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fifi25
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25-08-2007 01:19 PM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| sadly I found this site too late and have bought VIP points from Buena viva in exeter. It now seems the company is not what it promised and i am very worried to say the least. we have missed the cool off period and are feeling very conned.
Does any one have any experience with this holday club- good or bad? does it work for anyone? my problem is im a teacher, so if im unable to secure holidays during school holdiays the product is totally worthless for us. we were promised we would always get a summer holday but have heard stories this is often impossible. would love to hear from you if you know anything about these people.
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jolene
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26-08-2007 03:42 AM
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Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 6
| Hi there
We went to Buena Viva promotion yesterday and it all seems too good to be true.
The number of holidays our 'rep' has taken via this was not plausible.
They have connections with Leisuretime Promotions and outside the building it said Karaz Vacation.
I think we have been duped and I will be suggesting to husband that we cancel our agreement. The 'rep' was uneasy when I said I wanted to retain our initial 'holiday offer' for attending the presentation. I eanted to retain the paperwork which she reluctantly retrieved from the bin.
What was this fantastic 'multimedia' presentation....not impressed and hope we will be OK. Will be cancelling direct debit signed with GE and hope you will be ok with yours...
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jolene
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26-08-2007 05:30 AM
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Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 6
| Hope you reach a solution and would be interested in the outcome.
jo
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fifi25
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26-08-2007 11:24 AM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| thanks jolene
think you should get out as quick as possible! too late for us but we will do our best to fight our case.
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jolene
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27-08-2007 07:32 PM
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Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 6
| Although we have not passed the 'cool off' period I am really angry with these people. I can now see why they suggested we take a 'special offer' of camcorder instead of tesco Vouchers. I doubt we will get anything but that is really immaterial. I DO hope you get some solution.......have you cancelled your DD with GE? We found some paperwork missing when we got home...we are too trusting. There was no copy of what we supposedly purchased other than 60 points which means absolutely nothing and would look stupid in front of a solicitor.
We cannot believe we were so gullible!!
I have found out quite a lot about them ie Company Name, Reg Office etc so will be reporting to OFT etc
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majorian
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10-09-2007 01:11 PM
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Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Posts: 3
| Hi All.
My wife and I joined Leisuretime promotion back in October of 2006 and what a nightmare we have had since then.
Virtually nothing that we were told has come to fruition and we are now left in financial difficulties.
In my opinion, do not join anything to do with VIP or any of the other companies mentioned in this thread.
I can't say to much about my situation as we are currently taking legal advice.
If anyone else is taking or thinking of taking legal advice, perhaps we could share information.
jolene's post say's that she has found out quite a lot about them ie Company Name, Reg Office, I tried to do the same as I have to write to Leisuretime Promotions registered office but I was unable to find any info.
I would be most grateful and it would be of great help if if you could share that info with me jolene or tell me how you managed to find it.
I'm not to sure how we go about contacting one another of of the forum? Could someone help?
Doe's anyone here have Skype?
If this post prevents anyone from joining any of these outfits, then at least something good will have come out of my situation.
Good Luck.
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fifi25
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12-09-2007 04:00 PM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| Hi majorian
Have you managed to holiday with them at all?
and did you go on the free holiday offered by the VIP club as a welcome week for joining? we have one lined up, but dont want to take it if it could affect our possible legal claims later on.
good luck with your case.
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majorian
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12-09-2007 04:53 PM
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Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Posts: 3
| Hi fifi25.
Thanks for your reply.
My wife and I took up the option of the free week back in November 2006 and to be fair it was as promised.
Having said that, a rep did try to get us to upgrade to another package. We declined.
As to whether this would effect any legal claim I couldn't say. I guess it would depend on what you were claiming.
In my case, my disillusionment is with the financial side.
Something else you should be aware of is that if maintenance fees are not paid, you can't sell your points package.
I was told that I should wait 2 years before trying to sell, but if I could, I would sell it tomorrow, however because I can't afford to pay the maintenance fees I can't sell it anyway.
Another word of warning. The financial package I was promised never came to fruition. Not any of it. And now I'm supposed to find £450.00 per month to pay the credit card that the package was originally bought via.
I took this package via Leisuretime Promotions but I'm pretty sure that whatever they call themselves they are probably all one in the same at some point.
As to my claim, I are pretty much at a dead end at the moment. I'm advised that I can't claim legal aid as this is a leisure product. I'm also advised to write to the company who sold me this package stating my complaints but to make sure that I am writing to there head office. Unfortunately, I cannot trace this company at all. Hence my last post to jolene.
I hope this helps in some way.
Sorry to winge on but it's good to have someone else to discuss this with besides my long suffering wife.
Thanks again for your reply and please don't hesitate to ask any questions you think fit.
Ian.
