In 2006 I had, what was for me, the unfortunate experience of visiting the Aquarius Vacation Club in Boqueron; staying for the sales presentation and *close*. My experience turned out to be very stressful. I'll explain more about the metaphor of the Chinese Finger Trap and how it applies here soon!
As usual, I invite anyone else who has been a part of Aquarius' marketing/selling process (including those who actually purchased the time share) to provide feedback here, whether positive or negative.
Note: Please keep in mind that this is an account of my individual experience including my personal evaluation of the process, and may not be reflective of the common experience for other customers or sales prospects. Any statement I make should be considered expression of my opinion based on my subjective interpretation of my experience.
A little background info to start. Aquarius Vacation Club is a timeshare marketing company in Puerto Rico affiliated with the larger Interval International. They have at least two operating locations in Puerto Rico, one of which is located in Boqueron where I attended the sales presentation and close. The properties are owned and operated by Cleofé Rubí, owner of Mora Development Corporation of Puerto Rico (More info on Mr. Rubí later).
Basically, for an amount in the range of $20,000 to $40,000 depending on location or other factors, you gain access to a time share for 1-week of the year, which (though affiliation with Interval International) can also be changed to another affiliated location throughout the world. You pay the fees or fully finance them up front, and then pay annual maintenance fees.
Aquarius has an extremely efficient and award winning marketing process, which I personally refer to as a Chinese Finger Trap in that it is "easy to get in, and difficult to get out unless you know the trick".
Aquarius has an extremely efficient and award winning marketing process, which I personally refer to as a Chinese Finger Trap in that it is "easy to get in, and difficult to get out unless you know the trick".
I believe that their marketing process is a 2-step process with the hard sell occurring in the 2nd part of the process. And then an optional 3rd part of the process which I might refer to as the "lost sale recovery/damage control" phase.
First off, you'll find Aquarius sales representatives positioned at booths in grocery stores like "Pueblo" or in malls (such as the Mayaguez mall). You will see the nicely presented Aquarius sign and each representative is well groomed with a coordinated outfit, usually consisting of semi-casual pants (or optional skirt for the women) and shoes with an Acquarius shirt. These people are what I call the "prospect miners". My opinion is that their job is to lure potential customers into visiting the sales office to review a sales presentation. This is called the sales funnel.
The reward? Vouchers for a certain cash allotment at a local "restaurant" is commonly offered. You know what they say: Beware the free lunch. If you don't see the sales reps, they will *not* miss you. I have been solicited multiple times without first even making eye contact, when they come forward with a pamphlet, asking you a question such as "Have you heard about the Aquarius Vacation Club?". I personally would consider them aggressive in their approach, at about the same intensity of the homeless we commonly see at Puerto Rican intersections.
If they successfully bait you with the food voucher, you'll be scheduled to visit the sales office for a presentation. Only after having seen the presentation will you be provided with the voucher. The logic is: Hey, why not visit us to watch a quick presentation and we'll give you $50 for your time? If they generated enough interest in their early pitch, and you happen to really like empanadillas (I'll explain soon) then you are on to stage 2 (the presentation and hard sell).
At the time we entered the sales funnel, my wife had been thinking about making an investment. Therefore, when they approached her for the first time, she agreed to attend the presentation. She arrived home asking me to attend the presentation with her, and re-baiting me with the offer of getting something to eat afterwards (courtesy of the voucher as promised)! 
This is a common strategy of hers, with a very high success rate! That is how we ended up getting to phase 2, or what I call the "hard sell" or "high pressure sale" (from my experience, and in my opinion).
When you arrive at the sales office, you will find many other families or individuals there at the same time. Some will be waiting, others will be at tables with their personally assigned sales representatives. We waited a short while and then were escorted into a comfortable room complete with sofa and large screen TV to watch a brief marketing video which primarily made use of the visual medium to show all the benefits of a vacation (at their timeshares of course).
