Van Gogh Promotions - Tenerife

[fizzyj]

Up-date from my last post in May. I am glad to say that my credit card co refunded all the money which I had paid to Van Gogh at the end of July. I sent them all the documentation for RCI and Holiday Solutions and explained exactly how they operated to sell us the points and there was no problem.
The main point for the credit card Co is that you show that you have received absolutely nothing for your money
RCI denied all knowledge of Van Gogh but Scoobydoo proves that they do have a connection or he would not have received his holiday.
Obviously it seems that if you go through with the deal it is ok - it;s only if you want to cancel that there is a problem.
Holiday Solutions also denied being involved sith Van Gogh but I think they may be a suspect company as well. Never managed to get any responds from Kirgilo.
I hope you all manage to get your money back but most of all I hope all the Van Gogh mob get well and truly punished. I'll definitely be contacting UKECC to try and help them sort it out and I hope all of you will too.

[skyflyer1]

We exchanged our RCI weeks for 2 weeks in Tenerife, the first was booked at the Bel Air Resort Adeje Tenerife. We were very dissapointed on arrival, the apartment was dirty and in need of refurbishment, lamps falling off the wall, fridge not working properly, towels provided were grey with holes. Pool was also dirty, restaurant and pool bar were not open. Hotel management, left a welcoming letter advising that our holiday rep would be calling to discuss our stay the morning after arrival. Mr Peter Kirk Winchester as he called himself came to our apartment, and gave us information about the island, he enquired if we were happy with the resort, when we mentioned that the room was dirty and in need of refurbishment and the pool was dirty, he asked where we owned our Time Share, we own a gold crown- weeks resort, he said he was surprised we had ended up exchanging for the Bel Air, and also the Tenerife Sun, which we had exchanged for our 2nd week in Tenerife, this was rated in the RCI 2006/2007 Directory as Silver Crown, he said the Tenerife Sun Club was worse than the Bel-Air and that he would look into our membership details to see if he could pull a few strings to get us moved to a better resort. We decided to go to the Tenerife Sun Club that day to see if it was as bad as he made out. Although we were unable to look at an apartment at this resort, we were put off as the pool had salt water, the restaurant was derelict and the pool bar shut it was on a coast a long way from the main attractions, and the restaurants close by were not very inviting at all. We all felt that we did not want to stay at this resort. Mr Winchester invited us to a complimentary breakfast the following morning, we went believing that he was looking into arranging a more suitable exchange. He advised us that he checked our membership details and as RCI weeks members we had little choice and it would be better if we were to become RCI points members. We were then hooked, as he set about explaining the difference between the weeks availability and the points availability and explained that points gave greater exchange flexibility. We believed that he was working for RCI. After several hours of discussions we decided we would not want to exchange our weeks again for such poor standards of accommodation, and the limited availabilty we had experiences when trying to exchange. So we decided to purchase points which also included an agreement allowing us to remain at the Bel Air resort for our 2 weeks stay. As although accomodation was not of our expected standard it appeared to be better than going to the Tenerife Sun Club. We agreed to pay by Credit Card over £6000 allegedly purchasing 65,000 points. We were then presented with the contract after paying, by a lady who went by the name of Mrs Pascale Poutrel. On RCI headed paperwork we noticed that the agent for RCI was Van Gogh Promoties, which we queried. They said that they were part of this company that are based in Belgium. We then contacted this office in Belgium and they said that they did have an office in Tenerife, so we therefore believed that they were legitimate RCI agents. We believed we had 14 days cooling down period, so realistically nothing to loose. Just to reassure ourselves, we visited a local internet cafe and researched Van Gogh Promoties. Thankfully we found this forum and realised we had been caught up in a Timeshare scam. We then noticed on the credit card payment slip, that payment had been made to a bank account in the name of Bel Air Resort not Van Gogh Promoties. We then reported this as a possible scam to the National Police in Tenerife who opened a case. We were invited on the day of signing the contract for another complimentary breakfast with Mr Winchester to check that we were happy with our agreement. We approached him and told him that we wanted to cancel our agreement with immediate effect with a full refund. He then starting questioning our reasons for cancellation. He advised us that we had to send the cancellation forms in writing to Belgium via registered post. We then asked who do you actually work for? He said Van Gogh Promoties. Therefore we asked for some form of ID, he became suspicious and said 'do you think I am some kind of crook? I have been professional' we then said but we have not paid Van Gogh promoties we've paid Bel Air Resort. He then seemed to back down a little disappearing into an office. We never saw him again. Then came out 'Coby Visscher' as she called herself. She was allegedly the hotel manager. She agreed to giving us a refund, 'devolution' in spanish back onto our credit card. We then wrote out a cancellation letter and gave it back to her and they accepted it and stamped it with a Bel Air resort stamp. We tried to gain the refund by the credit card machine was suprisingly not working? We tried numerous times through out the day. They also tried to do it via telephone but they told us that the bank said that they cannot do it over the phone. They said that the machine was busy and the connection speed was very slow, that is why it wouldn't work. So patiently we waited and returned the next day demanding a refund or we would become very loud! Straight away the credit card machine seemed to work at exactly the same time of day as before. We luckily managed to gain a refund for the full amount. We wanted to warn others that were becoming involved but we felt too intimidated staying at the hotel knowing that they had a master key to our room, along with many personal details. There are over 20 people selling these to innocent people, along with a few administrative staff. We know of another family who were staying in the hotel and attended the presentation and were threatened when they attempted to leave after 3 hours. We contacted the British Embassy, and also the local Citizens Advice Bureau in Adeje to draw their attention to this to try to stop this happening. We contacted RCI, to advise that the hotel management had provided these people with our details and were mis -representing them at the hotel. They said their legal team would contact us but we are still waiting! RCI did however move us to another resort, we left the Bel Air late at night as we felt unsafe in the hotel, there very some very unsavoury characters working for Bel Air resorts. Since our return on 29th Aug we have been in touch with RCI to once again tell our story and to ask them to contact any of their clients who have future bookings at the Bel Air to warn them, or to even stopp exchanging with this hotel. We have some details of the people working for Bel Air and if we can help anyone we are happy to do so. Thanks to all for putting this forum together without it we would be £6,000.00 out of pocket and are considering calling National Newspapers to see if they are interested in this particularly clever scam.

