CON HOLIDAY

Sunday Mirror, Aug 19, 2007 by STEPHEN HAYWARD Consumer Correspondent

TENS of thousands of Britons are being conned out of cash with promises of cut-price holidays in exotic locations.

Victims are pressed into paying between pounds 2,000 and pounds 25,000 to join holiday clubs offering cheap luxury breaks which they say fail to materialise.

Middle-aged and elderly couples are the main targets of the holiday-club sharks who promise a lifetime of five-star hotels anywhere in the world at knockdown prices.

But instead of a dream holiday in the Bahamas or the Seychelles they are often offered low-grade hotels and apartments in the Costas or the Canaries which can be bought just as cheaply at any travel agent.

Even holidays closer to home don't live up to the billing. One couple chose a break at a castle near Edinburgh - and found themselves in an unheated flat on the outskirts of Glasgow in December.

Other buyers find they cannot choose holiday dates and are committed to annual subscriptions even if they don't go away.

Many victims are approached while on holiday by sales reps who give them scratchcards saying they've won a bottle of champagne or a free holiday. To collect their "prize" they must attend a presentation which turns into a high-pressure sales pitch lasting five or six hours.

Consumer watchdogs are so concerned about the hard-sell tactics used by some club reps that they are leafleting UK and foreign airports warning holidaymakers about the pounds 1billion-a-year business.

David and Lesley Sylvester, both 60, from Derbyshire, agreed to go on a cut-price pounds 99 week's holiday to Tenerife. As part of the deal they had to attend a five-hour sales presentation by agents representing a company called Club Class Concierge - and ended up handing over thousands of pounds.

"The next morning we recognised its implausibility and asked for our money back," said David.

But unlike timeshare sales, where clients can cancel within 14 days, the Sylvesters say there was no "cooling-off" period, and they couldn't cancel. The couple who ended up in an unheated flat near Glasgow had paid pounds 10,050 to join a holiday scheme called Estrella Dorada Mediterrenees.

When they tried another castle holiday, this time in Austria, they were taken to a rundown students' hostel in Vienna.

They took the holiday club to court in Barcelona where a judge ruled the couple should get a refund.

New EU laws announced by the European Commission will bring holiday clubs into line with rules that now protect timeshare buyers - but these won't come into force until 2010.

Steve Wright, 48, signed a pounds 5,000 deal with a company called Designer Way Vacation Club, after attending a sales presentation in Huddersfield.

He said: "I was fortunate because I found out in time and I've written off the pounds 950 deposit."

British members of the Designer Way Vacation Club, operating in the Canaries, were charged between pounds 8,000 and pounds 12,000 for a website "key" giving them access to "grand" discounts.

Instead, they mostly got normal online travel agencies whose offers they could have found themselves on the internet.

The UK's Office of Fair Trading reckons 400,000 Britons get sucked into holiday-club scams every year.

Sandy Grey, of the Timeshare Consumers' Association, said: "I would urge people not to go anywhere near these scams."

No one was available to comment at the Spanish HQ of Designer Way Vacation Club.

One couple chose a holiday at a castle near Edinburgh but found themselves in an unheated flat outside Glasgow in December

The same couple then tried another castle holiday in Austria..they were taken to a run-down student hostel in Vienna

HOW TO AVOID THE RIP-OFFS

THE independent Timeshare Consumers' Association advises would- be members to walk away if:

You don't get an unconditional 14-day cooling-off period.

Any attempt is made to take money off you during the cooling-off period.

You are not given the chance to take the contract away to read it before signing.

All the verbal promises made to you are not put in writing.

You are not given, in writing, detailed examples of places, times and prices available.

Are you the victim of a holiday club scam? Call us free on 0800 289 441 or email scoops@sundaymirror.co.uk

s.hayward@sundaymirror.co.uk