Club Absolute review: False information provided 77

Hi David,
We had exactly the same thing happen to us. I have posted our full recovery details on www.bangkokscams.com (Got to thread re Holiday scams in Phuket). We are listed as Sik family. We were fortunate not to let them bluff us. We requested our Visa company to claw back our $2000 AUD deposit & we refused to pay them another cent. As we were within our entitled cooling off period, we did not give a reason for our decision to right of waivure (did not have to) . It would be worth checking out the above website that I have posted our dealings with Absolute on. The individual dates we made postings were: 23/7/09, 27/7/09, 22/9/09, 27/10/09, 12/1/09, 31/1/10 & 1/2/10.
We were successful in retreiving our money back from Visa & we hope you are also. Do not be intimidated by their threats - because that is all they are gutless threats.
Interestingly there is no websites saying how many people have been sued by Absolute for not fulfilling their contracts! Goes to show they will not follow up with the threatened legal action. Go Dave!

Thank you family Sik! - www.bangkokscams.com helped me hugely, and have since found www.absolutescam.webs.com which details what to do if you have been scammed by Club Absolute - brilliant! - thanks again Family Sik - and thanks to Lisa!

Hi David,
I hope you have now been able to retrieve a full refund. My fiance and I were almost scammed by absolute. We were fortunate enough that we were awaiting on an international transfer of funds. We signed the contracts and a credit card authority form, upon arriving back @ our hotel I decided to do a little research into the company. The scratch cards are a scam, they always target couples one will receive a t shirt the other 3 stars. We contacted our lawyer who advised us to contact our bank immediately and request to cancel our credit card. Our lawyer also said to go on "misrepresentation". I hope this helps you and others so people are no longer scammed. They haven't received a cent from us, although we were caused an inconvenience with the cancellation of our credit card it was worth it in the end. Should you have any further enquiries feel free to email @ mmclean20@hotmail.com

Mr. Sik,

I bought into the Club Absolute scam and have gone past the cooling off period. I can’t seem to find the postings you had about your situation with Club Absolute. Will you please give me a brief summary of what you went through and what you did? How long ago was your situation with Club Absolute? We have not paid our maintenance fee yet. Did you use a lawyer or a legal person to help you with your situation? Have you heard from people that have canceled their membership/contract outside of the cooling off period? If so, what have their experiences been? I am worried about a collection agency coming after me over this situation. What kind of threats would the send to you? Did they do it by email or written letters? Please give me any contacts of people that were successful in getting out of their contacts or have them contact me at homerlabo@hotmail.com? I want to hear their stories and know how things are going for them now. This can be very stressful? Please let me know as soon as possible.

Homer

Club Absolute scammed us in January 2010 - so far we have lost our deposit and thanks to the bangkok scams site that the sik family mentioned above and www.absolutescam.webs.com, we know our rights and in the end hope justice will prevail.

What have you done so far? Have they tried to send you any collection notices? I am getting ready to go through the same thing. Are you using a lawyer to send your cancellation letter? How far through the process are you? I am very curious about what your experience has been so far. I just want to know what to expect. When you get a chance tell me everything that has gone on so far if you would please.

We were scammed in Hong Kong, we were told the survey was part of Hng Kong Tourism's and that's why they were surveying people outside their offices in Kowloon in Hong Kong. When meeting with them they denied it was timeshare and they also showed us their apparent website and once looking at their actual website on the internet it was obvious of the information that had been missing. We cancel our contract and this information is currently pending. Will keep you updated.

We were also Absolutely scammed by these delightful people. We signed in 2004. At that stage they were selling for another club, didn't tell us that at the time of course. They don't tell much that is truthful. Didn't give us the full story and sold us the most expensive option. I was very naive at the time and got totally sucked in. Had no intention of signing, told them I thought it wad very dodgy and not at all a really good deal. In the end they wore me down and I gave in as the misses was obviously impresses. Initially about $20K USD and then almost doubles due to more lies from them and stupidity from myself.
We are into them for almost $40K USD total for a floating week in a T2. I will watch this closely.
Phil

