Club La Costa - too good to be true?!

MAB1967

My wife filled in a form online some time ago, 4 months later we had a phone call, saying that we had won a holiday in 5 star accommodation in either Spain or Tenerife. All we had to do was attend a presentation for the holiday.

We attended the presentation and were given the £50 shopping voucher and all the details required to go on the holiday, this however was limited to 6 people for 1 week.

When we got around to booking the holiday we spoke to Club La Costa (CLC) and explained that we were a 7 person family would this be a problem? It was not..... and they booked my whole family in an apartment on one of their resorts in Spain.

The central booking agency for CLC undercut the flight prices that i had been quoted online or in the travel agents, they also included all insurances required for the family for a small cost (alot less than anyone else that i had quotes from).

We went on our holiday, to be honest, expecting the worst, i.e building site resort, 1 star accommodation, expensive throughout and no facilities.

WELL LET ME TELL YOU ALL NOW WE WERE WRONG

We were met at the airport by 2 taxi drivers with our names on boards and 2 big taxis (because of the big family and luggage), they took us to the resort where we were met by men to carry our bags, met at reception by polite pleasant staff and were treated like "Special" guests.

The resort was definatly 5 Star with double numbers of swimming pools for all ages to enjoy and the accommodation was outstanding.

The staff remained excellant throughout the holiday and quite honestly went beyond what i expected.

All in all the holiday was fantastic and highly recommended, and the best thing is that YES IT ONLY COST A SMALL BOOKING FEE AND FLIGHTS,
and if any representative from CLC reads this thank you very much for an outstanding, lovely holiday that was enjoyed by all my family.

In the end you can beleive me or not but its not a scam and what do you have to loose APART FROM THE CHANCE OF A FREE HOLIDAY!!!

You Choose.........

costapkt

MAB1967 wrote: »

My wife filled in a form online some time ago, 4 months later we had a phone call, saying that we had won a holiday in 5 star accommodation in either Spain or Tenerife. All we had to do was attend a presentation for the holiday.

We attended the presentation and were given the £50 shopping voucher and all the details required to go on the holiday, this however was limited to 6 people for 1 week.

When we got around to booking the holiday we spoke to Club La Costa (CLC) and explained that we were a 7 person family would this be a problem? It was not..... and they booked my whole family in an apartment on one of their resorts in Spain.

The central booking agency for CLC undercut the flight prices that i had been quoted online or in the travel agents, they also included all insurances required for the family for a small cost (alot less than anyone else that i had quotes from).

We went on our holiday, to be honest, expecting the worst, i.e building site resort, 1 star accommodation, expensive throughout and no facilities.

WELL LET ME TELL YOU ALL NOW WE WERE WRONG

We were met at the airport by 2 taxi drivers with our names on boards and 2 big taxis (because of the big family and luggage), they took us to the resort where we were met by men to carry our bags, met at reception by polite pleasant staff and were treated like "Special" guests.

The resort was definatly 5 Star with double numbers of swimming pools for all ages to enjoy and the accommodation was outstanding.

The staff remained excellant throughout the holiday and quite honestly went beyond what i expected.

All in all the holiday was fantastic and highly recommended, and the best thing is that YES IT ONLY COST A SMALL BOOKING FEE AND FLIGHTS,
and if any representative from CLC reads this thank you very much for an outstanding, lovely holiday that was enjoyed by all my family.

In the end you can beleive me or not but its not a scam and what do you have to loose APART FROM THE CHANCE OF A FREE HOLIDAY!!!

You Choose.........

This is par for the course when you take up your holiday prize. Yes you are met at the airport and a taxi is provided (same when you go back)

Yes ,you are treated like special guests because this is what you are.
They want you to like the resort or complex. The above poster has not mentioned the hard sell that you are invited to attend (usually one of the conditions of the holiday) This after all is what CLC want you there for, to get you in a relaxed state of mind so they can then screw you for every penny you have got buy buying into their scheme.

But once you have signed up, the next time you go on holiday with them. (That is if you can get the dates and resort you want, highly unlikely ) you have to pay for your own taxis etc. Then the hard sell starts again, another free breakfast and they want you to upgrade your membership.