From that point you get shuttled out to get seated with your sales rep. Our sales star was Jose, a young man in his late 20s to early 30s, athletic build who claimed he plays baseball locally. I am not sure how good he is at baseball, but his master closing skills must be at least batting .300. I suppose only Aquarius or Jose himself knows his true sales stats.
In my opinion, Jose went right in for the kill. I suppose you cannot blame him from a *professional sales closer* standpoint. I look more like a cleaned up heavy equipment operator on the week-ends than a professional marketer. So while he categorized me and determined his strategy, I sat back and observed the sales process. In fact, long before I knew how the experience would unfold that was part of my goal, as lifetime student of marketing and sales.
Jose brought out all kinds of sales tactics which I recognized, whether they were a part of his toolkit or just instinctive to this closer. It was as if he had studied a copy of Jim Pickens' "The Closers" (ISBN: 0-942645-00-6) book as his personal bible.
He isolated the presumed leading decision maker and seated me close to him, did a walkabout in the unfinished building with us to allow us to stimulate our imaginations and paint our own picture of us in our new timeshare, used charisma to engage us early on, focused on benefits of the vacation experience verus details of the time share, tried to align himself with me by discussing points we had in common (building rapport), etc.
There is nothing wrong with any of that. That's good sales, but it does indicate (in my opinion) that a well crafted, and pre-planned sales strategy was in place. If nothing else, it was instinctive, which would make him a master closer for sure.
He put us into a time sensitive situation by telling us only 1 property remained available at a specific price point, trying to force us to make a decision on the spot.
However, Jose was looking for his sale, same day, and I believe he went in for the kill with high pressure sales tactics. He put us into a time sensitive situation by telling us only 1 property remained available at a specific price point, trying to force us to make a decision on the spot. He talked about how his Dad bought one and loved it, and how he intended to purchase one as well for himself. These points are, of course, unverifiable. So whether they are true, or just made up sales stories is something I am left to speculate about. I am leaning towards "sales story" in my opinion.
At the time we were completing the sales presentation, there was some kind of promotion occurring with the children's organization: Make a Wish Foundation. The promotion was running from August 2005 to February 28, 2006, as indicated by a letter to me from Aquarius, indicating that it was certainly not the "last day of the promotion" when we purchased on February 25th. I later was informed that this was a donation in a non-specified amount to Make A Wish for each timeshare sold, indicating that there was no financial incentive to us for making a purchase on that date (i.e. no discounts of any sort).
Getting back to our sales presentation experience, Jose had been spending a lot of time with us at that point. As he did his best to work each sales angle the details he was giving us started to get a little fuzzy, i.e. a little suspicious. It is my opinion, as is my wife's, that he was informing us that the Make A Wish promotion meant that a limited # of properties were being sold for a 50% discount from $40,000 to $20,000.
As I stated earlier, he said there was only one of these left. Jose then said something akin to "Let me check to make sure" (of course).
He called over a man he referred to as his sales manager. After making a phone call, he came back and was pleased to tell us that they had agreed to transfer the 1 remaining unit reserved for another location to the Boqueron location, and to allow us to take advantage of the sale, for purchase "today only".
I like to push really hard on details of any offer, so I'm a bit of a salesperson's nightmare sometimes. They have to work for their money with me, especially since I am aware of the sales process and the possibility of being mislead. Note: I am talking about the sales process in general from used car dealers to water purifier MLM salespeople, or anyone who generally gets a bad rap for questionable selling strategies.
So as I poked and prodded on the details of the offer, Jose just so happened to have a photo album available with photos of himself as a child, including news clippings, that he brought out to show us and even volunteered to show us his chest where he had a scar from a reported heart surgery as a child. I am not questioning his claim. But it was curious to see how he just so happened to have such a nicely formatted album at his disposal to use in the sales process. Just another red flag raised for me.
The end result was that we were interested in finding out more about the timeshare. We were possibly interested in the time share, and we definitely want to take advantage of a 50% discount, if it really was legitimate.
