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

mpython

maksipup wrote: »

Once again you misquote yourself as your original question asked how many MSE members. As my posts are more accurate than yours, hopefully more people will accept them than do yours:D

maksipup wrote: »

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

Twaddle, I never said you stayed in 3* CLC accomodation either here or on CAG, you seem to delight in picking holes in other people's posts but are very economical, and one sided with the evidence you provide.

You post a statement from that website to counter the Devoncourt hotel debacle but don't answer my questions about previous club la costa members stays there (on the same thread on that website), nor do you respond to marleyboy's links to countless other disgruntled members.

You post a link to daily mail article about £250k fraud but are silent on the £1Bn holiday club fraud (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjo4p_CsZR8),

You tell me off for saying 50% when your own figures were 50p on £1 per point and then forget to mention €0.74 version of the charge.

Despite all the evidence provided to you, your acceptance that their sales people cannot be trusted, that it can't be seen as a financial investment, you persist with your position. I cannot fathom why.

Do you have any stake (personal or financial) in the resale website our mutual acquaintance is setting up? If I recall correctly, you think re-sales are the way to buy into CLC despite their extortionate admin charge and the fact even CLC accept the asset of membership is worthless.


On the positive side you are helping to keep this thread at top of google searches for club la costa, so anyone thinking about buying can come here and see how bad an idea it is.

maksipup

mpython wrote: »

Twaddle, I never said you stayed in 3* CLC accomodation either here or on CAG, you seem to delight in picking holes in other people's posts Not like you eh? but are very economical, and one sided with the evidence you provide.Post 218 on CAG. The subject was disputing of alleged 5* accommodation and 3* was first mentioned on this thread then quoted by you on CAG. By inference I would have thought that any sensible person would understand this to refer to CLC accommodation on your post which I answered 3 days ago. By the way not all CLC units are 5* and I certainly have never claimed that. What I have said is it is good quality. As for picking holes in posts, only when necessary and certainly not like some posters on here who will always aim to pick holes in any positive post, just like yours here! My posts are certainly not all one sided.

You post a statement from that website to counter the Devoncourt hotel debacle but don't answer my questions about previous club la costa members stays there (on the same thread on that website), nor do you respond to marleyboy's links to countless other disgruntled members. Wrong again, I have posted several posts to compare with marleyboys links (not as many admittedly) and the one post I made on CAG did not even mention Devoncourt. I am unable to answer questions on Devoncourt as I know nothing about it apart from what I had read previously on tripadvisor and also you did not ask me any questions.

You post a link to daily mail article about £250k fraud but are silent on the £1Bn holiday club fraud (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjo4p_CsZR8), Probably as it did not refer to CLC or their modus operandi which is to try to sell trial packages to potential new members.

You tell me off for saying 50% when your own figures were 50p on £1 per point and then forget to mention €0.74 version of the charge.Explained in plain language several times on different posts, not my fault you find it difficult to understand, ask Nicechap, he seems to have understood it. Can't remember telling anyone off on the subject(s) in question!

Despite all the evidence provided to you, your acceptance that their sales people cannot be trusted, that it can't be seen as a financial investment, you persist with your position. I cannot fathom why. My position is that I am getting good quality holidays at a good price, what is difficult to understand about that? I have even explained in detail how I have achieved that!

Do you have any stake (personal or financial) in the resale website our mutual acquaintance is setting up? NO!If I recall correctly, you think re-sales are the way to buy into CLC despite their extortionate admin charge and the fact even CLC accept the asset of membership is worthless. What I have said is that if anyone is considering membership, resale is the best way to go. Even with the admin charge it is far far cheaper than through CLC sales.
Aslo I consider the only value in Vacation Club membership is the ability to take good quality holidays over a long period of time by anyone who can holiday outside school holiday and peak summer times.


On the positive side you are helping to keep this thread at top of google searches for club la costa, so anyone thinking about buying can come here and see how bad an idea it is.

Or good depending on your point of view. You know what mine is and seem to have a problem with it whereas I do not as I am happy with my membership and what I get from it. I know what yours is and have no problem with it apart from the fact that you do not seem to be able to accept that there are any happy CLC members.:)

mpython

mpython wrote: »

maksipup,

Thanks for sharing this. I am genuinely pleased for the member involved.

Amazing how highlighting a problem on MSE can bring results!

