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Disclosure: We receive compensation if you choose to speak to one our recommended timeshare exit companies. The following information is for educational purposes and is not to be considered professional or legal advice.

July 12, 2021

Can You Get Rid of a Reef Playacar Resort & Spa Timeshare?

Table of Contents

Reef Playacar Resort & Spa Timeshare Exit Program

Avoiding  Timeshare Scams

Choosing a Timeshare Exit Company to Get Out of Playacar Resort & Spa Timeshare

Summary

Reef Playacar Resort & Spa is part of a larger company called The Reef Resorts, whose three locations are in Mexico. Reef Playacar Resort & Spa is in Playacar, Playa del Carmen, and like many similar resorts, has its own timeshare program. This program is called the Leading Vacation Club. 

Maybe you are one of the many people that purchased a timeshare with Reef Playacar Resort & Spa and are now seeking to get out of it. Maybe it’s because of the resort itself not being what you pictured, or because of the sales tactics that were used to get you to buy. Whatever your reason for seeking to cancel Reef Playacar Resort & Spa timeshare, you are definitely not alone. 

When we researched Reef Playacar Resort & Spa online, we found several negative reviews and complaints, including an aggregate 2.5 stars on Yelp, several 1- and 2-star TripAdvisor reviews, and some glaringly low ratings on Orbitz and Travelocity as well. Reef Playacar Resort & Spa does not have a BBB page, nor does the Leading Vacation Club. Guests and timeshare buyers cited poorly maintained properties, high-pressure sales tactics, false promises, unexpected fees, and shoddy customer service as their reasons for their complaints. 

The following are a few of the most noteworthy reviews that we found online. 

From Yelp:

  • “They give you wristband [sic] to wear the entire time you’re staying there! Not as classy as it looks. We didn’t like the wristbands because when we went into town, we were targeted as tourists. We took the wristbands off the next morning after breakfast and went to the hotel’s beach for about an hour before our taxi to the airport arrived. When entering back onto the hotel property, the security treated us like criminals who were trespassing. We were not informed that we needed to have our wristbands on the entire time. The security was very rude and disrespectful. Also the way the resort is presented online does not reflect the way it looks in person. We will never stay here again.”
  • “I love Mexico and the people are very kind but this resort i will never come back to, first of all they need to get their head out their ass and take care of their customers instead of preasuring [sic] their customers to purchase a timeshare. … Beware of false advertisements my friends.”

From TripAdvisor:

  • “I am so glad that my nightmare is over. After months of fighting with the Reef Club my credit card provider was finally able to retrieve my money. I was also lured in by Jerry from Georgia and a hippy-like 40something old Gary also from the east coast who kept ensuring us that we will be making money each year and have access to all these great travel discounts on hotels and flights. He actually never referred to this as a timeshare and kept feeding us lies. Sadly, my hubby and I have never experienced anything like this and we were lured in. I felt somewhat embarrassed by the whole thing now and utterly disgusted by this resort and the people. Do not support them! Dont stay here. They prey on people and then ignore you completely once you begin asking questions. If only I had access to the internet while we were there then google would have informed me of this scam. Well it was a learning experience. Be aware people. If you get sucked into buying the diamond traveler club membership, take quick steps to contact your credit card, the resort to cancel in writing, PROFECO-the mexican better business bureau.”

Ultimately, it appears that the timeshare program and the resort alike leave much to be desired. They operate on what seems to be a fairly fraudulent basis and we do have to evaluate them as such since we did not find evidence to the contrary.

Reef Playacar Resort & Spa Timeshare Exit Program

 

To access a more direct route in trying to get rid of Reef Playacar Resort & Spa timeshare, you can go to the Reef Playacar website and navigate to their footer, where the link to Leading Vacation Club can be found (“LVC Access”). On this landing page, all you need to do is go to the Contact page to find where, “if you are looking to buy, sell, or rent a vacation ownership, or want more information on your options,” you can get in touch. 

We would encourage you to note, however, that many people also posted warnings about their buyback program on Timeshare Marketplace. If you search for “timeshare marketplace Reef Playacar” on Google, you’ll find complaints about their timeshare exit program. Even this program, set up in tandem with Royal Diamond Resorts and Resort Marketing Solutions, is a scam — one that cheated several people out of their money. 

