Sunset World Resorts & Vacation Experiences
Reviews and Complaints

May 27 2018

May 27 2018
I am in the same boat as many who have complained. I stupidly fell for this scam. I was told I was not buying a timeshare as I explicitly said I did not want to buy a timeshare. I have tried to get information from them as now I see information coming to me that tells me I have bought a timeshare.
I was travelling at the time and contacted the sales people plus customer service >20 times since my return home. I am 4 months into trying to get more information and still not phone call from them.

This is the person who is supposed to be contacting me but we still have not spoken, only communicated by email, and I cannot seem to connect on any of the numbers in her signature block.

Anita Romero
Customer Service Supervisor

I am still no wiser on what I have actually purchased. I would like to cancel the membership but no joy in speaking with anyone. I am going to see if there are Time Share associations that I can complain to. Anyone else had any luck cancelling their membership?
Like someone else said I would love a class action against them. I am thinking of flying to Cancun and setting up camp outside where they do the sales. Giving out leaflets with all these complaints and telling prospective buyers of the scam. Lets see how they like me stopping a few sales.

My family bought the premium cancun vacations and availed the trip to cancun. You will have to pick one hotel out of a couple options.in the package it says you agreed to attend a 90-120 minutes presentation which you got to because of the deal. My family were brought to a different hotel for a free breakfast and to sunset royal for the presentation. The presentation is actually a timeshare presentation and the agent denied it. The people at the sales room would do acts on you to get your signature on the contract. Read the contract and do not believe whatever spoken works and promises they tell you. You will regret it very much once you knew the truth. You can read more about it if you google mexican timeshare. Do not sign anything and if you are interested in getting a timeshare, get/talk to your lawyer and not the resort's lawyer.
By mexican law, you have 5 days to cancel a timeshare contract and get a full refund within 15 business days. Make sure you sent your cancellation letters. Keep copies of your letters, receipts, etc. The resort will refuse your cancellation and will tell you that you cannot cancel. There's a site I came across www.mescam.com and it will give you knowledge and information on how to fight back.

Fui estafado por sunset group, me vendieron con mentiras diciéndome que podría rentar mis semanas, le pregunté al vendedor si la renta de mis semanas era una garantía, me dijo que si y que si no lograba rentarlas ellos me las rentarían y nunca me dijeron que tenía que pagar mantenimientos.
Firmé el contrato y el resto es historia, jamás logré rentar mis semanas, ni ellos me las rentaron, además tuve que pagar obligatoriamente los mantenimientos por algo que ni usé. Después de 2 años sin recibir un peso de las supuestas rentas y estar pagando mantenimientos, hablé a sunset group y les dije que quería cancelar, y en lugar de cancelarme es tanto su descaro que no solo no me querían cancelar, me querían vender otro tiempo compartido más caro, que disque con este si iba a poder rentar mis semanas. Tendría que estar tonto como para caer en semejante trampa de nuevo. Me moví al instante y conseguí que los de mexican timeshare solutions me cancelaran mi contrato sin tener que pagarles un centavo más.
Ahora cada que sé de alguien que va a ir de vacaciones, lo primero que les digo es aléjense de sunset group, y si les ofrecen un tiempo compartido es pura estafa, digan que no

On October 2010 my sisters and I were in Cancun for vacation. We knew that we had to attend a 90 minutes presentation for timeshare, since one of my sister had received one week vacation from Royal Sunset. But we had kept in mind that we would not buy. After 4 hours of discussion we finally bought. We started out with one representative showing us the Sunset Lagoon. Going back to what I called « the discussion room » another salesman came. He was the supervisor, the Master. The disccussion was long and difficult. I told them a couple of time that I needed to call my husband in my country before making a decision. That I would give them my decision the next day. But the supervisor wouln´t let met out of the office. Everything that was mentionned by other owners, happened. We were taken to a private office. Gifts were offered, A better room, activities all week..., wine during the process of discussion, name it we got it all. We were asked questions about our families, how much we spend a year on vacation... We were promised that at any time we could sell back without any controversial… A year later I took 1 week exchange. I was not satisfied so I wrote them. 2 years later, us three sisters got separated, so 2 of us bought the third one's part. No legal papers were done. For the last two years, we've been researching to find out how to proceed in order to sell this back? We called American Lawyers, which told us that this is a private thing and that they won’t do anything. It is very hard to give our trust in this matter.We find that we are obligated to go to the same place every year and it is not cheaper than an all inclusive. We've invested a lot. These people sell a dream, but once we wake up, it is a nightmare. So when we found Mexican Timeshare Solutions web site and the good comments from past consumers, we finally decided to write them. They help us to get rid of our timeshare and the maintenance fees. we can finally rest. It´s a complicated process, but not impossible

