Thread: Clubseasons?

Hi,

I got a letter through about a month ago from clubseasons (Seasons holidays), saying I had won a Club Seasons Membership with a value of £2950 in a prize draw. I ignored it cos I guessed it was one of these prize draws that everyone wins and is just a way for them to get you to buy a weeks holiday with them annually for £337 a year.
Anyway got another letter from them today saying I should call their audit office, pointing out that I do not have to pay the £2950 fee and that they are suprised they haven't heard from me.
Goes on to say that as a gesture of goodwill they will contribute half of the inital management fee due for my first holiday in 2007, and that they offer a 100% money back guarantee if I am not entirely satisfied with my first 7 night holiday.
They also say that new members for this month are currently being offered a free short break for up to 6 people, subject to availability at any one of our sites in the British Isles, to be taken befor end Feb 2007.

Anyway I want to know if this is a rip off or a genuine offer to a decent holiday company? Has anyone any experience of them? Whats the chance of dates being 'available'?

Cheers for any advice\info!

Nikki

I've just found this thread on Martin Lewis' site. It doesn't say to much but it may give you an indication of what it's about

clubseasons.co.uk - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

I googled them and they appear to be some sort of timeshare company.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I'll add a little to this. Season's management fees have been escalating recently. My mother has a season's membership which is on a 65 year contract. Although Season's advertise that management fees can only rise by no more than inflation, they reserve the right to make increases to cover repairs and renewals to complex's. They've recently to her that in addition to inflation, her management fees will be increasing by an addition 5% for the next 3 years, which will add approx £25,000 over the 65 year life of the contract.

She had signed up for addition weeks and her management fee has just hit £750 per annum, which has to be paid before you book any holidays in the year to which the mangement fee relates. She wanted to leave the contract to me in her will, but I calculated that with 3% inflation, she was commiting me to a contracted debt of over £120,000 which I've declined.

For anyone thinking of joining season's you have to look long term at how much, in reality, your "free" holiday is going to cost you in the long run.

I have received today one of these !! saying you have won a prize up to the value of £3750 !!! I know it is a con and they make you pay some sort of maintenance fee....but I am going to send this to trading standards as it sails pretty close to the wind on saying it is a competition or it is a 'prize'.....

We would like to set the record straight regarding a number of postings on this website by consumers who have not provided sufficient information and background to a number of promotions we have hosted on the web recently, nor have they actually enjoyed a holiday at one of our holiday resorts or put our money back guarantee offer to the test. We are sorry if some participants are disappointed, but it is also important that other participants are in possession of all the facts so they can make their own judgement, rather than relying on unsubstantiated rants. More than 500,000 UK households already own timeshare and a recent independent survey based on thousands of responses showed that the vast majority of UK timeshare owners are satisfied or very satisfied with their timeshare experience.

Here are the facts.
Seasons Holidays are one of Europe’s leading resort developers, with six luxury resorts in the British Isles and three in Europe. Each year Seasons arranges holidays for more than 75,000 customers. We offer both timeshare on a flexible, multi-destination basis, and also freehold luxury holiday homes and fractional ownership. During the last 12 months, we have built and sold more than 120 brand new luxury holiday residences in Scotland the Lake District and Cornwall.
We have been operating since 1996 and we are an English registered company. We work closely with our home authority trading standards office to ensure offers are clear. We are proud of the quality and value that we offer our customers and the valuable year round employment we are bringing to rural communities, without forcing up the price of local residential property for first time buyers. It is more selfish to buy an outright residential home for holidays, then leave it empty for most of the year and then take down provisions for a few weeks each year. All of our property offers encourage multiple use of holiday properties.
For the last 5 years our marketing has been structured around opt-in marketing for our products and we have indeed been offering the chance for consumers to win a Clubseasons timeshare membership worth £3750, excluding annual management fees which are paid by all co-owners and these are currently £367 per week. We are surprised to see comments on this website that we have in some way tried to hide these facts, since these facts were included very clearly in original offer page. The management fees include all bed linen, utility charges and VAT, as well as all the usual services required to maintain a portfolio of very nice residences and facilities. We offer a money back guarantee to winners who are not entirely satisfied upon returning from their first 7 night holiday.
Yes it is possible that some people may have had bad experience of timeshare in the past, when the trade was young and inexperienced. Our industry has by and large developed into a responsible and ethical group and most problems these days relate to non-property based discount travel clubs which have been set up to get around laws and code of ethics that our industry has adopted. We are members for the Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE Organisation for Timeshare in Europe - Home).
Our marketing is based on an opt-in basis without compulsory sales presentations and we are glad that the resort experiences sell themselves. We have generated opt in lists of more than 400,000 consumers over the last few years offering the incentive of the chance to win a timeshare (excluding annual management fees) as a means to attract consumers who may have wondered how to find out about resorts. Yes consumers are required to pay annual management fees for their share of the collective costs of running the resorts in the portfolio but anyone who has won a prize should note that more than 1000 clients have purchased the prizes on offer for more than £4000 per membership excluding annual management fees. We have given away nearly a 1000 memberships worth £3750 over the last 24 months: non winners have been offered the chance to enjoy a low cost inspection break in the UK or overseas without obligation to find out more about Seasons timeshare. In fact some of the winners have also gone on to purchase more weeks from us, others have decided to walk away from ownership without penalty and that is fine no product will meet the needs and aspirations of every client. We let the resort experience do the selling; we are a commercial organisation and of course we will always encourage customers to purchase more, and there is nothing to be ashamed about in being enthusiastic about a rapidly growing, asset based club that will definitely save members money on better quality holidays for whatever period they choose to remain within the club. We are truly unique in being able to offer to customers six very sought after destinations within the British Isles and even more overseas. I am pleased to say that more than 50 % of our sales last year were existing owners who have owned for 2 years or more deciding to purchase more, so it is clear that what we offer is very attractive to some consumers.

As stated before, the way it reads to say a 'prize' or a 'competition' is in my opinion misleading. And don't forget you ATTRACT what you market (AND the way you market it), and the fact that you market it it in this way is bound to be at best misunderstood at worst seen or perceived as some sort of [problem] when the 'prize' or 'competition' is NOT what it initially seems. The general public do not like to be in any way misled.

As the poster has said above in post #6 it doesn't become what appears to be good value for money !! And can become very expensive over it's lifetime.

I think Seasons holidays should allow themselves to stand out head and shoulders and answer all the individual points above as opposed to repeating what they have already stated. I've only ever seen unfavourable comments from customers on forums, I haven't seen any glowing references outside their own website ?

Seasons holidays response on this thread (and all the others) is just a copy and paste job. Im doubt they even bothered to read the threads.