With this in mind, you should know that the best of your other options is working with a reputable timeshare exit company, one that works directly with the resort but is not actually a part of it.

Avoiding Timeshare Scams

 

Sadly, Reef Playacar Resort & Spa is not unique in its practices. Timeshare scams are incredibly common. But the good news is that they are also entirely avoidable. As with any other kind of business, there are several red flags you can look out for in the early phases to avoid getting involved any deeper. That way you can save yourself a serious amount of time and money.

Keep an eye out for the following to avoid timeshare scams:

  • Promises that sound too good to be true, including incentives for making an initial purchase that don’t seem to have strings attached (because, in all likelihood, they do)
  • Upfront fees, including high deposits or “administrative” fees that are far more than you’d expect them to be 
  • Pushy sales presentations, especially those that don’t encourage you to take your time in making a decision or offer gifts and alcohol to influence your decision-making

Whenever you make any purchase, and especially any major one like a vacation property, always be sure to read the fine print, take it slow, and know what you want — not what someone else convinces you that you want.

Choosing a Timeshare Exit Company to Get Out of Reef Playacar Resort & Spa Timeshare

 

While the same red flags with timeshares can apply to timeshare exit companies, there are also several exit companies out there who use honest business practices. A reputable timeshare exit company will, first and foremost, not expect upfront payments, and instead will use escrow. This means, in essence, that they do not get paid until your contract is canceled and you’re satisfied with their work. You can learn more about why escrow is important here.

Some of the other signs of a legitimate timeshare exit company to look out for include the following: 

  • A strong rating with the BBB and few (if any) complaints
  • Having been in business for several years
  • A physical office address, as opposed to a PO box
  • A professional-looking website
  • Use of written contracts for services 

Again, while they are not the norm, there are many companies like this that exist. You can explore our list of recommended companies to look into which one could be right for your situation.

Summary

 

When you’re ready to get out of Reef Playacar Resort & Spa timeshare, we’d love to help you find the right timeshare exit company. This website was created to give people like you more options when it comes to getting out of a vacation property that hasn’t been what it initially seemed at best, and at worst has turned out to be a complete scam. As a reminder, you can have a look at our recommended timeshare exit companies on this page. 

And if you have any other questions about timeshare cancellation in general, feel free to get in touch. You can call us at 833-416-8796, submit the contact form on the right side of this page, or initiate the live chat to get started.

Can You Get Rid of a Real Club timeshare?

Table of Contents

Real Club Exit Program

Avoiding Timeshare and Timeshare Exit Company Scams

Cancel Your Timeshare with a Trustworthy Company

Summary

Real Club, or The Real Club Playa Resorts, is a resort company whose properties and timeshares are primarily located in Mexico. They have several destinations across Mexico, and a few in Jamaica. Real Club is owned by RCI, the biggest timeshare company in the world. 

If you are seeking to get out of Real Club timeshare, it could be for one of many reasons. Maybe you’ve turned out to not use your timeshare nearly as often as you hoped, or the property was different than you thought it would be — and not for the better. When we looked into this resort, we found a number of major complaints. Here are just a few of them.

From a Timeshare Forums post: 

  • “The real issue lies in the fact that they lied to us about rates and switched schedules in the contract on us. … We were told that we could sell up to 5 weeks per year for $1000 per week or more, it seemed like a good idea. We could use the money to pay for the plan and save for our next trip. When I called yesterday, I was told to call a person at Global Research. I was told by her that we had to pay a fee of $600 up front in order to sell. It was then I started to research and found out all the complaints. There are warnings against Global Research but to do with Secret Shoppers and paying people with phony cheques. The whole thing smelled bad. In light of the troubles we have had so far with Real Club, I’m not taking the chance of paying any more money up front. I’ve since heard that it’s not likely you’ll get back what you’ve paid for the week. … Now every time I call there, I get put on hold and eventually transferred to a message asking me to leave a voice mail. Also, Mr. Vallado provided my wife with a false e-mail address when she wanted to file a complaint and cancel the agreement. This is not how a respectable enterprise operates.”

