tenthofjune

My wife got a phone call today (from 01268 555095), saying that because she had answered a questionnaire in Bolton, she had won first prize in a draw – a seven night luxury 5-star holiday to a European resort (Costa del Sol, Canary Islands, Portugal or the Balearics) in a ‘luxury’ self-catering apartment, flights included, but insurance would be required and there was also a GBP 34.50 admin fee payable per person on booking. The vouchers would also be valid for 18 months. Hmmm… since when does a 5-star holiday involve self-catering?

Being skeptical, she asked what the catch was, but was told “no catch”. “Isn’t this timeshare?”, “No it’s not timeshare”, a point that while truthful is not actually good – see later. All she had to do was ring GVC Travel on 0871 222 8028 quoting a reference number.

On calling this number (which according to saynoto0870.com routes through to another 01268 number – are we getting the picture yet?), she was told that we would both have to collect the documents in person from their ‘Manchester Exhibition Centre’ and bring ID, because they could not send them out in the post. At this exhibition centre there would be a presentation on what is available. Hang on, doesn’t this sound like timeshare?

Now the last time I booked a holiday, the tickets were posted to me. It wasn’t a problem, yet this company are claiming it’s not safe to post a voucher! Methinks the ID is required for signing a contract. And why do we both have to go to collect the voucher? Is it really that heavy, or is it to get us both there to be sold something else?

Also, if we’ve won first prize, surely we’re the only one to win first prize, but a presentation suggests several people would be there. They can’t all have won first prize!

I decided to do some digging on the internet (these companies must hate the internet) and found that although it isn’t technically a timeshare, it is a holiday membership club sold through pressure-selling presentations. It also appears that if you do sit through the hard sell and get your vouchers, then the accommodation is far from 5-star, the dates are restricted unless you pay for the flights which are then more expensive than you could arrange yourself.

Take a look at holidaywatchdog.com, Crimeshare.net, this post on scoobynet and an interesting post from someone claiming to be an employee of GVC (username secretagent):

…we phone people who take part in family lifestyle surveys in town centres, some of which date back to 2000. They don’t take no for an answer either which means calling the same person over and over. I actually was told myself today by a “customer” that it was a con and that she had looked it up, so i did some searching myself and have found out that it is conning people into timeshare!!! I work there and they never even told me and when i asked them they said “no!” So be careful people as they don’t even tell there [sic] staff that it is just one big con.

You can also see that the 01268 555095 number belongs to GVC, meaning that the original call came from GVC themselves – clearly a bid to create the illusion that the original caller was separate to GVC.

We’re not into beach holidays anyway. I don’t think we’ll bother going to collect our ‘prize’.

There is an interesting article on the Citizens’ Advice Bureau site, calling on the DTI to get tough on Holiday Clubs. Some interesting extracts:

People are ending up with holidays that cost far more than they would on the high street, that’s if they can book anything at all.

Companies offer prizes to get people to attend presentations, where pressure-selling techniques are used to push them in to buying holiday club membership. People are assured that it is not timeshare – it isn’t and this leaves them with less legal protection.

A CAB in south London gave advice to a couple who joined a holiday club and wanted to cancel after 24 hours. They had received phone calls and letters from a company saying they had won a ‘free’ holiday and inviting them to a presentation at a hotel in Croydon. They eventually decided to go, after being assured by the company that it was not about timeshare. They were pushed in to joining for £750 and paying a £100 deposit on the spot. As soon as they got home they wanted to cancel, because of the death of a family member abroad. The holiday club said it was not possible, as they had no cooling off period or cancellation rights.

They also offer some good advice:

If you win a prize or holiday which you need to attend a presentation to collect, be wary. Don’t try to claim it unless you want to spend several hours at a high pressure sales pitch for holiday clubs

Don’t be reassured by sales reps promising that it is not timeshare. You have far less legal protection if you are buying holiday club membership

Find out about extra costs before claiming your ‘free’ holiday – they often cost more than a high-street holiday, but offer less choice over dates and destinations.

I have also found a leaflet on the Office of Fair Trading Website entitled: Congratulations, you have not won a free luxury holiday”

I think one of the most important points from both of these consumer sites is this: Because of the timeshare scams a few years ago, the law was tightened to give more protection, but punters have a long memory and for most people timeshare still equates to scam. GVC proudly state that this is not timeshare and although they appear to be telling the truth, what they fail to point out is that you are therefore not protected by these timeshare regulations.

I have also found an excellent article on The Guardian’s website by a couple of journalists who went along to one of these presentations. This is well worth a read.

Search Engine Hits

It is interesting to note the number of hits I get on this post where people have searched for the 01268 555095 and 0871 222 8028 numbers (see table below) People obviously get the initial call, are suspicious and turn to the internet to check.

It would also appear from comments I am receiving that GVC have changed their name to Choose Travel (or are just using a different name) and are using a new number: 0871 222 2566. I’m also getting loads of hits for ‘choose travel, 0871, holiday scam’

UPDATE: 12th February 2007

It’s almost a year since I made this post, and I was simply recounting my experience with what we were told and my research at the time. Since then I have been surprised by the response I have received, both as comments and the continuing number of search engine hits for the telephone numbers, ‘timeshare’, ‘scam’, ‘questionnaire’ etc. – an obvious measure of the general public’s suspicions when receiving such a phone call.

UPDATE: 31st May 2007

Other numbers which now seem to be quoted include: 01268 498330 and 0800 4585625. The company name also seems to have changed again, this time to CLC (Club La Costa).

‘2minutedraw.com‘ is also being quoted by the initial ‘market researcher’.

You may also like to read this article on the Guardian website.