Club La Costa

[Fred 2]

There really ain't no point in being rude about people - other than the fake sellers and resellers.

[kinL]

We joined as GOLD members with 2500 points, this cost £23000, but everytime we went for a holiday they seemed to yet again have another breaksfast meeting. Then after another holiday we became DIAMOND members with 4000 points this cost us £36.000 and we remortage our house

Mand, this is horrifying! What on earth did they say to you to get you to part with this amount of money? And to remortgage your house!!! Now add your maintenance fees at over £2000 per year... I'm speechless.

CLC may have nice resorts and as I've said before, for certain people the scheme may work, but it has to be a small minority.

People are signing up to these deals without having the chance fully consider the financial proposition, people are being conned by this "must have a decision" ploy time and time again and all the time it continues to work, they will keep using it.

I need to say this loudly... DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT SIGN UP AT THE PRESENTATION! This is unscrupulous sales practice, the only reason they use it is because they know if they let you go, you will work the numbers and see that it is not the deal they say it is.

The only way this practice will stop is if the punters, that is you and me, vote with our feet, EVERY TIME. If enough people take this approach, CLC's sales fall and they will have to revise their approach.

Demand paperwork that properly demonstrates their proposition. Demand time to consider their plan. Demand time to review and ask questions after the presentation. Demand independant verification of their claims on availability, maintenance fee increases, resale values. Demand a proper explanation of your right to cancel.

If they won't meet these demands, ditch them, no matter how good the free holiday sounds.

My opinion? I work extremely hard for my money, I expect people to work equally hard if they want to take it from me. We are making it all to easy for them.

kinL.

[jimmypunter]

I'm not trying to be deliberately rude. I'm merely expressing my opinion and I am being quite direct in my inputs here.

I recall the Spanish houses and the land situation. Surely, surely, any UK based solicitor acting with a Spanish firm or not, would have been able to do some sort of land search to find out the truth of the matter regarding the true ownership of the land?

The bottom line with CLC is DON'T SIGN UP AT THE PRESENTATION if you have any doubts at all.

It's like going to the second hand car dealer and being prepared to buy one of his cars but he says you will have to buy it right now without testing it - end of story. You will want to take it on a test drive, get it checked over by the AA/RAC or a mechanic. If the trader refuses, YOU WALK AWAY.

It's like CLC - you like the sound of it but you have to sign up right there and then without being able to go into all the nitty gritty or speaking to other CLC "owners". That is the same as the car trader, YOU WALK AWAY.

When you buy a house in the UK or abroad you view it, have a good look around, return to it at different times of the day and night, you do your homework and then you get a professional to check it out for you. If he comes back and says it's in poor nick or falling down, or earmarked for being in the path of the new motorway - YOU WALK AWAY.

CLC was not for me and my family. I was polite to the rep but I WALKED AWAY.

I really feel for those who have been trapped. I also read the stories from satisfied CLC customers.

As far as I can see, the only way you can buy into CLC is by going to their presentation (unless someone knows otherwise) and signing the dotted line on the spot.

At the presentation I got, I asked the rep for his paperwork so that we could take it overnight and go into it. He refused and said we had to sign there and then. I WALKED AWAY.

I repeat that my experience of CLC was a good experience but I didn't sign up with them.

I did go to the Outdoor Show last weekend at the SECC in Glasgow and I filled out every "win a free holiday" slip that was there in the hope that CLC get back in touch so that we can get that week in their luxury apartment again.

Some of the entries were for UK based "park homes" or caravan parks. If they get back to me with a free getaway and all I have to do is hear their presentation, then I'll go for that as well.

Interestingly, the SECC was jammed packed with visitors. One salesman for a caravan park in Dumfries told me he had never seen anything like it in that lots of folk were enquiring about UK based holidays and requesting brochures.

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board bloke was amazed and was fast running out of literature.

I have been to this show every year since 2001 and it's the busiest I have ever seen it

Maybe CLC will take note and, if required, will adjust their policies.

I am not being rude as I say. I am not a rude bloke but I really think that some folk in this blog over the years have signed up to CLC without really knowing what they were doing. That happens in life but it certainly won't happen to me!

[jimmypunter]

Willself is quite lucky in that he managed to find £345 in 1967 to buy a place abroad. My own family never even went abroad for holidays until the late 1970's and into the 80's let alone think of buying a place in 1967. They simply weren't in that league and had no spare cash to buy up property. People in Anderston in Glasgow in the 60's just didn't do that!

Good on you Willself for getting a good investment back in the 60's but that amount of £345 was a lot of cash then.

