Hallo

Sorry about the confusion with the nick names. One seems to work from my laptop at home and the other from my pc at work......Jools and SharonH are both me . Sharon Hitchcock. Sales & Marketing Director Peninsula.

I would just like to say thank you to those clients that have sent me their details by private message and I hope that all their questions are now answered. I would also like to state that in the case of  the person writing under the name of DONEFOR, I still have had no reply.

I can do no more than offer my full assistance, but this becomes impossible when people hide behind usernames and are unwilling to come forward with their personal details. I can only assume, as I stated in my previous post that some people have alterior motives in wanting to make Peninsula seem unprofessional.

 

Sharon Hitchcock

Sales & Marketing Director Peninsula.

Hi everyone, I'm buying a 2 bed flat at Medina Golf and have been following the forum comments with interest.  Medina Golf was due to be ready in Sept/Oct 08 but has got put back to "first quarter 2009" according to Peninsula.

On 12th May I received some rental information from Sarah Bowden (Margaret Corley's PA) of Royal Peninsula Vacations SL via email address "info at royalexecutivedotcom" (I can't put the actual address cos I've not made enough posts but you can decipher it I'm sure).  I replied on 30th May and had a number of concerns about the terms being offered which I thought had changed from what was originally advertised and changed not in my favour.  Below are some examples of my concerns....

example 1----- is your proposal to pay rent 6 months in arrears which is totally out of order and was not mentioned initially. The whole point of "guaranteed rental" is just that.......its "guaranteed"!!  For you to suggest that the 6 month period is to ensure that the resort is suitable for rentals defeats the object of being guaranteed.  I hope people in a similar situation to me put pressure on you to rethink this approach - how can we pay the mortgage from day 1 if you are not proposing to pay rent until 6 months later??........or have I misunderstood your proposal. 

example 2-------the variable rental option seems to be fixed at 2 years...why??? what happened to the 2,3,5 or 10 year options which the guaranteed option offers.

example 3------variable option is fixed at 2 years yet you require 18 months written notice not to renew!!...so basically I have 6 months to monitor the situation or I am tied in to a renewal which you seem to intend to charge me to do. And by that I'm referring to the contract "renewal costs" which you casually mention being debited from my account.

I could go on with many more concerns that I raised but I'll await your personal response to my email.

As I was saying, I replied to your email on 30th May but heard nothing so sent a follow up email on 25th June, I attached a receipt report but still have heard nothing back so I'm not sure if you have received it.

So.........could either Sarah or Margaret please clarify your email addresses and telephone numbers. I know you were moving offices in May and were having new phone lines and this could have affected your email addresses although you specifically said that was not the case.

Perhaps you also wish to use this forum to address some of my concerns?

THANK YOU

ANDREW W

I will pass your comments on to Margaret Corley, who will reply either directly or through the forum.

Regards,

Sharon Hitchcock
Sales & Marketing Director Peninsula.

P.S. Could I ask anyone who has a querey to contact our offices direct, as it will not always be possible for me to respond on the Forum. You can address any correspondence to laura (at) peninsulapm (then dotcom).  Than you

I don't believe we have info either re user and passwords to  access Peninsula web-site.How do we obtain this please,Sharon or Margaret? 

Dear All and Seagull,

I would be most grateful if you could contact Peninsula direct through either our freephone Uk number, email or telephone, all these details you will find on our web page. We are a professional company and wish to deal with our clients in a professional way, we do not wish to use a Forum in order to conduct our business. Any enquiry that you send to us will be dealt with swiftly an efficiently. I feel that I have said all that I need to say on this Forum and have left my contact details and ways of contacting me several times.

Our newsletter will be ready by mid-next week and will be emailed out to all our clients, you will also be able to find a copy on our web page.

Kind Regards

Sharon Hitchcock
Sales and Marketing Director Peninsula

Usernames and passwords to the Client Centre were e-mailed to the entire database of buyers in all developments on 31-10-2007.
If you didn't receive your username and password it could be due to a number of reasons:

a) You don't have an e-mail address or we haven't been supplied with your address
b) The e-mail address we have is either wrong or outdated.
c) Your inbox was full at the time 
d) Our message went straight into your Spam Folder
e) You overlooked the message and deleted it.