[scoobydoo123]

This is especially for Mr SKYFLYER1: Apperantly you feel quite strong about what has happened in Tenerife and Bel Air Resort. I stayed at Bel Air Resort in March 2008 exchange with RCI and had the opportunity to meet Mr Winchester and all the sales team. I purchased 80 000 points from Van Gogh Promoties and the service, they couldn't have done enough for me. As you can appreciate, they are just an agent following rules and regulations they have to abide with. They did give me 14 days to cancel my contract, I had it checked out and now received my membership with RCI. Myself and my family booked already our first holiday with RCI who couldn't have been again more helpful. Therefore I promised the team bacon & sausages next year when I return to Bel Air resort and I will keep my promise. The most important factor is you had your money back. It is a coin in the ocean compared to many unscrupuless companies who do not work under the UK legislation.

IP ADDRESS LOGGED AS " SPAIN " AGAIN. WHAT A SUPRISE ( not ) !!
make your own minds up about this poster.
jan

[longlegs]

We stayed at Belair in May 2008 and purchased points from Van Gough. I have to say the staff their could not do enough for my family. My son had an eye infection and they took us to an english speaking doctor,They also took me to a chemist as well. We are more than happy with our purchase and have received all that was promised to us. We have already booked to go back to Belair at christmas and are looking forward to seeing everyone their again.

[rrrmmm]

Hi longlegs and scoobydoo
I bet that if we were to find out where you are e-mailing from i would stake my life on it that you are both from spain, you are both somthing to do with that shower from tenerife and I would count that you will soon be answering an expensive law suit.
I also hope that the folks that are unhappy with Van ripogh will get together and sue the arse off all of them.
Finaly if they rot were to in hell I would find it very dificult to show the slitest bit of sympathy.

[longlegs]

This is for the last poster.

I actually live and work in cheshire. Why do you assume I am posting from Spain?

As I have said before my husband and I are very happy with what we purchased from this Company.

Do you only want posts from people who decided not to continue with what they bough? I thought forums were for anyone to post the truth as they see it.

I am sure there are many other families like mine who are more than happy with this company and the product they bought through them.

[geordiehustler]

Hi. Me and my girlfriend have just been to Bel Air on Cardiac Hill in Costa Adeje, Tenerife. We won a free holiday from a scratchcard in Malta last year. It cost us £45 each and we had to pay for our flights. After reading your posts, especially Skyflyer's we were very apprehensive, as we had no intention of buying anything. Before I go on, I will say i have absolutely nothing to do with any of these people at all. We arrived at Bel Air and were checked into a very satisfactory 1 bed apart. Very basic, but clean. Microwave, cooker, overhead fans, balcony. No probs. The same black guy knocked on our door on first day and said he was from RCI and we had to attend a presentation which was on the 4th day. Nobody bothered us so we went to the presentation. We got complimentary coffee and could tell there was going to be some hard selling. However, right at the start of presentation we made clear we had no money and I had lost my job. We sat for 2 hours and the guy was very pleasant. At the end, the 'Head accountant' came to the table and was told by our presenter that we weren't interested. That was the end of it. No threats, no more hard selling. We enjoyed the rest of our holiday in peace and received our 60 Euro deposit back. No probs. To even think to hand credit card details or any other personal info to these people shows what type of people you are. Absolute madness.

[geordiehustler]

What i meant by giving credit card details to these people, I mean if you are expecting a refund. Fair enough if you defo want the product. But i would never just hope to get a refund from anyone you don't totally trust. Especially people who push products on you. It's like letting a door salesman in your home if you aren't interested in the product. No one to blame but yourself. Anyone else who is worried about their threats, it doesnt happen.

[suetrev]

Van Gogh Promotions

We to have been taken in by these people, we also paid £2000 to what we thought was RCI membership.Only find out that when we decided to cancel the agreement before the 14 days cancellation terms were up, that we could not have our money back from something called the holiday club because that was not part of RCI. We did not know that we were paying for tghis holiday club we were not told that what the payment was for, had we known we would not have agreed to it.
We are trying to get this money back through our credit card company, but I have also been in touch with RCI, and the Office of Tourism in Tenerife. I have been very active e mailing the Bel Air Resort and have told them I will not give up in trying to get our money back. RCI suggested making contact with TATOC the time share owners association on tel: 0845 2302430.

These people muast be stopped.