Deceitful sales practices

[sadi]

We purchased the timeshare with La Jolla under the understanding that la jolla would find buyers for our two current timeshares at the agreed upon price of $5.00 within six months. At the end of that period when no buyer was found, I demanded reimbursement of the amount I had paid, $15.300 USD. They came back to me requesting another 6 months with the provision that I would be paid the $5.500 USD in equal monthly installments over a 6 month period. At the end of that time if no buyers were found, the Resort would take over ownership, and i would have no further obligation to those timeshares after September 10, 2008. They made the regular six-month payments and paid the $5, 500 in full. I gave them an additional week after September 10 to accept the transfer of ownership of the two timeshares since the sales manager I was dealing with, Ed Chester, was ill.

I sent them the paper work for the timeshare transfers to be signed and returned to me by September 17. The paper work was returned to me unsigned. I sent an email stating that, since I got the papers back unsigned and they obviously had no intention of going forward with the deal, to send me the balance of the money owed me $9, 800 USD. They ignored this and cut off further communication.

Earlier this year, the Resort sent me a bill for the maintenance fees for 2008 and 2009 by email. I responded that since he had voided our contract no monies were due. They responded that I was right and they were sorry for bothering me.

To think that I was going to utilize the service of Fernando Lobato, the sales manager who started this charade, to help me purchase a residence since my wife and I were planning to retire in Mexico, is laughable. It is good that I found out the type person he is and by reflection, the resort itself is, before I invested any additional monies. I have tried since the beginning of this deal to make it work because I was so totally convinced by Mr. Lobato that this was a good deal. Boy, was I wrong. The time and money I have spent money for legal forms, postage, phone calls, and shipping costs to Mexico dealing with the transfer of my current timeshares.

This situation has been the source of considerable aggravation and anxiety for almost two years now. Whereas previously my wife and I had seriously considered relocating to Mexico, we have no desire to visit there again at the moment. It's a shame that a Lobato and Resort La Jolla could make us feel this way. Since this incident happened in trying to find a resolution to getting my money back, I have found other individuals who have also been scammed by them. People like this should have any sales licenses they possess cancelled since they unfortunately represent to an extent the Mexican people.
I am going to dedicate myself to aware future travelers to Mazatlan and Mexico to be careful about going to timeshare presentations since we are not protected by the laws of Mexico or the US.

Review your contract and see if it has any terms that may support you and in any case ask the firm to work something out--many will do something for you in medical situations or other emergencies...if there are any problems you could try to point those out as reasons for breaking the contract as well; finally most of those firms will not sue for the amounts owing after a broken contract such as this, though they may try to report it to your credit agency; you normally are only liable until they re-sell it in any case so if you can find someone to take it, that may also help...if need be world law direct lawyers may also help you break the contract.