Club La Costa Disgusting Customer Service and Misleading 'Prize Luxury Holidays'.

nicechap

maksipup wrote: »

My sincere apologies nicechap, of course it was mpython who got it wrong!

Thank you, and my apologies for misquoting you, it was 0.74euros not £0.74.


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Info posted by maksipup

"£1 per point is not uncommon with transfer fees on top of 50p per point. So a typical resale of 4001 points would be £6001.50 with annual maintenance payments of 0.5euros per point and a 1501 point sale might be £2251.50"

"The 0.5 euros per point is for 4001 points and above. I think the 1501 rate is something like 0.74 euros. "

maksipup

nicechap wrote: »

Thank you, and my apologies for misquoting you, it was 0.74euros not £0.74.

"The 0.5 euros per point is for 4001 points and above. I think the 1501 rate is something like 0.74 euros. "

Actually we were talking about maintenance per point at that time and th 0.50euros and 0.74euros are correct for that.

nicechap

in post#94 you've said its £0.54 not €0.74, or is it yet another charge?

maksipup

nicechap wrote: »

in post#94 you've said its £0.54 not €0.74, or is it yet another charge?

Two different things, annual maintenance per point and transfer fees by CLC. £0.54 per point for 1500 points transfer at todays rate. 0.74 euros per point maintenance at this years rates.

nicechap

so my holiday to portamaio would have cost 1500 x £0.54p (=£810) + 1500 x €0.74 (= £910 at todays exchange rate), plus purchase price of about £1 a point (=£1500).

And for my £810 +£910 +£1500 (=£3200) I could definitely have 2 weeks in August in a 3 bedroomed apartment at Portamaio?

or would I have to buy and then find out whether I could actually book?

marleyboy

Topic: Club La Costa Maintenance Fees

From the time we purchased the club la Costa points we have been nothing but disappointed. We've struggled to obtain the holidays we wanted, package holidays have been a cheaper alternative, flights over priced, paying extortionate amounts for all inclusive, yearly maintenance fees have risen beyond a reasonable amount. We have tried to sell our points through etoo, having to travel to Spain, paying our own flights, only to find the promise made of a buyer and meeting a notary to complete the paperwork was totally false. In another attempt to try and rectify the situation we have travelled to Heathrow with a view to receiving some compensation and hope this is not also a waste time. During the time we have owned these points we have been told by a couple of companies that our point are really worthless, obviously not what you want to hear when you have spent over £20,00.00.

Very disappointed at the year on year increase in management fees.

Have been made promises in the past about being able to take holidays with no problem with the time of year, but being teachers have found this to be impossible because of the cost during the school holidays and the lack of availability.

We were also told it would be easy to exchange or sell the club points but later found this to be untrue.

Of the few holidays we have taken, the persistent pressure each time to take on more points or even a property made the holiday a disaster, even on our honeymoon!!

The fees have kept on going up and we can not get in to the places we would like to. Also we have tried to surrender it to the resort to no availa and we have been conned by resale companies.

hi to all angry owners who own at a club la costa resort,i own at the paradise resort ,(tenerife ) disgusted at the amount of maintenance increases since club la costa took over,owned there since 1994 and had no real worries till they took over ,then my fees were #250 and the place was a gold crown now they are 720 euros and still only distinction,we were told when we bought time there maintenance would rise only with inflation,they also say the increse is to up grade to gold crown which still isnt achieved,tried to give my time up there but they wont take it back ,they can have it for free,they know you can do nothing about the legal robbery they are getting away with ,now not sure after paying the fees will be able holiday again as also own at a diamond resort ,such a weight around us now and who knows how much more they will keep putting it up.

We too are very unhappy at the consistant rise in the maintainance fees at CLC , at over 640 euros per week /year we think this is unjustifiable. We have asked if we can surrender the timeshare week as we can no longer want to pay this amount for fees along with RCI membership etc. We have been told we still have to pay up front for this year even though we are surrendering the week to CLC . Has anyone else had this problem with CLC ?
My advice to anyone considering buying timeshare would be to check out the weekly maintainance fees as this is often not disclosed and we feel that it is now not economically viable owning a CLC property. We have owned at Paradise Club Tenerife for almost 20 years and feel enough is enough , a great pity .