Please request your user name and password for the client centre by e-mailing  web at peninsulapm dot com  (please substitute at for @ and dot with . as the forum doesn't allow me to post an e-mail address)  quoting your development and apartment number. We suggest that you include all your contact details in that e-mail as well, in order that we may update all your details on our database thus avoiding that you miss out on any future updates or email campaings.

Hello Andrew.

I will answer your queries as below.


example 1----- is your proposal to pay rent 6 months in arrears which is totally out of order and was not mentioned initially. The whole point of "guaranteed rental" is just that.......its "guaranteed"!!  For you to suggest that the 6 month period is to ensure that the resort is suitable for rentals defeats the object of being guaranteed.  I hope people in a similar situation to me put pressure on you to rethink this approach - how can we pay the mortgage from day 1 if you are not proposing to pay rent until 6 months later??........or have I misunderstood your proposal. 

A:  The resort has to be in order and the apartments ready for occupancy before we can rent.  It has never been stated that the guarantee will begin from "day one".  There are many things that have to be in place, and functioning, before rentals can begin.

It is not a matter of "putting pressure on" to rethink this:  we do not wish to hinder rentals or payments: If  the payment structure can be changed at a later date, it will be.  We already have that in mind.

The Variable option payments are made on a monthly basis.

example 2-------the variable rental option seems to be fixed at 2 years...why??? what happened to the 2,3,5 or 10 year options which the guaranteed option offers.

It is NOT fixed for two years. Traditionally, people have purchased in Spain with the idea of realising the Capital Growth.  This usually takes about 3 years to evolve.  We have made the contractual terms with this is mind: again to make it more flexible for the owners.  The Variable contract is completely renewable and can of course be renewed up to the 10 year period.

example 3------variable option is fixed at 2 years yet you require 18 months written notice not to renew!!...so basically I have 6 months to monitor the situation or I am tied in to a renewal which you seem to intend to charge me to do. And by that I'm referring to the contract "renewal costs" which you casually mention being debited from my account.

The terms of the two options seem to have been muddled here.  The notice on the Guarantee option is 18 months (tour operators and travel agents sell holidays well in advance, and this is the notice they require).  The notice on the Variable option is three months.

Debiting your account is not a casual mention:  if we do not hear from clients to the contrary, we assume that the contract is renewed.  Please bear in mind that there has to be communication from yourselves also:  we cannot mind read.  The management team will be in constant contact with clients and each will be treated on an individual basis: as long as we know your wishes, we can facilitate them.

I could go on with many more concerns that I raised but I'll await your personal response to my email.

As I was saying, I replied to your email on 30th May but heard nothing so sent a follow up email on 25th June, I attached a receipt report but still have heard nothing back so I'm not sure if you have received it.

Sarah was in the UK during that period - her email was monitored on a daily basis but there is no record of your email.


So.........could either Sarah or Margaret please clarify your email addresses and telephone numbers. I know you were moving offices in May and were having new phone lines and this could have affected your email addresses although you specifically said that was not the case.

There was only a day or two when emails were unable to be monitored:  copies of all emails remained on the server however and were retrieved later.

Once in the office tomorrow morning, I will have Sarah double check.  Please resend the email in any case then we are sure to have it and address your concerns.

Perhaps you also wish to use this forum to address some of my concerns?

Addressing issues on forums is not an ideal way, only due to time restraints.  We dont always monitor the forums, and I would rather I spent my time, and my staff theirs, on communicating with clients individually.  Again, our aim is to build a good, long term relationship with all clients. We treat each concern as legitimate and do our best to be as flexible as possible.

I think it should be borne in mind that we have been working on this project with Peninsula since its conception in 2005:  there are bound to be changes and we have, and are, always taking these changes into account and adjusting to them.

I hope this answers your concerns Mr Walker.

best regards

Margaret


THANK YOU

ANDREW W

Hello Sabber.

Management/rental information packs have been sent out according to projected completion dates.
So far, and I will check once in the office tomorrow, Medina El Vira, Medina Golf, and Suites at Medina 23 have all been sent out.

Tee 17 is the next one scheduled, together with Fairways.

