Realm Travel Services, a dubious resale company already mentioned on this blog in July http://wp.me/p1kmoi-5l is continuing their cold calling and taking upfront fees for a supposed guaranteed resale that never happens.
There are now also cases of victims who after paying the retainer fee for the process of the sale and were contacted to be told the sale fell through (surprise surprise!) were then contacted again for another resale offer but with another retainer fee!!
Realm Travel Services with website www.realmtravelservices.com and contact number 0845 2997070,claims to be based in Calle Pou 35B, Palma 07013, Mallorca, contact e-mail address sales@realmtravelservices.com.
They not only pretend to have a guaranteed buyer for the timeshare, asking for an upfront retainer fee to process the sale, they also offer as part of the deal a 12 months free membership with Touchdown Holidays, Citibox 021 Torrox, 20 Bond Street, West Midlands, B70 7DQ.
Although it isn’t clear if Touchdown Holidays is aware of the dubious dealings of Realm Travel Services, consumers should be made aware that as this company is acting unlawfully by cold calling, pretending to have a buyer for the timeshare and taking upfront fees, it doesn’t paint a very trustful picture for Touchdown Holidays to be related to Realm Travel Services!
If you have been called by Realm Travel Services please let us know!
Mindtimeshare 
I found this weblog from googling a copy and paste of the wording from a timeshare resale company called Timeshare Resale Consultants (www.thetrc.es) that lead to Realm Travel Services website and on to this blog. The websites are worded exactly the same.
The similarities don’t end there. We have also been asked for a “retainer” of £1360.
I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt, but having read through the messages, I have changed my mind.
Reading the above is all the same as I have gone through almost word for word they have £1000 of my money and have had it since last June, I am saving up to be able to go out and visit them.
I would not waste your time or any more money. We were in Majorca recently and went to find the office which appears to be a mailbox only. 1 or 2 people, nearby when asked, seemed vaguely familiar with the name but said they had no premises on Calle Poul Good Luck
We have been waiting now for five weeks to hear about the sale of our timeshare and now after seeing this blog realise we have fell into the trap also.If we could have any info on claiming back money we would be very grateful. I saw Realm travel on the internet and yes they were very helpful and ‘genuine’ in trying to help us sell so yes we parted with quiet a bit of money and stupidly sent the transfer fee to spain!!!!!!! We have been trying to sell for 6 years now We feel so stupid
Jane
It saddens me to read your post as it seems that, like us, you have lost a considerable amount of not only money but self-esteem and faith. Having felt totallly ‘on the edge’ I realise that these people are callous and would not bat an eyelid if they knew if the despair they can cause. Whilst being bitter and angry with them, our main fury is with the original timeshare ‘sellers’ who totally misled us and so we ended up being so desperate that we turned to a company such as Realm. I have nothing concrete to offer except our sincere sympathies and reasurance that there are far more people like us out there than we could have envisaged. Very best wishes, Gilly
Please can anyone leave a message on here , to tell me if they have received a Refund from their Bank. I am battling with HSBC credit cards, as they say Realm Travel took a payment but paid it into a bank account called First Class Business Services SL. Saying it was a ESCROW holding account. The bank wont refund saying there was no link and the bank holds no responsibility. Please leave a message, as I feel the bank is being very unfair with my husband and I. Thank you.
Dear Customer Services
Please could you resend the email explaining how to get a refund from my credit card company as I have inadvertently deleted it.
Many thanks
Steve Hughes
Steve Hughes experience with Realm Travel sounds almost identical to what Breakaway Marketing Solutions said to me – and coincidentally it was also Joanne Clarkson ! Please can you advise me how I can claim back the up front security deposit I paid using my credit card and is there any chance I could also recover the monies I paid by bank transfer for ‘Notary Fees’ now that the supposed cash purchaser has turned out to be just another holiday scheme (Touchdown Holidays) which I don’t want !
Please can you send me details ASAP as to how to claim a refund of my deposit please as I have just received a letter from my Credit card company saying there is nothing they can do, this is a small transcript of what they say
“Unfortunately in this instance we have no regulatory rights to seek reimbursement from the retailer for you, nor do we accept liability at this time under the Consumer Credit Act. The retailer’s terms and condition state that they are not responsible if the sale falls through and they only act as an agent. They also state if you refuse an offer they are deemed to have fulfilled their contract and on any cancellation after 10 days no refund is due. Therefore, regrettably we are unable to assist you further with your claim as the retailer has not breached their terms and conditions”
I did not receive any contract from REALM TRAVEL until 11 days after payment was taken another way of not having to return deposit as the 10 days had elapsed.
Hi Steve,
Not to worry, we will send you the information today by email.
Credit Card companies most of the times don’t say yes to a claim the first time and you need to insist.
Let us send you the guidelines first to make sure all is covered and we take it from there.
Kind regards
Customer Care
We are Stephen & Gillian Goldthorpe and are horrified at the details of Steve Hughes (and others) as we have just had almost exactly the same experience with Realm and Touchdown holidays. Could you also forward the guidelines/information to us in the hope that we can also claim a refund. We were told that they cannot accept the fee as a credit card payment so charged it to our debit card and the second amount by bank transfer (being assured that the fee for this would be refunded as well)
Dear Stephen and Gillian,
Thanks for the message.
So sorry these companies have taken your money.
We will send you the information by email.
Kind regards
Customer Care
Many thanks
Steve Hughes
I completed a form on Realm Travel websit to sell my Timeshare in June 2011, I was contacted within a few days by a lady called Amanda Frankshaw to say they would market my property and get back to me as soon as they had buyer. They asked the name and address of property I own for 2 weeks and how much I paid and said they would get back to me as soon as they had a prospective purchaser. They rang back the next day to say ‘good news’ we have a purchaser a Mr Desilva from Blackpool who is looking for a property in the exact area my timeshare is in and was offering to pay £4200 for it. At this point they said they were sending all documentation for our signatures to complete the transaction and took the retainer of £1295. They also said they had a deposit of 50% of purchase price £2100 which they would hold until they received the full amount of £4200 and then they were going to pay this into my bank account, to do this they needed a retainer of £1295. On completion, which we were advised would take no longer than 4 – 6 weeks we would get our retainer back immediately.
After hearing nothing from them for 7 days I rang and they sounded surprised that I had not received the documents. The documents arrived on the 2 July 11 days after taking the retainer. We returned the documents by recorded post the same day.
We heard nothing for 2 weeks until we called them again, they said the didn’t receive our recorded letter until 11 July 2011 and were chasing the buyer and we would hear by the 15 July as to the present situation but constantly being told the money would be paid to us.
After several calls, more than one a day we were told the deal had collapsed, at which time I demanded my retainer back in full. I called again and was told I was now being passed to the Corporate division were they would purchase the property, again I demanded my retainer back in full immediately. I received a phone call from Joanne Clarkson saying she had a buyer for the sum of £5300 but to secure this they needed £1800 for admin fee to produce the documents, at which we refused flatly. Now we are told it is back with Marketing and they can keep our retainer until a purchaser is found.
Please can you help in returning our retainer value as this is clealy a SCAM.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your comment on the blog.
A lot of other consumers will recognize the story, as Realm has done this to many others.
We are going to send you the information by email about claiming a refund.
Kind regards
Customer Care
Many thanks looked forward to receiving information.
Steve
Please could you resend the email you previously sent me with the guidelines as to how to recover my monies paid to this bogus company REALM TRAVEL as I have inadvertently deleted it.
Many thanks
Steve Hughes
Hi Steve,
No problem we will send it out this afternoon.
Regards
Customer Care