Holiday Points System

[tazbex]

I'm looking for any advice I can get. My hubby and I were recently talked into what we thought was a great deal. This was for the RCI points scheme, which we have previously avoided but we were given an offer we thought too good to refuse. The 'carrot' was that we take a trial period for a cost of £1995 which they said would be deducted off the cost of our points if we later decised to join the scheme. For this amount we would receive 2 separate 1 week holidays in Europe (flights and booking fees still had to be paid) and we also had to take a week in the Canaries to listen to more hardsell and again had to pay flights and booking fees. We would not have entertained this deal except that we were told our 'free' holiday for attending their presentation would be upgraded and that we could also change to longhaul and add another week for a one off fee. They knew from our conversation that we wanted to go to Kenya with the kids so they played on this. Anyway, when the info for the free holiday came through, not only were the additional prices for longhaulactually per person but the holiday we wanted in Kenya was not available except if we paid this company a booking fee to arrange it, then paid full price. I have challenged the company about misselling to us and they will not accept any responsibility. Unfortunately the info we were given about the free holiday was only verbal. Is there anything we can do?

 

This is my first post on the site and I'm keeping my fingers crossed someone can give us some hope of retrieving our cash. For info, the contract was signed on 22/7/06 with the advice that there was no cooling off period.

[rjstott]

What you can do depends probably on where this deal was concluded. If it is in the UK then 'trading standards' of the appropriate council might be able to help and perhaps there are elements of unfair contract terms.

 

Personally I would think you will get no satisfaction from trying to negotiate with this company and perhaps the simplest course of action might be to make a small claims actions for refund of your money based on their failure to meet their contractual commitment. It wouldn't matter that this was a verbal promise and it would be a judge's decision on balance of probability of who is telling the truth.

 

It seems a shame you actually paid money out as we have only ever wasted our time to receive worthless holiday vouchers in exchange for the big sell timeshare deal followed by the bargain basement, last minute opportunity.

 

Lets see what others think?

[jamesrouse]

here's there registered office

 

Name & Registered Office:

RCI POINTS LIMITED

20 BLACK FRIARS LANE

LONDON

EC4V 6HD

Company No. 03308467

[aardvark the lecturer]

Hi there, What country did you sign the agreement in? There are more rights if it was in the EU than in other places.

I seriously reccomend you read and digest all the info on the following link....

TCA - How to Cancel

 

I signed a contract to a holiday points system with sunterra and then forced them to refund all charges by following the info found in theese pages.

 

Good Luck!

[tazbex]

Thanks for the advice folks. Aardvark, I'm in Scotland. Will have a good look a the link you gave me, will psot an update if I get anywhere.

 

Thanks again.

[aardvark the lecturer]

Any joy yet taz?

[tazbex]

Hi aardvark, didn't really get anywhere I'm afraid, the company are stating that we are getting what we signed for which, strictly speaking, is true. My gripe is with the 'carrot' they used to get us to sign in the first place but, as this is a free holiday, they're not biting.

 

Best I got was the offer of an additional week so have accepted this as I can't see us getting anymore so might as well get what we can out of it.

 

Thanks for your help.

[aardvark the lecturer]

not only were the additional prices for longhaul actually per person but the holiday we wanted in Kenya was not available except if we paid this company a booking fee to arrange it, then paid full price. I have challenged the company about misselling [the phrase to use is gross misrepresentation] to us and they will not accept any responsibility. Unfortunately the info we were given about the free holiday was only verbal. Is there anything we can do?

 

This is my first post on the site and I'm keeping my fingers crossed someone can give us some hope of retrieving our cash. For info, the contract was signed on 22/7/06 with the advice that there was no cooling off period [this could in it'self be the deal breaker depending on what country you signed in].

 

Don't kid yourself that they have given you what they promised and it was the bad bad sales reps fault, they know exactly what kind of underhand tactics their sales reps use. The thing to remember is that this is like the bank charges, they will say no get lost all the way until they realise you are not going to give up before giving in. They lie about their products so what makes you think they would shy away from lying about YOUR rights!!.

 

It is of course your call but I assume this was an investment of a significant amount, which you will now be stuck with if you capitulate to them. Have you tried to use any of your points/weeks yet? One of the major reported downfalls of these schemes is the gross oversubscription to the service and lack of availibility. Think carefully before you decide to settle for it.

 

Good Luck.

 

I am absolutely not any kind of expert in this, my experience comes from having been suckered into one of these holiday points schemes a couple of years ago and sucsessfully getting out of it again. If you decide to reconsider and wish to PM me, you are more than welcome.

[tazbex]

I know you're right aardvark and I know they know the score too. The thing is I decided not to take it further, possibly incurring further costs with courts etc, because the amount wasn't too much in the scheme of things. Because this was a 'trial period' the cost was £1995 so, if we can even get a couple of weeks for four of us out of the 5 weeks on offer, then we won't really have lost anything.

 

I realise we might have problems with availability but we're both flexible in when we can get time off work so worst that can happen is we'd need to keep the kids out of school.

 

I really appreciate your help with this and I know I should probably fight a bit more but to be honest I was so angry with myself for falling for this and for them making me do so that it was having a really negative effect on me so I kinda needed to put it behind me. Had there been more money involved I definitely would have continued to pursue this.

 

Thanks again.

[tazbex]

p.s. aardvark I'm doing the banky thing just now so I might come back to you on that. Looks like you've had quite some success. lol

[aardvark the lecturer]

Not a problem,

ps. don't beat yourself up about falling for one of these, I did as well. They are VERY good at their job, and their job is to sucker us! Been there, fell for that too!

[jeystone]

Thanks for the link ardvark the lecturer I am going to try to just walk away from the 2 timeshares I own, which are as a matter of interest points with club la costa and 2 weeks in mexico. If I get any fees back it will be a bonus.

[kermit2482]

I wil;l just add here i think you have done the right thing by not trying to pursue this, i have just been taken to court by a company called ASSET LINK reference Sunterra, which i made a thread about but cant find it!!!!

 

Anyway i refused to pay sunterra as the product was totally missold to me and it has wended up costing me £4000 legal fees and £14000 to sunterra still which i also now have to pay 10.75% interest on, i am a ewell angry man and next time im on holiday and any of these reps approach me then look in as they will certainly get both loaded barrels from me, im now also black listed and why BECAUSE I STOOD UP TO THEM, TOSSERS, just a warning to the good folks on this forum!!!!!!!

[CMedinburgh]

There are various threads on Sunterra on the timesharetalk website (Timesharetalk Forum ) you are definitely not alone in having reported problems with them.

 

The RCI Points scheme works well for many people, but is not appropriate for others. Sadly, the companies that sell the scheme are not all as scrupulous as they should be.

 

However it is always worth separating the product from the people that have latched onto selling it. I am webmaster of a website for people interested in, or who own, RCI Points - MORPS - Members of RCI Points Systems - Introduction , run by a committee of owners in the scheme. Happy to help anyone with issues here!

[sunworshiper]

Contact Sandy Gray at Timeshare Consumers Association. He'll help.