Sandos Resort review: New Scam 33

Is this representative Adrian or Raul? Adrian also offered me a 10% discount in a hopes that would get me not to cancel. But that just reinforces my desire to cancel. You see the sales manager, Mike, had already offered me $4500 off my initial price because I was questioning things. Adrian ignored that and insisted I was required to pay the original price and would only get this 10% discount. Misrepresenting things in a sales pitch I expect. But not honoring a negotiated price I had in writing ( unfortunately not with signatures) is a Mac truck hitting you sign that this company is built on fraudulent behavior.

I signed contract with Royal Elite Club upon arrival at the Sandos Caracol resort on December 21, 2014 (my first day of vacation), after a time-pressured 3 hour sales presentation which included stronger than usual alcohol and hard-to follow explanations.
Given that I was on vacation, with limited time and limited access to the internet, I did not research Royal Elite Vacation Club in very much depth. Now that I have arrived back home to Canada, I find that I was led to believe certain things in the presentation that are not included in the contract. For example: I was led to believe that Royal Elite Membership includes "all-inclusive" stays at the Sandos resorts for 2 people – ie no extra charge – all I would have to pay was the airfare. This is not true. Also, that the Elite Weeks that we bought could be taken at any time and could be easily sold. Again, not true.
In addition, this club does NOT have a very good reputation and is considered a scam by many former members as well as consumer advocate groups within Mexico itself.
I contacted PROFECO representative by phone and asked for advice. I have been told to send cancellation request letter by registered mail and wait for 2 weeks for Royal Elite response. I sent this letter and also sent an email to every Royal Elite email address I could find and I asked to cancel my contract. ”, sales rep who sold me this contract reassured me on the phone that contract could be cancelled, but I will lose my down payment of $6K usd because I did not cancel it within 5 days (“cooling off” period she didn’t mention to me before). She told me that she emailed her director, who also promised to help me, but she refused to forward that email to me, saying that she might get in trouble. I have not heard from her since… Customer Service representative is refusing to cancel, offering me a small 10% discount and keep threatening me to "send the contract to the legal department and to collection or the credit buro" as per his email.

We also bought a Royal Elite timeshare membership and was promised everything was included, including the all-inclusive. So we figured our membership cost amortized would be $250 a week and our weekly managemnet fee of $200 would give us a nice vacation for around $500 a week. Upon making our first reservation I find they want $155 per person per night. Now that makes for a $2, 600 week not including transportation or airfare.

http://www.timesharescam.com/timeshare-complaints-resorts-black-list/6-royal-elite-sandos-timeshare-complaints/

I am going throw it now been looking for something to confirm what I was thinking. Been waiting for them to tell me there is a problem and ask for money. This site is what I have been looking for.

MERUT, I am very sorry for you and your family as well. Since I realized that I was scammed, and tried to call them all (to no avail), I have rec'd (however, I missed the calls) 2 calls from Mexico. They did not leave a message, but I am sure that had I been able to answer, they would have told me they are still trying to get me my money, and tried to scam me out of even more money. I hope that all involved in this scheme to rip us off pay dearly for their nefarious ways...God knows how much they have rec'd from people like us - either Sandos related or who knows what others.

My suggestion to you is to try and rent out some of your weeks - BUT DON'T GO THRU A "PAID" RENTAL/AD COMPANY...(I fell for that one too, when we bought at Sandos). But then, I found a free company, and went thru them to list my rental. The company is called www.vacationtimesharerentals.com and I placed a free ad for a year. Since doing that, I got bookings, and now repeat customers, and then friends of theirs. And I did not place either a free, or paid ad, since then - so it's just been word of mouth.

I and My retired parents are in the exact same bind as pt63, I have been dealing with Realty services group and Victoria, Vanessa, Marcus and representatives from the Mexican government. We ran into the same snags and paid the fees requested from us. We have made it as far as a cashiers check is supposed to have been sent to us overnight by FedEx and FedEx has no record of a shipment being sent in my name or my address. They still answer their office phones but put me on hold while they transfer me, 5 minutes later and no one picks up. My parents are both retired and on fixed incomes and I really didn't have the money just laying around either. Sad to say I researched as much as I could and everything looked on the up and up, I was even contacted by a different Realty company with another buyer and sent them everything I had received from sentinel and realty services group and they said it looked legit and that they weren't allowed to try and take my business away because I had already signed a committment letter, guess there is honor among thieves after all...