My wife and I were tagged by two Club Absolute sales people on the main street in Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui. We scratched the magic cards to discover that I had won a t-shirt and my wife won the triple star super prize! The guys were thrilled because they claim they receive a kickback when we visit the sales office and claim our price. I put on my "this is BS hat" but decided to play along anyway. A max 90 minute presentation turned into a near three hour affair. We sat down, spoke to at least 2-3 reps, a manager, they took us to two hotels on the island, walked us through their booking system online, etc etc.. While sitting through their presentation I quickly googled "club absolute" on my phone to discover a plethora of negativity to the effect of "scam scam scam". When the sales guy finished his pitch and asked if there are any reasons "aside from price" that we wouldn't join I said I'm concerened due to the overwhelming amount of negativity on the web. He immediately dismissed my findings and claimed the other competing businesses (ie: Marriot) were posting negative reviews and false information about their "legitimate company". He kept reverting back to how all funds are depositied in a trustee account in the UK. etc etc etc.. same crap we've all read online. After pitching the "VIP extra special limited time offer deal" and providing a price per vacation week and yearly fee we insisted that he tell us the membership fee. While doing everything under the sky to avoid providing any form of answer, we quickly became frusted when he wanted us to sit through 8 more posters so we could better "understand" the product and make an educated decision. Our patience wore thin and we said no thank you, we'll take our "price" and leave. As it turns out the prize ended up being a week vacation in Phuket, Bangkok or Pattaya. My guess is there are restrictions or they stick you in a dumpy resort for your special prize. My advice: steer clear of this firm. They employ fish/bait sales tactics to lure you in. There are plenty of reviews on the web of people who actually got suckered in and shelled out $20k+ in membership feeds to find out availability is seldom what was promised and selection is nowhere near what was presented during the demo. In addition numerous discrepencies exist between what the sales clowns pitch and what they are legally bound to in the agreement. Thailand is a beautiful county, but littered with scams. Buyer BEWARE!

Club Absolute - what a JOKE ! We were scammed in Hong Kong as well - Aug 08 - they told us when we finally signed some paperwork (after quite a long time) that we would have access to all internal and external hotels/resorts - we finally took our 1 free week and 1 of our other weeks (from 2008 week) in Feb 2010. They stuck us in a run down dump (Q Signature) where they paraded unsuspecting people like we were through the resort all day long. This place has long been past it's use by date. They then put us into a 3 star place for our free week.

They were only interested in us in our first week when one of their lovely sales ladies picked us up & took us to breakfast at a nice 5 star resort, then detoured us to their Chaweng office for another 2 hours trying to "upsell" to us.

We've been trying to get some value out of this for next March, really to no avail, as everything we ask for, is fully booked.

BEWARE - these guys are like flies in Koh Samui..and all very untruthful.

I too am fighting to get back money that they [censor] coned me out of.

I think as many people as possible need to write to The Thailand Office of Tourism; there is strength in numbers. I would also suggest lodging written complaints to your credit card companies for allowing this dispicable company to continue to use any credit card company to facilitate their crimes. I would also like to know if any of the news networks would like to do a special on Absolute. If they can get viewers to watch a paltry car sales rip-off they ought to get great ratings for airing this con-game. Why not send a news Man and Woman in with a hidden camera and expose them for what they promise and what is actually delivered. They could air it on the networks and then pressure the government of Thailand and the credit card companies to give them the boot and maybe even sue them. I would be willing to go to court to prosecute them in any country. If you think this is a good idea pass it on to as many interested parties as possible. It's worth a letter, phone call and e-mail to get justice.

To lodge complaints related to tourist business operators, tourist retail outlets or tour guides or report unethical tourism practices, please contact Office of Tourism Development, Service Standards Development Section of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Contact information:
The Office of Tourism Development
Service Standards Development Section
Ministry of Tourism and Sports
National Stadium, Rama I Road,
Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Tel: +[protected]
Fax: +[protected]
E-mail: webmaster@tourism.go.th
Web site: www.mots.go.th

Is there any Australian has been scammed by the Absolute Vacation Club in Hong Kong? We are thinking to take legal action against Absolute.

