SUNTERRA or SUNTERROR?

allotmenteer_2

Congratulations!? I've won a free Sunterra holiday. One week free etc. etc., Who can give me a lowdown on the company and the scam? (I am presuming it is a scam, I've never one anything!)
I've googled them and got some old info. so what's the latest. Anyone know??

littlereddevil

There was a thread here a while ago you may be able to find it in search

Ted_Hutchinson

I reported on my UK trial break with Sunterra in this thread
UK timeshare 3 night trial breaks From£29
I later commented in another couple of holiday club/sunterra threads but the search engine doesn't seem to find them.
If your break is abroad then do be prepared for the hard sell. But I found the selling I experienced reasonable and unpressured. I enjoyed my break, I thought the facilities excellent, I think the canny user who lives locally to to Sunterra site gets very good value. I think many of those who buy points get themselves locked into a system they can't take full advantage of and would have been better buying elsewhere. I think there could easily be a better system of selling/transferring points and I think a selling scheme which offers what appears to be a bargain price less than £9000 if you buy now and says if you leave the premises and later decide it will have to be more than £12.500 is suspect.

Twopints

I have no direct experience of Sunterra, but I agree with what Ted Hutchinson says. I have dealt with Club La Costa and I am happy with the system and the product. BUT you can get the same product second hand for a fraction of the price. For example I was offered 500 Club La costa points for £3930 which was presented as a special offer; less than half the normal price. I spoke to a couple who paid £20,000 for 2500 Club La Costa points.

You could buy this many points for £3000-£4000 second hand.

If you just want a free holiday, go for it - leave the cheque book at home. If you are tempted and like the product you should really look at the re-sale market. Companies like Worldwide Timeshare Hypermarket would be a starting point. There are also website (pro and anti) for most major timeshare companies.

allotmenteer_2

Well thank you all, I don't think I'm in the market for timeshares of any kind really, not my thing. So I've decided to scrap the whole idea, too much hassle! and now that I've found out a bit more about the type of holiday I realise they're not really locations/places that interest me. If anyone else is interested, I'm not bagging Sunterra, as I must say they were very polite and un-pressured on the phone, just not my personal choice. A car and a tent round france this year methinks!

Tinribsw

I have just received an invite to a sunterra promotion ..free holiday, free TV..I will follow it up with caution and report back.

benh_3

Hi,

Personally having had numerous experiences of Sunterra, I only have postive messages to report. My parents have been members for about 5 years now, and have on occasion struggled to use all their annual points allowing me the odd freebie holiday.

My folks are mid 50s and retired - the stereotypical Sunterra member, although there are some younger couples around. Re: free holidays - it is 100% kosher, although the standard of hotel does vary, the poorest standard is still 3 or 4*, (and nearer to 4), most are excellent - although often located outside of the main destinations (but not in a ryanair style).

Sunterra could be accused of hard selling, but although the reps are after commission, it only makes up part of their salary, meaning that if you ask them not to hassle you then they generally take notice.

The points are expensive, and purchasing them becomes seemingly addictive. I do however remember a Watchdog report a few years ago complaining about misleading sale practices - making people think they could get more holidays with a small amount of points. To fully utilise the system, you generally need to be flexible (it is much cheaper points wise to travel at off-peak, out of school holiday season), and rather obviously the more points the better.

The hotels i've been to have all been great, run by incredibly helpful people.

I for one have been very sceptical of Sunterra in the past (especially as they do rather like changing their name - you might often come across them called GVC), but I have grown to love them...they offer great accomodation, but it isnt cheap.

You can however get a good free holiday from them (something a lot of family friends have done). My advice- go for the free holiday, if you have a LOT of spare cash then buy some points, if not then just enjoy the free holiday/tv/etc.

Hope this has been some help (although i realise it is very poorly structured. gulp).

TrevorKL

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but I may just have fallen for this scam, if indeed it is a scam and was looking for some help to decide if it is a scam or not.

I've found NUMEROUS posts complaining about the tactics used by these companies BUT I've not found a single post, made by anyone who has actually paid the money and experienced what you get (if anything) for your cash. Since there must be many 1,000s of people who have paid their cash to these companies, I would have expected there to be a good number of people complaining about their experiences or lack of them if indeed it was/is a scam.

Is there anyone out there who has ACTUAL experience of what happens (or doesn't happen) after you've paid your money????

IF the company was not lying to us and if they deliver what they claim they are offering, then it looks like a good deal to me.
One factor that made it seem less likely to be a scam was the fact that there were a number of factors that could have been left out of the sales pitch that would have made it more convincing, which if it were a scam I would have thought they'd have done.
For example, they state that there is an additional 'booking charge' for each holiday over and above the initial payment for membership and that it could be between £50 and £500, now maybe that's just a ploy to make it seem more believable but it very nearly prevented me from joining, so if it is a ploy, it's a risky one.

Any ACTUAL experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Trevor

siren13577

I'm sorry you've been scammed by these people, they seem like really unscrupulous types according to what I've read:

http://www.topix.net/forum/city/moapa-nv/TM0M6K07BNTJB9OPI

I'm not sure how you would proceed, but perhaps the best thing would be to cancel any DD from you bank to Sunterra as a maintenance fee (?) I understand you pay a lump sum for so many points towards a holiday, unfortunately it seems unlikely you would get that back. According to what I have read they are a scam and lots of people have been given the hard sell in free presentations and then ripped off. Please cancel anything and do it quickly, always send information recorded and signed for if you do write to them, even if you have no documentation, write and cancel immediately, you may still be in the 'cool off'' period but do send the letters on traceable delivery or they may simply ignore them. Good luck, if I find anything else out, like how to get out of the situation I'll post here, let us know how you get on.

Bazrat

Hi folks just a bit of information for you.

1/ sunterra as been taken over by Diamond resorts international or DRI..

2/ the selling practices of the former company agents left a lot to be desired,DRI moved quickly to settle some cases which were proved of miss selling and removed most of the agents,the remaining 3 will be gone by the end of the year.

3/ The original cost to join is high if the points are bought direct,my suggestion is to buy enough to get you started than buy off other members or ebay.

4/ The rules are you must be a member to buy points.

5/ The free holiday do's cost you money a admin fee but the holidays are very good,you are required to attend a presentation but your under no obligation to join.

6/ if your not a member than i would recommend you look on Timesharetalk.co.uk who hold a extensive threads on DRI.

I am more than happy to answer any question's you have but i am not prepared to argue with anybody on the pro,s and con,s of timeshare.

Barry.

brhea

allotmenteer wrote: »

Congratulations!? I've won a free Sunterra holiday. One week free etc. etc., Who can give me a lowdown on the company and the scam? (I am presuming it is a scam, I've never one anything!)
I've googled them and got some old info. so what's the latest. Anyone know??

Want a bit of good advice ? Forget it there is nothing free with this company, as i am a member and the fees keep going up. Keep away. B R