Lion Resorts holiday club

by **Jilly1** on Fri May 23, 2008 17:55 pm

I realize that very few people would be looking at Lion resorts on Holiday Watchdog unless they were about to buy into a holiday membership, were considering doing so, or had had a bad experience with the company.

I recently submitted a hotel review (The Conrad) on trip advisor and advised potential guests that they would possibly be invited to a Lion Resorts tour, and advised them to check out this websbite to view our experiences before embarking on the tour.

Maybe by linking into other reference sites, we can help and better inform and empower other potential clients before they sign on the dotted line. So please write a holiday/hotel review and add this information.

My take on this is that you can get fantastic deals on-line through websites such as sunshine.co.uk and sunmasters.

If anyone knows of any sunny resorts/villas catering for extended families of 12+ at reasonable prices keep me informed.

p.s. on a personal note I'm now sat outside in the gorgeous sunshine at 7pm on friday evening in Plymouth UK with my 3 + 3/4 beautiful cats (one has lost a leg - in case you were wondering) and a glass of wine and think we should consider global warming, save our money and stay at home.

xxx

by **monty1946** on Tue May 27, 2008 08:44 am

I have a similar story to tell with onew big difference I withdrew and confirmed this by fax and phone o0nly to find the money taken from my visa account anyway. Whilst in the toilet my wife saw my car go into a notebook with a sheet of carbon paper and br rubbed with the edge of a credit card. In the hands of visa at present but I believe they have copied my signature and cloned my card.
TP

by **brunodj** on Wed May 28, 2008 11:58 am

We have just got back from the conrad in sharm, we also went on the holiday membership hotel tour, however we went with no intention of signing up, just for the �50 cash back.

Remember thier opening line (we can save you between 50 to 70 percent. there is no such thing as a free holiday the membership price is based on where you would ***** to go for your free holiday, thats why you don't get a price until they know where your first destination will be, so basically that membership price is an expensive holiday you are purchasing.

they ask you how much was you last hols was etc, write that amount down, then they write what they can do it for etc at this stage all looks good, but when you get the membership fee and add that they saved me 400 quid and those prices were not guaranteed.

Lion Resorts do not have an airline, they use the likes of first choice for the flights only, this is why you get the so called vip transfer.

Remember the golden rule, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Good luck to all of you trying to get a refund

by **kim konnoris** on Wed May 28, 2008 19:02 pm

hi, i had a call from a manager of lion resorts about 6 weeks ago, asking when i would be paying my membership fee. i told them in no uncertain terms that i will not be giving them a penny, as they had lied about not being a time share company etc. I told them that i was more than willing to go to court. i haven't heard anything since.

by **woodies** on Thu May 29, 2008 14:48 pm

Further to monty1946 this was the only time in my life that I let my card out of my sight, paying the deposit to Lion resorts. 2 weeks after our return Alliance and Leicester blocked our cards because someone had tried to take money from our account. LSIUsenet. So for all those who are thinking of doing something like this DO NOT let your card out of your sight. I know I was stupid fortunately A & L were on the ball and stopped them emptying my account.

by **stokeland** on Thu May 29, 2008 18:32 pm

hi there
i joined this forum recently and have just read all replies, and am now rather concerned!!! my partener and i were approached by holiday rep at our hotel in sharm el sheik last august. like a lot of others we were taken in and signed up and was taken for a meal at the hard rock cafe. i paid deposit of �1000.00 and have been paying the balance of �3000.00 each month since december with two months left to pay. i have my *free* holiday booked for august this year with airport transfers organised by them, to a new five star hotel which should be finished in july. it has cost me another �1658.00 for the flights as we have three children as well. i now really worried that i have been stupid and been conned!! but as our holiday cost over �7000.00 last year thought we were getting a good deal. the only paperwork i have signed is for the free holiday and am hoping that i will not be asked to sign anything else when we get there. we also were taken to one of their hotels for the meeting and passed over to vanessa.the children were allowed to use the pool which was just as well asit was very hot and we were there nearly all day!!! i will keep you in formed on what happens when we go but where i normally so look forward to my holiday i get this sinking feeling in my stomach. i havent told the children as they are well excited as normal about going away.

by **Newcastle1** on Mon Jun 02, 2008 22:40 pm

Im new here,and feel a little bit sick in my stomach having found this site!!

