Club Seasons worth £2950.00..

mpython

DdraigGoch wrote: »

Having hopefully established some background I am hoping not to get flamed. Please don't, I'm easily upset [and no, I'm not joking]...

I am seriously considering taking up the £168.50 offer for a UK holiday for 4 people. DG

Hi DG, nice to meet you, I'll try not to flame you but will apologise in advance if I do. Personally I'd not waste my time or money with them.

You say you've tried centerparcs, have you tried european ones? I've been to 3 and found them about 2/3 price of UK ones (even after paying for travel & ferry) and they're staffed by really nice people who love practicing their english on my kids.

As others have said you could always try the Sun offer, or one of the many bargains on the travel board, or laterooms.com, hoxton hotel occasionally have rooms for £1 (but sell out in minutes) or just a general search on t'internet to find decent accomodation without any sales pitch. There's loads of good deals out there.

If you do decide to go with them, I'd be very interested in hearing your experiences about the resorts, what there is to do, how much things cost (especially membership).

best of luck.

MP

Cherylemma_2

On Page 9....Citril said he spoke to a girl called 'Emma' & she reduced the 1st yrs fee........very strange how the very same girl said the same thing to me!! Hmmmmm......the word 'scam' just won't leave my head!!!!:rolleyes:

Realist

Hi all,

My wife received a letter today and after reading the advice on this forum I assure you we will not be taking up this offer.

Find the letter attached below.

Regards.

Welshwoofs

I've had one of these letters saying I've 'won' a prize to the value of £3750 from Clubseasons (which I notice happens to be the same price as buying their basic membership online at the moment).

Now I'm not an employee of club seasons or any other timeshare company (I work in IT), but I do like my cheapos or freebies! I recently got a week's self-catering in Tenerife with flights for £34.50pp by sitting through a presentation from Club La Costa and it seems to me that this is a similar deal, only they're chucking in a basic membership and hoping you'll stick around to pay the annual maintenance fee and possibly upgrade to go to exotic places in peak seasons.

As far as I'm concerned these things aren't scams, they're quite sophisticated marketing techniques but you CAN make them work to your advantage if you're hard-headed, don't fall for slick sales attempts and stick to your guns and say "NO!".

I've not phoned clubseasons yet, but if I can get a week's break + a long weekend off them for a few hundred quid I'll do it because, let's face it, it's cheaper than renting a private cottage in the UK for the same duration (and please, nobody say Haven or Butlins - I live near Presthaven Sands in N.Wales and each summer have to put up with mouth-breathing, butt-scratchers mooching around in tracksuits, shovelling chips in their faces like they're going out of fashion).

On no account whatsoever would I take up a membership over a year as I just don't see any value in timeshare deals unless, like a clubseasons owner I know, you trade in your one red week for 3 green weeks and then flog those to people you know for more than you paid for them.

So my advice on these things is to read the T&C back, front and sideways and see if you can work the 'trial', 'taster', 'freebie' (whatever they want to call it) to your advantage. As long as you're damn good at saying 'no' to a sales pitch youll generally be ok!

BTW, my tip for getting through a timeshare sales pitch unscaved is to emply one of the following lines:

* We're getting married and all our spare cash is going to paying for the wedding (no salesman is stupid enough to think that paying for a holiday is going to be priorised over a wedding)
* I'm in massive debt and currently have half a dozen DCAs chasing me (you're not a good bet for paying)
* My family own a few properties in the Med so my holidays are currently costing £bucket-air-fare per person and you can't beat that (naturally they can't beat a holiday which only costs the air-fare).
* Sorry but I'm currently suffering from [chronic but not terminal disease] so can never guarantee when I can go on holiday so it wouldn't be worth it to me (no salesman will sit and push someone who's just said they have a chronic disease)

True...my technique isn't very ethical, but then these timeshare sales practices aren't very ethical either so hey...cash in!

afletcher30

Obviously another 'wave' of marketing going out, because I got my letter yesterday too. Having been 'stung' once by a company asking for an administration fee then kindly going into administration themselves, I knew I would find the information I need here.

Can't say I won't do it, but I will look into the options carefully before I part with any well earned cash! I did tell the girl on the phone that if she put it all in the post I would look at it. We'll see, if I do take them up I will be sure to let you guys know my thoughts on the holiday when we go :-)

66nick99

Thought it may help to see the latest letter that is being sent out to 'winners'. mpython, don't flame me yet! Over the years we've been to their Estapona and Alpinus resorts. Both were of a high standard, we had good times at both, yes we had to attend the sales pitch but we are proof you can just say no and still get invited to go again! Never have liked the marketing pitch they use, but it must be tough to get to new customers given the tag of Time Share. I think the product does have it's merits if you find the right mix and play as a group.

mpython

Thanks 66Nick99 for posting the letter. It looks quite different to the one posted by Realist? I also see that yours has a 100% moneyback guarantee, did they give you your £252 back when you decided not to join?

Not your fault I know, but I'm still waiting for a reply on another thread about Clubseasons from someone who claimed they joined just to use the gym as it was local to them, about how much the membership fee really is - the £3750 sounds made up, I'd love to know how many of their 23,000 families have actually paid that to join.

McFlick

Just received my winning letter today.I subscribe to Holiday Which and the latest issue, March 2008 has a good report about 'Holiday Clubs'. I would
suggest, that before anybody takes up any offer from a 'Holiday Club' they
read the report.

cathandtimh

Am so pleased that i looked up this, got the letter I had to sign for and phoned them immediately thinking yahoo, luckily "carol" wasn't in and she would phone me when she arrived, as I was reading all your posts they phoned me and a bloke called Tom put the phone down when I told him I had been looking at this website and that I thought it was a scam - doesn't that tell you something............. Thanks eveyone x

winnanan

Hi, I got one today too, so upset its not a real win! Have just spent hours reading the whole thread and reckon it might be worth ringing and playing hard to get but my hubby will just say bin it!