Today was much better than yesterday! Thanks to the Visa (credit card) folks, Profeco (the mexican consumer protection branch), and Alfredo (my house host).
When I told Alfredo that I bought the stupid time share but wanted to cancel the contract, he suggested that I contact Profeco before going back to Royal Holiday because Profeco would "force" Royal Holiday to give me a refund. And without Profeco, Royal Holiday would not likely give the refund to me.
Based on what I saw on the internet, I thought Alfredo was right, I would definitely need a back-up. Fortunately, the Profeco office and the timeshare office are both in walking distance to my "home" so it was easy enough to go between the two places.
As Alfredo said, Profeco prepared a letter for me to give to Royal Holiday. When I arrived at Royal Holiday, I was happy at the impact the letter had. The salespeople went from "sit, lets talk" to "OK we'll give you a refund". Royal Holiday seemed angry that i went to Profeco. I really really hope that it's because Profeco really does have some power. The good thing is that I have a letter stating that Royal Holiday will cancel the contract and provide a refund. The bad thing is that I have to wait 15 days to get it. If they do not issue the refund, I still have 2 tools available: escalate the issue with Profeco or ask Visa to issue a dispute. It might take a while but I think I'll win this battle. Too bad I wasn't clever enough to avoid it in the first place!!!
On a better note, I spent the afternoon at the beach! I swam, did a few exercises, and chatted in Spanish with some of the local "banana boat, parasail, and horse ride guys" who offered to help me if I had problems in the water (the surf was safe but was still intimidating and no one else was in the water). I can't be sure that they didn't do it mostly to sell me stuff, but it was nice and all was well!
The picture are of my "home". It's clean and well located. The balcony is a decent size but the plants are out of control!!! and some are awfully picky!
Hello Madeleine...I love your home and would also love to come and live with you...the place is fantastic. If your place is feeling a little empty...just give us a call and we would be happy to fill it up for you. Ha ha...actually I'm serious, it's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWhy live vicariously when you can experience it.
Hope all is well,
Sloan