Freedom Vacation Network

[Captain Sensible]

Beepbeep / Fred 2,

Great idea to start up specific threads as it would give a collective source of info indicative of the misrepresentation being peddled by FVN / Timelinx which should (if the CC Co open their eyes) help support our claims for refunds.

The log should I think include reference to the value of the refund promised by FVN (100% of the membership fee) and the actual wording on the Reclaim Ltd "certificate" (assuming of course the Reclaim paperwork has actually been received). Speaking personally, if the refund hadn't been offered we wouldn't have joined as without it the deal is financially unviable so it is a crucial part of the fraud being perpetrated by FVN.

Captain Sensible.

[agalbe]

To take the money back from the CC companies is important, but it is much important to collect the evidences in a useful way.
The OFT, the ECC network and the Spanish Police require the complaints in an specific format. A valid format for a Judge.
If "somebody" is able to collect a considerable number of complaints in a valid format and to present them to the adequate Spanish Iinstitution, I could assure you that actions againts FVN will be taken.

Fred, you have enough experiance in this issue, in my opinion you could be the point of coordination of the complaints.

It would be not necessary to hire any Lawyer.


Ps. I think that it is also very important the place where the product was bought. FVN has different offices in different locations. These offices are also volatiles. I mean, FVN chage the localiton of their offices or open new ones.

[beepbeep]

Hi Everybody

What we are looking for is statements of breach of contract. Gross misrepresentation is usually verbal and is therefore not sufficient.

Hence what is required is specific information on broken promises against what is in the brochures, documents which failed to arrive, savings not being made against internet prices from other sources, poor quality accommodation etc etc.

Some of this is already on the "Timelinx - success with booking" thread.

Fred2 - could some of these be moved to start new threads so there are examples to follow?

[Fred 2]

What is needed is a template from somebody who has been done. Once this is in place we can ask the moderators to put it in a new thread and pin it. If that can be done we should have a string of them for everyone to use. It would be essential for the posts to be short, to the point and verifiable. It's only any use as ammunition if people agree that they will, at some point, communicate directly with each other.

[beepbeep]

I suggest the following as a start:

Title: RECLAIM - ACTUAL SUM RECEIVED AGAINST CERTIFICATE
VALUE

HOLIDAY CLUB NAME:

DATE SIGNED UP:

CERTIFICATE VALUE OR AMOUNT OF PROMISED/STATED REFUND:

DATE REDEEMED:

ACTUAL VALUE OF REFUND:

COMMENTS:

VERIFIED BY:

********************


Title: HOLIDAY CLUB DOCUMENTS NOT DELIVERED

HOLIDAY CLUB NAME:

DATE SIGNED UP:

PROMISED DELIVERY DATE OF DOCUMENTS:

ACTUAL DELIVERY DATE OF DOCUMENTS IF DELIVERED:

ACTION TAKEN IF NOT DELIVERED:

COMMENTS:

VERIFIED BY:

************************************

Title: HOLIDAY CLUB FLIGHTS NOT AVAILABLE OR NOT CHEAPER

HOLIDAY CLUB NAME:

DATES OF FLIGHTS REQUESTED:

DATES OF FLIGHTS OFFERED:

PRICES OF FLIGHTS OFFERED:

SAVINGS OR NO SAVINGS AND PRICE DIFFERENCES:

VERIFIED BY:

[beepbeep]

On a related note the TCA and OFT must have thousands of complaints on their official forms. Could they be persuaded to release some details of these complaints or verify the nature of same. Obviously complainants details could not be released because of Data Protection but there must be some way of gathering this information to support claims against CC companies.

Any suggestions?

[stez_2]

dopey2 - if you sent your cancellation letter by recorded delivery you should be able to track it. Because you were approached away from thier offices & taken there by them you may come under the "doorstop regulations" & therefore are entiled to a 7 day cooling off period I know this is so if stopped by scratchcard touts so it would be worth checking out. Also look back in the threads & contact the telephone numbers & addresses given by others who have been scammed.