Some clients may be duplicated as those who have been in direct contact with us would already have had info packs 
Some of our contact information may need updating:  we are not always informed when someone changes phone numbers or email addresses. Communication has to work both ways .

The rental side is going very well, and is, always will be, a work in progress.  There are shifts and changes in all areas - due to the financial climate right now, there are even bigger shifts than normal.

The level of confidence on the rental side is, contrary to outside influences,  very high. We have a unique product and a wonderful resort.  Qulaity always wins in any marketing operation.
This is a long term  project (hence work in progress) and the main objective is to generate the maximum income for our clients, whllst at the same time working with them to make their investment a pleasure and as enjoyable as possible.

A lot of our work on the management side is "invisible" - the only thing I can do is assure clients that there is a huge amount of excitement, effort and enthusiasm going on behind the scenes.

Both the Peninsula team and the Royal Peninsula team are totally focused on their clients: from a professional point of view, I havent come across a developer as "hands on" or as committed  to their clients as Peninsula are.

Best regards
Margaret

hi all,

i have finally heard back from peninsula. i was given the storey that the were very busy etc,  i was only contacted after contacting them again. they werent able to answer most of my questions but hoped to be able to answer them after speaking to the developer. now i am waiting a reply and if i get any useful information i will post it.

with regard to giving my details, so Sharon can check if i am on their contact list i would like to make the following points. this is a forum and i reserve the right to my privacy. i accept that giving my contact details would seem to make sense, however i cant understand how they could not have my contact details as they have not changed. i also do not want to blacklist myself as we who propose to rent the property using the variable proposal are at the mercy of a peninsula associated company to rent it out.

I would like to hear from purchasers in medina golf, have you been told about the delay in the completion of the development, if so when were you told and was it by peninsula or like me have you heard it through a third party. i would also like to state again how disappointed i am at the latest up-date ... 1 picture, surely we deserve more than that.

donefor

I put my name down for a one bedroomed apartment at Medina Golf, and like a couple of other people on this thread, I haven't received any receipts for payments made over the past 18 months, and up to this point neither have I been informed of any delays to the development.

The last thing I got from Peninsula (5th Jun 08) was notification that the building contractors had been changed.

I've sent an email to Laura requesting access to the client centre, and I hope I can soon report that I've received this.

Hi Silvertop,

I strongly advise you to request a receipt and an "aval bancario" from your developer asap for the payments which you have already made.  This is the only guarantee that your downpayments will be safe in the unfortunate event of the developer going bankrupt.  Given the present economic turmoil, I would do this as a matter of urgency.

Obtaining a bank or insurance guarantee costs money to the developer, so they might not issue one unless you ask for it.  IIf possible always check the credentials of the company/bank backing the guarantee.  

Regards

Thanks for the advice sabber - rookie mistake, not getting this sorted out by now, but I'll keep the thread updated on any responses that I get.

Hello 

Does anyone know when Fairways will be ready? I was originally told January 2009 but I have heard "Late 2009" recently?
Thanks

Further to my earlier post about getting receipts and aditional information about Medina Golf, I am very disapointed that after many repeated requests to various persons in the Peninsula PM office I have had nothing more that two pdf's of receipts for the three payments I made, one of the ones I received being for the wrong amount.

Is there anyone out there with their names on the Medina Golf list who has had some notification about delays? If so, please let me know or send me a link to some information.

I'm rapidly losing faith in Peninsula'a clams to be totally focused on their customers and I'm starting to have serious doubts about their credibility.

Anyone else had similar problems?

I agree with the various comments about the need for Peninsula to improve their customer focus, as I too was one of their clients that received virtually no contact from them either before or after the reservation of my apartment. So I contacted both Sharon Hitchcock and Margaret Corley directly and last week took the opportunity to meet with their repesentatives during a visit to the development.

I met with Frederic Fourestier (Peninsula), Sarah Bowden and Alex Corley (Royal Peninsula) last Tuesday and over the afternoon discussed the progress of the development and also issues relating to the rental contract. All of them were very honest in their answers and they admitted that customer focus was one key area that they are addressing. They are aware that in the current climate, they cannot rest on their laurels.

