Picture taken from the original article in the Canarian Journalen
A very interesting article has been published in the Canarian Journalen about the Holiday Clubs Voyager Travel & Go Compass.
The article written in Norwegian for the Canarian Journalen can be seen on the following link: http://goo.gl/itVlCt.
We appreciate that not everybody has the facility to translate the article, and the content is though very interesting indeed, so we have made a resume of what is described.
The information from the article comes from a former employee of the holiday club Voyager Travel in Gran Canaria, now called Go Compass, and this employee reveals how they deceived Norwegian nationals into unfavourable agreements.
Even after a police raid in July 2013, with mass arrests and an on-going trial, the club continues as before. New Norwegian consumers are still buying the holiday club memberships. (And also consumers of other nationalities).
This is what the ex- employee reveals about the modus operandi: This former employee of Voyager Travel revealed to Canariajournalen.no how bad the conditions really are. The ex-employee requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, and is therefore referred to here as the “source”.
Comments regarding some of current the employees: Several have criminal backgrounds and work using false names. Daily consumption of cocaine is accepted by the management. Some of the employees cannot return to Norway because they are wanted for robbery, and burglary of data and other crimes.
This Sales Force is encouraged to know as little as possible about the holiday club membership, so they could look at their customers in their eyes.
Issues with regard to the holiday clubs: The source indicates that many resorts (10 to 15) are really not available to the members, despite the promises. Those members, who try to book accommodation at such resorts, are always given excuses, and provided with other accommodations. It is even noted that fewer destinations available with Compass than with Voyager Travel –
The contract says that all destinations are subject to availability and may change from time to time.
During the presentations the agents are doing a Hard Sale: The sales rep can say “what they want”: The source claims that sales staff are free to entice with almost whatever they want to say during sales meetings.
The Go-Compass contract provided to Canariajournalen.no supports the previous statement of the Source as it says that oral agreements are neither valid nor binding.
In other words, the written contract is enforceable while what the sales people say during the sales presentations does not have any legal value.
There is also inadequate information – Some key points are also well hidden, or do not exist at all in the contract.
It says, for example, that members must participate in 90 minute sales meetings every time that they take out one voucher worth one week holiday, as part of the membership. However, those who do not show up to the sales meetings, must pay the full price of the stay, which can be as much as 6,000 Norwegian Krones (730 Euros) for one week.
Airfare tickets and Cruise Holidays – The Source indicates that for the holiday club members to enjoy their holidays they have to buy the airfare tickets, which end up for being very expensive from a specific airline. Flights are very expensive. Airfares for four people costing 100,000 Norwegian Krone (1,200 Euros).
Refuse to accept Cancellations – The EU Directive for holiday clubs and timeshare says that consumers have a Cooling-off period of 14 days after the contract is signed, but it is very difficult to cancel a contract with this holiday club.
The Source says that the employees were instructed to say that it was not possible to cancel the contract, and that they should deny everything as long as possible, until the customers engaged the police or other authorities. Many were unhappy with their purchase and tried to cancel.
The Contract – Company names that appear in the Go Compass contract Lifestyle Holiday Ltd, Orbit Management SL. Lifestyle Holiday Ltd also appeared in the previous marketed holiday club, Voyager Travel.
Further information on what the Go Compass membership offers can be found in the original article in Norwegian (Non Norwegian speakers can use Google Translator). Click the following link (Norwegian text) – http://goo.gl/KWCVRs – to read about Norwegians, Kent Lind from Sortland, who was lured into a deal with Go – Compass in January, and Hilde L. from Oslo, who has been a member since 2009. Both are deeply unhappy!
Canariajournalen.no tried to talk to Eugen Friedrich Kaiser, CEO of the holiday clubs, about the content of this article, prior to its publication, but Kaiser only responded after it was published.
In an email to Canariajournalen.no Eugen Kaiser replied that the articles about Club Puerto Atlantico and himself are fantasy stories which contain unfounded lies that helps to create fear and mistrust in the large membership base of his holiday clubs.
Canariajournalen.no assisted TV2 with information about a TV feature on holiday clubs in Arguineguin, Gran Canaria, and of the reselling of timeshare contracts, that will be broadcasted next Thursday the 17th of April at 20:30PM on the TV2 Norway (Public TV Channel) – http://goo.gl/nDDWU9 .
Mindtimeshare 