Yes, I have booked - no problems. As to the above comment you speak of - kmaxmac, I am not sure which one you are referring to. I am the one who was scammed, for 6k (pt63). I have clients at Sandos right now, as I type this.

Royal Elite timeshare sales associates are willing to tell you basically anything that you want to hear just to get you to sign, you should be able to ask as many questions as you have, you should be able to sleep on the decision you are about to make, specially is we are talking thousands of dollars, you should be able to review the hotel and the contract, if the contract is not giving to you to read it and review it.. THEN DO NOT SIGN, it means that everything you have being hearing during the presentation is a total and utter lie. This is another forum with more complaints about this resort:

http://www.timesharescam.com/timeshare-complaints-resorts-black-list/6-royal-elite-sandos-timeshare-complaints/

Thank you mhadley and others for your support. I talked to Gustavo at Royal Elite yesterday, he just happened to call (unfortunately, not soon enough) and warn me of a scam. I told him too late, I already sent them money. Anyway, I sent him documentation of emails, etc. and this was his reply back to me:
"I am looking at the documents that you are sending me, and I am almost speechless, I can’t believe how these people are capable to do such a terrible thing, they should definitely get a job! You should not be ashamed of what happened to you, as you say there is Karma, sooner or later they will be punished. Those news articles are also fake.
I have been calling members almost half of my day of work today, and I can’t leave because of how bad I feel of all the emails that I am receiving from members like you. I do not remember if I mentioned to you this, if you take a look at the contract that you have with us, on page 10, twelfth assignment:
“The member will only be able to assign or transfer the contract rights with prior written consent of Royal Elite, and when the member is current and up date with it payment obligations”
Never again even think about doing business with third companies trying to sell or transfer your membership, we can surely help you or assist you any time. Now a days the resort is full, for that reason we are not able to sell memberships to our new visitors, we have created a list of those new clients interested in purchasing memberships from us and wait until existing owners like you want to sell or relinquish the membership. When the perfect match is found (buyer and seller), we are able to transfer the membership from the owner to the transferee. That way you can get your investment back.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions."
I also shared with him a list of the phone numbers these crooks used - PLEASE DON'T FALL VICTIM AS I DID...HERE ARE THE PHONE NUMBERS INVOLVED IN THIS SCAM THAT CALLED ME:
From Mexico [protected] (Supposedly Banamex)
Oregon - [protected] (Realty Services Group)

Oregon - [protected] (Realty Services Group)

Tennessee - [protected] (This was supposedly from the Intermediary Bank, Financial Solutions (?))

Oregon - [protected]

Mexico - [protected] (supposedly the buyer)

Oregon - [protected] (Sentinel Properties)

PLEASE, DON'T FALL FOR THIS LIKE I DID. FOLLOW GUSTAVO'S RECOMMENDATION AND CONTACT SANDOS DIRECTLY IF YOU WISH TO SELL YOUR TIMESHARE. I HOPE THIS INFORMATION HELPS OTHERS AVOID BEING SCAMMED.

Thank you mhadley. I just yesterday got a call from Gustavo at Royal Elite, and here is what he said in his email/newsletter that he sent to me yesterday. I had sent him a bunch of documents/emails that I had received during the course of this.
FROM ROYAL ELITE: I am looking at the documents that you are sending me, and I am almost speechless, I can’t believe how these people are capable to do such a terrible thing, they should definitely get a job! You should not be ashamed of what happened to you, as you say there is Karma, sooner or later they will be punished. Those news articles are also fake.
I have been calling members almost half of my day of work today, and I can’t leave because of how bad I feel of all the emails that I am receiving from members like you. I do not remember if I mentioned to you this, if you take a look at the contract that you have with us, on page 10, twelfth assignment:
“The member will only be able to assign or transfer the contract rights with prior written consent of Royal Elite, and when the member is current and up date with it payment obligations”
Never again even think about doing business with third companies trying to sell or transfer your membership, we can surely help you or assist you any time. Now a days the resort is full, for that reason we are not able to sell memberships to our new visitors, we have created a list of those new clients interested in purchasing memberships from us and wait until existing owners like you want to sell or relinquish the membership. When the perfect match is found (buyer and seller), we are able to transfer the membership from the owner to the transferee. That way you can get your investment back.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions."

