I would rate secrets maroma a 0 and any other resorts run by the same company due to their ultimate vacation club scam. The resort is directly involved in pushing people to this scam. I am honestly embarrassed that I fell for their tricks. They take you and convince you that it's not a time share but in reality it's worse than a time share. It's a complete scam.
I paid $45,000 USD based on the promise that it would save me enormous amounts of money on my vacations in the future. They showed me all these numbers which in hindsight was all trickery. And when I got home and did the calculations myself I realized that the savings are minimal. I would save $150 per vacation which means I need to go on 300 weekly vacations minimum to break even. I will obviously never make this money back.
If this were a legitimate company then you would expect that they would give me my money back due to me being dissatisfied and the fact that I have not used any of their services 6 months into being a member of this "club". It is not a legitimate company, so they will never give me any money back and just cite the contract terms. If they were to do the honest thing then I would be shocked and would of course let people know that they are an honest company. But clearly that's not going to happen, and it is a waste of my time to even try.
The irony is that prior to being a member of this club, I would go to their resorts all the time, I even got married at secrets maroma. Since being scammed I am determined to discourage everyone from coming to their resorts. I am now forced to go to their resorts all the time which means that every time I go to one of their resorts my wife and I will make a conscious effort to inform everyone of their scam. I cannot get my money back but I can make sure other people don't get tricked like me. My wife and I are very social and we always make new friends at every resort that we go to. We will make it our mission to make them lose more business than they gained from scamming us.
Flew down to Mexico to do a review on UVC for work. Stay away!
My work sent me don to do a review on the unlimited vacation club, and I am so sorry at what some of you have had to go through. Full review here: https://creditcarrots.com/unlimited-vacation-club-review/
My main problems with UVC are:
Financial. You don’t have to be a math whiz to figure out that paying for 30 years worth of vacations up front is not a good deal. Since vacations are not physical products like a car, or house you are really getting nothing for the money you throw down. Combine that with the crazy high interest rate, and you can see that this vacation club does not make financial sense.
High Pressure Sales Tactics. If a product or service is truly good, the company selling it rarely has to resort to high pressure sales tactics. After we said we were not interested in getting a membership and would like to leave, we were stuck there for another two hours as they rotated through another four people with rising seniority to try and get us to sign. We couldn’t just walk out the door as we needed them to get us a taxi to get from the sales center back to our resort.
Risk. $70,000 for the gold tier is a lot of money. We urge you to think about what you would do if something goes wrong. If these vacation clubs were based out of the US, you have lots of legal options you can take to get your money back. However, if you sign their contract in Mexico (and their parent company might be based out of another country such as the Dominican Republic) then there is not an easy way for you to take action to cancel your membership should you want to opt out. Sure you can get the price to come down after haggling, but it's still nowhere close to being a fair deal.
We found that a large number of unhappy customers have been posting online about their difficulties with cancelling the membership. When we asked the sales center manager about this, they said we can simply stop paying anytime – which in our opinion is a complete lie. You’re signing a binding contract, and there can be repercussions if you break that contract – even if it’s in another country.
The hotel/resorts that UVC own and operate are gorgeous. In fact, I gave the resort at Puerto Vallarta where we stayed over Xmas 2015 a 5 star review on Trip Advisor. Food was good, room was beautiful, pool and amenities were top notch.
Now that's out of the way, here's the warning: They want to provide you with $400 worth of coupons upon check in provided, however, you listen to a 20 minute presentation on their memberships.
The last thing I wanted to do after getting out of the house, driving to the airport and all the attendant hassles, flying time, driving time from aiport to hotel is listen to a presentation...all I wanted to do was check in and get a drink.
I had to bully my way past their "check in" agents and I hate doing that to the folks trying to make a living and ultimately after putting up a stink for 20 minutes they let me check in ONLY if I promised to come back and listen. Every time I walked out of the lobby I was pestered about the presentation.
After 3 days of sun, food and adult beverages I let my guard down and sat through the appointment.
These guys operate like every bad movie you've ever seen about land sales, timeshares, or any fast talking sterotypical salesperson. The pictures they paint, the collateral material they show you make it all so fantasy like.
Now, I'm pretty good with numbers and watching the young man and woman work their magic dazzled me. I was doing the math with them and it sure seemed sound but that is precisely what they want you to believe.
I agreed to purchase a "membership" for 15 or 20 years, I've forgotten now, but the membership can be shared, can be passed on and all these wonderful things. My wife and I agree to pony up a bit over $20,000.00. Yes, that's how easily a fool and his money can be parted.
We then proceed to the "closing" and they have their "representative" present who proceeds to shower us with page after page of documents spending barely enough time to review them, let alone allowing me to take them to an attorney. Has to be signed on site, of course.
After a good 2 hours of this we're exhausted and simply want to get out. We leave, after they pop the champagne for us, and a combination of feelings sweep over us...what did we just do? Did we just spend $20K?
After we get home, I proceed to immediately FEDEX a letter of complaint insisting that the contract be voided. I submit all my arguments and after a day I get a phone call from a gentleman who specializes is "saving" contracts. He's very smooth and even tempered.
We discuss, me with some animation, the proceedings and how we've changed our mind and no longer want this "membership". After many hours and a few days worth of conversations, he has convinced me to reduce my membership to a 5 year deal that winds up costing me $5k +/-
And for that, we will be rewarded with 7 FREE nights at any of their resorts except Zoetry...
Well, now after all the conniving and misrepresentation and not counting my half drunken stupor I was in when I originally signed the document comes the real disappointment: the resorts we want to go to require a 2 for 1 night stay...meaning my 7 free nights is really only worth 3. And, of course, limitations apply to holidays and high season.
So, shame on me for listening to their spiel, shame on me for signing while I was half toasted but shame on them for their unseemly and confusing "fine print" which none of them bothered to point out. Why should they? If they did, they'd never sell any memberships.
Take home value: Go and enjoy your vacation at any of the resorts, you'll have a good time I'm sure. But do not under any circumstances take their coupons in exchange for a "simple 20 minute presentation, no strings attached".
Such a perfect account of what also happened to us, although we are still in it for now under our original terms. I would prefer a full refund, but maybe we can talk them down to a lesser deal and refunding some of our original (%50 of the total) payment. Even that would be better than losing it all. I am sick over this!! UVC is a scam.
DON'T BUY UNLIMITED VACATIONS CLUB MEMBERSHIP! I traveled with my friend to Cancun on a package that we got for a very good price. While staying at Dreams Pueto Aventuras, we were approached to attend a presentation about their club. In fact, they were calling us before we even went to breakfast on our first day. We were told to go to the VIP Desk (of course). We were offered a tour a Dreams Tulum which appeared to be a much nicer resort. We were not happy at our hotel and we wanted to see the other one in case we came back, we might go there next time. They offered us breakfast and spa treatments if we went to see Dreams Tulum. Dreams Tulum was beautiful and we would like to go there next time. The sales man asked us what we paid for our vacation and I gave him the numbers. I thought we had gotten an excellent price so there would be no way for him to beat it. I gave him my number ($1152 per person for airfare, all inclusive hotel, and airport transfers). He made some calculations and wrote down that we would have had our all inclusive stay for $480 for both of us. I asked to be sure, "So you mean we could have paid $240 each for 7 days all inclusive?" He said yes. He then looked up airfare two weeks out and found a ticket for approx. $300 and then added $100 for airport transfers. So he said we could have made the trip for around $640 - $700 for everything And so, we bought their stupid club and we get home and log in with our passwords (that don't come in your email until you have been home for several days) and find that the prices for their club are double, triple, and quadruple what he said. I spent 3 nights and a weekend, plugging in dates and numbers all over their website and this rate he showed us does not exhist anywhere, ever. Don't every buy into this club not matter what they tell you. THE RATES HE SHOWED US DO NOT EXIST ANYWHERE IN THEIR CLUB, EVER! DO NOT BUY UVC!
I purchased a package that included 14 nights at any of their resorts and membership in RCI. When I tried to book a vacation using the nights specified in the contract, I was told there were no vacancies but was offered another room if I was willing to pay cash for it. So, basically I could not use the nights I paid for but they were going to be nice and let me pay for the room again.
