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I am a foreigner from Canada and came to the phillipines in 2008 and found that the property prices were very attractive and i was not married to a filipina at that time. I had toured around manila and ended up finding a new building being built in what was considered an attractive area for foreigners and decided to go ahead with the pre purchase installments to purchase a unit in Eastwood Libis.

I started paying from April of 2008 till @ Mid 2012. I like most people during the financial crisis of 2008-**** found it difficult to pay the installments as my work was not good. I did pay and also did pay interest payments and late payment fees sometimes when i was late paying but i did pay. I was in the final installement phase and was being asked to come up with @ 35,000 peso per month.

My intention at the time was to fully buy the unit and use it as an investment property for my retirement. I applied at several banks and could not obtain a mortgage as i was not married to a filipino. In 2017 i came back to the phillipines and had finally met someone there and married with them. And out of self interest just looked up Megaworld again for kicks and I had never investigated if i was owed anything from the many years before as i had never bought a piece of property anywhere.

I finally came across a Law called the Mercado Law where it is to protect buyers of condos and properties but it did have a specific time frame as per how long a person has to have paid out the pre-installments. If its less than 2 years you dont get anything if you can prove its longer than 2 years like in my case you are supposed to be awarded 50% of the amount you put down. So in Sept 2012 i received a forfeiture notice as i had stopped paying as i didnt see any ability to obtain the mortgage, As stated i wasnt married to a filipino i didnt have a retirement visa so I didnt have the amount required to pay the remaining total. During that course i ended up finding out i was also going to have to pay out a significant amount of tax and that would have increased the pay out amount significantly.

I was offered in house financing but the amount was absurd. I like most of you read post online about several bad dealings with this company. I intially went back to their Customer Service Department in Janurary of 2017 and felt i was getting the run around as they were delaying getting back to me, Never got emails back and so I had read that there was another Government organization called the HLURB. I contacted them and lodged a complaint with the HLURB office in Quezon City against the company.

When i told the Customer Serive at Megaworld they said now i would have to deal with their Legal Department. So the HLURB office setup a intial settlement conference with them and I flew back from Canada to attend the meeting only to find out they were late and we had to rebook the meeting again. I spoke with the head guy at that HLURB office and I can say that the head of the HLURB office(off the record)stated that Megaworld knew they were scamming me and he informed me that Megaworld had several complaints against them not only by Foreigners looking for investment properties but as well OFW's and regular filipinos, whom also had been screwed by their business deailngs. I did some further investigation into this and as stated found that there was the Mercado law that stated they were supposed to refund me the money of 50%.

Where was this supposed refund ? Why didnt i receive my refund when they sent the Forfeiture letter? Why they never bother to contact me for the entire 5 years to say oh by the way here is the 50% of your payments refuned to you under the law. So i attended the HLURB office again for another settlement conference and the lawyer for Megaworld never showed up.

I was feeling extremely frustrated by this and felt they were continuing to give me the run around. By this time i was losing my patience with these guys and so i did some more investigation into filipino property law and found another law under a Presidential Decree from the Marcos government under PD 957 Sections 8 and Sections 9 that they were now acting in Bad faith and that part of the law requires developers to repay all of the payments made plus applicable interest. I put this back to them and they still insisted to pay only the 46%, under the Mercado Law. I had been in contact with their Legal team and continued to feel i was getting the run around with the assigned lawyers phone being turned off and not replying text messages and phone calls to their office.

I finally said enough was enough and so I went to their new offices at BGC. I was told the legal person i was dealing with was out of town and i said i dont care i want to talk to that guys boss or someone in Managment to get this resolved. When their head lawyer came finally to the conference room after an hour. I felt extremely intimated by their legal staff as he stated he had no problem to take this to a court and to top it all off they had 3 security guards waiting outside the conference room.

Wow and to tell me i was intimadating them. Who owes who money here ? They modified the initial offer of 46% to now making an offer of only 50%. If i had never contacted these guys they would never had issued me any refund whatsoever of what was paid out.

I was extremely upset and i was now beyond what is supposed to be in the Mercado Law as per the PD 957 where they acted totally in bad faith. I consulted with property lawyers in Canada and in the Phillipines only to hear that i was right. I am now seeking to take them to court and will be seeking damages and interest and the principal.

