The Royal Real Club ripoff

SharonD · 07-08-2012

Well, it is true, after years of membership in the Real Club at The Royal, Jessica Juarez Martinez informed us today that "our membership was never authorized for this property, but they made an exception so you were able to use it". Not to whine, but we paid thousands of dollars to join The Real Club. Their representative at their toll free number was who told us about The Royal PDC the first time we stayed there. We had always stayed in Cancun and had never thought of PDC. Seriously, it is hard to believe that we stayed there 6 times, at a discounted rate with access to Chefs Plate because of an exception?? Wtf?

My point is, and please make others aware, this membership is a scam. We fell for it, our bad. At least I've warned those who read this and if they would like to contact me privately, please do so. I can share the email correspondences between us to verify what I posted is true.

If any of the Real sales sharks attempt to sell you a membership during your visit to the resort please tell them "No, because of what the club did to David and Sharon Daussin". Keep your money and they can keep their gold wrist bands!

Babaloo · 07-08-2012

Thousands?
So you could get a discount?

SharonD · 07-08-2012

Um, yes but we also got two weeks "free", which we used in Cancun. When we joined there were other resorts included along with Hyatt hotels. I would blame it on tequilla, but that wouldn't be completely true.

We realized several years ago that we would be lucky to break even but despite that realization we made the best of it until now.

cdd · 07-09-2012

What property wasn't authorized? RPDC or Royal Cancun?

SharonD · 07-09-2012

Both Royal properties. We received another email today, in response to an email from me. When we purchased the contract all properties were included. Anyway, they said they will let us stay in an ocean front suite at the Grand Porto Real with access to everything at The Royal. I find that unacceptable also. Unfortunately I feel we have no recourse. Well, other than to tell my experience to others through this forum, Trip Advisor and Loco Gringo. Again, if anyone would like to see the emails, pm me with your email addy and I will forward them to you. Btw, trip advisor has a lot of posts on their forums from people who have had similar experiences with the Real Club along with posts from people happy with their purchase. We were satisfied with how things were going until they changed the guidelines. I sure dont want to risk thousands of dollars to fight it legally, I'm certain they know that most people won't.

SharonD · 07-13-2012

Update - this morning we received and email from Jessica Martinez advising us that her manager has authorized us to travel to The Royal one more time through The Real Club. We are booking through them as we have done in the past and I am looking forward to the opportunity to get to the bottom of this while we are visiting. It appears to me that Jessica went to bat for us, someone did. I'm assuming the manager she is speaking about is Nadia, but regardless they did the right thing. I will let everyone know the outcome once we meet with them. So much stress that should have never happened in the first place....

shivors · 07-13-2012

Good luck Sharon. Will see you guys in 47 short days.

SharonD · 07-13-2012

47 days?!? I need to look at my vaca counter! I only have 47 days of dieting left?!

Doing a happy dance in Va!

Sukidog · 07-18-2012

Very interesting....I wonder how your membership differs from ours. We are very happy with our membership. Sorry about what happened to you. Hoping that everything gets resolved for you and your family.

SharonD · 07-18-2012

I don't know what the so-called difference is, will definitely find out while we are there. We were very satisfied with our membership until this year. We used it 10-12 times, took family, never a problem. According to the forums on Tripadvisor.com, this has happened to others.

Now that they have offered to allow us one more time, things could not be better. Jessica is is on top of things, quick professional correspondences, like it used to be. I do wish this had not happened, it has cast a cloud over our upcoming trip.

SzaSza · 07-24-2012

I am sorry to hear about your troubles Sharon. When did you join? What membership level are you? We joined in 2008 and are Gold members. I have not experienced any problems with the club since joining.

SharonD · 07-24-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by SzaSza

I am sorry to hear about your troubles Sharon. When did you join? What membership level are you? We joined in 2008 and are Gold members. I have not experienced any problems with the club since joining.

We are also Gold members and joined in 2003. We had never had a single problem until now, know many of the employees by first name, can't wait to see them each year. I really don't understand but we will meet with whomever while we are in town.

Sukidog · 09-10-2012

Im wondering how this will resolve. We have also been Gold club member since 2008. I would be just sick if we could not take advantage of our great deal at the Royal. Wonder what happend? Any updates?