I recall my Dad buying his first car in 1966. It was a 4 yr old Renault Dauphin and it cost him £25 (twenty five pounds). This was a good, modern and decent car of its day and not an old heap of rust so that puts the £345 into perspective.

My Mum was a nurse back in 1970 and her take home pay was just over £5 (five pounds) a week so again that put the £345 into perspective.

There aren't all that many around in 2009 who could afford £345,000 to buy a second home abroad unless they were selling their own UK home and "cashing in" on equity.

If you can do it - buy your own but you need to get advisors and proper help from properly qualified, and possibly recommended, people. If you are spending over a quarter of a million common sense says GET ADVICE. Even spending much less - GET ADVICE. Don't get ripped off by some greasy spiv looking to take all your money from you. I don't really think that you would need 17 advisors, though. I've never heard of anyone saying to a car salesman that they need to try out the car on a "test basis" before making a final decision although some Vauxhall dealers recently allowed just that. Take the car for 5 days, put your fuel in, make sure you are insured and run about in it for that period - make your decision.

I've never heard of a property deal where the prospective purchaser asks to live in the place for a few weeks and all as part of the deal. Certainly if it's a deal between people that know each other then that may well be a possibility.

As I say CLC is just not for me for a few reasons - it doesn't suit my lifestyle and I don't sign up to anyhting on the spur of the moment but I'll certainly take a "freebie" from them albeit that it costs a few hundred pounds to go to the "freebie".

[kinL]

Willself / jimmypunter, with respect I think you're getting off the point here.

Fundamentally people need to be warned of CLC's sales tactics and that their practise of demanding an immediate decision post presentation is not ethical.

If you really analyse their sales methods you will see that they employ a very basic (although poorly delivered) NLP model. The sales patter is littered with suggestive predicates, information is delivered in quick tempo and the whole selling environment is designed to confuse and deliberately disrupt any thought patterns. Did you notice the loudness of the music (Motown in our case) playing in the sales room? A classic ploy that aims to destroy your concentration. How warm was the room? Another classic designed to bring on fatigue.

The more they can confuse you, especially when it comes to their representation of the financial aspects of the scheme, the more likely they are to get you to that "Yes" decision. And by the way, this is not my opinion, it is a long established, proven, albeit controversial sales methodology backed up by hundreds of industry studies.

The moment you enter that sales arena, you must be prepared for "psychological warfare" ... and they don't take prisoners.

In my experience, any company that I have ever come into contact with (and believe me that runs into thousands) that employed a dubious sale method were selling an equally dubious product.

What is worse with CLC is that they getting away with demanding that immediate decision without providing any information to substantiate their product claims. If you do say "Yes", the pack you will get on signing will not contain any of the salesmans notes made during the presentation. Why? Because if they did, you would have the evidence to prove malpractice or misselling if (and when) you change your mind.

If you do decide to say "Yes", make it a condition of the sale that you get a photocopy of these notes, signed and dated by the salesperson or better still, their manager. Ask them this and I'd be willing to bet they would be showing you the door rather than where to sign!

Once again, I am not knocking the product, just the way it is being sold to the unsuspecting public. For the right people, under the right circumstances, the scheme may work. I don't doubt the quality of the resorts, they wouldn't last long if they were misrepresenting these aspects. I have serious doubts about the financial aspects, the availability and choice of resorts and the resaleability claims that they make.

Beware, don't be fooled, read these posts, attend a presentation armed with this knowledge and get your "free" holiday. But DON'T sign up immediately, tell them you will consider their plan and make up your mind on your terms, not theirs. If they don't like it, they are just underlining everything I say here and telling you to walk away themselves. If you still say "Yes", then don't blame CLC or anyone else if you suffer any financial consequences.

kinL.

[Fred 2]

There is never going to be agreement on CLC. I don't think that it stacks up financially unless you are able to make the fullest possible use of it - and for a long time - and don't have to rely on loan finance.

Anyone who buys in should be aware that they are never going to be able to resell for more than a few percent of what they paid - so if you aren't going to stay in, don't go in.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 have a fair bit to say about undue pressure at presentations, incomplete or deliberately unclear information and fake "today only opportunities".

For example - "A commercial practice is unfair if it materially distorts or is likely to materially distort the economic behaviour of the average consumer with regard to the product" i.e. it is an offence to tell not merely lies, but half-truths, exaggerations. It is an offence to do anything which applies pressure with a view to distorting the customer's view of the product.

www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20081277_en_1

[FullMonty]

The figure you quote may be true. Companies love timeshare of course because it means cash flow. And few people know how much comes in and how much is spent on maintenance. So basically it is a cash cow. An apartment with maintenance of £300.00 x 50 weeks = £15,000 in fees. EACH YEAR!!!Little wonder they pay high commissions!

