Have we been scammed ? Holiday Hell.

Enduria travel company selling holidays.

When on holiday in Correlejo, Fuenventura, my husband and I were touted by a street seller giving us scratch cards . If we had won we needed to accompany him to the hotel to see whether - a bottle of wine , or a free holiday was in store. Surprise surprise everyone seemed to have won a free holiday--

At the hotel they showed us around the apartments and the site- It was better quality and an upgrade compared to where we staying- so we listened to what they had to offer. We knew the ‘won a holiday’ was a marketing ploy-We bought 5 x  7 night holidays for £4,200.
It was a large chunk of our savings -  but we figured
a) we would fork out this anyway,
 b) it would be a way of inflation-proofing our out goings
 c) it would be nice to have holidays pre-ooked and arranged as something to look forward to.
We were quite impressed that the apartments had been refurbished to a high standard and were beautiful . We especially liked the Hotel because it was peaceful and quiet. Something that was in small supply at our current apartment at Oasis Dunas. With constant music and calls for ‘come playa a gamea’ from the reps, The poolside was populated by so-called  ‘grown-ups’ , who managed to be much louder on the Richter scale than the multitude of children in the 3 inter connecting pools.

The ‘Free’ holiday required us to arrange flights to go to a Hotel called Pearly-Greys on Tenerife for a 7 night stay, The one stipulation was that we attended the mandatory presentation – where, of course they would try to up-sell us. We reluctantly agreed- I did not want to go to Tenerife, was quite happy with Corralejo on Fueventura, but the husband wanted as many sunshine days in the winter as he could get. So we agreed.

We were allowed a 14 day cooling off period.
As soon as we got back the husband did a lot of on-line research, I did a bit and they did pass muster. There were many more yeah- sayers then nay- sayers. And they were officially affiliated to the right bodies.

So we carried on. and booked another holiday in Corralejo – which was lovely. The Enduria reps did try to up sell us, but as it was a firm ‘No!’ from us they left us alone and it only took 15 mins- Unlike us, most people want to travel all over the place , but as we are only interested in Corralejo, the reps had no- where to go so to speak. Did we fancy Australia No ! Germany? France? U.S.A ? no been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Corralejo is just what we need at the moment thanks- I have Italy on my bucket list, but the husband has been there a few times and says it is far too expensive for us- It is still on my bucket list.

The reps were quite nonplussed with our response.

The next week away was our ‘free’ week. We were side stepped to the Hotel Club Marina, on Tenerife, not Pearly-Greys, as the latter had an age barrier.

Palatial promenade to the pool.

  On arrival the staff were very professional and friendly. The walls displayed many silver awards from associations endorsing their hospitality The apartment had two balconies and oodles of un-necessary space,but it was seriously in need of an up-date. The bathroom suite was what can only be described as a dirty beige colour circa 1990’s. There was grunge around the bathroom windows,(needed a steam clean). the husband pointed out happily that there was a bidet- ‘OO I can’t wait to wash my foo-narni’ I replied sarcastically,( travelling, especially on a plane and me do not suit each other, I was beyond tetchy!) I have never seen the point of a bidet. First encountered in Paris, when I saw my mother taking a pee in one and was told it was another toilet ! A whole chunk of porcelain where a good old fashioned flannel would do. Due to the positioning and lack of space in the bathroom ,you hit your knees on the bidet when bending over the WC ! Ouch.!

The bed was comfortable enough, and there was lots of storage. There were very nice starched white sheets on the bed but there were no cushions on the two (two) bed settees in the lounge which made them an uncomfortable seat. The furniture was dated, there were no paintings or designer lights either unlike Atlantic Gardens back in Correlejo- very basic. The catches on the patio doors were wonky and the views, on both balconies faced a road, one with a bus stop one with a bottle bank were dissaponting. On a good note,the trees in the garden were lovely and we had British TV channels, a cooker and a washing machine ! We used the former but not the latter.

Beautiful blue skies over the stalag 13 fence

This tree afforded us shade on our balcony

It wasn’t until a few days in that we realised the patio  doors were darkened so no -one from the street could look in on us, but it makes one uncomfortable when walking about in ones underwear to see a line of people at the bus stop 100yds away seemingly looking at you !!!.

The next day a ring at the door revealed an extremely skinny extremely brown well -dressesd lady. She was coiffured, she was nail polished, high heeled and made up. The sun had taken its toll on her skin (to put it politely).

