We met Ed Harris, working as Smart Web Vacation (SWV) in Playa del Carmen while on vacation at one of the timeshares we own. We could buy a vacation program, which we would access on their website and he would then get us in touch with Vacation Property Shop (VPS) to sell our 3 timeshares. We used credit cards to cover the cost of SWV (Ed Harris). The next day we went back to get out of the contract and he talked us into keeping the contract intact. We did. I took a picture of Ed Harris but he took my phone and erased his picture.
After we got home from Mexico they contacted us and got us in touch with VPS and Walter Robbins. We wanted to get out of our 3 timeshares so we were willing to trust them. We sent a downpayment to VPS to get the sale initiated. We also sent them the contract numbers of our 3 properties. They would find a buyer for all of them. VPS then said they had a buyer and a closing would be within a month.
Just as the "closing" was to happen we got a call and an email. Now there is a 16% IVA tax that we need to pay on all 3 properties. At that time we said we would sell 2 of our timeshares as this was getting quite expensive. On 5/29/18 we wired the money for 2 of our properties. Still we were promised the buyer was ready to buy 2 timeshares. Within a few days we got another call and email that we need to pay a 28% ISR tax on the same 2 properties. Now we could afford only to sell 1 timeshare as the money was getting out of hand but on 6/7/18 we wired the money for just one of our properties.
After we wired the money on the one property, VPS said that wouldn't work as the buyer wanted both properties and we needed to send the 28% ISR tax on both. We said we couldn't pay any more except for the one property and we were at a standstill. They simply said the buyer didn't want just one. They no longer answer emails and they have not contacted us with a new buyer that would want the one property that we paid all the taxes on. Obviously, this was a scam all along.
These people are ruthless, pretend to be a friend, get you feeling good about getting out of timeshares and then take the money and you never hear from them again. We have sure learned a hard lesson. We don't want to say the amount of money we sent to them as it is just ludicrous and embarrassing. I don't understand how anyone can do this to another person. Shame on them all. Ed Harris, Walter Robbins, Sarah Wilford, Megan Cohen and I'm sure there are many more.
They are now called Worldwide Holiday Store.com. Save on Resorts in California, works with these people. Look up their info on the BBB website. Their office in Playa Del Carmen is Paseo Coba Local 215. They have Matt and George Lane-fox there, both have the British/English accent. There is also a lady from Canada there. They also work with Oceanside Property Group in Guadalajara, Mexico that is a total scam also. It is the same thing. We have done substantial research on the Mexican laws and have filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission here in the US as well with PROFECO and SAT (Mexico's IRS). I know Sarah still works there because I have spoken with her over the phone.
On march 6 i paid smart web vacations 93,312 mxn pesos, which was charged to my mastercard. At the time i was told that i would be able to cancel the agreement within 48 hours - and obtain a full refund.
However, later that evening i spent some time researching smart web vacations and discovered several complaints on yscam about that company. There were also some negative comments on tripadvisor. Based upon the negative comments that i saw, i decided to ask for my money back.
The next day, i returned to smart web's office in playa del carmen, but found that the manager was far from willing to give me a refund. After insisting that he give me the refund, he finally went and produced a letter which said, in part: "membership with smart web vacations is cancelled. A full refund wil be issued within 15 business days...Mastercard ending in... Will be refunded in the amount of 93,312 mxn pesos.
After waiting more than 15 business days - and without having received a credit back on my credit card, i began attempting to contact smart web vacations. I began by sending an email to the email address that was given on the manager's business card. After that failed to produce any results, a few days later, i phoned the number on the card. After several attempts, someone finally answered the phone. Eventually, the manager got on the phone and began to offer an excuse why the money hadn't been credited back to me. He said that the company's bank was unable to process the refund, but that smart web had not been made aware that the refund had not gone through, which was why no other attempt had been made to refund the money.
Instead, i was told, a wire transfer could be made to my bank account. Several days later i finally saw money deposited to my account, but it was well short of the amount that smart web had promised would be refunded. I began a long series of email exchanged with someone who went by the initials vlo. I also spoke with her over the phone. She kept assuring me that the balance of what i was owed would be deposited to my account.
After waiting another week - and without anything further deposited to my account, i emailed that i was going to start posting negative comment about smart web online, including on yscam. Then, on april 11, i received an email saying that my "refund is being processed as we speak."
