What a rip off!!

<p>In 2012 I attended a presentation by the company called Real Time Marketing who were selling a holiday package. They were the advertising company for The Holiday Club. I got interested in the package due to the fact that I was told after I pay a certain  amount I would have a holiday for life with no extra cost. I paid a full amount of approximately R59 000.00. But upon recieving a welcoming official letter from The Holiday Club I discovered that there was an additional cost for administration which was amounting over R500 a month. I was not prepared to pay this and then approched the person who had sold us the package asking him to cancel the whole deal and my money be paid back in full. He assured me that this was going to happen but had to write a letter to this effect which I did. Meanwhile, Real Time Marketing asked that I return the folder which had been given to me as a member. The response from The Holiday Club was that they could not terminate my membership and refered me to the clause that has my innitails which I was not aware of at that time and which meant I was stuck with this for the rest of my life. Real Time Marketing rep who had sold me the package had apologised and said he wasnt aware of this extra cost and would make sure contract is terminate and my money is paid back in full. When I wrote to the club to hold their advertising agency accountable for this, the club wouln't budge and only recognising the contract not what the agency is saying which I find very unfair.</p> <p>I have been paying this admin fee which is now over R630 a month since April 2013 to this date. I have never used their services and still maintain that I want my money back in full. I am depressed and cant sleep at night. I really need help otherwise I will go insane.</p> <p> </p> <p>below is a copy of a letter we had written to the company on the 13th of March 2013</p> <p> </p> <p>TO                  :           WHOM IT MAY CONCERN</p> <p>                                    THE HOLIDAY CLUB</p> <p> </p> <p>FROM            :           WANDILE NDLOVU</p> <p> </p> <p>DATE             :           13 MARCH 2013</p> <p> </p> <p>SUBJECT      :           TERMINATION OF OUR MEMBERSHIP: PLPAN285127</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Dear Sir / Madam</p> <p> </p> <p>The above subject refers <br /> </p> <p>On the 13th December 2012 my wife (Nomkhosi Ndlovu) and I met the Real Time Marketing sales rep by the name of Mr Shepard. He was the one that did the whole presentation of The Holiday Club to us and eventually signed us on at Umhlanga offices in Durban. The agreement number where we signed being IF ********** . The amount of money taken as a deposit using my standard bank credit card amounted to R8694-00.<br /> </p> <p>During the presentation Mr Shepard explained that this is the opportunity for the buyer to purchase a “holiday” for life any where in the world using the point system. We were only made aware of the 25 points product at a cost of R72 450 and 20 points which cost R57960 respectively. <br /> </p> <p>I would like to highlight that during the presentation we made Mr Shepard aware that we are interested in the 20 points package not the 25 points as it was out of our affordability range. He then started explain the product thoroughly to us stating that we would have to pay the amount between 1-5 years where the first year is interests free. Mr Shepard stated that it was up to the buyer to structure how he/she would pay the amount within the first year to avoid the interest. He mentioned that the points can be used buy the owner, lend, rent out, sell them back to the company or leave in your will for future generation. <br /> </p> <p> A question was asked what the cost implication to the buyer is if one was interested in buying. He stated that I would have to pay R8694-00 as sign on fee using cash or credit card and the balance thereof will be R50 406-00. When we wanted to know if there were any other cost once you settle the outstanding R50 406-00, the answer was a simple no.<br /> </p> <p>He started preparing the papers for me to sign as we felt the product was worth investing into but subsequent to me signing documents I discovered that I had a monthly instalment of R1983-86 commencing on 31 March 2013. I questioned him about this as this was not included in our presentation. He apologised sighting that he assumed we were aware that the must be a way we were going to pay the outstanding amount and that was in the monthly instalments format. I stated that but I was supposed to be made aware from the presentation not discover it during the signing process. We then agreed on it and the date was changed to April 2013. It occurred that while signing Mr Roche Harker informed us that he will give us 8 extra points as they were running a special that evening of the 13 December 2012. <br /> </p> <p>I want to further emphasize that I was shocked upon receiving the welcoming letter as well as the membership card from The Holiday Club in January 2013 to discover that the statement included costs such as membership and reservation as well as premium holiday cover fees that were never mentioned in our presentation.<br /> </p> <p>Subsequent to us receiving the letter stated above, my wife and I had decided to make a direct deposit of the full amount (R50 406-00) that was outstanding. We took that decision after we had assessed the number of financial commitments we had for 2013 and we didn’t want The Holiday Club to interfere or crowding other commitments. Hence we maid the full direct deposit payment of R50 406-00 on the 27 February 2013 to the vacation management account. The deposit slip was faxed to the number ********** 842 on the same day for the attention of “Syvel”. The lady I spoke to from the Margate office having dialled the member services number written on the top front page of the welcome letter, also emphasised that we now have an outstanding amount of R5 684.20 for the annual membership and reservation fees. I also told her that this was never mentioned to us and it comes as a shock to me. <br /> </p> <p>I immediately phoned Mr Shepard on the same day of 27 February 2013 wanting to vent out my frustration as well as disappointment regarding the new information that was emerging for the first time. He told me he couldn’t talk as he was out of the office but as soon as he is back he will return my call the same day. To this day I am still waiting for that call.<br /> </p> <p>On the evening of 07 March 2013 at about 19h30 we decided to go to the offices in Umhlanga to confront Mr Shepard. The people I was with was my wife (Nomkhosi Ndlovu) as well as Mr & Mrs Molefe who were the ones that referred us to the company. We were received by Mr Roche Harker who informed us that Mr Shepard was not in and was due to return to work the following week as he was in Eastern Cape. We narrated the whole scenario to him and he said it was unfortunate that certain information was withheld from us but then advised us to put everything in writing and email it to the company.<br /> </p> <p>I want to state to you that Mr Shepard represented the image of the club. In our case, his action reflected the club that is not trustworthy going forward. The information withheld from us represented the thin line between a person deciding to sign on or not. I would like to bring to your attention that had we known that after the total sum of R59 100-00, we still had to pay an annual membership as reservation fees that were escalating with inflation and decided by the board, we would not have signed on. We are gutted by the way the whole process has unfolded.<br /> </p> <p>It is for the reasons stated above that I want my membership terminated with immediate effect and that my money is paid back to me in full. <br /> </p> <p> </p> <p>Thank You</p> <p> </p> <p>Yours Sincerely</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>