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

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