Fincas S Pedro y S Pablo in Tarragona

An alert goes out for a supposed Real Estate office in Tarragona, Spain under the name Fincas S Pedro y S Pablo.

A cold caller from Spain, with great news as always when they tell the timeshare consumer they have a buyer lined up for their timeshare.

This company with a Spanish name, pretends to be in Tarragona on the address: PlaÇa Catalunya 4, 43007, Tarragona, Spain

No website, unfortunately but they do have an email address ventas@realtyagent.com You can also call them on a Spanish mobile +34 698 734 722 or fax them on 0701 0021 727

This company is one of those who have elaborated the pitch thoroughly and after the initial call they send off the paperwork by email. Paperwork that looks very professional and official as it is even written on Government paper with stamps all over.

The person calling was Lee Warning, but his secretary Kirsten de Vries kindly sends the paperwork signed on his behalf.

A bit cheeky though that they pretend to work by the European Directive which stipulates money should be held in an escrow account. Does it?

They also add a stamped form which confirms the buyer has already deposited the money for the purchase. All the details of the buyer are on the form, shame these buyers always live in a different country where they speak a different language!

The Escrow account is not only for the money of the sale, they also request a 9% of the sales price to be paid by the seller into this account (!!) prior to the sale..

Hold on, that’s an upfront fee!

Even more surprising is the fact that this “Escrow” account seems to be in a bank branch situated in Malaga on the Costa del Sol. Wow, that’s a long way from Tarragona!

Research has shown that there is no such real estate as Fincas S Pedro y S Pablo in Tarragona handling timeshare sales. Add this up to a cold call, guaranteed sale, upfront fees and a bank transfer to an individual in a faraway place….let just say we don’t recommend dealing with this company!

Have you been called by Fincas S Pedro y S Pablo from 0034 698734722 ?

Do let us know!

Consumer Matters

Cold callers Consumer Matters are offering advice for those who have been mis-sold and can help with a refund claim.

That sounds good! They have a website http://www.consumer-matters.com which was registered on 28/11/11.

Their contact details are a telephone number mentioned on the website: 0203 3840692 and a fax number which shows in the paperwork 0203 384698

Their Email is admin@consumer-matters.com

On the website there is loads of information and after the initial (cold) call with the timeshare consumer they also send through informative documents. In these documents they insist that their advice is free, so why not give them a call?

What is mentioned as well is that once you send the paperwork through and they feel you have reasons for a claim, they will tell you the costs involved…

What the website doesn’t tell you is where they are actually based and neither does it provide a registration number from the Companies House, details which should be on a website as per the regulations.

In the documents send to the consumers a note of caution is also added to the information:

“There are a number of businesses and ‘law firms’ passing themselves off as nongovernmental organisations that purport to govern and police other timeshare-related businesses as well as advise timeshare owners. Some of these are: TATOC, OTE, RDO, TCA, ITRA and Ramirez & Ramirez – although there are others. These are all privately funded and are NOT part of any government or official body. In the case of TATOC and the RDO (who also use a website called Mindtimeshare) these businesses are funded entirely by timeshare resorts and points providers – some of whom are currently the subject of litigation, themselves.”

Wow, that is Consumer Associations such as RDO and TATOC mentioned in one go with companies such as Ramirez and Ramirez and ITRA…that is scary! Not because of the warning itself, but the fact that they do not clearly see or make a difference between those providing help and advice for free and others who we know from this blog (and other forums) have taken a lot of money from consumers without result…well what can we say?

As stated above, this company appears to be new and we are still investigating about what they exactly do and the results of their services.

The fact that they cold call and their website lacks information which should be there as per the law has made us decide to publish this article and we kindly ask those contacted by Consumer Matters to tell us their experience!

Financial Associates Ltd and Ownership Advisory Line..

Another company has been brought to our attention called Financial Associates Ltd who uses the pitch of the company reclaiming the Reclaim money of consumers and having money waiting to be paid out.