My husband and I bought a lifetime membership with Sunset Group Hacienda Tres Rios, they made us many promises, we bought it in 2012 and we already payed it, from the date of purchase to today we never used it, because it is complex and difficult to meet their requirements, so my husband and I decided as promised in the acquisition of the membership that they could help us to sell, which is a lie, then they told us that the sale was particular.
Tired of so many lies and of throwing our money we decided to cancel our membership, another complicated problem, the opposite of when we sold the membership, all were rude and never wanted to attend our calls, we were denied the get the cancellation and even threatened us.
We doubted it was possible to cancel and as a last resource we hire Mexican Timeshare Solutions, it was the solution to our problems, in 6 months we were free and no more maintenance to pay, which was our major concern, we doubt if we did the right thing and if we could be scammed again, but this time we read our contract and saw that everything was legitimate and there was no risk to run. Today we are very happy to have canceled our membership and we decided to post this to see if we help someone sharing our story, don't fall in their traps and fight for your rights.

My wife and I vacationed in Cancun in June, 2014. We were talked into going to a "presentation" with the Sunset Corporation. We ended up purchasing a Timeshare after a pressure sales presentation. (not sure how that happened...) That night I read over the contract and realized we had made a mistake. We called our rep and met with him the next morning to cancel and he told us we had waived our right to the 5 day cancellation period . I knew we had signed a sheet waiving that right as we were promised "extras" if we did. I was upset but thought there was nothing we could do. After the trip I began searching online and found Mexican Timeshare Solutions. I was very skeptical at first but they didn't require any payment upfront so decided we had nothing to lose. They were very professional and had the contract cancelled within five months! We are so relieved and thankful we took a chance on Mexican Timeshare Solutions. They saved us 20, 000.00 dollars!
Thank you Mexican Timeshare Solutions.

Lets start with the only positive at Sunset Marina Resort, their staff & evening entertainment was good. Sunset Marina is an old resort but that wouldn't matter if they keep up their rooms, pool, hot tub, etc. The first thing my husband had to do was unplug the shower and things just got worse from there. You do not have to do all-inclusive that this resort but they cater to all-inclusive, the room didn't have enough dishes & cooking supplies. The stove, toaster & microwave didn't work well and the frig spoiled 3 pds of hamb that we brought for dinners in our rooms. The a/c didn't run well which made it hard to sleep but that wasn't the only issue with sleeping, the beds were VERY Hard and each morning we would wake up w/ sore backs. I have never stayed at a resort w/ partial kitchens that didn't offer grills for guests to use or a laundry either in the room or on site. Sunset Marina also has its own activities which we didn't know so if you check on-line for an activity make sure you are getting the activity you want instead of their similar activity because you will be disappointed. Beware of the pool, its ice cold and the hot tub changed my sons underwear from black to purple and our friends daughter's swimsuit from orange to purple. My party was so upset that I finally went to the manager. The manager, housekeeping manger and a staff came into our rooms and checked each item in the room. They didn't seem like they have BIG issues and replaced the toaster, a/c, brought a thick blanket to try to soften one of the beds and worked on the frig and we saw them out at the hot tub. The manager gave us all-inclusive for 2 lunch, 1 breakfast and 1 dinner. That's another issue, their all-inclusive meals are the same each day. The resort needs reno in every room and should not be part of RCI until they bring it up to standards.

