The Freeman
Published online January 12, 2001
A “vacation specialist” company is subject to several complaints from the public for allegedly practicing deceptive
promotional tactics.
Fortunata B. Seno, 71 years old of Hipodromo, Cebu City, raised her complaint against Club Visayas after she realized
that the company has been using misleading promotional tactics to lure potential clients to avail of their Resort
Trust System, she said.
She narrated that sometime mid-October of last year, on her way out of White Gold Club, one of the staff of Club
Visayas approached and asked her to fill up a free raffle coupon that would entitle her to win prizes.
“Having told that the raffle was for free, I was easily enticed to join. However, apprehensions came when the person
asked me how much I earn in a month. I told them I was earning P80,000 which was a joke as who earns that money
these days,” Seno said.
After a few days, she received a phone call from Club Visayas informing her that she has won a 21-inch Sony colored
TV that she had to claim personally at their office in V. Rama.
“I went to their office two days after to claim my prize. I was told to wait as there would be somebody who would
interview me, they said. After a few minutes, a tall, skinny man invited me to his office,” Seno said.
She added the man showed her brochures of hotels and resorts from various places in the world. He then told her
that she could enjoy the luxuries of these hotels if she were to pay from P400,000 to P600,0000 to be a member
of Club Visayas.
When she refused to pay, the man allegedly trimmed down the fee to P50,000 and then to as low as P10,000 when she
further declined to pay.
“I had P20,000 at that time and I showed it to him. But I told him that I will not give him a single peso because
I suspected that something was not right,” she said.
The argument lasted for five hours after which she went out of the man’s office and asked the staff for her prize.
A lady staff allegedly told her that she will not be included in the raffle unless she signs some documents and
pay a membership fee of P5,000 which she vehemently refused.
They again offered her hotel accommodations in Metro Manila and Mactan Island if she were to sign the documents.
The security guard of this corporation allegedly tried to block her way when she tried to go out.
“I told them, if you’re trying to fool anybody, let me tell you that you have met the wrong person. You don’t know
me very well,” she said.
After the incident, she brought out her complaints to Bombo Radyo.
The Freeman Kidstuff editor Marivir Montebon-Auxilio echoed the same complaint as she also encountered the same
incident last September.
She was lured to going in the same office when told that she would win prizes if she were to go to their office.
She had gone there and won a free accommodations for two in a hotel abroad but she could not avail of this prize
unless she joins the club.
The membership fee asked was P50,000 and was continually lowered when she said she can not afford that fee.
Finally, she left as she thought something was wrong when this company failed to present to her who their incorporators
were when asked.
On the other hand, San Miguel Corporation HRD consultant Mary Ann Javellosa-Sanguyo had also gone through a similar
experience with Club Visayas. After so much pressure to join, and continual lowering of their joining fee, she
succumbed and paid P2,000.
That night, she realized there was something not right with the company, particularly its approach in making one
join their membership. So, she went back first thing the next morning and asked to cancel her membership.
But they refused to give her a refund of her P2,000 downpayment for the membership that she expressedly wanted
to withdraw from.
She added that for two months the company has kept on billing her of the membership dues which she just kept on
ignoring until it stopped.
There is now a pending complaint against Club Visayas filed at the Department of Trade and Industry provincial
office regulatory division.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regional extension office has also been receiving complaints
against the corporation and is now acting on the matter, a SEC legal officer said.
DTI-7 is now urging complainants to come forward to their office to file for a consolidated complaint against Club
Visayas.
Club Visayas is registered at the SEC national office under the registration number A1-999-19807. However, SEC-7
said the corporation has no authority to sell securities.
The Trust system per se gives complete package holiday to the purchasers and rights to use their timeshare apartment
or resorts.
On a chosen payment scheme, purchasers can buy the title to, or the rights to use, a timeshare property for a certain
number of weeks each year, and only pay for a proportion of the maintenance fees on that property.
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Copyright 2000 by The Freeman. All Rights Reserved.
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