Club La Costa - sound or con?

[mustang67]

Hi there, sorry you are another victim of the ' great ' CLC experience.

The ' Misrepesentation ' letter is basically setting out the misselling of the CLC product.

It must relate to what you were actually told at time of signing .

Provide both the ' promise ' and the ' reality '

In case where you have not been able to test out a 'promise' it would be reasonable to say ' we believe ' or ' we understood ' under the reality column.

For more details go to the TCA site ( Timeshare Consumer Association )

Once you are there, click on the 'Help & Advice ' then go down to Buying Timeshare (another box opens ) then click on misrepresentation.

After you have read that page, at the bottom you will see TCA advice click on the highlighted Consumer Credit Act 1974. That will take you to more info.

Hope that gets you there as I am hopeless at doing links !!!!!

 

Basically when I sent my letter I just listed all the broken promises

ie

You can get holidays when and were you want Lies

All accomodation is 5 star Lies

No extras to pay Lies

 

The list goes on, explain what the lies are etc.

 

As I have said before I have not paid anything for several years now.

GE (after having sent them the letter ) have sold the debt to a Debt Collecting Agency (DCA)Sent same letter to them also and at the moment am at a stalemate with them. They keep asking for money but I keep refusing to pay. It does slow them down when you send the letter and they will still refuse to take responsibilty but do not be put off.

 

As I see it GE have sold a VERY large debt to a DCA so they must know deep down that they are on to a loser trying to enforce any payments so they have passed the buck to someone else.

 

Anyway get those letters sent off and let battle commence!!!!

There is a phone No on TCA site if you want further advice.

Good Luck keep us posted :)

[mustang67]

To Millington4341

There is also a large thread concerning CLC (28 pages ) on Money Saving Expert .com Go on the forum called ' Praise Vent & Warnings ' then look for 'Warning Club La Costa ' have just bumped it up , so should be near top .

Edited December 15, 2009 by mustang67
spelling

[Millington4341]

Thanks for that info - top drawer. This is the first time I've felt positive about this thing for ages. I will get those letters out and join the queue.

[craigiewicked1]

Hi all,

 

Club La con is our pet name for this company, We like so many of you were duped into buying a dream that has turned into a nightmare. I have stopped paying GE Money and CLC and am being bombarded with the usual crap, as a lot of you will be in the same possision your credit rating will suffer but you write to the agencies concerned and explain you are in dispute with the comany involved and they have a legal obligation to investigate, they request a reply from the company within 28 days and if not recieved the offending mark is removed by the AGENCY and not GE money.

Any way this is a battle and they wont give in easily but if we all stick to it we will win, good luck all and i will update you on my progress.

 

cheers

 

craigie

[mustang67]

Hang on in there. This is one that we are going to win.:)

[Millington4341]

Hi All,

 

Just to say - the Timeshare Consumer Association were indeed very helpful, and well worth contacting if you want clarity over what specifically to do next. There will be a fight, no doubt, but none of us need feel we're on our own against this mob. Phoning the TCA reaffirmed this feeling.

 

Good luck in 2010 as this saga pans out.

[solana]

Hi,

i am new to this forum and am relieved to see that we are not the only ones in this nightmare, after reading all of the posts my partner and I have decided to ring the timeshare consumer association, then we will stop payments. We purchased about 2 years ago, we are gold members, and have been on a few holidays with them, the first one we purchased with our points was in Spain, Costa Del Sol, the accommodation was not at all like our induction week, we have also been to Hustyns, Cornwall and Appollonium resort, Turkey, the resort shops and restaurants are way way over priced.

Good luck to everyone in this.

[toprobroy]

What is the Timeshare Consumers Association Telephone number please!

[Millington4341]

Timeshare Consumer Association contact details:-

 

24hr helpline 0901 607 0077

 

Direct Line: 01909 591100

 

Fax: 01909 591338

 

Web: Timeshare Consumers Association - "TCA"

 

 

Contact: Mr Sandy Grey

[scowler56]

The site you want is Timeshare Consumer Association (TCA)

On there you will find contact No. Just tell them your situation regarding CLC. Was told last week by them that action could take place later in the year. The sooner the better!!!

