Essential Travel Club - Scam ???!!

Essentialtravelwithsarah

Have any of you completed your enquiries into this company?

I have looked closely into them and i can honestly say they are 100% genuine and they please 1000's of tourists each year.

I work as a Travel Consultant in the UK and i have had no problems with them what so ever.

Would just like to hear if you have all sorted your difference's with the company? And what your outcome was/ thoughts now are?

Thanks

Sarah:)

dex1_2

Hi Sarah

My husband, children and I were on holiday in Malaga a couple of weeks ago. We too, were stopped and presented with a scratch card, to which we had won a holiday. We were taken to an travel agency office in La Cala. We spoke to some really lovely people and were given a presentation about the company. We were shown a lot of holiday deals. The holiday we were currently on had cost us £1500. If we had been a member and had bought the holiday, it would have cost us £610. This is a massive saving.

My husband and I have now decided to become a member of Elitravel.net and we are now looking forward to receiving our membership details so that we can access the holiday deals that are available. We have a lot of friends and family who are also interested in booking cheaper holidays with us too.

Prior to paying for our membership, I contacted ATOL, the TTA, Companies House to check that the company 'Essential Travel UK Ltd' are legal and above board. Nothing has come up to suggest that they are not legitimate.

Depending on how things actually go in the future, I may myself become a Travel Consultant working for them from home.

Will keep you posted when we get our membership details and are booking holidays as to how things are going.

Thanks

Donna :T:T

Tangible

I've replaced my earlier post as I have a much clearer idea of the background.

Timeshares and Holiday Clubs have a filthy reputation generally, and deservedly so. No one should enter into any deal without a detailed investigation and much forethought and never whilst on holiday abroad, with a company you know nothing about. It's only common sense, and giving card details out can be disastrous.

The Essential Travel Club at essentialtravelclub.com is operated by the UK company Essential Travel UK Ltd and this can be verified at the ATOL website

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=490&pagetype=65&appid=2&mode=detailnosummary&atolNbr=T7306

.. and by reference to the group website at essentialtravelgroup.com. These two sites don't mention all the names and websites being used.

Don't be reassured by the ATOL licence as it only applies to "an air holiday package or a flight" which presumably will be arranged separately.

Why would an English company be marketing its holiday club abroad from a Spanish address ?

Revised EU regulations which now apply to holiday clubs, as well as timeshares, are detailed here.

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/timeshare_en.htm

These new rules provide important safeguards for those who might sign up to a holiday club.

Importantly, though the UK has adopted these rules, Spain doesn't plan to implement them until late 2012.

http://www.timeshare.org.uk/TR10.html#start

It's a very good reason not to join a holiday club abroad, and certainly not one in Spain.

Tangible

If you see the contact address for the Essential Travel Club on their website

Apartado Correos 33 Torre Del Mar, Malaga, Spain

It's interesting to see who else uses/has used that very same mailbox.

Oops !

dzug1

dex1 wrote: »

guff snipped

The holiday we were currently on had cost us £1500. If we had been a member and had bought the holiday, it would have cost us £610. This is a massive saving.


Depending on how things actually go in the future, I may myself become a Travel Consultant working for them from home.


Donna :T:T

Hmmm first time poster extolling the virtues of a company that at best has a dubious business model. Have you been suckered or are you already a travel consultant working for them? The way your post is worded I'd guess the latter - just little turns of phrase here and there don't quite ring true.

And no that's not a massive saving - you've paid over £2K to get it on their standard membership rate. How many holidays a year would you have to take to break even?

Tangible

Added to that dzug1, if she's working in the UK for a UK company, then selling holiday club memberships from home won't be successful under the new EU rules. This is just one of the new rules making it impossible to make holiday club sales over the phone.

you must not be asked for any deposit, advance payment etc. during the cooling-off period

which is 14 days. Without full disclosure of the terms and conditions at the outset that is extended to one year and 14 days.

The whole point and aim of tele-sales is to make a sale there and then and that's now impossible. Even if you make a sale, it can still be cancelled within 14 days and you you can't ask for money otherwise you have given the consumer all the grounds they need to get their money back.

Don't pay for 'free' prizes, don't give card details over the phone and don't sign contracts for anything on holiday. Why pay a fee to have your holiday choice limited ? It doesn't make sense.

dex1_2

Firstly, I am not a travel consultant nor am I selling Travel Club Memberships from home.

Secondly, the idea around this is so that my immediate family and I can have cheaper holidays. We can even extend this to other family members and friends so that they too can enjoy cheaper holidays.

I take onboard what both Tangible and dzug1 have posted. I will look into these websites you have posted and come back.

Tangible

You did mention this deg1

I may myself become a Travel Consultant working for them from home.

... so it appeared worthwhile mentioning how the recent changes in EU and UK consumer law affect the selling of Holiday Club memberships.

Googling the company mentioned is also enlightening, even moreso if you Google the postbox used in Spain, but if people follow the common sense rules of not paying for 'free' prizes, not giving their card details out over the phone and not signing contracts abroad, they won't have to rely on consumer law to protect them. It'll also avoid a lot of hassle.

dex1_2

Who are you a Travel Consultant with?

dex1_2

Essentialtravelwithsarah wrote: »

Have any of you completed your enquiries into this company?

I have looked closely into them and i can honestly say they are 100% genuine and they please 1000's of tourists each year.

I work as a Travel Consultant in the UK and i have had no problems with them what so ever.

Would just like to hear if you have all sorted your difference's with the company? And what your outcome was/ thoughts now are?

Thanks

Sarah:)

Who are you a Travel Consultant with?