ALSO, HERE IS A LIST OF ALL THE PHONE NUMBERS THAT I SPOKE TO DURING THIS...BEWARE OF ANY CALLS FROM THESE:
From Mexico [protected]
Oregon - [protected]

Oregon - [protected]
Tenessee - [protected] (This was supposedly from the Intermediary Bank)

Oregon - [protected]

Mexico - [protected] (supposed the buyer)

Oregon - [protected]

Like Gustavo told me - IF YOU WANT TO SELL YOUR TIMESHARE, CONTACT SANDOS DIRECTLY.

pt63, so sorry this happened to you. I have to say I really wanted to do this, but my husband said NO WAY. Thanks for educating us all and saving us tons of money. We have our answer, when they call back I will tell them never to call again and leave us alone. You are right they truly are ###. Take care.

Follow Up...TOTAL SCAM! They got me for over 6k - boy do I feel stupid. Whatever you do, do NOT fall for their BS. Once I told them they wiped me out of every penny I had, and I was done, not one single person has returned my emails or my calls. I hope they all rot in hell - from David Benson @ Sentinel Properties, to Victoria at Realty Services Group and the rest of the losers there, and the people that literally called from Mexico - my wish is that you all enjoy what you stole from me and others, because Karma is a [censored], and you will get yours. ### of the earth... I hope you suffer greatly.

We were contacted by phone and email by JDB Enterprises. They offered us $ for our timeshare saying that we were going to lose it! My hair went up and I started googling information. That is how I got here. Thank you all, and I am so sorry for those who got scammed by these horrible people. They should put their efforts into philanthropic endeavors for the good of us all!

Yes, this is most definitely a scam. Received one last call from "David Benson" - told him that no way was I able to fly to Mexico to sign papers in person and would not send any money despite "insurance" so we ended the call. The information above just reinforces that. Hopefully this is the end of contact from them and I expect that I will get additional calls from something similar but under a different name. Already got a call and letter from someone purporting to be leading a class action suit for those that have been scammed but he wanted money too so I said no. At this point I'd rather hold on to what I have instead of trying to get more.

Royal Elite timeshare sales associate are willing to tell you basically anything that you want to hear just to get you to sign, you should be able to ask as many questions as you have, you should be able to sleep on the decision you are about to make, specially is we are talking thousands of dollars, you should be able to review the hotel and the contract, if the contract is not giving to you to read it and review it.. THEN DO NOT SIGN, it means that everything you have being hearing during the presentation is a total and utter lie. here is another blacklist of this hotel and how many other people were scam by this resort:

http://www.timesharescam.com/timeshare-complaints-resorts-black-list/6-royal-elite-sandos-timeshare-complaints/

THIS A SCAM! I reported earlier that I was looking for proof that this was not a scam. We'll I was this close to paying the money when I made one more phone call. I called the Oregon Attorney General to check on their license number that they gave out so freely. They gave me the original phone numbers registered with the licenses (Sentinel Properties & Realty Services group). I called the Sentinel property # and Dan picked up. When I asked about his business he immediately said he is in property management but he does not handle time shares & if that's what I'm calling about then it's a scam! His name is David Benson but he goes by Dan. He said he was contacted by Richard (who has a Spanish accent) to pay him for his license. I told him that David benson was contacting me with a Spanish accent as well. Long story short, they are making people believe they are from companies that they are not. HUGE SCAM! The best I've ever seen!

Thank you so much for the detailed response. I am sincerely sorry for what you have and are going through and I really hope you get your money. If not you may have saved many other people from being scammed. I fell for a scam last year and lost a couple of hundred dollars so I am very leery when I get calls now to "sell my timeshare". I just replied to their email and told them not to contact me again.

