Trade Weeks / Tradeweeks

by **The Monk** on Fri Nov 07, 2008 15:53 pm

Hi, like some of the other contributors, I received an unsolicited telephone call asking me to put my timeshare week on their register.

Today I received a letter indicating that unless I 'phoned an international number of their agent The marketing partnership group asking to be taken off the register I would be contacted within the next few days.

I took time to check this lot out on the web, and like everyone else who did so found that the whole thing was likely to be a scam.

Rather than 'phone the number given, 00 34 952 466 252 I wrote recorded delivery to the address of Tradeweeks.co.uk given on their website requesting that I be removed from their records. I should already have been suspicious as their letterhead did not contain any address details.

The Post office counters confirmed that the post code given on the website referred to a company of the name "Appee on Line Shop" so the whole outfit would appear to be a "shell"

Hopefully I will not be troubled further in this matter!

The Monk, Bonnyrigg, Scotland

by **aramis** on Tue Nov 18, 2008 00:06 am

I've just seen an advert for Tradeweeks.co.uk on Sky TV. They offer to sell your timeshare without any upfront fees or registration fees.
Their website shows a Bristol address :-
Trade Weeks
Centre Gate
Colston Avenue
Bristol
BS1 4TR

....but the phone number shown, +34 952 466 252 has the prefix code 34, which is Spain. There is also a trade contact phone number, also with a 34 prefix, so also Spain. I wonder if Sky TV are aware of what's going on?

by **girlfromcardiff** on Mon Dec 01, 2008 20:59 pm

Hi
We have been called today by a company called the Direct Marketing Partnership. Their telephone number is 0800 883 0696.
They say that they can sell our timeshares in Tenerife & Malaga to their clients who are corporate buyers such as Thompson, and who can easily afford to pay the annual management fees for good quality accommodation, when they sell their package holidays.

They say that they do not require any money at all from us, now or in the future, but my husband and I will need to go to their offices in Bristol to meet with them and show them identification and the timeshare certificates as proof of ownership, and proof that the management fees are paid up to date, and they will be able to give us a reasonable offer straight away. They say that the reason for the meeting is to confirm ownership, (apparently they need to see but will not copy the membership certificates) as they have had people trying to sell timeshares that don't belong to them.

Has anyone done this? Is there some kind of scam involved here? What is is? There is no way that I would pay anyone anything when I am the one with the goods to sell, but I am concerned about this, especially as there seems to be a massive increase in the number of scams relating to timeshare sales.

If anyone has any experience of this company, please let me know. Otherwise, can you let me know of any companies who have been reputable?

Thanks

by **Fred 2** on Mon Dec 01, 2008 21:54 pm

The phone number is that for Incentive Leisure Group
Look at www.il-group.co.uk/about/

In a nutshell - you are being asked to go to a hard sell presentation under false pretences.

It goes like this "Your timeshare is worth very little, but we can give you a silly price for it if you buy into our holiday club (for about 7k) and you will get a Cashback certificate for, say, 11k which pays out in three years. This will pay up to 100%." So you pay them 7k - and you wait.

The cashback certificate is extremely unlikely to pay out more than 10% of face value, even if you manage to fulfil all the conditions required to make a valid claim, which is itself extremely unlikely. If you don't, you get nothing at all, leaving you 7k and a timeshare out of pocket.

by **Cunim** on Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:10 am

We have been approached by Secure Leisure this morning and am now waiting for their next call when presumably they will want my credit card details for the normal scam path to their riches and our poverty. I will play them along just to waste their time.

by **Cunim** on Tue Dec 02, 2008 12:16 pm

Well we had the phone call from Secure Leisure, this time saying they had a buyer and asking for €1300 via credit card. We suggested that we would deposit the money with a European Solicitor/Notaire. They said that they only operated on a very small commission and they would have to lose that if they used a solicitor or notaire. Poor dears!! Anyway we came to the parting of the ways. Ho Hum.

by **girlfromcardiff** on Tue Dec 09, 2008 19:57 pm

Hi

Thanks to Fred2 for the information. I told the Rep who called from the Direct Marketing Partnership that we had decided not to attend the meeting in Bristol, due to very bad feedback from other timeshare owners on this site. I asked him to confirm if they were part of Incentive and he said that they were but that he was very suprised that they were mentioned here, although he was aware that they had appeared in Which!
He very quickly thanked me for my time and beat a hasty retreat. Now, if I was a legitimate company, I would be furious at the negative information and would fight my corner. This fella disappeared without a whimper.... make of that what you will.

:?:

The latest approach (there have been a number) has come from Dandelion Investments. Their no is 952 666 243 (I think this is Malaga in Spain). They have supplied a copy contract but they do require a deposit of 500 euros. The offer they have made is realistic (to go to a corporate investor who is buying several in the same place) but again, this sounds like a scam.

Has anyone had any experience with this lot? You never know, one day someone may discover a legitimate company if we trawl through them all between us!

by **Fred 2** on Tue Dec 09, 2008 20:20 pm

ILG know only too well that they have been panned comprehensively on most forums of this type.

Dandelion is well covered here and is a scam, no question
http://www.timesharetalk.co.uk/forum/to ... C_ID=10095

Any company which cold-calls you saying that they can sell/ have sold your timeshare is a con however good their story.

There is no legitimate way in which they can have got your details. Somewhere along the line somebody has sold a database with you in it, in contravention of data protection regulations. No-one has "corporate buyers" prepared to pay well over the odds. Why should they, in today's market? No-one has "already taken a deposit" on somebody's timeshare. How could they? They don't have the right to sell it.

Anyone who asks for a "bond", however described, is running a scam, has no buyer and will never give the "bond" back.

by **bluebluetraveller** on Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:38 am

Hi Everybody, I have been approached by this company Direct Marketing Grou. I am disappointed that there are no replies from anybody who has been to meet them. Only warnings of danger but does anybody have any knowledge of them. I am keen to sell my Club La Costa Points does anybody have any ideas or anything.
Regards
Malcolm

by **wills15** on Tue Jul 07, 2009 20:42 pm

Hi bluebluetraveller
No doubt no replies from anybody who has been to meet this company because people know by reading HW that a cold call = scam. Re-read Fred's comments of Tue Dec 09, 2008 20:20 pm and take note. Happy selling!