A new cold calling Fly Buy Company has been spotted since last week. Their name is Worldwide Resorts.
This company contacts consumers out of the blue and already knows they own a timeshare and where they own this.
The pitch from the agent of Worldwide Resorts is that the timeshare owner received bonus weeks in the past or already purchased an accommodation package from a similar company, and these weeks are now about to expire.
But Worldwide Resorts will kindly extend the validation of these weeks for £99
The timeshare consumer is quickly asked for their credit card and given no time to think about this, or to do a bit of research.
Worldwide Resorts must sound very convincing because the consumer does not even recall having received or purchased any bonus weeks in the past, and still falls for the payment of £99
Doing research on Worldwide Resorts, the website http://www.worldwideresorts.biz does not really give a lot of information apart from the destinations you can travel to.
There is no company registration number, no address or any other basic company information, which is obligated by law, no terms and conditions, no privacy statement and not even any contact details. Nothing really.
They call from a UK number +44 0141 2808 001 which clearly gives the impression they are UK based.
It is only when the charge of £99 is processed and a confirmation email send from info@worldwideresorts.biz an address is displayed as Apartado 12, Avenida Pais Valencia 23, Alfaz del Pi. This must be for correspondence only as this is a post box!
Cold calls are never a good sign, added up to the fact this company does not identify themselves properly on the web and giving the consumer the impression they have dealt with them before or that they are linked to their holiday company, it certainly does not sound recommendable.
Please note as well that payments under £100 cannot be claimed back under the Consumer Act. So once you pay, it is very unlikely you see the £99 back.
If you received a call from Worldwide Resorts from 01412808001 then we would like to know.
You can contact us by email at customercare@mindtimeshare.com or place a comment on this blog.
Mindtimeshare 
They are now (2018) phoning from Spain +34965888406. (Benidorm). They somehow knew we had a timeshare and claimed to be phoning as the time share company saying we had a special allocation (£99) and needed tot claim quickly. My wife is a canny lass and quickly identified this as bogus. She back checked the number and also phoned and spoke to the actual timeshare company who said they had had a number of these reported to them recently.
I just received yet another call from ‘Jessica’ about my Diamond membership and the ‘bonus’ weeks. I just said ‘SCAM’ and she hung up. Telephone number 00349 65888406 used once again.
IMPORTANT!!!!
My wife got conned and spend the £99 on this package, we have not used it yet, and have now just received another call from a “Travel Agent” claiming that worldwide resorts has gone into liquidation and that they would “Take over” the agreement, we asked them to email us all the details and her contact numbers and she refused, when my wife called me to the phone they hung up and we have not heard from them since, the number they use is 0034 965 888232.
I am writing again with regard to my below post about Worldwide Resorts.
Unfortunately my mother has once again been caught,. She phoned me to say (despite my pleading to her that she never pays any money over the telephone again to companies she doesn’t know) that she had been contacted again by the holiday company and they had told her that the “holidays” she paid for were going to run out. They then proceeded to take another £99 off her to “hold these weeks open permanently”. I think mum to be honest paid them just to get them off her back but still it’s a con.
She received the “paperwork” today and handed it to me. However it is not paperwork from Worldwide Resorts rather a company called Resort Management Direct. The paperwork is pretty much identical bar obviously a different company heading and a changed word or phrase here or there and the fact that WWR said my mum had paid for “FOUR weeks of luxury accommodation” where Resort Management Directs letter states “THREE weeks luxury accommodation”.
Letters I say are a very similar set up and looking at RMD’s website it seems to hold info on exactly the same resorts that are on the website of WWR. I no doubt expect that these resorts have no link at all with either Worldwide Resorts or Resort Management Direct and in fact I am at some stage going to email them all to see if my suspicions are correct.
So it now seems that Resort Care Europe, Worldwide Resorts and Resort Management Direct are either the same company or are working in liaison to each other because these phone calls that my mum receives are surely all connected. They all seem to be based in Alicante, Spain. The original “link” seems to be that years ago my mum and late dad had a “timeshare” with RCI. No blame attached to RCI obviously but it seems that these companies give the impression to potential “customers/victims” that they are in some way linked to RCI.
Can anyone clarify if they know of a link between Resort Care Europe, Worldwide Resorts and Resort Management Direct? Are they the same company or are they “working” in liaison with each other?
Also has anyone managed to get a refund from any of these companies? Barclaycard seem totally uninterested.
Also what on earth can be done about these parasites, surely this is fraud pure and simple but it keeps happening!!
I just received a cold call from a female claiming to be Jessica, knew we belonged to Diamond and started the usual spiel about unused bonus weeks. I have heard it so many times before so I told her where to go and she hung up. A 1471 gave the number 0034965888406.