[Fred 2]

Stez 2 - Dopey 2 - Bear in mind that Dopey's problem was in Portugal, not Spain and the same rules may not apply. Portugese consumer protection is at
www.consumidor.pt/ with e-mail dgc@dg.consumidor.pt
The site is solely in Portugese. It may be best approached through the UK consumer protection site at www.ukecc.net/

[Tenerife Travellers]

We are at the moment on holiday in Tenerife and have just returned from a presentation for FVN. We have been familiar with these scams and go along for the ride just to get the free spirits. 2 bottles of cheap bubbly and 10 euros. Sounds sad but on a day when you have not got much to do it's worth the crack provided you are prepared to give them a run for their money. Don't let them know you are carrying a credit card and particularly when they offer you the cashback scheme ask them for a copy of the terms and conditions, they will not do this as there aren't any! But we stuck to our story and the guy was happy for us to leave without any further pressure. Also a good idea is to tell them that you have a world cruise booked for the next couple of years and are not able to commit yourselves. They are not able to compete with this. Just remember that their are very good deals on the internet and certtainly better than anything they are attempting to offer you.

[lindy lou]

HI all. I have been keeping a close eye on this thread to see if I could offer any help. As you know I have finaly been paid back by the credit card company after 13 months of hard work and lots of help from this thread also the invaluable advice from Andy Grey at the T.C.A. Just thought I would pass on my letter to the c.c.co. On my first claim I sent copys of comparison prices of holidays aquired from web site Travel Republic they are a good one to take a print out of quotes. At that time I had not recieved my cash back voucher from F.V. on that claim I was refused on the grounds I could not prove that there was a promise of cheaper holidays as you know it is not writed in the contract, also I had no proof of the promise of a cash back voucher. it says in the contract i quote( Any cash back is with cash back international s.l. and is subject to there terms and conditions). So having never recieved the voucher I had no evidence to support the claim. Also they say you have to first make some effort to reclaim your money back from F.V . So back to our second claim wrote to F>V> recorded delivery. demanding our money back within 14 days as they had never fullfilled their promise of cheaper holidays and we after many letters and e.mails had never recieved our cash back voucher. Then we waited for a reply, then came all the phone calls, we sent e.mails telling them we would only correspond by letter or e.mail they kept ringing the answerphone was on for two weeks, but then nothing. So back to our second attempt with our c.c.co. You have also if you look back on my past thread to copy from the f.v. brochure their promise of big savings on holidays its there just look you will find it if you were given it at the time of joining.Our second claim was as follows its quite long but it may help. With referece to you last letter we took on board your comments with regards to making a claim against the supplier (Freedom Vacations Network) for breach of contract and misrepresentation, and as you suggested, have enclosed the necessary documents you require. Since we were advised not to comunicate with freedom vacations by telephone, our repeated requests to correspond by letter or e.mail has been totaly ignored. We also understand that on the 31st of october 2007 a ruling was made in the house of lords making credit card companies and banks jointly liable for holiday clubs and timeshare frauds where people are defrauded and misled into signing a holiday agreement whilst abroad. We have also been advised that as our introduction came as a result of an illegal scratch-card scam freedom vacations were in breach of the Doorstep Regulations Act. We have taken advice from the office of fair trading C.A.B Trading standards the Timeshare Consumer Association all of which have advised us to continue our claim under section 75 alleging gross misrepresentation and to claw back all monies paid. You will find the enclosed documented evidence you requested is in the photo copy of the brochure given to us at the time of joining (offering the big savings we would be making for ourselves and our family) we have alreasy submitted examples to the conrrary in our last correspondence. Since putting in our last claim- as you pointed out- we had no proof of the cash back offer- we have AT LAST recieved our "cash back" voucher (copy enclosed) compounded by the verbal promise made by their representative guaranteeing our money back in five years. We now know that this was i lie - as you can see by the date on the voucher 6.11.2007 makes this nearly six years. Also it states in their contract that we would recieve the voucher SIXTY days after activation of membership. Our date of activation wad 15.2.2007. We finaly recieved it on the 3.11.2007 (well past sity days) which breaches their contract. Once again we wish to re-iterate that had we been privy to these terms and conditions at the time of joining ther is no way we would have signed up to the scheme. We also include references to widespread examples of freedom vacations /Timelinxs/Globeal destination D.W.V. Networks fraudulent dealings including press releases from "Which" "Office of Fair Trading" "Watchdog" and BBC news. We belive we have now orovided the information you requested in your letter and therefore again request a full refund of monies paid. Thats it sorry it was so long but there it is I do hope it will be of some help if you want any more help I will keep watching and hoping that we all get some satisfaction. Good Luck