 “I’m your rep, Xanthe” She breathed, ‘I am off for the weekend but will meet you on Monday 
at 10.30 outside the RCI offices OK?’

 Later on upon learning she was a Hindu , I mused that accounted for the unusually deep tan. Rather that the beautiful shiny black locks Indians have, (Asian hair is constructed differently from Caucasians, giving it the beautiful shine) she must have dyed hers brown, her hair did not shine.  It was brown and dry.(For example, a study published in the Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (57, 327-338 July 2006) discovered that there are at least 5 basic differences between Asian and Caucasian hair.) Hailing from Delhi via Leeds naming herself Xanthe was not the only false thing about her.
 I am not in the least bit rascist, growing up my best friend in the world was called Pabsaronghit,(Pabs for short), another friend across the road, also Asian who gave me my prized possession, a scooter as a present, parents where teachers and another bestie Franca , who was Italian, not forgetting Molly whose father was a bank manager, she was white British.  It never mattered to us kids we were just friends. All good friends together.We all used to hang out in a little wooden wendy house in Mollys garden, if we weren't playing hopscotch or a skipping game, in the street. I , myself am a mongrel , mixed race German Welsh and Irish. I grew up around Asian people , but I have never met someone Asian who went to so much trouble not to look like one-  She even commented that she bet I did not expect her to be from Asian stock did I ? Weirdo!

We  tried to relax and enjoy the next two days. Inspired by the thought of an old fishing village, we walked along the shore line, no beaches, just rocks and a wind blown Atlantic the path stopped abruptly and we had to pound the pavements.

Choppy Atlantic seas.

We were advised to take the bus as it was a 25 minute walk, but we wanted to explore the area between us and the ‘village’. We wished we had not.  Graffiti on derelict buildings with broken glass met us en route. When we arrived we were met not with quaint streets and quaint restaurants, but with a series of three and four storey apartments and flats probably built in the 60’s and 70’s . A few bars, and shops lots of them closed, comprised the ‘village’.  The Husband exclaimed it was a shit hole. Lots of graffiti on the walls and rubbish in the streets. On our walk we saw many high railings and locked gates, loads of dogs just a few indications of a high crime area. We did come across a brilliant sculpture that is lit up at night. The rep informed us it cost 3,000 euros and the locals were up in arms about it, but we found it enjoyable and well worth the expense - one bit of style in an otherwise run-down area.

These people stayed in the water so long they had turned to concrete !
 the water flowed and the figures moved.

Still swimming , at night.

We were told there would be lots of fresh fish restaurants, in their place we found cafes, chips with this chips with that, all proclaimed loudly on overly bright photos on plastic menus. Nothing stylish or quaint here. The restaurants/bars housed huddles of German speakers in one, English in another, Danish in another. The atmosphere was not relaxed and happy, it was weird. We spotted some boats and headed towards them. Just a working small port, nothing picturesque here to please the eye anywhere. We disappointingly took the bus back, and espied lots more rubbish and high fences and wasteland, derelict buildings and graffiti.

We passed a tired row of shops, including x2 Chinese restaurants, an Indian, a few bars, a supermarket, lots of car hire places ( unsurprisingly) and a run down shopping mall, with you guessed it derelict shops with smashed windows! Depressing. The following day we walked in the other direction to find a smaller version of the latter.It's as though multiplexes of apartment type hotels were built, numbering thousands and a few brave people decided to put up shop and or a bar to service the captured audience/ clientele. We became increasingly grateful for our clean spacious resort, and defeatedin our search for culture -any culture, or a bit of music,we spent lots of time on sunbeds around the pool reading our books. Fortunately there was a fairly good restaurant on site, 'a la cart'. They also provided entertainment for the diners every night. Spanish Nite 'consisted of two ladies preforming Flamenco dancing in a balletic way, accompanied by a male guitar player with very long black hair. They were very accomplished and even the taped music did not detract. Another night we enjoyed a group of 20 or so locals preforming traditional music and folk dancing with mandolins and traditional singers.

Not forgetting Felix the Magician. Who did a lot of things with fans.There was a parrot show and unfortunately, when we went for a Mohjito late one night we stumbled upon Bingo night. There were only about 15 people in the entire restaurant, so it wasn’t too bad.

