Apparently I've just won a holiday... (scam?)

Trimbo

Trimbo

Trimbo

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Got a phone call today (local number, not withheld) telling me that we (my gf and I) have a won a holiday for four and some other stuff (can't exactly remember, dvd player and some such) as we have won a prize draw.

The draw was run at some wedding show my gf was at a few weeks ago and the woman who phoned me up was informing me that we had won and she was just checking a few details. She already had our address and several bits of info about us (such as where our last holiday was) and was just asking me to confirm these, she wasn't asking me for any new information. The information she had seemed consistent with the type of information i'd expect my gf would have filled out in the prize draw form.

All seems genuine enough so far, but then, she uttered the magic phrase "...subject to an admin fee of £49.50...". Alarm bells start ringing straight away.

Then I'm told that to collect the physical prizes (dvd player or whatever) we will have to go to there offices to collect them (she quickly gave the address but I didn't write it down, apparently now that she has confirmed my address she will send all the details through to us).

My gf isn't home yet so I haven't been able to ask her about it (did she actually enter any draw?, what company was it? etc).

Maybe i'm just paranoid but my first reaction is that this is a cash-up-front scam and we should ignore it (or report it!). The *only* reason I didn't just hang up on her on the spot was that she knew bits of personal information about us as i've mentioned above.

Questions:

1: You now know as much about it as I do, so scam or no a scam?

2: Have you ever heard of a genuine prize that requires an "admin fee" to collect? I know I haven't.

3: If this is a scam what can I do to scam the scammer? Ideas welcome.

4: If this isn't a scan and i'm just paranoid then what does that say about me and modern society!

Anyway i'll talk to my gf when she gets home and also checkout whetever they send me through the post.

T
 
I'd be inclined to belive it's a scam.

"Winning a holiday" can very quickly turn into "Winning worthless holiday vouchers". Rubbish DVD players can be bought for a whole lot less than £50. So it could very easily be a case of them them essentially selling you a bunch of junk worth next to nothing for your £50 "admin fee"
 
does sounds very very dodgey - i'd check with your girlfriend what she filled in at the wedding show - ie what company. As soon as the stuff (if any) comes through the post do some searchs online for the company name - chances are you'll be getting stuff thats worth less than the admin fee and they'll be selling your information on.
 
Wait for the details.

But, like you, at "£50 admin fee" I'd be thinking "scam".

After all, I'd be quite happy to buy a job lot of DVD players at £20 each, and let people "win" them (plus £50 admin fee) all day long.

To me, anything with this type of admin fee is a con.
 
It sounds like a time share scam but it just might be genuine if your GF did enter a competion at the fair, you need to check with her.
I'd be worried about the administration charge, tbh, that has scam written all over it. If theyr'e really giving away a £1000 holiday then they ain't going to try and get £50 admin fee off you.

Having said that I won 12 bottles of fairly decent White Wine (£80 worth) at a wedding show at the begining of the year, but no delivery fee to pay.

D.
 
Drac01971 said:
It sounds like a time share scam but it just might be genuine if your GF did enter a competion at the fair
Click to expand...

To expand on my timeshare warning above:

My dad filled out a 'win a holiday' flyer that was being handed out at the RIAT (Royal International Air Tatoo). A few weeks later we got a call that we had won, and so my parents went up to Birmingham for the prize giving, which turned out to be the timeshare pitch. Partly out of regret that they went all the way up there and didn't win a holiday they put down their deposit for the time share. Regretting this the second they got home they stopped the payment on the card and wrote to the company and said they had changed their mind. It was 'apparently' a refundable deposit, no obligation etc. About once every six months for about the last five years they will phone up and threaten us that if we don't pay up they are going to take us to court. What's funny is that every time the company has a different name. It would seem that they are basically scam artists and change their name all the time to avoid trading stadards and the like.

On the other hand you might have /actually/ won a holiday. Go see, but don't part with any money yet and don't sign up to anything if it sounds dodgy!
 
I phoned the number back with 141 (01383749557) and was greeted with "Hello, Hospitality Scotland can I help you?". I hung up.

Hospitality Scotland Promotions Limited
Office 21 Evans Business Centre
Pitreavie Business Park
Dunfermline
KY11 8EU
Phone: 07050 217 556
Fax: 01383 749554

I did a little digging:

http://www.holidaywatchdog.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-819.html

Ok so how can I go about scaming/fooling/exposing/harassing/embarrasing them? I know I should just ignore it but people / companies lke this wind me up. I'm happy to "play dumb" and go along to one of there meetings - but what to do when i'm there?

I'm guessing they are within the law (heck, we filled out their prize draw form).

Thaks for the responses - and it is good to know i'm not overly paranoid after all.

T
 
Someone please educate me on this "Time share" scam. Ive heard of it on tv but dont have a clue.. :o
 
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I've been through the same thing, and unfortunately my wife made us go to the presentation.
It took about 6 hours for them to give us a tour of some old historic house and park, followed by a grilling about our holidaying habits and income/outgoings.
At this stage they realised we were skint and their mood changed instantly. We were given some vouchers and asked to leave. This was before the complimentary four course meal we were offered prior to attending.
Having then investigated the vouchers, they were next to worthless. They did technically grant a nearly free holiday, but the terms were so prohibative that only the unemployed or retired could make the flights due to the notice they gave.

At least I was able to be very smug about it to my wife and it has given me one thing to be able to say "I told you so" about. :p
 
ElRazur said:
Someone please educate me on this "Time share" scam. Ive heard off it on tv but dont have a clue.. :o
Click to expand...

You invest in a hotel or resort a large sum of money. In return you get to stay at said resort once a year for free. Though the limitations are huge in that you can only go at certain times etc. And then there are 'membership fees' and 'maintennence costs'.

The short of it is you pony up 3K+ up front, pay a few hundred a year in 'costs' and have no hope of seeing a return on this money or get to have a holiday cheaper than paying for it in the first place.
 
I've won a few competitions in my life.
I won't say that I've won thousands and thousands of pounds worth of prizes, however I did win a holiday once.
I've also had the odd little money win, electrical goods, computer components.
Never once for all the prizes I have ever won have I ever had to pay an "administration fee".
If it is a legitimate competition and you've won something then you shouldn't be expected to pay anything.

If you are expected to pay anything what so ever I'd say walk away no matter how tempting it looks.
 
Ok i've decided what to do - hit them where it hurts.

I found out that they were also at this years Daily Mail "Ideal Home Show". I rang up the person responsible for booking stalls at that show and asked him if he was aware that "Hospitality Scotland Promotions Limited" were in fact just scam artists selling time share and he told me that they only found out after the show and have since removed this company from any future events.

So my plan is to find out all other shows / events this company uses and ensure that they are all aware of exactly what this company does. If I can get even one show/event to drop them (who haven't already done so) then i'll feel I have achieved something useful.

If any of the shows refuse to drop them then perhaps a visit to their stall in person is in order.

T
 
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