We visited Hong Kong in July and were taken in by the "scratchcard" system. A 90min talk turned into a 3hr talkfest (for them). It all sounded so good but we were not in a position to join this group. My husband received a free t-shirt and I received a free 7 day holiday in one of 3 of their Thai resorts. (We still have to pay for flights though, which from Australia is fairly expensive). As much as I would love to visit Thailand (I've heard wonderful things about this country) is taking this so called free holiday is worth it or if we should just leave well enough alone? Reading the comments make me wonder whether going on this trip is just another way for them to try and sign us up. I would appreciate any comments, good or bad.

i experienced two dutch guys and a german one called ralph schulz in chaweng beach koh samui- same story, same crap! BE AWARE of absolute vacation club

What can they actually do if you refuse to pay the scheduled payment plan?
We were stupid enough to sign up for the 3 year membership. We have currently paid a $700 deposit and a $150 installment. They dont have our credit card details. I simply said that i would transfer the monthly monthly. I have since looked up all this and seen what we have got ourselves into.
I can not see how to actually cancel it. I'm not sure if it is possible.
But i definately do not want to continue with the monthly payments.
I feel so stupid that we even thought it would be a good idea. Talk about having honeymoon brain...

Hi Nowamrs,
advise the H.K authorities via the Oz embassy. You may have kissed $850 goodbye but that's cheap compared to people who have lost $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. You cancel when you receive an e-mail reminder. Tell them that you have changed your mind due to the class action being raised against their company. If they go under, you lose everything. They just set up again. If in doubt, contact a solicitor. I think a few of us will be doing just that in Melb. I'm 57 and pretty world wise but I still fell for the charm so don't feel stupid. They're good.
Cheers..B.

thanks Bryza for your comments.. Im the 'other half' of nowamrs and cannot believe i got sucked in too... We also are from melbourne.. I sent an email stating we were withdrawing from the contract due to 'gross misrepresentation' and would not be making further payments.. Im expecting some nasty emails and debt collectors to contact me but by all accounts there really is not much they can do as a court of law is probably the furtherest place these [censor] would want to go to... Have you heard of anyone being taken to court by these 'tools'?

Hi guys,
WIN number 1: My wife and I signed up with Club Absolute in July 2010 and came home to Australia to find that it was a scam. We asked for our money back but were refused by the Club. An Australian debt collection company sent us a letter in september 2010 requesting the balance owing. We wrote a letter detailing how Club Absolute do not provide the service that they promise (worldwide access to many hotels whereas the offerings are woeful.) Also, that their contract does not hold up under Thai or Australian consumer law. I also warned the debt collectors of associating with a dodgy company. They sent the letter onto Club Absolute who have not responded since. The debtor company admitted that they have had concerns about responses to Club Absolute and are worried how this will reflect on their reputation and standing.
WIN number 2 We approached Mastercard Fraud Dept and requested a refund on our deposit for the reasons outlined above. Also, that Club Absolute claim that they are partners with VISA and MASTERCARD. Untrue of course. Got my refund today! YAY!

Don't back down, stand your ground, research all the Absolute websites for legal information and you will win. Club Absolute to my knowledge have not taken any Australian to court because they would lose. Even if it has been a long time since you have been scammed, pursue this course.

Same story as most of you. I was holidaying with my wife in Phuket last year and got accosted by an European backpacker who said he was just earning some pocket money for his vacation. He asked us to do a scratchie, and of course we came up with the free holiday offer. No need for me to repeat the same narrative as most of you experienced.

What was different in our circumstances was that we were already members of the Accor Vacation Club. We had been disgruntled with their services at the time and the Absolute people were quick to pick up on that. They spent the next 2 hours scaring us into believing that Accor had locked us into a 80 year membership from which there was no escape, and that all our liabilities in the club would be transferred to our children once we passed away.

There was no doubt they were incredibly knowledgeable about the timeshare industry and could even describe to us how the Accor membership worked, most of which was true. Because they were credible in the understanding of the Accor structure, we made the bad mistake of assuming that they were also right in explaining our life sentence with Accor.

