Wondered if anyone has had any dealing with any of the above companies.

We have been 'lucky' enough to have 'won' a weeks self catering holiday for 4 people, inc flights, in either Costa Del Sol or the Canary Islands. & we have priority over school holiday dates because we have children.

Apparently though, to claim the 'prize' we have to go and sit through a presentation about the resorts/complexes.

When we book the holiday, we would have to pay approx £80 each for administration.

I'm not too bothered about having to pay £320 for a weeks holiday in school hols- bargain if everything they say is correct. But is it!

I'd appreciate any comments from anyone who has heard or dealt with this Company - positive or negative - to help me make up my mind before I hand over my hard earned cash!!!

Many thanks

any luck with this company? we are in the same situation, the other day we went to their presentation as well and obviously "won the prize", so now I am thinking if it's safe to send them money, also they give you 4 dates to choose and then they will decide when to send you on holiday? honestly I think it's a bit dodgy and I don't know anyone having won the same holiday, but may be it's true after all...please let me know if you have booked it

Sorry not been back before, don't get on too much!!

We didn't end up going to the presentation at all. I did an internet search and got pretty bad vibes so I didn't bother. Have a quick search and make sure it is for you before you part with any hard earned dosh.

Let me know how you get on.

Take care

I also "won" the competition. When they told me I was very sceptical. They wouldn't give me more details until I could "pop into their shop inn Bluewater for further details". I don't live in Kent but knew I'd be down there in Spetember visiting family so called them back to get the details. The letter arrived yesterday and what a load of rubbish. They want me to sit through a 2 hour presentation - that is not a compeition prize, it is a promotion that anyone could have. I phoned them today to cancel. I am not wasting 2 hours of my life sitting through a sales presentation. How sly of them!

I know someone who works at Club La Costa. You do actually get a holiday and you only have to pay the admin fee. But you do have to go to a presentation (usually about 2 hours) and then when you go on holiday you have to attend another presentation whilst you are there. It's a bit of a pain having to sit through 2 presentations but if you insist on saying no and not signing anything at both these presentations then you get a holiday for just £80. I have heard problems of people signing up for these holiday clubs and then not being able to get the weeks they want (like school holidays for example).

My wife and I sat through the 2 hour presentation that turn out to be 3 hours long, and said no to the time share offer. We did get £25 worth of vouchers and a holiday vouchure the admin fee is only £29.50 each, so we are going to go for it, watch this space and I let you know if anything goes wrong!!!!

Tell them you have just lost your job and see how quickly they tell you that you do not qualify to win.

I comp for a hobby and have won many holidays and have never paid 1 single penny.

We have just sat through the Club La-Costa presentation and you should have seen the difference in attitude when we said we could not commit to their figures for 3 years. Mind you the product on offer did seem very good - subject to having the capital. The finance is definately a no-no don't touch it with a barge pole.
As for the free holiday I am sceptical at present - Sunbreaks do not exist on the internet but do quote an ATOL No - on checking this with ATOL the company is not listed as being covered. I am awaiting a response from ATOL.
Has anyone actually been with this company and did you get your choice of weeks?

We also went and sat through the Club La Costa presentation, which as we live near bluewater, wasnt far for us to go - but turns out its not actually at Bluewater, its a place in Greenhithe village (a mile up for road from bluewater) -

anyway, walked in asked to fill in a questionnaire, which asked us to tick the box which was relevant to us on what our household income was - my husband refused, and they said unless we tick the box we couldnt "sit through" the presentation - we were there by now, so ticked the box! Our presentation was given to us by a young bloke, with an audience of 8 couples, they like to do individual couple presentations! But were short staffed! Not one couple signed up for their "fantastic" offer - as it was bascially time share - you pay thousands for a week, yes one week, holiday per year.

We got the £25 voucher, and we got the voucher for the "Free" holiday, which gives people of school age priority in the school holidays - but you have to put 4 dates down, being at least 8 weeks apart, and all dates had to be in next 18 months! We didnt bother sending off the voucher - but have received these offers, phone calls so many times, just wanted to go along to see what the score was, as it was only local - not much of an inconvenience.

Basically, unless you've got more money that sense, and you want to pay a fortune for a weeks holiday, dont bother!

Have a read of this, and other threads on the subject of timeshare and holiday clubs:



I would just advise be careful, and if you do get the holiday, be strong and don't sign up for anything. Unless you are looking at joining one of these clubs that is.

yes i have just recieved a phone call today re. club la costa i was told i had won 7 nights luxury self catering in either costa del sol tenerife austria or turkey but we have to travel to leeds and sit thru 2 hrs of seminar we can say no to the time share and still have the hol.is this for real??they say they are doing it to promote their private club and think if we enjoy our hol we will recomend it to others let me no what you think if you bin on one plz

quote:

Originally posted by oldsoulie:
Wondered if anyone has had any dealing with any of the above companies.

We have been 'lucky' enough to have 'won' a weeks self catering holiday for 4 people, inc flights, in either Costa Del Sol or the Canary Islands. & we have priority over school holiday dates because we have children.