Getting a booking with them is extremly difficult, getting a vacation with RCI in a good place is also almost impossible. This has been a terrible experience, a big headache and and a big loss of money. I paid almost $9,000 for these non-existent nights, what a waste. Aso, because they are located in Punta Cana, you cannot sue them.
We were misled, misinformed and they misrepresent the REAL UVC which is a SCAM
Oct 2017
As soon as we got there we were bombarded with request from Unlimited Vacation Club to attend one of the 90 minute sales, they promised no pressure.,.yea right!! Nothing but, after 4 hours,
On Monday April 17 2017
My husband met with them the next day to say we DID not want the membership, and of course, the Price was dropped again. Well during this presentation, they show you this BEAUTIFUL ocean view one bedroom suite with full kitchen, living room, dining room etc. Of course in the end, this is not what you get when you sign up, but we sign up and paid a fortune.
After talking it over and thinking it was a good because, I love the Secrets resorts it all seemed very nice just to purchase the membership to find out it was all a scam. The hours we spend wasting our vacation away, TO LISTEN TO THEM SCAM US AND LIE TO US. Yes, I believed what they said. Yes I trusted them and yes to find out that all they offered us was actually nothing compared to the money we paid.
On Tuesday 18 2017, we faxed the contract to our family lawyer (his information can be provided) to go over it and he right then and there said to cancel. We went into the lobby to cancel and they didn’t want to hear anything.. The only thing they kept saying is give some time , and made us a VIP clients at that time. I have been in touch and assigned PMG a federal and state consumer protection lawyers
On Wednesday 19 2017
We were misinformed and lied to again, We tried to cancel at the resort but time after time they lied to us stating that this was a great offer, I believed them due to the fact that I love the Secret resorts AND again the following day we spoke to them and they took us for a walk sowing us the we would have a VIP room again. They stated time after time that when we use UVC THE ONLY THING WE WOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR IS THE PRICE PER PERSON FOR FOOD.
On Thursday 20 2017
I went to the office to speak to the gentle that was involved with buying UVC and he was off that day. I also went to the office at breathless to see the manager and waited for at least one hour but did not show up. Went back down stair to find some kind of assistance but they told us to return the next day.
On Friday 21 2017
I returned to the UVC office to once again try to cancel, and when they heard that word they stated to go home to the states and think about it and cancel then, at that day and time we had scheduled a activate and were already late by the time we came back the office the office was closed.
On Saturday 22 2017
I simple wanted to rest and enjoy my so called vacation. I abused and mentally damaged with what I had gone through.
On Monday 24 2017
We Also email [email protected] stating Please cancel our policy, even when we first received our contract from -----Original Message-----
From: Jeannette Rivera
To: TMARGIST
Cc: KM Sun, Apr 23, 2017 11:15 pm
Subject: UNLIMITED VACATION CLUB BR1-000759
Worst decision we ever made. I knew it was a big mistake Got home, started reading reviews and realized we were lied to, and they sold us a membership that is useless and impossible to book vacations with. I didn’t pay this amount $XX.XXX to get 20% off THAT’S ALL UVC offered us. Members of unlimited vacation club receive 25% off hotel rooms, but if you go through Expedia or any online travel service, you'll find cheaper rates than they can get you.
They filled us up with lie just to discover that it was a scam when we came home. I called so many times to cancel but the moment I said I need someone to talk like a manager they put me on hold and passed me other agent, but wouldn’t pass me to a supervisor or manager, this went on for days.
Until other things in my life were more important such as an 80 foot tree falling on my house and destroyed my life and losing two cars. I ended up trying to figure this out rather than holding on line on the phone to find some support from UVC. Recently I lost my dad and my mom ended up in the hospital and once again I don’t have the time to stay on the phone and speak to someone that would only say that I will not be getting a refund. UVC SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES LEADING PEOPLE TO BELIEVE ALL THE INFORMATION THAT THEY TELL THEM….
I email and forward the message that I responded back with the statement of PLEASE CANCEL MY CONTRACT but until they stated that they could cancel my contract but WTHOUT A REFUND. I will not allow UVC TO MENTALLY ABUSE ME ANYMORE. I will continue to find some assistance to help us with this SCAM. I have been in touch and assigned PMG a federal and state consumer protection lawyers and also US Consumer Attorney Case #37-2016-00015087
I have been given a case number from the PMG and filed a report with the BBB hoping to clarify this problem and receive a refund. As they have contacted us and according to our contract I have followed the requirements to the best of my ability without any adeptness to cancel prior to this.
Whilst working in sales at their Breathless Punta Cama resort the sales manager fraudulently stole my commisions, for two weeks he lied to me about paying me back, I appealed to his area director who told me the manager must pay me back but in general could do what he wanted. The manager lied about paying me what was due (recorded in WhatsApp messages) when I continued to persue the matter he told me he would make it impossible for me to make money there and if I continued asking for my money he said "If you carry on I'll wait for you outside? My next step was to approach the 'Ministry of work' for advice.
I then went and spoke with the head of human resources for the Dominican Republic who, in my presence, called the regional director to arrange a meeting to try and resolve this issue, a meeting was promised with details to be confirmed later that same day. Two days later, hearing nothing from them I engaged a lawyer to act on my behalf. The very next day I was asked to meet the regional director who claimed that morning was the first he'd heard about the issue which was another lie. Several days later I was summoned to the paymasters office where it was demanded I sign papers in Spanish which I didn't understand, even if I had understood the papers my lawyer had told me not to sign anything until he had looked it over.
When I asked for copies of the papers to show my lawyer I was told I could only get copies if and signed first and had to leave if I wouldn't sign. Since then Unlimited Vacation Club has refused to pay my legal entitlement (sumarary dismissal) and have delayed the court case. This is typical behaviour for this company who knows nobody in the business will employ someone taking legal action against a timeshare company.
UVC is a scam! They sell you something that you do not get! They Ply you with Chanpagne and woo you with free breakfast ,free cabanas, etc. They show you a room and say this is what you will be staying in and it is a lie. That is just the start of their lying!! If you tell them you want a refund and cancel your membership they threaten you that they will get their lawyers involved. Then they come back and offer you more free weeks , etc because they know they did something wrong. They threaten that if you try and fight the charge with your insurance company they will take you to court. There are so many horrible reports that I have read about this company. They should be shut down!! How do people like this get away with lying and trickery??? I will be fighting this until I get out of this hoax!!
I called Unlimited on sept 9th 2021 to use a free certificate for a week that was promised when I signed up in 2015. I was going to be with the AMR branch of Unlimited but apparently I was talking to a sales rep for the other side of the organization, the Lifestyle collection side of Unlimited, and they said my term expired and I had to sign up for 2 years in order to use the certificate. Just found out today that this is not at all true.
I just spoke with someone at the AMR branch and they said there is no need for me to participate in the Lifestyle part. Unfortunately the Lifestyle side has a recording that says I agreed to pay them, so I must still pay 158 a month for next two years.
Even though they verbally mislead me during my call before the recording. They got me to sign up even though I have no use for this part of the organization - I only ever might use the AMR side for Carribbean travel. Totally misleading. I am so angry - I want nothing to do with the Lifestyle portion.
They also said I would only owe $29 for an annual fee when in Feb, I got a call demanding a $150 annual fee or I couldn't get access to the website. I told them is was only $29, but they wouldn't let me use the web without paying, so I did because I was going on an AMR vacation. The lifestyle group never told me the $$ had nothing to do with the side of the organization I did want to use.
Desired outcome: All payments to Lifestyle are to cease immediately. Thank you.
My wife and I recently visited AM Resort Secrets Maroma Beach in Riviera Maya. We attended a presentation from UVC and were told many different promises of benefits relating to the club, later to finally read the contract we signed and the promises were not in the Agreement as stated. We have demanded a full refund and termination of the contract. Quality Assurance has threatened us in writing, and said they have had no wrongdoing. We still do not have any resolution to our issue, UVC Quality Assurance has not responded to us in 3 weeks and counting.
