How to recover your money from Club Class Concierge / Club Class Holidays

If you have been conned by Club Class Concierge, you are not alone. Thousands of people were pressurised into signing up for a Club Class Holiday Club Membership often after deliberately long presentations accompanied by a very slick sales operation to make it all sound credible. Once you realised you had been scammed, to add insult to injury, in October 2012 seven Club Class companies went into compulsory liquidation, leaving many wondering if they will ever see their money again.

Club Class – The Scam

If clients already owned a timeshare, Club Class told them they would transfer ownership into their name and the client would therefore no longer be liable for the onerous and ever increasing annual maintenance fees – this didn't happen.

Clients were told that on joining Club Class they would have access to 5 star exclusive worldwide resorts at much reduced prices, typically less than half the usual High Street Price. However, once they’d returned home, paid the full balance and actually got their membership details they found that this wasn't the case at all. The website they had ‘exclusive’ access to in fact listed holidays at the same price or more expensive than those on regular high street travel agents or internet sites. What they had actually been shown at the presentation was a dummy website.

Club Class clients were also told that they would be repaid the cost of membership via a ‘Cash-back Rebate Certificate’, which would mature after 3-5 years. This system was designed to fail, customers had to adhere to incredibly rigid criteria for submitting their certificate and if they made even the slightest error they would be ineligible for a pay out (for example they emailed a copy certificate in JPEG instead of GIF). In addition, those customers who did fulfill all the criteria either got paid out a very small percentage of the face value of the certificate or in most cases, nothing at all.

So in summary, clients paid Club Class on average about £8,000 and received absolutely nothing in return.

Frequently asked questions by Club Class members:

1. Will we get any money back from Cashback / Reclaim?

Unlikely - anecdotally we've not heard of anyone getting any money repaid in the last 6 months

2.  Can we get our money back from Club Class?

Unfortunately not, as seven Club Class companies have been compulsorily wound up

3.  Why are we still getting requests from Club Class for our annual fees?

We don’t understand how this can be happening as these 7 Club Class companies are now in liquidation

4. How could we have been so gullible and fall for the Club Class Scam?

You’re not on your own; thousands of people were duped into parting with their money by Club Class. They have a very slick sales operation with sales people who are skilled at making this proposition credible. They put clients into a very pressurised environment, presentations often lasting 5-7 hours by which time, weary & bamboozled by all the information clients capitulated.

5. We have been approached by a company who are offering to sell our Club Class membership, what do you think?

No one can sell your Club Class membership, it has no value. If someone is contacting you, by phone, email or letter you have to question where they have got this information from, our guess would be that they are in some way linked to Club Class. In addition, never ever pay any money in advance. If you pay no money up front then you have got nothing to lose.

6. How can we recover our money lost from Club Class?

The only way to recover the money lost by joining Club Class is through Section 75 of The Consumer Credit Act 1974. Aequiam specialise in reclaiming money back from Credit Card companies for mis-sold holiday clubs such as Club Class. We have a very high success rate and are an extremely competent & professional organisation; we will take care of your claim from start to finish, keeping you updated throughout the process. Once a settlement is agreed it is repaid directly to you & it is only then that we invoice for our fees.

This post is written by Aequiam Limited, a company that helps victims of mis-sold holiday clubs and timeshare resale scams claim their money back on a no-win, no fee basis. You can find our more on our website http://incentiveleisureclaims.co.uk, email us on info@aequiam.co.ukor call on 01525 384422 / 384477

What is a Holiday Club Scam?

If you have been told you've won a ‘free’ holiday and were then pressured to sign a contract for a holiday club, often after a lengthy presentation then you are likely to have been a victim of a holiday club scam.

Unscrupulous companies will often approach unsuspecting tourists whilst on holiday, on the street or at the beach, offering a scratch card which tells them they have won a ‘free’ holiday. Others will phone you up out of the blue (with your details obtained illegally) telling you that you have won a ‘free’ holiday. You could also be sold non-existent holidays through sophisticated travel websites designed to give the fraudsters your card details.

If you decided to take them up on their ‘free’ holiday you will be told all you need to do is attend a presentation about a ‘fantastic travel opportunity’, often at a plush hotel. You will be told you need to stay till the end of the presentation and may also be offered champagne. The presentation however is almost always deliberately long and afterwards you are pressured into signing a contract for a costly holiday club membership. You will then find out your holiday is not ‘free’ and you have to pay for flights and other add-ons. What’s more the ‘holiday club’ you pay thousands of pounds for is often little more than access to a website offering hotel rooms at average prices.

If you are a timeshare owner you may also be cold called by a company offering to take your timeshare off your hands. As most timeshare contracts are sold ‘in perpetuity’ they are notoriously difficult to sell, so the offer is tempting. If you fall for this type of scam then realise, to add insult to injury, some fraudsters attack their victims a second time offering to claim compensation or get you out of the contract. They may even make up information to make it sound more genuine such as government funds are available, or direct you to a bogus website or legal representative. Again this involves taking money up front, and then demanding more from you once they have ‘retrieved’ compensation.

How to tell if you are a victim of a Holiday Club Scam

• If a company you have never heard off call you and know all about your personal information, including timeshare details. These will be obtained illegally and go against EU Data Protection legislation
• If you have been approached whilst on holiday with a scratch card offering you a ‘free’ holiday
• If you have been pressured into signing a contract for a Holiday Club, usually after a lengthy presentation. By law you are entitled to a 14 day cooling off period and it is illegal for a company to badger you and/or take a deposit during this time.
• You have been cold called by a company claiming to be a legal firm to help you claim compensation on mis-sold timeshare and holiday clubs.

What to do if you are a victim of a Holiday Club Scam

•  Report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040
• Call Tatoc Helpline on 0845 230 2430 for advice
• Check trustworthy online resources such as Mindtimeshare.org to see how others have dealt with the scam and confirmation of Bogus Holiday Clubs  
• Check Tatoc’s Cold Caller list to see if you have been contacted by an unscrupulous company
• Search for legitimate and reputable claims management companies online, such as Aequiam who will never cold call, or take money up front. 

This post is written by Aequiam Limited, a company that helps victims of mis-sold holiday clubs and timeshares claim their money back on a no-win, no fee basis. You can find our more on our website http://incentiveleisureclaims.co.uk, email us on info@aequiam.co.uk or call on 01525 384422 / 384477