Seasonsholidays.com

elliestockman

Ah, me too - looks like they've sent a job lot of letters out this week. I was almost taken in, as I do enter lots of competitions and the recorded delivery certainly threw me!

I called today and spoke to someone called Sid (a lady) who explained it all to me. When she asked if I was a homeowner, that made me suspicious because what would it matter if I had won a holiday to the value of £3750?

Anyway, I have been through this recently with a company called Club La Costa and when I asked her if the deal was similar to theirs, she said she hadn't heard of them! Maybe she hadn't, but they've got to be a close competitor in the timeshare holidays market!

As everyone has said here already, you have to pay a maintenance fee, you don't get to choose when you go as you have to fit in with their vacant weeks and the choice of destination isn't that varied.

I did ask whether a presentation had to be sat through and she categorically said no, but that we would need to attend an "induction" at one of their UK resorts. Hmm. Sounds like a presentation to me.

Anyway, glad I googled them and will chuck the letter like everyone else.

regards,

Alanb

I've just won the same today, thanks for the heads up, it'll go straight in the bin

mariab_2

Hi, I have read with interest all the blogs re the Club Seasons 'scam'.
I also received the letter stating I had won the £3750 prize. I ignored it and eventually they wrote and offered me a half price year's membership with 2 free holidays. So, I took them up on their offer and had a midweek free break in Laugharne in Wales. It was a fantastic break but we had to go through the sales pitch. I initially signed up but got cold feet when I realised that you couldn't get to any of the destinations in the Caribbean from the UK directly on the days that you had to check in.
I cancelled the long term expensive membership but still retained my free week in Portugal for 5 of us. We have just returned from that week, which was lovely. Apartment was huge, clean and well kept and well kitted out. We had to go through the sales pitch again, and yes, once more I signed up for a 15 year package at £11990 with a £780 a year maintenance fee. This membership comes with many other types of holiday options but all at a cost varying from £250 for a short break to £20 per person per night for meals only. It also includes cruises and skiing holidays at reduced rates from those of travel operators
Its not a scam, its a genuine product from a very large company but it costs money. You have to pay extra for your flights wherever you go abroad and the check in dates don't always match the flight dates. Its probably not much of a saving in real terms, but the standards I have experienced have been excellent and the staff are very friendly. We won a 40euro meal voucher, a bottle of port and a bottle of vino verde in Portugal to use in the hotel which was good. The entertainment was fun and everyone seemed to be enjoying their holidays.
Your choice, but its worth following up the initial free holiday offer, it does exist, just make sure you can afford the fees that come withthe membership.

moneypooh

Holidays are flying around at the moment..

I received this recorded letter yesterday and 3 phone calls from different companies with holidays that I had won.

It must be the season

Jackie80

I rang them up to look into this. In the first year, you can go any week you like - I have booked a week in August at the Lake District site for the £275 maintenance charge. This compares to over £700 at the same place/week with Hoseasons. I have also booked a short break at Langharne so was pleased to hear the good comment above!

Yes it does cost, but it is worth comparing to the same break booked elsewhere. I don't have to attend any 'induction' talk as I am paying for each break - although they did offer to make it free if we went to one.

jamjul

Yes I too have recieved a letter saying I have won a prize to the value of £3750 in this months prize draw. The letter told me to ring a free phone number. I became very suspicious and googled the company on the internet which brought me to MoneySavingExpert.com. Thank you Martin Lewis ! I hate these people who raise peoples hopes, especially at this time when hard working people have lost their jobs, homes etc and are struggling and a holiday is the last thing they can think about. :mad:

cobwebshere

Hi

I have received a letter from Seasons Holidays telling me I have won a holiday for a week until 2069 to the value of 3750. This was for a green week which was in January, who wants to go on holiday in England in January? I was told that I had to pay £25 to activate my membership, which I did. I then received a letter telling me that my maintenance fee was half price for the first 3 years so all in all it would have cost me £195.00. If I attended an induction meeting then they would waive the £170.00 balance. This seemed a good deal so off we trundled to whitebarrow in Cumbria. We didn't stay there as we have relatives nearby.

We arrived at 1pm, having arranged a babysitter and dog sitter at great expense. We was told that Ken was to look after us, he was a pleasant man, who explained that he had only been doing the job for two weeks ( sympathy vote in hindsight). He explained everything to us with the help of some of his collegues, just to make sure he got it right. We watched a DVD, and was shown how to use a computer DA my husband is an IT expert, he could have taught them! We were then taken around the sight to see some of the rooms, my husband noticed that one of the balconies was crumbling and the woodwork coming away from the wall.

We got back to the meeting room and then we was asked if we understood it, if we could use it etc, the meeting was then taken over by a very pushy scottish woman who went through the finances, we was then told it was going to cost us 10500 to upgrade to a sleep six unit in peak time. She also told us that the APR was 17.9% which decreased over time if you over paid. My husband started to smell a rat and started to ask some probing questions. They woman got quite snotty with him when he asked to see a copy of the contract before signing anything, she refused his request, so we left as my husband doesn't sign anything without getting the contact legally checked out first.

So all in all it cost us around £200 to get there arrange baby and dog sitters, and food. Plus they wasted 3 hours of my life. I have seen some on ebay for sale for 1500 but to be quite honest I dont think I will bother as I didn't like the attitude of the staff. I am going to report them to trading standards

bevd77

lucky me to have checked out this site...got the same letter this morning......was over the moon and about time i had some goodluck!....Looks like my good luck was having the sense to look on here!!!

woobrad

I've been reading everyone's comments and I have to say, I agree with one person earlier in the thread who said that it is not a scam.
The reason why I have this opinion is simple; I received one of these letters a couple of years ago and decided to pay the fee upfront with the promise of a refund if I was not happy with the holidays on offer.
I proceeded to take a short break in the Lake District with a friend and my little girl, then a week in Portugal with my partner later in the year.
Yes I sat through the presentation in Portugal. I didn't find them particularly pushy but they were definitely trying to sell me the product. I told them after I had listened that I was not interested in signing up and there was no problem.
When I returned from Portugal I rang the company and told them I was not satisfied with the holiday and wanted a refund. I received my refund within a couple of weeks with no argument or difficulty.
The way I see it is this; pay the fee, take the holidays then claim your refund when you return.

This is moneysavingexpert after all, I got two free holidays and a no quibble refund. I was very pleased with the result, so much so that I've signed up again this year

macgyver

I too received the letter about 1 year back and threw it in the bin after reading here.
I will take all the positive comments on the thread with a pinch of salt.
Note that all the posters have just a few posts, I smell of something fishy!! I might be wrong.