SharonD · 09-10-2012

Yes, we returned home on Thursday and I've not taken the time to communicate the details, sorry. When we arrived Selma was waiting for us, said she knew we were tired and that we could meet the next day. We went to her office that morning and she was, frankly, aggressive and rude. We quickly ended the conversation and she askeD Lu to help. Lu we have known for years and we agreed to meet with her the next morning because she was booked the rest of that day. So at 10:00ish we went back...only to find a slick looking, fast talking guy waiting for us. Lu apparently had the day off? Nope, not gonna happen. We had agreed to talk with Lu and I walked out. Still dont understand whynshe scheduled an appointment with us when she had that day off...or maybe i do understand...The next day we went back and met with Lu. She went through the details of the three levels of plans and the cost for The different level (silver, gold and platinum) and Silver was a mere $14,900 USD. That was a discounted rate because of our current membership, (wtf), would give us 50 weeks total, 30% of those we could use at the Royal, the rest at the Grand Porto. Bottom line, they will no longer honor our contract at The Royal and there was no attempt to meet us even half with a reasonable compromise. Needless to say we are highly upset, we paid $15,000 for our original membership (3 couples bought it). There is no way in hell I would even think of giving them another 15 grand for them to change the contract on us again in 8 1/2 years.
I hope those that fell into the same "deal" we did don't have the same thing happen but I have little hope that it won't. Not much you can do about it now but I can and will share what they did to us with others so they dont do what we did.

We were, well I was, fairly conversational with others staying at the resort about what has happened. We met a super fun couple, Lisa and Gordo from Canada who were members and she literally knows everyone there. They hacpve stayed at the resort 30-some times and renewed their wedding vows there the week before. They are moving to PDC, most likely in 2013 and she did some research on her own, with her realtor and is trying to help us but, the likelyhood of that is none. Anyway, they have offered us some of their weeks when we want to go, at the rate we would have paid if our contract was still being honored, we just pay them $100 and dont have to buy anything other than the number of nights we want, whenever we want. That will still get us a good rate at the resort plus the ability to use the spa and other "perks" of being a member. How nice is that?

We visited RPRM while we were there and will likely will stay in Playcar next year. Even with the difference in price at the royal, I'm not sure I want to spend one damn dime there after this. Sorry to be so negative and to use cuss words, but trust me, I'm restraining myself on this issue.

We got screwed. There is no other way to look at it. Sucks, huh?

Sukidog · 09-17-2012

We have 100 weeks at the Royal, and didn't pay near as much as you have. I feel really awful for you guys. I know that Selma may sound aggressive but really she is a sweet lady. We have never stayed at any of the other Real properties either.

07-08-2012	#1 (permalink)
SharonD life=playa Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 699	The Royal Real Club ripoff Well, it is true, after years of membership in the Real Club at The Royal, Jessica Juarez Martinez informed us today that "our membership was never authorized for this property, but they made an exception so you were able to use it". Not to whine, but we paid thousands of dollars to join The Real Club. Their representative at their toll free number was who told us about The Royal PDC the first time we stayed there. We had always stayed in Cancun and had never thought of PDC. Seriously, it is hard to believe that we stayed there 6 times, at a discounted rate with access to Chefs Plate because of an exception?? Wtf? My point is, and please make others aware, this membership is a scam. We fell for it, our bad. At least I've warned those who read this and if they would like to contact me privately, please do so. I can share the email correspondences between us to verify what I posted is true. If any of the Real sales sharks attempt to sell you a membership during your visit to the resort please tell them "No, because of what the club did to David and Sharon Daussin". Keep your money and they can keep their gold wrist bands! Last edited by SharonD; 07-08-2012 at 12:15 PM.. Reason: Typo

09-10-2012	#14 (permalink)
SharonD life=playa Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 699	Yes, we returned home on Thursday and I've not taken the time to communicate the details, sorry. When we arrived Selma was waiting for us, said she knew we were tired and that we could meet the next day. We went to her office that morning and she was, frankly, aggressive and rude. We quickly ended the conversation and she askeD Lu to help. Lu we have known for years and we agreed to meet with her the next morning because she was booked the rest of that day. So at 10:00ish we went back...only to find a slick looking, fast talking guy waiting for us. Lu apparently had the day off? Nope, not gonna happen. We had agreed to talk with Lu and I walked out. Still dont understand whynshe scheduled an appointment with us when she had that day off...or maybe i do understand...The next day we went back and met with Lu. She went through the details of the three levels of plans and the cost for The different level (silver, gold and platinum) and Silver was a mere $14,900 USD. That was a discounted rate because of our current membership, (wtf), would give us 50 weeks total, 30% of those we could use at the Royal, the rest at the Grand Porto. Bottom line, they will no longer honor our contract at The Royal and there was no attempt to meet us even half with a reasonable compromise. Needless to say we are highly upset, we paid $15,000 for our original membership (3 couples bought it). There is no way in hell I would even think of giving them another 15 grand for them to change the contract on us again in 8 1/2 years. I hope those that fell into the same "deal" we did don't have the same thing happen but I have little hope that it won't. Not much you can do about it now but I can and will share what they did to us with others so they dont do what we did. We were, well I was, fairly conversational with others staying at the resort about what has happened. We met a super fun couple, Lisa and Gordo from Canada who were members and she literally knows everyone there. They hacpve stayed at the resort 30-some times and renewed their wedding vows there the week before. They are moving to PDC, most likely in 2013 and she did some research on her own, with her realtor and is trying to help us but, the likelyhood of that is none. Anyway, they have offered us some of their weeks when we want to go, at the rate we would have paid if our contract was still being honored, we just pay them $100 and dont have to buy anything other than the number of nights we want, whenever we want. That will still get us a good rate at the resort plus the ability to use the spa and other "perks" of being a member. How nice is that? We visited RPRM while we were there and will likely will stay in Playcar next year. Even with the difference in price at the royal, I'm not sure I want to spend one damn dime there after this. Sorry to be so negative and to use cuss words, but trust me, I'm restraining myself on this issue. We got screwed. There is no other way to look at it. Sucks, huh? __________________ Last edited by SharonD; 09-10-2012 at 06:46 PM.. Reason: Typos

