Whilst holidaying in Tenerife Thomas and Marion Black thought their luck was in when they were handed a scratch card which turned out to be a ‘winning ticket’. The winning ticket consisted of two prizes, a tablet and a relaxing break for two. Upon revealing these fabulous gifts, the street representative then offered to personally drive them to the office to collect their prizes.
Once in the clutches of the sales representatives and four hours, later they had signed up for a holiday club membership costing £4920.
Mrs Black, 65, said, “before we knew it we have signed up for a membership which sounded amazing at the time, I cannot believe now, that we fell for the scam. We were told we would only have to pay for our flights for the next 10 years as the accommodation costs would be covered via our membership”. Marion and her husband loved to visit Tenerife. So, without much hesitation, they handed over a £1000 deposit by debit card.
Upon their return to Scotland, the couple quickly started to be bombarded with calls from the company named ‘British Travel’, who were demanding the balance be paid in full.
Not sure how to proceed they contacted their local bank, (TSB) to seek advice. Marion said that she had her concerns about sending the transfer. However, in the end, the retired couple proceeded to go ahead with the transfer thinking the monies which they had sent would allow them to book discounted hotel rooms.
Unfortunately for them upon reading the small print all they had actually purchased were the rights to access a website which allows them to search for flights, holidays and accommodation, which would be valid for a period of 10 years. The terms and conditions also stated that no “promises, verbal or implied, are valid” and that the agreement can’t be cancelled.
Surprisingly, when Thomas a retired forklift driver, tried to book a holiday, the destination and dates he tried to book were not available. Marion, 65, said: “Added to that was the fact we had to pay for our own flights for any trip. This worked out expensive and made the holiday cost prohibitive.”
Using the holiday, they had ‘won’ they decided to head back to Tenerife, which cost them a total of £609 – £500 for flights and a £109 administration fee. Wow, what a fantastic prize to ‘win’.
Upon the couple’s arrival they were met by another sales rep who informed the couple that British Travel were conmen and the scratch cards were not legal, he also claimed he could get the couples £4920 back, however, to do this the couple had to sign up to his membership which consisted of shopping discounts and luxury holidays. The membership fees were £20,000.
Marion stated: “Thankfully, we managed to get away. It just shows you how easily this can happen. We want to warn others heading to Tenerife. We quickly discovered British Travel’s website was down and their phone number and email address were unobtainable”.
TSB commented: “We’re sorry to hear about what happened to Mr and Mrs Black. Our No.1 priority is to protect our customers’ money. When someone wants to transfer large sums, we always ensure our customers are comfortable with it before making the arrangements.”
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk