Dream Lodge Group

mumfightsback

Its not all as it appears...believe me I know....after three years on a sublet basis with all the others don't expect to make much, resale is a complete con, treatment of owners is appalling and the selling of holidays that aren't quite what people think is rife.....NLG...Nightmare Lodge Group.

digannio

If it looks too good to be true....

Plus

I know it's comparing apples and oranges, but when you can get a 3 bedroom house down the road for £135K, and a fully-furnished chalet for £17K (secondhand), £200K sounds a little overpriced.

bigniv

Went to see DLG at Southampton Boat Show yesterday - I have up to £250k to invest and was considering them. A few things have put me off, the comments on here (that I read after my visit) obviously had an effect, but more-so I was put off by some concerns over comments made by the DLG staff.

I make no suggestion as to whether anyone else should or shouldn't invest with the Dream Lodge Group - I just know that I won't be.

[TEXT REMOVED BY FORUM TEAM] was encouraging an immediate purchase by offering a reduction of the purchase price of a £350k unit to the discounted price of £300k if we signed up on the day at an exhibition - an "exhibition discount". Being a person who likes to go away and do some research before investing I asked when the next exhibition they were doing was, to give me time to satisfy myself of the security of investing my money in DLG. He then stated that their next exhibition wasn't really "a real one", and that he and [TEXT REMOVED BY FORUM TEAM] would probably not be there and so 'Exhibition discounts' might not be available. It seemed strange to me that in one moment he would offer me an "exhibition discount" and then a minute later say it probably wouldn't be available at the next exhibition.

The next thing that didn't sit right was that [TEXT REMOVED BY FORUM TEAM] commented how the owners youngest child was just going off to university (when I was talking about my eldest daughter going to university), then twenty minutes later said that he had got that fact wrong and the owners youngest child was three years old (when I was talking about how our younger children might enjoy the lodges). Possibly a genuine mistake, but it seemed [TEXT REMOVED BY FORUM TEAM] was trying to relate to me and was reacting to my comments with similar stories to try to create some sort of bond or connection, even if those stories contained conflicting details.

The third worrying thing was when I asked if the investment was protected by any sort of insurance - the FSCS (Financial services compensation scheme) or similar. [TEXT REMOVED BY FORUM TEAM] reply was that they were a well established company who were "not going anywhere", so our money would be safe. I take the answer to my question as a 'no' then.

I should again re-iterate I am not advising that you should or should not invest with DLG, but I came away from a half hour face-to-face chat with them with doubts about their honesty based on the information listed above.

To quote Donald Trump:
"Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make."

Bigniv

Albus

Thanks. The thought that someone might spend that sort of money on a lodge is terrifying. They would be lucky if they could subsequently sell it at all, let alone get back anything approaching the purchase price.
In fact, I don't even think that we should be lending credibility to the DLG's cynical sales tactics by referring to these things as "investments". They are nothing of the sort. An investment offers at least the hope that there will be some capital growth. A lodge's value, meanwhile, will plummet the instant that it is bought. Despite what the DLG sales staff may tell people, lodges are not property and their value has nothing to do with the property market. They are caravans. Nothing wrong with that but, when you think of them in those terms, would anyone seriously talk about a caravan (especially one purchased at a vast overvalue) as if it was an investment or some kind of financial product?

Sharanya

Dear Lollypark, I have read this entire thread, originating with your question about the veracity of the Dream Lodge Group. I am now also considering investing with them and so I was wondering if you would mind sharing whether your mother did end up investing, and if so, what her experience has been so far?

Onawingandaprayer

No

Wow! How could anyone read through this entire thread and still consider investing with them.

No disrespect, but really????

:(:(:(

dunstonh

No

A fool and their money.......

Albus

I understand that a number of people have been contacted by the MSE administrator and that the Dream Lodge Group are now using their lawyers in an attempt to bully people into removing posts which question the wisdom of "investing" money with the Dream Lodge Group.

Whilst I am not going to purport to give formal legal advice on this thread, please be aware of the following:

- Under English law, ideas and opinions are incapable of defaming anyone.

- There is not even a requirement that the opinion must be reasonable - it must simply be honestly held and based on true facts.

- If anyone is looking for a true fact on which to base their honest opinion, I confirm that I owned a Dream Lodge which was valued by the Dream Lodge Group at £200,000 and carried that asking price. Upon selling that lodge, I received £75,000 for it. If that is not a true fact, the Dream Lodge Group and their solicitors already have my details and are perfectly free to sue me.

Obviously people must make their own minds up as to what to do but I would urge anyone who has been contacted to simply do a Google Search on the law of "honest opinion" before bowing to the Dream Lodge Group's aggressive tactics.

None of you are under any obligation to provide your personal details to the Dream Lodge Group or its solicitors.

Onawingandaprayer

No

Albus wrote: »

I

None of you are under any obligation to provide your personal details to the Dream Lodge Group or its solicitors.

And what about to MSE?