Premier Property & Leisure review: Misleading Info 33

We believe we have been scammed by this company. Time wasters and wanting anywhere from $15-20KAUD. Same deal as many other people approached by motorbike on the main beach of Patong and YAY lucky us 3 stars... It goes on for like 4 hours and pressure you into a deposit. And gladly take your money. They did take us to lunch and to dinner and we had a trip to Khai Island as well.
We just come home and stupidly thought we were onto a good thing, , , , , after all the complaints we have seen just by typing their name on the net. We won a "free" holiday for 4 people well actually only accommodation...They are still emailing and answering questions BUT.. with everything we have read we are VERY sceptical... We just cancelled our credit card so no more money can be taken. I have facebooked people who have written on their Facebook page but no response as yet. I am not able to locate and Australian members and i did request that they give me member details in Australia or give my details but they have claimed privacy and cant do that (I understand privacy etc but i said that they could give my details out but they have declined).
If you look at the websites that they give you and its all timeshare related (even though they claim it is not timeshare) and you can actually join dial an exchange for free which i find interesting, ... Also they guy that "sold us this great deal' emails you from his OWN gmail account NOT a company email.
Are there any ACTIVE Australian members? IS this place for real or just a scam... Why can you not find any members wanting to tell you how fantastic it is?
Has anyone managed to get their deposit refunded? I was thinking of disputing the charge and see what happened? Any ideas or advice would be appreciated... I'm really worried

Thanks Christy

Hi Adelle89 and Gail D - like you, we paid out 24, 000 Australian dollars and like you no returned emails, phonecalls, bookings etc. We want our money back. Please contact me should you wish to take legal action.

Have been a member for over 8 years and have LOTS of holidays with no issues at all!

I have also been scammed of $6000USD! I have been trying to book our holiday for the last two months and exactly like many of you no reply to emails and no one answers the phone's! We need to take action PPL cannot get away with continually doing this to people who put faith and trust in a company to do right, it's disgusting! Me email is bubble.89@hotmail.com if someone could contact me that would be great.

we are from Kazkhstan and it looks like we been ###ed

Unfortunately like many others we have been scamed by this company and now they dont answer emails or phone calls. Just wondering if anyone would like to get together a group of people they have scamed to take this to court. They continue to take people's money and I believe they need to be stopped...?

Definitely do not use them...we were scammed. Paid ALL the money and received nothing! They do not pass on your details to the main booking agency - dae! So when it comes to booking, you find you are not even a member. We have Thai friends with connections to local police, so we will wait and see where that leads.

To the people who say that the people complaining here are just wingers...We paid 19000USD in good faith to PPL and still after 5 months have not received our full entitlements...They now will not return phone calls or emails and are just hoping we will go away...WRONG ...we are seeking legal advise against this company with a solicitor in Bangkok...We spoke with Richard Balerson who in his words is the owner, who does nothing but lies and gives false promises...SCAMERS...We paid the full price not just the deposit.So here is the proof to the non believers about this company...SCAMERS...

most of the comments are already given. we joined in 2011. For a trial from 3 years. Meanwhile we were at Kata suites Phuket 1 week in February 2012 and know in november 2012 for 3 weeks. What we think about ppl is They working very hard to put up their Imago, because They had too. but first of all, we all had the contact on the streets, we all won a high price in their tombola. we all went on Free Will to the appointment. And yes they're professionals, they're try to sell you the contract. If you said yes, who is to blame then. Yourself! I did to. it Costs me 5000USD but I got 4 weeks at Cheap price. so they're offered me a new contract: A good one, but you have to travel a lot to make benefice.So this time I said no...

Please note that 'fractional ownership', which can be defined as multiple co-ownership of an asset (in Thailand, generally a lease) is not permitted or currently even possible at the development known now as Baan Puri (formerly Club Lersuang) in Bang Tao, Phuket. This is not the same as 'timeshare' or 'holiday club membership', which may give you rights of use to assets within a pool of properties within such a company's stock.

We would strongly advise you, if you are offered or have already signed up for, 'fractional ownership' at Baan Puri, whether by PPL or any other operator, to let the Baan Puri management, Jones Lang LaSalle, know of this so they can direct the matter appropriately.