Apparently though, to claim the 'prize' we have to go and sit through a presentation about the resorts/complexes.

When we book the holiday, we would have to pay approx £80 each for administration.

I'm not too bothered about having to pay £320 for a weeks holiday in school hols- bargain if everything they say is correct. But is it!

I'd appreciate any comments from anyone who has heard or dealt with this Company - positive or negative - to help me make up my mind before I hand over my hard earned cash!!!

Many thanks

Hello there i had a phone call from the same company & also got a letter but got told i would only have to pay £29.50 admin fee would also like to hear anyone elses views cheers.

quote:

Reply

Went to the presentation today. Not so much of a hard sell but started just before 11:00 and left there at 2:00 so 3 hours.

Got the vouchers at the end of the day. Read the terms and conditions. Have to specify 4 dates and the first one must be within 3 months of the issue date, each date must be 8 weeks apart and all within the next 18 months.

when you get there you will have to go through similar process but again for 7 days probably worth it.

Also got £25.00 worth of Debenhams vouchers.

We have to pay approx £29.00 airport tax each so again think it will be worth it.

Will keep you updated with the progress.

I recently won a free holiday and went to the presentation in Greenhithe it took a total of 4 hours and they tried their hardest to get us to sign i never took up the holiday offer as it isnt a free holiday you have to pay an admin charge and the airport tax per person the rep even had a dodgy picture of her kiddy on one of these holidays (strange she wasnt in the picture) i think it is a bit of a rip off because they make it sound too good and i am still to see someone on the forum that has actually gone on the holiday.

Hello folks
I've arrived here because same as you I've "won" a holiday!...
but then decided to research club la costa on the internet, pre-first-meeting.

seems to be the main business site.
But I also found which appears to be run by club la costa property owners. the like of which is time share sale, resale, and rental.

there are some interesting pages on there such as ..

"Club La Costa have a number of products and usually offer a FREE Weeks holiday to get you on their system. You would usually then get offered the Trial Membership.

When on your 1st holiday of the Trial, which usually consists of 5 holidays in total, another meeting will be arranged and then you’ll be told about the Vacation Club, which is a Points System.
The reason we believe this is done is because the 5 Holidays are a Loss Leader designed to get you to taste what they have, and at the soonest opportunity, get you to upgrade to the Vacation Club Points System. These are expensive holidays but in some resorts excellent luxury and more importantly they can now begin to make some profit which may be why you are invited to a meeting on your PRELUDE Holiday.

One of their latest Ventures is to buy Private Homes from them which is a form of Buy To Let in Europe. In our opinion better value can be obtained by doing this yourself, even though CLC guarantee you some rentals.

Another new Venture is their Yacht Club, which doesn’t fall into the Timeshare Directive in Europe, so make sure of what you are buying."

perhaps worth a look?

I have also just received one of these phone calls to say I had a won a "7 night luxery self-catering holiday" to either Spain, Turkey, Austria or the Canary Islands.

As I enter a lot of competitions I wasn't unsurprised but became sceptical when he said there was a £29.50 booking fee per person. I let him carry on and took a phone number so I could call back if there was a problem with the date I had chosen for the presentation.

I am so glad I decided to research this offer before I made the journey into London.

Nothing was mentioned to me about timeshares, nor that I had to give 4 dates, nor that I had to be employed (which only changed recently).

Anyway, I thought I would give the company a ring back on the number they gave me.....surprise surprise..."the number you have dialled has not been recognised".

Anyone that has been offered the same "free holiday", forget it and save your time and money.

HI There

I have to say that reading your comments cooled down my enthusiasm. We also have "won" the holiday and went to the presentation, after being their for two hours i told the sale rep that my child is at home and we need to leave as their promise was for two hours of my time. She said she is not sure if she can finish so soon, which really annoyed me as i pay a nanny so i am out of pocket for staying there. Anyway it was quite clear that we are not going to sign anything and finally they gave up. We got offered Ticket tokens for £70, which i think even if we forget about the promised holiday is better than nothing.
If anybody actually went to one of the "free" holidays could he/she share their experience?
What really got me was that fact that they expect me to decide whether to spend or not 3500 for 10 mins. Then on top of that you have other expenditure, like booking fee, flights etc. I normally check thins on the Internet and found that for less money you can go to the places they offer, whenever you actually want!

Well, all I can say, is, wish me luck, we won a free holiady last year and decided to go for it. We have had comfirmation, got our flight times, room booking, and leaving on 28th April.
Will let you know what happened when we get back.

Hello All,

We just came from our 3 hrs presentation in Bristol. It was a total dissappointment. At the moment I am writing a complaint letter to the company. We were asked to decide whether to buy their product there and then. My husband and I like to take our time when making financial decisions. So we went with our gut feelings and said NO. All the fun started afterwards! The sales people get very angry and rude. I actually felt being bullied. I will let you know if I receive an answer.

So this is our experience of this company.