The second point is that the "scam" companies, working an ownership list and variants on "We have sold your timeshare for x pounds" or "We can get your scammed money back" would not work if most people were entirely happy with their timeshare.

So what you in fact have is 4 million timeshare owners many of whom would love to get rid it and some of whom are so anxious to get rid they fall for this sort of scam.

If this includes holiday points clubs then the figure I would suggest is even worse. Take a look at some of the message boards as some people find they cannot sell their ownership and they are stuck with it in perpetuity.

The rules of timeshare sales are much different in the USA where the vast numbers of timeshare owners live so the chances are that the companies there appear to be slightly more honest, and thus people are slightly happier with their purchase.

If it is such a good deal - why don't the companies that sold it ever buy it back?

[FullMonty]

Of course not - but you could sell it for cash. Sure it would have dropped in value. When you buy a time share it becomes worthless the moment you have bought it. (Except for holidays!) This is why the salespeople say "Look upon the purchase as an investment in future holidays". But the money you pay is spent upon commissions not on your timeshare, which is just a tiny part of the purchase.

I put a deposit on a house in Spain for not much more than the price of a timeshare at the time. All the money went into the cost of the house. It is worth a lot more than I purchased it for and that's despite the huge property price fall in Spain. I have holidays, I've swapped it and I have rented it out. My kids are looking forward to having it when anything happens to me, not wondering as many do on how they can possibly get rid of it.

I ask the same question of all Timeshare fans. If it is such a good deal why isn't it advertised in the normal way and why do people need to be enticed to the table of a saleperson - and why can't you go on your own and not need a partner?

[timesup]

In my opinion Club la Costa is the most unprofessional, unorganised and deceitful company I have ever worked for. I was working for them for only a few weeks but it was still enough time to see how they operated.


I was employed as one those annoying people who went around and asked you those 'holiday questions' with the potential to win a 'free' holiday. Firstly I would just like to apologise to each and everyone of you as I know some of you who answered those questions were being properly informed of the actual intentions of the company. To me this is wrong, I know probably all of you willingly gave you're contact details which from speaking to other employees are being sent/given/sold to other marketing companies. Even if you asked to have the data protection box ticked it doesn't matter all the employees (the one's I worked with anyway) are told to just copy the details on to another blank form so as the box is left empty and your detail's can be passed on, also if an employee sends back a form with the data protection box ticked they simply don't get paid for it.


To be honest CLC as an organisation may be an honest company they might not even know that they're blatantly breaking data protection laws (I’m sure that’s what they'll claim anyway) maybe it was just how the extremely unprofessional woman who employed me operates..... I don't know. The fact remains though somewhere along the line is doing something very wrong. Once again I’m sorry that some of you were misled I deeply regret working for the company, although technically when working you generally get paid which in my case I wasn't. Deservedly so some might think but it’s a price I’d gladly pay not to be associated to a company like that anymore...

[jimmypunter]

Let's get it straight re the "freebie" holiday I went on and would go on again. IT IS NOT FREE! You pay a price. I suspect the CLC are still making on it as the flight cost is very cheap and the apartment used would otherwise be empty and you are also spending money in their shops and restaurants so they are making.

I don't want this to get into a personal war with WILLSELF or whoever.

We are a nation of "freebie hunters". Check out Martin Lewis's website (The MOneyexpert) and there's a section dedicated to freebies.

In today's climate, any freebie taken, can be taken and your pride shouldn't be hurt.

I hear what the ex CLC man said re Data Protection and all that. That is not at all on and if it is true then CLC should be ashamed of themselves.

I have to say if I was strolling down a street in sunny Spain or Crete and somebody came up to me and offered me a free look at what their company has I'd tell them straight, moreso if they asked for my details. Just think, it could get to the point where they alert a UK friend to the fact that a particular house in say, Leeds or wherever, may be empty as the occupants are oh holiday in Spain!

GET REAL you people. Who on earth would give their address to some bloke approaching you in a foreign street.

There are a lot of gullible folk out there.

It's like the blue Transit van appearing at your door and Mr Dodd and Mr Gee offering to re-roof your house or do a tarmac job with cash up front to buy the materials. People still go along with these guys and give them thousands of pounds only to see them vanish into thin air.

Similarly, those who put up their money to CLC after the presentation and signing up on the spot, need their heads looked at.