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Occidental Grand Cozumel Traveler Review :: "Watch out for Vacation Club scam!"

Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: CHRISTINE CHILSTEDT
I agree with the above post. I ended up buying into the Occidental Vacation Club and could not believe I was so deceived.
I ended up setting up a web site and advertising in google to try to help others from making the same mistake I made. Occidentalresorts.info. Very deceptive sales practices.
The mandatory all inclusive food/liquor package is not to be believed. When we asked about it, they told us it did not pertain to us. We were given the assumption that at our level of membership it did not apply. The additional (not part of maintenance or cost of vacation time share)mandatory all inclusive fees for alochol and food are $4000.00 for a family of four with older children for a week to stay in Occidental Xcaret in the Royal Club, $4000.00 to stay in Royal Hideaway, and $3000.00 to stay in Aruba. You think you are buying the capability of staying at all of the locations.. . Only if you are willing to pay outradgeous prices at time of check in for food and alcohol. Charges are for the week regardless if you are not planning on spending all your time sitting at the beach, and at the resort.
They have only added these mandatory fees at certain locations recently. Existing members are really upset about it.

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Re: Watch out for Allegro Vacation Club scam! - by: Dr D Watt
I have to echo the sentiments here. OVC or Allegro Vacation Club as they used to be called, are really a sociopathic outfit, with lots of promises and very little ability to abide by their side of the contract. They are dishonest, disorganized, double bill for all inclusive charges, change those charges at a whim, and give the impression of being completely impervious to any kind of feedback or even threat of lawsuit. I am amazed that they haven't been hit with a class action suit. They are easily the most sociopathic and untrustworthy outfit I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. I would strongly encourage people to give them a very wide berth.

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Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: Dissatisfied and angry
WOW! I wish I had read these reviews before we went to stay at the Occidental Grand Xcaret. We thought the vacation club would be a worthwhile option for us so we signed up while on vacation there in early June, 2008. We decided the next day to cancel because we realized it wasn't for us and spent the entire week fighting with the vacation club people to try to cancel. We spent more time in their offices than with our family during that entire week. It totally ruined our vacation. The vacation club people were rude and kept telling us we couldn't cancel, until we went to Profeco who is the Mexican agency that deals with these types of disputes. We finally worked out a payment to get out of the contract. What a scam they have going! Once they sign you up, you can't get out of it.

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Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: Elizabeth Bond
We are members of the Occidental Vacation Club and just upgraded to Royal Club. We have not experienced any type of "scam". We stayed at the Gran Flamenco in Punta Cana and it was wonderful and really felt that we got what we payed for. We also spoke to other members before upgrading(my friends who have been part of the club for many years and have advised us that it is worth it). We believe it is worth it!!!! We have absolutely no complaints and had the best time ever. Other friends had their contract looked at by attorneys and it is legitimate. We stayed in a beautiful 1 bedroom apartment that sleeps four overlooking the ocean. We just got back July 17 2008 from the Dominican and are planning on returning in November. We are so happy with our membership that we speak about it to others because it is such a great deal. Hope this will help those who feel that maybe they made a mistake.

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Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: Elizabeth Bond
We are members of the Occidental Vacation Club and just upgraded to Royal Club. We have not experienced any type of "scam". We stayed at the Gran Flamenco in Punta Cana and it was wonderful and really felt that we got what we payed for. We also spoke to other members before upgrading(my friends who have been part of the club for many years and have advised us that it is worth it). We believe it is worth it!!!! We have absolutely no complaints and had the best time ever. Other friends had their contract looked at by attorneys and it is legitimate. We stayed in a beautiful 1 bedroom apartment that sleeps four overlooking the ocean. We just got back July 17 2008 from the Dominican and are planning on returning in November. We are so happy with our membership that we speak about it to others because it is such a great deal. Hope this will help those who feel that maybe they made a mistake.

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Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: C Glenn
The first time we went there, we simply avoided the timeshare sales folks. They do not harass you, but they are trying to make a buck. It is a minor hassle, but you can certainly just ignore them and walk on by.

Our second visit, we decided to listen to the pitch on a rainy morning. The rates for members are from 45 to 55 USD per day, and we bought in for $11k (a supposedly re-po'd unit, whatever that means -- probably just them getting you to pay whatever they can convince you to pay).