We've since contacted the BBB of Miami (UVC HQ, owned by AM Resorts, owned by Apple Leisure Group), as well the FL Attorney General. Issues dated below:
10/24/2020
Check-In to AM Resort property Secrets Maroma Beach, Riviera Maya Mexico
Within one hour of check-in, we are offered to attend a resort presentation the next day and accept. We are told the presentation would be 90 minutes and we book for 8 a.m.
10/25/2020
We started our resort presentation at 8:00 a.m. with Unlimited Vacation Clubs (UVC). Within the first hour, we informed them that we had a UVC trial membership 5 years ago and did not renew because we believed the membership had no value. For the main membership privilege (which was discounted AM Resort reservations), we could reserve resort rooms much less on our own, than with the membership and all of the restrictions. We were assured that so much had changed since those early days, that we would be very excited to hear about all of the changes. We agreed to continue to listen.
We purchased a trial membership from UVC 10/10/2015 at the AM Resort Sunscape in Curacao. This 5-year trial membership expired 10/9/2020 and we did not renew.
The 90-minute presentation turned into a 6.5-hour presentation (378 minutes). The ordeal took an entire day out of our vacation. We signed the new agreement under duress. So many UVC people kept coming to our table with a new pad of paper, writing new numbers, talking about all the benefits, then going away - spinning us. When we asked to speak to a member to get their input, the head of the operation came over quickly to get the deal closed immediately. Threw in many more low value items then said this is as good as it gets, as I'm the boss.
What we were told in the sales process:
Issue #1 - the main privilege of the membership and reason why we bought - the $40-150 range for all AM Resort properties - per person, per night no matter of the date.
They told us that the trial we bought in 2015 is so different than today's program. We mentioned the 25% discount from the 2015 contract and said it has no value to us. With this 25% discount, UVC will beat the lowest published rate for their AM Resort properties, but only when matching to a list of specific websites; these are the most high-priced websites on purpose. We did not book this current stay through our previous membership but went to multiple lower-priced competitive websites (not on their list); these sites, like TripAdvisor (a high-use, high traveler frequency site), were much lower than with UVC's 25% discount on their listed sites.
The sales staff did not bring up the 25% deal initially, but told us the rate we would pay would be between $40 on the low end and $150 on the high end, per person per night. This range would be totally inclusive of all AM Resort properties, no matter the time of year. Therefore, we could stay at their most expensive brand Zoetry during a Holiday for $150, as that would be peak and at the upper end of the range. Another example would be their down brand Sunscape for $40 on a non-peak period. The price will always be in that range.
When signing the agreement, we wanted to know where the $40-$150 was specifically, and the manager told us don't worry, they can't put that in the contract and have to have the 25% in there. Why would we buy a program two weeks after we chose to NOT renew our previous UVC membership, with the exact same 25% discount we had in the trial program? Why would we buy this new membership for the same main privilege when we didn't even use the UVC membership to book this resort for the week we were there because of the high price (with the 25% discount)? Because we were lied to about the $40-$150 range. We would have left the presentation if we knew the main privilege was the exact same as the previous membership we did not renew.
Issue #2 - the annual fee. We were told the only annual fee for the UVC membership would be a $155 concierge service. In reading the contract, UVC picks up a couple years membership fees in many of the programs, however in years 3+ we are additionally responsible for a $299 Lifestyle Collection Fee and an RCI fee. Therefore, if we maintained all of the privileges of the membership, our annual fees would be years 3-40 before even spending a dime on a vacation.
$155 UVC Annual Fee
$99 RCI Platinum Membership Fee
$89 RCI Endless Vacation Magazine - benefits are only obtained via subscription
$299 Lifestyle Collection Membership - required for the Savings Credits below
$642 Annual Fee
Issue #3 - Savings Credits. We were told that we could purchase hotel nights at Hilton, Marriott, Cruises, Wine, etc. at a 60%/40% rate based on Savings Credits. As example, provided we had enough Savings Credits to cover, if we wanted to book a Marriott room in Hawaii that was $500/night, we would have the Savings Credits program take care of 60% of that cost or $300; we would be responsible for the 40% or $200. If we had 2, 000 credits saved, then a 2-night stay would use 600 of those credits (300 per night) per the example. We were even shown an example on a UVC website regarding a Cruise we are planning on taking in 2022. This seemed logical but cannot find the 60/40 split anywhere in the contract; only mentioned under UVC Lifestyle Collection Membership that Savings Credits can be used for partial payment, dollar-for-dollar to buy down the total purchase price of qualified travel. We were not told about a fee each year for this, past year 2.
Furthermore, we were told that we could deposit RCI week blocks of 7 nights for 750 Savings Credits. Therefore, if we wanted to add to our Savings Credits total for the year, we would have the ability to deposit a week or weeks for Credits. What was not told to us during the presentation, was that each deposit of 7 nights would require us to pay $250 to the UVC Member Services and Reservations Center, and that the $250 fee can go up each year based on the US Consumer Price Index (as mentioned in the contract).
Issue #4 - we were told by purchasing the Gold Plus membership, we would receive 5 free weeks (35 nights for 2 people) at any AM Resort. While this is true, there is a major condition that was never explained to us during our presentation.
These nights will be released 1 night for each 2 monthly payments. All nights will be released on the date the Member satisfies the total price in full. These 5 weeks will now take us 4+ years to receive. We don't get them right away as sold to us in the presentation. We thought this to be an extra bonus to the $40-$150 rate told to us, and now understand there is a major catch to receiving the weeks.
Issue #5 - termination policies were not ever reviewed with us. Per contract termination policy, we had five days from signature to cancel.(10/30/2020) We could not get to the contract per the email link, nor access to the member website with credentials until 11/3, of which we then notified Member Services of our desire to cancel. See below.
Issue #6- deception with purchase. We signed and initialed the 45-page Agreement on an ipad that they controlled after 6 hours under duress. We wanted to get out of the sales room and get back to our vacation, we had spent the entire day there and knew a Hurricane was coming the next day We authorized the Agreement on a tablet, and when signing or initialing, the tablet would quickly scroll to the next area to be authorized, purposely moving us quickly through the document without review. We asked for a copy of the Agreement and they said they could not give us a copy in person, but that we would get everything via email. We had some of the yellow pages they wrote all of their fast numbers on regarding how all of the deals would work, but not all. We looked for the #1 Issue yellow page above which had the $40-$150 written on it, and that was not in our papers they left us with; they took it as evidence.
10/26/2020 - Hurricane Zeta hit our resort.
10/27/2020 - we went online via our phone and attempted to pull down the Agreements to review; clicked the link and it would not work.
10/30/2020 - we got back to Chicago and attempted the link again, did not work.
11/2/2020 - contacted Member Services (Monday) and stated not only were we not able to get to our Agreement via the "Review Documents" Link, but that we received no information as to their Website and credentials for logging in to review our purchase. The Member Services representative apologized and stated she would get an email out with the Agreement in .PDF in the next 24 hours. She would also make sure we received credentials for logging into the UVC website to review the details of our membership.
11/3/2020 - we received the email with the Agreement, and were surprised to see no record of many of the aforementioned promises/issues and statements they had made during the sale. This Agreement had many of the exact same covenants as our trial Agreement from 2015, which we stated had no value to us. We also were now able to review the actual cancellation policy, which rescind period had now passed (5 days from purchase).
Called Member Services regarding the issues within the Agreement and continued no access to our member portal
• Member Services apologized for us not being able to access our membership portal and said they would get a note to technical resources to fix the issue. Credentials with Login kept failing as "couldn't find contract" failure. This is now 7+ days from when we signed the contract and we can't even access our member portal.
• Asked the Member Services representative about our #1 issue which is the $40-$150 per person per night promise, and they stated that is not accurate. That the savings program is 25% of the published rates and that he has booked members much higher than the $150 rate I'm talking about.
• The representative asked if the sales staff went over the cancellation policy, and was surprised when I stated no.
Thereafter after detailed review, we emailed that we wanted a full refund and wanted to cancel the membership.
11/6/2020 - we had a call with Fabiola Enriquez, in response to our intent to terminate our Membership. We had our call with Fabiola, and the call became heated quickly, we said good-bye and hung up.
