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In March of 2013 I contacted "Invest Los Cabos" Cabo San Lucas Baja California Sur Homes for Sale about relocating to Cabo San Lucas. They advertise themselves as relocation experts. I explained my work situation clearly in written and verbal communications to both Mark Suen and his wife Monica Suen. I teach guitar, bass and ukulele on skype and this requires a highspeed internet connection. They both understood this.

Both Mark and Monica told me that not every building is wired for highspeed and we would need to be careful in choosing my rental. I felt great because it seemed they understood what I needed for work and could trust they would only recommend properties that were able to carry the highest level of internet by Telmex. They were also in a position to call and confirm service since my cell was unable to dial numbers in Mexico.

After a couple of weeks Monica sent me a property listing in Marina Sol unit A704B owned by John Pinkerman. It looked great! The property features listed "highspeed interntet". I asked if there was a way to test skype with the current renter and he agreed. I was on skype with the renter occupying the unit for about 30 minutes. Within the test his connection broke up a few times and had some latency between the audio and video. I asked him what level of service he was on with Telmex and he said the middle level and there would be no trouble to upgrade.

I reported to Mark and Monica about the skype test and that everything should be fine as long as I could upgrade the level of service once in Cabo. As usual the reply was "no problem". The unit was becoming available on April 1st 2013 and Mark started to get pushy about the deposit say that he could not take the unit off the market without deposit. I am reasonable and wired not only the $700.00 security deposit but the additional $700.00 for the month of April. I asked for a receipt by email and phone with no response. After about 3 days I get an email from Mark asking where the wire transfer was? I called their office and spoke with their assistant and she confirmed that they had received it. This was the first glimpse into how sloppy these people are.

I arrived in Cabo on Saturday 4/6 and on Monday 4/8 I went into the main office of Telmex with the last bill from the previous renter. I intended to switch the service into my name and upgrade to the highest level. I was dealing with manager of the office and he was looking at the address printed on the bill and he understood that I needed to upgrade to their highest level of service. After a few minutes he looked at me and said "I am sorry but that level of service is not available at that address". I was in shock and just about started crying.

All my guitars and teaching equipment, computers and belongings were on their way to a address that could not provide the internet I needed to work. Needless to say I was furious and rightfully so. Not only was the service I needed for my business not available in the unit it was not available in the building. I spent three hours the next day with a Telmex technician who explained to me the service was not available due to the buildings location from the server. The owner of the unit tried to have someone "Migrate" the line to the higher level and said it would take 72 hours. This was done on Tuesday 4/9. By Friday 4/12 a speed test on the line gave me a 90ms Ping, 3mbps Download and .30 for a Upload! Just for perspective my speeds in Seattle were 30ms Ping, 32mpbs Download and 5mbps for my Upload.

When I confronted Mark and Monica about the situation the response was, "Well, we didn't know you couldn't upgrade". They passed off any discussion of a refund to the owner John Pinkerman who has not returned a phone call or email.

In conclusion it is not just the water you have to be careful of in Cabo it is slimy Americans who play dirty business in Mexico because they know they can get away with it and not be pursued legally.

Beware of "Invest Los Cabos", Mark Suen, Monica Suen and John Pinkerman.
To this day I have not been contacted regarding a refund by these crooks.

Welcome to the forum. Sorry you had such a rough start but that does seem to be the typical way things work down here. "No problema" is a standard response and most likely, it is genuinely said with sincerity, albeit little knowledge of whether or not it can actually be accomplished. What I have come to understand down here is that when they say "no problema", they are telling you that they will try to make that happen. As far as the specific problem with the internet speed, it rings true. Comparing internet speeds down here with what you can get NOB is simply useless. if you haven't already figured it out, this is not the USA down here and the longer you keep thinking it is, the more frustration you will run into.

Next time you'll know to actually find out through Telmex yourself if an address you are looking at can actually provide the level of service you require.

Again, sorry for the problem but welcome to Baja/Mexico. It is what it is - good, bad and ugly...

Hey Ron, thanks for your reply. These people are not trustworthy and I should have added a written term to the lease stating that if the internet could not be upgraded then it would be grounds for me to break the lease and receive a refund. Maybe then, they would have called Telmex to tell me what I found out when it was too late. I lost over 5k in this move attempt!!!