Of course, they as a part of the process, do not provide any sales literature for you to take home before making a decision. This, I believe, is to (a) enforce the close on the spot, and (b) ensure that you do not discourage yourself from making the sale while investigating the fine print later.
But after I confirmed that we had a 7-day no risk cancellation guarantee (besides a $50 cancellation fee), we agreed to make the down payment required.
At least that way I got the Aquarius booklet and information so that I could take them home and pour myself into the details. Jose quickly went and cracked open a bottle of champaign. This was not a personal gesture from Jose. This is a "part of the marketing plan".
Can you imagine the effect on somehow who is in the middle of the sales presentation when he sees someone else at another table break open the bubbly to celebrate their new time share?
It does many things psychologically, two of which include (1) help convince the people watching that at least one other person thinks this is a great investment, and (2) ensure the tentative buyer that they will not be the only one, i.e. will not look foolish making the buying decision in front of others who are not taking the bait.
After getting home, it took me about 1 hour to read the parts of the book I felt important, and make a decision that this was not for us. We were going to cancel.
After getting home, it took me about 1 hour to read the parts of the book I felt important, and make a decision that this was not for us. We were going to cancel. Now, each person may evaluate this opportunity differently. I see it like this:
(a) You pay up front to finance a vacation for 1-week each year, for your life time. In so doing, you take an opportunity cost. That is, if you finance it you are paying interest on the balance until paid off. And if you pay cash (for those so fortunate) you are losing the ability to use that money for something else such as an investment in the market, a business, a college fund, retirement fund, etc. Either way, you are losing money beyond the purchase price just by purchasing.
Note: This is the same with any big ticket purchase. The decision comes down to how much value you are getting back (ROI).
If you buy a condo, you have to pay annual fees, but you get to live in that condo the whole year. With a 1-week per year timeshare, you would presume that cost would be divided by the # of weeks available.
(b) You pay an annual fee, subject to increases over time. And therein lies the catch for me. The fees were too high in my opinion. If you buy a condo, you have to pay annual fees, but you get to live in that condo the whole year. With a 1-week per year timeshare, you would presume that cost would be divided by the # of weeks available. Not so. Fees were still at amount around $600 per year to start. Now if you think about that...
In my opinion, you are basically paying a discounted hotel rate to stay there! Not only that, you have to select the time period that you will stay each year which limits your flexibility significantly (i.e. the time share model).
So my determination and opinion is that this opportunity certainly did NOT provide any real ROI for me. I think most people would be better off saving their investment capital aka money (or not creating an interest expense) and simply paying for your own vacation, whenever you want, whereever you want in the world.
I feel that it is amazing that Puerto Rican's who purchase at this location are basically paying to stay in nice room with a pool? Can you find a nice room or a pool/beach anywhere else in Puerto Rico without spending $20,000 to $40,000 + interest? I think it definitely makes more sense for non-residents of Puerto Rico, all other factors being considered separately.
FYI We had a hard time finding that restaurant to use the free voucher. Turns out it was for a small wooden framed fry cook place near the bridge to the beach in Boqueron. We ended up getting a bunch of empanadillas to go. 
Not exactly the comfortable family dining we expected for attending a sales process that took a couple of hours.
So Jose, with his sales skills, had been successful in Phase 2 of the sales process. While I figured my 7 day cancellation guarantee would keep me out of trouble, I was soon to discover the 3rd phase of the process, which I refered to as "lost sale recovery/damage control" phase.
Within the next 48 hours we showed up back at the sales office to cancel our contract and get our downpayment back, minus the $50 fee (which not oddly enough cancels out the $50 food voucher).
In the very same place where we signed up and made the payment, we were told we could NOT cancel.
Guess what? In the very same place where we signed up and made the payment, we were told we could NOT cancel. They told us we had to notify them by registered mail within 7 days. Would you not think that we could simply sign a release form on the spot to cancel? That's the way it should be in a fair and ethical process, in my opinion, but this is not the way it is done in a marketing "breakage model" which is pretty much the antithesis of loyal marketing.