I will be contacting everyone that i can to have this companies abilty to sell properties to people revoked as they cant deal with the underlying issue of Bad business practices and Bad faith. A good company will always have processes to protect themselves and their consumers as any bad press or that will ultimately affect any dealings people would want to have with such a company.

Reason of review: Return, Exchange or Cancellation Policy.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Megaworld Cons: Do not care attitude, Never return calls, Very unprofessional staff, Misleading, Fraudulent.

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Guest

If there is a class action case against Megaworld please email me jojo_lynet@***.net. I purchased a property in BGC, fully paid it in 2014 and was just turned over last year. No CCT to date and I am being charged over 200k for unpaid HOA dues.

Guest

Any updates on any outcome mentioned here? Many ate still being conned by Megaworld.

This includes me..after years of waiting a refund the Mega bullies keep appealing to prolong the case.. So anyone please share your stories to uplift and guide those who are still confused and desperate victims of Mega world tyranny.

Guest

Hi I wonder what happen with this case going forward? I have a similar case and Megaworld appealed every opportunity to avoid and prolong the process.

Mine was taken to the Office of the President and up to now still pending after 6 years. Just wondering has anyone experienced the same?

Please advise. Thanks a lot.

Guest

If you buy preselling projects and the tun over was delayed. Better file a case in HLURB.

Because developers also have deadline of turnover in HLURB. once they found out that it was delayed, the company will pay a lot of penalty and i think you can ask for a full refund.

Guest

Hello. I won a refund case against a Megaworld.

My advice is to file a case directly to hlurb. Just insist in your papers maceda law and all the proof that you paid not less than 24 payments including the reaervation and down payment.

Just be patient and you will get the decision in favor of you. They will file appeal everytime but dont worry there is interest in that sometimes it becomes double depends on situation.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1597582

How far they can appeal? My case was taken to the Office of the President after winning from HLURB. Anyone who has the same situation?

Guest

They wouldn't even offer me that refund under Maceda Law. We have paid 7.5 years and demanding for a full refund but they kept ignoring it.

The credit and collections department was the only one replying but would not give any contact info of the legal department. I had it before but emails were being returned after some time.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1409961

Please contact me directly and can advise

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1409970

Hi Christian, would you know if their 300K Assignment Fee is even legal?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1422166

Hi! Did you pay assignment fees?

Iโ€™m having the same problem with MW.

What did you do? Thanks!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1422166

Assignment fee is if you would transfer the ownership by just changing the name of the buyer. Yeah it is legal. In other developer like Federal Land, assignment Fee is 100,000 and megaworld has the highest assignment fee.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1409970

What happened in the end?We are also in the same situation w MW. No Turnover, no reply on our emails, phones switched off, etc..

no advices/letters from the company to explain what happened. Now asking for full refund, but seeing the comments here, looks bleak..

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1477157

Go to hlurb and file a case.do not file complaint for mediation coz it will take a lot of time. File a case directly.

Dont spend for a lawyer. You dont need a lawyer in HLURB. they have the format of the paper you just have to fill up and have it notarize. Make sure you have all the proof of payment.

As much as possible, before you file a case, get the the necessary documents in megaworld head office like statement of account, official receipts. Dont tell them you will be filing a case coz they will not give you the papers. It will take time but it will be worth it. You dont need a lawyer to appear on the hearing.

Your documents are enough. For whatever reason just emphasize that you are entitled for the refund because you are qualified base on requirements of Maceda Law. When the decision of the arbiter is on your side, they will appeal but you dont have to do anything.

Just be patient. Good luck everyone.

Shameek Rfx

I would like to invite you to the newly created FB Page:

https://www.facebook.com/megaworldcorp.review.7

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Shameek Rfx

I want to join the suit class but I have a pending case awaiting resolution to the office of the president as the case were appealed by Mega bullies.

Guest

Isn't there a class action suit against Megaworld that's being initiated?

We'll be happy to join one as presently we too are disgruntled, disadvantaged and aggrieved Megaworld condo buyers.

Thank you.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1374535

please send me your contact details we will inform you of whom to discuss with

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1378200

I also want to join the class action suit. My number is 0915602****

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1378200

post it here

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1374535

i'm filing a case against megaworld. we all shoud do so they can return our money and remove their license.

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