Avoid this holiday scam!
If you are thinking about taking a well-deserved break, watch out for this holiday scam..
Here’s a scary fact for you – around 400,000 UK consumers fall victim to bogus holiday clubs each year, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
That’s a lot of people.
Although many holiday clubs are perfectly reputable, unfortunately, alongside them are numerous bogus clubs whose sole purpose is to con you out of your money.
How do these scams work?
Often these scams start when you are either approached by a scratchcard tout (usually when you are on holiday) or you receive a phone call at home. Either way, you will be told you have won a ‘free’ holiday and all you need to do in order to collect your prize and learn more about it is to attend a presentation.
Sounds simple doesn’t it?
The problem is by attending the presentation you could end up losing a vast amount of money. In fact, according to the OFT, the average victim loses more than £3,000 through bogus holiday clubs.
The presentation
Let’s say you decide to attend a presentation out of curiosity. You arrive at a plush hotel and are given a glossy brochure which makes it all look very professional and convincing.
You take a seat, the presentation starts, and you are made to feel as if you are joining an exclusive holiday club which will allow you to travel to many exotic destinations and stay in top-class accommodation.
It all sounds wonderful, but the sad truth is it isn’t wonderful at all.
What you will really be getting
According to the OFT, after spending thousands of pounds, consumers often find they have bought little more than access to an internet booking service offering the same service they could find in a high street travel agent.
Even though you might believe you can take a holiday whenever and wherever you fancy, the truth is that no dates or destination are guaranteed and holidays are often not available when you want them, proving completely useless.
You will probably also be told you will get your cash back after four years, making it seem like a worthwhile investment, but in reality, there is no guarantee this will happen, and the company may not even be there in four years’ time anyway.
Other things to watch out for
There are a number of techniques used at presentations which are designed to lure you in. For example, some presentations go on for hours – sometimes as many as six – so that by the end of it you are so desperate to leave, you sign on the dotted line in haste.
You may also find they ply you with plenty of free alcohol so that by the end of it you are feeling more relaxed and are more likely to sign up.
Another technique to watch out for is when they tell you they have a discounted offer valid only for that day. This is very unlikely to be the case, and is simply a way of making you believe you need to sign up there and then.
Often you will also find you have very little time to view the contract or discuss it with anyone, making it harder to understand exactly what you are signing up for.
How can I avoid being a victim?
First and foremost, if you are approached by a holiday representative with a scratchcard, refuse it and walk away. If they try to invite you to a presentation, simply don’t go.
However, if you do end up attending a presentation, there are three important questions you should ask yourself:
1) Can you take the contract away, mull it over, and come back a few days later with a decision?
2) Do you have any cancellation rights and are they written down?
3) Are any verbal promises from the presentation also written down?
If you answer no to any of these questions, walk away without signing anything.
What to do if you are a victim
If you have already been trapped into signing up for one of these holiday clubs, the bad news is the OFT say they cannot help you claim any money back. However, they are interested in hearing about your experiences as they may be able to prevent that particular club from using these tactics again, so do put your complaints in writing to the OFT.
If you would like advice on your consumer rights, you can contact Consumer Direct, who will be able to help you.
By following these steps, we can hopefully prevent these bogus holiday clubs from preying upon more people and conning them out of their hard-earned cash.
If you have been affected by any of this or are aware of any similar scams, you can share your thoughts with other Fools using the comment boxes below.
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Comments
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Turn the Tables. Back in the nineties my wife and I were spending a couple of weeks on the Costa del Sol. Alive with Time Share "Sharks". Whilst having a coffee and people watching we started talking to a guy from the West Midlands, who claimed to have found the way to "Tame the Sharks". He gladly gave us a demonstration. Firstly he did not try to avoid them, as you all well know they loiter in key positions to trap their prey,so off we went to a Shark Attack Point. Almost immediately our new pal pursued a time share salesperson who was offering one inducement or another, and with the use of a Filofax made an appointment to go to a presentation, which offered free dinner in a top Costa Restaurant and the whole thing would take about one hour. We arrived, by taxi, at the venue and were ushered into the presentation area. We all remained in one group, and our new found associate took up the mantle of head of the family, after allowing the sales patter to progress to the point of, "You realy can't afford to miss this one off opportunity", our mentor stood up and loudly requested his tickets for his free dinner. This caused a slight embarassment to the salesman, so he repeated his request; but louder; another sales opperative was despatched in our direction to quieten the situation, so as not to disturb the sales pitch. This was to no avail, as our hero was now demanding his free gift as he had spent the stated one hour at this meeting and had committed himself to another one, evidence contained in his faithful Filofax,at a competitors site and a must now leave in order not to be late. To cut to the chase he stuck to his demands, would not be ushered to a quieter area, and would not accept any excuses. He insisted that he must attent the other appointment, after all how would they feel if he didn't honour an appointment with them. Grudgingly we were given the vouchers for our dinner and left in the prepaid taxi as agreed. We spent the following evening with our new friend and enjoyed a beatiful meal in an excellent restaurant. Our friend explained that he decided to turn the tables on the sharks on a previous holiday, which had proven relatively sucsesful, so he now spent afew hours during his holidays making sure that the little niceties of a holiday were provided by someone else.
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I was lucky enough to be given (free of charge) a scatch card in Palma Nova which turned out to be a "very rare" 3 star winner. The girl who gave me the card became very excited and ordered a taxi for my wife, 2 year old son and me to go to the head office to collect our winnings (a free hloiday, £10,000 cash or £5,000). When we arrived we were met by another excited lady who brought us into the office and showed us a bonus prize list. All we had to do to win a bonus prize was to produce a credit card and compare the first 4 digits of the card number with the 4 digits beside the prizes pictured (I think they where a free 3 day cruise, a car, a bottle of champagne or something along those lines). When I lied and told them I had left my wallet in the hotel safe, the excitment wained a little. We were then taken to a large room full of tables, full of excited holiday makers (presumable also rare 3 star winners) and sales staff trying to flog time shares on a cruise ship. The staff kept pushing and when we told them that our son was tired and we wanted to get our winnings and be on our way, they produced biscuits and took us to a room full of toys to keep him amused. The hard sell continued with a senoir manager eventually offering a huge discount if we signed that day. In total we wasted over 2 hours before they told us that we had to pay administration fees before we would be given the prize (a cruise on the timeshare boat). We left feeling like twats for getting in the taxi in the first place. We did not get caught, but judging by the number of times we heard the pop of champagne corks and the excited applause, alot of other people were not so Foolish.[br/] A few months later we recieved a letter asking why we had not taken advantage of our "free" cruise. I filled it under B1N.
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Apologies for posting the Holiday Watchdog link twice in my post above. the BBC Watchdog link should have been - [br/]http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2008/11/the_timeshare_resales_with_a_c.html
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18 February 2009