If you are not familiar with the concept of a "breakage model" it is basically a strategy that marketers, sometimes of questionable integrity, use to make a process difficult enough that some customers will either fail to follow the procedure, or fail to follow the procedure in time, or simply give up trying to get their refund (or to get an offered gift or incentive). This is the model you will often see in no risk guarantees, 100% money back guarantees, or "Try it for 30 days" type offers you see.
Note: Not all are the same and some companies do a great job at actually setting up an easy cancellation procedure, and honoring it, without creating hurdles for the disgruntled customer. Hence, the "Chinese Finger Trap"!
I realized the situation we were in at that point, so I prepared to take action. We need to get our cancelation letter into the mail ASAP. Done. But when we did not hear back immediately, I needed to act for our own protection.
Keep in mind that we were given a 7 day guarantee on a $20,000 investment. When you think that your time is running out or you lose your $20,000 investment, you want a little peace of mind, and that was denied when we went into the sales office and were told we had to "write them a letter"!
I started my investigation by contacting the Make A Wish Foundation to find out if they really were benefiting from a promotion with Aquarius related to what we in good faith understood from our time with Jose was a 50% discount on the timeshares, via email.
Within 24 hours I received a response from Aquarius. Email can be a tricky thing. Apparently they forgot to delete the inquiry Make a Wish had sent them and then forwarded it directly back to me. In summary, Make a Wish was involved in "a" promotion with them, but had contacted them immediately to investigate my claims. It seemed that some was awry.
So, at least it appeared, that some of my stress had been transferred back to Aquarius. Suddenly they had found our registered letter, and they wanted us to come into the same sales office (the same one that had turned us away before) to complete the process.
They do not cancel accounts in the champaign room where others are buying the timeshare and cracking open the bubbly to celebrate
Now it was time to deal with the lawyer. We were escorted upstairs this time. Pay attention to all the details here. They do not cancel accounts in the champaign room where others are buying the timeshare and cracking open the bubbly to celebrate. Obviously, seeing someone cancel would be just as discouraging as it is positive to see someone else buy (as noted above). So they isolated us where we could not interfere with the other sales closers doing their job down stairs.
When we sit down with the lawyer, you can imagine we were already frustrated and ready to get the matter over with. So I was shocked to see that, as a part of the "process" she intended to actually summarize the benefits of owning a timeshare with Aquarius Vacation Club!
The contract we signed with the 7-day cancellation agree did not state anything about us having to re-visit a "sales presentation" before getting our money back. But this is why I refer this phase to damage control or lost sale recovery.
Not only did it appear to us they were they going to make sure the other potential customers did not see us cancelling, it also seemed they were also going to try to re-convince us to keep the timeshare, so they would not lose the sale.
Here I was almost about to lose a $20,000 investment, and the legal representative of a multi-million dollar corporation was frustrated with me for interrupting her during her sales re-presentation!
I was fed up. I excused myself for interrupting and sternly told the lawyer that we were not there to re-do the sales presentation; we had make our decision and wanted our 7-day guaranteed for cancellation to be granted and our refund processed. Her response: She jumped up from the table rambling on in Spanish that I was being rude and she could not work with me. Imagine that. Here I was almost about to lose a $20,000 investment, and the legal representative of a multi-million dollar corporation was frustrated with me for interrupting her during her sales re-presentation! I was trying to hard to pull my finger out of the Chinese Finger Trap.
My wife advised me to go with the flow. When the lawyer returned to the table, she did continue summarizing the benefits which I believe is probably a documented part of the process for her, but this time in an accelerated manner. We signed a document indicating our intent to cancel and left the office. I believe it took more than a week for our deposit to be returned. It certainly was not done right there and then which, although possible, was *not* a part of the award winning marketing process at Aquarius Vacation Club that day.
But - we survived the process, got our money back, and got our finger out of the trap. I assume everyone at Make A Wish Foundation, the Management Team at Aquarius Vacation Club, and Jose the ball player/closer himself felt a little relieved even if it meant the commission was lost.