Just came back from Paphos on saturday 31/05/08,having went 17/05/08.We bumped into the scratch card guy on our very first outing from the hotel on the sunday.The scratch card lad was english and told us he was on a gap year,and being english we thought we could trust him.We were somewhat suprised to find we had won first prize (money,hol,camcorder ect) if we could just go to his office to collect it.We initially said "no,were busy/new/tired" and he said if we did he would get a 60 euro bonus.We agread, as everyone has to make a living,convinced it was only going to take 15 minutes.He explained in order to get his bonus we would have to listen to a "short 90 minutes presentation,NOT, he added ON TIMESHARES".
Anyway,after a full 4 hours,we signed up for the Lion Gold Experiance,weighed over �3,495.00,and thought we had a good deal,FOR 2 WEEKS HOLS THOUGH (Ive noticed a lot of people are quoting one week??).
We were told that all our documentation was in the envelope thay gave us when we left,and if there was any questions call them,or when in the UK we could call their head office in the UK.
Following day we had a look thru "pack" and found that bits were missing,eg cancellation documentation (sets alarm bells ringing straight away) as well as the RCI booklet.They also hadnt been able to demonstrate the RCI prices online as site was down,and it was getting quite late on the sunday afternoon (they were clearing chairs/desks up around us in order to close office)
Not being too happy about some hand written notes and lack of documets we decided to cancel..........................only to find there was no cancelation period?????????????? according to the girl who answered the call..........who was same "independent" lady who witnessed the documentation.
We called our credit card company,explained and were told that sounded odd,could we check it out with lion to confirm lack of cancelation rights.We called Lion,and were told to refer to our pack which told us these things........except the pack didnt,as most of it wasnt put in,and what was was mostly just handwritted stuff.

BLUEEYE HAVE YOU A COPY OF THIS DOC PLEASE?? IF SO COULD YOU CONFIRM ITS EXISTANCE AND TERMS?

Back to the story (srry its long) Determined not to have hols spoilt (2 kids aged 12 and 9) we found ourselves in Polis,where Lion have another of their hotels,we popped in and met two very nice older ladies who said they were there with lion,for their second trip,and it was the bees knees (their words not mine) feeling happier we forgot the credit card company fraud team,returned to Lion site,picked up RCI books and looked at Internet site,and again left happy.................until I came here that is.

I decided to look into this further as my credit card bill came in today,and instead of the �3,495.00 STERLING,i was told i would pay ive actually been billed about �40.00 more (not a great deal more,but still my money,and more!!) Ive emailed the sales manager:
MICHAEL HALLINAN ....mikehallinan@lionresorts.com (if thats any good to anyone??) asking for a refund of said over charges (not down to my card company charging me im told by card company) and await his reply.

However if theres a cancelation period,im cancelling after reading this stuff.

by **Lion Resorts** on Tue Jun 03, 2008 13:49 pm

Dear Newcastle1

When ever we take credit card payments we have to take payment in the currency of the country your in at the time which was Cyprus, due to fluctuations in exchanges rates between the Bank of Cyprus and the Bank of England there occassionally can be a difference in what is debited off your card, I do believe this matter was resolved for you as soon as you contacted ourselves.
We look forward to seeing you when you return to our resort.

by **Newcastle1** on Tue Jun 03, 2008 14:52 pm

Hello Lion Resorts.

Yes, you have indeed rectified my overpayment on my credit card and thank you for the swift action youve taken to sort this issue.

Finding you replying on this forum though has unsettled me even more though, as you obviousley are aware of the forum,and the concerns/alledged practises of lion Resorts,raised on it.If I may ask a couple of questions on this forum they would be:

1) without going into anybodies individual case history,what is Lion Resorts stance on these issues?

2) someone has claimed that there is a cooling off period (something my credit card company also states) is this the case?

I would think Lion Resorts (as they are aware of this forum) could be doing something in the form of positive publicity here?
Thank You

by **sweetthing68** on Thu Jun 05, 2008 17:05 pm

this is very disturbing reading.i was actually checking up on another company who had rang my partner saying he had won i holiday in tenerife!! to my shock i have now realised that the (holiday club) we paid a �200 deposit on last september is a scam .we too were on our holiday in cyprus it was our last day and we got the scratch card con.we said we could not pay the full amount and that we also could not pay for it by this september so they extended the payment until september 2009.they will not be getting any more money from us. we really did think it was for real and did not think for one moment that we had been scammed how wrong we have been!!
i will be writing to lion resorts and seeking legal advice too.