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How free is a free holiday?

March 7th, 2006

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.

Office of Fair Trading - You have not won a free luxury holidayI 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.

Month
01268 555095 
0871 222 8028
June
9
6
July
16
9
August
21
2
September
20
1
October
18
1
November
73
0
December
24
1
Month
01268 555095 
0871 222 2566
January 07
111
46
February
107
145
March
143
3

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.

Categories: Misc Tags: ,
  1. Kelly
    May 26th, 2006 at 17:24 | #1
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows Windows XP

    Have just had the same phone call from 01258 555 095,same blah blah you’ve won first prize by completing a questionare in Walsall. Ring 0871 222 8028 to claim my free 5* luxury holiday, all expenses paid, all inclusive. Also if I ring within 15 minutes I will get £50.00 of high street vouchers. Sounded too good to be true and it seams it is. Lucky I checked the web first, so thanks!

  2. Jane
    June 29th, 2006 at 21:04 | #2
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows Windows XP

    I just wanted to thank you for this website – I had a call from the same people, asking me to ring 0871 222 8028 as I had won an all expenses paid holiday etc.

    All this despite when questioned I said no to being married – something which the woman told me was required…

    The guy on the phone told me to ring immediately, and he would call me back tomorrow to check I had rung the number. I told him not to bother, and I would ring as asked.

    However, I checked on the internet first, found this and many other websites saying how it was one big con (anything that sounds too good to be true invariably is) and saved myself what would have been a very expensive phone call.

    Thank you.

  3. Margaret
    July 1st, 2006 at 16:28 | #3
    Using Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.4 on Windows Windows XP

    I had one of these phone calls a few weeks ago. I asked them outright if it was timeshare and they denied it. I didn’t phone the other number, mainly because I was busy. I told my husband about it that evening when he came home and he said a workmate had had the same, had made the phone call and had been asked to attend a presentation at Bellevue in Manchester.

    The next day when they phoned me to ask if I’d rung the number they’d given me I told them I hadn’t and told them that I knew about the presentation in Manchester and that it was for timeshare. The caller just said “Oh, alright then.” and hung up.

  4. Tim
    July 1st, 2006 at 19:19 | #4
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows Windows XP

    Had one of these calls last year.
    I said ‘WOWIE, Ive never won anything like that. Whats the catch?’
    Told there wasnt a catch.
    Then I was told to go to a Time Share complex.
    ‘Do you have a regular income of £10,000 a year?’
    ‘Oh yeahhhh!’
    Does an invalid have that?
    ‘GOOD BYE’.

  5. jade
    October 21st, 2006 at 17:26 | #5
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows Windows XP

    Ian’s Note: I don’t want to be called biased, so here is a comment in favour of GVC, however, I would point out that Jade posted it from a Telewest IP address located, in guess where? Basildon, the home of GVC!! I smell a rat.
    She also came to this page by entering “01268 555095” into Google. Not something you would expect a happy customer to be doing.
    I’ll leave it to you to judge whether this is an authentic customer.
    P.S. The wonderful punctuation, grammar and spelling is all Jade’s.

    if you all could be bothered to spare 2 hours you would get your holiday .. i had the call i guessed it was timeshare but i booked an appointment anyway just to get my letter .. i got it .. i had it all in black and white and made a back up copy before i left just incase they tried to take it frm me .. it was a boring 2 hours but at the end of it i said no ands i still got my holiday? dont rele see the problem .. they told me and the letter stated no obligations and it was true .. holiday was quite nice as it goes .. took it a couple months back i chose where and wen i went .. in 13 months ill definatly be goin back to claim another one

  6. L watson
    November 23rd, 2006 at 19:29 | #6
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 7.0 on Windows Windows XP

    Just had a similar experience to all the deceived people above. Glad I checked the phone number out here. Scam now operating in Tamworth.

  7. Jason
    November 23rd, 2006 at 21:20 | #7
    Using Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.8 on Windows Windows XP

    Hello all, this is a great resource. I got cornered into doing a survey in the centre of Sheffield (where I work) a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, it didn’t take long, but I do remember the woman doing the survey not being very friendly and not making eye contact. Anyway, a couple of days ago, a call came through on the same number (01268 555095) and my girlfriend took the call as I was ot back from work. She asked to take a message and the woman at the other end just said she was called Christine (I think). She would not give the company name when asked. Anyway, luckily, I’m not really the holiday type, but I will inform my girlfriend, and look forward to taking the call myelf if they call back. I will take great pleasure in saying “Look, I’ve seen all about your scam on the web, so you can tell me what you like… bye… bzzz!” Thanks again for this great source of information. Seems they are getting into every town to do this cr*p surveys. Cheers, Jason.

  8. KAREN
    November 27th, 2006 at 19:40 | #8
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows Windows XP

    HI IAN

    MANY THANKS, HAVE COME ACROSS THESE SCUM BAGS BEFORE IN 1997. £7000 WANTED FOR POINTS WHICH BUY TIMESHARE WEEKS WHICH THEY WANTED TO GET SIGNED UP ON A HP AGREEMENT. IT’S NOTHING BUT PAY ,PAY, PAY, EVEN FOR THE SO CALLED ‘FREE FLIGHTS’, DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH.!!!!! EVEN WHEN WE SAID WE COULD NOT GO ABROAD THEY TRIED EVERYTHING TO GET US TO TAKE A BREAK IN THE COUNTRY TO ‘TRY THE FACILITIES’. WE SOON CHANGED OUR MINDS IN THE 14 DAY ‘COOLING OFF’ PERIOD, BUT THIS DID NOT DETER THEM, THEY WERE VERY HEAVY HANDED AND i HAD TO LIE IN THE END AND SAY THE MAIN WAGE EARNER WAS BEING MADE REDUNDANT JUST TO STOP THE CALLS. UNETHICAL CON ARTISTS THE LOT OF THEM.
    THANKS FOR THE WARNING THEY ARE ON THE PROWL AGAIN.

    CHEERS KAREN

  9. jenny
    December 2nd, 2006 at 13:41 | #9
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows Windows XP

    Saturday 2nd December 2006

    I have just had a call from a lady at Easy Travel on 01268 555095 informing me that after having answered a couple of questions in the High Street i have won a luxury holiday (pay for my own flights) and some vouchers. I just need to ring 0871 222566, the call will cost me 30p. Thanks to everyone for posting their warnings on the net.

  10. Vicky
    December 19th, 2006 at 20:33 | #10
    Using Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows Windows XP

    I wish I’d found this site before – I’m not sure who called me as it was a withheld no but I got a call telling me that after entering an online competition (which I had) I’d won 2nd prize of a week in Spain or Turkey with 7 nights hotel and flights for 4 people, all paid for. I had to phone a freephone no and quote a code. I was suspicious but couldn’t find anything about a free phone no on the net so I called it, but couldnt get thru at 1st. I tried another couple of times and finally got through, and surprise surprise, it was for a timeshare. Free flights and 7 nights self-catering for up to 4 people in Tenerife, Austria, Turkeyor Spain – I just had to pay £30 booking fee for each ticket and attend a presentation with my partner. I told them I wasn’t interested. I just hope it really was a free phone number.

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