Mum's been scammed? Help please?

[ali_kat]

Mum was rung last January by a company called ANU Points claiming to be part of RCI with whom Mum owns a timeshare. They sold her extra points for a holiday.

When she found out that they were not with RCI she asked for her money back, to which she was told this was not possible.

She has had a lot of contact with them. And in November booked a holiday through them to Maderia for her, Dad and one of their Friends for 13:55 tomorrow, she booked the flights with them as well - Thomson TOM427 & TOM428. All booked on her platinum Saga credit card.

Today she has had an email to say

email said:

We regret to inform you and it's with a heavy heart that we lose your custom due to the financial climate and the closing of various tour operators in Europe and the US, it has been necessary to reevaluate the ANU Points Club and it is disappointing news that our doors will be closing as of today, Friday, January 15, 2010.

All members were advised to take out travelers insurance and we sincerely hope and trust that this is the case for those who are still to travel and we urge you to contact your insurance company.

We fully exonerate the Points Club.co.uk, Anu Holidays.co.uk as they were a third party entity and not part of our organization. They are totally separate to us and function as an independent organization with no legal commitment or fulfillment obligations to us or our clients.

Their .co.uk website states that "All holidays booked through ANU are fully bonded by ATOL and ABTA for your piece of mind." But they are not listed as ATOL or ABTA members, nor do they have the logo on their websites, there is no mention of ATOL or ABTA on their .com website.

There is no answer on any of the numbers for them, not in Spain, Florida, London or the Freephone number.

She doesn't have tickets, just a confirmation email with a reference number on it (not recognised by Thomson website).

I've spent 45 minutes on the phone trying to get through to Thomson to see if they are booked on the flight (flights that are not listed on Birmingham Airport website!) with no success. Am shortly going to drive to Birmingham to ask at the Thomson Desk.

If we can find out that they DO have flight reservations, it is possible that they can still go - easy enough to book another hotel/use RCI apartment over there, but I need to know if they are on the flight

Mum has travel insurance with NatWest, but I don't know the T&Cs of it.

Now she was silly but she is 73 and gets confused, so please cut her some slack

I have no experience of this so have no idea what to do to help her. Please can I have some suggestions of how to help her? (humour acceptable but nothing outright insulting my Mum please!)

Will she be covered by her credit card/Travel insurance?
Does anyone have any numbers for Thomson that aren't on their website that will get answered?
Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks in advance!

Edited by ali_kat on Sunday 17th January 14:22

[bleesh]

Sorry to hear this.

Should be covered by credit card anyway, but of course best to follow the travel insurance route first, but perhaps call the credit card company as well, so that you're covering both bases.

Edited to add - looks like there is a confusing web of related web sites, none of which give any indication of any problems, and in fact still seem to allow you to "join" the scheme

Good luck,

Steve

Edited by bleesh on Sunday 17th January 19:01

[CatherineJ]

Would think this will be covered by her credit card.

[ali_kat]

Thanks

She has read the T&Cs of her insurance and doesn't think she will be covered So we are going to have to pursue this through the Credit card

The Thomson desk at BHX was closed, so I'm going to have to try calling them again 1st thing, but I don't hold out much hope

[havoc]

Sh't Ali, that's not good.

Hopefully the CC company will come up trumps, but that doesn't get them their holiday back.



(I still can't believe the sheer number of people around who'll happily make a living through screwing others out of their money immorally or illegally)

[ali_kat]

Well, I spoke to Thomson this morning (their offices don't open at 8am as stated - I could have had an extra hour in bed!!).

Although they do have a flight to Madeira today that isn't the flight number, nor the time. He very kindly check the passenger list to see if they were on it, but they weren't Nor are the company registered as flight bookers with them

I have also telephoned the offices in London, and the Freephone number on the website which I believe rings out to an office in Spain or Florida but both numbers are now dead.

Mum isn't well at the moment, she's lost her voice and is aching all over, so she is kinda pleased that she didn't have to sit on a plane today, but disappointed to miss the holiday and angry with herself for being conned out of £1,500

It was very elaborate scam, Mum has spoken to the on the numbers advertised numerous times over the last 12 months. I really hope they get their comeuppance.

[Spudler]

Karma..., there's only so long you can go through life being a st without something coming back at you

[CatherineJ]

Ali have you any news from Saga on the credit card?

Saga are our sister company and we do have dealings with them. The credit card will be 3rd party, so I don't think there is anyone I know specifically there that could help you.

Edited by CatherineJ on Monday 18th January 15:06

[ali_kat]

Thanks Catherine
They want Mum to put it all in writing, together with the statements, documentation etc. She is pulling it together and I'm going to write the letter with her on Wednesday.

Edited by ali_kat on Monday 18th January 15:03

[CatherineJ]

That's positive. Like a lot of credit card companies their websites mainly talk about internet fraud and your details being obtained by deception I would like to think though that there won't be a problem.

Might also be worth reporting to the Police, if nothing else it adds weight.

Edited by CatherineJ on Monday 18th January 15:10

[ali_kat]

CatherineJ said:

That's positive. Like a lot of credit card companies their websites mainly talk about internet fraud and your details being obtained by deception. I would like to think though that there won't be a problem.

They only have her CC details and address fortunately, and I'm getting Mum to cancel the card and get a new one.

I was worried that she'd given her DoB and Passport number etc for the flight tickets (as you would expect) but they didn't ask for them thank goodness! She didn't know they were needed details for booking flights now.

Good idea re Police!

Edited by ali_kat on Monday 18th January 15:14

[CatherineJ]

ali_kat said:

CatherineJ said:

That's positive. Like a lot of credit card companies their websites mainly talk about internet fraud and your details being obtained by deception. I would like to think though that there won't be a problem.

They only have her CC details and address fortunately, and I'm getting Mum to cancel the card and get a new one.

I was worried that she'd given her DoB and Passport number etc for the flight tickets (as you would expect) but they didn't ask for them thank goodness! She didn't know they were needed details for booking flights now.

Good idea re Police!

Edited by ali_kat on Monday 18th January 15:14

Yes definately call the police, I had someone use my Capital One card a few years ago for (don't laugh now) buying numbered sock sets from Denmark. It was picked up as an unusual sequence of transactions by Capital One and they called me to verify. It was reported to the Police and surprisingly they turned up at the house one evening to investigate.

Edited by CatherineJ on Monday 18th January 15:18