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Record Helped Campaign Group Win On Points
Oct 11 2007 Lesley Campbell
The Readers' Champion
WEEKS ago, I wrote about a group of holidaymakers who had attended a high-pressure marketing presentation and bought points from a holiday company called Sunterra.
When they realised the points they had been sold weren't enough for the holidays they had been promised, they launched a mis-selling campaign.
When I was researching this case, I was stopped in my tracks by some of the correspondence I read on websites for holiday club and time-share owners.
I had assumed that other Sunterra owners would rally around their colleagues and that those with similar complaints would join the Scots group to add their voices to the campaign. But instead of sympathising, they rounded on the Scottish members - demanding they drop their complaint.
Since many other Sunterra owners were also mis-sold, they wondered why the Scots group was making a fuss instead of simply putting up with the fact that they had been conned. It doesn't seem to occur to them that they, too, should be asking for redress.
Here's one typical comment: "As you and most others know, I too feel that I was mis-sold. But unlike these daft people, I have at least had holidays and I'm not sorry for them.
"If you are so intransigent that you cut off your nose to spite your face then you deserve all you get. The so-called victims are old enough to take care of themselves. I feel sorry for them. But I feel just as sorry for anyone who is gulled into doing something so silly.
"Why should they be treated any differently. The purchased under the same misapprehension as many, many other people. I wonder why it's only the Scottish once more."
It's the most appalling demonstration of self-interest taking precedence over fair play I have ever seen and there's a very insidious jingoistic element as well.
Many of the comments ask if there's a link between being Scottish and being gullible, while others see a connection between being Scottish and complaining.
If anything, it seems to me that this saga indicates a connection between being Scottish and being determined.
The Scots group refused to drop their case. The irate members campaigned, hired lawyers, contacted their MPs and even travelled around the country warning potential customers of the pitfalls of signing a Sunterra contract.
I couldn't understand the animosity the Scots case had engendered within the community - then I realised how the Sunterra system works.
The points have a value which rises and falls. The Scots campaign was bringing the mis-selling campaign into the open and some members were worried about the value of their own points.
A poster on a website write: "These people have been a factor in the devaluation of our points and it's time they realised there isn't much sympathy for their point of view."
I'm pleased to say that a settlement has been reached between the new owners of Sunterra - who seem to be wielding a new broom - and the Scots group. Although I know nothing of the terms of the settlement, I have received warm thanks from several Sunterra owners.
Did the website harpies join in the jubilation? Of course not. Instead of recognising that the Scots members had finally been rewarded for their efforts, they continued complaining.
One wrote: "What will happen to all the other families who were in a similar position?"
And another said: "Will that Scottish journalist write a piece praising Sunterra now?"
Yes I will. I'm taking this opportunity to praise the new owners of Sunterra for having taken action. As to the members who belittled and humiliated a group of people who did nothing but stand up for their rights, they should be ashamed of themselves.
Plenty of individuals would think twice before tackling a multi-million pound corporation head on. But this group did - and succeeded.
As one member concluded: "On the worldwide web, the wee man in the street can now meet the bully boys for a square-go on the internet. Columns such as this one are often alerted to these newsworthy causes.
"And in our case, the Daily Record interest proved this with devastating effect. It is difficult to explain how one article seems to have hit home after so many campaigns."
The website www.timesharetalk.co.uk supported the Scots group. The other group's vitriol can be read on a number of sites, including Club Sunterra members information web site GVC Sunterra-members.
I TRY to help everyone who writes in, but sometimes the volume of letters makes this impossible. Please put your full name and phone number on your letter or email. Don't send any original documents or include your account details. You can email me at readerschampion@aol.com or write to me, Lesley Campbell, at Daily Record, One Central Quay, Glasgow G3 8DA
Oct 11 2007 Lesley Campbell
The Readers' Champion
WEEKS ago, I wrote about a group of holidaymakers who had attended a high-pressure marketing presentation and bought points from a holiday company called Sunterra.
When they realised the points they had been sold weren't enough for the holidays they had been promised, they launched a mis-selling campaign.
When I was researching this case, I was stopped in my tracks by some of the correspondence I read on websites for holiday club and time-share owners.
I had assumed that other Sunterra owners would rally around their colleagues and that those with similar complaints would join the Scots group to add their voices to the campaign. But instead of sympathising, they rounded on the Scottish members - demanding they drop their complaint.
Since many other Sunterra owners were also mis-sold, they wondered why the Scots group was making a fuss instead of simply putting up with the fact that they had been conned. It doesn't seem to occur to them that they, too, should be asking for redress.
Here's one typical comment: "As you and most others know, I too feel that I was mis-sold. But unlike these daft people, I have at least had holidays and I'm not sorry for them.
"If you are so intransigent that you cut off your nose to spite your face then you deserve all you get. The so-called victims are old enough to take care of themselves. I feel sorry for them. But I feel just as sorry for anyone who is gulled into doing something so silly.
"Why should they be treated any differently. The purchased under the same misapprehension as many, many other people. I wonder why it's only the Scottish once more."
It's the most appalling demonstration of self-interest taking precedence over fair play I have ever seen and there's a very insidious jingoistic element as well.
Many of the comments ask if there's a link between being Scottish and being gullible, while others see a connection between being Scottish and complaining.
If anything, it seems to me that this saga indicates a connection between being Scottish and being determined.
The Scots group refused to drop their case. The irate members campaigned, hired lawyers, contacted their MPs and even travelled around the country warning potential customers of the pitfalls of signing a Sunterra contract.
I couldn't understand the animosity the Scots case had engendered within the community - then I realised how the Sunterra system works.
The points have a value which rises and falls. The Scots campaign was bringing the mis-selling campaign into the open and some members were worried about the value of their own points.
A poster on a website write: "These people have been a factor in the devaluation of our points and it's time they realised there isn't much sympathy for their point of view."
I'm pleased to say that a settlement has been reached between the new owners of Sunterra - who seem to be wielding a new broom - and the Scots group. Although I know nothing of the terms of the settlement, I have received warm thanks from several Sunterra owners.
Did the website harpies join in the jubilation? Of course not. Instead of recognising that the Scots members had finally been rewarded for their efforts, they continued complaining.
One wrote: "What will happen to all the other families who were in a similar position?"
And another said: "Will that Scottish journalist write a piece praising Sunterra now?"
Yes I will. I'm taking this opportunity to praise the new owners of Sunterra for having taken action. As to the members who belittled and humiliated a group of people who did nothing but stand up for their rights, they should be ashamed of themselves.
Plenty of individuals would think twice before tackling a multi-million pound corporation head on. But this group did - and succeeded.
As one member concluded: "On the worldwide web, the wee man in the street can now meet the bully boys for a square-go on the internet. Columns such as this one are often alerted to these newsworthy causes.
"And in our case, the Daily Record interest proved this with devastating effect. It is difficult to explain how one article seems to have hit home after so many campaigns."
The website www.timesharetalk.co.uk supported the Scots group. The other group's vitriol can be read on a number of sites, including Club Sunterra members information web site GVC Sunterra-members.
I TRY to help everyone who writes in, but sometimes the volume of letters makes this impossible. Please put your full name and phone number on your letter or email. Don't send any original documents or include your account details. You can email me at readerschampion@aol.com or write to me, Lesley Campbell, at Daily Record, One Central Quay, Glasgow G3 8DA
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