Press releases 2011 - OFT secures enforcement orders against holiday club companies

http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2011/58-11

Press releases 2011 -

OFT secures enforcement orders against holiday club companies

58/11 6 May 2011

The OFT has obtained enforcement orders in the High Court against two companies and seven individuals stopping them using sales and marketing practices the OFT considers to be misleading or otherwise unlawful when selling and marketing holiday club memberships and other holiday based products.

The OFT was concerned that holders of timeshare products attended presentations on the promise of being able to dispose of their timeshares, with their maintenance charges, when in fact they were subjected to lengthy and high pressure sales pitches to be sold expensive holiday club memberships costing large sums, in some cases up to £12,000. Sales staff told these holders they could get back up to 95 per cent of these sums under a 'reclaim' scheme but did not explain the restrictions that applied, and often played on their fears that their children would otherwise be liable for timeshare maintenance fees. Many consumers subsequently wished to cancel their holiday club memberships but were not allowed to.

Interim enforcement orders were obtained against Personal Travel Group Limited (PTG), Geo Demographic Market Research Limited (GDMR) and two individuals who are directors of PTG and were directors of Incentive Leisure Group Limited (ILG). Final enforcement orders were obtained against five individuals associated with PTG and GDMR, one of whom was also a former director of ILG.

Amongst other things the orders prohibit the companies and the individuals from engaging in misleading sales practices when dealing with people who want to dispose of their timeshares, and require consumers to be given cancellation rights in certain circumstances.

The orders follow the launch of High Court proceedings by the OFT in December 2010 against these companies and individuals for their involvement in activities which the OFT believes breach consumer protection law.

The interim enforcement orders against PTG, GDMR and the individuals concerned will last until there is a final hearing of the OFT's court action. A date for the final hearing has not yet been set.

The final enforcement orders conclude the OFT's action against the individuals concerned.

No interim enforcement order was sought against ILG as it is not trading and is in liquidation in Gibraltar. However, the OFT is monitoring the progress of the liquidation and intends to continue its action through the High Court against the company.

Jason Freeman, Director in the OFT's Goods and Consumer Group, said:

'The enforcement orders put a stop to activities that we consider to be unlawful, and which we believe were causing serious harm to consumers.

'It is important that traders do not mislead consumers or exploit their fears in order to make a hard sell. In particular, these are contracts where we believe consumers should have been given cancellation rights and we are pleased that the traders have accepted that they have to give notice of such rights in accordance with the law.'

The content of the orders was agreed by the companies, the individuals and the OFT, and approved by the Court.

NOTES

1. The interim and final enforcement orders were made under Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002 and sealed by the High Court on 19 April 2011.
2. Under Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002 the court may make an enforcement order which requires the companies and individuals named to cease or discontinue any breaches of consumer protection laws that may have occurred.
3. If a company or person breaches an interim or final enforcement order, they can be held in contempt of court which could lead to a fine, imprisonment or the seizure of their assets.
4. Interim orders have been made against PTG, Keith Barker and Kimberley Bambroffe. Mr Barker was a director of ILG, and is a director of GDMR and PTG. Ms Bambroffe was a director of ILG and is a director of PTG.
5. Final orders were made against Martin White, Jonathan Daniels, Mark Gales, Robert Knight and Lily Alderson. Martin White was a former director of ILG. Mr. Gales, Mr. Knight and Ms Anderson were involved in the management of and sales by one or more of the companies involved in this case.
6. The registered office of PTG is Unit 21, 2nd Floor, Waterport Place, 2 Europort Avenue, Gibraltar.
7. The registered office of GDMR is Haven Court, 5 Library Ramp, Gibraltar.
8. The liquidators address for ILG is Haven Court, 5 Library Ramp, Gibraltar.
9. For more information see the case summary in respect of this investigation. The interim and final enforcement orders are also available on this page.
10. Trading Standards Services in Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, North Somerset and Durham assisted the OFT during this investigation. The OFT also received assistance from many other Trading Standards Services in respect of the investigation.
11. The OFT does not provide advice or resolve individual complaints for consumers. Consumer information is available from www.direct.gov.uk/consumer For further assistance consumers should consider obtaining independent legal advice.