Hi all,
what an interesting forum!
We attended a Club la Costa presentation at Haydock a week ago, filled in the questionaire (reluctantly) and were ushered into a large room by a young chap who carefully sat us with our backs to the rest of the room. He was a relatively new salesman (and not terribly good) and kept calling over the senior sales people to endorse what he was saying, all very jovial and expertly picking up on personal details.
My husband is self employed and was seriously ill last year so our 'safety net' isn't as large as it normally is, he's also rather more cautious about long term commitments than he would have been 12 months ago; besides the fact we have a policy of not committing to anything without time to peruse any agreements, small print, red tape etc.
Everything was very friendly and cheerful during the presentation (although I could've taken exception to a couple of comments made by the young salesman) until we decided we were unhappy about committing to a 3 year contract. The young man got quite brusque and pointed to the figure we'd previously agreed we could afford weekly saying words to the effect of 'you lied to us then when you said you could afford this' implying we'd been wasting his time. At this point I stood up and said he'd gone far enough, he hastily led us out of the nearest exit. I had to pay a comfort visit before we left the building as we had an hours' drive home, as we left one of the senior sales people came out and asked us to wait so he could get our vouchers (we'd left without them), we reluctantly went back into the building where the young man was talking to the chap who appeared to be the regional manager who was talking really loudly about sickness benefits, queried my husbands' income and mentioned seeing proof of income - at this point I saw red, we'd been called liars twice in less than 15 minutes! I said as much as we walked out of the building with the area manager yelling after us 'what in 15 minutes madam?'.
Consequently we sat through a 3 hour presentation and came away with absolutely nothing!

I do wonder though at the quality of package holidays offered for the price given - surely the equivalent of allocation on arrival? And await with interest reports from the people on this forum who have booked.

The irony is, we could have paid the initial 'Introductory' package in full if asked - and given the time to peruse the contract. As it was we'd have refused anyway because they require an instant decision (rings warning bells straight away) and don't allow thinking time.
sorry it's a long first post but forewarned etc!

My wife and I went to a Presentation last night in Leeds and had a very similar experience so those mentioned previously.

* Hard sell techniques
* We were very welcome until we said no
* Sales talks lasted 3 hours not 2
* The "free holiday" is perhaps 3 star accommodation but they had no details to show us

Something to note for future "winners"........

I spoke to the local trading standards office before we went and was advised to NOT sign anything at these presentations as you "DO NOT HAVE ANY COOLING OFF PERIOD". Therefore, once you sign up you are stuck with it!

We left with our M & S Vouchers for £25 and a small leaflet about the "free holiday" which tells you nothing of any note and I cannot find the website mentioned to access more information - surprise, surprise.

Needlesss to say, we would NOT advise anyone to go to these presentations.

We went on the "free" holiday to the Costa del Sol at Easter after taking up trial membership. The resort & accommodation were first class and the staff there were extremely friendly and helpful. The downside is that you have tp attend a presentation that is supposed to last for 90 minutes but in our case, which so far as I can gather is typical, went on for 6 hours.
To be fair, you have plenty of chances to say "no" during the presentation and walk away. I was actually quite interested in what was being offered though, i.e. buying points that you can use to buy a holday each year. I signed up for "silver" membership, which meant paying in total over £12.5k, including the original trial membership, for 1000 points.
The sales rep said that we would be able to sell the points if we ever changed our minds, suggesting that they could be worth £27k in 10 years time.
Since getting home, I found out from a website called clcmembers.co.uk that points normally sell for £5 to £6 each, not the £12.50 plus that we paid, and that if you resell them you are lucky to get £1 to £2 per point.
We cancelled our membership after finding this out but are still being pestered by CLC.
So by all means enjoy the "free" holiday but whatever you do, don't sign up for anything while you are there. If you like the idea of buying points then buy them second-hand and save yourself a lot of cash and a lot of aggravation.

Hello again.....finally back after our "free" holiday in the Costa Del Sol. We did our courtesy tour with them, which took 5 and a half hours, but we eventually worked out that the trial membership is worth taking, if you can do it, you get 6 weeks holiday in 3 years, and if 6 of you go, it doesnt work out too much, you can have a holiday for 6 people abroad for about £1,000. We did have the first presentation last year, and when we decided we couldnt really afford it, they weren't horrible to us at all, they fully understood our situation. This time, we decided we would go ahead with the trial membership. We do get a COOLING OFF PERIOD, its 2 weeks. We will see what happens, as to where we can go or not in the 3 years. If it doesnt suit us, then after 3 years we will not carry on. While we were in Spain, we spoke to a few people who already had memberships, and they are all quite happy with what they are getting, so if you do go on the free holiday, do some of your own research, and dont be afraid to ask a few people, because most of the people there are either waiting for their courtesy presentations, or are already members.

Hi, new memebr and interested that kornbaby has just signed up for trial package, which we also have. I would liek to hear what the Trial Package consists of as we have become unsure due to some forum entries. What is your understanding kornbaby?