Is this actually worth anything or just a holiday scam?

colly7

oh this co phoned me tonight to tell me I had won a holiday .......... that time of year again!

funny how they lose interest in me when i say I'm not married, don't have a mortgage etc.etc

BBGK

7 years ago I bought a free hold, four bedroomed, three bathroomed house in Turkey, 700 metres from the beach for less than Seasons wanted for a months Timeshare. I can use this whenever I want because it's all mine all of the time. Great site, olympic pool and the annual maintaince is well below £200 for everything.

sunny-times

Im sure your house in Turkey is great value sounds very cheap to me. However I have just purchased property within the Seasons group which gives me a return on my investment. My husband and I are very pleased with the purchase. Staff were honest and the deeds for our property are registered with an independant trustee, so sorry but its no scam :j.

We are already planning our holidays for this year and will be spending a holiday at Seasons new luxury resort in Portugal with our own pool:rotfl:

All this and a return on our investment in 16 years time.

sunny-times

Oh and did I mention NO MAINTENANCE at all EVER :T and its a UK Company. To be honest I wouldnt trust a company who were based our of the UK you hear such terrible stories, such as promised low maintenance which either comes to NO maintenance done or goes up yearly. Properties are so expensive to maintain so unless they use fairy dust prices will be far more than quoted. We know this to our cost having been scammed in the past by a contract we couldnt get out of. That is until Seasons legal team sorted it out for us and took it off our hands.

We have just purchased this after much research so I feel I have to defend my decision. If anything goes awry I will report back in here, but at the moment just feel a few silly people who expected free holidays are now bad-mouthing a system they simply either didnt understand or couldnt afford.:beer:

bat21tiger

I laugh every year as I see so-called experts slagging off Seasons. I'll tell you guys what I suggest - this is so popular that some of our resorts get pretty well booked up - especially with the volcanic ash scare - I mean the UK ones - we have 2 in Cornwall - that I am HAPPY you guys aren't taking up the option. That will at least guarantee that I get 4 or 5 weeks (did I say 4 o5 weeks - well it could be 10 or 12 if I could get the time off) when I want to go - COZ YOU WON'T BE THERE taking MY weeks. On the other hand, the admin charge for 2 bed 4 person in October is about £60 (yes that £15 each, ) for 5 nights in the 5-star accomodation - I don't even know you, and I don't work for Seasons - why don't I book you and 3 of your mates/partner and kids whatever for a midweek break - for nothing - and let you see wht we love Seasons. Yeah, good idea, why don't I?
Nah, you'll still think it's a scam, oh well, I'm off the Clowance Estate in a couple of weeks, that down near Helston, and I'm not paying a penny.
Where are you going for your hols?

bat21tiger

BBGK wrote: »

7 years ago I bought a free hold, four bedroomed, three bathroomed house in Turkey, 700 metres from the beach for less than Seasons wanted for a months Timeshare. I can use this whenever I want because it's all mine all of the time. Great site, olympic pool and the annual maintaince is well below £200 for everything.

You mean you're stuck with going to the same place year after year?
My Seasons TS is linked to interval International which gives over 3,000 - yes 3,000 resorts globally including the 6-star resorts on that Palm Tree shaped Dubai resort. I can book an 8-person top floor luxury apartment in the Disneyland Orlando Resort for around £190 - that's not EACH, that's THE APARTMENT - 8 people = £24 each - plus your flights of course.
Try and get a 'package' holiday there for that price.
:rotfl:
I love and enjoy my Seasons/Interval relationship - and I can leave it in my will or sell it back at any time.

Bye.....

BARCA_2

We purchased the seasons 15 year deal over 2 years ago. We didnt use it in the 1st year as we had already booked an holiday. So we had 2 weeks this year and visited their hotel at Costa Teguise Lanzarote. At first sight I was not impressed - the pool area was much smaller than it looked in the brochure and id say the hotel was probably a 2 star rating. The area of Costa Teguise was also the most boring place id holidayed. It was about a mile walk into town but just a few mediocre restaurants and bars when you get there. Within 3 days we were bored silly and a little annoyed at the state of the hotel complex.
We visited the nearby resort of Puerta del Carmen (id guess 15 miles away) which had much more entertainment - bars, clubs, good restaurants, water sports, nice beaches. We then decided to pay for a hotel there for the second week. When I informed one of the seasons reps that I was unhappy with the hotel he didnt seem at all interested. I also asked if they could sell my timeshare using their computers at the resort. He just said I would have to sort that out back in england and walked off. Anyway we moved to the new hotel and enjoyed the rest of the holiday.
Back in england I contacted Seasons regarding selling the timeshare and they put me in touch with a company to sell (other than that seasons are not interested in helping you sell themselves). This company wanted payment up front to advertise the sale on the internet. Once bitten, twice shy and I wasnt going to be scammed a second time. I consulted a company who help people who are tied in to longer timeshare deals and want to get out - they informed me that I was lucky and only signed for 15 years and that the best option would be to try to return the timeshare to seasons as it was unsellable. This would avoid the ever escalating yearly maintenance charges. £250 the 1st year, £400 the next, who knows the next year. Seasons have accepted this return and ive written off the £3.5k I paid them up front. Seasons showed no interest in trying to resolve any problems here for me.
I also had problems with seasons on booking in this country and getting my prefered destination abroad.
If you only go on a couple of holidays a year you can get them as cheap on the internet.
Seasons may work for you if you are retired and want to go on a few holidays a year (boring ones) or if you want to cram your familly into 1 room. But I work for a living and want to enjoy the holidays I get each year.
Just a final note if you buy into the 50 year timeshare im not sure but you may not get away that easy - thay will want all those maintenance fees.

jenniewb

Why the sudden influx of newbies just to mention a scam?

Is anyone actually falling for this?

BARCA_2

I actually joined this site solely to let people know my experiences with seasons. Im really disapointed with them.
I find it a little suspicious when people try to defend them so readily.

Macalpeenie

It might be a scam but I "won" one of these menberships 2 years ago and intend to take advantage of it as much as possible. I didn't have to go to an initial UK seminar however, was invited to Whitbarrow Village, Seasons flagship estate in the Lakes for a 'welcome meeting'. The deal was that if we attended, we didn't have to pay next years maintenence fees. We booked in for the meeting and were given 1 free nights accomodation as a bonus. We ate at the pub at the bottom of the driveway and had a few drinks in the Whitbarrow bar which was OK with a live singer. We then booked our introductory weeks holiday and chose Mar De Luz in Portugal. We got a third off our fees, making it £260, and split this with another couple therefore paying only £130. We got flights for £80 each and hired a car for £200 for a week. This makes the holiday £195 per person. The accomodation was lovely and the staff were friendly. It is a little remote, a car was essential however, the quality of the accomodation was excellent, well worth the money.
Members also get a short break every year in addition to the weeks holiday. We intend to have 4 nights in Bath in January or February, costing as little as £40 per room.
We qualify for a free week for the first three years, the second and third years holidays have to come in a 'green week' (low season). As such, we will be booking a holiday to Spain for early December 2011. It won't be red hot but it isn't England either and without having to pay our maintenance fees, will be another cheap holiday. We will also then get another short break so may try and take that in May 2011.
All in all, if you are strong enough to say no and are prepared to take whatever they are offering, it can work and you can get 'free' holidays. If you can't be bothered with all this, book a package holiday!!