Hi Gail
Would love to be included in class actions against ppl, lets stop this company now!
Waterbreeze@hotmail.com

We paid them 19000USD in instalments and the last payment was on the 25th May this year. And we still have not received a thing for our money nothing...no paperwork to get us anything...we have emailed, rang and all we get is lies and false promises...Have even spoken to Richard Balderson who is supposed to be the CEO but he still gave us false promises and more lies...I spoke to him 2 weeks ago and the last thing he said was that he promised to call me back within 2 days. Still nothing. I said we wanted our money back he said cant cancel contract even though they have given us nothing...so it now looks like we will be taking legal action. I would like anyone else who has been scamed by these people to contact me as I was thinking of doing one suite against them with everyone...its a scam and even if its not if the buisness is handled in this way and takes so long to get anything to you so you can use it then there is something really wrong with the business...dont get involved...

i would like to know why people believe this is a scam-what happened?-please let me know as i was considering purchasing Thanks, Simone

We were scamed by PPL. unfortunately we paid 19000USD to this mob and didnt receive a thing. No erolement nothing but lies and excuses. We have been trying since May to get our money back and now it looks like we have to reutrn to Phuket and seek legal advice there because we are not going to let this go. We were stupid I admit that but I think we were caught up in the holiday mood not looking at it as it was. If we had only researched it more on the web we would never have signed up. So many complaints about them. We feel so stupid. We call they just tell us lies we email they dont return our emails anymore they are just happy to have our 19000USD. How does Thailand let this happen I really dont know. It has put us off going back there...really. This is so upseting and frustrating...

some of you people need to get a life and stop slagging people off all the complaints are from people that never joined so dont know why you are complaining i only see good things on here from people that joined not 1 bad thing the only bad are from people that got cold feet, its crazy what crap you can stick on the internet now just google coca cola or marriotts you will see a lot more bad things on there but no we all think there good cos its names we have heard of, at the end of the day if you aren't a member and you dont know how it works then why try to stick crap on about it when you dont even know so get a life

Har just kommit hem från Phuket och verkar om man ska tro alla här att jag blivit lurad av PPL. Kommer troligen inte att betala mer än depositionen. nån som provat och vet hur dom beter sig då?

We paid our deposit and then once home did some research and contacted a lawyer who advised it would probably be the best decision to cancel our credit cards, which we did, and send the contract back to PPL with cancelled written on every page by registered mail. PPL did try to contact us by phone and email, after they were not able to gain access to our credit card account. I was worried about the decision not to follow through with the contract but it has been fine. We lost our deposit but it was better than losing $20, 000

I think PPL is fantastic .I have been amember for 2 years now, and it does take time to understand the program but there is no stopping us now Bill and Tracy Gold Coast

Just back from Thailand and (no doubt like thousands of others) almost fell victims to the PPL scam from hell. How do these ### sleep at night & why do seemingly legitimate companies appear to associate themselves with these charlatans? Agree with many that the somewhat 'positive' posts (above) have no doubt been orchestrated by the pimps from PPL - interesting that Brian & Kathleen from Melbourne don't seem to be able to correctly spell the name of their own home town! Anyway it all went belly up for us when our well versed PPL con artist (Pommy aka Irish) 'Greg' couldn't / wouldn't allow us to call some existing members (allegedly 30, 000 in total) to verify the quality of their scheme - who knows how poor old Greg (he rolled out a very personal sob sob story about how several of his family members had been killed in a car accident in the U.K. some years earlier) would have reacted if we had of asked for 2 minutes to 'google' reports about the scheme. Mind you it's the classic old sales story - they spend so much time on you that you're made to feel guilty by not signing up and/or where do I sign because I just want to get out of here. Thank goodness for websites like this!

we have found that if you work with them, the system works just fine. Book a head of time, and if there are any problems then contact the office. If DAE if a good company and the other ones they involve you in, then what is the problem. You signed up with PPL but belong to very good travel companies, us them properly and you will find no problems.

I am a sucker. I thought I was smart... At least smart enough to sniff out a scam when I saw one. Apparently not. Turns out the old saying "if it sounds too good to be true.."