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DRI Announce Approved Resale agent

I have pasted below an announcement from DRI announcing that they have approved "The Travel & Leisure Group" as their only authorised third party reseller for points.

ANNOUNCEMENT

"The Founder Member is pleased to announce the appointment of The Travel & Leisure Group as an authorized third party reseller for member points.

The Travel & Leisure Group will be happy to assist you in selling your points and have authority to arrange sales on your behalf to other EU Collection members and non members.

Should you wish to sell your points using their services, you may contact them on 0800 988 7168 or submit an enquiry form on their website at www.travelandleisure.co.uk. The Travel & Leisure Group will discuss points resale options with you directly and will be able to assist you throughout the process.

Please note in order to start this process all maintenance fees must be up to date. Also, we must advise that at this time, in accordance with the Articles, The Travel & Leisure Group is the only authorized reseller for members of the European Collection."

END OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I know from the questions I have received already that there are a few questions so I have put a couple of notes below that hopefully will cover any questions.

(a) Please note the management fees have to be up to date including all 2010 fees before you can ask The Travel & Leisure Group to try and sell your points.

(b) Travel & Leisure can sell to both existing members and to non-members.

(c) All points sold through The Travel & Leisure Group will be restricted points meaning they can only be used for European Collection resorts, they can't be used for US resorts, Affiliate resorts, Member benefits and they won't add to your points to move you up a tier. However if you buy more points at a later date from the sales teams then you will have the opportunity to get the resale points recognised as 'full' points.

(d) Points transfers between members will carry on being an option in the same way as before.

(a) Please note that any company phoning you to say they can buy or sell your points is trying to scam you. Only The Travel & Leisure Group can sell points for you there are NO other companies that can no matter what they tell you or how convincing they are, all they are after is your money count on it! Don't get involved with them and you won't become another victim who has lost money!

Happy holidays

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Bristol Airport Offers Flights To Tenerife | FHR Travel News | BOOKFHR.com

Bristol Airport Offers Flights To Tenerife | FHR Travel News | BOOKFHR.com

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Club Class Concierge sixteen people arrested on suspicion of fraud.

Hi everyone, I have received this news from Diamond's Legal department and the OTE (Organisation for Timeshare in Europe.
Towards the end of January, the Spanish police raided the offices of Global Vacations Limited, a marketing company selling Club Class Concierge holiday club membership, arresting sixteen people on suspicion of fraud.

Victims of this alleged fraud will have been approached by resale company ETOO telling them that a buyer had been found for their points or week. They would have been told that the transaction would have to be concluded in person in Malaga. Once there the owners were met by Global Vacations Limited representatives who try to sell them Club Class Concierge membership. This may well have been alongside a cash-back offer through CashBack Europe Plc.

To assist the authorities in Spain with their investigations, evidence is now required from timeshare owners and the purpose of this email is to call on OTE members to inform their staff, post messages on their websites or their newsletters to encourage as many victims as possible come forward. A case can only be built up if sufficient evidence is provided!

In this instance, rather than forwarding complaints to OTE’s enforcement team in Spain, we have been informed that evidence should be sent to the complainant’s local European Consumer Centre, details of which can be found on the ECC website: -

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/ecc_network_centers.pdf

Photocopies of all documents, a brief statement providing details about their case and photocopies of proof of payments made should be provided.

UK based consumers should send their complaints to:

European Consumer Centre
1 Sylvan Court, Sylvan Way
Southfields Business Park
Basildon
Essex SS15 6TH

Tel: 08456 04 05 03
Fax: 08456 08 96 00
email: ecc@tsi.org.uk

OTE is issuing a press release on Monday to coincide with a similar release issued by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading. We also understand that BBC Watchdog is planning to report the raids in its programme on Monday 2nd of February at 19h30.

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Chairman Of “Timeshare Consumers Association” Behind Libellous Websites

November 11, 2008 by Timeshare News

The Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE) welcomes the recent verdict in a libel case against Alexander (Sandy) Grey, Chairman of the self-styled “Timeshare Consumers Association, which has been consistently critical of the reputable timeshare industry.”