My husband and I visited Cancun in 2008 and were suckered into the purchased of the worst scam ever! Their sales pitch went on for hours and we were convinced that this may not be a bad choice heck maybe we would use it a lot as our family grew...
As time went on we tried to use our timeshare when we decided to take a vacation. And of course at that time there were no availabilities... The only ones available were the ones we had to pay an extra $1k each for all inclusive! Meanwhile we kept paying the bills and maintenance fees for the past 5 years. I then contacted the company numerous times to exercise the BUY BACK option. This was the pitch that got us into the contract. We were told we could just " sell it back" when we didn't need it anymore. UGH! We were so gullible. Of course the respond we have gotten from them is that " they have the right to refuse the offer and they are not interested and to try again". I have at this point paid off the timeshare in the hopes that they would buy it back. They have denied the offer and I am pretty sure they never will take it back. At this point I have dealt with them soo much without a resolution that I just want out of the contract. Seems like this is a hole that keeps getting darker and continues to dry our pockets of our hard earned money. So please if you visit Cancun, DO NOT ATTEND any sales pitch from SUNSET GROUP! They do not want happy consumers... Only want to squeeze as much money as possible!

I've purchased timeshare from Sunset Harbor Resort but it seems that they didn't even own it in a first place. Since they've received my money all communication was lost and no further actions were take to secure the deal. I had to fill claim with BBB, hopefully this helps somehow.

We went on Holiday to Cancun, Mexico on December 2008. We were enjoying our trip, but for our disgrace, we met a man selling day trips. He asked us to go and take a look to the nicest resort called Sunset Beach. After time pushing us to assist to his resort and trying to convince us saying this is just a breakfast, we agreed.

After being introduced to a sales representative called Israel Romero, he showed us the hotel. Then we were taken to Sunset Royal (Another resort from the same company), where a sales team was waiting for us. We were talked through a presentation and we had no intention of signing up, but as they kept talking to us for many hours and giving us alcohol, we were DECEIVED AND LIED TO with many special offers, so we decided to sign their contract,

One day after, we went back to Sunset because we figured out that everything they sold us was not truth. Israel showed us a different package for a lower price with more incredible offers. He said with this new package will have these benefits:

*.-We will have 4 week a year and 2 RCI weeks for 2 years. We were told the maintenance fee was payable every other year but we had 4 weeks a year to use plus the RCI weeks. When we started emailing Sunset they said that we now only 4 weeks every years. This is not what we were promised.

*.- We were told that it would be a fantastic investment for the future and we would never lose our money and they GUARANTEED that. But is untrue too, you can´t even give it back to them or give it away.

*.-We were told that we could split our unit and rent the other side back to them at $500 USD a week or swop it for extra weeks if we split it. We were told this is a normal practice and we just email or ring Sunset and they will do this for us (Now we are being told this is not so and because they lowered the price, they cannot do it).

When we figured out that this is not what we were sold, we started sending emails and making phone calls trying to contact to Jonathan Stoker Senior (Sales Manager) and cancel this contract, since then, he has been ignoring them all.

At this point, we googled Sunset Beach and we found on the internet many complaints by the words "SCAM" and "FRAUD". Please if someone wants to share some information, I will appreciate it.

My husband and I attended the presentation and purchased a timeshare based on the false information that was given. Upon closer examination of our financial situation we decided we couldn't afford this anyways and tried to cancel at the sales office 2 days later. It was Christmas break so we thought we should do it as soon as possible since the contract said we only had 5 days. We were told because we accepted a special price that we has waived our right to cancel. We did not yet know that we were being lied to so accepted that we had made a mistake and thought we would sell it back to them in a year as was indicated as an option whe we signed. It has been almost a year and in that time we have learned that every reason that we bought this for was a total lie. So we told them to cancel our contract according to the cancellation clause and we would accept the loss of the monies we had already paid. After being told via email we could dothis I anticipated no problems. Wrong again. Now they are refusing to cancel our contract even though they get to keep the 10 thousand we've already paid them!

This company on my opinion is made of extremely charismatic liars.

Even if you want to buy a timeshare there do not buy from the salespeople. You can buy one on eBay for almost nothing, meaning the value of the property definitely doesn't appreciate like they say it does. Also, it is not a tax write-off in canada like they tell you it is.