They also went to great lengths to explain they could take over the Accor membership from us and forcibly deal directly with Accor on our behalf, and 'unshackle' us from their grip ! To legitimise this claim, they even put it in writing in our contract to the effect that there was a 'buy back' value from Accor, which they would credit us, and in effect give us a discount off our Absolute membership.

18 months have passed, and after countless emails back and forth with Absolute, they have not been able to take ownership of our Accor membership. Needless to say, Accor has also been on our backs for not paying our annual maintenance fees, and this action was based on Absolute's advice to ignore all correspondence from Accor since they will now assume responsibility for our dues.

3 weeks ago, we took up the free holiday offer we received from the scratchie prize claimed last year, and of course, I confronted Absolute when we arrived in Phuket. I told them they had not done what they promised to do, and in fact had reneged on their obligation, to which they replied to the effect that they had done everything they could do and it wasn't their fault that Accor refused to cooperate.

As someone in this post said, hindsight is a wonderful thing and if only it worked ahead of time ! I'm now looking for a way to get myself out of this mess, short of involving the Thai authorities - although I'm not so sure that would do any good. I'm also not looking forward to any confrontation with debt collectors as my annual fees are due soon too.

Would love to hear from anyone who has had success in untangling themselves from Absolute, and maybe even recovered part or all of their membership fees in the process.

We also fell for it, hook, line and sinker. We were in Hong Kong in July 2010 and I wish I had seen these these comments last week as I have just had confirmation that our final payment has been received by them. How long is the cooling off period and would it be advisable to employ a solicitor to try to retrieve our money? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am so shocked to find this web on Club Absolute! Both my partner and I got 'caught' by a Absolute staff outside their hotel, walking to the beach .. we had 2 scratchies and my partner had a T-shirt and I an 1 week holiday in Koh Samui. We were told to sit for a 30min presentation by James Mawdsley but eventually we sat for 4 hrs, way past lunch time. Then we had to meet with James's boss. We wanted to get some time out for lunch and discuss the matter but both James and his boss were determined for us to sign something first and then have lunch by then it was nearly 3 in the afternoon... I was so hungry and they kept pushing us.. finally i buckled in and signed the agreement and gave my credit card details for the deposit. You see, we do not have that kind of lump sum of monies so they gave us an instalment payment.
When we reached back to Australia, my partner and I had time to think about it and decided to stop the contract wrote in to Jim Liang and he said we could not just stop as and when we wanted... We then emails about payments and then a FINAL Demand for Payment from Anne Williams - Legal
Can anyone please help?

Hello
I am allready scamed by them in Phuket. Just 3 days before. I now asked if i can cancel the membership. They took 3000 Euro at the time of signing form my visa card. I should pay 8800 more when coming home and pay every year at least 351, -Euro. In the german contract they writing that there is no chance to cancel the membership also not within 30 days. As far as i understood the club roules then there is written that i can cancel within 30 days. The sellers i asked, told me stories, that canceling is not possible. And if i would do something to fight for my rights, may happen that i can be catched by thailand police. i think it is stupid. Has somebody heared some good about the club. As the others told before, the contract was really bad and has nothing to do with the things they mentioned before. In European Law this contract where never possible. I am not shure about the Law and the private rights at virgin island where the head of company is situated. I will send a cancellation tho the head office, but i think i lost the 3000 Euro.

Boy oh boy.. Gosh do I feel like a real sucker... I see this kind of thing happening to everyone else, never thought I would get caught up in such a scandal. How wrong was I?
My partner and I were holidaying in Phuket when my partner was coerced by a foreigner to go and check out Club Absolute. The saleswoman had us hooked by her sweet talking and the great incentives of the club. Foolishly we signed up in July 2009. I had lots of little inklings of wrong doings within the organisation, however Jim Laing always seem to have the right answers. Also when threatened with legal action, being good abiding citizens we didn't want any back-lash to occur. We have yet to finalise the account. However we would have lost $17, 000 - $18, 000(NZ dollars). We will definitely now be doing all we can to try and recover our fradulently ill-gained money from Club Absolute. Please keep your informative information forthcoming so those of us who find ourselves in an undesirable situation can try our best to rectify these wrong doings.

