Ventas Riveria Maya, S.A. de C.V. (Vida Vacations) review: Vacation Package

On March 16, 2022, my husband and I met with Vidanta and Vida Vacations salespersons at Vidanta Puerto Nuevo, Mexico. We were taken advantage of, mistreated, lied to, coerced, and swindled by Vidanta's and Vida Vacation's salespeople. After 7 excruciating and exhausting hours, being physically moved to 3 different sales areas in the resort, and with 3 different salespersons that day, after we explained to every salesperson we met with that we were not in a place emotionally or financially to make a decision to purchase anything because of the loss of our 2-day old grandson just a month prior, we finally were broken down enough to agree to a purchase of the cheapest offer of the day. The tactics used to coerce us into this purchase were unethical and abusive. After being with our initial salesman, whom we told outright that we couldn’t afford to purchase due to paying for our recently deceased grandson’s funeral and not knowing how much we would need to provide financial support to our son and his wife moving forward after their devastating loss, we were transferred to another saleswoman, who played on our sympathies by telling us a story about how she almost lost her son at birth. After we vehemently refused to purchase a cheaper package from her, we told her we needed to go back to our room. We started walking away from her and she followed us and all but held onto us physically, pleading with us that she would lose her job if we didn’t agree to meet with one more person, and that once we met with that person (who would offer us the best deal of the day), we would be free to go back to our room.

After being transported to a different area of the resort, yet another salesman tried to convince us to purchase. This was approximately 6 hours after we had met with the first salesman. We were visibly exhausted, dehydrated, hungry, and angry. We were offered and served alcoholic beverages at this point. Whether or not Vida Vacations contend we signed a contract and were aware of the conditions of the contract, we were coerced into that contract through fraudulent and unethical practices. In addition, we were never provided any information about the recission policy.

Regarding the contract we signed for the Vida Vacations purchase, we were repeatedly assured that we were able to stay at Vidanta Resorts anytime we wanted to for 100 years, the same as the Vidanta membership (which we said we could not afford) would offer, but the less expensive Vida Vacation package would allow us travel to other resorts and hotels as well. The salesman explained that the Vida Vacation package would also include the bonuses of 1 free week staying at participating Vidanta resorts as well as two free round trip airline tickets, and two resort weeks at Vidanta Puerto Nuevo. The Vida Vacations salesman explained that we would receive more detailed information about our Vida Vacation package and membership privileges within several days of purchase. On March 29, I was told by a Vidanta Memberships representative on the phone that we would be receiving login information to use to access the membership privileges on the Limitless Vacations website within a few days and then we would have access to the details of our package. Not until we filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, 3 months later, did we receive any information about how to log in to create an account and access information about our membership with Vida Vacations/Limitless Vacations. We believe the Vidanta and Vida Vacations salespeople used fraudulent, unethical, and immoral sales tactics to coerce and scam us into the purchase of a vacation package that is not what was verbally described and offered.

In June 2022, we provided documentation to RCI/Barklays of the transaction between my wife and myself and Vidanta/Vida Vacations in March, 2022, which was also provided to the BBB. As noted in that documentation, the credit card company we used to pay for a portion of the vacation package determined the transaction fraudulent and refunded us the total charge of $7,733 paid to Vidanta/Vida Vacations.

Limitless Vacations state they are retaining $5000 of the $12,733 paid by us on March 16, 2022, as they claim this was an "initial membership participation fee" which is non-refundable. Nowhere, in any of the paperwork we received regarding the transaction does it note that $5000 of the total $12,733 charge is an "initial membership participation fee." In June, we included the "Limitless Vacations Purchaser Acknowledgement" form, the "Enrollment Application", a "Payment Receipt Vidanta" and an "Authorized Initial Purchase Amount" form for reference. Again, there was no mention of an "Initial Membership Participation Fee" charge of $5000 in any of that documentation.

We received the "Authorized Initial Purchase Amount" form from the Barklay's/RCI credit card company in the mail almost a month after we purchased the vacation package on March 16, 2022. This was after we notified Vidanta and Limitless Vacations of our dissatisfaction of the purchase and our request for a refund. In this form, "Your Rights If You Are Dissatisfied with Your Credit Card Purchases" are noted. To exercise the right to not pay the remaining amount due on the purchase following trying in good faith to correct the problem with the merchant the following conditions must be true:

"1. The purchase must have been made in your home state or within 100 miles of your current mailing address.” And

“3. You must not yet have fully paid for the purchase."

Since we purchased the vacation package while in Mexico, of course, the purchase was not in our home state or within 100 miles of our address, and we did pay in full. We were never informed of these ridiculous conditions of our customer rights when we applied for the in-house financing (RCI/Barklays Bank credit card.) This is a fraudulent, deceitful business practice on the part of Vidanta and Limitless Vacations, and, also with RCI/Barklays.

As noted in the previous response sent to RCI/Barklays, nowhere in any of the documents provided to us by Vidanta and Vida/Limitless Vacations is there an explanation or description of an initial membership participation fee charge of $12,733 or $5000. The purchase price is noted as "enrollment cost" on the "Limitless Vacations" contract (Number: INE14358) which was attached with my previous response. The $5000 charge on the RCI/Barklays credit card is noted as "Initial Purchase" (document also attached with previous response).

