hecienda requelme

[freda]

hi
did anyone see 'watch Dog' consumer programme on 7 Nov
i believe it was about PW and the late building work,
someone told me it was on but they did not listen to it properly as they do not have a property on PW.
I only got the end of the programme when it said several people had asked for their money back
due to late building and lack of facilities.
we did ask ourselves some time ago if we could swap to another site due to the delays but we were refused this request. HR is well behind schedule and will not be finished until well into 2008
Spanish rules are not the same as English law and the programme said PW would only respond if legal action was taken against them, and in such cases the clients would still loose their deposit

Freda

[Bill & Barbara]

Report on BBC website (which also has a video clip) http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/homes/homes_20071107.shtml

7 November 2007
Polaris World - you may have seen the ads - claims to be number-one for luxury Spanish properties. Plus, it offers a get-out clause in some contracts, giving customers the opportunity to cancel if their property isn't ready on time. According to some of you, however, this isn't the case.

In June 2004, Mark and Becky Vinen paid £50,000 as a deposit on an apartment in Polaris World's Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort in southern Spain. By January 2007 the apartment wasn't finished and the Vinens attempted to cancel their agreement with Polaris World, according to the terms stated in their contract. The company sent the Vinens a termination agreement, which they signed and returned. However, in June 2007, Mark was shocked by a call from Polaris World saying it had decided not to accept their cancellation and unless they completed on the property they would lose all of their deposit.

Clive Treacher spent his police pension on a deposit on a property in Polaris World's El Valle Golf Resort. In January 2007, he notified Polaris World that he wished to cancel according to the terms of his contract when the completion of his property was delayed. Polaris World initially accepted the cancellation, but in April it contacted Clive stating that he needed go ahead with completion and his deposit wouldn't be refunded.

Roy and Sherine Jawaheer completed on their villa in the El Valle Golf Resort in June 2007. They were looking forward to the tennis, spa, shopping and restaurants offered by Polaris World in its original sales pitch. But when they visited the resort upon completion they were shocked to discover that, although their villa was ready, and the resort offered a cafe and golf course, the five-star hotel, tennis courts and supermarket weren't. In fact, they found a building site in place of the facilities promised.

Polaris World says it accepts a small number of customers have had problems with their properties. The firm says its processes for resolving this haven't been ideal. It's made fundamental changes to put this right. On the point of facilities not being ready, Polaris World says it can't provide everything from day one, and never promised it would, but the company takes great care to provide them as soon as it can.

As for the cancellation clause, Polaris World disputes its customers' interpretation of the contract. They have refunded people in some cases.