Important - check your credit card statements - for "Travel Steps"

[Tolly]

May I also suggest you request that they remove your details from their data base. Inform them that you did not give IW permission to pass them on therefore they have broken the data protection act.

A friend of mine was receiving several calls from them a day until she asked them to remove her info for this reason. She hasn't heard from them since.

 

[donna255]

I'll have you know Yazrose only used www.comparethemeekat.com dating agency.

What is the saying, Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, its a duck!

The market has fallen out of the timeshare business and because of the euro vs pound people are not going to Spain but outside the euro zone. Who would dream of even going there.

I have had a call which the Indian gentlemen told me straight up I had won a holiday. He was told where he could stick his holiday.:54: Knew you would have to pay to get there etc.

Oh this is my dream date meerkat.

http://www.comparethemeerkat.com/results.html

 

[merryone]

Personally whether what IW is doing to its customers, technically legal or not, is in my mind underhand, befuddling and confusing and for that reason should be stopped. I wonder how many people agreed to receive the brochure because IW is a company they trust, and how many of these people would have agreed had they been contacted directly by the company themselves? Ideal world imo need to rid themselves of this "limpet" before it damages their already "shaky" reputation.

Simply Nocturnal, if I were you, I'd be frightened, and would cut my losses and get myself a bargain last minute deal for yourself and your mates to enjoy. I don't know where you stand in regards to the £99 you've already paid, I read that your membership will be "automatically renewed" once the first year's expired. Have you had to agree to a certain amount of years in the scheme, or are you free to cancel at any time? Another point I'd like to make is that I've read somewhere that there's a good reason why they've pitched the price at £99, is this a limit regarding customers being able to claim money back from their credit cards? Someone must know..sorry I'm not very knowledgable in these things.

I really think that this is something that should be investigated thoroughly by Watchdog...has anyone contacted them at all?

 

[essexjan]

Timeshare was exactly the same as it is now, except that word is now feared, so it's called Holiday Club instead.. New wrapper, same ***** inside!​

There's one crucial difference - if it's a timeshare, under an EU Directive, there is a cooling-off period granted to the purchaser. If the timeshare contract was signed in the United Kingdom then this cooling off period will be 14 days. If the contract was signed anywhere within the EU then the cooling-off period will stand at 10 days.

A lot of timeshare companies were finding that people were cancelling the agreement, once they realised in the cold light of day how stupid they'd been. So these things were repackaged as 'holiday clubs' which are not covered by the cooling-off period because they're not offering you, say, the last two weeks in July at the Saggy Speedo del Sol Resort, but instead with a holiday club what you buy is the 'right' to have a number of weeks' holiday at a 'discount' which you book through their 'club'.

The paperwork for these things is very well drawn and designed to stop people from claiming their money back from their credit card companies under s.75 Consumer Credit Act 1974. (S.75 allows a customer to claim money back from their bank if there's been a breach of contract or misrepresentation by the seller, and if the goods cost between £100 and £30,000. It doesn't apply if you've just changed your mind and want a refund.)

To make a successful claim from your credit card company, there has to be a direct link between the company you've bought the holiday club from and the company which processed your credit card.

So, you sign a holiday club membership form, which says that the provider of the holiday club membership is DodgyClub Ltd. That's who your contract is with. But your credit card payment is taken by ShonkySales Ltd . What this means is that your bank has no direct contractual relationship with DodgyClub, and so can't give you your money back if there's a breach of contract.

The contracts are also written in very small print, and the customers are asked to initial each clause, which say things like "Nothing any salesman has said or promised forms any part of this contract."

I spend a lot of my working day looking at this type of contract, so please, please don't sign anything at all when you're on holiday, don't even go to the presentation - they drive you right out of your holiday resort to a remote villa, ply you with drink and get you to sign paperwork in the full knowledge that it's going to be almost impossible to cancel.

Sorry if this is a bit long-winded and wordy for a Sunday morning, but it's important to know how tied up you can get in these things with no hope of your money back.