We just want to make the comment that we also got "sucked in" with Club Absolute. We are professional people who are well travelled and are feeling rather foolish at being scammed. Luckily we have only been taken for about $3000, we figured if all we got was a couple of weeks holiday then we haven't lost much. We are currently using one of the "free weeks" in Koh Samui and have just had to sit through another 4 hour sales pitch. We were restricted in the place we could stay and have ended up in (we must say) a very nice resort but a room overlooking the airport. We commiserate with all you people who have really lost so much money but are happy that we came across this site before going any further with the "scam". My partner says Ïf it looks like a scam and feels like a scam it probably is a scam. Good luck with those of you who are trying to get out of it.

Hello,
Sorry to see that Absolute manage to ''steal '' money out of you guys . We just got back from our honeymoon and my wife and I got almost scammed in Samui by these ### .
As mentionned before they coerced you from the street with some scratch cards that claim that you 've won a free awesome prize and that 'you are the lucky ones' and 'wow we have been waiting for someone to get this card for weeks!'...but we were all to soon to find out everyone has the same card, and the 'amazing' prizes are fake...the only prize that can be won is the 'free holiday' which is simply a dump hotel where they can try to force you to sign up to their scam again. They whisked us off in a taxi to take us to the offices where they show you a series of slideshows explaining how good this deal is and continue to ask cheesy questions with obvious answers. The salesmen are all funny-go lucky guys untill the end when after a supposedly 90 minute presentation took 4 hours of our time, we got very tired and fustrated as you can imagine. When we said no to the deal, we got verbally abused and made to feel like fools for not taking the deal, and then went on to say how WE wasted their time! James our Salesman..that by the way kept saying his job wasnt to sell but just to present?how that works i dont understand? The entire situation was ridiculous and we only stayed and kept listening because we were trying to be polite...i wish we told them the F word instead...as they seamed to like using that on us when we refused the deal and wanted to leave. Goodluck to those trying to get your money back, i hope these guys get shut down and made aware to the public! Next time i holiday in Samui i will be sure to storm the office and rescue any poor people that are being scammed!

Hi guys, my husband and I got scammed by Club Absolute last year and got all our money back. Please look up our entry from about Sept 2010 call Finally Winners which explains what we did. Don't give up! Share your outcomes too to help others to hold Clyb Absolute accountable.

Hi,
My fiance and I have just returned from Koi Samui and have foolishly bought into the Absolute scam, can you give us any help or advice on how to get ourselves out of this mess?

Hi,
Like a lot of us, my girlfriend just got back from Koh Samui & were conned into the Absolute scam. We paid a $700 deposit & $700 on return.
Can anyone please help me with advice to get out of the contract.

Hi,
If you paid by your credit card lodge a complaint with your card company. They will recover based on fault promises. We had same situation but manage to recover our money.

We have been with club absolute since 2003. We have had a great experience with the club. Go to www.clubabsolute.com and click extra weeks. You can get extra weeks worldwide for $179 for yourself or friends. We use these heaps. It makes the club great value. And we exchange of course, mostly through Interval International, but you can use absolute or RCI also. These are all big international exchange companies. If you have the membership - use it. Ask the people at club absolute.
It is a shame that obviously some of the salesmen are so dishonest just to make the sale. Club absolute needs to reign these staff in and discipline them.
We love our timeshare with them. It is a shame so many people are not happy.

I agree with Naomi. Though I don't own with Absolute I do own two other timeshares and we have enjoyed tremendous benefits since 1997! Proper Use of the II and RCI exchange networks, in addition to your regular ownership, will and can increase your enjoyment exponentially and really give one their money's worth. It's too bad some salespeople really don't understand the real benefits of ownership and end up misrepresenting the true nature of the product.

My husband and I just got back from Koh Samui and ended up being taken for a 4 hour (was supposed to be 90 minutes) presentation about Absolute. It wasted the first day of our holiday. The guy doing the presentation was Ryan and he was very convinsing I was getting sucked in but my husband wasn't. It was going to cost us $13, 655.00 AUS to sign up and a $456.00 annual fee. Who has that sort of money just laying around to give to any Tom, Dick or Harry. I couldn't speak at the end and I was horrified at the amount they were asking. To get out of the place we said we'd go and have lunch and think about it and then get back to them. They said OK, we left and never went back. Apparently it's happening in many holiday distinations, but it's really bad in Koh Samui. I feel for everybody who signed up, I hope you get your money back.