They lied and scammed us out of over$13,000! UVC is nothing but a discount club. Pay $26,000 and you can receive 25% off regular prices at their resorts. Any internet site can find you a better deal. They make a million promises... all lies.
There are blackout dates. Your paid nights only count for HALF at many resorts, including Secrets, Dreams and more!!! They are the worst scammers out there. I am excited to finally begin the work necessary to sue these crooks!
My husband and I booked 2 weeks’ vacation at Secrets Huatulco for Christmas and New Year. We were both looking forward to this vacation, it turned to be our worst nightmare.
On Boxing Day evening, entering the resort theater in the dark, unmarked, I tripped over a power cable which had been strung across the floor to illuminate the stage. I landed on my left shoulder, dislocating and fractured the same.
While at the resort, I was showered with flowers, gift baskets, personal phone calls, and promised that the resort will compensate us. It’s been now over seven weeks and the resort refuses to take responsibility.
Our recommendation is to stay away from these places. Any injuries you are stuck with thousands of dollars in expense and long rehabilitation. The resort will not accept any responsibility for their incompetence.
The resort caters to cowboys who float around the pool all day, drink all day and smoke all day. There are No smoking signs anywhere, and there are cigarette buds everywhere.
This is not my kind of vacation. We will be going somewhere else in the future, may be going back to Maui it’s not a bad idea.
Yes, we are gold members, and that is another story all together.......
During a great trip to Cabo on the 26th of April 2018 my wife and I were sold the idea of a attending presentation and for our troubles received vouchers for better deals then we were already planning on buying (trip from airport, snorkeling, Sunset Set Cruise, Paddle boarding, etc.). We attended without the least worry about buying anything as it was sold as a tour of the hotel. After a great breakfast we went for the presentation and the salesman, after finding out we were from Phoenix and planned to come back to Cabo, wrote down on the offer sheet that we would get this amazing deal of $84 per night per person on any of the first tier resorts and that the Breathless Resort was on that list. So we asked how much and he quoted us $119,000. We explained that:
While the $84 PP per night deal looked good we did not have that much travel planned to take advantage of it
We would be paying for this package long after we were dead.
So he dropped the price to $5000 and after some haggling for add-ons (1 week free in the first tier) and annual payments made for 2 years on the 2nd and 3rd tier we bought even though I saw a lot of bad reviews on Buyer’s remorse and not getting enough deals to make up for the cost of membership. We on the other hand planned to travel a lot for the next 5 years and the deal (based on what we were sold) would pay for itself and more.
Fast forward to today, the deal ($84 PP PN) they offered for their tier 1 resorts is not a real deal as we have talked to the their Travel Agent and she told she had never seen that pricing opportunity. So we asked to speak to a representative to get this issue figured out. She said one would call us the following day and as promised we got a call from a Justino Mora who Identified himself as a manager and wanted to discuss our issue, we explained all of the above and he said they were growing so fast that sometimes it was hard to manage what the salespeople in the field were saying but no problem he would send us a new deal on a week in certain resorts (including the one in Cabo) to use but needed to accept and sign it in the next few days to validate it. So we received the deal which was for certain resorts,
This Certificate issued by Mediator grants Member the number of VIP weeks indicated below for 2 (two) people in a Deluxe Room type, subject to availability at any Participating Hotel in the All-Inclusive plan (food and beverage included) in accordance with the type and conditions of their membership as described in Exhibit B and subject to the terms and conditions indicated further on herein. 2 USD VIP Week valid for Years with a preferential rate of 1 $1,600.00 and they would also pay for our tier 1 Annual payment for the 2nd year.
The entire deal is on the website we set up regarding this issue but the problem was to get the deal we had to search through availability and some of the resorts are 2 for 1 night Rules apply. So I guess that means we would have to buy at our UV rate the next 3 ½ days for us to stay a week. Some of the resorts offered were cheaper then the $1600 price he had quoted and to be fair there were a couple of resorts that were higher then the deal he offered but I did not ascertain if they were 2-1 requirements. So the deal was not good enough to make up the $84 PP PN deal we bought the package on. Right now we are chronicling everything on our website and hopefully we will see the great deals other people in this post have claimed to have enjoyed.
In closing we, at this time, are not trying to get out of the agreement we signed but are looking to show the savings we were promised.
My wife and I went to Cancun for our honeymoon in August 2016. While at the Silversands Resort some excursions were offered if we set in on sales pitch for other resorts/vacations. Well the deal offered was pay $26,000 for years of "discounts" and we would get to stay at 5 star hotels for less than price of regular stay at hotel. I paid $13,000 down because I got 0% interest on loan of other $13000. When my wife and I returned home and couldn't wait to book our next vacation to Cabo Wabo which all we would pay for a classy 1 - 2 bedroom apt which was showed to us at Silversands Resort. All we had to pay was like $75 dollars a day. The only other out of pocket expense was $125 yearly maintenance expense. Come to find out when we placed order UVC wanted another $4000. We thought there was a mistake and started calling UVC customer service. This back and forth communication started about Sept. By Dec we started figuring out what was really going on. Either I got no return call or excuse of won't even discuss sitution with me because I had not started paying my monthly payment. I stated that the salesman misrepresented their product and they were in breach of contract so I would not pay until our original deal was kept or wanted refund. Long story short is I got no resolution. This was a complete scam. I've attempted getting lawyers, but they want money upfront and I don't have it. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with cancer in Dec 2016 and am just getting back to my old self so wanted to post this. If other readers who have had this done know of way to address this legally I'm interested. I know with as many of us a possible civil action suit could be possible, but have had no luck. If you are researching this company before buying in, please don't. This has been a terrible ordeal for my family and we are just working people who don't have that kind of money to throw around. I'm usually more cautious than this, but caught up in the moment of our honeymoon, I didn't research enough and got burned.
On July 11, 2017 the wife and I took a 90 minute tour of a Resort in Cancun. This tour lasted five hours. We faced several "Sales" agents pushing what sounded like the right to purchase up to 12 weeks of vacation time to be used at a resort when their rooms are not completely sold out. The cost was approximately $3500 (for 12 weeks purchased vacation time).
When we got home we tried to make a reservtion at a resort of our choice and found there was availablity, But there was a cost, an Additional $2500+.
We learned that what we purchased was a "discount program". That was completely different from what we were told. We attempted to cancel and got a run around. We did not have a contract in our papers and Company promised to send a copy. We still don't have a contract to review. Company Officials were told we wanted a refund but have just ignored that request.
Unlimited vacation club is all a scam! All the promises that were given to us at the time of the purchased, about getting major discounts without having to pay extra money or fees were all lies. They told us that after the purchase we would not have another invoice besides the yearly maintenance fee. My husband and I have spent thousands of dollars and have never been able to use it because every time we try to schedule a vacation they make all these excuses telling us we need to purchase more things and pay more money in order to go through with the vacation. Also we have their sister company RCI (this is another scam!) calling us all the time telling us that our membership with them has expired and in order for us to use their service we need to pay more money. Sometimes it has been imposible to get a hold of Unlimited when you need their help, but come your due date if you are late paying they start harassing you with calls just to make sure that you pay. Whenever we want to go on vacation we end up finding way better deals on our own. The times we have reached them they just try to sell you more stuff or try to upgrade you and if you don't want anything then they give you a different number to call and they do not answer the phone. Once you reach them they tell you that you can find all of the information on line instead of taking the time to help you. We are done with them!
Unlimited vacation club is all a scam! All the promises about getting major discounts without any hassle or fees were all lies. My husband and I have spent thousands of dollars and have never been able to use it because every time we try to creat a vacation they make all these excuses telling us we need to purchase more things and pay more money in order to go through with the vacation. They are imposible to get a hold of when you need help but come your due date they start hurrasing you with calls just to make sure that you pay. When ever we want to go on vacation we end up finding way better deals on our own and end up haveng to go for those, not only because it's a better price but because we can never reach them. The times we have reached them they just try to sell you more stuff and if you don't want anything they give you a different. Umber to call and they do not answer the phone.