The High Court found that it was Sandy Grey himself who was behind the so-called “Crimeshare – Timeshare Frauds and Scams” and related Websites. The Website not only included personal attacks against employees and directors of timeshare companies and OTE, but also produced so-called “black lists” falsely incriminating reputable timeshare companies.

Even though Grey denied his involvement; the Judge – Mr Justice Eady, found that Mr Grey had published the Crimeshare website on all five of the domain names which formed the basis of the High Court claim. Grey was ordered to pay the substantial costs involved in proving his responsibility for publication. Over a number of years Grey had denied that he was behind these sites and had even signed court documents to verify his false denials. Despite this, he continued to portray himself as an independent advisor on timeshare issues to consumers, the media and government. It is believed that up to 1.5 million individuals may have relied on his “advice” over the years.

More than 200 companies were “blacklisted” by Grey including publicly traded companies such as RCI - the timeshare vacation exchange company, the Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE), to which most European developers belong and ARDA - the American Resort Developers Association.

Peter van der Mark, Secretary General of OTE said of the judgement:

“OTE is very concerned about the legitimacy of a number of private organisations set up around Europe to purportedly provide “consumer advice”. These companies have absolutely no link to the industry or to any government authority. We would advise consumers to exercise caution in dealing with any organisation that refers to the so-called Crimeshare blacklist, Mr Grey or the TCA.”

OTE provides guidance and advice on timeshare through its website www.ote-info.com and offers a free of charge arbitration service for timeshare owners who own at OTE member resorts. Consumers may also contact TATOC – The Timeshare Association - on 0845 2302430 for further advice.

Over the past few years OTE has worked successfully with a number of different European consumer organisations, including European Consumer Centres, ConSeur in Brussels and with TATOC, to name just a few. OTE has valued and continues to value constructive comment and criticism of the timeshare industry by consumer organisations as it contributes to the maintenance of a high level of best practice for the timeshare industry. This has for example resulted in all European Consumer Centres having input into OTE’s 2005 Code of Conduct through a meeting organised by the European Commission and OTE.

OTE tried to establish cooperation with the TCA in 1999 but its Chairman Mr. Grey personally refused any cooperation. It now appears, from the judgement of the High Court on 28 October 2008, that for the past five years Mr Grey has been responsible for publishing serious and false allegations about many of the leading brands in the timeshare industry in Europe.

Club La Costa is also involved in High Court proceedings against a company over unfounded and serious allegations. It is believed that the defendant company had worked closely with Sandy Grey. High Court proceedings continue.

More about OTE:
OTE is the pan-European trade association representing the timeshare industry throughout Europe. It promotes best practice in the industry for the benefit of both consumers and the industry. All members are bound by a code of ethics that ensures the protection of consumers’ rights. OTE provides information and advice to consumers and offers a free conciliation service to consumers dealing with its members.

OTE represents the majority of timeshare companies in Europe which are responsible for some 65-70% of all timeshare sales. These include major hospitality groups such as De Vere, Hilton, Sol Melia, and large independent timeshare developers, namely the Petchey Leisure Group, Club La Costa, Hapimag and Seasons Holidays.
Filed Under: 01. Full List Of Timeshare News, Europe, Organization for Timeshare in Europe

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Tony’s guide to eating and drinking on the Golf del Sur

Tony’s guide to eating and drinking establishments on the Golf del Sur

(LAST UPDATED SUNDAY 8TH APRIL 2012)

Click Here for a printable version of the guide.

I have now created a listing with a Map to show you where the restaurants are in relation to each other.

If you click on this link it should open up Google Maps

Tony's Guide to eating and drinking on the Golf del Sur

If you have Google Earth try viewing it in that as it looks much better. You can download Google Earth here http://earth.google.com

Knowing that we love it out here on the Golf del Sur members often asking me for recommendations so I thought I would try and put something together hopefully it will be useful to someone.