The food was lovely and reasonable and as per usual mounds of it. We ate Entrecote of steak, fresh fish in Tempura batter, home-made risotto Fungi and garlic prawns and fresh deep fried squid with alioli Mayo. The Vino tinto de casa was very good.
I resisted taking photos of the food even though I love seeing photos of food myself as I hear it annoys most people (?). Go figure.

Poor parrots having to work for a living,
they did seem to enjoy meeting the audience though.

 On the day of the presentation we walked with feelings of trepidation. I commented it was like having to go see the headmaster. Xanthe had rung us earlier to remind us to show up. Buying us a drink, she proceeded to light up one of many cigarettes. I have not sat within feet from a person smoking for many, many years. She asked no permission and offered no apology to us.  All the reps seemed to smoke. The danger to health cannot have reached them. She launched into her spiel, trying really hard to be bubbly and vivacious,. She tried hard to find some common ground, but was not sure how to talk to us and tried many subjects. We were polite and did not dis the area to her face but she was quite crestfallen when on asking us we replied we would not like to visit again ,
After 2 hours she got to the point, the entire meeting took 3 hours in total she began her pitch.

- Who did we buy our holidays from? She looked confused and eventually said Not Gran Canaria? That's where they were last, they were made to come from there-So that's where they disappeared to. How much did you pay? We told her.

- The thieving bastards! she exclaimed, you could have got the same holidays from them for £1000 less. Then she went on to ask

--What have you actually bought eh ?  They are an agency you have got nothing. They could and will disappear. They go bankrupt move on and start up in another name !

-What ?They had better not!

-Oh they will, believe me, thats what they always do!

-But we have already booked and received confirmation from them.

-Well good, that's good, I hope everything is alright but mark my words they will suddenly disappear and you will have been what we call scammed !  She looked at the floor when she says this as if she didn’t have the gall to look me in the eye.

- Well what are you saying then? I will track then down and punch them in their faces! if thats true !

-Oh  believe me, you wont find them dahling!

-You wanna bet? But what are you actually telling us?

At this point she commiserated and even admitted she had one woman in tears “

-Well we offer you a concrete product a time share of one week. You put the money you have already paid with an added payment to us in a pot and you can go anywhere in the world.

-Oh Really?

-Yes we will get your money back for you and add it to this deal and you only need to pay us £5,000  once and then every year you get another 3,500 points for as long as you want. You only have to pay £348 per year service charge.

-How will you get our money from them?

-OOOH erm...well you know we just will.

I remember I pointedly asked her this three more times and received the same non-reply.

-Where does the 3,500 points come from every year?

-The pot!

-Can we think about it ?

-No its a once in a life time offer and you will only be offered it once its a yes or no now

-Well we haven’t got £5,000 to give you - Big soz it is a NO !

-oh dear well I hope all goes well for you but you have been scammed by them.

With that off she went. Leaving us with a nasty taste in our mouths.and a big question mark over our heads. and a feeling of mild panic. not a good feeling at all. After a few moments I told husband I thought they were in it together.  I thought she was in cahoots with Endurian.. How on earth can she get our money from them otherwise?
Two days later getting home we found extensive amounts of blogs on RCI being a no-good business and rip off artists. Doing more research Enduria still came out well, so we were still  felt alright with them After moving from one site to the next, low and behold amongst the long list of partners of Enduria there RCI was.

 Enduria advertise their business partnership with 'reputable' business partners and are partners with RCI.

Now, either they are both scammers, Enduria seems water tight and legit.  So do they know what RCI reps are saying about them? Obviously reps work on commission.And That part of Tenerife is run down so they may be desperate for people to buy there.
We don't know exactly where to turn from here. Do we mention it upon returning to Corralejo in April? What sway does trading standards have over these types of things? Is there an international /European body that can investigate this? The RCI way of treating people was abhorrent.Trying to scare people into handing over more money. Or was it true what she was saying? seems wierd as they are business partners.
We watched the RCI reps repeat this process over and over and watched one or two couples follow the reps into their offices in all probability to sign over some more money to them. I wonder how other people have reacted to this ?
We believe we will be alright, we will see. But the way the woman from RCI told it we were in danger of losing all our money and the ONLY way out was to give her more money, which is surely mal-practice, left a nasty taste in the mouth.and left us feeling vulnerable. - and ever so slightly annoyed.