Hi Mustang

Just found this site and am relieved that there might be some light at the end of tunnel!!

My wife and I signed up for silver membership last January 2009 and paid approx six installments up till we went to Tenerife on the so-called freebie holiday where we upgraded to Gold but on our return we cancelled agreement and stopped paying the BPF as it became obvious in Tenerife that this was definitely not as good as they make out!

After hundreds of calls we now are at the stage where BPF have put the matter in the hands of a DCA (Mercers) who have sent Notice of Default letter & text informing me that one of their representatives will call round if we don't contact them immediately!

after reading most of the postings I guess the next step would be contacting the Timeshare Consumer Association & sending misinterpretation letter?

I would appreciate your comment/advice if you feel you can help please.

thanks

[toprobroy]

I agree. I just wanted to check it was Sandy's site.

TATOC often tout themselves as being the Support Place for the Consumer, but I can't really fully accept that, when they are Funded by Some of the Resort Developers, Resorts and Membership Organisations that have Links with such organisations.

 

Consumer Advice, the Governments Service, will direct you to TATOC, so I have some concerns about that and I'm writing to the OFT to bring this to light.

 

Sandy has been helpful to me over the years and I've met him as well, as I've been seeking advice on how I may tackle Club La Costa. As I run the Club La Costa Members website on Board Message then I can at times have difficulties that I would like advisement for. I will add that our site is nothing to do with Club La Costa, but entirely for owners of CLC Products.

 

I'm also a Director, Elected by the Members, of the Club La Costa Options Points Club, and I do come into conflict from time to time at the Management Meetings. The Options Points are sold no longer and the Membership has less than 200 now, but my own Members Site has over 3100 members now and is still growing. I hope to one day, use the influence we have in Numbers to change the running and marketing of the club, to a model that does not associate itself with Mis-Selling and Mis-Representation. I know from the discussions with many members, that this still goes on, but the evidence is difficult to get. We need CLC to have a better Code of Practice, or for International Regulations to ensure that Sales put their information into writing, giving people a chance to cool off and before they make any non-refundable payments.

[toprobroy]

We simply do not know how to surrender our weeks timeshare!

requests for the constitution have gone unanswered.

We do not know what to do next.

Hopefully these will help. I got them from the CLCMembers Website Board Message

Because CAG Translates my website address, read this phonetically. doubleyou,doubleyou,doubleyou,see,el,see,members, dot,co,dot,uk

constitution.pdf

paradisemanagmentagreement.pdf

PClubChanges.pdf

[solana]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd update you on our situation. We sent our gross misrepresentation letter to clc and ge money, we have had a letter from ge saying they are going to look into it, and now i have received a letter from clc more or less saying they have done nothing wrong, addressing my points, point by point and enclosing a note about the chairman of the tca, then finally saying they are unable to consider our request for a refund of our membership, and that they still want this years management fees.

Has anyone else had this kind of correspondance? Be great to hear from Mustang67 to see how they are getting on.

[toprobroy]

This is normal. They are pretty watertight on their legal side.

Your only hope is whether you were MisSold and you'd have to prove it.

I would talk to TCA, as I believe they may be involved in something about Mis-Selling.

[Millington4341]

Hi Solana,

 

Received pretty much a carbon copy of what you described, including a very disparaging piece about the TCA - naturally.

[natalienjoe]

hi all, we 're in the same boat, been missold, wrote telling them so, received the same letters back and owe thousands to ge money who have now said that they have sold the debt to a company called LINK. Has anybody else had this? Is it legal as we didn't make any contract with them?!

[toprobroy]

Hi

 

I would be curious to find out who told you the information about Link. Do you have someones name on this, and did they confirm it to you in writing.

If you had a contract, surely you would have had a contract. Ask them to send you a copy of what they are basing their action on. If there is no legal paperwork, then you have nothing to fear, but get them to confirm this to you writing as well. !

[majka]

Hi all

 

just to update you briefly - TCA have finalised arrangements with a manchester based law firm who may make a claim in class court on behalf of a compensation group, the court action would be against banks in respect to CLC. The more people the bigger chances for the court action. There is a questionnaire on the TCA website which you can fill out and send back.