On the Golf del Sur we have 3 Diamond resorts I will start with the one nearest to us which is Royal Tenerife Country Club (RTCC). On site you have the pool bar where they serve food all day and also offer evening meals. At the front near reception is Cafe Med, this is now owned and run by Anne Gregory. This Easter we have received a fabulous welcome and hospitality from Anne. At present it is open for Eats / Drinks from 5pm till late. Anne will be opening from end of June till end of Sept all day. 10 out of 10 for everything and also a very good WiFi signal !


If you walk down from the resort to the main road you meet the one way system. Opposite you is the Golf Club where you can get drinks etc but it is a bit expensive as you can imagine. Turning left at the main road you can walk down to San Blas (I will cover San Blas later) on the way down you will pass on your right a road that leads up to “Fairways Village”, if you walk up there you will first of all come to Café Par, they are open during the day and in the evening. Cafe Par has Fish & Chip nights on Wednesdays & Fridays and they also deliver! If you venture a bit further in to the resort you will find the Oasis Bistro (922738985). Good food and friendly service, we have eaten there a few times and it has always been very good.

Going back up towards the RTCC road, if you walk to your right when you get to the main road having come down from RTCC and follow the one way system round to the left you come to a big round glass building which is our new Medical Centre and Chemist. Within the same building we have "Excellent Medical" where they have general doctors and various specialists covering most areas of medicine there is also a dentist and optician as well as beauty treatments etc.

If you turn left at the Medical centre and go around the right hand bend you will see on your left the reception for Las Adelfas II, If you go down the side of reception towards the pool you will find "C & A's Bistro". They have a happy hour from 4pm to 7pm where beer and wine are just 1 Euro a pint, they have a very good saxophone player on Wednesday nights and Kelvin and excellent guitarist playing from 4pm on Sundays, we go to that and really enjoy it.

Friday night is Fish & Chips night very good Cod & Chips!

If you go back to the main road and continue walking around the one way system there is an entrance on your left to the Palms where there is a very nice bar with a lovely patio area and a good menu, good for breakfast and they have toasted teacakes which are nice for elevenses. We have had many a Sunday roast there whilst watching Colin's show and I have to say it is one of the best roast dinners I have had on the Golf! Their "Grumpy hour" is 5pm to 7pm. The Palms have cabaret most nights of the week and the room with a proper stage & sound system seems good as the acts sound good compared to out in the open on the top square at San Blas.

Every Sunday night Colin Stevens does his full show followed by one of Colin's singing and quiz shows. Starting at 8:30pm until after 11pm, brilliant! This is now the only place on the golf where you can see Coin perform! On Friday Night Colin & Jan Munroe do a tribute to Abba called Abba & the Dancing Queen, I will leave you to work out who's who in that one. Tell Babs the owner that Tony sent you! (922738809)

Following the one way system down will lead you to Grandee O’Donnells on the left, a good Irish bar with a lot of sports on television, they seem to have up to 4 different sports on the numerous televisions all at the same time but only sound from one sport thank goodness. You can get bar snacks here and they also have cabaret on in the evenings. Grandee's have now started serving food, I think Thursdays is Steak night and Mondays is Curry night. Everyone says how good the food is and very reasonable too! Next to Grandee O'Donnell's is another shop that is open from 7:30am until about 11pm. Across the road there are another couple of bars and restaurants at Green Park but not eaten at those so can't say how good they are.

As you go down the one way system on your left is the road to Sunningdale one of the Club de Costa resorts, if you go in and have a look around you will see their restaurant "Zachary's", a nice restaurant with entertainment most nights of the week. Next to this road is a big plot of land with a big sign that is currently advertising Zachary's restaurant. Anyway just after this plot is another road on the left that leads down to an excellent bar/restaurant called "The Mill" the menu is good and very competitively priced. We have eaten here a few times and found the food to be excellent and big meals very good value! The Food is typical pub food but good portions.

A little further around the one way system and on your right you will find the Winter Gardens, you can walk through the Winter Gardens to get to the Marina area near Santa Barbara. The restaurant at the Winter Gardens "Rendezvous" is run by the same people who run the bowls (922 738602) excellent menu and good prices in what is now a very nice and classy restaurant highly recommended! Nice friendly service and you may well remember Amanda & Stuart who both used to work at Tasca Macos at Sunset View. Below the restaurant overlooking the bowling rinks is the Bowls bar & Bistro where they do good food all day long (excellent breakfasts) and in the evenings they have excellent and varied menu and the food is very good indeed they are also having entertainment on some evenings downstairs in the Bistro.

