Consumer complaint received 2019-03-07
Company: Monterey Financial Services LLC
State: OH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
I have contacted the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX about this on several occasions and sent a written communication that we have no interest in being part of their vacation club and the contract was signed under duress. They refused to cancel it and sent the claim to Monterey Collections around XXXX, XXXX 2018. We were then harassed about owing + $ XXXX until I spoke to an attorney and sent a cease and desist letter to Monterey Collections. They were soliciting the money through emails, calls, and then the US Postal Service. I told them that this was not a valid debt and to continue to request money through the mail was extortion. 

This all stemmed from duplicitous practices by XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX, where they told us lies to convince us to tour their resort ( which we later learned it hadn't started construction yet ). We were told that there was nothing to purchase, it was not a Time Share and that we would just go 10 minutes from our resort and would be back within an hour. That was not the case and it took ~40 minutes to get there with a driver that I could only communicate with in XXXX and then once we arrived, we were not permitted to leave. During XXXX separate instances, we received veiled threats from their employees which I have recorded. They kept warning us to not say certain things, including telling us that we couldn't leave in time for our friend 's wedding rehearsal ( which was the entire purpose of the trip ). They said we must go through the whole process and play the game. We were in a very secluded location without roads and had no cellphone or WiFi service. We were completely at their will and the driver never came back at the time we requested. He didn't show back up until 5 hours had passed and we had long missed our friends wedding rehearsal. Considering the tensions between US and XXXX during the trip, and the news about gang violence against tourists, I began to become fearful for the safety of my wife. 

As the time drug-on, I tried leave the premises with my wife ( prior to signing paperwork ) by saying we could not use the current credit card due to limits and they encouraged us to get another card. Since we were the only ones left in the building ( besides 5 male employees ), I agreed in hopes of getting back safely to the resort and escaping the situation. Unfortunately, their employees refused to give us back both of our Driver 's Licenses and my credit card, which they held as collateral to ensure we had to come back. We went back to our resort to get my wife 's XXXX card for the sole purpose of the companys strong fraud protection department. 

When at the resort we mentioned the situation to one of the resort concierge and he didnt know what we should do beyond signing and then disputing it afterwards. The card I left in their possession during our +1-hour drive back-and-forth had fraudulent charges on it when we arrived back stateside. I was forced to cancel that credit card and dispute the charges made by whoever stole my information while it was out of my possession. Shortly after arriving home, we contacted XXXX to investigate the situation and filed a dispute. The charge for ~ $ XXXX was fortunately removed by their fraud department. The contract is not valid due to signing under duress. It was also not penned in my actual signature due to the circumstances. 

In addition, they recently removed their rating on XXXX because their business practices had so many unresolved complaints, they were at an F rating. Looking at XXXX XXXX will also show that dozens of other people have encountered these same types of threatening practices. They offered me a deal to cancel the contract by signing a gag order and paying them ~ $ XXXX. I could not afford that type of ransom money due to my company going through lay-offs which I also told them about. I was so XXXX out with their phone harassment and emails, my XXXX XXXX spiked and I had to get on XXXX medicine. Ours is  not an isolated occurrence and this company needs to be investigated and held accountable for its business practices.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation