house restoration or hose building

Parador

The buying experience was great -  Superb hotel all food and drink supplied and easy going atmosphere - no pressure we will take you to look at whatever you want. As it happened I intended to buy but many others didn't.

But when we bought we were given the impression that Parador Owners Club was part of the deal - not optional, Since then they have contacted me once to try and sell me furniture from one of their contacts (who would no doubt split the proceeds with Parador). i askedt hem about jacuzzis but never got a reply.

Their web site is practically useless - according to that my penthouse foundations have not been laid - the photos the put on their site are well behind everyone else.

I am completing and they told me to speak to my solicitor!

Don't think I've had much for my 950 euros!

i am not exactly sure what they promised me so they may have a getout.

Anyway bad move dealing with them.


Barry & Sue

Hi Dringman

Polaris World has already paid the commision on the 1st installment you pay.  ( not the refundable 3,000 euros ).
So I am afraid Parador would already have had this.

 

Hi All
A small number of people have sent me a PM to ask about the letter I am sending to my credit card company claiming a refund of losses for the failed contract with Parador, as I paid for this with a credit card (NOT CHARGE OR DEBIT CARD). (for additional information on this see my other posts below). 
Firstly I must say I have no legal background or qualifications, but my understanding of consumer law makes me believe if you paid by credit card you may have the right to turn to them under section 75 of the consumer credit act. If you don’t know about this act then again look at my previous posts or Google it to fined out more. As I have been asked for a copy of my letter I have posted below an outline of it, I don’t recommend you just fill in the banks and use this, as you would have to amend it to fit with your personal circumstances. The credit card company are NOT likely to just pay out without a fight and this letter would just be the start of the road to claiming from them, which may well fail, but my opinion is if I don’t try I have lost anyway. I don’t easily give in. So for those interested below is the outline I have used. Good luck

Phil

 

REF: Insert your card number

Dear Sir/Madam

In Insert date I entered into a contract with Parador Properties in which by paying them a payment of insert amount Euros I would be provided goods and services as agreed in my contract. I paid for this using my insert name of card Credit Card

I have now been informed Parador Properties has gone into administration and the goods and services I was contracted to receive will no longer be forthcoming and that the refund payment of insert amount euro, which formed part of this contracted, will now not be paid.

The services they are no longer able to provide under the contract are:

List the things you will no longer receive from your contract 

As they are not able to provide the above I have no choice but to make alternate arrangements to have these services provided from an alternative provider.

Itemise and cost and total cost of losses you are suffering

As this company are not able to fulfil the contract, I now turn to you under section 75 of the consumer credit act for a full refund of the cost of the this failed contract.

Yours

This message was last edited by PGM on 8/8/2008.

Its been a long time since I was involved in this but I believe its under the Consumer Credit Act ( could have been changed since)

section 12a  rings a bell  supply of goods not merchantable quality   (sorry but its late Friday and the bottle is empty)

those supplying credit take equal responsiblity for the condition etc   There are limits as to value etc

You may get some joy re owners club fee but anything else! 

Just wondering if anyone out there has had anything in writing yet from Parador Properties re administration/administrators?

I emailed Graham Martindale the MD, on Wednesday asking for something in writing and I haven't heard a thing back from him.

Apparently to make a claim with the administrators  it has to be done within 28 days  of  the administration   -  probably still won't get back money owed but if we don't try..........

Jackie

Not had anything in writing contacted them in spain this week to ask about cash back deal of (1500 euros) on completion as we completed on 28 th July and told there will be no money paid out, but the spanish branch is still trading.


This message was last edited by TrishD on 8/15/2008.

Hi Phil (PGM) - a couple of weeks ago you gave us some help/advice on format of letter to credit card company - did you send to your card company and if so did you get any response or reaction to claim from them ????? - just wondering before I send my own letter to my card company - thanks - Patony

 

Hi Patony

Yes I did send my letter to my Credit Card Company about 2 weeks ago, I sent it Recorder post so I know it was received by them on 08/08/08, as yet I have had no response from them, however I would expect them to do some investigating before responding. When I have some news I will post it hear.

I do expect them to turn down my claim at first attempt and that I will have to be persistent.

Phil

This message was last edited by PGM on 8/21/2008.

Hi all,

I have read all the replies on this thread with great interest.

My wife and I have been in contact (on and off) with the Parador Owners Club over the last 22 months and since we completed (via our lawyer) in July, Parador have been very attentive and have arranged to have a rep at our disposal during our snagging visit this thursday (28th).

We had already arranged to have a hire car waiting for us at Alicante airport when we arrive so Parador said when their rep meets us at Contado, we can park our hire car outside our new apartment and he will take us through the 'first visit' and snagging process with the PW completion department.
After that he will drive us to CamBank, on to our Lawyer's office and then return us to the apartment. 
From there he will drive back to his office via the hotel we are staying at in Mazarron so we can follow him.