This company cold calls consumers, and the agent calling gives out the company details as being:

Financial Associates Ltd
Address: 40 GOOSEBERRY HILL, LUTON, BEDFORDSHIRE, LU3 2LA
Phone: 01183282856
Company Registration Number: 04974251

And in order to verify that they are for real, they even give out the details of the Ownership Advisory Line on 02032865384 to confirm that Financial Associates Ltd is genuine, and also to contact Companies House.

This pitch very similar to another company, Asset Accounting Services.

An alert consumer did indeed call all the numbers given, but also looked up the contact details of the company called Financial Associates Ltd, which is actually based in Cricklade, so not Luton (!!) and called them directly. And surprise surprise, they know nothing about anybody of their company in Luton and is certainly not part of theirs!

Financial Associates Ltd also requires a security check through buying UKASH vouchers and in order to make sure these vouchers are for real they request 10 digits from the 19 digit code. This to give the consumer the impression their voucher cannot be cashed in, but nothing of that is true as the other digits are related to the country code and yes, the voucher can be cashed knowing the other numbers!

Have you been called by Financial Associates Ltd with phone number 0118 328 2856 or have you been told a similar story by another company?

Please let us know!

ETOAC Ltd, a Legal Service?

ETOAC Ltd has started to mail out letters to timeshare owners in which they present themselves as supposed Legal Advisors.

They try to make the consumer believe that with a “recent” law in Spain brings legal right for timeshare owners to have their contract declared null and void and these owners will be able to recover their money.

It is not the first time doubtful legal advisors try using this for their pitch.

They refer to a law from 1999 where it was stipulated that a cooling off period of 14 days should be honored for all timeshare purchases. These laws exist but what isn’t true is that people who purchased before this date can claim their money back based on this law!

ETOAC Ltd offers to pursue the procedure through on a no-win-no-fee basis with no up-front fees or Court costs payable by the consumer. The letter states also that administration fees are fully refundable if the timeshare owner has no claim but does not ask for anything more than the return of brief details of the timeshare week(s) concerned.

So no-win-no-fee but there is an administration fee? The actual form they ask the owner to fill in for that purpose does refer to a £295 admin fee so the inference is that the matter will not proceed without that payment!

There is no explanation in the letter about where they obtained the timeshare consumers’ details.

And who is ETOAC Ltd anyway?

On their letter headed paper they display an address in the UK which strangely enough seems to be a post box: PO Box 1221, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 9PR

They are registered at the UK Companies House since March 2011 under the number 07549756 and with another Address in Warrington: ETOAC LIMITED, 3 Freckleton Close, Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire, WA5 2TH

Director and administrator of this company is Robert Woosey

So there is obviously not an office. No accounts have ever been filed and yet again for 2012 are overdue.

Their telephone number is 0845 307 6288

Our investigations reveal though that most probably they are based in Spain as we have clear indications that ETOAC is connected to other dubious Timeshare Resale companies based on the Costa del Sol in Spain under the name Avantgarde Management and AVG Holidays. Companies who were under police investigation in the past years.

Seen the above we certainly do not recommend to have any dealings with this company.

Have you received this same letter from ETOAC Ltd or maybe a call from 08453076288 ?

Please let us know!

European Resort Resales or shall we say Half Moon Holdings?

New Season, new names, that is what Half Moon Holdings must have thought when deciding to change their name to European Resort Resales.

This week we started to receive inquiries through different sources about the cold calls from this company called European Resort Resales.

Consumers receive calls “out of the blue” from a lady called Sylvia Gerrard who apart from having access to the consumers personal data, also seems to know they have been defrauded before by other dubious resale companies.

Sylvia Gerrard explains that European Resorts Resales were Advisors / Consultants who specialized in finding buyers for properties. She adds that they were a European based company but she is based in London and has been employed in the industry for a number of years.

For the moment we don’t have a website but the contact details are:

Tel Number: 0844 8228128 and to speak to Sylvia, Extension number: 3941

Although it looks like a name change all the way through, what hasn’t changed is their pitch and the fact that for the resale they will require an upfront fee.