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fifi25
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12-09-2007 05:28 PM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| Hi Ian
we havent had any problems YET, but we only signed up in july and i came across this site too late to cancel.
we were promised £100 per month from Buena viva when we start paying off GE money next year. Is this the promise they didnt fulfill?
we spoke to a soliciter who deals with a lot of these cases and said if we could prove we were misrepresented when we bought we would have a very good case. i have a feeling we were told a complete pack of lies, thus being misrepresented. my worry is we wont get any holidays during school hols. im a teacher, so if this is the case, surely they should have not promised we could!!
have your maintenance fees gone up? he also said this could help your case if you were not told about this at the time.
we were told we would sell the points no problem after 2 years. i have tried to put them on the for sale website, but several weeks on they have not appeared on the for sale part of their web page. we were also tole it was an 'investment'!!! not much hope of selling them though by the looks of it!
we went in for a long shot to try and cancel, and it happened to be a presentation day. Funnily enough, as soon as they spotted our VIP folder, ,they whisked us away upstairs out of sight of unsuspecting buyers. the man said again we would sell them easily after 2 years, more lies i am sure. cant believe they can sit there and out right lie to us!!!
keep in touch with any developments please
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fifi25
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12-09-2007 05:28 PM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| Hi Ian
we havent had any problems YET, but we only signed up in july and i came across this site too late to cancel.
we were promised £100 per month from Buena viva when we start paying off GE money next year. Is this the promise they didnt fulfill?
we spoke to a soliciter who deals with a lot of these cases and said if we could prove we were misrepresented when we bought we would have a very good case. i have a feeling we were told a complete pack of lies, thus being misrepresented. my worry is we wont get any holidays during school hols. im a teacher, so if this is the case, surely they should have not promised we could!!
have your maintenance fees gone up? he also said this could help your case if you were not told about this at the time.
we were told we would sell the points no problem after 2 years. i have tried to put them on the for sale website, but several weeks on they have not appeared on the for sale part of their web page. we were also tole it was an 'investment'!!! not much hope of selling them though by the looks of it!
we went in for a long shot to try and cancel, and it happened to be a presentation day. Funnily enough, as soon as they spotted our VIP folder, ,they whisked us away upstairs out of sight of unsuspecting buyers. the man said again we would sell them easily after 2 years, more lies i am sure. cant believe they can sit there and out right lie to us!!!
keep in touch with any developments please
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majorian
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12-09-2007 07:35 PM
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Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Posts: 3
| Hi fifi25.
We haven't tried to book any holidays so I can't say whether we would have got what we wanted or not and I'm fairly sure that our fees have not increased over and above what we were told.
I can understand your concerns where you're in a situation where you have to your holidays during school holiday times.
I'm not sure who GE are. In my case the original payment for the whole of the points package (apx £9,500.00) was covered by a credit card issued by Clydesdale Bank at 0% interest, no payments made for the first 6 months and that before the 6 months were up we would be contacted by a company called HMC and provided with a loan (subject to status) for £10,00.00 to be paid over 10 years at 11.9% which meant a payment of £132.00 per month of which £100.00 per month would be paid by Leisuretime Promotions, leaving us with a payment of £32.00 per month.
We were expressly told that we need not do anything and that we would be contacted by HMC within the 6 month period and the loan arranged, no questions asked. (and I have all this in writing). Unfortunately we more or less forgot about it and it wasn't untill we received the first bill from Clydesdale for £450.00 that we realised that 6 months had gone by and that we had not been contacted by HMC.
I contacted Clydesdale Bank (in a panic) and was basically told that my dealing with Leisuretime Promotions was not there problem. I then contacted HMC who took over a week to get back to me. In the meantime I had to pay Clydesdasle £450.00 or miss a payment. At least by doing this I thought I might be buying myself a month to sort things out. When HMC did reply it was to tell me that I didn't qualify for the personal loan as I had taken out a loan in the previous 6 months and was borrowed up to my limit. However they could loan me £25,000 secured on my mortgage. I would have to pay off the outstanding loan which would leave me £3000.00, clearly not enough to pay of Clydesdale and anyway the repayments on this loan would be more than the £450.00 per month Clydesdale wanted.
OK. This is where the £100.00 bit comes in. Realising that I wasn't going to get any joy from HMC, I contacted Leisuretime Promotions and asked them that if I could get Clydesdale to agree to me just paying interest per month (£160.00) would they pay the £100.00 they had promised.
The answer was NO as this payment only applied to the original agreement with HMC. So, if you don't get the loan with (in my case) HMC, you don't get the £100.00.
So we were pretty stuck. Since that time I have found out that HMC is a part of Clydesdale Bank.
As for Clydesdale, I have no real argument with them. Thy issued the card and now they want paying. Having said that, they have not tried to help us in this situation in any way shape or form. They just want there money. Now, stupid boy that I am, I hadn't realised that Clydesdale terms and condition said that a minimum 5% payment had to be paid on any outstanding amount and this is really what's causing the problem.
