I sent the below email, to classis escapes complaints on 20/9/13
To Whom it may concern,
We wish to cancel our membership with Classic Holidays.
We have tried to use this on a few occasions and have been very disappointed with the service.
We tried to book some accommodation for family members who were coming to visit us when we got married, I emailed 3 times to [email protected] and also to the consultant at the Townsville branch who advised the message was forwarded and no one bothered to get back to me!!
I had to call them and enquire only to find out that the rooms I required were no longer available!!! Yet they were when I originally sent the email as I checked with the hotel first!
On another occasion, we were trying to book accommodation for our honeymoon in Cairns and it was cheaper and we got more value by booking online direct with the hotel we were staying at. I was advised by the consultant on the phone that I should go online to look at the accommodation when I asked how much it was going to be and she couldn't give me an answer! I understand that looking at the website once she had given me the login details that it would be better to see which hotel was how much, but we got a better rate by booking it through the hotel directly
We wish to cancel this membership and all moneys paid be refunded!
We will not be continuing with this as we were promised things that you just cant seem to deliver! We were advised that we would get membership cards in the mail, however I was recently advised that that no longer happens, we were not given any membership account details to log in to the website as well.
We also tried to use some of the 16, 500 points we have on the account and it turns out this is only for week long stays and not individual nights you are required to pay, this information was not provided to us upon signing up with this service
We have paid about half of the 10 years that you pushed for and would like all money returned!!
On Behalf on myself and my husband David, we would like our money returned and our membership cancelled as we DO NOT wish to continue with this service!!
*****IN RETURN EMAIL WE GOT THE BELOW AFTER NO BEING CONTACTED BY THE PERSON HANDLING THE COMPLAINT*****
From: Leonie Vanderkley (Leonie. [email protected]) Your junk email filter is set to exclusive.
Sent: Friday, 11 October 5:18:54 PM
To: [email protected] ([email protected])
Ms E Beeton and Mr D Smith
Email: [email protected]
REF: CCL-700
Dear Ms Beeton and Mr Smith
RE: CLASSIC ESCAPES MEMBERSHIP
We refer to your email dated 20 September in relation to your Classic Escapes membership. Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. It is only with good communication that we can resolve any issues.
We do regret that you have not been completely satisfied with your decision to purchase a Classic Escapes Membership and that you feel that our product has been misrepresented to you. Please be assured that we strive to set up our sales presentations in such a way as to ensure all applicants receive full disclosure of the risks and benefits of joining the Club and to ensure the least possible risk of misleading information being provided. Guests are provided with a general overview of what is available to them as a member of the Classic Holiday Club and are given an idea of what could be achieved by using the Escapes membership. We do regret if you feel that you have been misinformed.
In relation to your comments that you tried to book accommodation for family members who were coming to visit you and you emailed three times to [email protected] we advise that this email address is an invalid email address and this is why we never received it and were unable to reply to your email. We note your advice that you sent the email to the Consultant at our Townsville Office who advised that it was forwarded to our office; unfortunately we did not receive any email from our Townsville Office in relation to a request for accommodation from you. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused in relation to this issue.
Regarding your comments that you the rooms you required were originally available as you had checked with the hotel first, we would like to clarify that whilst the hotel may have had availability, there is no guarantee that our suppliers would have had the same availability as the hotels only provide suppliers with a certain amount of stock of available accommodation.
We note you advise that when ringing our office to book accommodation for your honeymoon our Consultant advised you to look online, our Consultant advised you to look for accommodation options through our member’s exclusive website the World Online and we advise that as this is our member’s exclusive website not all our Consultants have access to this website and accordingly this is why she could not provide you with a cost for your required accommodation.
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We also note your advice that you received a better rate by booking your accommodation through the hotel directly however we note you have not provided us with quotes from the hotel or our website to enable us to compare any difference in the prices of each quote.
In relation to the use of your points for accommodation bookings, we do advise that the only accommodation you are unable to utilise your points for are bookings made for bonus or bonus plus week accommodation and accommodation booked through the World online site.
We do not believe that our Authorised Representatives intentionally misrepresented the product to you at point of sale nor do we believe there are grounds for cancellation of your membership. The Product Disclosure Statement (‘PDS’) was provided to you during the sales presentation to ensure all of the product information was clearly disclosed to you. This document explains how the product works, discloses details of Club properties and exchange affiliations, and provides information on our company and the risks & benefits of joining the Club. The PDS is issued to all applicants so that they can make an informed decision. You also signed the ‘Members Declaration of Acknowledgement’ which highlights key information – including details on the Points & Play membership - thus confirming that you felt that everything was adequately explained to you at the point of purchase. If you are not satisfied with the handling of this complaint please refer to the PDS for more information on your rights.
We note that our Customer Service Specialist spoke to you on 29 September and offered to walk you through our website and explain the many benefits of your membership and we do suggest you contact one of our Customer Service Specialists and they will be able to assist you with your accommodation bookings and any information you may require concerning your membership.
We thank you for taking the time to put your comments in writing as your feedback is very important to us. Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours faithfully
Leonie Vanderkley
Complaints Resolution Specialist
On behalf of the Complaints Handling Officer
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As in this letter we did not provide evidence of quotes as they were no asked for
We do not have any documentation regarding the cooling off period apart from a list of items where it has listed in there that there is a cooling off period... and seriously, if we knew that the cooling off period was so short for a 10 year contract we would not have taken this up
Also they had a mountain of paperwork thrown at us to sign one after the other and we were told it was short and, um No it was NOT
They also caught us on the street and threw these scratch things in our face saying "scratch these and we will give you a $200 Myer gift card", then we scratched a prize holiday to Fiji and this was on the terms that we signed an agreement and pay $50 on the street to confirm out booking with a consultant to attend their "workshop" to be shown how this scam works... In fact, we did not see either of these but given "POINTS" to use instead, and when we tried to redeem these, we were advised on the website this is for week long stays only
Also the complaints consultant did NOT call us directly!!! How can you get information or deal directly with a complaint if you don't contact the person!!!
Could you please help us?? We would like all our money returned as we have paid $5500 for the $11, 5000 and I called to cancel this and they CAN NOT refuse to cancel this
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