Ocean Tulum buyers accuse Grupo VINSA of unfulfilled deliveries and refunds

Buyers of the Ocean Tulum development in La Veleta say they have waited years for apartments that were never finished, and for refunds that, by their accounts, never arrived. Several have now filed complaints with consumer and judicial authorities.

The dispute matters beyond the people directly affected. Ocean Tulum draws buyers from Mexico and abroad, and it lands in the middle of a wider reckoning over preconstruction sales in Tulum, where state authorities have repeatedly warned that money paid up front can disappear into projects that stall or never finish.

A beachfront project that stopped moving

Ocean Tulum is promoted by Grupo VINSA, also identified as Vinsa Desarrollos. The company still markets the project on its website, advertising what it calls the largest pool in Tulum at 2,100 square meters, underground parking, and a rental program for owners.

The reality on the ground, according to buyers, looks different. They describe a complex that remains partly in obra negra, the bare structural phase, with no clear and verifiable completion date. A recent visit to the site found the work unfinished, closed off, and without signs of activity.

Units were sold starting in 2022. Buyers say the first stage should have been delivered more than two years ago, and that the delay now stretches past three years for some of them.

What buyers say they were told

Over those years, according to the buyers, the explanations followed a pattern. They were told about bridge loans, financing processes, and imminent restarts. None of it, they say, translated into visible progress on the building.

A refund agreement that lapsed

For some buyers, the fight is no longer about the apartment. It is about getting their money back.

A buyer's account from Kansas

Ángeles Luna, a US citizen, said she and her husband invested in September 2025 to buy a unit in the complex. Weeks later, she said, she discovered the construction had already been stopped for months before they signed. She learned the full picture, she said, through posts from other buyers reporting their own delays, some after more than two years of waiting.

Luna said she later met with representatives of the development, who described efforts to secure a bridge loan to restart the work. The financing never came through, she said, and the construction stayed frozen. "They sold to us with lies. When we bought, they did not tell us the work had been stopped for months," she said from Kansas, adding that the family is still waiting for its money.

According to her account, the parties reached a refund agreement in June of this year, with a 2.5 percent interest charge for late payment. She said the deadline passed with no payment. Luna said she filed complaints with Profeco, the federal consumer protection agency, and with Sedatu, the federal land and urban development authority, and that she is working with legal counsel.

Complaints reach Profeco and the state prosecutor

Luna is not alone. Juan Ramón Franco, who contacted The Tulum Times, said his investment amounts to 1,765,389.17 pesos, plus a contractual penalty of 100,000 pesos for non-delivery. He said he has filed a complaint with Profeco and is preparing a case before the Quintana Roo state prosecutor's office, the FGE, in Playa del Carmen.

Franco said he is in direct contact with about 20 investors in the same situation, and that the group holds purchase contracts, payment receipts, and consumer complaints to support its account. He described the developer in blunt terms and asked for help making the case public so that others do not sign on.

Buyers say their posts keep disappearing

A separate public appeal circulated by affected buyers, and reported by other regional outlets, named Héctor Sánchez and María Solís as the owners of Grupo VINSA. The buyers asked the two to address them directly and to provide documented, verifiable information on the real state of the development and on delivery dates.

That appeal also raised a complaint about visibility. Buyers said that on several occasions, posts describing their experience were removed or disappeared from the spaces where they tried to share them, which they say has deepened their sense that the process lacks transparency.

Neither Héctor Sánchez nor María Solís has issued a public response to the accusations. The company has not announced a revised delivery date or a verifiable financing plan. The Tulum Times could not independently confirm the existence of any criminal proceeding already underway against the developer.

@angelesluna2 GRAN FRAUDE INMOBILIARIO EN TULUM !! HECTOR SANCHEZ - VINSA - MARÍA SOLÍS Necesitamos ayuda para difundir esta situación. Desde 2022, decenas de compradores hemos esperado la entrega de nuestras unidades en el desarrollo OCEAN TULUM, comercializado por Grupo VINSA. A pesar de los compromisos asumidos y de que muchos hemos cumplido puntualmente con nuestros pagos, hasta la fecha seguimos sin recibir nuestros departamentos. La realidad que observamos es una obra inconclusa, con áreas que continúan en obra negra y sin una fecha clara, seria y verificable de entrega. Durante meses se nos ha informado sobre créditos puente, procesos financieros y próximas reactivaciones de la obra. Sin embargo, los compradores seguimos esperando resultados concretos y respuestas transparentes. Somos muchas las personas afectadas que hemos invertido nuestros ahorros, nuestro patrimonio y nuestros proyectos de vida en este desarrollo. No estamos hablando de una simple inversión; estamos hablando del esfuerzo de familias enteras que confiaron en este proyecto. Además, diversos compradores hemos manifestado públicamente nuestra preocupación y, en distintas ocasiones, publicaciones relacionadas con esta situación han desaparecido o han sido eliminadas de espacios donde intentábamos compartir nuestra experiencia. Esto únicamente aumenta nuestra preocupación y sensación de falta de transparencia. Los responsables del proyecto han sido identificados públicamente como Héctor Sánchez y María Solís, dueños de GRUPO VINSA por lo que solicitamos que den la cara a los compradores y proporcionen información clara, verificable y documentada sobre el estado real del desarrollo y las fechas de cumplimiento. -Esto no es un juego. -Es nuestro patrimonio. -Es el dinero que muchas familias reunieron durante años de trabajo. Pedimos el apoyo de medios de comunicación, autoridades, compradores afectados y ciudadanía para dar visibilidad a esta situación y exigir respuestas. Si eres comprador de OCEAN TULUM o conoces a alguien afectado, comparte esta publicación. AYÚDAME A DIFUNDIR #OceanTulum #GrupoVINSA #VINSADesarrollos #Tulum #QuintanaRoo ♬ Manifestation - Perfect, so dystopian

Ocean Tulum and a pattern across Tulum real estate

The Ocean Tulum case fits a problem that has shadowed the destination for years. In 2025, the state planning authority Sedetus, working with the Tulum municipal government, issued public alerts naming developments operating without the permits, opinions, and authorizations required by law, first 13 projects and later a broader list of 26. Sedetus warned that buying, selling, or renting in those projects puts family wealth at direct risk.

The collapse of other Tulum brands has shown how far these cases can go. A Bloomberg investigation documented buyers, many of them foreigners, who lost their savings to developers who later died, disappeared, or left the country, with dozens of preconstruction units sold and never delivered. The pattern reached the national stage when President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged repeated land and development fraud cases in Quintana Roo.

Verifying a development before signing

Authorities have pushed the same message to buyers. Sedetus has urged investors and residents to confirm that a project holds valid permits before committing any money, and to seek guidance from the agency or the municipality when in doubt. For foreign buyers who do not speak Spanish, that verification, and any later legal action, is harder and slower to pursue from abroad.

For now, the Ocean Tulum buyers are left with contracts, receipts, and complaints, and without the apartments or the refunds they say they were promised. Whether Profeco mediation or a prosecutor's case moves their claims forward remains the open question, and one the developer has so far declined to answer in public.

Have you invested in a Tulum preconstruction project, or do you know someone still waiting on a unit or a refund? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at