This is a warning to anyone tempted by CLC yes, have the prize holiday but DO NOT SIGN UP.
As the above poster is a first timer could just ba a free advert for CLC

marleyboy

http://www.timesharetalk.co.uk/forum...sp?FORUM_ID=47

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjo4p_CsZR8

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...cVta_YRjKLSSjw

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/money/guar...ve-bolted.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ9fWULXqm8

http://www.complaintsboard.com/compl...a-c352036.html

http://www.arrse.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic/t=45403.html

http://www.timesharesprookjeofnachtm...-scam-feat.php

http://www.gotimeshare.org/timeshare...e-bogus-buyers

http://blog.loquax.co.uk/news/asa-ru...motion-109.htm

http://www.frugallerforum.co.uk/gene...raw-nightmare/

http://www.mikesouthby.co.uk/tag/holiday/

http://forum.holidaywatchdog.com/Tim...0.html#p666670

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...sta-sound.html

http://www.timesharecouncil.eu/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/72...e-holiday.html

http://skynews9.typepad.com/my_blog/...-the-holi.html

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigat...a-costa-h.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200....scamsandfraud

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m.../ai_n19514904/

http://blog.loquax.co.uk/news/club-l...-mirror-52.htm



Just a few reasons why CLC is not worth the risk

hearts

toprobroy wrote: »

I run an independent site with about 50% happy about the product. Mostly, people come to my site to buy/sell/rent an ownership at a fraction of the cost or rent directly from existing owners. Its nothing to do with Club la Costa, but many of their own resorts are really good and if you get the chance to go on the low cost try before you buy, then its well worth it. My site also shows that you CAN give the points back. Its not difficult and proof is on the site, with over 3000 registered members and over 19,000 posts to prove it. You do have to sit through a presentation, but you're not forced to buy and besides, there is loads of help on our site to guide you through it. wwwdotclcmembersdotcodotuk

If they didnt KNOW for a fact that they could convince enough weak people to take up the buy on the day, they wouldn't make the offer.
Do not under any circumstances assume you will be strong enough to resist. These people are experts at what they do.

blue_monkey_2

I am one of the posters on the other thread and I have been in CLC for 10 years now. It CAN work for you if you research the products properly - the same with any major purchase.

This year we are going here: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/animal-kingdom-villas-kidani/ for a week in an apartment - usually price is 4k or so, we paid £700 including pro-rata purchase amount and all fees.

However, I would advise on researching the product inside out and back to front if you are interested to make sure you are getting the right product. Buy from someone who is selling for whatever reason (be this illness or loss of job, etc...) and ask to see their previous years maintenaince fees invoice.

Look into Destinations rather than Points. We went to a presentation for points and said no, not interested, we do not need them and we have stayed with our week. We get a 'free' week and a book of around 40 places we can go to Wordwide. Australia, South Africa, Bali, etc...

We paid 8k for a 2 bed 'red' week (6 people, any time of year), because we have this week it had high bargaining power and it can be used for booking Points weeks with RCI. We have this unit for 76 years as long as we pay the annual fee.

We pay around £400 pa maintenance fees on this.

RCI is £57 a year membership. Exchange fee for a unit outside Europe is £175, in Europe I think it is £120.

For this we get to go to stay in Disney DVC Accomodation and it is what suits us. The kind of resorts you can stay at can be found on the RCI website and they are free for anyone to look at. They even have exclusive resorts that people like us would not be able to afford in a lifetime too. You get apartments rather than hotels so you can self cater, this suits us too as we have young children.

If you like nice holidays then do not disregard it, we are staying in accomodation that otherwise we could only have dreamed of - I have wanted to stay in AK since it went up 9 years ago but it was at least 2.5k for the hotel which was silly money for a weeks accomdation. The Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts cost around 4k per week. For us it is our dream holiday, we get a self catering apartment for this money.

However, it is not for everyone. If you are spending more than £700 per week on accomodation, each year, for up to 6 people it might be worth you looking into it. if you get away with not paying for the unit then the pro-rata fee is around £580 pa.

We have had no problems with CLC at all to be honest, as long as we pay our fees on time there is no issue. We do not need anything from them - we did not listen to the hard sell as we decided it was something we wanted within 15 minutes. Back then the internet was early and you could not research like you could now. However, we are not disappointed that we bought. We have had a couple of UK holidays while the kids were younger but now we bank the weeks in RCI for a big holiday in the US. Pro rata these weeks cost us £700 a week. You can pay slightly more, if it is all inclusive for example, but the brochure states what extras there are to pay before you book.