I am one of the ones who "maybe" fell for this. I am not sure where I currently stand with this. First, I was contacted over a month ago from Sentinel Properties, who then provided an offer. I was told the whole process would take about 1-2 weeks max and not a penny would come out of my pocket - again, this is well over a month ago and it's still not completed. I accepted the offer, then was handed off to Realty Services Group out of Bend, Oregon. As I thought everything was going along smoothly, I suddenly got a phone call from Realty Svcs, and the "buyer" (Soriana), telling me that because of the fraud the owners of Sandos have committed over the years, that the proper paperwork for my timeshare purchase was not done as it should have been, and that the "deed" was missing - so could I fly to Mexico for 15 or so days to get the documents and have items notarized? Absolutely not I said. Well, then the other option is you can pay $1900 in fees, and someone in Mexico will handle this for you - but no worries, the buyer is paying this fee back to you (guaranteed) with escrow - and even if the sale does not take place, then you will still get your money. Well, the $1900 sounded much cheaper than flying to Mexico and I have a guarantee... no brainer. OK. I wired the money (maybe the first, but not last stupid thing I have done). Seriously, within one day or two days, I got the "proof" that my documents are now good to go thru with the Mexican government - and now they can wire me the money...
WOO HOO. Uh oh, another snag. Now, I need to pay for the capital gains taxes to Mexico. The buyer has increased the escrow by this GUARANTEED amount as well. It's over $4, 000 - and I need to wire this to Mexico to pay the Capital Gains, before I can get my money - the fees MUST be paid by the Seller, me. They send me documentation (notarized) and a letter about the guaranteed payment. Okay. My radar is up, but I am still thinking it's legit - and (next stupid thing I do), I send them this money (that I had to borrow)... Guess what...this was about 10 days ago - I am still in contact with Realty Services, the Intermediary Bank, etc. Now, there is a problem with getting the money into my account - and there is a fee of $2065.00 that needs to be deducted from the wire (which has now been increased AGAIN and includes THIS fee), and now I am supposed to have my bank say it is okay for this amount to be deducted from the wire that is to be deposited to my account. I have told them I have no more money to pay - and it was all supposed to be AT NO FEES TO ME. So, this is where I am in this process. If I see a DIME, I will be surprised. Right now, all I really want is the 6k that I am out... I think it's BS, and I probably got scammed. If so, then I hope they all rot in hell. Either way, this is on their conscience - and karma is a ###. I'm still unsure - but I will let you all know if I get back my GUARANTEED monies.

I received a call today from David Benson of Sentinel Properties and received the information below in an email. They don't even have my correct name. Did anyone else receive a similar email? They also spelled utmost incorrectly.

Due to legal circumstances and status of your resort we are presenting open options regarding your Sandos membership.
You will be provided with all the necessary documentation and proof that this is a legitimate transaction handled by a serious and professional company. The intent of fraud will never apply in our company policy. You will be treated with the outmost respect by our Real Estate Agents certified in International Transactions.

I am going through the same process with Sentinel Properties as everyone else.
Did anyone successfully liquidated their time share and received a "good" check or money transfere yet? It seems that people who were contacted, like me, are all still in process...

about only contacting American members is not true, we are Canadian and have gotten the same calls from Sentinel Properties. we have researched media and news about Sandos owners being charged for tax evasion. It is all over the mexican news, now whether they will go into receivership or not, whether another corporate company is standing by to take over, we don't know. they called me today because they hadn't heard from us since the proposal was sent to us, asking if we had a chance to think this over. I told them that I was still not convinced they were ligit. He also told me about the owner-wanna-be's, being a food chain corporation who are trying to get 51% of the contracts so they can get control. once they have reached the 51%they will no longer be contacting other members, you will loose your contract and it will no longer be valid. this is what I have been told do I beleive it I just do not know.

Sentinel Properties has been calling me stating that they represent the new owner of Sandos and Royal Elite. I demanded proof of the sale of Sandos and who the new owners were. What I got from Sentinel Properties did not show a sale nor new owners. However, the Liquidation Offer did say there were new owners . The Broker at Sentinel Properties told me that "upon sentencing of the current owners, the Bank would seize the properties" (Sandos) and that they represent Soriana, who will be the new owners. From my research, Soriana, a Mexican Corporation, owns grocery stores in Mexico. In my opinion, Soriana is trying to position themselves to take over the properties, if and when, the current owners of Sandos lose the property. The Liquidation Offer is just that. The Broker told me that Sentinel is trying to obtain Letters of Intent from 51% of the Royal Elite owners in order to move forward with the take over, if and when the current owners are sentenced. A Letter of Intent does not mean that Sentinel Properties will pay you any money or buy you out as they say. I told Sentinel Properties that this morning, since they have been calling every day. Hopefully they will now leave us alone.