07-08-2012	#2 (permalink)
Babaloo añejo Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Playa del Carmen Posts: 22,438	Thousands? So you could get a discount?

07-08-2012	#3 (permalink)
SharonD life=playa Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 699	Um, yes but we also got two weeks "free", which we used in Cancun. When we joined there were other resorts included along with Hyatt hotels. I would blame it on tequilla, but that wouldn't be completely true. We realized several years ago that we would be lucky to break even but despite that realization we made the best of it until now.

07-09-2012	#4 (permalink)
cdd into ruins Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 60	What property wasn't authorized? RPDC or Royal Cancun?

07-09-2012	#5 (permalink)
SharonD life=playa Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 699	Both Royal properties. We received another email today, in response to an email from me. When we purchased the contract all properties were included. Anyway, they said they will let us stay in an ocean front suite at the Grand Porto Real with access to everything at The Royal. I find that unacceptable also. Unfortunately I feel we have no recourse. Well, other than to tell my experience to others through this forum, Trip Advisor and Loco Gringo. Again, if anyone would like to see the emails, pm me with your email addy and I will forward them to you. Btw, trip advisor has a lot of posts on their forums from people who have had similar experiences with the Real Club along with posts from people happy with their purchase. We were satisfied with how things were going until they changed the guidelines. I sure dont want to risk thousands of dollars to fight it legally, I'm certain they know that most people won't.

07-13-2012	#6 (permalink)
SharonD life=playa Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 699	Update - this morning we received and email from Jessica Martinez advising us that her manager has authorized us to travel to The Royal one more time through The Real Club. We are booking through them as we have done in the past and I am looking forward to the opportunity to get to the bottom of this while we are visiting. It appears to me that Jessica went to bat for us, someone did. I'm assuming the manager she is speaking about is Nadia, but regardless they did the right thing. I will let everyone know the outcome once we meet with them. So much stress that should have never happened in the first place....

07-13-2012	#7 (permalink)
shivors Addict Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Quad Cities (IA/IL) Posts: 1,395	Good luck Sharon. Will see you guys in 47 short days.

07-13-2012	#8 (permalink)
SharonD life=playa Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 699	47 days?!? I need to look at my vaca counter! I only have 47 days of dieting left?! Doing a happy dance in Va!

07-18-2012	#9 (permalink)
Sukidog añejo Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: ON, Canada Posts: 1,682	Very interesting....I wonder how your membership differs from ours. We are very happy with our membership. Sorry about what happened to you. Hoping that everything gets resolved for you and your family.

07-18-2012	#10 (permalink)
SharonD life=playa Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 699	I don't know what the so-called difference is, will definitely find out while we are there. We were very satisfied with our membership until this year. We used it 10-12 times, took family, never a problem. According to the forums on Tripadvisor.com, this has happened to others. Now that they have offered to allow us one more time, things could not be better. Jessica is is on top of things, quick professional correspondences, like it used to be. I do wish this had not happened, it has cast a cloud over our upcoming trip.

07-24-2012	#11 (permalink)
SzaSza sandflea Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 1	I am sorry to hear about your troubles Sharon. When did you join? What membership level are you? We joined in 2008 and are Gold members. I have not experienced any problems with the club since joining.

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09-10-2012	#13 (permalink)
Sukidog añejo Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: ON, Canada Posts: 1,682	Im wondering how this will resolve. We have also been Gold club member since 2008. I would be just sick if we could not take advantage of our great deal at the Royal. Wonder what happend? Any updates?

09-17-2012	#15 (permalink)
Sukidog añejo Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: ON, Canada Posts: 1,682	We have 100 weeks at the Royal, and didn't pay near as much as you have. I feel really awful for you guys. I know that Selma may sound aggressive but really she is a sweet lady. We have never stayed at any of the other Real properties either.