CommentTHE MAYA GRUPA are such people; they poise themselves at the international airport exit gates, seem to have a bona fide business counter, and hustle men, women and especially COUPLES to their counter. Ask them if they are the taxi service? SURE they're the taxi service. They'll give you a FREE (or discounted deeply) ride. Ask them if they know how to get you to your hotel? You know the answer.
What amazes me, is that the Mexican government allows this practise at the international airport, preying upon tired visitors to their country, allowing for the time share hustle.
If I had intended to go to a country for the express purpose of buying a TIME SHARE, this may have been a welcome site! However, both my husband and I are in the service field and deserve a break !
In front of our initial wrangler, an otherwise "nice" fellow (Alan Jose Lopez Avila) I very clearly stated: "We're being hustled". My husband, slightly less familiar with this sort of social interaction (women get hustled much more often), says, knowingly, "Yes. Let's play this hand out." Since I do a bit of media work, I agree, this subject might be worthy of a blog. They did not fail to deliver.
Next morning, walking past the many other offers to sit through time share presentations to our awaiting "new best friend" Alan, we had the sense that we would have walked into a vipers nest.
Worthy to note: if ANYONE asks you if "this is the first time you've ever been to 'this resort', 'to Mexico', to 'Pueblo Bonito', etc--- your answer should be: "NO. This is NOT the first time I've been here, to Mexico, to the Rodeo, etc".
If you say this is the first time? You WILL get the multiple discount offers to sit through what everyone at this website blog has endured- nightmarish presentations which start out with generous, friendly, offers to take you to the moon, with a slow descent to multi-level management pressure, insults, variable interest rate numbers, psychological play on dreams, with only one answer they are willing to accept~ each "manager" specializing in their bizarre approach to mind games and pressure/torture....all tag teamed, with you and yours, checking in with each other .
The 90 minute presentation turned into 3 1/2 hours, when I became dizzy, in need of air, etc. They were willing to "allow me to go out" but only on the balcony (which was on the second floor).
I turned to my husband, once Fernando retrieved me (doncha know we were "almost done"?), and said, "I've had enough. Let's go." My husband loves to play with numbers and found their math lacking. A new manager came in with a "better deal."
By now, I am standing. They ask me to sit. More comfortable standing, I said, "I'm really ready to go. (To my husband). If you're not coming, I'll meet you in the front of the hotel."
As I start to walk down the stairs: Next guy asks me to take a seat. "Am I being held against my will?" I inquire. "New guy (a British man!)" chortles, "Does it look like you have chains around your ankles?" Why...no! it does not. I move farther away.
A new guy is brought in: Miguel. He specializes in insults: "How can we bribe you? You can be bribed, or else you wouldn't be here today."
I am walking down the stairwell now. Fernando (our "guide") pleads with me at the top of the stairwell: "For the sake of our FRIENDSHIP, come back." No, for the sake of our friendship, stop this silly hustle. I'm leaving. I am ready for my un-discounted, vacation!
Now on ground level. A new interceptor (husband is about to catch up, he's still engaged in an effort to retrieve his "security deposit" given at the airport for our "free taxi ride"). This new guy, another British fellow asks me to sit down and asks with overtones of sympathy, "What happened?" Nothing is happening, I tell him, and I am not sitting.
New manager to the scene: "Get her to sit down".
Recalling that I do not have chains on my ankles, I walk toward the exit. Once outside another manager (how many are there !?) calls out, "Make sure they don't make a scene when walking through the property!"
No. Why should anyone make a scene at the site? More of their silly assumptions and insults. Why make a scene at the property, when you can share the experience online?
Yes, we did get our money back. We refused their 'free' enticements: a bottle of tequila, discounted cruise, discounted massage at the spa for two, and dinner at Quesadilla (a fancy schmancy restaurant, they said).
You, the wise reader and online researcher, will share this note with anyone of several travel outlets: your travel agent, your neighbors, your family.
 Comments (5) |  |
| 1. Written by Bernice Hunt, on 03-08-2009 11:32 Run those terrible airport people over with your luggage cart. They would do the same to you. Avoid wasting your time. Figure out what you are paying for your vacation per hour; then decide if 3-5 hours is worth it. The 90 minutes they claim is bogus!! We merely agreed to a tour. We were kidnapped. These people are such scam artists. |
| 2. Written by VMA, on 16-12-2008 06:25 This is a follow up to our complaint of August 2, 2008. We have cleared up our matter with Grupo Mayan and they have resolved everything to our satisfaction. |
| 3. Written by Lee, on 24-10-2008 19:33 How do you cancel this contract after being back in the usa. And we let them come over the border to take over our economy. |
| 4. Written by Alan, on 09-08-2008 15:54 I own a timeshare with Groupo Maya and I've always had a terrific experience. It is true that the sales presentation is -to an almost painful extent- long, but for me it has been totally worth it! |
| 5. Written by VMA, on 02-08-2008 13:34 Indeed this is true!!!!! Only I'm the husband who declined multiple times and my wife became very interested at the multiple discounts. Having been through too many of these, I told my wife, "fine, if you want to proceed, it's up to you. BIG MISTAKE! I have spent the past 3 weeks trying to cancel the contract. I will not be denied and I have involved everyone that has any contact with this snake oil company. Bank of America, Profeco, Thrifty Car Rental,(that's who hit us first), RCI, HSI. SF Exchange, the FTC, US Department of Justice and every travel website I can hit. STAY AWAY FROM MAYAM RESORTS!!!!!!!!! |
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