Unlimited Vacation Club Reviews
Avoid UVC scam
I would rate secrets maroma a 0 and any other resorts run by the same company due to their ultimate vacation club scam. The resort is directly involved in pushing people to this scam. I am honestly embarrassed that I fell for their tricks. They take you and convince you that it's not a time share but in reality it's worse than a time share. It's a complete scam.
I paid $45,000 USD based on the promise that it would save me enormous amounts of money on my vacations in the future. They showed me all these numbers which in hindsight was all trickery. And when I got home and did the calculations myself I realized that the savings are minimal. I would save $150 per vacation which means I need to go on 300 weekly vacations minimum to break even. I will obviously never make this money back.
If this were a legitimate company then you would expect that they would give me my money back due to me being dissatisfied and the fact that I have not used any of their services 6 months into being a member of this "club". It is not a legitimate company, so they will never give me any money back and just cite the contract terms. If they were to do the honest thing then I would be shocked and would of course let people know that they are an honest company. But clearly that's not going to happen, and it is a waste of my time to even try.
The irony is that prior to being a member of this club, I would go to their resorts all the time, I even got married at secrets maroma. Since being scammed I am determined to discourage everyone from coming to their resorts. I am now forced to go to their resorts all the time which means that every time I go to one of their resorts my wife and I will make a conscious effort to inform everyone of their scam. I cannot get my money back but I can make sure other people don't get tricked like me. My wife and I are very social and we always make new friends at every resort that we go to. We will make it our mission to make them lose more business than they gained from scamming us.
Flew down to Mexico to do a review on UVC for work. Stay away!
My work sent me don to do a review on the unlimited vacation club, and I am so sorry at what some of you have had to go through. Full review here: https://creditcarrots.com/unlimited-vacation-club-review/
My main problems with UVC are:
Financial. You don’t have to be a math whiz to figure out that paying for 30 years worth of vacations up front is not a good deal. Since vacations are not physical products like a car, or house you are really getting nothing for the money you throw down. Combine that with the crazy high interest rate, and you can see that this vacation club does not make financial sense.
High Pressure Sales Tactics. If a product or service is truly good, the company selling it rarely has to resort to high pressure sales tactics. After we said we were not interested in getting a membership and would like to leave, we were stuck there for another two hours as they rotated through another four people with rising seniority to try and get us to sign. We couldn’t just walk out the door as we needed them to get us a taxi to get from the sales center back to our resort.
Risk. $70,000 for the gold tier is a lot of money. We urge you to think about what you would do if something goes wrong. If these vacation clubs were based out of the US, you have lots of legal options you can take to get your money back. However, if you sign their contract in Mexico (and their parent company might be based out of another country such as the Dominican Republic) then there is not an easy way for you to take action to cancel your membership should you want to opt out. Sure you can get the price to come down after haggling, but it's still nowhere close to being a fair deal.
We found that a large number of unhappy customers have been posting online about their difficulties with cancelling the membership. When we asked the sales center manager about this, they said we can simply stop paying anytime – which in our opinion is a complete lie. You’re signing a binding contract, and there can be repercussions if you break that contract – even if it’s in another country.
The hotel/resorts that UVC own and operate are gorgeous. In fact, I gave the resort at Puerto Vallarta where we stayed over Xmas 2015 a 5 star review on Trip Advisor. Food was good, room was beautiful, pool and amenities were top notch.
Now that's out of the way, here's the warning: They want to provide you with $400 worth of coupons upon check in provided, however, you listen to a 20 minute presentation on their memberships.
The last thing I wanted to do after getting out of the house, driving to the airport and all the attendant hassles, flying time, driving time from aiport to hotel is listen to a presentation...all I wanted to do was check in and get a drink.
I had to bully my way past their "check in" agents and I hate doing that to the folks trying to make a living and ultimately after putting up a stink for 20 minutes they let me check in ONLY if I promised to come back and listen. Every time I walked out of the lobby I was pestered about the presentation.
After 3 days of sun, food and adult beverages I let my guard down and sat through the appointment.
These guys operate like every bad movie you've ever seen about land sales, timeshares, or any fast talking sterotypical salesperson. The pictures they paint, the collateral material they show you make it all so fantasy like.
Now, I'm pretty good with numbers and watching the young man and woman work their magic dazzled me. I was doing the math with them and it sure seemed sound but that is precisely what they want you to believe.
I agreed to purchase a "membership" for 15 or 20 years, I've forgotten now, but the membership can be shared, can be passed on and all these wonderful things. My wife and I agree to pony up a bit over $20,000.00. Yes, that's how easily a fool and his money can be parted.
We then proceed to the "closing" and they have their "representative" present who proceeds to shower us with page after page of documents spending barely enough time to review them, let alone allowing me to take them to an attorney. Has to be signed on site, of course.
After a good 2 hours of this we're exhausted and simply want to get out. We leave, after they pop the champagne for us, and a combination of feelings sweep over us...what did we just do? Did we just spend $20K?
After we get home, I proceed to immediately FEDEX a letter of complaint insisting that the contract be voided. I submit all my arguments and after a day I get a phone call from a gentleman who specializes is "saving" contracts. He's very smooth and even tempered.
We discuss, me with some animation, the proceedings and how we've changed our mind and no longer want this "membership". After many hours and a few days worth of conversations, he has convinced me to reduce my membership to a 5 year deal that winds up costing me $5k +/-
And for that, we will be rewarded with 7 FREE nights at any of their resorts except Zoetry...
Well, now after all the conniving and misrepresentation and not counting my half drunken stupor I was in when I originally signed the document comes the real disappointment: the resorts we want to go to require a 2 for 1 night stay...meaning my 7 free nights is really only worth 3. And, of course, limitations apply to holidays and high season.
So, shame on me for listening to their spiel, shame on me for signing while I was half toasted but shame on them for their unseemly and confusing "fine print" which none of them bothered to point out. Why should they? If they did, they'd never sell any memberships.
Take home value: Go and enjoy your vacation at any of the resorts, you'll have a good time I'm sure. But do not under any circumstances take their coupons in exchange for a "simple 20 minute presentation, no strings attached".
You hit the nail on the head!
Such a perfect account of what also happened to us, although we are still in it for now under our original terms. I would prefer a full refund, but maybe we can talk them down to a lesser deal and refunding some of our original (%50 of the total) payment. Even that would be better than losing it all. I am sick over this!! UVC is a scam.
DON'T BUY UNLIMITED VACATIONS CLUB MEMBERSHIP! I traveled with my friend to Cancun on a package that we got for a very good price. While staying at Dreams Pueto Aventuras, we were approached to attend a presentation about their club. In fact, they were calling us before we even went to breakfast on our first day. We were told to go to the VIP Desk (of course). We were offered a tour a Dreams Tulum which appeared to be a much nicer resort. We were not happy at our hotel and we wanted to see the other one in case we came back, we might go there next time. They offered us breakfast and spa treatments if we went to see Dreams Tulum. Dreams Tulum was beautiful and we would like to go there next time. The sales man asked us what we paid for our vacation and I gave him the numbers. I thought we had gotten an excellent price so there would be no way for him to beat it. I gave him my number ($1152 per person for airfare, all inclusive hotel, and airport transfers). He made some calculations and wrote down that we would have had our all inclusive stay for $480 for both of us. I asked to be sure, "So you mean we could have paid $240 each for 7 days all inclusive?" He said yes. He then looked up airfare two weeks out and found a ticket for approx. $300 and then added $100 for airport transfers. So he said we could have made the trip for around $640 - $700 for everything And so, we bought their stupid club and we get home and log in with our passwords (that don't come in your email until you have been home for several days) and find that the prices for their club are double, triple, and quadruple what he said. I spent 3 nights and a weekend, plugging in dates and numbers all over their website and this rate he showed us does not exhist anywhere, ever. Don't every buy into this club not matter what they tell you. THE RATES HE SHOWED US DO NOT EXIST ANYWHERE IN THEIR CLUB, EVER! DO NOT BUY UVC!
I purchased a package that included 14 nights at any of their resorts and membership in RCI. When I tried to book a vacation using the nights specified in the contract, I was told there were no vacancies but was offered another room if I was willing to pay cash for it. So, basically I could not use the nights I paid for but they were going to be nice and let me pay for the room again.
