

1.      Avoid as much as possible to go to Puerto Vallarta and mostly attend a Timeshare presentation.

2.      Avoid going to Mexico since now I know that PROFECO cannot defend us, American citizens, of the deceitful sales practices that companies such as Playa del sol. This is, because of the “administrative nature” of this office.

I went online and was amazed at the volume of complaints against PDSG on so many websites, including requests to join class action suits. These claims alone, say a lot of this company.

If you have been victim of a timeshare fraud in Mexico and would like to join forces or are and expert on web design and would be interested in creating a discussion forum, please contact me immediately.

Robin

Mi nombre es Elizabeth, les envio este correo para pedir información; el 29 de agosto del 2009 compre una membresía con royal holiday una empresa que vende tiempos compartidos, hace una semana quise utilizarla y me di cuenta que es un fraude pues me piden más dinero, ya que me dicen que tengo que pagar el enganche completamente ya que el enganche lo pague por medio de la tarjeta de credito a 12 meses, además tengo que comprar algo que ellos llaman creditos pues lo que tengo es muy poco y practicamente no me sirve para viajar, la verdad quiero cancelar el contrato y quisiera saber cual es la posibilidad de hacer que ya no se hagan cargos a mi tarjeta a penas tengo que pagar la primer mensualidad a finales de este mes.