The bowling itself is great fun and can be booked by calling in to the bowls reception next to the bar or by telephoning 0034 922 738683 or by emailing julielincoln@tenerifegreenbowls.com

If you have bowled before it is 11€ each for 2 hours plus 1.50€ to hire a set of bowls and 1.50€ for shoe hire. If you haven't bowled before I recommend booking for the Wednesday 11am special price session which includes Coaching a game and the hire or bowls & shoes followed by lunch for just 20€ each!

Continue to the end of the road and the road to the right leads down to Santa Barbara! (If you turn left and left again The Mill is at the top of that road too). When staying at Santa Barbara you have the choice of the Pool Bar or the restaurant upstairs, the pool bar is good for snacks & happy hour of course! The restaurant upstairs is "Little Italy". We have eaten here a few times now and it has always been very good! Very extensive menu, Great food and reasonably priced too. Great addition to the resort, I understand they have also taken over the restaurant at RSBC too so hopefully that is also much improved.

If you walk out of reception at Santa Barbara and turn left you will find after a short walk, La Marina (922738049), Bistro 27 and a bit further on the Golden Bay Chinese (922738447), you can also walk up to Rendezvous through the Winter Gardens from here too.

It is also possible to walk down to the Marina area down a windy path red paved part that leads down to the restaurants along the sea front, as you walk down the path you will notice on your right a very good bar "Volare Cabaret Showbar" (619909417) they have cabaret every night in a very comfortable, modern and well finished cabaret room. It is every bit as nice inside as it looks from the outside but don't think it is going to be too posh or expensive as it certainly isn't. The bar is run by Gary & Joanne (Jo) and their son Charlie. Pop in and tell them Tony told you about it I am sure you will find them very friendly and welcoming with reasonably priced drinks. Great place to finish your evening, as they are open late until 2am. They open from 5pm on Monday - Friday and from 8pm on Saturday & Sunday. You can find out more by going to there facebook page.

Next to Volare's is "Tapas 'n' Chill", this is run by the same people who run Volare's and is really good. It is only a small restaurant with half a dozen tables, the menu makes your mouth water and the food lives up to expectations every time. We usually go in parties of 4 or 6 and order two Tapas each which we all share. That will be plenty of food and I am sure you will enjoy it.

If you were staying at Santa Barbara it would be easier to go down to the Pool area and go through the gate and turn right as this also leads down to the Marina area.

As you walk down you will find several restaurants, including a Mexican Mis Cuates (922736501) an Indian Nawaab, Trasmallo Steakhouse (922708247) La Marina II (922708198) most of them we haven't eaten at recently but they have seemed busier lately so maybe they are much improved. Two that do stand out are Sakura (922738393) & Harbour Lights (922736677). Sakura is a restaurant where they serve a range of dishes from Thai to Chinese to Japanese. If you want a really lovely meal go into Sakura and tell Jimmy that Tony sent you and you want Tepanyaki! At the back of the restaurant they have a Tepanyaki area which seats only about 16 people, this is without doubt our favourite restaurant on the Golf. At the Tepanyaki we order depending on how many of us there are, typically Fillet steak, Chicken, Duck, Sea Bass & King Prawns, a couple of portions of Fried Rice, one Noodles and one Vegetables mmm lovely my mouth is watering now just thinking about it!

The food is cooked in front of you on the Tepanyaki plates and the smells and flavours are to die for and watching the chef cook is an experience in itself and not to be missed!

Harbour Lights is further around towards the Harbour, they do a typically English menu but cooked very well with home made food and everything is always fresh and very tasty tell John the owner that Tony recommended you.