In the interests of balance, do you know how long the problem has been going on with Devoncourt, and whether other members who stayed there have also been refunded?

MP

maksipup wrote: »

......I am unable to answer questions on Devoncourt as I know nothing about it apart from what I had read previously on tripadvisor and also you did not ask me any questions......

Yet you managed to post a counter reply on Devonport - did you get it from tripadvisor or that website? As its word for word the same as the update posted on the voldem*nt website - no doubt you asked & got permission (not that one needs it) to copy it over here?

For the avoidance of doubt, in the thread on the other website, another member thought they had stayed in the same room in Sept 09, long before the complaint posted there, and the manager of the hotel admitted it had happened on other occasions too.

Amazing how some people only read what they want to.

I see our mutual acquaintance is buying the CLC line that the problem with the Turkish resort was just something in the air.......

marleyboy

I think the cut of it is, You cannot trust CLC sales or presentations, that their maintenance fees are far to dear to be sensible, that it is it not worth investing into CLC and its best to avoid investing if your after peaktime summer holidays.

Or to cut it short if your looking for a more reasonably priced holiday, at a time that is more suitable to you. its far better to avoid CLC completely and shop elsewhere. I am glad Maksipup has finally got round to admitting this.

I have no doubt there are some customers happy with CLC, whilst there are MORE unhappy, just as there are happy customers atop a pyramid scam, whilst those directly below them are extremely UNHAPPY. This of course does not make CLC anything less of a scam, extortionate, a rip off and uneconomical. Ultimately you have more chance of being extremely UNHAPPY than happy should you risk investing into CLC. Also there are far better deals out there completely unrelated to CLC, that potential customers are best advised to shop elsewhere.

So to recap, people are best off AVOIDING any presentations OF CLC, any timeshares BY CLC, and any holidays WITH CLC, leaving those few happy members currently stuck IN CLC to enjoy it by themselves.

Or as Martin Lewis would say "Dont touch them with a bargepole"

terryw

Thank you MB

maksipup

mpython wrote: »

Yet you managed to post a counter reply on Devonport - I did not mention Devonport in my post. did you get it from tripadvisor or that website? As its word for word the same as the update posted on the voldem*nt website - no doubt you asked & got permission (not that one needs it) to copy it over here? If you had read the post you would know! As for not needing to ask for permission, it would just be basic courtesy to ask!

maksipup

marleyboy wrote: »

I think the cut of it is, You cannot trust CLC sales or presentations, that their maintenance fees are far to dear to be sensible, that it is it not worth investing into CLC and its best to avoid investing if your after peaktime summer holidays.

Or to cut it short if your looking for a more reasonably priced holiday, at a time that is more suitable to you. its far better to avoid CLC completely and shop elsewhere. I am glad Maksipup has finally got round to admitting this.

I have no doubt there are some customers happy with CLC, whilst there are MORE unhappy, just as there are happy customers atop a pyramid scam, whilst those directly below them are extremely UNHAPPY. This of course does not make CLC anything less of a scam, extortionate, a rip off and uneconomical. Ultimately you have more chance of being extremely UNHAPPY than happy should you risk investing into CLC. Also there are far better deals out there completely unrelated to CLC, that potential customers are best advised to shop elsewhere.

So to recap, people are best off AVOIDING any presentations OF CLC, any timeshares BY CLC, and any holidays WITH CLC, leaving those few happy members currently stuck IN CLC to enjoy it by themselves.

Or as Martin Lewis would say "Dont touch them with a bargepole"

Priceless, putting words into other peoples mouths again! As you once posted .....:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

mpython

maksipup wrote: »

