A new holiday club has been brought to our attention by the name of Impact Services.
Impact Services uses OPC’s in the streets of Tenerife to bring consumers to their sales deck in order to present them with this holiday product. The OPC’s are dresses in white polo shirts with the “I” of Tourist Information Offices, which of course creates the “illusion” that they are actually working for this official governmental institution.
The consumers are presented with s scratch card and when they win the prize they have to go to the offices of Impact Services to pick this up.
When the consumers arrives at the offices, they are shown around at a Gold Crown resort and afterwards they are sat down at a table and a the representative shows a folder with pages of info re comparable holiday costs around the world. Each page shows how much cheaper things would be as a gold crown member. Comparisons are shown against known holiday providers such as Kuoni, Thomas Cook, etc.
Impact Services insists this club has nothing to do with Timeshare and the holidays on offer are at a price per room. Through the Gold Crown Resort website the members will be able to book accommodation and also flights at wholesale prices. The membership fee would be £4.695 and with this the member can use it to book as many holidays as he wants at cost price.
Together with the membership they also offer a Cash Back, which will provide the member the possibility to recuperate the money paid for the membership.
Impact Services takes a deposit on the day.
Having heard the above story from several consumers, we have done some research on Impact Services.
The website is www.impactservicesspain.com which was registered at the beginning of November. On the website there is no office address but only a contact form or a phone number +34 922 715 475 or email: holidays@impactservicesspain.com.
The accommodation on display is mainly in timeshare resorts in Europe and Thailand.
From the information we have found we can though confirm that this company is related to Ora Vacations and also Via Gulliver as they used to call themselves lately.
Although it doesn’t look like they are offering the same “software” as with Ora Vacation / Via Gulliver, the fact that people are invited from the street under the impression this is done by somebody from the Spanish Tourist Office, the product itself of which they claim it isn’t timeshare and a deposit on the day…we certainly would recommend to be cautious with this company.
Have you been on a tour with Impact Services in Tenerife? We would like to know.
You can email us at customercare@mindtimeshare.com or place a comment on the blog.
has anybody ever got the cash back after 36 months just heard they have been closed down had a telephone call saying we can get money back at a price as any else had this
Hi Rosie I had a telephone call saying that they have gone into liquidation and we can claim all the money back and all we have to do is fill in a form and email it back . But we have not received any email from timeshare regulations which was 7 days ago and I have no contact number to call them.
Also we have been c**** by viagulliver/ora vacations in Costa Adeje outside the market on oct 31th! After the tour of a very nice hotel we signed a contract of 7 weeks (we one one free week !!!) in 4 to 5 stars hotels to use in the next three years for €2995 and left a deposit of €300 in cash. The rest we should pay when we got home. Now I have read this and are terrified and so angry…. How can we get out of this?? I guess the €300 in cash we can forget, but can we just refuse to pay the rest? Do we have a cancellation period by spanish law?? Please advice, what should we do!!!
I would say forget your 300 euros and dont pay anymore money. I paid by credit card and am trying to get my money back but I dont hold out much hope.
Mick,
Mindtimeshare has always actively encouraged victims to fight for their money, no matter the amount.
Customer care.
We seem to have been conned by viagulliver/ora vacations in costa adeje. Paid a total of £6495 oct 2012. Trying to get money back from credit card company. If these people are scammers why do the local police/authorities let them operate on the streets?????
Hi Mick,
We ask ourselves the same question everyday.
Alberto Garcia
The authorities need to put a stop to these activities! Brings Tenerife into disrepute!
After taking the advise of Alberto at Mindtimeshare we started a section 75 with our bank and finally got all our money back. It took 2 years but we did not give up. Thanks again Alberto.
We went on a presentation as well! My husband treats these as sport and it keeps me out of the handbag shops, this is probably the level of contempt these people deserve. The OCP passed himself off as an ABTA rep doing survey re on line holiday booking. Sales pitch and presentation were poor, unsophisticated and it was soon clear that the product was non existent. Salesman became flustered when challenged especially when we could prove that we could secure holidays cheaper via conventional holiday websites without paying a ridiculous membership fee, he even made up his own exchange rates to make their deals look better. He called in the TO take over man who tried to baffle with drawings and wild promises which were unsustainable when questioned. They even rolled in a hard nose Scottish woman who tried scare tactics but to no avail. Once they realised we weren’t going to buy we were dispatched in a taxi.
Be very aware of this group of people you need to be savvy as they prey on the vulnerable and elderly. The old saying of nothing is for free is true of this firm. I presume they sail close to the wind legally and certainly don’t have any conscience – not sure how they sleep at night, they certainly aren’t professional reputable sales people – they are the gutter end of sales. Avoid at all costs especially if you win the purple box prize – it will be a holiday which you end up paying for!
I got caught out in Tenerife as well. Left a deposit of £1000 with £5950 to pay later on.Given Tab + 2 free holidays. I didn’t think at the time of signing but since I got home I have been checking them out and don’t like what I have been reading. I am trying to find a way to get out of it so if anyone knows how please let me know
Stan, Did you pay by credit card? If so, contact your credit card company immediately and tell them what’s happened. Also, send a cancellation email to Impact Services. You have a 14 day cooling off period and I.S. HAVE to refund you, else VISA or MASTERCARD will go for them. If you paid cash, or used a debit card, there may not be anything you can do. Good luck!
They are still at it – outside the markets – and now offering a tablet computer as an extra incentive, and a “discount” towards flights, a one week holiday in Tenerife, two one week holidays in Europe and a bottle of champagne (cava actually). However, they get you to sign an invoice for £1000 (non-refundable) for your “prizes” and “gifts” and then don’t want to refund your deposit for the “holiday club”.
Credit card company weren’t happy with me, cos I left my brain at home… (dur!)
BUT – does anyone actually get a password for Gold Crown Resorts that works? Do these holidays REALLY exist?
It seems to me that it’s a real sugar-coated scam – and yes, they do get nasty over the money, and really obfuscate when you try to claw it back – all sorts of excuses why they cannot – and it was “all [my] fault because I spoke to CC company”.
I would suggest that anyone running into the “ticket tout person” tell him to take a hike! Don’t get suckered in… !!!!!
I have just try to get out off it cos I have been made redunent and the said the take me to court
Hi,
Just back from Tenerife and yes we went to the presentation, I should have known better, but hey when your are on holiday you seem to leave your cautious head behind. Anyway at the presentation my scepticism was so obvious that the warm up guy kept asking me to open my mind and to look at the benefits, aye right!! After much talking and listening to his many exploits I finally stated that I think he knew what my final answer was going to be and that I will not succumb to their sales pitch. It was then the big guns came out with the four squares on teh paper and drawing of many lines came out. Hmm!!! my heels went in and my very, very, very stubborn streak came to the fore. Once they realised “the guy was not for turning” the taunts of blockhead and other such insults were plenty, as was the aggressive nature of the pitch. However to be fair they did pay for the taxi to take me back to the hotel.
The only concern I have is I did provide my home address, telephone numbers and an email.
They tryed to c** us as well asked for a deposit of £6000.00 with rest to pay later did not say how much they wanted later was told later by the boss they wanted as £10,000.00 to join there club Said they would give me as many weeks as I liked in 5 star 2 people for 199.00 per week. More like they take you money and disappear. They got very nasty when I refused to give them money. Please don’t fall for this.
they tried to scam us and got rather nasty when i refused to part with any money … dont trust them
disgusting
Sounds very m,uch like grand Holidays too that’s their MO!!
Oh dear, getting more people hooked in.