Getting a booking with them is extremly difficult, getting a vacation with RCI in a good place is also almost impossible. This has been a terrible experience, a big headache and and a big loss of money. I paid almost $9,000 for these non-existent nights, what a waste. Aso, because they are located in Punta Cana, you cannot sue them.
Unlimited Vacation Club- BRI-000759
We were misled, misinformed and they misrepresent the REAL UVC which is a SCAM
Oct 2017
As soon as we got there we were bombarded with request from Unlimited Vacation Club to attend one of the 90 minute sales, they promised no pressure.,.yea right!! Nothing but, after 4 hours,
On Monday April 17 2017
My husband met with them the next day to say we DID not want the membership, and of course, the Price was dropped again. Well during this presentation, they show you this BEAUTIFUL ocean view one bedroom suite with full kitchen, living room, dining room etc. Of course in the end, this is not what you get when you sign up, but we sign up and paid a fortune.
After talking it over and thinking it was a good because, I love the Secrets resorts it all seemed very nice just to purchase the membership to find out it was all a scam. The hours we spend wasting our vacation away, TO LISTEN TO THEM SCAM US AND LIE TO US. Yes, I believed what they said. Yes I trusted them and yes to find out that all they offered us was actually nothing compared to the money we paid.
On Tuesday 18 2017, we faxed the contract to our family lawyer (his information can be provided) to go over it and he right then and there said to cancel. We went into the lobby to cancel and they didn’t want to hear anything.. The only thing they kept saying is give some time , and made us a VIP clients at that time. I have been in touch and assigned PMG a federal and state consumer protection lawyers
On Wednesday 19 2017
We were misinformed and lied to again, We tried to cancel at the resort but time after time they lied to us stating that this was a great offer, I believed them due to the fact that I love the Secret resorts AND again the following day we spoke to them and they took us for a walk sowing us the we would have a VIP room again. They stated time after time that when we use UVC THE ONLY THING WE WOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR IS THE PRICE PER PERSON FOR FOOD.
On Thursday 20 2017
I went to the office to speak to the gentle that was involved with buying UVC and he was off that day. I also went to the office at breathless to see the manager and waited for at least one hour but did not show up. Went back down stair to find some kind of assistance but they told us to return the next day.
On Friday 21 2017
I returned to the UVC office to once again try to cancel, and when they heard that word they stated to go home to the states and think about it and cancel then, at that day and time we had scheduled a activate and were already late by the time we came back the office the office was closed.
On Saturday 22 2017
I simple wanted to rest and enjoy my so called vacation. I abused and mentally damaged with what I had gone through.
On Monday 24 2017
We Also email [email protected] stating Please cancel our policy, even when we first received our contract from -----Original Message-----
From: Jeannette Rivera
To: TMARGIST
Cc: KM Sun, Apr 23, 2017 11:15 pm
Subject: UNLIMITED VACATION CLUB BR1-000759
Worst decision we ever made. I knew it was a big mistake Got home, started reading reviews and realized we were lied to, and they sold us a membership that is useless and impossible to book vacations with. I didn’t pay this amount $XX.XXX to get 20% off THAT’S ALL UVC offered us. Members of unlimited vacation club receive 25% off hotel rooms, but if you go through Expedia or any online travel service, you'll find cheaper rates than they can get you.
They filled us up with lie just to discover that it was a scam when we came home. I called so many times to cancel but the moment I said I need someone to talk like a manager they put me on hold and passed me other agent, but wouldn’t pass me to a supervisor or manager, this went on for days.
Until other things in my life were more important such as an 80 foot tree falling on my house and destroyed my life and losing two cars. I ended up trying to figure this out rather than holding on line on the phone to find some support from UVC. Recently I lost my dad and my mom ended up in the hospital and once again I don’t have the time to stay on the phone and speak to someone that would only say that I will not be getting a refund. UVC SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES LEADING PEOPLE TO BELIEVE ALL THE INFORMATION THAT THEY TELL THEM….
I email and forward the message that I responded back with the statement of PLEASE CANCEL MY CONTRACT but until they stated that they could cancel my contract but WTHOUT A REFUND. I will not allow UVC TO MENTALLY ABUSE ME ANYMORE. I will continue to find some assistance to help us with this SCAM. I have been in touch and assigned PMG a federal and state consumer protection lawyers and also US Consumer Attorney Case #37-2016-00015087
I have been given a case number from the PMG and filed a report with the BBB hoping to clarify this problem and receive a refund. As they have contacted us and according to our contract I have followed the requirements to the best of my ability without any adeptness to cancel prior to this.
This is my second letter to UVC
Thank you for your assistance
Whilst working in sales at their Breathless Punta Cama resort the sales manager fraudulently stole my commisions, for two weeks he lied to me about paying me back, I appealed to his area director who told me the manager must pay me back but in general could do what he wanted. The manager lied about paying me what was due (recorded in WhatsApp messages) when I continued to persue the matter he told me he would make it impossible for me to make money there and if I continued asking for my money he said "If you carry on I'll wait for you outside? My next step was to approach the 'Ministry of work' for advice.
I then went and spoke with the head of human resources for the Dominican Republic who, in my presence, called the regional director to arrange a meeting to try and resolve this issue, a meeting was promised with details to be confirmed later that same day. Two days later, hearing nothing from them I engaged a lawyer to act on my behalf. The very next day I was asked to meet the regional director who claimed that morning was the first he'd heard about the issue which was another lie. Several days later I was summoned to the paymasters office where it was demanded I sign papers in Spanish which I didn't understand, even if I had understood the papers my lawyer had told me not to sign anything until he had looked it over.
When I asked for copies of the papers to show my lawyer I was told I could only get copies if and signed first and had to leave if I wouldn't sign. Since then Unlimited Vacation Club has refused to pay my legal entitlement (sumarary dismissal) and have delayed the court case. This is typical behaviour for this company who knows nobody in the business will employ someone taking legal action against a timeshare company.
UVC is a scam! They sell you something that you do not get! They Ply you with Chanpagne and woo you with free breakfast ,free cabanas, etc. They show you a room and say this is what you will be staying in and it is a lie. That is just the start of their lying!! If you tell them you want a refund and cancel your membership they threaten you that they will get their lawyers involved. Then they come back and offer you more free weeks , etc because they know they did something wrong. They threaten that if you try and fight the charge with your insurance company they will take you to court. There are so many horrible reports that I have read about this company. They should be shut down!! How do people like this get away with lying and trickery??? I will be fighting this until I get out of this hoax!!
I called Unlimited on sept 9th 2021 to use a free certificate for a week that was promised when I signed up in 2015. I was going to be with the AMR branch of Unlimited but apparently I was talking to a sales rep for the other side of the organization, the Lifestyle collection side of Unlimited, and they said my term expired and I had to sign up for 2 years in order to use the certificate. Just found out today that this is not at all true.
I just spoke with someone at the AMR branch and they said there is no need for me to participate in the Lifestyle part. Unfortunately the Lifestyle side has a recording that says I agreed to pay them, so I must still pay 158 a month for next two years.
Even though they verbally mislead me during my call before the recording. They got me to sign up even though I have no use for this part of the organization - I only ever might use the AMR side for Carribbean travel. Totally misleading. I am so angry - I want nothing to do with the Lifestyle portion.
They also said I would only owe $29 for an annual fee when in Feb, I got a call demanding a $150 annual fee or I couldn't get access to the website. I told them is was only $29, but they wouldn't let me use the web without paying, so I did because I was going on an AMR vacation. The lifestyle group never told me the $$ had nothing to do with the side of the organization I did want to use.
Desired outcome: All payments to Lifestyle are to cease immediately. Thank you.
My wife and I recently visited AM Resort Secrets Maroma Beach in Riviera Maya. We attended a presentation from UVC and were told many different promises of benefits relating to the club, later to finally read the contract we signed and the promises were not in the Agreement as stated. We have demanded a full refund and termination of the contract. Quality Assurance has threatened us in writing, and said they have had no wrongdoing. We still do not have any resolution to our issue, UVC Quality Assurance has not responded to us in 3 weeks and counting.
