Description

My fiance and myself where lured into buying into a vacation rental/investment opportunity at Vallarta Gardens. We were told that zero out of pocket then and there by using/applying for a Barclay/RCI credit card, Which we did for the $10,000 down payment with an additional $27,000 owing for the purchase. We were told that we could sell back all or part of our 4 weeks per year for the 2 bedroom lockout unit and that money would either be sent directly to us or placed against the remaining $27,000 balance. Once the $27,000 balance was paid off if we choose to sell back our weeks that we would receive a check in the mail by March of the following year. Unfortunatly our packet of contract paperwork was lost between the remainder of our stay at another resort and us returning home to the US. After several months with no contact information, We assumed as discussed by our salesman at the Vallarta Gardens "Charlie" that the sell back had or was being applied to any monthly payment since we had received zero contact from Vallarta Gardens. This transaction took place in April of 2024, I received a email from a collection company in May of 2025 stating that I owe $42,000, That my account was turned over to them by Vallarta Gardens. I was able to get a phone number for a live body at Vallarta Gardens, When I questioned her about the account and why I had received to billing invoice and the descrepancy in the amount owed and no credit of balance from the 4 weeks that were sold back, I was told that the company was no longer associated with a different company that was to buy the weeks "which we were never told it was a seperate company" and that she had no contract paperwork in regards to any buy back program. She also stated that they do not/will not mail anything out, Everything is via email/phone call to which she stated that they had made several attempts to email or call. I have never received any phone call or voice mail, and after digging through a years worth of emails I found 1 email located in my junk/spam deleted message file from October of 2024. Stating payment was late and $27,000 dollars owing. I don't know of any business that doesn't send some sort of correspondence via certified mail. Now the bill has been turned over to collection with a $42,000 balance owing. There is several other sites and forums including one on facebook that have almost the exact experiences with Kovay Gardens/Vallarta Gardens