I would desperately love to hear feedback from anyone else who has been scammed by this company.
1. Has anyone managed to legally terminate their contract?
2. Did anyone get their deposit back?
3. Has anyone simply not paid the balance (after deposit) - what have the repercussions been from this?

So appreciative of any advice & info anyone can give on the above...

I am absolutely disgusted in this company. I was on my first family holiday with my children and where approached by 2 very friendly guys at the beach in Phuket.. I scratched a ticket and got a gold star-to which one of the guys started jumpin up and down with excitement saying "OMG you are a winner, Omg you are a winner". We where taken back to the small office then told we had to go with a driver to a big office where we would visit the new resort being built which would take approx 60 mins then I could collect my prize. So being the suckers we are, off we went only to be taken to another office and given a big sales pitch for just under "3" hours- with no intention on their behalf of showing us this new beut hotel being built... (my poor children sat so beautifully and patiently through all of this). My husband and I were up front and told them we where not interested at the time and just wanted our prize. I supposedly won a return trip with family to their new resort. "This I told the children will be your reward for being so well behaved".
We returned to Perth and I tried to book the free holiday straight away. I tried at least "4" times and had absolutely no communication from these people at all. I then sent an email to another email address on the application form stating I had read that this way all a scam. Interestingly enough I received a reply the very next day stating "it was not a scam-that Phuket had had a huge amount of rain and they where having problems with their emails and the lady assured me she would get a sales rep to contact me asap". Funny-well not funny really as that was on 20/9/2011 and after me sending "many many" emails to the booking address-I have not had any other correspondence from this company. My poor children are devastated they where lied to so badly-and I am just disgusted that these people waste your precious time that you have saved so hard for to spend quality time with your family to spiel of nothing but ###. Hopefully other people will not be suckers like us. I have taken on a 2nd part time job to save to go back next year and god help those mongrels if I see them on the streets again...

I am one of the suckers! I thought I was smart but obviously not, We met a man on a bike, scratched his card one the 'big prize'. Long storey short after several hours paid deposit of $2000 with $750 comming out of bank over the next 4 months to make up 'trial period' being 3 or 4 years - not sure now. We were told there that we could book hotels all around the world for $249 Aust for 1 week - these are first in best dressed and you need to book early. We went through the list of hotels and they included all the ones we liked on the Gold Coast - we could even sell these off and help pay the fees. Got home tried to book for my sons - this is when the problems start - Can't book until membership paid in full, the $249 hotel deals are only 'bonus' deals and do nt come up often - can't stop payments going out and withdraw, cant book hotels without going through them - it takes six weeks for memberhsip number (after the 4 months paying off) DAE in Australia said they don't issue membership numbers only confirm when these when provided - I have lost 5 thousand without getting anything - my advice - don't waste your time WOTIF.com provides cheaper holidays. Brisbane suckers

I would like to hear from anyone who paid their deposit for this package in Thailand, but not the balance owed once back in their home country. Are there are repercussions?

PPl sell holiday packs and sell membership to existing exchange networks, they buy them from 50USD to 200 USD for admin costs . The exchange company makes money from the exchange fees and PPL make all the money from charging 5000 USD upfront for an actual cost of 50 USD for paperwork.

You get what they say you will, but if you contact the company directly that they mention in the presentation you will save 1000% on cost . The rep gets 10% the outside contact gets 100 Dollars and the management get the rest for as much snowy champange that they can breath ... If you buy anything from these sharks you deserve the loss of cash .. A fool and his money are easily parted

In Kata Beach, Phuket, we discovered that the following scam is alive and well. It starts as a marketing promotion by young people on scooters - they stop you and ask if you speak English and give you a scratch card that always gives you both a "prize" of something small (a beach bag) and something large (such as 20, 000baht or a free holiday in Phuket) but only if you go to a 60 minute promotion for a Tour Company called Premier Property and Leisure (PPL) - www.premierpropertyleisure.com. "Oh wow - you got 3 stars! You have won a major prize". Funny how the 20, 000 baht prize or the Laptop computer has just been won the day before.