Going back up to the one way system from Santa Barbara there are a few restaurants within easy walking distance including a small Italian "Golf Park" (922738136) on one corner and a Chinese on the other corner. At the end of the block between the first block and the second is a little windy path that leads up to Mamma Roma's (922738098) an excellent Italian restaurant, we have eaten here a lots of times and really enjoyed the food and the surroundings. On the next block there is "Dabda's" a very nice Tapas & Wine bar, we had lunch there with four other members and was very nice indeed, they have expanded into the shop next door and whilst it isn't cheap the reports I have had is that the food is very good so well worth a visit. There are 2 more restaurants the Polynesian Isles and the Aberdeen Steak House. Recent reports are pretty good and certainly very cheap 3 courses for 7.95€!

If you carry on up the one way system you will see on your right a terracotta resort named Terrazzo de la Paz and here you will find the excellent Big Al’s restaurant (922738793), a lovely setting to eat with excellent food too but make sure you are hungry. I recommend that you book as it does get full most nights, we have spoken to lots of people who have been turned away because all the tables are taken (always a good sign). Big Al's is only open from 5pm so no good going for lunch!

If you are walking then before that if you turn right down towards El Nautico a nice looking apartment block with an outside bar and a restaurant now named "Maria's", The restaurant itself and the setting are outstanding and from what I hear the food is very good indeed it is certainly on our list of places to try soon!

Continue walking passing a nice Ice cream shop and up the slope you will come to San Blas, this is also an easy walk from RTCC. On your left opposite San Blas is my favourite resort Sunset View.

I am pleased to say that Sunset View now has a very good restaurant on site which is I think the best "Little Italy" that I have tried. The food is lovely and the staff are very friendly so I can highly recommend eating there when you are on the Golf del Sur.

Opposite Sunset View the top square hosts a number of restaurants and entertainment 7 nights a week. You have the Great Wall a very good Chinese restaurant, Inside the top square there is entertainment every night, we have Jo Cassidy who is our compère nearly every night as well as a good caberet act at around 9.30pm.

Next to the Great Wall is Brisas del Mar which translates at Sea Breezes. Had a great meal with several members there and I can highly recommend the Garlic Prawns! It is mainly a fish restaurant but as the chef is Italian they also serve excellent Pasta so something for everyone! (922727907)

Next to Brisas del Mar is Magnums Wine Bar, nice place for a drink before or after your meal at one of the many restaurants. Next to that is Ringside a sports bar that opened very recently. Next to Ringside is "Black Magic" a classy looking bar having been completely revamped and is a nice friendly bar to have a beer and a chat etc. Opposite the Great wall is the Tavern a good bar to enjoy the entertainment at the end of the night or enjoy a drink before eating. Next to the Tavern is Slippers another nice bar to sit and relax in. Next door is Arcadia an excellent restaurant and one of our favourite places to eat at any time of day. Howard is running the restaurant. Many of you who have been to Arcadia before will know Howard as he worked there for years. The food is excellent and the staff lovely. Next door to Arcadia is J’R’s Sports bar, this has recently been split to a restaurant "Country Kitchen" and a sports bar next door great for football lovers.

As you walk down towards the middle square you will pass the Kohinoor (922738828) and next to that is the Taj (922738801), we have now eaten at both of these Indian restaurants and they are both good if you like Indian food, better than a lot of Indian restaurants in the UK.

On the middle and biggest of the squares there are 3 restaurants The Plaza & The Opera are ok but not amongst our favourites. On the right you will find Bar Verde, a nice little restaurant and great for Breakfast as is La Taberna which is just off the main road at the front near Hiperdino Express. Next to La Taberna is "Electra" I have received glowing reports about the food here but not tried it myself yet, no doubt we will get round to it one of these days. At the bottom of the middle square there is a restaurant that has just reopened offering Tandoori Tapas, again not tried it but with so many Indian restaurants on San Blas it is probably going to be a while before we do.

To the right of Tandoori Tapas is the new "Haweli" Indian restaurant it has been refurbished with a new kitchen. We have eaten here several times with friends and it is excellent, when we can't be bothered cooking or going out we get a takeaway from Haweli (922 738209).

On the bottom square we have "Ocean Edge" unfortunately the owners are not well so it is currently closed. Near the church you have "Bar 180" obviously a darts theme with reasonably priced drinks quite a few locals drink here.