Avoid them like the plague. We are going to be pursuing this matter furher if anyone else isi I. The same boat I'd like to hear your stories. There is strength in numbers and we may be able to help each other out.

My husband and in-laws got scammed not once, but three times by this timeshare group. We initially purchased 8 weeks, agreeing to only use 4 for the first four years. We were assured that our membership in the yacht club was included in the 8 wk pkg, that any weeks we chose not to use would be sold and the funds would come to us, and that we would be able to get any week we wished.

Right. We were stupid. After we my husband signed the contract and it was being passed to me, they mentioned that we had to pay the maintenance fee whether or not we used the condo. Then after I signed, they mentioned that, "Oh, no, no, there are blackout weeks at Christmas, Easter, spring break, etc." We were starting to feel a bit queasy but they had already run my father-in-law's AmEx for $11K. They saw our concerned faces and gave us the keys to an unused, 3 bedroom suite for the remainder of our vacation (3 or 4 days, I don't recall exactly.)

After a year we discovered that two of our family members had terminal cancer and we called to ask if we could downgrade to 4 weeks, or preferable to whatever number of weeks would be paid in full at that point. They said no, but they would allow us to forgo payments for a year. Within 5 months, we were receiving collection calls. They finally sent us a contract stating the downgrade and the additional amount necessary for closing. We paid via check, they cashed it, and the collection calls kept right on coming.

Ten days ago, we received email stating that if we'd pay them $6k, we could have our contract back and they'd call it square. Sounds great, right? Except that they won't send us a contract stating that we'll be paid in full, nor will they send one stating how many weeks we'll have in exchange for that $6k. The salesperson, or collection agent, whatever she might be in reality, insisted that they were acting in good faith and would send us a contract as soon as we sent them the money.

What's wrong with this picture? Now our credit is ruined, they claim we owe them $28, 000 USD, and that check we sent last time? Well, that just went toward what we owed them, not for the closing costs as was stipulated.

I'm sick, disgusted and more than that, this has ruined our families' feelings for the Yucatan, where we have been vacationing for a very, very long time.

Horrible company to deal with >they are all a bunch of liars they just want to take your money to built other resorts and they offer you a lot less than a cheap resort

While vacationing in Cancun, at the Spa Hotel. I had to attended a promotion for timeshare in the Sunset Group, I was not going to buy anything because I don’t really need a timeshare, BUT the sales person explained to me that they (the Sunset Group) was going to make a great investment that is worth 2500 dollars a year, and that the time share would increase in value by 10% a year at least. That is one heck of an investment! Well, after a long (4-5 hr) promotion, I signed a contract, for the investment purpose. I also had to sign a waiver on the hotel desk, which said I cannot cancel the contract within the 5 day cancellation period.
They didn’t include that waiver in my contract! They just made me sign it and then never gave me a copy!
When back from holidays ( before the end of the 5days cancelation ) had serious second thoughts and tried to contact them to cancel anyway, anyhow. I spent days trying to reach somebody to cancel the contract, but NOBODY was able to help me :
• I contact the sale person FELIX A. HERNANDEZ which keep mentioning that they can't do anything because I signed the waiver. Which by the way is ILLEGAL in Mexico. After this attempt he got very busy not answering me...

• His boss C.P ALFREDO POOT keep trying to lower the price of the timeshare and get me some downgrade that will cost me 10, 000USD! Wooo, a timeshare of 34, 000USD is now for 10, 000USD how kind is this man….

• I finally got the VLO officer ADRIANA LECUONA, which was supposed to help with legal stuffs. She just ignored my cancelation and passed me to a Membership service.

• ADRIANA SEGRETO which works for this department was a real axx Hxxx. She kept lowering the price to get me some VIP holidays for 10Years... Of course the refund will be tomorrow. When you ask again, it is next Tuesday or maybe in two weeks…..

They also tried to lies to me about the refund with some scummy refund forms from Rosy Aragon's department. They keep laying on every contact and saying please be patient. LET ME TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE JUST AFTER GAINING TIME SO YOU CAN4T CLAIM YOUR MONEY BACK!
I'm gonna skip ahead here, to make the story shorter. Let me tell you that all those holidays proposed by these scammers are worthless! Even more, given the maintenance fee and other charges, they will need to pay us to get those contracts! Don't fell on this trap stay away from SUNSET Group. Tell your friends, neighbors’ and family so they can stay sharp on them.