Like so many others, we were told 90 minutes for a presentation. Four hours of ###. When I return to Samui I had planned on taking back our ABSOLUT t shirt-with dirt all over it, instead we did not have the time and left it in the bin. It was supposed to say I love Thailand but they cannot manage that, please DO not fall for their scam. Soo very sorry to people who have been but fight on and do not let these total ### artists win your money.
BEWARE - DO NOT JOIN! Once they left the room i told my bf no way. Scratchies and timeshare are crap and I kept saying agoda.com and internet deals are cheap anyway. They did not like me and I told them sorry I may not live for another 38 years for their lifetime plan, to which the dodgy salesman said his grandfather smoked, drank heaps and lived to 102. These people have no morals. He is retiring in Bali next year, how awfully lovely for him. They start off saying, do you speak english, cannot wait to go back in March to give them a piece of my mind!

Hi, I was introduced to absolute yesterday and feel stupid in saying that I signed up. Even though the price was too steep really for my budget, the manipulation and falsehoods suckered me in and now that I've seen this site I am very scared. Im planning on contacting my cc company tomorrow to see if there is a way of canceling the transaction. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post here, without you I might never have know it was a scam until I got to finally use it. I only really realized something was fishy when I was approached by someone else today using the same t-shirt/mystery prize card scam, saying the exact same thing, that they hadn't seen a mystery prize card turn up in weeks, usually it's just two t-shirts...yeah right! Anyway, that led me to research them and find this site so thanks again, I'm hoping because it's so recent the cc company will be able to do something, although I do feel like a fool. Thought I was a smart cookie but turns out I'm easily led :/

Oh, and it appears naomiburgess above is an absolute employee. Her post sounds as phony and salesy as the guys who duped all of us!

I contacted my cc company and was all they can do is lodge a dispute after9 days. I doubt they will return in my favour as I did sign the receipt, so my next step will be contacting Mastercard Fraud Department and hopefully they will be aware of this scam to refund my deposit

Hi i just cancelled my c/card regarding this as i was scammed too, is there one who can help me as i need help.

well, well, well! have have read all the comments above. The problem is we are all greedy aren't we; we all want something for nothing. At the end of day you buy because you feel your getting a bargain! Sorry people, it is called business. Are you telling me someone is holding a gun to your head? tell me this. if a airline offered to upgrade you to first class from economy class for no nominal fee, would you accept? of course you would. why? Because you are getting something for nothing; it is the greed in all of us. Greed takes forms in all of life's dealings, wether buying a car, purchasing a house; in fact, greed comes into play in all social aspects in life. so, next time you are offered something for nothing...THINK A MINUTE!

I'm sorry to say Dave simms has completely missed the point of this blog. No one here has got something for nothing. I have personally forked out $US15, 000 for a basic membership to this club, and that's not to mention an annual maintenance fee of EU149 indexed to (presumably) the European CPI. Those who couldn't afford to pay the full membership fee upfront had to get a bank loan and make monthly repayments. Yes, this is indeed business - one that borders on unethical behaviour and I suspect would not hold up to consumer legislation if it was a registered entity in countries like Australia or New Zealand. By the way, even your airline upgrade analogy missed the mark. If an airline offered to upgrade you to first class from economy for a slight discount off the full first class fare and persuaded you to get a bank loan to do it and you accepted, only to find that no first class seats are available when you want it, what would you do? I suggest you should be the one who should think a minute.

We have just returned from our honeymoon in Phuket where I am ashamed to say that we were also scammed by Absolute. After a 6 hour presentation we paid a deposit by credit card. Our first monthly installment is due to be deducted from our credit card in 2 days, so I will be cancelling our credit card tomorrow. I would love for "finally winners" to contact me if possible to give me some tips as to how I can go about recovering my deposit through Mastercard Fraud dept, and also ideas on what to put in my letter to the debt collection agency that I'm sure will be contacting me soon.