cHALLENOR FREE PROPERTY SEMINARS ARE RIP OFF

CB1979_2

small claims court ASAP

and even a solicitor!

poppy10_2

They use very high-pressure sales tactics - while greedy punters have to accept some of the blame, those responsible for such courses should also be punished severely.

RHemmings

TBeckett100 wrote: »

small claims court

Isn't it going to be tricky given that they've signed a piece of paper saying something. Presumably that they've agreed to pay for the seminar and that the fees are non-refundable.

One of the best bits of legal advice I ever read (I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice :-) ) was to never sign a piece of paper which says something different from what you are being told. As (I read) a court of law will generally assume that the signed written document is "the contract/agreement" and ignore claims about what was said.

And I have been in situations where someone's been egging me to sign something, and my queries being answered by "don't worry about that, what's going to happen is .....".

pinkshoes

alataa wrote: »

i attended afree property seminar in birmighan in July 2007 by challener property. we were only four people after 30 minutes talk. we were told that they had discounted apartments in York. the discount was 15% and to secure one, one had to pay £1200. the other three guys paid . the spokes man encouraged me to pay sayieng it was aopportuanity of alife time i told him i wanted to think about it , but he coaxed me and eventually i took out my debit card and handed it to him after telling me that i can get my money back if i,m not happy with anything. i was given aform to sigh, i read the form and it said that the money i had infact paid was for atwo days course where they will reveal the secreats of becoming aproperty millionare in one year.
i then realised i had made the biggest mistake of my life. i demanded my mney back, the guy said the only way to get my mnoney back was to sigh the form which i did. since then i have written them five recorded letters requesting my money back , i have made several phone calls and each time i,m told the person responsible for sighnig my cheque is on holiday. please i,m just worning you i do not want anybody to go through this do not pay any of you hard earned cash to this company. they have many tactics of getting money from people, this is aripe off company. i later learnt the three guys who were in the room with me were employees of challener

So you handed money over before signing anything, and then after reading the terms and conditions which you disagreed with, you signed them?!?! Why did you not just call the police at this point?

I guess if you haven't got any will power and know you're a gullible person, then next time you get the urge to go to one of these events, don't take any cards or cash with you!!

I'm not sure you'll get anywhere with the law court as you signed the paper, but seeing as you've now paid for it, perhaps turn up for this two day course a couple of the biggest, tallest, evil looking muscular guys you can possibly find, secretly film it, try and catch them out saying something illegal, then report them to trading standards or the police.

TTMCMschine

The road to property millionairism & money for nothing is not an easy one.

Ironic that you've ended up with nothing for money - did you go to the wrong course?

clutton_2

http://www.singingpig.co.uk/forums/thread/337161.aspx

jojosa

We too experienced something similar with Challenor. We had to pull out of a deal after a change in our circumstances and were left with them owing us nearly £7000.

We tried letters (recorded delivery), emails and loads of telephone calls, although there was never anyone available to take our calls.

After 18 months we tried our solicitor, but realised it was going to cost a fortune. We decided to try the direct approach and turned up at their offices in York, much to their surprise. We outlined the facts and were reassured that they couldn’t understand the delay! Eventually, once they’d checked the facts, we were told we could have our money back, but the person who co-signed the cheques wasn’t in the building. They suggested we went for a coffee and come back in an hour.

I know what you are thinking! Would security let us back in? Would the office have closed for the afternoon? Well much to our surprised we returned to an apology and a cheque for £7000. Still being somewhat sceptical we deposited it straight in the bank and waited for it to bounce! It didn’t.:j

Throughout the morning, they we extremely helpful and polite. We didn’t have to raise our voices, get stroppy or argumentative. They obviously are not used to people turning up at their offices, while they try to do business with other clients! It was well worth giving up a day’s holiday.

Hope this helps.
Regards
Jojosa

PasturesNew

I'd have muttered something about not being a responsible adult and being overdrawn rather than let them get their hands on my card.

I'd have then acted irrational so I scared them and they'd be pleased to let me go.

Mutton_Geoff

They are clever because signing a contract on their premises cancels any cooling off period you may be entitled to and paying by debit instead of credit card removes a lot of the financial protection you may have had.

Unfortunately these kind of events prey on people's natural greed instinct, getting something for nothing or gaining a lot for very little. Life doesn't work like that and it's unfortunate that the only way they can make money is by these high pressure techniques. Maybe they are unemployed estate agents :rotfl:

Good luck in retrieving your cash.

geoffky

you should of done a charge back on your DEBIT card...