He will have details and directions to several furniture shops, electrical goods retailers and even a local hardware store for us so we can visit them in our own time.

It all sounds very promising indeed doesn't it?

I'm not sure if it represents value for money for the 700 Euros I paid in Oct 2006, but I certainly think it shows that Parador Owners Club is still functioning and being extremely helpful.

I will post again when we return next week and tell you all how things went and give you any more info I can get on what the future is for Parador Owners Club.

WW  

Part of letter from Owners club  

Sincere apologies also for the situation which now prevails.

 

However, no matter what has been said to you even in the recent past, Parador is unable to honour its commitments, financial or otherwise.  I am really sorry but there is nothing I can do to change this.

 

The voucher you were promised is a gift of Parador Properties Limited.  Parador in Spain was the operational part of the organisation in Spain, not the provider of the voucher.

 

Parador Spain hopes to operate outside of Parador Properties although the format, the modus operandi and service we might provide is likely to change.  Matters will no doubt evolve and become clearer over the next few weeks.

 

Just noticed this link, posted on a different thread by "Redman" - interesting article, and may be of interest to those in this discussion - may be worth asking Maria for an opinion.

Ted

http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/costaluz/481/money-back-through-credit-card-companies.aspx

I say make polaris Managing Directors suffer they were Parador MDs after all, they new the score.

Hi All,

I had a call completely out of the blue from Parador last week and after giving the guy a verbal bashing for Parador not even bothering to be in touch with me through 2008, he gave ne the impression that they would be bending over backwards to help us during completion (End of Oct). He then promised me that Vicky from Parador would be in touch to discuss. He tried to explain the UK vs Spain Parador issue which appeared complicated. They did take 950 Euros from us back in 2007 and I don't feel as of today that I've had my money's worth. Initially great, but communication soon tailed off. We have family near Condado to help with running around so not sure what Parador can now do for us. Would have liked them to have been mildly active this year with.

Paul and Jane

Interestingly we never joined the Parador Owners Club as we felt that with solicitors and PW we did not really need them. So having not joined, I too got a call right out of the blue last week. They had heard about our completion date - 31 October - and were trying to see if they could help! I was out and haven't called back yet. To say the least I was a little surprised.

Hi folks.
We got back home at 4am this morning (Thurs 4th).
I will keep this reply as short as possible and to the point of the origional thread. 

To the administrators of this forum I would like to say this.............I am fully aware of the rules and regs I have signed up to abide by and I will honour those to the letter. 

What I write now is not intended to be an advertisment for any company or service provider. This reply may affect many people's perception of Parador Properties and more specifically, their Owners Club. It is based on the facts of the visit and the interaction my wife and I had with this company over the last week or so.

We were met outside Polaris World customer services department (a portacabin on site) by Neville the Parador Owners club rep. He took us inside and helped us ask all the right questions to the PW customer care rep (Sarah).

He drove us to our apartment and helped go through the snagging process with us and Sarah. 

Neville had personally done this 50 to 60 times before, so having someone with us 'on our side' so-to-speak that knew the routine was massively comforting to us.

Once we arrived at the apartment me and Mrs WW were like excited kids. All we wanted to do was look at the view, open cupboards, push switches and slide window shutters up and down. It was Neville that gave us a reality check and told us there would be plenty of time for all that later, for now we must concentrate on the business of formally taking ownership of this property and more importantly, to give everything a very careful once over.................he asked us if we had heard the term "Buyer beware" in the UK..........................................Wise words from someone who was highly experienced at 'the sharp end' of dealing with Spanish property developers.

He pointed out several faults to the PW rep that me & Mrs WW did not see and reassured us that if we were not happy about ANYTHING at all, we should show Sarah and have her write it down on the list.

Most of the questions I asked the PW completions rep about the property she did not know the answer to, however because Neville had done this so many times before, it was actually HIM that gave me the answers I was looking for...............water stop cocks, electricity consumer units, pre-installed air-con, cooker extractor fan, water heater, etc.

Neville took us back to the customer services dept and helped us through the final paperwork process with Sarah. 

We then drove to Torrevieja and he took us to our Lawyer's office where he waited outside for us to finish.

From there he took us to CamBank's international offices in San Javier where we had to sign more forms.

He gave us advice and directions to several furniture suppliers, white goods outlets and other places we might find helpful.

I had told Neville we were interested in everything from air conditioning to curtain poles, from sofas to what plants we could put on our balcony and he gave us a wide selection of suppliers and providers of various products.

WE chose one of the furniture suppliers he gave us on a list and two days later he took us to the shop and personally introduced us to one of the salesmen who was a friend of his. 