Do not trust these people. They could have made one phone call....I made it clear to them that I was unable to dial numbers in Mexico from my cell in the U.S.

This is what you get for trusting people who claim to be "Relocation Experts".

That would be very very frustrating. . . . .

Originally Posted by jtlessons

This is what you get for trusting people who claim to be "Relocation Experts".

Another thing you need to learn down here - even if folks call themselves "relocation experts" and have a familiar Realtor logo on their business card does not mean they have met any legal/industry criteria, training or registration. There is at present, no legal requirement for anybody to work as a realtor on the peninsula other than have legal immigration status enabling them to work. Many don't even have that.

Did you check them out first? Were they recommended to you from somebody or just had a nice looking web page?

For all you know you might have been their very first customer!

Hopefully others will learn from your story and be able to avoid the bad experience. One thing I always advise everybody wanting to live down here:

Research, research research.

And not just online but with feet on the ground and spend a lot of time investigating before you even think about putting any money on the table.

It could have been worse - you could have bought there instead of just renting.

I have to admit that I did not check into them and ask for references. I am a trusting person and they seemed to know everything about Cabo. I have been burned and I hope that by posting this it saves someone else the hell that I went through with these people.

They also seem to be very aware that they can get away with this because they are in Mexico.

Lots of lessons learned here!! Lesson #1. Should've checked directly with Telmex first.

So sorry for your expensive lesson... thanks so much for sharing your experience with these crooks!

And, welcome to this message board!

Originally Posted by jtlessons

They also seem to be very aware that they can get away with this because they are in Mexico.

Unfortunately, in the absence of any comprehensive, state mandated licensing such folks can and do operate down here. It was an expensive lesson but hopefully things will go smoothly after this. So have you found a new place yet? (with high speed internet)

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

Unfortunately, in the absence of any comprehensive, state mandated licensing such folks can and do operate down here. It was an expensive lesson but hopefully things will go smoothly after this. So have you found a new place yet? (with high speed internet)

Megacable appears to be in Los Cabos

Megacable ~ Megared

I agree with BajaGringo that the Mexican "culture" can be overly polite and instead of saying "no" or "maybe we can " they say "no problem" at times. They don't want to let you down, even if they can't really do what they say. As quaint as that cultural trait is- it doesn't apply to these Americans. An American claiming to be a "relocation expert" is not in the same category as a Mexican only trying to oblige. BajaGringo is right when he says to be cautious with everyone you deal with in Mexican real estate. The con artists and skilled sellers are always the nicest. jmho.

These are Americans not local people. They know exactly what they are doing and there it has nothing to do with "culture" it has everything to do with scamming.

Originally Posted by jtlessons

These are Americans not local people. They know exactly what they are doing and there it has nothing to do with "culture" it has everything to do with scamming.

Americans with local "connections" can and do target other Americans. I had the same thing right across the street from me in Rosarito. Although my Mexican family has the Federal Zone concession title, it didn't stop an American from trying to sell the beach to US investors for $199K claiming she had lived there 20 years and had the legal papers to sell it. I don't think trying to sell property you don't own is against the law in Mexico until money changes hands- at which point it is too late to get the money back.

As always, there are three sides to every story; the offended party's, the defending party's, and the truth. You may review the facts on the TripAdvisor post from this same offended party, then draw your own conclusions.

Rip-Off Report - Cabo San Lucas Message Board - TripAdvisor

As you will see, many TripAdvisor members (Some who have not even had previous interactions with our company), have realized that this fellow's accusations are false.

Really, my accusations are false Mark or Monica? You knew clearly what my business needed for a internet connection. You could have made one phone call to Telmex and saved me over 6k in relocation costs. But instead, you assured me that I could upgrade the connection in the unit you represented.

You are a ***** * **** Mark. Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me? You claim to be a "relocation expert"...and this is the postition you put people in?

Funny how you and your wife played dumb after I found out from Telmex that the line could not be upgraded. What have I said that is 'false" Mark.

People steer clear of this ******** Mark Suen.