From a TripAdvisor post: 

  • “Quite a good hotel BUT DO NOT BUY a Real Club Membership. It’s a SCAM. Basically, you end up paying TWICE for your stay when you can get great deals online instead like we did and save tens of thousands of dollars (which is what you’d pay if you got hooked into their very subtle and intense membership sell).”

From ComplaintsBoard:

  • “A few weeks after the purchased [sic] we realized that we were scammed by Real Club, we called the Hotel and tried to cancel but our efforts were useless. We called thousands of times asking for … the person in charge of the cancellations but she never was available. We just gave up when a guy just told us that: “[Her] job is to not answer the phone calls; in order to avoid any cancellation request”. It’s undeniable that the personnel of Real Club has a lack of honesty and an excess of cynicism. We have been in contact with Yessica Altamirano from Real Club we told her that we spoke with a PROFECO representative and he told us that this kind of dishonest practices are very common in the timeshare industry specially with American and Canadian people; but due to the tourism crisis that mexico is experiencing the hotels are lying to Mexicans as well. So far it’s very clear that she is not willing to help us. Our advice is do not even think of purchasing with Real Club.” 

In other words, the main issues people have with this resort resulting in their wanting to get rid of Real Club timeshare are bait-and-switch practices, unexpected charges and fees, and little to no help from customer service. 

While Real Club does not have a BBB rating or an aggregate on ComplaintsBoard, these reviews certainly speak to the nature of the resort’s timeshare program. Whatever your complaints or reasons for wanting to get out, you should know that it is possible to cancel Real Club timeshare.

Real Club Exit Program

 

We were not able to figure out if Real Club has an official timeshare exit program. It’s not possible to access the Real Club Resorts website without a user login, so it appears to be more of a guest or customer portal. That said, most resorts and timeshare companies have some form of customer service landing page that is a good place to start for sorting out your cancellation options.

Avoiding Timeshare and Timeshare Exit Scams

 

The sad reality is that Real Club’s lack of accessibility online is just another red flag on top of its numerous complaints. Like many timeshare companies, we have to evaluate Real Club as a fraudulent operation. 

In the future it’s important to keep these and other red flags in mind to avoid being scammed by a company like this or even a timeshare exit company. On this website, we are cautious about which companies we recommend because, just as with timeshares in general, there are plenty of scams in the timeshare exit industry. Many timeshare exit companies promise timeshare owners that they’ll cancel their timeshare with a money-back guarantee, but never deliver on their promises and keep the money that they were paid. 

To avoid scams in the future, make sure you pay attention to the following:

  • Resist pressure to act fast or pay for a service right away. A reputable company will never pressure you into working with them before you are ready to get started. High-pressure sales tactics and hounding potential clients are major warning signs, and point to a business you want to avoid.
  • Ask about licensing, insurance, and identification with all local businesses. It’s generally wise to work with a local business, but to get even more clear about which of those are trustworthy, it’s also a good call to ask about their licenses and insurance. Checking IDs is smart as well, especially with any business that will be dealing with your money and personal information. 
  • Check the fine print and don’t believe everything you read. Many fraudulent companies rely upon using common industry phrases, but only use them in a shallow way, and do not have information to back up their exaggerated claims. A responsible company will provide you with details on their services and not come across as outlandish in doing so. 

Watch out for high upfront payments and nontraditional payment methods. Requests to pay via wire transfers or prepaid money cards are common red flags, but so are requests for upfront fees that do not use escrow, as well as agreements that do not have legitimate contracts. There is no money-back guarantee or amount of lip service that is enough to promise that you’ll get a refund if a service doesn’t work as promised.

Cancel Real Club Timeshare with a Reputable Exit Company

 

As noted above, you do have several options to cancel Real Club timeshare, including resale on your own or hiring a broker. But depending on your situation, especially if you do not have an active mortgage, working with a timeshare exit company could be a great option. Timeshare exit companies do not usually try to sell your timeshare. Instead, they prefer working directly with timeshare developers and resorts in order to encourage them to take the timeshare back and cancel any remaining fees. 

Working with a timeshare exit company to get out of Real Club timeshare is something you should only do with a legitimate company. We typically only recommend timeshare exit companies who use escrow for payment, so you don’t have to invest in upfront fees and risk another fraudulent experience. You can learn more about why escrow is important here. And you can explore some of the companies that we recommend on this page.