The development is coming along and has made a lot of progress since my last visit in February. Yes there have been a number of set-backs, but on a project of this scale that is inevitable. I will be happier if Peninsula adapts a pro-active approach in keeping me updated with any issues that arise and hopefully after setting up direct contact links with them, this will happen. However, there are some people that are nieve enough to think that problems do not happen and that the finishing dates are set in stone.
I would prefer a longer build time and a high quality finish rather than rushing to achieve the finish date.

In such situations in the UK, companies are judged on how they handle obscure situations. All I can say is be pro-active and set up strong communications links yourselves, use your time to contact them and instill some self confidence in your purchase rather than spreading negativity.

chartered, I'm glad your perseverance paid off and you now have confidence in Peninsula, and I take some comfort that there is the motivation within their organisation to have given you that. All I await now is my turn, having already done as you have suggested below and tried to establish ongoing communications over the past few weeks - unfortunately, I'm not in the position where I can just fly out there and get to meet people face to face so I have to rely on email, but as I said earlier in this thread their responses in terms of accuracy and promptness regarding the questions I have asked haven't been what I would have hoped for.

Regarding the delay, I fully appreciate that there are delays in projects of this kind, but going back to my original point, I would have felt a whole lot more "focused on" if news of the delay had come from Peninsula rather than a third party.

I don't think reporting less than satisfactory experiences should be described as "spreading negativity". For those of us in the group which lies somewhere between naivete and experience in matters of purchasing property abroad it's a benefit. If it hadn't been for this forum, I'd still be in the dark about the schedule (if it wasn't so close to the original final payment date).

I would be more than happy to report as you have, that Peninsula have answered my questions and that I am finally in the group of focused on clients - let's see what happens.

 I HAVE PAID A DEPOSIT ON A GROUND FLOOR APARTMENT IN MEDINA ELVIRA 23 IN GRANADA
I THOUGHT I HAD TO PAY THE 2ND INSTALMENT IN FEBRUARY 2008 BUT HEARD NOTHING FROM PENINSULA OR FROM FLUID FINANCE THE BROKER IN ENGLAND, STARTED TO WORRY AND JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHO TO TURN TO BECAUSE I SUPPOSE I AM TOTALLY NEW TO THIS GAME, THEN I DID SOME SEARCHING ON THE WEB AND FOUND THERE HAVE BEEN DELAYS TO OTHER PARTS OF THE SITE AND THOUGHT NOTHING MORE THAT IT WAS JUST THE MARKET HAD STALLED A BIT BUT IT WOULD PICK UP AND MORE INVERSTORS WOULD COME ON BOARD AND IT WOULD COMPLETE ON TIME.
I HAVE HAD NO RECEIPT FOR MY FIRST DEPOSIT AND I AM NOT SURE WHO IS GOING TO GUARANTEE THE MONEY IN THE EVENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT GOING BANKRUPT
I MADE THE PAYMENT TO PENINSULA THROUGH BANCO CAM (CAJA DE AHORROS DEL MEDITERRANEO)
WOULD IT BE THEM WHO GUARANTEE MY MONEY? I DO NOT KNOW? 
I HAVE BEEN TOLD TODAY THAT THE NEXT PAYMENT MAY BE DUE IN 2 MONTHS TIME.

ANY HELP OR ADVICE ANYONE
OR ANY OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED IN MEDINA ELVIRA 23?
FLUID FINANCE IN ENGLAND ARE NOT GIVING ME SATISFACTORY INFORMATION

Hi
I have paid my first and second instalment and received no receipts directly from Peninsula but as i paid all my transfers through my solicitors they have the relevant receipts on file. It might be worth asking yours if they have records for you. It was also the solicitors that made the inital checks to ensure that the bank guarantees were in place for the Fairways development.  So your money is guaranteed in the event of any problems.

As i understand it the delays have been purely for utilities and  planning reasons and not financial ones. However i am sure a direct correspondence with Peninsula will sort this out. Scroll down on this message thead and find the post from from peninsula customer service and send them a private message with all your concerns. I'm sure they will put your mind at rest.

I am infuriated by the postings on this site that have been submitted by staff at Peninsula.  They have not responded to numerous requests by myself concerning rental income estimates.  I have repeatedly requested this information over the last 2 months.  During this time they have taken the opportunity to defend their customer service on a public forum and ignore  polite individual requests - what is going on??