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All Inclusive - Cancun
A couple of guys at work highly recommend the Moon Palace in Cancun.
My wife has been on a cruise about 15 years ago. I have never really had a nice vacation myself and it's time! Any comments on the Moon Palace (or other Palace Resorts)? I would also consider other all inclusive resorts comparable to the Palace Resorts. We will be going from DFW and would like to stay in the $1000 pp range for 4 nights or more. Thanks... Chuck |
#2
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Moon Palace Experience
Here is a summary of my experience at Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico. I am writing this as a warning to anyone visiting Cancun to avoid the mistake I made. Let me first state that Moon Palace is an absolutely fabulous resort. It is definitely plush and elegant. The pool, disco, food, entertainment are great. When we first arrived at Moon Palace, we were approached by what appears to be representatives of the hotel who are there to advise you of all the available amenities that the resort has to offer. These representatives are stationed throughout the main lobby. We were already aware that the package we booked through American Airlines included two tours. They advised us that we were invited to a breakfast the next morning and they would show us all Moon Palace had to offer. The next morning, we slept in after staying up late and assumed we missed the breakfast until they called and said that we still had time. We hurriedly got up and ready to meet the representative we had met the day before. She then brought another lady to meet us and tell us that she would be having breakfast with us and tell us all about the Resort. Breakfast was fine and we made small talk with the representative about how we liked Cancun and where we were from and stuff. After finishing breakfast she asked us if we'd like to go on a tour. I am in a wheelchair and she said we would get a golf cart to carry us around the resort so we could see the whole place and the new addition to Moon Palace called Sunrise. We felt this would be great since it would make it easier to get around and discover the places we liked best and where we wanted to spend our time. At this point we were still oblivious to the fact that what we were taking part in was a sales pitch to purchase a membership to the Moon Palace much like a time share purchase. The tour included seeing the Presidential Suites and Sunrise, etc. At the conclusion of the tour, we were taken to this very festive room where many other people were there and we could have drinks or whatever we wanted. Here we realized what was happening but had already been wrapped up in the whole thing. We were told that a membership was normally this exorbitant price but that they were offering this special deal for Founding Members since Moon Palace Sunrise was brand new. Of course we immediately had reservations about this being something we probably could not afford. We were then introduced to a finance manager who was extremely nice. Before it was all over, it was down to a cost that didn't seem too unreasonable since we would have a membership for 20 years and it could be financed with monthly payments. We were advised that we would have to make a down payment though of about 15%. We told them we didn't have the resources with us to make a down payment. Then they asked if we had credit cards. We were told that they could get a portion of the down payment on a credit card and that after we got home we could do the rest with a check or whatever-they trusted us. We handed them several credit cards since we were unsure of credit limits on certain cards and such. This was a MISTAKE!!!! By this time, we should have just got up and left and said we were not interested. After we were pretty much sold on the deal we were told that as members we got to come to the resort at special "preferred rates". This was the first we had heard of this part of the deal. We were told that we would have access to the Presidential Suites and such and eligible for free weeks after making so many payments and the like. We went ahead with the deal anyway signing a contract and everything without too much time to look it over and think about it. Basically, we made a very DUMB decision. By this time we were just ready to get out of there and get to the pool since this was our first day in Cancun. Immediately, we started discussing what we had done and that we probably could not really afford all this and got caught up in all the glamour of the resort. Also looking over the "preferred rates" we determined that they really were not all that special since we came to Cancun on an American Airline package which included airfare, airport transfers and everything. As members we would have to pay the preferred rates plus our own air and transfers. Basically, this was NO DEAL. Unfortunately, this ruined the rest of our vacation second guessing what we had done. We approached the finance manager and expressed our thoughts, but he convinced us that this was an excellent deal and that he gave us a much better deal that others were getting. Boy, were we gullible?? Before leaving Cancun, I approached the finance manager one more time and expressed that we had thought it over and really wanted to cancel the membership. He convinced me to wait until I got home and he would call me on Sunday or Monday at the latest and discuss whether we still wanted to cancel. BIG, BIG MISTAKE!!!! When we got home, we had a message on our answering machine from one of our credit card companies warning us of what theat thought might be fraudulent activity-but the charges had been denied. It seems they had attempted to charge a total of $28,000 US dollars but all were denied. This was enough to tell me not to trust this company. At no time did we authorize this amount. Only a down payment amount. I immediately tried to call the finance manager on Monday since he had not called on Sunday. I was told he was not in. I called back and attempted to speak with the lady we met with when we signed the contract. I was never allowed to talk with her. I called back for the next several days attempting to speak with either one but was either placed on hold indefinitely or bounced from one person to another. We immediately placed the other charges for the down payment in dispute with out credit card companies. I also faxed a letter to them (number on business card) expressing our desire to cancel. Finally, several weeks later a representative from Moon Palace contacted us to see if we were going to make the payments. I advised them of my fax and that we decided we could not afford this membership. I was told they did not receive my fax and that the contract made no provision for cancellation. I immediately faxed another copy of the letter. This was the last I heard from them. My credit card a visa card honored the dispute and credited my account back.My roommate had used two credit cards a visa and a MasterCard. The visa account was credited but MasterCard refused since they said it was buyer's remorse. We chalked this up to a lesson learned and a little loss of money. We didn't hear anything back until several weeks ago. We had a "courtesy call" from a collection agency in Mobile, Alabama calling to see how we intended to handle this situation. We were advised that they were doing the background legal work for Palace Resorts and that they intended to pursue this legally. We were told that we had several days to call them back and make a payment to bring our account up to date or else that would take it to the next level and investigate our credit history, our places of employment and in comes, etc.. If we did not make a payment the account would had much additional fees such as legal fees, penalties and such. The representative advised me that I would LOSE if this went to court and that the Mexican contract would be forced to be honored. I contacted several lawyers seeking advice and was told that it would be difficult for them to enforce that contract here. They felt that the contract should have a recission period. I have not retained an attorney yet but did decide I am not paying anything more yet. I am sending a letter detailing all events to the collection agency along with all documentation-letter expressing desire to cancel and such and advising them not to contact me again, under the Fair Debt Collection Act. I guess at this point I am in a wait and see mode. I mainly wanted to put this in writing to hopefully WARN others to just avoid meeting with the representatives. It isn't worth it and you will end up regretting it. Enjoy your vacation and don't get involved. C. Massey wrote: A couple of guys at work highly recommend the Moon Palace in Cancun. My wife has been on a cruise about 15 years ago. I have never really had a nice vacation myself and it's time! Any comments on the Moon Palace (or other Palace Resorts)? I would also consider other all inclusive resorts comparable to the Palace Resorts. We will be going from DFW and would like to stay in the $1000 pp range for 4 nights or more. Thanks... Chuck |
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"Athens Hole" wrote in message
... Moon Palace Experience Here is a summary of my experience at Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico. I am writing this as a warning to anyone visiting Cancun to avoid the mistake I made. Let me first state that Moon Palace is an absolutely fabulous resort. It is definitely plush and elegant. The pool, disco, food, entertainment are great. Snip Thanks for the story. Actually, the guys at work have warned me that the Moon Palace will do everything they can to get you to buy. When I say no, trust me, I don't change my mind for anything. They even called one of the guys and left a message on his room phone stating there was a problem with his passport and he needed to contact the desk immediately. Well, they didn't even use passports! haha Hope that everything works out for you! Chuck |
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