Should we be unable to travel overseas they have 4 or 5 places in the UK we can visit so all is not lost. We have paid £700 for 4 nights at Butlins this year - we have also paid £700 for a week at Disneys Animal Kingdom Villas. I know what I feel is better value for the money.

However, sometimes you have to think outside the box - but research, research, research the product you are buying. I doubt you'll find anyone unhappy with Destinations unless they are in a low season apartment and cannot get the week they want but for the sale of a few k we bought the red week. We have never had an issue with booking the weeks we want to go away and, as I say, we have been with them 10 years as of last month. We like the fact we can stay in top class accomodation rather than some crappy hotel. IF you like the same then look into it, that is all I can say but bypass buying through CLC. When we bought there was no other options but now if you can find someone selling it and you are interested, do it that way and get it transfered.

For some people it works, for some people it doesn't, it just depends what you want out of it in all honesty. But please stay away from points. The unhappy people have all got points. All you need is the week in Destinations, see if you can find someone who wants to transfer over to you for little money or nothing. If they have had their moneys worth then they might sell for nothing.

By the end of this years holiday we will have 'broken even' and started saving money in our holiday cost and that includes the 8k that we outlayed initially for the unit. It just means that we can now stay at places we could only otherwise dream about and for us, it means holidays of a lifetime in superb accomodation. You just need to think outside the box and research properly!!

blue_monkey_2

Oh yes, we got a free holiday too, we had to go for another presentation and they wanted us to switch from Destinations to points We said no. We continued saying no. They got the hump and took us back to the apartment in silence. Very amusing.

People can say no if they know what they are letting themselves in for. You WILL have to attend another presentation if you take the holiday. They did collect us from the Airport in a chauffer driven car and paid for a taxi back to the airport too. Food was really cheap onsite, they had a free kids club too. It was a nice break.

If you are interested buy from someone that is selling - it is far, far easier and less hassle.

It is a shame they hard sell in the way that they do, the product is a really good one and you can get some amazing holidays if you know what you are doing and looking for - the hard sell puts people off and so people do not know what they can get from it. Which is a shame really.

We initially bought because we wanted to go to Belize and other countries which would have cost £000's otherwise and it was a cheap way of getting these holidays, however, then we had kids and we still have not got there. One day we will..... so for now we are happy with going to Disney!!

blue_monkey_2

costapkt wrote: »

Keep away from CLC , you never get what you were promised and for the amount of money that you pay it is a dead loss. To get the dates you want they refer you to RCI , then you have to pay them a supplement.
Stick to a travel agent and get what you want when you want.

See main thread on praise vent & warnings.

I'd have to disagree. We have never had an issue with dates when booking with CLC.

Now we choose to book via RCI as there is more to choose from. Had we booked our same 2 weeks accomodation via a Travel agent we would have paid around £5.5k. We have paid £700 for each week pro rata. That is a 4k saving on this one holiday!! We leave in a few months time. There is no way in this world we could ever have afforded the accomodation had we not been in CLC. There is no way on this earth I'd pay £5.5k for accomodation either.

For £400 a year we get a UK holiday if we cannot afford to fly for whatever reason as this is what our maintenaince fees are.

However, you need to buy the right product.

DO NOT BUY POINTS.

antenna

We are just doing a survey to find out what people like do on holiday,no it's nothing to do with timeshare,and you could win a free holiday..............The scumblaggers start off with LIES,and it's LIES LIES LIES all the way from then on.
Why would you think they are telling the truth before you buy, when it has been ALL LIES up to then........ARE YOU STUPID?........well perhaps you are,there is only one way to find out.........FLIGHT.........to the spiders web where you will be cocooned in a office for up to 8 hours until you buy........YES you WILL buy......... but it's a lovely holiday,only £22000 up front and £1800 every year thereafter.......but it's a lovely holiday.......For the last 30 years people have fallen for the timeshare trap,but you prefer not to remember anything about that dont you?.
But you remember Ester Rantzen dont you,but you choose to forget all about the timesham scams she showed on her programme because YOU KNOW BETTER...........How can anyone be so stupid with only one head?.
Bring on the replies praising timeshare,first posters welcome,CLC members website owners welcome,plants,stooges.
But remember,you must be married,over 35,and terminally stupid........

ince_mon

Bargepole.

antenna

ince_mon wrote: »

Bargepole.

I wouldn't touch it with yours................if you get my drift.