Question here is why this name change? Maybe it all got too hot under Half Moon Holdings feet? Maybe their credit card company isn’t happy with the tremendous amount of refund claims they had to process over the past year, all based on the same fact that people were mis represented?

Who knows!

So please be aware of this “new” company European Resorts Resales from 08448228128 and do let us know when this happens!

yourtimeshare@hush.com

URGENT ALERT! OH Control Account requesting outstanding maintenance fees!

A very serious complaint has been brought to our attention regarding a mailing received from a company called OH Control Accounts, or OHC Accounts.

This company is doing letter mailings to timeshare consumers, claiming that they have outstanding fees for their timeshare week(s) which need to be paid urgently.

The letter contains the timeshare consumers personal contact details and timeshare ownership. Alarm bells started ringing with those who sold or surrendered this membership some time ago and are no longer owners.

OH Control Account requests an urgent payment and even provides in the letter the full bank details where the consumer should transfer the fees. This is a bank account in Ulster, Ireland.

They also provide a contact number 0845 649 2988 and an email address for the lady in the Recoveries Department called Anita Bouwman and her email is hanniganacc.control@gmail.com

The letter looks very official and genuine, more even because all company details are on there and this company seems to be registered with the UK Companies House and OFT

This is though certainly NOT the case! The details on the letter are taken from a genuine company called Control accounts, on the same address but with a totally different phone number, no bank accounts in Ireland and certainly not a Gmail account for contact!

The genuine Control Account company has reconfirmed with us that they are aware of this scam and it has been reported to both the Police and the OFT.

If you have received a letter from the fake OH Control Account requesting a payment for outstanding fees.

Please let us know!

Inversion Refund Services, an update

This week we seem to be very busy on the blog with comments about Inversion Refund Services. The comments placed seem to be written to create certain confusion about the real intentions of this company.

Of course we are looking forward to receive positive comments, but the same as we verify all facts about a company before placing a blog, we also like to verify the comments before publishing them and knowing they might confuse the consumers.

So what do we know about this company?

Inversion Refund Services cold calls and offers a mediation service to claim the money paid to timeshare companies and for this service they ask an upfront fee of £395

One of the issues they discuss with the consumer is that they file complaints on the website http://www.econsumer.gov a practice we have seen before with other companies and which is no guarantee at all about this company!

They claim to be purely a mediation company.

At the time of the previous article Inversion Refund Services did not have a website. Now they do, although it doesn’t really add a lot of new information to what we already knew about them.

On the web http://www.inversionrefundservices.com/ they still do not supply the UK House Registration number (as they are not registered) , but they do indicate as a business address, a business center in Leeds, Building 3, City West Business Park, Gelderd Road, Leeds, LS12 6LN, business address also shared by by Mediation Solutions Ltd.

Neither do they mention their connection with another very similar company also mentioned on our blog; Travel investment Administration, another Mediation company claiming to be based in the UK but with satellite offices in Spain, Tenerife.

Inversion refund Services does cold calls. There is no way to get the personal details of a timeshare owner anywhere, unless you obtain this through dubious sources.

Inversion Refund is asking for an upfront fee.

Inversion Refund Services is connected to other dubious companies.

From our point of view as seen above, it is impossible for us to recommend this company to the consumers and certainly ask for precaution when dealing with Inversion refund Services.

UTS, Ultimate Transfer Services a resale company?

A new resale company by the name of Ultimate Transfer Services or UTS has been brought to our attention recently.

This company registered their website http://u-t-s.net/ at the end of March 2012 and as per this website they seem to be based in Mahon, Menorca, Balearic Islands.

On the website which lacks of any information about the company itself, there is neither a telephone number for contact and it all goes through a contact form.

But once they are talking to the consumer they do give out a telephone number which is:

0845 8620457

Ultimate Transfer Services claims to be “brokers” of the timeshare resale business and re-assure that all their employees have many years’ experience in the timeshare Industry.

Real shame is that they ask for an upfront fee though….which goes against the Timeshare Directive and as an experienced resale company they should be aware of this.

