Have You "won" A Holiday, Too? :---)

[Kf6vci]

Got a call at the hotel earl in the morning: a Dutch voice declared me the "winner" of a holiday drawing. They sent "the company car" and chaufeured me to Jomtien. 7 hours later, I more or less fled the scene.

Here is the nub. a) The salespeople use phoy names, won' let a punter out of sight and their math is mindboggling. For EUR 11,880 one can buy 1/26th of a normal View Talay studio (they rent for THB 12-15 k per month) with "only" 185 Dollar weekly maintenance fee. But they claim one can rent the place out for THB "3,900/day" with RCI.com only taking 20% of the gross rent.

RE THE HOLIDAY I "WON", they want me to mail CASH ONLY to P.O.Box 36 in Jomtien. No money order or gift cheques - we are honest :---)

The secondary market is awash with timeshares seling for maybe 5%. This is s i c k - farang operating with bogus names rip off tourists... Or am I mistaken and can indeed collect a "free" holiday? Please share your views and experiences! Chris

[davethailand]

as soon as the words "you've won a free prize" are mentioned tell them to piss off.

[Aikido]

well said Dave someone tried it on us in Phuket a few yrs ago I didnt click at first but all became clear I made excuses and did one luckily they were Thai so not difficult to escape.

[Up2U]

I responded to this earlier, but the connection went down, so lost it.

Again, Phuket - late nineties. With a very close g/f. We were stopped in the street by these RCI people and g/f got a piece of paper that said she'd won a holiday in Oz. Now for a Thai bar-girl this means she's already listing the shops she'll go to, friends she'll tell (to show her one-up ness), etc.

Went into the hotel lounge that they were using, were told nothing substatntive for an hour. All this time the g/f was accepting that she had won a vacation. I finally started doing the 'farang thing' and raised my voice to try to get answers on what they offered. Turns out that the 'holiday' was a week in an RCI time-share, but we would have to pay the air-fare. To 'win' the holiday would require that I agreed to view their Thailand time-share properties. I refused, no holiday, bad time with g/f.

I had not wanted to upset her - we were a long-standing couple, mainly friends, but also more. It was as a friend that I was upset, annoyed, whatever. Building up the hopes of a b/g and then getting me to destroy her dream. Not good.

The cost of an RCI home for two weeks is not excessive, as they are usually in pleasant surroundings, with reasonable neighbours. But it is a commitment to buy such a place.

Also ran across them in Florida. Had to use lawyers to stop their lawyers chasing me across the world with spurious claims. I was stupid enough to give my name and address to them (or was it my then-wife?). Very difficult to dislodge, once they've got their teeth into you.

Go nowhere with them, sign nothing, give a punch on the nose if necessary.

(I haven't seen them outside the Royal Garden Plaza of late, has the new development got rid of them?)

[chanchao]

All starts with the students and 'students' doing toursit surveys along beach road and other places (also in Bangkok at tourist sites). They ask for your hotel and room number. The rest of the story is in the opening post at the top.

I'm not sure the students / surveyers actually know they're part of a scam or that it's just a job to them doing a survey and getting paid. I'm unsure so I'm not sure how unfriendly I should get with the surveyers.. ;-)

I tried doing what I do with the tuk tuk scum along sukhumvit which is pretend they're not there. This seemed to make one of the surveying students feel embarassed in some way, perhaps genuinely. I don't know. I think the surveyers at least need to be told what they're part of, and perhaps ask if they're ok with the resulting loss in karma brownie points.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[MadFrankie]

never realised that. I assumed it would be a scam of some sort though, so I always ignore them anywayz

[cutethaigirl]

Give your name and or address, phone to ANYONE along the Beach and expect a call.

Tenerife all sold out??

[simesnuts65]

I got swindled into spending a whole three hours with some chain smoking cockney has-been and his geordie 'hippy'boss on the time-share hard-sell somewhere in Jomtien.

Both looked to me like they had been 'inside' with their pish india ink tattoos.

Knew something was up as soon as the old shit heap car arrived.

Then the plastic seats and cups of instant coffee( the wee drink before lunch!)in the fabulous reception!

By the time i got angry enough to leave i was sporting a massive headache and a crappy little bit of paper saying that i had the holiday which i had to ask for a dozen times.

The holiday was a pile of <deleted> from what i can gather plus given the fact they had already lied to get me and all the other poor suckers there I did not trust going and not being handed a <deleted> bill at the end of it.

I tossed the thing.

I had taken them at their word over the phone and told a few people.What a prick I felt.

Had been phoned by some dude at the hotel I was at and got the whole 'chauffeur and lunch before the presentation of the holiday' routine.

Lying <deleted>.

By all means fill in the forms as it helps the students i think.

Put 'U.R.Asphincter' on the form.

[johng]

I went to the time share hard sell to help out one of the "student surveyers"

she didn't know it was a time share scam that she was involved in.

All she knew was, if she got some one to go to the office in Jomtien and listen to the rubbish they spouted for more than an hour they would pay her 500 baht per head, however getting poeple to trust/believe that they had won a free holiday is quite difficault ,she normaly only got paid 500-1000 baht per week.

So in the end after telling them I wanted time to think about it.

she was glad to get the 500 baht and I was glad to escape with my life :-)

[Padkapow Guy]

This scammed happened to us last year in Pattaya. The wife and I told them to bug off but my friend thought the girl was cute so he told us he would go along full well knowing it a scam. When he came back he told us that they were relentless trying to get his money. eventually he had to find his own ride home. He said they would not bring him back to his hotel until they got him to agree to the scam.

He said that the last time his little head does the talking.( I doubt it)

[davethailand]

i'm amazed how people can be drawn in by these idiots.

[snoophound]

I got swindled into spending a whole three hours with some chain smoking cockney has-been and his geordie 'hippy'boss on the time-share hard-sell somewhere in Jomtien.

Both looked to me like they had been 'inside' with their pish india ink tattoos.

Knew something was up as soon as the old shit heap car arrived.

Then the plastic seats and cups of instant coffee( the wee drink before lunch!)in the fabulous reception!

By the time i got angry enough to leave i was sporting a massive headache and a crappy little bit of paper saying that i had the holiday which i had to ask for a dozen times.

The holiday was a pile of <deleted> from what i can gather plus given the fact they had already lied to get me and all the other poor suckers there I did not trust going and not being handed a <deleted> bill at the end of it.

I tossed the thing.

I had taken them at their word over the phone and told a few people.What a prick I felt.

Had been phoned by some dude at the hotel I was at and got the whole 'chauffeur and lunch before the presentation of the holiday' routine.

Lying <deleted>.

By all means fill in the forms as it helps the students i think.

Put 'U.R.Asphincter' on the form.

Ha yes

I remember the pitch in phuket in the late ninetys too

shoddy building and these sleazy cockney conmen trying to do the high pressure close.

I try to flick the poor touts on the street some money to go away but they are scared and say if they take money they get fired.

So i always fill in the form so they get their 20 baht.

I have had some great sport being creative with those forms.

[bluebear]

Most of the girls dont know its a scam. A few of the brighter ones hear the complaints and start to wonder but the thought of their "bounty money" keeps them from asking too much. Not many jobs that will pay that much without them taking off clothes.

[konangrit]

I used to have great fun filling in the forms on beach road with the room numbers of various sex cases and assorted weirdos from my hotel. Shame to hear that they are no longer there. Unfortunately never got to see the end results, but I like to think that one or two of them wasted an afternoon.