Now I am on dispute with the bank on all my money and I am getting PROFECO and British embassy to hammer them down. With the embassy will start make people, travelling to Mexico, aware at the airport by giving them documents explaining this scam. This will start in London and all UK and Europe eventually.
I am planning to share all infos inn all webs. Youtube, facebook….
The following is in youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5h79rKF7sM . Please check and forward it.
Let's all fight against this thieves.

My husband and I were scammed in 2004. We were guaranteed a great investment/rental income opportunity with great availability. And Yes, the yacht club, Sunset inter-club were also part of the deal. If unhappy or disappointed, we would be bought out with the assistance of their sales dept.
We have only been able to book Fisherman's Village once. There has been no other availability that fit our requests. So you can forget about rental income. Tried to do an exchange through Sunset inter-club with no luck.
Have asked many questions via email and it appears to me if they don't like the question, you will not get an answer. The fees go up annually not to mention the extra fees for hurricanes and the additional fee every 5 years for maintenance.
What sounded like a wonderful thing has turned into a night mare.

I am happy I found this site and extremely depressed that this has happened.
If there is anyone out there that has gotten out of the situation, we would love to hear about it.

Thanks
KS

It was our first trip to Cancun for myself, a single mom, and 2 daughters. We were approached at the Cancun airport and told if we listened to a 90-minute presentation we would receive huge discounts on various activities. Since it was pouring down rain the following day, we agreed to it, only the presentation ended up lasting several hours. The salesman convinced us what a great deal it was to get in on their timeshare, and that this fabulous offer was only good for that day. We were greatly influenced by the atmosphere, a large group of happy people in a room where every so often you would hear a celebration going on when someone had signed up, champagne corks popping, making you feel like you're in this elite group if you become a member. They made it sound so good. So I agreed, especially since the salesman set up activites for us all week long, free of charge. Then the anxiety set in, that something didn't seem right about this whole thing. But I remembered what the closing lady told us, "We can't cancel you and you can't cancel us." I thought it was a done deal and there was no way out, so, though having very mixed feelings about the whole thing, I didn't say anything, which was a huge mistake because I later found out you CAN cancel if it's within 5 days. After we got back home, when I started checking on the Web, Googling Sunset Group, I was horrified to learn of the many people ripped off by their timeshare scam. I paid over $9, 000 on a Mastercard at the time for something I wouldn't even own, only keep paying on for many years, plus paying an additional maintenance fee. You can get all kinds of great discounts for vacations to Mexico or anywhere else, I've learned, spending thousands less than you would with Sunset. They did cancel my contract, but I will still be paying on this huge amount of money when it could have been used towards my children's college education or to help my elderly mother or many other uses. We never used the timeshare, not even once. I just want to warn others not to fall for this. It was an awful and expensive lesson to learn and it's ruined any desire I have to return to Mexico. Don't be naive like I was because they have no conscience when it comes to taking people's hard-earned money. It's just a business to them.

----- Original Message -----
From: Kris Silva
To: Victor Bigurra
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: Hello from Cancun-Riviera Maya!

Hey Victor - we're here at Fisherman's. This is our third week and we are loving it. We are doing our part for the Mexican people. Our daughter Lee was here for 2 weeks and had to go home. Our son was here for 1 week and then my brother came and we are all feeling just fine. We even flew into Mexico City and walked around and are still doing fine.

----- Original Message -----
From: Victor Bigurra
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 8:50 AM
Subject: Hello from Cancun-Riviera Maya!

Hello, how are you doing? My name is Victor ###### from Sunset, do you remember me? long time no see you, I wanted to say hi to you and to let you know we are ok in Cancun, I know the News in US are saying that is dangerous to come to Mexico, but Cancun is very far from Mexico city and we didn´t have any infected people with tant flu in Cancun, please transmit this to your friends and tell them everything is ok they can travel here safe.

Thank you!