I got conned by them , moment of weakness £198 + vat for 3 weeks , they gave the impression the bonus weeks were for loyalty for my timeshare ownership , had all my contact details , and explained the only condition of the bonus week was that I would have to with through a 90 minute presentation. That seemed acceptable enough , but the email sent to me confirming gave me access to a very unclear/ difficult to navigate website and a 0871 premium rate contact number , there is no cooling off period , Not too sure whether to follow through and book the week now that its paid for or write the money off
I received a letter on 20.6.17 with exactly what you have listed. I did how ever have outstanding weeks still available from another company I had used in the past. I checked the details and my client details were the same . That is the only reason I went ahead and paid the £99. Then I activated it in July and then nothing ! Usually I would not of done this over the phone but I had recently lost family members and was not thinking straight. They even had the last 4 Digits of my my old credit card. Now one very pissed of person !
I was cold called a few years ago, they said they got my number because I had purchased blankets in Benidorm. I paid them £800.00 for holidays worldwide, they did not explain it was for accommodation only. I did not hear anything for a few years, and had forgotten about it, then I received a call to put me back in to the system, I paid £99.00. They then sent me a list of holidays and I found out I would have to pay for flights and transfers. This is no good to me, I have tried to contact them many times, but is just goes to messages. In all I have paid the £900.00 I am a pensioner, and this is a lot of money for me to loose.
I got a call claiming to be from Diamond Resorts asking about the letter I received a couple of months ago offering me extra weeks and, not wanting me to lose the offer, they were ringing to warn me that it expired that day. . I couldn’t remember getting this letter but we are in Diamond Resorts and foolishly I believed their claim that they were from the company offering extra weeks in return for our long term membership and parted with £99. I have just received my confirmation and it is from World-Wide Resorts and not Diamond. I will be asking for my money back but not holding my breath.,
I was contacted yesterday by this company. they stated that as I was paying by debit card that if there was anything I was not happy with I could claim a refund from my bank, but as it is under £100 that is very unlikely.
They were very persuasive and I am ashamed to say i did buckle under the pressure, I have been super busy and wasn’t thinking straight. I had to do it straight away before close of business at 3pm, (this was at 2.45pm), as my holiday would expire at 3pm that day.
My bank however was on the ball and refused to process the payment without further security checks. The company rang me back after payment was refused and asked if I had another card. All of a sudden the 3pm end of business deadline was not important and they would ring me the next day after I authorized it with the bank. I contacted my bank and they said many people had been stung by this company and advised me not to part with my £100.
Hats off to my bank for being vigilant.
Don’t part with your money!!
I received a cold call this morning which was just loud music. I did a 1471 and the number used was 01685 645101. This number has a number of comments on the internet and is being used by minibreakaway, website www. minibreakaway.co.uk. The dialling code is Merthyr Tydfil in Wales but one comment said it was based in the Netherlands.
I thought that I would post this as help for anyone caught in the same situation. My mother was “caught” by a company called Resort Care Europe back in 2012 when she handed over around £299 for a holiday package,. She never received much in the way of paperwork and when I got involved her card company were not much help.
She then recently got caught again by Worldwide Resorts paying £99 to keep her “holiday package” open ended, although she did actually receive paperwork from them. However I wasn’t too happy looking at a very basic unprofessional website and also was not happy with their cold calling and pushiness towards my mother,. I contacted them with a few questions and I attach my email conversation with them which may give a few of you here some much needed information.
Once again my mothers card company were not too helpful because they cannot refund a payment unless you don’t not receive the “goods” or the “goods” are not what you have paid for. However upon calling the card company and mentioning that according to Worldwide Resorts’ emailed reply my mother does NOT qualify for the accommodation offer due to the companies criteria (which was never mentioned to my mother) the card company have agreed to refund the £99 she paid unwittingly, so others may have some luck using that approach.
This is the emailed transcript. As I say I hope it helps others.
ME. My mother mentioned to me an original payment was paid of I believe £299 for a holiday anywhere in the world to a company called Resort Care Europe. I believe that her most recent payment of £99 to yourselves (Worldwide Resorts) was to keep the holiday(s) dates open ended. Can you please confirm as to what relationship Worldwide Resorts has with Resort Care Europe?
WORLDWIDE RESORTS. Worldwide Resorts is not in fact affiliated in any way to the organisation ‘Resort Care Europe’ and I am afraid that I cannot suggest how such confusion has occurred. Mrs **** has reserved four weeks of luxury accommodation through ourselves, weeks that were due to expire from the allocations system, but this package is in no way connected to any other that your mother may have purchased through other companies.