When no refund appeared, i wrote to vlo that i was going to begin posting about my experience with smart web. Today i received an email from someone else who claims to be with the "legal department" of smart web, saying that i would not be receiving anything further by way of refund.
As well, i ihad nitiated a dispute with my credit card company 15 days ago, but it will take some time to obtain a resolution through that process - if one is available.
So, my warning to anyone considering doing business with smart web vacations is: be very careful about entering into any agreement with them. In my case, at least, they made a promise in writing to give me a full refund of what i had paid them, then reneged.
Worst 3hrs of .y vacation. Total scam . Wouldn't give our.gifts in end after over 3 hrs and o agree with above reviews. Confusing and dishonest and they took my drivers license away for 30min and refused to give it back until my husband said he was done and demanded it back
Once we realized the entire thing was a scam to run your creit cards they insulted us until we walked out so they didn't need to give us our 150 gift. Only a total fool would fall for the scam but the fact that they used tactics to get out of paying your gift is a nEW low. They wouldn't even pay for a taxi to get back to our hotel after we spent 2.5 hours listening to their bull.
My Parents & i we’re invited to Smart Web Vacations for breakfast and were told we would receive $150.00 usd to listen to their promotion. After listening to their sales pitch we were convinced this might be great for us! We were told they had a broker that would buy our existing time share and put a check in front of us for $19,500.00 . After much convincing we were told we needed to pay up $10,000.00 usd for maintenace to make it current, I gave my visa to a Mexican man In the office to make the payment which had to be done in pesos and small increments so I was not taxed he used a clip that attaches to his phone. When I returned home I called my visa to check on the transaction and I was charged $13,000.00 usd to my visa. My parents who are in their late 70’s and live on a fixed income lost $15,000.00 usd to join Smart Web Vacationsand were told that when they returned home the broker would be in contact with them immediately to finalize the transaction and with in 4 weeks they would receive a check for $55,000.00 for the sale of their timeshare. I’m sure all the names we were given are ficticous Edward Harris is probably in his 40’s and has a British accent, there is a Dutch guy who spoke Dutch to my parents Canadians and Americans. They are working out of a small office and I’m sure they are moving around. I hope the Mexican authorities would look into this fraud it’s not good for tourism! If anyone has the misfortune of running into these people take pictures of them!
Entered into business deal with smart web vacations in playa del carmen and realized we were in the scam of our lives. Asked them to cancel the contract and refund all monies paid after vacation property shop called us asking for another $3000 usd to complete the sale of our existing timeshares and we had already paid smart web vacations the fee. We have not received the money as of yet and would like to know direction forward. Edward harris is the sales manager for the office and is an englishmen.
There are canadians working in the office as well.
Don't go. Same english guy as above there who talked non stop explaining a very complicated program of buying our time shares for a lot of money and then we would buy into their web vacation program with the money we got. They even showed us checks as the down payment we would get for the sale of our time shares.They said that vacation property shop had buyers to buy our time shares for a lot of money. We got away with our money gifts and did not give them any money but it was hard to get away. Many wasted hours listening to them. This took place in a small office in a plaza in playa del carmen
We got out without giving money but it was a hard sale and hard to get away. They said they would buy our two time shares for a lot of money which we could then use to purchase their web page program starting at $15,000 which would allow us to give $500 to receive $15,000 worth of goods. It was a very complicated scheme meant to confuse you. They would buy the time shares through Vacation Property Shop which had buyers ready to take our properties. The same man with the English accent who talked non stop was there along with a young guy from Mexico. I didn't get their names. This happened in a small office in a plaza in Playa del Carmen. The program makes no sense and they would not tell us exactly what we would pay to them. We should have walked out right away. We wasted hours with them. We did get our money gifts before leaving.
We got stuck listening to a presentation that never ended. 90 mins turned Into 90 mins after breakfast. Even when we told them we had enough 8:30-12:10 they said we were not entitled to a gift since we hadn't seen the whole presentation. Finally my wife went off on Brent/Bryant or Brent or whatever his name was and finally we left with our gift. We honestly were interested it what they had to say but we did the math and it was a bad idea.