 

ps - mustang, are you still there ?

[toprobroy]

We've also informed all our Club La Costa members...all 3172 of them!

Not many are taking it up and according to our Survey only 50% at the moment, felt they were mis-sold. however, only 3 of them felt they had evidence. The rest say they didn't feel they were mis-sold. Quite interesting, as I thought it would have been more. We shall see how this pans out. However, I suspect that it will be more to do with the way the Finance was sold, that the Solicitors are looking at. We shall see! :-0

[Folkiedave]

One think is for certain. A debt collector and a court bailiff are two different things.

 

There is plenty of advice on here about dealing with debt collectors BUT- they have no powers no matter what they say.

 

To make a difference to your credit rating or whatever there has to be a county court judgement against you then you don't pay it. So at least wait (and ignore anything else) until you actually get court papers.

 

Take a look on the Parking Notice thread - much the same advice applies here.

[MCANNEY2K]

What is the Timeshare Consumers Association Telephone number please!

Would like to hear from anyone regarding club la costa we have been shaffted much the same as i have read on the threads would like to hear any updates anyone has please:confused:

[MCANNEY2K]

We would join your group effort against clc as we are also in finacial trouble and can't afford holidays due to dept to maintenance fees and ge money HELP

[redkt102]

hiya all

has anyone had a notice of non payment of maintence fees so now thay are putting it in the hands of the bailiffs

i did explain that i was giving up my timeshare in november last year

has im now disabled and cant work and my wife is now my carer so has also had to give work up

the snotty woman from clc said shell inform the bailiffs to get the money

can these people do this

or is there anything we can do about it

ty kt

[Millington4341]

Hi,

 

To McKanney2K: If you want to join the action group this is what you need to do (and immediately) :-

 

Firstly, write to CLC Head office in Malaga stating that you are cancelling your membership owing to 'Gross Misrepresentation'. Enclose an itemised list of every reason that you believe you were missold. Send by recorded delivery. Then ignore any future correspondance from them - they'll deny all your allegations and threaten action. (Yawn)

 

Secondly, write to GE Money saying you are cancelling your membership (give CLC and GE ref numbers) under the Consumer Credit act of 1974), and include the list of misrepresentation examples, and also tell them that the Timeshare Consumer Association are aware of this correspondance.

 

Thirdly, write to your bank, cancelling your direct debit, and enclosing all the 3 documents above.

 

 

Finally......

 

Go to the Timeshare Consumer Association website, ( Timeshare Consumers Association - "TCA" ) and fill in the questionnaire that's on it. Linder Myers LLP, a law firm from Manchester are acting on behalf of what is becoming a large group against CLC. So go to the home page, click on 'here', then on 'Club la Costa' (both links are in yellow) and that will take you to the questionnaire page.

 

Your participation in this action must be entirely for reasons of misrepresentation (1974 Consumer Credit Act), and NOTHING to do with any financial hardship. However true that may be, that is not a platform for any action against CLC. The recession isn't their fault. This is about what they promise against what they deliver, and the number of people in our 'boat' is many hundred.

 

Don't worry if you can't prove things were said to you in writing. Just make sure you put something into every box. If it was just your word against CLC, the courts would have a problem , but it won't be just your word.

 

Do this very soon, as Linder Myers will be deciding which people qualify. The TCA believe most members will qualify - IF they fill in this form, and soon.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Timeshare Consumer Association contact details:-

 

24hr helpline 0901 607 0077

 

Direct Line: 01909 591100

 

Fax: 01909 591338

 

 

For Redkt102 - Folkiedave has some links in his posts that explain more about debt collectors. Don't worry.

 

In fact, don't anyone worry. What good does it do?!

[MCANNEY2K]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY WILL DO AS YOU SAY I AM HOWEVER VERY WORRIED HARD NOT TO BE... THANK GOD I AM NOT ALONE IN THIS THOUGHT THERE WAS NO WAY OUT ..... WILLING TO JOIN ANY GROUP ACTION......