We were contacted by Sentinel Properties & Realty Services group to liquidate our contracts as well. Everything was fine till the told us we had to fly to Mexico for a couple weeks so the Mexican government could notarize a release document. If we didn't want to do that we could pay $3318 strait to the Mexican Government for their attorneys to draw the papers for us. We didn't do it. Still looking for more evidence that this is not a scam...

What - specifically - did royal elite tell you to believe it wasn't true? Did they address the tax evasion and also their current financials? I really don't know who to believe. You invest a solid chuck of change to 'hear' your membership could become invalid w/no reimbursement. I would like to know some concrete info regarding why we should not be concerned as well as what other valid options are available.

All-
I too was contacted, actually hounded, by Sentinel Properties regarding the same complaint as above. So I wanted to share my thoughts. My wife and I were actually at Sandos Playacar last week for vacation. I specifically asked them about this issue. The response that I got is that it isn't true. They (Sandos) have received many calls from RE members asking about this scam. The calls are only coming from American members and they think that someone may have hacked their system to gain information. They are investigating it with the authorities in Mexico to find out what has happened.
Also, I want to point out that while we were there we witnessed several improvements to the property beging done. They were landscaping, painting buildings, replacing the roof of the Mediterranean restaurant, etc. These are not behaviors that I would expect from a company that is in financial trouble. I am considering the issue closed and I'm not concerned any longer since I saw with my own eyes what is going on down there.
Hopefully this helps someone be more at ease. My recommendation is don't sell.

Brian

I received a call from Sentinel Properties regarding our timeshare in Sandos - they stated that Soriana S.A. DE C.V. wants to buy me out. I have also received calls from Realty Services Group (Bend Oregon) who is supposedly handling the transaction and escrow. I recently received a call from Marcos Alrcon from "Secretaria de Turismo Gobierno del Estado" who is presumably looking after my interest. I received a followup set of emails containing scanned documents "showing" an amount in escrow and documentation that Soriana has paid all Mexico fees. I'm not sure what is next in this process...I will of course, send no money to anyone, have my bank handle and receipt of funds into a totally separate account etc. Always skeptical of "offers" and look for the scam. Not sure where it is yet in this one - will let others know either way as this develops. On the flip side, so far I've been contacted by around 6 people over the course of two weeks. Seems like the scam has to be substantial in order to make it worthwhile for so many people and so much time.

I got this same email! Adrian from Royal Elite finally returned my email. The Sentinel thing is a scam! Don't do it. Email royal elite for further info.

Firts of all, sorry if i misspell something, im from Mexico, so english isnt my foreing lenguage. Now, about the topic, i didn't got any email from a company or something, i just got a little mail from a person who also have the same problem, he got this mail of "sentinel properties" wanting to buy his membership too so i started to investigate and found in a local newspaper about this. I found that the owners of the resorts get arrested in spain because a fraud in CAM, and the governor of Cancun said that any of the hotels have risk of be confiscated at the moment.
I dont know if this information can be helpfull for you, but it's all i know about this

Same here. I even called the Real Estate Agengy of Oregon (gov agency) and Sentinel is listed with them. That, of course, doesn't necessarily mean anything. I also talked to them on the phone and when I asked them for references to make sure they are reputable, they said I first need to send them a copy of my contact - which I will absolutely not do. If this does not smell of fraud, I don't know what does.

We also got calls from a company offering to buy our contract because a new corp is taking over Sandos & supposedly our contract would be invalid. They even emailed a paper making the offer, asking for our contract number & asking for a signature to sell to them. I deleted it. I believe it was from Sentinel Properties? If this is legitimate what's in it for them to purchase our contract so we won't lose money. Please let us know what you find out. We don't know what to believe either.

i just got the same call, but it was from a company that was hired by the new corp. that is buying sandos, wanting me to liquidate, so i do not loose any money, they are going to send me some paper work to look over. not sure what to belive