SmartWeb Vacations Reviews
We met Ed Harris, working as Smart Web Vacation (SWV) in Playa del Carmen while on vacation at one of the timeshares we own. We could buy a vacation program, which we would access on their website and he would then get us in touch with Vacation Property Shop (VPS) to sell our 3 timeshares. We used credit cards to cover the cost of SWV (Ed Harris). The next day we went back to get out of the contract and he talked us into keeping the contract intact. We did. I took a picture of Ed Harris but he took my phone and erased his picture.
After we got home from Mexico they contacted us and got us in touch with VPS and Walter Robbins. We wanted to get out of our 3 timeshares so we were willing to trust them. We sent a downpayment to VPS to get the sale initiated. We also sent them the contract numbers of our 3 properties. They would find a buyer for all of them. VPS then said they had a buyer and a closing would be within a month.
Just as the "closing" was to happen we got a call and an email. Now there is a 16% IVA tax that we need to pay on all 3 properties. At that time we said we would sell 2 of our timeshares as this was getting quite expensive. On 5/29/18 we wired the money for 2 of our properties. Still we were promised the buyer was ready to buy 2 timeshares. Within a few days we got another call and email that we need to pay a 28% ISR tax on the same 2 properties. Now we could afford only to sell 1 timeshare as the money was getting out of hand but on 6/7/18 we wired the money for just one of our properties.
After we wired the money on the one property, VPS said that wouldn't work as the buyer wanted both properties and we needed to send the 28% ISR tax on both. We said we couldn't pay any more except for the one property and we were at a standstill. They simply said the buyer didn't want just one. They no longer answer emails and they have not contacted us with a new buyer that would want the one property that we paid all the taxes on. Obviously, this was a scam all along.
These people are ruthless, pretend to be a friend, get you feeling good about getting out of timeshares and then take the money and you never hear from them again. We have sure learned a hard lesson. We don't want to say the amount of money we sent to them as it is just ludicrous and embarrassing. I don't understand how anyone can do this to another person. Shame on them all. Ed Harris, Walter Robbins, Sarah Wilford, Megan Cohen and I'm sure there are many more.
Their Name Changed
They are now called Worldwide Holiday Store.com. Save on Resorts in California, works with these people. Look up their info on the BBB website. Their office in Playa Del Carmen is Paseo Coba Local 215. They have Matt and George Lane-fox there, both have the British/English accent. There is also a lady from Canada there. They also work with Oceanside Property Group in Guadalajara, Mexico that is a total scam also. It is the same thing. We have done substantial research on the Mexican laws and have filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission here in the US as well with PROFECO and SAT (Mexico's IRS). I know Sarah still works there because I have spoken with her over the phone.
On march 6 i paid smart web vacations 93,312 mxn pesos, which was charged to my mastercard. At the time i was told that i would be able to cancel the agreement within 48 hours - and obtain a full refund.
However, later that evening i spent some time researching smart web vacations and discovered several complaints on yscam about that company. There were also some negative comments on tripadvisor. Based upon the negative comments that i saw, i decided to ask for my money back.
The next day, i returned to smart web's office in playa del carmen, but found that the manager was far from willing to give me a refund. After insisting that he give me the refund, he finally went and produced a letter which said, in part: "membership with smart web vacations is cancelled. A full refund wil be issued within 15 business days...Mastercard ending in... Will be refunded in the amount of 93,312 mxn pesos.
After waiting more than 15 business days - and without having received a credit back on my credit card, i began attempting to contact smart web vacations. I began by sending an email to the email address that was given on the manager's business card. After that failed to produce any results, a few days later, i phoned the number on the card. After several attempts, someone finally answered the phone. Eventually, the manager got on the phone and began to offer an excuse why the money hadn't been credited back to me. He said that the company's bank was unable to process the refund, but that smart web had not been made aware that the refund had not gone through, which was why no other attempt had been made to refund the money.
Instead, i was told, a wire transfer could be made to my bank account. Several days later i finally saw money deposited to my account, but it was well short of the amount that smart web had promised would be refunded. I began a long series of email exchanged with someone who went by the initials vlo. I also spoke with her over the phone. She kept assuring me that the balance of what i was owed would be deposited to my account.
After waiting another week - and without anything further deposited to my account, i emailed that i was going to start posting negative comment about smart web online, including on yscam. Then, on april 11, i received an email saying that my "refund is being processed as we speak."