To provide a bit of balance and with the approval of the other forum in question, here is how the complaint to CLC turned out.
DEVONCOURT and room 12 [URL="http://java script:add_smilie("][/URL]
WOW - 100% resolution! Today, I have had a wonderful reply from the Chairman Mr Peires . BUT...Unfortunately due to some technical and for me unsolvable IT gremlin I have had no luck in copying and pasting both the copy of the e-mail that I had sent to him and his reply which I received today. Technical gremlins being sorted I will, as promised, post the e-mails, but for the moment what is important is that I feed back to all of you and especially those of who have supported and shared advise and encouragement in postings over the horror of room 12, that the Chairman has personally authorised the return of all the points and he is compensating us in full for the additional costs we incurred in funding the three nights at the Royal Beacon Hotel ! AB FAB. So until you can actually see the e-mails this has been the best possible news- a resolution that is due to your support and encouragement in requesting a better offer than the original telephone offer of only half of the points. And it does go to show that CLC are willing to listen and respond to member's concerns and as a respected friend pointed out when I was telling them of our experience they did not think that we would ever had received such a personal and prompt response if it had been a holiday booked through a Tour Operator or a 'budget' holiday company !
And yes, Exmouth is a beautiful town and if it is possible, as Michael suggests, it could be, that at some point in the near future 'Devoncourt' might go onto the market and if CLC are able to acquire and upgrade the hotel I am sure it would soon be a firm favourite for UK bookings.
So, my thanks to all of you for your help, support, encouragement and advise. Our voices are heard and communication channels are open ! I hope that with sharing experiences together and with Guy and CLC Management on board we can all contribute to making membership work for the good of us all.
Thank you

maksipup wrote: »

mpython wrote: »

Yet you managed to post a counter reply on Devonport - [COLOR=sienna]I did not mention Devonport in my post. [/COLOR]did you get it from tripadvisor or that website? As its word for word the same as the update posted on the voldem*nt website - no doubt you asked & got permission (not that one needs it) to copy it over here? If you had read the post you would know! As for not needing to ask for permission, it would just be basic courtesy to ask!

OK, 1 debating point to you, you said it was from that website, but bigger debating point me, you denied saying something which you clearly did say (& if you say I said Devonport, not Devoncourt you are a bigger waste of space than I ever could have imagined).

However, you missed the biggest point, that the problem has been going on since Sept 2009 and multiple guests have experienced it - so your contribution was not balanced but highly selective as most of your slippery answers are and probably why you ignored my question because you knew the answers would be embarrassing to you and CLC.

Seeing as we're talking about compensation - do you know how much has CLC paid to members missold memberships?

Also, in terms of compensation why have CLC only offered 50% refund of points to a diabetic patient who wants to cancel going to Turkey because of an outbreak of food poisoning at the resort? (Diabetics have to manage their food - sugar - intake carefully and having norovirus or similar could be very dangerous to them. Another example of the kind of company it is.

You must know by now this is a moneysaving website, not a give loads of money to scammers website, & the best way to save money with CLC or any holiday clubs is not to touch them with a bargepole, and the longer you persist with promoting them, the more people will be warned about CLC.

mpython

maksipup wrote: »

Priceless, putting words into other peoples mouths again! As you once posted .....:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

pretty sure you have misunderstood marleyboy's post, and he hasn't put any words in Martin's mouth, he really did say that here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/45859

DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF THEM WITH A BARGEPOLE!

terryw

I have taken the liberty of giving Martin's post in full below:
Omi Group And Holiday Schemes In General

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We've had a note from the company OMI about what it argues are potentially libellous comments about it on here. Those posts have therefore been deleted.

I would also ask that no further discussions on this company take place. Please report any to the abuse controller.

I have not checked this company out and have no knowledge of its practices - and therefore am not in a position either to vouch for it, or to back up the criticisms.

Some General Tips On Holiday Home Organisations and Sales Meetings

However, do let me take the opportunity to make some general points on all holiday type schemes where you are invited to meetings.

DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF THEM WITH A BARGEPOLE!

Holiday clubs are almost invariably not MoneySaving. Their aim is to get long term cash from people. Often these companies work by pressure sales, inviting people to meetings and attempting to sign them up.

Worse still, they often use these meetings to recruit people to sell the product in a network marketing type scheme. In other words they get people to try and flog the idea to others working on commission. This means the 'testimonials' for these things are often flawed and biased and should be taken with a rock of salt.

Rarely have any of these companies actually provided a good deal for any consumer. As a general point I would completely avoid attending such meetings. Never part with your money. In my view you're almost invariably better off going for a normal holiday.

Martin

This has been locked to prevent discussion on the issue
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.

Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.

Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000

Last edited by MSE Controller2; 18-04-2005 at 3:19 PM.

I hope that this is ok with everyone. Any new peeps reading this thread can check out Martin's bona-fides very easily.

Who do you trust folks? Martin Lewis or some other poster extolling the virtues of an organisation which has been slated elsewhere?

The choice is yours.