If they would just agree to drop the 5% minimum and let me pay the interest (£160.00) I could probably scrape by but basically they don't want to know.
We never signed a direct debit mandate so I can't really comment on that aspect.
I know your main concern is whether you can get your holidays during summer time etc but please, if you recognise any of the above, make sure that if a company is supposed to contact you within 6 months, don't wait. Contact them and make sure you will get what you were promised.
Thanks once again for replying.
Best regards.
Ian.
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jolene
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12-09-2007 09:15 PM
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Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 6
| Hi to Marjorian and others
There are loads of names being used by this 'set up'. It is scarey when doing research to see what a tangle of names are involved.
Have you been to madtrot.com website? Very interesting site.
the trading names include...Karaz Vacation, Leisuretime Promotions, Impact promotions, Cathedral Marketing, Marina Marketing, World of Holidays
The Company name is St Francis Marketing Limited and their registered office is 1a William Street, Tiverton. Haven't paid a visit yet but plan to very shortly....
I am highly suspicious of the websites as they are very vague with little or no contact info. No addresses etc.......many of them have the same characters on video praising the scheme. the websites tell you next to nothing.
I guess I cannot give personal info via this media but hope those who read learn from everyone else.
Keep us posted
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jolene
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12-09-2007 09:19 PM
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Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 6
| More info..also linked to Castletown , and Screenbeach!!
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fifi25
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13-09-2007 08:16 AM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| Hi all
sir francis gives an exmouth address on my contract. i went to have a look and it is just a flat, with no number, or even name on the door bell. very suspicious! i too have seen the range of names they trade under, and when we went in to try and cancel, they also have posters every where for other holiday companies discussed on here eg DWVC and club costa etc. seems they are all in it together.
ian, GE is a loan company. we have a year of no payments, then start paying off for 10 years at silly amount of interest. Buena viva promised to pay £100 per month for a year, when we start paying. we have this in writing on two pieces, but as its not in the contract, am a bit worried they wont honour this!
i hope you resolved your contract in time jolene.
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fifi25
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15-12-2007 12:28 PM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| Don't know if you are still reading this site.... we have had a bill for maintenence fees, despite being promised they were paid for the first year!
needless to say we havent paid them...now are being threatened with 'legal collection department'!
have they been chasing you? not sure how worried we should be if we dont pay the maintenence fees?
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dogfish
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07-01-2008 11:47 PM
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Joined: 07 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
| i've been doing a bit of research into buena viva after being offered a 'free holiday'. Buena Viva does not exist as a registered company, it's website is registered to Anthony Shapely, as is the website for Callworks, a site identical (even down to the phone number) to Oasis Marketing, a non-existent company whose delightful representative detailed the wonderful offer. Oasis marketing's site is registered to Easysave finance, who were also behind Leisuretime promotions (on a list of dodgy timeshare companies). Also involved are Vacation International Points club - curiously also on the list of suspicious timeshare companies. incidently, ScreenBeach's website was also designed by Anthony Shapely, and this timeshare reselling service is also registered to Easysave finance.
hmmm.....
i'm glad i did a bit of googleing, because it all sounds perfectly plausible and reasonable on the phone. they shouldn't have claimed to have been registered with ABTA, cos that was just too easy to check...
they've annoyed me now ;o)
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dogfish
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07-01-2008 11:53 PM
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Joined: 07 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
| in addition...
forgot to say, Easysave finance went into liquidation in March 2007...
the phone number on the Buena Viva site is the same as the phone number for Easysave finance, and they curiously have the same address at Brendon House, Sigford Road, Marsh Barton, Exeter EX2 8NL...
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mandy1271
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09-01-2008 04:47 PM
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Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 34
My Profile
| Hi everyone
I have been reading all of your comments and found it left a lump in my throat. Are all of you from the Devon area? we to have been a victum of Vip, Buena viva or whatever they want to call themselves We payed £11795 for 80 points told we could go anywhere in the world whenever we liked all for the price of a flight. How wrong we were to have listened to these people. We to have had £100 put into our bank we joined in Feb 07 so up to now havnt started paying due to start in Feb but from then till now the repayments with GE have gone up 3 times was wondering wether to stop the DD any advice on that?
We took the free holiday (not so free as it turned out) at the Grangefield Oasis Club Malaga, 5 star my A** sorry we were also pestered to buy further which would have cost £7000 she did show us an appartment that was a show appartment nothing like the one we were in. Can we all keep in touch Devon Trading Standards are looking into mine dont know wherem it will get us but just to get it off your chest helps a bit.
Mandy
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fifi25
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10-01-2008 07:42 AM
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Joined: 25 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
My Profile
| Hi Mandy
have you used your points yet? we too were promised 100 per month from buena viva, be interesting to see what happens!
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mandy1271
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10-01-2008 07:45 AM
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Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 34
My Profile
| Hi
i have made sure that i banked last years points but no havnt used them yet and anyway when i have tried to contact exeter only get an answer machine.
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