This is a variant of the "Timeshare" wolf in sheep's clothing. Beware! We spent over 2 hours being talked at by a sales rep from PPL (“Dave” a sleazy Scotsman) who kept pitching the benefits of "buying an asset" in order to give you cheap holidays for the rest of your life (actually 25 years plus an option to extend for another 25 years). He was very nice and explained a lot about this system and all the benefits and how the membership would never end - it could be passed on to our children when they were old enough to travel for themselves.

The system was basically that we should pay NZD20, 450 for a 25 year membership with PPL for discount holidays (1 week free every year and “unlimited” extra weeks @ NZD249 per week, anywhere in the world - as long as it is affiliated with their company. When the 25 years had gone, the membership would be renewed with another 25 years without any additional cost.

While owning the membership, every year we should pay a Body Corporate fee for maintenance of USD288. We could then stay in one of their 3 apartment properties in Phuket for one week per year (“free”) or we could stay in another apartment somewhere else by using the Dial-An-Exchange timeshare exchange service (www.DAElive.com) that was included in the PPL membership.

Problems we encountered with this scheme (after refusing to be part of it, unlike many other unhappy customers):

1. Benefits are based on expected future value which may not eventuate. Will you be in a position to take a vacation every year? What if you get sick, lose your job or get divorced? There is no way of being able to ascertain future net benefits, so from an investment point of view it is risky.

2. Bookings have to be made 45 days in advance and there are no guarantees of availability. It seems that many people have had difficulty booking the weeks they want or are able to take a vacation.

3. Resorts are not close to cities. For example DAE resorts in Queensland, Australia are only in Bundaberg, a small country town with no tourist attractions, Likewise New South Wales resorts are in Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Forster and Batemans Bay (?). If you doubt this go on the DAE website and check out the locations in a range of countries over a range of dates.

4. This is not an asset as it does not grow in value. It is an investment (as it has initial costs in Year 1 and ongoing costs and benefits), it is a membership subscription (as it has annual fees) but it most definitely is NOT an asset.

5. What if after a few years PPL goes into receivership or is bought out by another company? Will they honour the previous agreements? What if no further properties are added to the portfolio?

6. We were told that the initial price would increase over time, so if we delayed and came back next year it would be higher cost. This is also not justified as over time costs in the travel business have reduced not increased (Just look at the cost of international airfares over the last 30 years if you want any proof of reducing costs).

7. Most importantly: If we were to take this great deal, we HAD to sign and pay on that very same day! This was important! It was not possible for me to take the contracts home with me, read them in my own pace (or have a lawyer read through it) before I decided whether to sign up or not. Making a contract on about 120 minutes of information for a sum of anything over about 5000 USD should be illegal. Or at least a 24 hour “cool off” period should be mandatory in all contracts

The answer is of course that you will be overwhelmed by the fantastic deal and the dream of being able to enjoy luxury vacations with your family for the next 25 years for a small upfront investment. If this deal is as great as they say, why is it not possible for me to sign up for it later (when I am no longer in Thailand)? The answer is that in fact there is no “cooling off period” in the contract. Although we only got a brief moment to look at the contract we could see that the only contractual “out clause” was if you can prove that the benefits are not as stated. Which on balance they probably are. But whether they are worth the costs is another question. Simply changing your mind (“cooling off”) is not a valid reason for a refund of fees paid. We did not see the offer of “unlimited” weeks at $249NZ, but we didn’t get much of a chance to examine the contract before the pressure to sign came on.

Luckily we NEVER sign anything unless we have the opportunity to take it away and read it (usually overnight). Since this was not an option we said “No thanks” (for the reasons above). That’s when they came up with the offer of 3 years for $5049. I still couldn’t see us getting $5000 worth of savings in just 3 years – which for us is only about 3 x 2 weeks = 6 weeks holiday in total.

When I went home to our hotel I started doing some research and that’s when I discovered the large number of dissatisfied customers on many different websites:
(e.g. http://www.scandasia.com/viewNews.php?coun_code=se&news_id=155th) There are email threads with some suspiciously positive comments about the company (PPL) being posted by people portraying themselves as happy customers. An example is shown below from someone with very poor English purporting to be from Melbourne (misspelled!) but with a yahoo.co.uk email address:

we have been member since 12 years now and we ve been to marriott spain, Paris, London last year.We booked already next march to orlando, florida.In point of view, we save more than 60% from or past holiday.we like to come back to Phuket in next october with friends.Great holiday with all freedom.