We've since contacted the BBB of Miami (UVC HQ, owned by AM Resorts, owned by Apple Leisure Group), as well the FL Attorney General. Issues dated below:
10/24/2020
Check-In to AM Resort property Secrets Maroma Beach, Riviera Maya Mexico
Within one hour of check-in, we are offered to attend a resort presentation the next day and accept. We are told the presentation would be 90 minutes and we book for 8 a.m.
10/25/2020
We started our resort presentation at 8:00 a.m. with Unlimited Vacation Clubs (UVC). Within the first hour, we informed them that we had a UVC trial membership 5 years ago and did not renew because we believed the membership had no value. For the main membership privilege (which was discounted AM Resort reservations), we could reserve resort rooms much less on our own, than with the membership and all of the restrictions. We were assured that so much had changed since those early days, that we would be very excited to hear about all of the changes. We agreed to continue to listen.
We purchased a trial membership from UVC 10/10/2015 at the AM Resort Sunscape in Curacao. This 5-year trial membership expired 10/9/2020 and we did not renew.
The 90-minute presentation turned into a 6.5-hour presentation (378 minutes). The ordeal took an entire day out of our vacation. We signed the new agreement under duress. So many UVC people kept coming to our table with a new pad of paper, writing new numbers, talking about all the benefits, then going away - spinning us. When we asked to speak to a member to get their input, the head of the operation came over quickly to get the deal closed immediately. Threw in many more low value items then said this is as good as it gets, as I'm the boss.
What we were told in the sales process:
Issue #1 - the main privilege of the membership and reason why we bought - the $40-150 range for all AM Resort properties - per person, per night no matter of the date.
They told us that the trial we bought in 2015 is so different than today's program. We mentioned the 25% discount from the 2015 contract and said it has no value to us. With this 25% discount, UVC will beat the lowest published rate for their AM Resort properties, but only when matching to a list of specific websites; these are the most high-priced websites on purpose. We did not book this current stay through our previous membership but went to multiple lower-priced competitive websites (not on their list); these sites, like TripAdvisor (a high-use, high traveler frequency site), were much lower than with UVC's 25% discount on their listed sites.
The sales staff did not bring up the 25% deal initially, but told us the rate we would pay would be between $40 on the low end and $150 on the high end, per person per night. This range would be totally inclusive of all AM Resort properties, no matter the time of year. Therefore, we could stay at their most expensive brand Zoetry during a Holiday for $150, as that would be peak and at the upper end of the range. Another example would be their down brand Sunscape for $40 on a non-peak period. The price will always be in that range.
When signing the agreement, we wanted to know where the $40-$150 was specifically, and the manager told us don't worry, they can't put that in the contract and have to have the 25% in there. Why would we buy a program two weeks after we chose to NOT renew our previous UVC membership, with the exact same 25% discount we had in the trial program? Why would we buy this new membership for the same main privilege when we didn't even use the UVC membership to book this resort for the week we were there because of the high price (with the 25% discount)? Because we were lied to about the $40-$150 range. We would have left the presentation if we knew the main privilege was the exact same as the previous membership we did not renew.
Issue #2 - the annual fee. We were told the only annual fee for the UVC membership would be a $155 concierge service. In reading the contract, UVC picks up a couple years membership fees in many of the programs, however in years 3+ we are additionally responsible for a $299 Lifestyle Collection Fee and an RCI fee. Therefore, if we maintained all of the privileges of the membership, our annual fees would be years 3-40 before even spending a dime on a vacation.
$155 UVC Annual Fee
$99 RCI Platinum Membership Fee
$89 RCI Endless Vacation Magazine - benefits are only obtained via subscription
$299 Lifestyle Collection Membership - required for the Savings Credits below
$642 Annual Fee
Issue #3 - Savings Credits. We were told that we could purchase hotel nights at Hilton, Marriott, Cruises, Wine, etc. at a 60%/40% rate based on Savings Credits. As example, provided we had enough Savings Credits to cover, if we wanted to book a Marriott room in Hawaii that was $500/night, we would have the Savings Credits program take care of 60% of that cost or $300; we would be responsible for the 40% or $200. If we had 2, 000 credits saved, then a 2-night stay would use 600 of those credits (300 per night) per the example. We were even shown an example on a UVC website regarding a Cruise we are planning on taking in 2022. This seemed logical but cannot find the 60/40 split anywhere in the contract; only mentioned under UVC Lifestyle Collection Membership that Savings Credits can be used for partial payment, dollar-for-dollar to buy down the total purchase price of qualified travel. We were not told about a fee each year for this, past year 2.
Furthermore, we were told that we could deposit RCI week blocks of 7 nights for 750 Savings Credits. Therefore, if we wanted to add to our Savings Credits total for the year, we would have the ability to deposit a week or weeks for Credits. What was not told to us during the presentation, was that each deposit of 7 nights would require us to pay $250 to the UVC Member Services and Reservations Center, and that the $250 fee can go up each year based on the US Consumer Price Index (as mentioned in the contract).
Issue #4 - we were told by purchasing the Gold Plus membership, we would receive 5 free weeks (35 nights for 2 people) at any AM Resort. While this is true, there is a major condition that was never explained to us during our presentation.
These nights will be released 1 night for each 2 monthly payments. All nights will be released on the date the Member satisfies the total price in full. These 5 weeks will now take us 4+ years to receive. We don't get them right away as sold to us in the presentation. We thought this to be an extra bonus to the $40-$150 rate told to us, and now understand there is a major catch to receiving the weeks.
Issue #5 - termination policies were not ever reviewed with us. Per contract termination policy, we had five days from signature to cancel.(10/30/2020) We could not get to the contract per the email link, nor access to the member website with credentials until 11/3, of which we then notified Member Services of our desire to cancel. See below.
Issue #6- deception with purchase. We signed and initialed the 45-page Agreement on an ipad that they controlled after 6 hours under duress. We wanted to get out of the sales room and get back to our vacation, we had spent the entire day there and knew a Hurricane was coming the next day We authorized the Agreement on a tablet, and when signing or initialing, the tablet would quickly scroll to the next area to be authorized, purposely moving us quickly through the document without review. We asked for a copy of the Agreement and they said they could not give us a copy in person, but that we would get everything via email. We had some of the yellow pages they wrote all of their fast numbers on regarding how all of the deals would work, but not all. We looked for the #1 Issue yellow page above which had the $40-$150 written on it, and that was not in our papers they left us with; they took it as evidence.
10/26/2020 - Hurricane Zeta hit our resort.
10/27/2020 - we went online via our phone and attempted to pull down the Agreements to review; clicked the link and it would not work.
10/30/2020 - we got back to Chicago and attempted the link again, did not work.
11/2/2020 - contacted Member Services (Monday) and stated not only were we not able to get to our Agreement via the "Review Documents" Link, but that we received no information as to their Website and credentials for logging in to review our purchase. The Member Services representative apologized and stated she would get an email out with the Agreement in .PDF in the next 24 hours. She would also make sure we received credentials for logging into the UVC website to review the details of our membership.
11/3/2020 - we received the email with the Agreement, and were surprised to see no record of many of the aforementioned promises/issues and statements they had made during the sale. This Agreement had many of the exact same covenants as our trial Agreement from 2015, which we stated had no value to us. We also were now able to review the actual cancellation policy, which rescind period had now passed (5 days from purchase).
Called Member Services regarding the issues within the Agreement and continued no access to our member portal
• Member Services apologized for us not being able to access our membership portal and said they would get a note to technical resources to fix the issue. Credentials with Login kept failing as "couldn't find contract" failure. This is now 7+ days from when we signed the contract and we can't even access our member portal.
• Asked the Member Services representative about our #1 issue which is the $40-$150 per person per night promise, and they stated that is not accurate. That the savings program is 25% of the published rates and that he has booked members much higher than the $150 rate I'm talking about.
• The representative asked if the sales staff went over the cancellation policy, and was surprised when I stated no.
Thereafter after detailed review, we emailed that we wanted a full refund and wanted to cancel the membership.
11/6/2020 - we had a call with Fabiola Enriquez, in response to our intent to terminate our Membership. We had our call with Fabiola, and the call became heated quickly, we said good-bye and hung up.