Victor #####
Inhouse Manager Sunset

My sisters and I attended the travel show sponsored by the New York Times In February, 2008. Normally we were very carful about this kind of "package sale" by some saleperson, but because it's from New York Times sponsored travel show, we figure it's safe and reliable.
There were several representatives represented the "Vacation Rewards program" aka the "Sunset Group Cancun". The salesman told me and my sister that I can use my credit card to pre-pay the packages for my sisters and their families. The FOUR packages I paid for can be used at the same time for family re-union. We were assured that this is not a timesharing and we do not have to attend any presentation. We have choices of two resorts, Ocean Hotel and Laguna Suite. Everything was paid for and cleared.

Since then, we tried to book the travel together (total of 4 families). We were told by several customer services reps that we could not book the travel together because I pre-paid the packages for my sisters on my credit card. If the 2nd family shows up, we have to pay the full price. We were told that we have to attend the timesharing presentation.

THIS IS A SCAM.

In addition, we were told that we have to pay $49 booking fees for each room and $110 for hotel taxes. The package was under $300 per room, and as far as I know hotel tax is only 10%, wonder how they get $110 from.

On one of the call, I spoke to one of the customer services rep named Lisa. She agreed that we do not have to attend the presentation. I asked her to send me an email confirmation. I never received any follow up email from her. This was only one of the many calls.

Finally me and my sisters decide to give up the packages that we already paid for, if just reserveration process is so inconsistent with the information we got initially, God only knows what other "extra charges" will be imposed on us when we got there.

I have owned this timeshare for 3 years and have not yet been able to use it, The 5 star resorts and gated comunities where never available, and convincing buyers that they never have to pay maintance fees because for anothet $549.00 this company (Resorts International Marketing Corp. 101 North Riverside Drive
Suite 116 Pompano Beach Fl. ) will market and rent your weeks.
Well thats not happening.! and they are sorry about that. I could scream with anger. Why can't people be honest.

This is miss leading and dishonest.
K michigan

I was contacted about an inexpensive vacation from Summerbay Reorts. For around $500.00 I was to receive several days at two different Florida resorts, a cruise to the Bahamas, 4 nights in Mexico, and a trip of my choice. When I declined they dropped the price to $249 and I accepted, but I agreed to attend a 90 minute presentation. Later they called me because I hadn't booked a trip and finally I booked the trip to Mexico and I had to pay a few more fees, but it wasn't that much more.

To make a long story short, my wife and I ended up signing a contract to stay at three of the Sunset facilities in Quintana Roo. This was amazing to me because we have always made good decisions and our credit rating is over 755. We really didn't want this deal and it want our kind of place, although we have traveled in Mexico before and loved it. I must say their sales staff has this down to a science. They actually intimidate you with kindness and complements. There were at least 20 to 25 other couples in room with us and I didn't see even one get up and leave without signing. Every couple minutes a champagne cork would pop and everyone would applaud when someone signed. The whole time my gut was telling me not to sign, but I signed anyway.

When we got home we had buyers remorse and decided to do a little research on the internet, we found the same or similar packages for sale, pages of them, from $5000 to $16, 000 for the same resorts as well as for many other resorts. Our package had started out at $87, 500, but to get us to sign they had dropped the price to $47, 000. They kept telling us that if we ever got tired of the package they would buy it back no questions asked. We were told that the memberships appreciated 10% to 15% a year. We also found tons of unhappy customers for a variety of reasons.

The good thing we found on the internet was a Mexican law guaranteeing a 5 day right of recision. When I called the sales manager, Manuel Novelo, he turned from this wonderful person with a delightful sense of humor into an angry man who told us we had signed away our right of recision, and said he would take $25, 000 from us and that he would destroy our credit. When we checked our contract, sure enough, we had signed away our rights. Within an salesperson, Rabah Taright, called and also threatened our credit.

They followed through and we now have a $25, 000 charge on our credit card even though it is illegal to have someone sign away the right of recision. My wife now cries a lot and we both have a hard time sleeping. We feel stupid and humiliated that we let ourselves be taken advantage of this way. They use your best human qualities against you. Their tactics are subtle, but calculated and totally unscrupulous. Beware!