Brian and Kathleen.Melbourn

Clearly there are some people who want to warn others not to do what they have done and there have been requests to remove these negative comments from the email thread! As for some of the positive comments, I think that most of them on the above website are constructed by PPL! Some of them may actually be genuine.

I am convinced that if you pay the 20, 000 NZD or USD whatever for a 25 year membership, you will actually get some lower cost vacations and some very nice service (at least for the first few times, maybe the first 3-4 years). But it is also highly probable that you will NOT get cheap vacations for 25 years and most definitely you will NOT get vacation savings that sum up to the net present value of 20, 000NZD or USD (or whatever amount you paid).

Unique Suggestions: So if you haven’t already got the idea when a young guy or girl asks if you speak English and gives you a scratch card: RUN A MILE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!

Keitho59
Rotorua New Zealand

I was in Thailand in late April my wife and I were walking along the main road of Patong when two young laidies pulled up on a Motor bike and asked us if wecould speak english, which we replied yes. After that the scam is on, if you scratch this card you can win 20000 baht, Plasma or a computer, the trip had been won the day before. A trip to PPL office, an overweight English guy takes us for coffee, smokes half a packet of my wifes cigarettes. then proceeds to tell me he is Shirley Basseys nephew and is worth 50Million Dolllars on and on it goes. We asked on a number of occasions to cut to the chase, but that was question 21, can't go there yet, after a trip down the road to the back door of a Resort to look at a display suite, but had to go through a back gate to get there, we were over the whole thing .
Get back to the office the boss comes out wanting $11000AUS when we say we not sure he says "what commitment" this is nothing We say no he walks away slamming the door on us. Don't go there! Scammers

I was sceptical before we joined them three years ago. We are from England but I asked to see their apartments (now in Kata as well), even their offices and obvioulsy the paperwork. Everything they said was delivered for my family and I. We can only reccomend them as their after care service is first class. They are on the resort every day and there is always somebody to advise you on what to do while you are on holiday.

PPL is the biggest piece of garbage on the beach at Phuket. I wasted an entire morning with their empty promises, crooked tactics and lack of self respect. I felt abused and taken advantage of. I would never give that company any business due to their filthy practices. They can go to hell for all I care. They lure people in with lies and after I confronted them about their lies they made up excuses after excuse. These people are absolutely shameful and they prey on people who are just trying to enjoy their holiday. PPL can take their 90 minutes (more like 4 hour) meeting and shove it.

Halmstad Sweden 9th of January 2011

I would just like to inform you about what I think is very doubtful business with foreigners in Kata Beach Phuket.

Me and my wife were invited to this company PPL Premier Property and Leisure by a Swedish young girl. We could just listen and look so we went to their office.I guess she will get some kind of money for every couple she brings to the office.
We were not absolutely sober so she gave us a chewinggum before we entered. They talked a lot and show us a very nice apartment Here you can lay in the bed and looking at flat-TV I remember he said. He also gave example of how much we could save being a member of PPL. We signed some papers and paid 144970 Bath in deposit. (I know some of you think we are stupid). The balance 14250 USD should be paid before 7 January-2011. We changed our minds when we understood that It was not that kind of apartment we had paid for. We also understood that we could go there for one week a year but when he was counting we talked about 3-4 weeks a year. We feel very cheated and will certainly not get one Bath back. I have been with my family 11 times in Thailand mostly Phuket and Krabi. I have always told friends that I really like Thailand and have never been cheated or got anything stolen. I use to give my wallet to some Thaipeople when I go swimming/snorkling and never lost anything. We have spent over 1.3 million Bath over the years but now there is a bitter end because of this so called businessmen ( not Thaipeople) who has made me lost my faith.It just do not feel good to come back. I think Thailand will lose tourism if this kind of business will proceed.

Stupid couple from Sweden
Roland Jansson and Anne Eurenius
Halmstad Sweden

E-mail shotokan01@live.se

misleading, how? Ive been all over the world with this club and had some bloody cheap holidays, its done every thing its said it would and more.
Jason D.
Australia