When no refund appeared, i wrote to vlo that i was going to begin posting about my experience with smart web. Today i received an email from someone else who claims to be with the "legal department" of smart web, saying that i would not be receiving anything further by way of refund.
As well, i ihad nitiated a dispute with my credit card company 15 days ago, but it will take some time to obtain a resolution through that process - if one is available.
So, my warning to anyone considering doing business with smart web vacations is: be very careful about entering into any agreement with them. In my case, at least, they made a promise in writing to give me a full refund of what i had paid them, then reneged.
Total scam
Worst 3hrs of .y vacation. Total scam . Wouldn't give our.gifts in end after over 3 hrs and o agree with above reviews. Confusing and dishonest and they took my drivers license away for 30min and refused to give it back until my husband said he was done and demanded it back
Once we realized the entire thing was a scam to run your creit cards they insulted us until we walked out so they didn't need to give us our 150 gift. Only a total fool would fall for the scam but the fact that they used tactics to get out of paying your gift is a nEW low. They wouldn't even pay for a taxi to get back to our hotel after we spent 2.5 hours listening to their bull.
My Parents & i we’re invited to Smart Web Vacations for breakfast and were told we would receive $150.00 usd to listen to their promotion. After listening to their sales pitch we were convinced this might be great for us! We were told they had a broker that would buy our existing time share and put a check in front of us for $19,500.00 . After much convincing we were told we needed to pay up $10,000.00 usd for maintenace to make it current, I gave my visa to a Mexican man In the office to make the payment which had to be done in pesos and small increments so I was not taxed he used a clip that attaches to his phone. When I returned home I called my visa to check on the transaction and I was charged $13,000.00 usd to my visa. My parents who are in their late 70’s and live on a fixed income lost $15,000.00 usd to join Smart Web Vacationsand were told that when they returned home the broker would be in contact with them immediately to finalize the transaction and with in 4 weeks they would receive a check for $55,000.00 for the sale of their timeshare. I’m sure all the names we were given are ficticous Edward Harris is probably in his 40’s and has a British accent, there is a Dutch guy who spoke Dutch to my parents Canadians and Americans. They are working out of a small office and I’m sure they are moving around. I hope the Mexican authorities would look into this fraud it’s not good for tourism! If anyone has the misfortune of running into these people take pictures of them!
Entered into business deal with smart web vacations in playa del carmen and realized we were in the scam of our lives. Asked them to cancel the contract and refund all monies paid after vacation property shop called us asking for another $3000 usd to complete the sale of our existing timeshares and we had already paid smart web vacations the fee. We have not received the money as of yet and would like to know direction forward. Edward harris is the sales manager for the office and is an englishmen.
There are canadians working in the office as well.
Don't go. Same english guy as above there who talked non stop explaining a very complicated program of buying our time shares for a lot of money and then we would buy into their web vacation program with the money we got. They even showed us checks as the down payment we would get for the sale of our time shares.They said that vacation property shop had buyers to buy our time shares for a lot of money. We got away with our money gifts and did not give them any money but it was hard to get away. Many wasted hours listening to them. This took place in a small office in a plaza in playa del carmen
Don't go to Smart Web Vacations
We got out without giving money but it was a hard sale and hard to get away. They said they would buy our two time shares for a lot of money which we could then use to purchase their web page program starting at $15,000 which would allow us to give $500 to receive $15,000 worth of goods. It was a very complicated scheme meant to confuse you. They would buy the time shares through Vacation Property Shop which had buyers ready to take our properties. The same man with the English accent who talked non stop was there along with a young guy from Mexico. I didn't get their names. This happened in a small office in a plaza in Playa del Carmen. The program makes no sense and they would not tell us exactly what we would pay to them. We should have walked out right away. We wasted hours with them. We did get our money gifts before leaving.
Smart web vacations
We got stuck listening to a presentation that never ended. 90 mins turned Into 90 mins after breakfast. Even when we told them we had enough 8:30-12:10 they said we were not entitled to a gift since we hadn't seen the whole presentation. Finally my wife went off on Brent/Bryant or Brent or whatever his name was and finally we left with our gift. We honestly were interested it what they had to say but we did the math and it was a bad idea.