 

[Travel Steps]

Feedback from Travel Steps

We apologise to anyone who has had a negative experience with Travel Steps, if you are in the 30 day trial period or you have progressed to a full membership you can still receive a full refund. We have a full explanation of our membership process and contact details to receive a refund in full on our website, www.travel-steps.co.uk/membership.php

 

[Tolly]

I thought the name of this sole "happy customer" rang a bell.....

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=335889&forumid=2

Look who posts shortly after SimplyNocturne....it's the company Travel Steps!

 

[argeybargey]

I thought the name of this sole "happy customer" rang a bell.....

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=335889&forumid=2

Look who posts shortly after SimplyNocturne....it's the company Travel Steps!

Hah - I KNEW IT - I could feel it in me waters :33: It was completely crackers to have been so abrasive if you are trying to encourage people in. Doesn't put the company in any better light if their "supporters" are rude to the very people they are trying to persuade.

Thanks for spotting that Tolly.

Argey

 

[Tolly]

I thank you for your thank you Argey!

I see we've had a visit on here from Travel Steps as well....and after SimplyNoctune posted...hmmmmm! N to think I used to scoff at people who believe in deja vu!

 

[Toril]

I wonder if she'll post here again.

 

[Mrs James]

We apologise to anyone who has had a negative experience with Travel Steps, if you are in the 30 day trial period or you have progressed to a full membership you can still receive a full refund. We have a full explanation of our membership process and contact details to receive a refund in full on our website, www.travel-steps.co.uk/membership.php

don't you recommend it then ? :33:

 

[Lottie]

We apologise to anyone who has had a negative experience with Travel Steps, if you are in the 30 day trial period or you have progressed to a full membership you can still receive a full refund. We have a full explanation of our membership process and contact details to receive a refund in full on our website, www.travel-steps.co.uk/membership.php

I phoned you on 14th February and was told I would receive written confirmation that my "membership" had been cancelled. I specifically requested that this written confirmation be sent within 7 days.

I have to-date received NO SUCH WRITTEN CONFIRMATION.

I have since written to John Ackroyd at IW to inform him of this fact and the misleading, underhand and illegal tactics you are using.

Watchdog have requested information about scams - are you going to tell them about yours? And about how you "acquire" credit card details without permission?

If not, be sure I will :1:

 

[simplynocturnal]

I thought the name of this sole "happy customer" rang a bell.....

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=335889&forumid=2

Look who posts shortly after SimplyNocturne....it's the company Travel Steps!

Just because I add my thoughts as a member it does not mean I work for there company! And I am not going to throw away an offer like that because of some bad feed back i receive off some people who obviously dont know how to listen to a simple phone call!! At the end of the day, if i get there and it is a scam and i lose money or they offer me to join something - then I can easily say no, and i know for next time not to join they're membership or to have anything to do with them. I have more important things to do than to sit here writing comments all day about something that was offered to me, that you 'simple' people obviously cant understand! And obviously dont want to join, then thats totally your decision.. but for me, its a good deal, and im sure my holiday will be just as good as any other holiday!!

So

 

[dollydimple]

I have just had my call from Ideal World 'in association with Travel Steps' and was told by the gentleman that he just wanted to ask some questions about some items in my order history! Cheek.

I told the gentleman that under no circumstances was he to send or even offer to send, a brochure for the 'holiday deals' or anything that I had not directly requested and that Ideal World or Travel steps should not even consider debiting my card for £99 as I was not in any way, shape, form or fashion interested in joining any so called holiday clubs or the like.

He asked me if I had already received a brochure - I told him no and he better not send me one either as I wanted nothing to do with Travel Steps, whether they were in association with Ideal World or not.

He then told me he was only asking, as part of customer services, what I thought about one of the products in my order history. ( yeah, really, wonder why I didn't believe him ) I told him that as I had posted a review on the website, he allegedly had my details and if he was so interested, go and look at the review.

