Not really a Lanzarote question , but you guys have been about a bit and are knowledgeable chaps.

We have been offered a cheap holiday by a group calling themselves "Club La Costa" The holiday is for up to 4 for only a "booking fee" of £29.50 each. The condition is we go to Leeds and listen to their speil for 2 hours.

Im going on the old saying " If its sounds too good to be true, it probably is" and am a bit skeptical.

We got suckered into spending 3 precious hours in Costa Teguise a couple of years ago listening to the same type of garbage.

my point (and question) is,

Has anyone ever heard of Club La Costa?
Has anyone ever used them or joined it?
Is it any good?

I seem to remember Esther Rantzen and Co. investigating a similar thing about 12 months ago. I certainly don't want to be parting from my cash for nothing, being a careful (my missus spells that T.i.g.h.t.) yorkshireman.

I've probably answered my own question but I wanted to test the water
Skeet.

I went to one of their "talks" then signed up, only to cancel a couple of days later. They told us we could go anywhere, then when we got the brochure back home, we had about 6 places to choose from. My advice is give them a wide berth.

Margaret.

I don't know about this particular "club", but the chances are you will get burnt. Just see http://www.discoverlanzarote.com/viewtopic.php?t=1217 for a typical example of these schemes.
Some may be legit, but what you get is not worth the risk. STAY CLEAR!!!

Just did a quick search and found some interesting articles. Read the following about Club la Costa:-
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/20 ... msandfraud :-

According to the Office of Fair Trading, there are a large number of holiday companies all trying to attract potential customers by dangling a "free" holiday. The basic OFT advice is "don't go to the presentation". But if you succumb, how do you defend yourself? Be prepared for some psychological tricks. These include:

· Grinding you down with sessions lasting up to six hours.

· Baffling you with figures that you cannot check or even add up unless you are brilliant at mental arithmetic.

· Facing a bewildering variety of sales people.

· The good cop/bad cop routine where one of two sellers "befriends" you and makes jokes, even sometimes against the holiday firm.

· Making you feel ashamed if you don't sign up because you are either betraying your family or yourself.

· Bombarding you with information and confusing you as to your legal rights.

· Shaming you into signing as refusing would signify personal poverty and weakness.

You should always ask about cancellation rights and demand them in writing. If sellers refuse to give them or the terms are poor, walk away.

Check that all verbal claims are in the contract. Demand time to read this or walk away.

Never be pressured to stay by the promise of a "free" holiday at the end. There are always charges which may make the holiday expensive.

And don't be impressed by membership of "holiday club" or "timeshare" bodies. Some try to police members but they have no statutory clout.

The OFT website - http://www.oft.gov.uk - has helpful consumer advice.

Earlier this week, the Department of Trade and Industry presented petitions to wind-up holiday clubs The Travellers' Guild, Buckingham Leisure, Travel Concepts LLC, Riverside Travel Services and Cost (UK) in the public interest following an investigation under the Companies Act.

But while this means the companies will be shut down, victims of these firms may never again see their money - often nearly £6,000 a head. The ultimate ownership of at least one company in this group lies in the tax haven island of Nevis.

Sorry to press the point but the more I read on these shysters the worse it gets:-

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=11705

http://www.thisistravel.co.uk/travel/co ... e_id=23492


!club la costa con
My husband and I have both been conned. We drove to birmingham on Sat 2 Sep only to be met by a lady named Kelly. Yes she was a nice lady and it all seemed to be ligit. Of course they managed to get us to sign up but I wasn't happy at all. We have 14 days to cancel. I am typing a letter as we speak and will be posting all the documents back to them, requiring a signature at the other end. They wanted £295 upfront and £134 a month for 34 months. Then we could upgrade to £9995 after the 3 years were up. I can't believe that we got conned like this. We should have read the website before attending the meeting."

I really, really hope you give these people a miss. It's not even cheap. There are a large no of owners sites that have superb villas and apartments that are a far better alternative to these "clubs". Just the interest on the £10,000 this club wants would get you a week in a private villa with pool, let alone the annual cost and "maintenance" etc. ITs just not worth the risk mate.