The terms and conditions of the RCI/Barklays credit card were never provided to us at the time we applied for the card. We received a hard copy of the terms and conditions by mail several weeks after we applied for and paid Vidanta/Limitless/Vida Vacations $5000. If we would have received the terms and conditions and been aware of the restrictions regarding being able to dispute charges only if charges were made in our home state or within 100 miles of our home address, we would certainly have not used that card for any part of the purchase. We believe this is part of the fraudulent, deceitful, and unethical business practices of Vidanta and Vida/Limitless Vacations. We have been swindled out of $5000 by Vidanta and Vida/Limitless Vacations and RCI/Barklays. We have received no service or goods for the $5000 charge on the RCI/Barklays credit card. Vida Vacations and RCI/Barklays state they consider this case closed. We do not consider this case closed because the contract has been cancelled by Vidanta or Vida/Limitless Vacations. We will consider this case closed when we are refunded the $5000 charge on the RCI/Barklays credit card.

Moreover, when we received notification by letter in July 2022 that RCI/Barklay’s was investigating our complaint regarding the transaction and charges, we contacted RCI/Barklays by phone. The representative we spoke with assured that the case was closed and the $5000 initial charge as well as the late fees would all be reversed and our account with RCI/Barklays would be closed. We were shocked when we received a bill in August for the $5000 plus interest and late fees.

RCI/Barklays state that Vida Vacations/Vidanta provided a response to our complaint and disputed our accusation of fraudulent business practices. The BBB provided documentation to us that Vida Vacations/Vidanta did not respond to the complaint for fraudulent business practices (see attachment). Why would Vida Vacations/Vidanta not respond to the BBB but would respond to Barklays regarding this transaction, unless Barklays is in corroboration with Vida Vacations? Barklays and Vida Vacations have cooperatively committed fraudulent business regarding the sale of and charges for a vacation property that was not what was presented, and was a transaction that was forced through unethical, immoral, and inhumane methods while we the purchasers were under extreme physical and emotional duress.

As such, we are moving forward with filing complaints with the attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission for fraudulent business practices committed by RCI/Barklays as well as by Vida Vacations/Vidanta.

As shared with several customer service representatives via phone, although we somehow received the "Authorized Initial Purchase Amount" form via US mail from RCI/Barklays almost a month after the transaction in March, we did not receive a statement fromRCI/Barklays until months later. The address on the statement we received was incorrect. It was our correct street address, but an incorrect city and zip code. We never have received an actual credit card from RCI/Barklays. After notifying RCI/Barklays of the incorrect address, it took months to receive another statement and all correspondence ever received from RCI/Barklays continues to have our address incorrect - [edited].

Please see response from the BBB regarding our filed complaint:

BBB Complaint Case# [protected] (Ref#66-[protected]-[protected]-15-3200) 1 message

Better Business Bureau

Mon, Jun 6, 2022 at 4:01 PM

Reply-To: Better Business Bureau To: Renae Ekstrand

Complaint ID#: [protected] Business Name: Vida Vacations

A few weeks ago, you filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Serving North Central Texas and requested assistance in resolving a dispute with Vida Vacations. We have made several attempts to contact the business regarding the matter and we regret to inform you that the business has failed to make a good faith effort to address your concerns. As such, your complaint has been closed out as 'unresolved,' which is a negative disposition and will impact the business' rating with BBB.

What will happen to my complaint now that it's been closed? The business' failure to adequately address your concerns is taken seriously. An unresolved complaint closure is reported on a business' public profile for three years and may negatively impact their rating with BBB. If the business is accredited with BBB, it will also negatively impact their Accreditation status.

While BBB is not an enforcement agency and cannot compel a business to respond to a complaint or provide a desired resolution, your complaint has provided valuable information for our records and is viewable to the public to help influence other potential customers. Millions of consumers and businesses utilize the information found on bbb.org each year to make purchasing decisions and find businesses they trust. It is our belief that future customers may factor the business' failure to address your complaint into their final purchasing decisions.

What if the business provides a response to BBB at a later date? We have notified the business of the negative case closure and impact on their BBB rating. This communication may prompt the business to provide the requested information, but we cannot guarantee it. If we receive any additional correspondence from the business about the matter, we will be sure to contact you.

What if the business provided a response directly to me and resolved my complaint? Great! Please confirm this fact in writing via the caselink, email ([protected]@nctx.bbb.org), fax [protected]), or postal mail and we will update the case accordingly. You may access your complaint caselink below:

http://dallas.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/91654990/c/h9hk9k.

Is there anyone else who can help me? If you made a purchase using a credit card, you may wish to open a dispute with your credit card company. They will have a separate process to investigate the complaint and try to make contact with the business.

You may want to contact your local Attorney General's Office, any regulatory agencies for this industry, and/or the Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov) to file a complaint as well.

Depending on the nature of your complaint, you may wish to seek legal advice.