Timeshare??

[leem5ki]

Apparently we have won a holiday the wife says. Received a phone call this morning from a Manchester number from a company called clc world travel centre all we have to do is turn up for a meeting near the Trafford Centre next Thursday and receive details and vouchers to spend in the Trafford Centre.

We would only have to provide spends and pay for flights.

Part of me thinks @#$/ yeah a free holiday, most of me thinks SCAM!!!!!

Anyone heard of this company and can advise.

Thanks

[IndigoLake]

Just had a quick look on Google and everything I've read says that they're a timeshare company. I'd steer clear to be honest.

[Quickenthetempo]

The flights and spends are what cost the money on holiday normally unless you stay at top class hotels. Which I doubt they will be providing free even if you face an afternoon of hard selling to earn it.

[UpTheBeehole]

From Tripadvisor...

We were called with an amazing offer of one week at CLC Paradise in Tenerife for £40 in exchange for about one and a half hours at a presentation. At the time I told the rep who called that we were not interested in buying into anything, we were assured this was not a sales promotion, they simply wanted us to go along and hear what they have to say, have a good time, and talk about them on our return.........

So this is what we have to say......

We very excitedly packed our bags and set off for our one week break. A courtesy shuttle bus was arranged for us from the airport to the resort at no charge (great!) and check in was speedy and the staff friendly.
Got to our room on the 5th floor, and what views we had!! Beautiful! However, two adults and one 8 year old and only one bedroom. Not a worry as our daughter got the sofa bed in the living room and was very pleased that she had a telly all to herself. The bed in the bedroom was as hard as a rock, I think we would have slept better on the sunloungers on our balcony!! And the pillows were not better! Not a worry...... Although small the kitchen was enough for our needs and the bathroom was big. And everything was clean!
We head off to the main swimming pool which was lovely, enough room for everyone, an abundance of sun loungers, good weather! Fantastic!
My daughter wanted to join the mini club as their programme for the week showed a Disco and Inflatable Fun in the pool on the last day. For 4 euros to join the club which gets the child a t-shirt too, not a bad deal! However, the "disco" was an additional 3 euros and there was music played on a little cd player in the club room and the kids got to ice a few buns!! Needless to say the fun in the pool on the last day did not happen!! I think this club is aimed more at 5 to 7 year olds.
We then recieved our letter telling us the presentation we were to attend would be on Monday, we would be collected at 10am, this was not negotiable so do not book any excursions until you know when your presentation is. When I told them that only I was going to go they insited that we all had to attend. So we were collected at 10am, taken to Zaccery's for breakfast and then off to headquarters for our presentation..............five and a half hours later!!!!!!!! It is not one and a half hours and there is alot of pressure to buy into the pyramid! When we told our advisor that we did not have any interest in what they were offering a senior negotiator was called in. Again we insisted that we did not want to "trial" any more holidays or hear any more about anything else they had to offer the very rude sales negotiator and told we would be black listed and never contacted again! Please be warned, we left our apartment at 10am and did not get to the pool side until 4pm......essentialy a whole day at the pool lost! Not great for kiddies. And it is very hard sell. They do pressure you to join "the club" and will tell you how much you will benefit the more you use it......membership is £599 per year.

On a positive note, the resort is lovely and if private accomodation were offered I would go again. All the staff were friendly and helpful, it was spotlesly clean. Even the loos by the pool side were cleaned regularly throughout the day.
We had a meal at Janice's which was lovely and only 36 euros for 2 steaks, a kids meal and a round of drinks. We thought that was good.
Sam's Pantry is very expensive so go down to the supermarket at the roundabout. It really is cheap and a taxi back up the hill is only 3.50 euros.
We also noticed that people ("regulars") would take their own drinks down to the pool side, so we bought our first drink of the day from Janice's so that we had plastic cups to use pool side and we took our own drinks down with us. Again, alot cheaper if purchased from the supermarket down the road. This was for both soft drinks and alchol.
And finally, there was no courtesy shuttle to take us back to the airport (is this because we did not join "the club") so we had to book a taxi which cost 23 euros!!

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserR ... lands.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserR ... lands.html

CLC have been doing timeshares for years, there are articles online from 2003 and 2003.

[Diesel]

Jammy sod, I never win anything.

[leem5ki]

CLC as they're precious operating name Club Le Costa have also been previously investigated and found to be illegal.

Seems they were prominent 2003 to 2013, not much information found from 2013 to now so it would appear they have had a restart so to speak.

[leem5ki]

Thanks for advice so far. Tempting as it is to go and speak to them think I might give this a wide berth.

[Targetman]

CLC have got my mobile no.from somewhere and now won't leave me alone. They ring me twice a day every day, have done for the last 3 months.
I don't answer their calls but they leave me voicemails.

I block their number but they just call me again from a slightly different one.

Stay clear of this company, I've heard some really poor things about them.

[charlyt]

They are notorious scammers.
Forget it or you'll regret it.

[evensteadiereddie]

Use your money to visit the places you and your family WANT to visit. Save if you have to.
Your tastes and interests will change over the years so don't get locked into the timeshare/ex-pat trap.

[clarethomer]

Stay well clear. As said above..

- They will try and dazzle you with lots of things to get you there. Free drinks/food/vouchers etc.

- They will then get you out there and take you a presentation which takes longer than they say.

- You will be systematically worn down by sales people and managers. You will feel like you haven't had a holiday by the end of it. Their tactics are high pressure to say the least and the sad thing is that its all done on credit for most..

- I know someone that bought into the dream which quickly came a nightmare for them. When you buy a timeshare, you buy points which gave them 1week per year. This cost them £19k. Sounds a lot but this was a guaranteed holiday for life which could be taken at loads of different locations across the world...

- the costs on top of this was annual maintenance fees and you still needed to book flights and transfers (which are often the most expensive part of the holiday).

They ended up giving their share back to CLC in the end. Maintenance costs increased, it was impossible for them to get in anywhere else and where they could, they would have to buy more points or pay more towards it. It wasn't sustainable for them. It was a very expensive mistake which came from the free holiday...

STAY WELL CLEAR

Here is an all too familiar story https://forum.holidaywatchdog.com/Times ... -9683.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[UpTheBeehole]

Retiree Andrew McNaught bought a timeshare in Gran Canaria for nearly £8,000 in the 1990s. His family rarely use it now because of his wife's poor health, but every year they still pay out 420 euros (£370).

"We looked at ways of coming out of [the timeshare]," he says. "[But] I spoke to a person last time we were there and he said there was a waiting list of over 600 people [wanting to do the same].

"[Then] I saw an advert in a daily newspaper and it said, 'We can get you compensation for your timeshare'. I told my wife, 'we have nothing to lose'."

Andrew met with the company, which promised to help him out of his current timeshare.

But using an intensive selling technique known as "hot room" they managed to persuade him to invest into a second.

What a thick f*ck!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42909256