I later received a final letter confirming the refund, clarifying the nature of the Make A Wish Foundation promotion which was NOT as we felt we had been to led to believe during the sales presentation, apologizing for the inconvenience, and inviting me to contact Make A Wish (Irisaida Mendez) or the Customer Service Manager at Boqueron for Aquarius (Ms. Jocelyn Adjujar). The letter was sent from the Director of Sales and Marketing (Alejandra Padin) and copied to the company owner Cleofé Rubí, and legal contact Emma Cancio, ESQ.
Note: Once again, please note that all information contained in this blog entry is a summary of my recollection of the events that occurred. It is possible that there may be some inaccurate details due only to the length of time that has passed since it occurred. Nothing has been purposely misrepresented, exaggerated, or embellished. My evaluation of the process is my own opinion, based on my observations and feelings during and after the experience and from my own knowledge of sales and marketing. I am making no claim as to whether the process I observed, interpreted, or described is in fact a common, or documented process at Aquarius Vacation Club. This may have been an isolated instance, and my evaluation is subject to my own interpretation of events. I am exercising my right as an individual and consumer to document my experience and to provide my opinions. I am in no way making any factual claims about any of the companies or individuals noted. I acknowledge that my subjective interpretations may differ from fact. I am interested in feedback from other customers or individuals who had an experience with Aquarius as well as those who are involved in any capacity (including employees). I will do my best to provide updated information if discovered or provided by a 3rd party, but I am making no definitive commitment to do so. Information here should be considered a summary of knowledge available to me and selected for inclusion as of the original date of publication. I also make no claims as to the accuracy of the online resources used or linked below.
The Insider
Resources:
- User Entry at Scam.com Forum with a Statement from the Department of Consumer Affairs Regarding Time Shares
- User Comment at Scam.com Forum Regarding Aquarius Vacation Club See quote below:
Be careful with Aquarius Vacation Club in particular! They are slick and conny and scammers.
Aquarius Vacation Club was developed by Mora Development Corporation, CEO Cleofé Rubí. Here are some research notes:
Mr. Rubí by all accounts seems to be an extremely talented businessman who leveraged his engineering degree into several ultra successful corporations. Most of the significant references related to him or his companies are listed below, and despite a few lawsuits or complaints that are typical for large corporations and large development projects, there is nothing out of the ordinary.
- Full name is Cleofé Rubí Gonzalez. Husband of Moraima Cintron de Rubi
- Engineer who graduated from the University of Puerto Rico
- Aquarius Vacation Club nominated for ARDA award in sales & marketing
- Owner of CR Heavy Equipment Corp
- Listed as a co-defendent in a lawsuit from 2000
- Summary of Cleofé Rubí's political campaign contributions
- Press Release About the Aquarius Vacation Club Boqueron Development
- EPA Fine for Failure to Do Adequate Water Testing in Housing Project in 2006
- Donation Made to Scholarship Fund
- Interview about getting into the hotel development business
- Cleofé Rubí Linked In Profile
- Claims about destruction of habitat (See quote below)
In my island of Puerto Rico, entities cynically called "developers" destroy everything in their path in order to build complexes called (again cynically): Ciudad Jardin (Garden City), in Gurabo; Castillos del Mar (Castles by the Sea) and Costa del Este (Eastern Coast) in Ceiba; Cielo Dorado (Golden Sky) in Dorado; Caminos del Bosque (Forest Trails) in San Juan; Paseo Los Quenepos (whatever that means) in Cabo Rojo. You have to wonder where are the gardens, seacoasts, forests, that they did away with in order to sow concrete everywhere.A "developer" company called Mora Development, owned by Cleofe Rubi, has destroyed huge tracts of remaining lowland forest in Caguas, and continues to do so. He (and many others) has been accused of corrupt and illegal practices in building in other areas of the island. Local majors are only too happy to buy votes by looking the other way.