Long story short -- I liked the place, and I still do. We've gone about 20 times, and saved way more than 11k in the process. Just make sure, based on how well you like the place and how often you intend to go, that you will save money.

DO THE MATH, and do it right in front of the sales guy. If the timeshare isn't going to save you money over your typical vacation plans in the next 3-5 years, then just don't buy it.

If you bought it without knowing what you were doing, then it's your own fault. I was never promised anything other than an all-inclusive daily rate for being a member. I got exactly what I paid for, and I'm happy with it.

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Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: Dustin
I purchased a vacation club from the now destroyed Caribbean Village Cancun at a Gold level in 2003.. Gold level doesnt exist anymore, neither does my hotel... They have totally changed the way that the club that I bought into works and now to stay at any hotel I have to pay huge upgrade fees which makes my timeshare with Occidental worthless!!

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Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: Catmue
My sister & I stayed at the Grand Flamenco Xcaret in June 2010. We have been traveling extensively in Mexico and the Caribbean for over 30 years and have never bought into any of the club memberships. Unfortunately, this hotel got us at the right moment, with what we now have confirmed as lies, and we bought into it. They have fraudulently charged our credit cards with over $4,000.00 that we did not authorize and are lying about it. Our nightmare has just begun. AMERICANS - DO NOT BUY ANY VACATION CLUB MEMBERSHIPS IN MEXICO.

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Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: Andrew Rochman
We've been members for years and absolutely love it. No scam at all. The person who wrote this does not know what he is talking about.

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Re: Watch out for Vacation Club scam! - by: Jeff Cope
The highest level of membership was Platinum Plus/First Club . At this level members were entitled to access any club property , First Club or Royal Club etc (There is no Royal Club membership level) . Now they have a new GRAND level membership and as GRAND members they are told that they alone will be able to book Royal Club . The Platinum Plus members are now being asked to pay an upgrade fee to book Royal Club !! So in summary ,they have created a new highest level and are CHARGING the old highest level to let them have what they already had !!
And to add insult to injury , any non member can pay for an upgrade to Royal Club when they book through a travel agent . NOT A SCAM ??

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Re: Watch out for Allegro Vacation Club scam! - by: Rosie
I wish I had told the world about my bad experience when I stayed at the Flamenco Xcaret with my family a few years ago. We were approached by the Allegro Vacation Club staff who had a desk (looked like an information desk) close to the building where we stayed. That was the first day we arrived. The second day we were approached again, and finally we thought why not. We ended staying there for hours and hours, they just would not accept a "NO" answer. They came up with gimmicks after gimmicks, and whenever we said No, we are leaving, they called another person to persuade us in signing up. We finally gave in, partly because we were really tired and just wanted to get out of there. But also, they were also very good in convincing you that it was a very good deal. That night we could not sleep as we realized this was not as good as they said, and we would end up losing the money. Grace Berlanga, Verification Legal Officer, was very nice when we were there to sign the contract. However, that changed when we wanted to get out of the contract the next day. She was very rude and said that we signed the waiver for cancellation. So, we are bound by the contract and cannot cancel it since we signed the waiver. We were begging and begging with her, she did not care. She even threatened us to say that we have to remember that we are in her country, we have to be careful! It was very awful, it totally ruined our family vacation. The reason why they agreed to cancel the contract was because I ripped the waiver that she showed us. She did not expect I did that and was fuming... She reported to the manager there that I was being abusive to her, which was not true at all. She told the manager there that I ripped the waiver which I was not supposed to. The manager told us that the company did not need us as their customer, there are plenty of them who wanted to be their clients. We said, if that's the case you should not have given us a hard time in cancelling then. The next morning, we went there again to get our credit card being refunded, again we had to wait for hours and hours.. Finally, it was over.. they provided a cancellation letter with a statement that our payment would be refunded to our credit card. That was lesson learned. Never again wants to see or hear from someone selling timeshare!!!! Especially the Allegro Club de Vacciones Mexico, Allegro Vacation Club, Hotel Allegro Resort Playacar, whatever their names are!! I really hope that people would check the website for reviews by people, I wish I did.

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