There are two basic classes of refunds, the
simple "5 day" rescinding of your contract, and all others. Following is a
breakdown of these two types.
The Simple 5 day Cancellation
The 5 Day Cancellation is your legal right
and most people are successful if they follow my instructions and do not give
up. You have the law on your side for this and you will just need to keep
demanding your rights under Mexican law.
To protect your right to cancel within 5 days of signing
your contract you must immediately send
notification of your intent to cancel and exercise your rights under ARTICLE 56
OF Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor. If you are outside of the 5
day period, go to the next section.
You need to send your cancellation by a means that you can easily prove
that you complied with Article 56. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Since you have reached this page via
the internet, we recommend that you send your cancellation notice by email.
You can make up your own letter, or you use a copy of our standard cancellation
letter that is found on our RESOURCES Webpage.
I recommend copying and editing our standard letter since it is easier on you,
and the resort will recognize the basic format and know that you are being help
and you are not going to be easily ignored.
Whatever cancellation letter you choose, you should email
your cancellation to
all email addresses that are listed anywhere on your contract.
You can also go to the resort's webpage and find additional email addresses
there. You should
also AT A MINIMUM copy yourself, and PROFECO (the Mexican Federal Consumer Protection Agency
at:
extranjeros@profeco.gob.mx ) on your email. I strongly recommend that
you also include US and Mexican Government agencies, and any travel agent or
travel advisory groups as you can find on your cancellation email. You can
find additional email addresses on the Resources Webpage
under Email Listing. The more public you make this cancellation, the
better. You do not want the resort to ignore you and you want ABSOLUTE
PROOF that you cancelled within 5 days. Yes, this
can be an overkill, but do you want your money back or not? If you
feel guilty for being "heavy handed", AFTER you get your money back you can
apologize for being an ass.
Important Note: Make sure the email address for the
resort is the resort's email address and NOT the personal address of your
salesman. Some salespeople are starting to "trick" victims by giving them
a personal email address for any contacts. You must cancel with the
resort.
If your email system
allows, you should request delivery confirmation
and a return receipt. In MS Outlook these features can be found by
clicking the "OPTIONS" button. If you are in Mexico and do not
have email access, go find an internet cafe, go to
www.yahoo.com and get a free email account,
and then send your cancellation email. If you decide to cancel in person,
you ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE A PROVABLE RECORD of the cancellation. This means
a duplicate copy of your cancellation letter signed by a resort official.
(see the Home page under "New Timeshare Scam" about how people are being scammed
a second time). Even with
dozens of witnesses, the only way you are going to make the cancellation stick
is with a provable record of the cancellation and the best is by email with copies to
yourself and to PROFECO.
Advanced Refunds - All other Cancellations
To fight back outside of the 5 day cooling off period you
need to understand some basic facts of life. You are outside of the 5 day
cancellation period and you have very limited rights. You need to
understand that much of the Mexican Government is corrupt, and while you think that you still have rights under specific articles of Ley Federal de Protección al
Consumidor, listed on our Your Rights page; you
really do not. If you
have concrete evidence that the timeshare company violated your rights under an
article, such as Article 32, your can try to file a formal complaint with PROFECO, the Mexican Consumer Protection
Agency, but PROFECO has limited authority and the honest workers that use to be
at PROFECO do not seem to be them any more. Your complaint must include documentation showing that the
resort violated specific articles of Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor.
In some cases of these timeshare and vacation packages, this is can be done by
comparing what you received versus what is clearly spelled out in the contract
you signed, but in most cases the resorts are very careful not to give you any
real evidence of any wrongdoing. Do not even bother with a complaint based
upon "what the salesperson told you".
Any formal complaint will need to be well written and documented. You can
see samples of successful complaints and a generic formal complaint through our
Resources page.
It will be difficult to argue a claim that "the salesperson
said this" because you have no proof and they will deny it. Even if
you have what you think is good evidence, you are going to encounter corrupt
Mexican Government officials who will totally ignore out-right fraud on the part
of the Mexican Timeshare company. At one time there were some honest
employees in PROFECO who were trying to make a difference, but as you can guess,
these people were eventually replaced by corrupt individuals who were more
willing to work on behalf of the timeshare companies.
For the most part,
When all else fails, there are two approaches left to you.
You can try to negotiate a reduction in your contract, or your can
go to war
against the timeshare company. You need to remember that all of these timeshare and vacation package
companies are businesses. In the end they will do what is best for their
business. They are trying to make a profit and in the end you need to make it
more profitable for them to refund your money. If you can threaten their
business and their image by telling enough people, they will refund your money
to shut you up, because they always have a dozen more tourists/suckers on the
next flight down to Mexico.