 

[argeybargey]

Just because I add my thoughts as a member it does not mean I work for there company! And I am not going to throw away an offer like that because of some bad feed back i receive off some people who obviously dont know how to listen to a simple phone call!! At the end of the day, if i get there and it is a scam and i lose money or they offer me to join something - then I can easily say no, and i know for next time not to join they're membership or to have anything to do with them. I have more important things to do than to sit here writing comments all day about something that was offered to me, that you 'simple' people obviously cant understand! And obviously dont want to join, then thats totally your decision.. but for me, its a good deal, and im sure my holiday will be just as good as any other holiday!!

So

Then don't!

 

[Buttercorn]

Just because I add my thoughts as a member it does not mean I work for there company! And I am not going to throw away an offer like that because of some bad feed back i receive off some people who obviously dont know how to listen to a simple phone call!! At the end of the day, if i get there and it is a scam and i lose money or they offer me to join something - then I can easily say no, and i know for next time not to join they're membership or to have anything to do with them. I have more important things to do than to sit here writing comments all day about something that was offered to me, that you 'simple' people obviously cant understand! And obviously dont want to join, then thats totally your decision.. but for me, its a good deal, and im sure my holiday will be just as good as any other holiday!!

So

I have been following this thread with interest because I too had 'the phone call' from Ideal World as previously posted. Everyone here has an opinion and thats fine - surely that's what forums are for. But, to insult people, as you have done simplynocturnal, by calling us 'simple' is in my opinion, unfair, unjust and unforgiveable. I am certainly not simple, but I would like to think that I am a nice person who will give everyone a fair crack of the whip.

Sorry, this made me so mad, here endeth the lesson.

 

[Graham]

The other Important things must mean going to other forums defending Travel Steps

 

[Lottie]

Usually people who know they haven't got a decent argument resort to insulting others because they haven't got a leg to stand on or the intelligence to argue their way politely out of a corner.

Have you been practising on the ebay forums simplynoct?

GOOD NEWS
I finally had my letter from Travel Steps cancelling my membership - received today.

Dated 28 Feb (14 days after my initial complaint) and finally posted on 2nd March.

 

[Tolly]

Well lets look at the facts Simply Nocturnal: :33:

I did listen to my call from Travel Steps and asked questions that they refused to answer.
Therefore I knew it was a scam and time share.
Therefore I didn't book up for a holiday with these shysters.
Therefore I didn't feel compelled go onto other forums and defend Travel Steps and my actions for joining their "club".....

If these things makes me "simple" then that's fine by me!​

Oh and as a post script. A woman I work with thought she was being clever and went out on one of these "free" holidays too, determined that she wouldn't fall into the traps. The company were so p-ed off that she wouldn't sign an agreement, after the presentation/BBQ they refused to take her back to the hotel and left her stranded 10 miles from where she was staying. So make sure you have cash and the number of a local cab firm Simply Nocturnal!

Bon voyage!:10:​

 

[Lottie]

*sniggers*

 

[Twinkle139]

I have read all through this thread and was amazed to see so many people writing about their experiences as I too had a phone call back in Feb this year but I never agreed or indeed told the person on the end of the phone my card details. I did agree to the catalogue like a fool but it never turned up but I was lead to believe it was to do with Ideal World as well plus the fact they went through my purchase history.

I had two payments taken from my account both for £99 each. I called my bank and they said Pressplayshopping had took it. I googled this name and found a site but that was all. I then proceeded to email them at this site and then got an email back from Travel Steps on the Monday morning but I must say they are very quick at responding which made me suspicous I mean within 3-5 minutes I had emails. I then emailed IW to ask how they came to give my details to another company and the answer I got back was we are associated with them. So it appears that most of these shopping channels are associated with each other like a huge web you are never going to get to the bottom of it.

I spoke to my bank again as my card was cancelled and they said ohh Travel Steps we know them well we are always having calls about them.

From different merchants I have spoken to they have all said that even though some-one has your details they are supposed to call before taking payments they are not allowed to just take them. But some-one has to keep the security numbers on the back of our cards because if they are not keyed in when the transaction is done they get fined £100

I will never shop on the TV again in fact I am not paying anything with my card even if it does mean paying an extra couple of £'s it has to be worth it to stay in some sort of control of my money. I have been two weeks sorting this mess out. Fully agree with telling watchdog I am sure there would be a lot of people willing to join forces.