Once again I will say that I fully understand the rules of this forum, so I will not advertise them, but anyone interested can PM me and I will tell them all about it.

I have to say I was expecting 'the hard sell' from Neville at every moment.....but it never came. He was professional, understanding and extremely helpful throughout.

When I asked him about the future of Parador Owners club he was as honest as he could be and told us that due to the massive downturn in British customers (largely attributed to the financial situation the whole of Europe is finding itself caught up in), Parador UK had indeed closed their main office and had made some very 'uncomfortable decisions'. However, Parador Spain was still up and running albeit at reduced manning levels and their reps were bending over backwards to help their customers and provide them with the service they had paid for. I asked about the money back offer that some members had been promised when they signed up to the owners club and he said that was an agreement with Parador UK, not Parador Spain and the feeling he got was that there was going to be a lot of disappointed people out there.

I guess the main question I asked myself is this...........................was the service we got from Parador Owners Club worth the 700 Euros we spent in Oct 2006.................and I have got to say yes.

I understand that many people will be angry, frustrated and bitter about not getting their 'money back' reward that was promised to them and I have to admit that after very careful scrutinasation of our Parador contract, I don't think we were entitled to it anyway.

WW  

Hi Welsh wizard
Very happy you recieved value for money from Parador owners club during your recent visit, however the issue is not about the quality of the service from the clubs staff, this about the issues around the companies discretions, we also recieved a great service from a parador clubs staff,and have maintained contact with him since.
But as for the cash back we did have an agreement in writing and this promise was what clinched the deal, so yes we were entitled to it.
I still believe there a problems ahead and if ex Parador Managing directors track record has anything to do with it, they will do the same again with Polaris and we will all end up with apartments on a half finished complex,and they will sit pretty, as we all know nothing is selling, and nothing is worth what we paid for them, and Polaris have no planning in place for the Town as promised, so yes some of us are very disappointed.

Hi buttfield,

I fully understand what you have said in your reply and of course I sympathise with the situation you are in, however if you read the replies from other members on this thread, some of them talk about not having very good communication with Parador, getting phonecalls out of the blue and another has quoted part of a letter from P.O.C. saying it is now "unable to honour its commitments financial or otherwise".

That particular reply from dringman COULD scare people into thinking that not only is their cash back deal in doubt, but the whole Owners Club service might have gone.

I was simply telling people that the Parador Owners Club in Spain is still running and is actively helping their members with the moving in process.

It is quite obvious from the tone of your reply that you are highly dubious about the whole Polaris World developement, but after reading many of the other threads on this forum, I get the feeling that most people who have bought, furnished and had a holiday in their new apartment are happy with how things are developing.

I do not want to fall out with you over this matter but when you paint your picture of the terrible possibilities that could befall us owners, I hope you will agree to differ with me on this matter.

WW  

Re my comments would "scare people"

I simply copied onto forum the e mail I had from a Parador  senior manager , their words not mine. You should make your own conclusions. It was not long ago we had been told Parador UK had the problem not Parador Spain. I  would like closure and to have a final answer as to whether someone is to make any offer to us or not. Is there any timescale in which an official claim must be made ?

Everyone should have sympathy for the efforts of the hard working staff who remain to take the flack , where are those who made the policy to make offers of inducement to purchasers and why no provision from commission to cover the promised payments ?

The change in the economy will create many problems in the future and many companies will now have to re-evaluate their long term plans. We all need to be wary of any promises made as senior staff can change and plans will be altered to protect the company's  profits. Statements made by  any  staff  should not be relied on. Even a promise in writing will not be honoured as we have just found out. Nothing personal against them but lets not be naive about the main function of any business.

I started November 2005 with this project and have been through bad experiences in the early part of 2006 .  I still believe that by staying with Polaris I have had a better result than with other developers I could have gone with. I am looking forward to living there from next month and seeing the resort grow. I also want to feel the benefits of a new lifestyle and enjoy life a little more and understand "que sera sera"   or whatever will be etc

Hasta la proxima

David








This message was last edited by dringman on 9/6/2008.

David (dringman),

I understand the segment of the letter/Email you posted in your reply was not written by you.

I absolutely agree with everything you said in your last reply and although my wife and I do not intend to move out to CdA to live permenantly, we are also keen to have the development advance as quickly as possible. 

When I said in my last reply that what you posted COULD scare some people into thinking that the whole Parador Owners Club might no longer be functioning it was more aimed at whoever wrote those words than the person who posted it.

We are in the same Jardin my friend, so I do not want to be making enemies with our neighbours before our furniture is even in..............(joke).

WW

 

 

Hi all

Has anyone had any contact with Parador recently as I have been trying to contact them without any success by phone and email. Anyone got any information on this?

Phil