Playa de las Palmas review: scam 10

My sister and I bought there as well in February of 2016, and became members of HSI (like RCI). The connected us with a guy name Ian Johnston in New York, who was supposed to buy our existing timeshare from us. We paid him $3k. I was able to reach him a few times and of course he told me he hadn't received any info yet from our timeshare place. 6 months in, his phone was disconnected, his website and email address gone. Now we still own 2 timeshares. Because of the way it worked, we were not allowed to come back and stay there for 5 years, except through HSI. Well, we are going this May and again in August. I plan to show up at their office and run off and potentials if I can, while trying to get to the bottom of this. We still own the timeshare there, but the ripoff came with the other guy...who was THEIR go-to guy for buying our timeshare. I plan to get some answers!

We just returned from same place and think we got out of the contract because we returned our papers to them with in 8 days as stated. The new "company" site is playasdelaspalmas.com. We could not find this when down there. These folks are very slick. But when we went to web to search could find nothing. The offered to buy our 4 time shares for 3 x what we originally paid for them and give us lots of other goodies which we could not track down. Because it was late we only signed part of the contracts and returned next day and they wanted us to sign so thy could get our time shares. We did not and left. Got local lawyer and served notice of cancellation and returned all papers before the 8 day cooling off period but had not heard back from anyone there since returning home.

Beware. Maybe enough for a CBS 60 minutes investigation?

We ran into the same situation when we foolishly bought into Playa de Las Palmas (Las Palmas Travel Network) in March 2014. They promised the purchase of our existing timeshare through a company called Timely Travel and payment within 300 days. TT is a phony company with an address in Sioux Falls and phone calls / emails go unanswered. Complaints to the State of Florida Consumer Protection and then mailed to TT have been returned. My last call with them was answered by someone who didn't recognize any of the names in the offer letter, insisted I needed to send all my questions via email (a travel company without phone operators?) and promised customer service would call me back (they didn't). LPTN insists they have nothing to do with TT and therefore won't help so I'm pursuing this through the CC company. BTW, charged me $5, 000 more than the contract stated and won't respond to my questions. I have filed with the FTC, FBI and AG of Florida as well as BBB in SD and CA. BTW, LPTN's mailing address is a Postal Annex box.

The link to file a complaint to the FBI is: https://complaint.ic3.gov/default.aspx?
Also mention this report: http://news.co.cr/buyer-beware-timeshare-scams-in-guanacaste/31935/
Buyer Beware: Timeshare Scams in Guanacaste

Carol, The only thing you can do is fill out an Ic3 form with the FBI online and contact your assemblyman at The Attorney Generals office.
The Justice Dept cant help an individual if there case is less than 100.000, but they can help a group. Everyone scammed by this needs to fill out the form to help each other.
Things avoid in Costa Rica especially in the town of Coco Beach. = Anything that has the words Las Palmas or Bahia Turquesa involved, Billy R Hood, Monique Kinsey, Randy McIntyre, Café de Playa which is where they do this deceitful timeshare buyout scam.
If anyone approaches you about a free anything JUST WALK AWAY NOW! It all starts at Coco Adventure Tours avoid this business all together.

My husband and I bought into las palmas residence club last year Feburary 2014. We were promesed that they would tale all my timeshares and vacation clubs. We would never have another maintance fee to pay.The sales people Caro;ine and Shawn also told us we would receive a check for 30, 000 when they got my Kona Hawaii timeshare.They kept us at this costa rican sales meeting for 7 and a half hours.It was a scam.They wanted 30, 000 dollars sent to bank of america within 15 days.We sent the money. Im stuck with 5weeks from las palmas.I now have 15 weeks. Nine weels of timeshare and 5 weeks las palmas. They even put it in my contract that they would take my vacation clubs and timeshares and send me a check for 30.000 dollars.If anyone can help me resolve my contract please E Mail me at carolsylvester46@yahoo.com

I also was scammed by this company. I signed up 5yrs ago under influence of alcohol and bought 1bdrm but was shown 2bdrm and was told its same version just smaller..yah right.. and the name of condos keeps changing? Then 2 years ago I bought into Miramar Residence Club which doesnt even exist and also paid monies into Optimus Inventory Distribution which I tried several times by phone/email to contact person representing me only to get bad phone number or the person didn't exist in the company? Shame on all of you for your manipulations and shame on me for signing up not just once but twice! I'm now seeking legal action to remove myself entirely from the written contract. Their Karma is waiting for them!

We also fell for the same scam. Please tell us if you have had any success with getting legal action.

We were also scammed by the resort representative at Coco Sunset Beach to purchase a timeshare at Playas de las Palmas. Omnicorp Development were to sell our other timeshares at a profit to us which never occurred and we were to receive rental income from the resort in Costa Rica. We also want to pursue a complaint to the government of Costa Rica against organizations like this that take advantage of tourists visiting. We are owners of other timeshares and can't believe how we fell for this scam. Any help to recover our money would be appreciated. I am also looking into filing a complaint in the US with our Attorney General. Connie

I'm sorry you got scammed by this company, but you should always research before making a deal with any kind of company. There is a company called Mexican Timeshare Solutions that can give you a free consultation on your matter, you should contact them to see how you can proceed against legally against them, this is their website:

http://www.timesharescam.com/