While we were on vacation in December 2008 (November 28th to December 5th) in
Cozumel my wife and I were approached to visit a resort and get a free lunch in exchange
to visit the resort with the pretence that the resort was just rebuilt after the hurricane and
they wanted tourists to rediscover it. So we went.
What we got there was a sale pitch for a "holiday membership" with which we could
travel the world for the next 30 years with our travel cost fixed (not getting higher year
after year). After three hours of talks where the offers seemed always better and better,
we signed... The worst mistake ever.
Almost immediately that same night we started to have second thoughts but we decided
to sleep on it. Before leaving Cozumel, the day after, WE CALL THEIR HELP-DESK FROM THE AIRPORT AND TOLD THEM WE WANTED TO CANCEL. But they told us they could not do it yet because the contract had not been processed yet and was not in the system. They told us to call back when we were back home.
So the next Monday I called back and still the contract was not in the system. I sent them an
e-mail, as follows :
&&&- Forwarded message &&&-
From: Jean-Pierre
Date: Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Subject: Membership cancelation
To: [email protected]
Hello, as I've stated on the phone I would like to cancel my membership with you. I know
my contract is still not on file but please notify me when it is so we can proceed with the
cancelation.
Member # 669254.
I tried calling again during that week and the week after and finally I did receive an email
on December 20th sending us our password to access the site, stating that we had
requested it! I replied to the email and called the helpdesk and they told us that they can't
cancel our membership because we were passed the 5 days cool-off period!!!
During the Christmas holidays we were not able to contact anyone and then in January
someone in Finance (Nancy d'Argence) contacted us to welcome us to the club. I told her
I wanted to cancel my membership but she told me she could not do anything for us
except refinance. SO SHE GAVE US A REFINANCE OFFER WHICH WOULD HAVE COST US THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS MORE IN THE END (FOR LOWER MONTHLY PAYMENTS). We refused.
She then said that the only thing we could do was to resell our membership. AND WHEN
WE BOUGHT THE MEMBERSHIP I SPECIFICALLY ASKED IF IT WAS RESALABLE AND THEY TOLD US THAT THEY SOLD EASILY, QUICKLY AND FOR A PROFIT. So she gave our names to their sales department which in turn gave them to a broker in the States (Global Resort Services), which contacted us. I talked to the broker and they told us that we could get 29 000$US for our membership! Wow, we're even making a profit. We had to pay 600$US for the account and the publicity they would put out.
I called the broker about once a month but nothing was happening. So in April I started to
do more researches on the Internet and realized that there were a lot of people in the same
situation as I was and moreover the only information I GOT ON PEOPLE THAT HAD BEEN ABLE TO RESELL THEIR MEMBERSHIP WAS FOR ABOUT 10% OF THE PRICE!
On April I started writing my story on different websites specializing in scams and
fraud and copied Royal Holiday with the information. We received an email from Royal Holiday stating that they had received our complaint and it was forwarded to a supervisor.
I started from this moment to talk to Octavio on a regular basis and exchanging emails.
But although Mr. Robles was telling me day after days that he would be presenting my
case to the board of directors, I still haven’t had any news (I understand that the offices
were closed 3 business days due to the flu pandemic). And for the last 2 weeks I am not
able to reach Mr. Robles and he is not returning my calls.
This is the reality: you have to pay an annual fee (465$US now) that can and will go up
With the years; you still have to pay for your food, which will go up; and finally you
Reserve based on a point-basis, so today with 30 000 points I can get 2 weeks, but in 2
years it could cost me 40 000 points. Plus they told us that we could easily resale our
membership for a profit, which is false. And finally they told us we had 5 days to cancel
but we got the turn-around with their helpdesk until it was too late.
Jean P.
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