On the back road the first place you come to is Taboo’s a night club for the young ones amongst us. They are running Taboo's as an Italian restaurant during the evening until midnight when it becomes a nightclub again. They have done a brilliant job on the restaurant side and most of the locals are calling it La Strada at Taboo's as Marcello the chef who worked at La Strada is now running the restaurant and the food is lovely and very well priced. They have a takeaway Pizza place attached that I understand is good if you like Pizza!

Next to the Taboo’s is Gullivers Steak House, excellent food but can be a bit slow but hey you are on holiday right! Always worth checking out the specials mmm. Definitely need to book for this (922738303).

Next to Gullivers is the Wok Direct Chinese (922738381) where you can eat as much as you like for just €7.95 from their excellent Buffet including the wok service where you take your chosen meat, vegetables etc and choose your sauce and they cook it whilst you wait!

El Inti the Peruvian restaurant is closed.

Simpsons (922738456) is what used to La Strada is currently closed.

Pate de Oro (922738482) is open and serving fantastic Tapas or main courses so we can heartily recommend eating there.

That is just about it for now all of this without leaving the Golf del Sur that can’t be bad can it! Nearby you have Los Abrigos for lovely fish restaurants and numerous other places to visit, restaurants to eat at and bars to drink at but that is another story.
If you want a really different dining experience and home made food at really good prices don't miss Bar Cueva at Los Abrigos on the road between San Blas and the Mirador. Definitely book and don't miss going down to the cave for a drink before your meal.

If you travel off the golf up to Las Chafiras just the other side of the motorway is a new restaurant "Wok n Fire" and word is that this is a really good Chinese restaurant we have yet to try it but another member has commented: - "great buffet for 7.90 euros, one of the best places we have eaten at in the area".

I hope this is useful for anyone coming out to the Golf del Sur. If you try any of the restaurants tell them that you got the recommendation from Tony's Guide.

Happy holidays

Tony Pearce

tony@dri-members.co.uk

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Circle broken by CIB petitions

Circle broken by CIB petitions

MANCHESTER, UK: Two Cheshire based companies that offered to help owners dispose of valueless timeshare products and also marketed a potentially worthless cash back scheme have been wound up in the High Court following an investigation by the Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) of the Insolvency Service.

CIB’s investigation found that Full Circle Management Ltd (which traded under the style of FC Management) targeted existing timeshare owners, who were invited to attend a presentation at which they were persuaded to pay the company a fee, in return for which they were promised they would be “rid of the [timeshare] problem once and for all”. Clients were also invited to participate in a cash back scheme through which they were offered the opportunity to earn back what they had lost on their timeshare investment. The cost of the combined options varied between £1,800 and £8,000 and the company signed up nearly 450 clients between September 2006 and March 2008, generating a turnover of more than £2m. However, the enquiry found that almost £1m of that sum had been diverted to a Gibraltan company under common ownership and could not be accounted for.

Furthermore, CIB’s investigation also established that the timeshare disposal contract was not legally binding on the timeshare management company who, in the event of default by Full Circle, would continue to look to the client for outstanding management fees; a fact that was not made known to the client by Full Circle. As at February 2008 the company had potential future annual management fees of more than £150,000 but less than £12,000 in its bank account.

Regarding the cash back scheme, the investigation established that Full Circle had received more than £280,000 as agents for the cash back providers (in addition to £95,000 in sales commission) but that, as at March 2008, had handed over only £107,000 of that sum. As a result, 51% of clients are prevented from pursuing their claim to cash back, having not received the required paperwork, whilst the potential of the scheme for the remaining clients cannot be assessed.

Recent information reveals that the company ceased to trade in July 2008, having been abandoned by its management team, who are ex-patriots living in Spain and who failed to co-operate fully with the investigation.

Full Circle’s sister company, FC Management Ltd, although dormant, was also wound up by the Court on the grounds that its name was identical to the trading style of Full Circle and could lead to confusion in the minds of the general public.

In winding the companies up the District Judge commented that Full Circle’s business model appears to be one that significantly disadvantages the public.

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