Summary

 

While it’s difficult to get rid of Real Club timeshare, it’s not impossible. Getting in touch with a reputable timeshare exit company can help you get started on releasing yourself from this weighty and fee-laden situation. 

If you still have questions about our recommended companies, or anything else related to cancelling your timeshare, please feel free to get in touch to learn more. You can contact us using the contact form on the right side of the page, initiate the live chat, or give us a call at 833-416-8796.

Timeshare Selling Team Review

Table of Contents

Timeshare Selling Team Website Review

Timeshare Selling Team Cost

Timeshare Selling Team Review

General Advice on Avoiding Online

Summary

Timeshare Selling Team is a timeshare exit company located in Grover, Missouri that may be able to help you cancel your timeshare. They have been in business since 2019, and have a secondary office in Orlando, Florida. 

Please note that this secondary office is not to be confused with Timeshare Sales Team, also located in Florida. They are a Gainesville operation that appears to have several negative reviews with the Better Business Bureau. Be sure not to get the two confused if you look into working with Timeshare Selling Team.

Timeshare Selling Team Website Review

 

At first glance, the Timeshare Selling Team website did not strike us as particularly strong, but it did not appear unprofessional, either. It was not a difficult experience navigating it, but the sections were not always easy to read, thanks to font choices and page colors. This isn’t necessarily a massive problem, though it does make it difficult to stay on the website and want to learn more about the company. 

This is unfortunate, as the navigation itself is fairly smooth and points to a few different helpful sections. Most notably, Timeshare Selling Team has a page called The Complete Guide that has several sections about the process of exiting a timeshare with the company, including information on what typically goes wrong with timeshares in the first place. They list out details about different reasons people need to exit timeshares, ways to exit or sell a timeshare, different scams to look out for, and steps to keep in mind during the exit process. It is more extensive than we expected it to be, and does not use shallow language to get their ideas across. So this is a good idea in theory, but again, it’s as hard to read as the rest of the website. This could keep you from really getting the bulk of the information that would be helpful in discerning whether you want to work with them. 

On the About Us page, Timeshare Selling Team has a long section on who their staff members are. While the details of each individual’s experience are not present, and there are not any staff members with specific legal experience, the page does note that Timeshare Selling Team works with attorneys at separate firms on an as-needed basis. 

The FAQ page reiterates this information. Their questions and answers are mostly related to the costs and details about working with Timeshare Selling Team, but they also speak to working with attorneys and law firms to expedite the process. As with the staff page, there aren’t many details about this part of the process, but it is something to keep in mind and potentially ask about should you decide to consult with this company. 

Overall, the website is decent, and speaks to the company’s knowledge of timeshare exit processes, but design and legibility issues persist. This could just be indicative of their being a newer company, but it would be preferable to see this spruced up so they could appear more trustworthy to new clients and differentiate themselves from more fraudulent operations.

Timeshare Selling Team Cost

 

We did not find much information about Timeshare Selling Team’s costs on their website. On their FAQ page, there is one question about the overall cost to exit a timeshare, but they write that:

“Unfortunately, this is not a one size fits all, every ownership has its own unique circumstances. There are a lot of variations from resort to resort on how the process works. Even if you own at the same resort the process can be slightly different depending on many variables (Amount of Point contracts, weeks contracts, mortgage balances, maintenance fees behind).”

On the same page we found, as you often see with timeshare exit companies, a money-back guarantee. This is not something we like seeing; in general, it is a far better decision to work with a timeshare exit company that uses escrow for payments. You can learn more about why we prioritize companies of that nature and prefer escrow here.

Timeshare Selling Team Review

 

Timeshare Selling Team is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau yet, but they have a high rating of 4.92 out of five stars. 

In the midst of the several positive reviews are two complaints, both from the same person, to which Timeshare Selling Team did respond. It is related to a complicated situation with a deceased person who was working with them to cancel a timeshare.

The company’s reply seems professional and legitimate, though it is hard to discern the entirety of the situation given the limited information we could get from this complaint alone.

 

Nevertheless, this does seem to line up with an overall willingness to remedy tricky situations with past and present clients. For example, while they do have several positive Google reviews that speak to good experiences working with them, there was one standout negative review about the length of the process that made it seem as if their case had been dropped. After the company responded and apparently continued to work with that client, she followed up with a newly positive take. While that’s something to take with a grain of salt, of course, it does appear to show consistency. 