We resigned our membership of the Vacation Club with 30 days notice in November last year as we could no longer afford the annual fees - 1700+ euros for 2001 points. When we bought them it was 25p per point in 2001 when we bought them! CLC demanded our points certificates back and then have refused to accept the termination of our membership saying that we have to pay this year's fees. This is just the end of a long line of problems including a cruise offer which cash plus points cost more than the price offered by the cruise company itself ( not an agent) and 2.6% charged on a debit card- not credit card - used to pay the £39 fee for a cession week booking. Our technical asset worth at today's points cost around £40,000 is worth nothing.

I have to agree that CLC maintenance charges are ridiculously high. We will probably have to walk away and take the hit. A great shame

Over the last 18 months it is now more expensive to pay the maintenance fees that to take package holidays How do they justify their charges.

http://itra.net/forum/index.php?topic=60.0

The terms & conditions of membership referring to the surrender from RCI Points clearly state that: 'A member may not withdraw from the scheme until either the expiration of all the Members outstanding Acquisition Agreements or the valid transfer of his/her points Rights or surrender of Use Rights Deposited in the Scheme in accordance with the Articles of Association of the Company. The surrender of Use Rights requires a minimum of twelve months notice in writing from the Member to the Management Company. Use Rights may not be surrendered by Members where the Member has any outstanding Reservation or where the Use Rights have been allocated to any third party.'

As the required notice is 12 months, if your ceded week of ownership has been assigned to a fellow member within this time period RCI will be unable to surrender your account until after the week has been utilised.

maksipup

nicechap wrote: »

so my holiday to portamaio would have cost 1500 x £0.54p (=£810) + 1500 x €0.74 (= £910 at todays exchange rate), plus purchase price of about £1 a point (=£1500).

And for my £810 +£910 +£1500 (=£3200) I could definitely have 2 weeks in August in a 3 bedroomed apartment at Portamaio?

or would I have to buy and then find out whether I could actually book?

No, your £3200 would have bought you holidays for the first year with £910 per annum thereafter (plus membership fee) and with 1500 points at your disposal each year. As said before no-one can say you could have two definite weeks in Portimao in August, CLC do not have resorts in Portimao. At the moment looking at the offers that are on just now and if I wanted to go to Portugal in October, I could have two weeks in a two bed apartment for 220 points per week.
As I also said, I would not advise anyone who wants to holiday during peak summer months to join CLC as it is best financially for those able to be flexible with their dates. Worked properly the 1500 points could bring mutiple holidays. If taken when offers are on looking at the example given at 220 points per week = 6-7 weeks. Booked last minute would produce the same result but probably not during school holidays.
The 4001 point and above membership gives better value of course with the reduction in maintenance per point to 0.50 euros.

nicechap

maksipup wrote: »

No, your £3200 would have bought you holidays for the first year with £910 per annum thereafter (plus membership fee) and with 1500 points at your disposal each year. As said before no-one can say you could have two definite weeks in Portimao in August, CLC do not have resorts in Portimao. At the moment looking at the offers that are on just now and if I wanted to go to Portugal in October, I could have two weeks in a two bed apartment for 220 points per week.
As I also said, I would not advise anyone who wants to holiday during peak summer months to join CLC as it is best financially for those able to be flexible with their dates. Worked properly the 1500 points could bring mutiple holidays. If taken when offers are on looking at the example given at 220 points per week = 6-7 weeks. Booked last minute would produce the same result but probably not during school holidays.
The 4001 point and above membership gives better value of course with the reduction in maintenance per point to 0.50 euros.

OK, so £3200 would cover the first year. its not a big deal about Portimao itself, but could I get a 3 bed apartment on the algarve for that in August?, if not, what could I get next August for my £3200?

maksipup

Every year the membership was held, two weeks in a 1 bed unit with a few points left over if booked now. 4 weeks in a 2 bed with points left over if booked last minute and subject to availability. As I said, I would not advise anyone to join CLC if they want to holiday in school holidays!

antenna

£3200 for the holiday...........it seems you are forgetting the cost of flights,transfers and insurance,so lets add another £300 per person............