They lied and scammed us out of over$13,000! UVC is nothing but a discount club. Pay $26,000 and you can receive 25% off regular prices at their resorts. Any internet site can find you a better deal. They make a million promises... all lies.
There are blackout dates. Your paid nights only count for HALF at many resorts, including Secrets, Dreams and more!!! They are the worst scammers out there. I am excited to finally begin the work necessary to sue these crooks!
MY WORST NIGHTMARE
Secrets Huatulco
My husband and I booked 2 weeks’ vacation at Secrets Huatulco for Christmas and New Year. We were both looking forward to this vacation, it turned to be our worst nightmare.
On Boxing Day evening, entering the resort theater in the dark, unmarked, I tripped over a power cable which had been strung across the floor to illuminate the stage. I landed on my left shoulder, dislocating and fractured the same.
While at the resort, I was showered with flowers, gift baskets, personal phone calls, and promised that the resort will compensate us. It’s been now over seven weeks and the resort refuses to take responsibility.
Our recommendation is to stay away from these places. Any injuries you are stuck with thousands of dollars in expense and long rehabilitation. The resort will not accept any responsibility for their incompetence.
The resort caters to cowboys who float around the pool all day, drink all day and smoke all day. There are No smoking signs anywhere, and there are cigarette buds everywhere.
This is not my kind of vacation. We will be going somewhere else in the future, may be going back to Maui it’s not a bad idea.
Yes, we are gold members, and that is another story all together.......
During a great trip to Cabo on the 26th of April 2018 my wife and I were sold the idea of a attending presentation and for our troubles received vouchers for better deals then we were already planning on buying (trip from airport, snorkeling, Sunset Set Cruise, Paddle boarding, etc.). We attended without the least worry about buying anything as it was sold as a tour of the hotel. After a great breakfast we went for the presentation and the salesman, after finding out we were from Phoenix and planned to come back to Cabo, wrote down on the offer sheet that we would get this amazing deal of $84 per night per person on any of the first tier resorts and that the Breathless Resort was on that list. So we asked how much and he quoted us $119,000. We explained that:
While the $84 PP per night deal looked good we did not have that much travel planned to take advantage of it
We would be paying for this package long after we were dead.
So he dropped the price to $5000 and after some haggling for add-ons (1 week free in the first tier) and annual payments made for 2 years on the 2nd and 3rd tier we bought even though I saw a lot of bad reviews on Buyer’s remorse and not getting enough deals to make up for the cost of membership. We on the other hand planned to travel a lot for the next 5 years and the deal (based on what we were sold) would pay for itself and more.
Fast forward to today, the deal ($84 PP PN) they offered for their tier 1 resorts is not a real deal as we have talked to the their Travel Agent and she told she had never seen that pricing opportunity. So we asked to speak to a representative to get this issue figured out. She said one would call us the following day and as promised we got a call from a Justino Mora who Identified himself as a manager and wanted to discuss our issue, we explained all of the above and he said they were growing so fast that sometimes it was hard to manage what the salespeople in the field were saying but no problem he would send us a new deal on a week in certain resorts (including the one in Cabo) to use but needed to accept and sign it in the next few days to validate it. So we received the deal which was for certain resorts,
This Certificate issued by Mediator grants Member the number of VIP weeks indicated below for 2 (two) people in a Deluxe Room type, subject to availability at any Participating Hotel in the All-Inclusive plan (food and beverage included) in accordance with the type and conditions of their membership as described in Exhibit B and subject to the terms and conditions indicated further on herein. 2 USD VIP Week valid for Years with a preferential rate of 1 $1,600.00 and they would also pay for our tier 1 Annual payment for the 2nd year.
The entire deal is on the website we set up regarding this issue but the problem was to get the deal we had to search through availability and some of the resorts are 2 for 1 night Rules apply. So I guess that means we would have to buy at our UV rate the next 3 ½ days for us to stay a week. Some of the resorts offered were cheaper then the $1600 price he had quoted and to be fair there were a couple of resorts that were higher then the deal he offered but I did not ascertain if they were 2-1 requirements. So the deal was not good enough to make up the $84 PP PN deal we bought the package on. Right now we are chronicling everything on our website and hopefully we will see the great deals other people in this post have claimed to have enjoyed.
In closing we, at this time, are not trying to get out of the agreement we signed but are looking to show the savings we were promised.
My wife and I went to Cancun for our honeymoon in August 2016. While at the Silversands Resort some excursions were offered if we set in on sales pitch for other resorts/vacations. Well the deal offered was pay $26,000 for years of "discounts" and we would get to stay at 5 star hotels for less than price of regular stay at hotel. I paid $13,000 down because I got 0% interest on loan of other $13000. When my wife and I returned home and couldn't wait to book our next vacation to Cabo Wabo which all we would pay for a classy 1 - 2 bedroom apt which was showed to us at Silversands Resort. All we had to pay was like $75 dollars a day. The only other out of pocket expense was $125 yearly maintenance expense. Come to find out when we placed order UVC wanted another $4000. We thought there was a mistake and started calling UVC customer service. This back and forth communication started about Sept. By Dec we started figuring out what was really going on. Either I got no return call or excuse of won't even discuss sitution with me because I had not started paying my monthly payment. I stated that the salesman misrepresented their product and they were in breach of contract so I would not pay until our original deal was kept or wanted refund. Long story short is I got no resolution. This was a complete scam. I've attempted getting lawyers, but they want money upfront and I don't have it. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with cancer in Dec 2016 and am just getting back to my old self so wanted to post this. If other readers who have had this done know of way to address this legally I'm interested. I know with as many of us a possible civil action suit could be possible, but have had no luck. If you are researching this company before buying in, please don't. This has been a terrible ordeal for my family and we are just working people who don't have that kind of money to throw around. I'm usually more cautious than this, but caught up in the moment of our honeymoon, I didn't research enough and got burned.
On July 11, 2017 the wife and I took a 90 minute tour of a Resort in Cancun. This tour lasted five hours. We faced several "Sales" agents pushing what sounded like the right to purchase up to 12 weeks of vacation time to be used at a resort when their rooms are not completely sold out. The cost was approximately $3500 (for 12 weeks purchased vacation time).
When we got home we tried to make a reservtion at a resort of our choice and found there was availablity, But there was a cost, an Additional $2500+.
We learned that what we purchased was a "discount program". That was completely different from what we were told. We attempted to cancel and got a run around. We did not have a contract in our papers and Company promised to send a copy. We still don't have a contract to review. Company Officials were told we wanted a refund but have just ignored that request.
Unlimited vacation club is all a scam! All the promises that were given to us at the time of the purchased, about getting major discounts without having to pay extra money or fees were all lies. They told us that after the purchase we would not have another invoice besides the yearly maintenance fee. My husband and I have spent thousands of dollars and have never been able to use it because every time we try to schedule a vacation they make all these excuses telling us we need to purchase more things and pay more money in order to go through with the vacation. Also we have their sister company RCI (this is another scam!) calling us all the time telling us that our membership with them has expired and in order for us to use their service we need to pay more money. Sometimes it has been imposible to get a hold of Unlimited when you need their help, but come your due date if you are late paying they start harassing you with calls just to make sure that you pay. Whenever we want to go on vacation we end up finding way better deals on our own. The times we have reached them they just try to sell you more stuff or try to upgrade you and if you don't want anything then they give you a different number to call and they do not answer the phone. Once you reach them they tell you that you can find all of the information on line instead of taking the time to help you. We are done with them!
Unlimited vacation club is all a scam! All the promises about getting major discounts without any hassle or fees were all lies. My husband and I have spent thousands of dollars and have never been able to use it because every time we try to creat a vacation they make all these excuses telling us we need to purchase more things and pay more money in order to go through with the vacation. They are imposible to get a hold of when you need help but come your due date they start hurrasing you with calls just to make sure that you pay. When ever we want to go on vacation we end up finding way better deals on our own and end up haveng to go for those, not only because it's a better price but because we can never reach them. The times we have reached them they just try to sell you more stuff and if you don't want anything they give you a different. Umber to call and they do not answer the phone.