Timeshare Selling Team seems to use more of a word-of-mouth marketing route, as they have a few PR pieces in smaller and local publications to speak to their work. We found online write-ups from both PR News Wire and Newstime Missouri. This is not something that seems to be very common with their contemporaries and competitors, but it is certainly preferable to posting artificially inflated reviews on sites like the BBB and TrustPilot. (In terms of TrustPilot, Timeshare Selling Team did not have any reviews posted there yet when we looked.)

General Advice on Avoiding Online Scams

 

We tend to have about companies like Timeshare Selling Team who have a less-than-remarkable online presence because that can be a red flag when it comes to online scams. While this isn’t to say that this company is one, it’s good to know what is indicative of a scam so you avoid the loss of time and money that owning a timeshare has cost you. 

Be sure to keep the following tips in mind to avoid scams and shady companies:

  • Resist any pressure to act fast or pay for a service right away. 
  • Inquire about licensing, insurance, and identification with all local businesses.
  • Check the fine print, and don’t believe everything you read. 
  • Watch out for high upfront payments and nontraditional payment methods. 

Summary

 

Overall, Timeshare Selling Team seems to be off to a decent start in the timeshare exit industry, and appear to not only know what they are talking about but to be willing to work with clients to remediate any misunderstandings.  However, they have some work to do to make it look like they are as legitimate as they most likely are, given that they have been around for two years now. While they are worth looking into, we would not say this is necessarily a robust recommendation, or a recommendation at all, since Timeshare Selling Team, like many other companies, asks for upfront payments. 

You should bear in mind, of course, that there are several timeshare exit companies that do not require initial payments, and are very professional and easy to work with. Please be sure to have a look at our list of recommended exit companies to see what other options you have. And should you have any further questions about any of these companies, or anything else related to cancelling your timeshare, please feel free to get in touch. You can do so by filling out the contact form on the right side of the page, initiating the live chat, or calling us at 833-416-8796.

GeniusExit Review

Table of Contents

GeniusExit Website

GeniusExit Cost

GeniusExit Reviews

General Advice: Working with an Attorney for Timeshare Cancellations

Summary

Table of Contents:
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    GeniusExit is a timeshare exit company located in West Hollywood, California, that may be able to help you cancel your timeshare. They are part of the law firm GeniusLaw, also located in the greater Los Angeles area, and have been in operation since December 2020. 

    The company appears to be a joint effort primarily between the founding attorney of GeniusLaw, Adela Ulloa, and attorney Austin Shufelt. The former’s law office is cited on the company’s Open Corporates page as the establishing agent.

    GeniusExit Website

     

    The website for GeniusExit is overall very professional and clean-looking, as well as easy to navigate. It’s not only accessible in those terms, but also in terms of content: the company provides extensive information about the process of exiting a timeshare in plain language that makes it easy to understand for the average reader. There isn’t a great deal of hyperbole or advertiser-type language here, which is refreshing.

    The Who We Are page has light background information about the founding attorneys Adela Ulloa and Austin Shufelt and director of resolutions Diane Cassidy, who was originally a staff member with Ulloa’s solo practice. It also includes information about GeniusLaw’s main practice areas, which are primarily foreclosure defense and estate planning. This seems to be a decent background for attorneys that work with canceling timeshares as well.

    GeniusExit does rely a little too heavily on language that focuses on their legality and transparency — if they need to say so, that’s somewhat of a reason to be wary. But overall they do follow through on their words in providing, as noted, detailed information about timeshares and their company’s processes.

    There is, true to form, an entire page dedicated to their process (Our Process under GeniusExit Difference drop-down).

    They also provide an interesting comparison page (Compare Exit Companies under GeniusExit Difference). The main information here that you might find helpful is the general length of time that they take with timeshare exits — nine months on average. They also note a few other timeshare companies that have been sued as a scam or for fraud, which is something you would probably find helpful while you research which company you want to work with in the long run.

    GeniusExit Cost

     

    We did not find information about specific costs for working with GeniusExit. They do offer free consultations, and like many other timeshare exit companies, claim to offer a money-back guarantee. It is a very specific kind of guarantee — they frame it in terms of how long it will take to cancel your timeshare. The website’s claim is that you will be released from your timeshare between nine and 18 months total. 