ME. Are you a UK company because on your website http://www.worldwideresorts.biz there is no company registration number, no address or any other basic company information, which is obligated by law, no terms and conditions, no privacy statement and not even any contact details?
WORLDWIDE RESORTS. Worldwide Resorts is in fact a Spanish registered company but the information you require can be found within the confirmation documentation Mrs **** has received.
ME. My mother was advised that the package which she was paying for is four weeks luxury accommodation and flights each for up to six people. Are return flights included in this package because the letter she has received doesn’t suggest that? Please confirm as to what is included and what is NOT included?
WORLDWIDE RESORTS. Mrs **** has indeed reserved four weeks of accommodation within our system but these weeks are accommodation only and do not include airfares. The complimentary European City Break Voucher, as detailed within the confirmation paperwork your mother has received, does indeed include up to six return airfares but these cannot unfortunately be used in conjunction with the purchased weeks of accommodation or separately from the voucher alongside any independent accommodation reservations. I would suggest that the confusion stems from the inclusion of this voucher but, as I am sure you can appreciate, it would simply not possible to offer or provide weeks including flights as this would cost considerably more than the £99.00 payment Mrs **** made.
ME. She was advised that this package was for “anywhere in the world”. Your website only lists Bali, Dominican, Egypt, Fiji, India, Thailand, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Mallorca, Malta, Spain, Tenerife and the UK as destinations. This is NOT anywhere in the world. My mother purchased this on the belief that anywhere in the world includes the likes of the United States of America, Canada and other destinations. May I ask as to why this was advertised as “anywhere in the world” if this is not the case?
WORLDWIDE RESORTS. I can assure you that the resorts available would not have been described as ‘anywhere in the world’, rather that the weeks of accommodation can be used in any of our UK, European or Worldwide destinations.
ME. Anyone can use these weeks including friends and family? Are there any restrictions to who can use these weeks?
WORLDWIDE RESORTS. The weeks of accommodation can indeed be utilised with, or transferred to family or friends providing that a ‘qualifying couple’ are named as the lead travelers whereby a ‘qualifying couple’ is defined as a married or co-habiting couple, between the ages of 30-65.
ME. Do you have to take the four weeks accommodation at once and at the same destination or can they be spread out over time at various destinations?
WORLDWIDE RESORTS. The weeks of accommodation are designed as separate weeks and can indeed therefore be used in four different destinations at four different times.
ME. Is your company ATOL protected?
WORLDWIDE RESORTS. Worldwide Resorts, as a booking agent for the resorts, has no legal requirement to be ATOL protected however, each of the resorts featured within our Resort Directory is indeed affiliated and therefore provides the usual security and peace of mind.
i have phoned their office in Glasgow was answered by an answering machine that comments ‘all agents are busy and to leave my number’. I HAVE WAITED ALL DAY NOBODY HAS PHONED ME BACK. This is a rip off right enough run by professional con artists who cannot earn decent cash but must steal from hard working people. DO NOT PART WITH YOUR HARD EARNED CASH TO SC****** OPERATING AS WORLDWIDE RESORTS. Hold onto your £99 that you have earned through working hard.
I have just returned from holiday to find a letter from Worldwide Resorts together with a receipt for the £99. I cannot find anything on their website that looks like anywhere I want to go. I don’t even remember speaking to them – I have been scammed in the past and have put it down to the fact that I am just recovering from a critical illness. I will be phoning them on Monday to find out if there are any vacation places that I want to go. I could kick myself!
I too received today a call from this company. I was offered 2 weeks 5* hotel accommodation for £99.00. I guessed it was a scam from the start, but kept them talking, to get details. She told me that we should have received an email from CLC regarding this offer (we did not). As we had not taken up the offer, they alleged that CLC was asking them to follow it up, but it was only valid until 3pm today!! . I ummed and ahhed and the young lady said she would get her manager called “Paige Phillips”. Sounding very credible and confidant she said she would throw in an extra week. I said I would need to think about it and asked for the number to ring back. She gave me 01412808001. I politely put the phone down. I rang 1471 and the number that came up was 0034965888406
I meant to add that I got in touch with CLC membership who confirmed this was a sc** and took the details. They suggested that I also post them on this site. Thanks.
Had 2 calls from a company called Mini Break Away on 01143520064. Very pushy. Would not say where they got my number.
Oh yes! Worldwide Resorts and a few others are trying this formula on. They were in contact in the last 2 weeks. I told them politely where to go. Please keep up the good work to stop these crooks preying on sometimes vulnerable people.