On the web they do mention something about the payment:

“Guarantees are placed with Third party service providers through Visa or Mastercard, this ensures that completion runs smoothly and that we only work with serious sellers and Buyers.”

Apart from the fact that asking for an upfront fee goes against the law, please note that when a payment is taken by a “third party” the bank will make a lot of problems at point of a refund request. If claiming a refund is not that easy as they say, having paid a deposit to a company which is not the same as UTS the bank will actually refuse the refund claim until you proof the connection between the 2 companies! So please be aware of this.

Have you been contacted by UTS – Ultimate Transfer Services from 08458620457

Please let us know.

Timeshare Relief and Unleashed Deed Services Ltd appointment for timeshare disposal..

You may have been called already by Timeshare Relief, as they are cold calling timeshare consumers who are looking to dispose of their timeshare. In order to do this, Timeshare Relief will have to make an appointment for you to meet up with a consultant who can give you all the information.

Timeshare Relief has a website http://www.timeshare-relief.co.uk which provides very basic information, and lacks all information one would look for such as proper company identification or address. The only thing on the web is a phone number 0203 286 9115 and an email admin@timeshare-relief.co.uk

The appointment is made with an agent from Keld Property Solutions at Atlantic House, Imperial Way ,Reading, RG2 0TD and contact phone number: 01189 036662

We previously mentioned Keld Property Solutions on our blog connected to another company but with a very similar way of working: http://wp.me/p1kmoi-fv

The paperwork that is sent through though is all in name of Unleashed Deed Service Limited.

The people that actually agree to go to this appointment are led to believe by Timeshare Relief that Keld Property Solutions / Unleashed Deed Service ltd would help them to get out of their time share and any money they retrieved for this timeshare, a 10% would be taken by Keld Property Solutions / Unleashed Deed Service ltd. That doesn’t sound bad…but…In reality they give them a prediction that in the next 20 years they would pay out at least £49000 in annual maintenance (example) and they would take it off their hands with immediate transfer for £2866 as there would be no re-sale value.

The agent is very keen on this option and ready to take the credit card from the consumer straight away!

Before you pay an amount of money like the above mentioned example where £2866 were requested, do allow yourself a decent cooling off time, don’t pay on the day and don’t ever believe that the offer is only valid for that day! If possible always check with us first.

Have you been called by Timeshare Relief on 02032869115 ?

Please let us know!

JD Knight Associates

A new cold calling Mediation Company has been brought to our attention, JD Knight Associates.

This company approaches on a cold call timeshare consumers such as DWVC members and claims to be able to recover their money for them.

JD Knight Associates has a website http://jdknightassociates.com which was created at the beginning of February 2012 and also seems to be busy on social media such as Facebook and Twitter although there are no “likes” or followers on these accounts.

Contact number for JDKnight Associates is 01772 367013 and office address: Unit 5 Albert Edward House, The Pavillions, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, PR2 2YB, UK.

UK Companies House registration 7813494

They also mention other offices in Spain although no location is mentioned. Where are these offices?

They state on the web that the process of the consultation would be as follows:

Telephone consultation.

Client reviews and agrees to the terms of our service and procedure.

Payment – either Standard or Premium Service.

Client receives (dependent on level of service chosen):

Interactive E-Book with template downloads and information.

Client ID and Password to enable access to members area on the website

Access to our forums and social networking sites so you can speak to other
clients and receive news and updates.

Contact details for Client Support from our team.

Well that is re-assuring, first they do a cold call and then they ask for money and after all that you get access to their “members area” for what?

The standard service for which they require a payment of £199 will give you a telephone consultation to help you decide what you can do to resolve your issues plus the eBook and, of course, access to our members area and social networking sites. So that is £199 for just speaking to them!

And for the Premium Service which costs £475, the client will receive Administration support and letters will be drafted on their behalf.

In order to guarantee the protection of the payment they actually offer this through Pay Pall, but how protected is that?

Please remember that cold callers have obviously obtained your personal details in a dubious way, adding this up to the fact this company does not even explain where they are based and ask for money to give you a call…

Have you been called by JD Knight Associates from 01772367013 ?

Please let us know.