    As we’ve noted elsewhere, we typically do not recommend going with a timeshare exit company solely on this basis, as it implies that they require some kind of upfront payment. It is far better for you to work with a company that uses escrow for payments instead. You can learn more about why escrow is important on this page.

    GeniusExit Reviews

     

    There are not many reviews for GeniusExit yet, nor do they have a presence on the Better Business Bureau, perhaps because they have not been around for more than six months. GeniusLaw, however, does have a handful available on TrustPilot.  Some of these reviews speak to working with GeniusExit, so for the sake of this article we are considering this channel as applicable to both companies. Generally, the feedback is positive, and paints a picture of a straightforward and steady process in handling cases. Even slightly lower ratings are overall positive.

    As far as the attorneys’ backgrounds go, we were able to find a few reviews of Adela Ulloa, as well as her past firm, The Law Offices of Adela Z. Ulloa, APC. Ulloa has a very good rating of 7.0 on Avvo, as well as several positive reviews on Google and a couple of additional five-star ratings on Yelp. Austin Shufelt has fewer reviews available, but we did find that he has a good rating of 6.1 on Avvo as well.

    On the whole, the reviews are supportive of GeniusExit and GeniusLaw. Both entities seem to consistently come through on their timeshare exit claims and do so with a solid foundation of legal expertise.

    General Advice: Working with an Attorney for Timeshare Cancellations

     

    As we’ve written about previously, working with an attorney or legal firm to exit your timeshare is generally rather effective, but it typically will run you a higher cost, especially if you owe a mortgage on the property. In addition, it will most likely be a more collaborative process, so it can require more time and effort on your part.

    As we’ve written about previously, working with an attorney or legal firm to exit your timeshare is generally rather effective, but it typically will run you a higher cost, especially if you owe a mortgage on the property. In addition, it will most likely be a more collaborative process, so it can require more time and effort on your part. 

    GeniusExit does speak to this caveat about mortgages on their website. But because they are in essence part of a law firm, it is worth considering whether you have the resources and time to go this route to exit your timeshare. Hiring GeniusExit would most likely put you in close contact with someone who has extensive legal knowledge about property ownership, and it’s certainly important to have that background and knowledge when you’re doing something as challenging as trying to get out of a timeshare. But if you have other reputable and trustworthy options available, it might save you a lot of our time, money, and effort to look into them. 

    Of course, that said, if you have already exhausted other options, working with an attorney or attorney-run company might be the most optimal way forward for your situation. But remember, as we’ve noted before, if an attorney is offering to work with you at a rate that fits your budget or a fixed rate, you should not expect to pay upfront.

    Summary

     

    While GeniusExit appears to be a professional operation, we would suggest being careful before choosing to work with them. Their upfront payment policy, reliance on a money-back guarantee, and few years of experience in the timeshare exit industry are all reasons to be wary about this company. Having a staff with legal experience is certainly a major boon to any timeshare exit operation, and they definitely seem to have provided solid results in the past, but it can also cost you a lot more money in the long run to go this route.

    If you are in the greater Los Angeles area and trying to cancel a timeshare, they could be a company to keep in mind. But that said, if you are considering working with GeniusExit, we would encourage taking advantage of the free consultation first. That way, you can ask questions and get clear on what would be required of you before committing to taking any next steps with them.

    Keep in mind, too, that there are several timeshare exit companies that do not require initial payments and are just as — if not more so — professional as GeniusExit appears to be. We’d encourage you to have a look at our list of recommended exit companies to see what other options you have. If you have further questions about any of these companies, or anything else related to cancelling your timeshare, please feel free to get in touch. You can do so by calling 833-416-8796, filling out the contact form on the right side of the page, or initiating the live chat.

    OUR GOAL

    Our goal is to help timeshare owners find a reputable timeshare exit company to work with. We like to recommend timeshare exit companies that offer a low up front fee escrow payment option, so you are protected from scams. Contact us to receive a free timeshare exit consultation.

    TIP

    Always contact your resort or timeshare developer first before contacting a timeshare exit company. Some have exit programs of their own that can assist you with a timeshare cancellation

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