Classic Escapes review: Classic Escape Holidays 89

Hi, we too joined in January 2013 after being sucked in and not everything fully explained to us. We have tried many times to book through them and it is always way dearer than what we can get it for ourself or they tell us we can’t go at that time. It is frustrating that we have never booked through them and yet we have to pay there stupid yearly charge & when we don’t are threatened with debt collectors. It is the biggest scam ever and all the negative comments I have read is disgusting. Classic is a massive scam

I signed up in Bali {don't no why } Michael our representative was a real jerk we were in some ### shabby apartments that were im sure not safe and ever since I got back home to Sydney and have tried to book our annual holidays, I get cheaper quotes from our local travel agent ? and half the time there location is miles away . So from a members point I have not been happy or satisfied at all with Classic ... Save your money and stay away .

I agree that they must know which one is a winning ticket and which is not. We had a similar experience recently, where my wife scratched 4 tickets before hitting a winner. The sales person was 'shacking with excitement' as she put it when we scratched those three lucky stars. The catch was we had to attend a 90 minute presentation. Additionally we couldn't find out which of the three prizes on offer (Accommodation package, travel voucher, Ipad), was ours until after the presentation when they would scratch a small panel on the bottom of the ticket.

We were then asked all the normal questions and requested to pay a $50 deposit. All the time we were convinced that this seemed dodgy, but figured we had nothing to lose apart form 90 minutes. Realistically the only prize that interested us was the Ipad, and the sales person indicated this was the most likely outcome.

We attended the Parramatta office, and were immediately handed back our deposit. There were around 8 or 9 other "Lucky" couples there who had won the prize.

My wife and I sat, and waited, and sat and waited until almost 40 minutes had gone by. We were ensured that the time we spent waiting would come off the presentation and that the total stay, including wait time, would not go longer than 90 minutes. Just as a side note, almost half of the couples that came in that day collected their deposit, sat for 5 minutes, and walked out.

We eventually got up and left. An absolute waste of time. Especially as we had organised a baby sitter.

If this is an example of what their service is to offer, than thank god we weren't coerced into signing up to anything.
Curiosity got the better of me and I scratched off the winning slot on the way home. Surprise, surprise it was the least appealing prize option.

I would recommend for people to not waste your time going. I also don't agree with the $50 deposits. I wouldn't say it's a scam, but it's definitely a very tricky way to get people to attend.

Spend that 90 minutes having a nice lunch out instead of going to this presentation. That's my recommendation.

Im complaining about thick people on here who call a marketing strategy for timeshare a scam. You receive the prize as promised provided you are qualified and do your 90 minutes. Its how they get bums on seats. OBVIOUSLY they are looking for a certain demographic.
Its all passed by Vic Permits and Fair Trading.
Has it occurred to you that you just dont get it? And thats fine just get on with your life but stop calling reputable long established businesses a scam just because you are a dumb bunny.

We signed up then got out with it. Not easy to get out from them. We never usedvtge service. When we tried of course nothing available. We complaint first and requested to cancel the member. Of course they refused our request. So we dispute with ombudsman. Not easy tho you have to have a really strong documents to prove that they misled at sell pitch. took us almost 3 months to solved the problems. End up they pay us back all paid monies and cancellation membership.

That is totally unreasonable you should make a complaint to the fair work ombudsmen, the more people that do this will put these people on the radar, everyone needs to complain

We too were scammed by these people. We were on our honeymoon, and they nabbed us. Their 7 day clause to get out of it is a have since we didn't get back home to New Zealand till AFTER the 7 days. Its not as though anyone on their honeymoon would sit down and read all their pamphlets and brochures. We paid them off in full, and then decided to cancel as we felt we were ripped off in the first place and didn't feel that we should pay their "annual" fee for the next 20 years for nothing, since we had paid them in full. We were told you cannot cancel and that we had to on-sell to someone else. Gee, they forgot to tell us THAT part in the first place. Whats going on here. Hard selling is not on, especially when you are on holiday and don't even get back home before the 7 day cancellation clause to cancel.

Representative of My Family Escape ( A unit of amour hospitality) Mr. Damanpreet Singh ( +91-[protected])-Account manager approached me for selling My family Escape Classic plan. I purchased the plan (Enrollment no 7500357) after their confirmation of availability of below hotels from 22.12.14 to 31.12.14 vide their email dt 19.12.14 ( email copy attached for ready reference)

Jaipur hotels
Lemon Tree Premier, Jaipur
Ibis Jaipur Hotel Jaipur
Ginger Jaipur
Hotel Umaid Bhawan Jaipur
Royal Orchid Central Jaipur

Delhi
Country INN by Carlson Saket – Delhi

Based upon above confirmation I paid Rs 12000/- through debit card for the above plan ( payment acknowledgement receipt attached for reference). On 21st of December I called customer care department [protected]) of My family escape and requested for below booking against Enrollment no 7500357

1. Country INN by Carlson Saket – Delhi for 25th of Dec’14
2. Hotel Umaid Bhavan-Jaipur for 30th and 31st of Dec’14.

They replied to give the confirmation of above booking against Sr no 1 by 23rd and for Sr no 2 by 26th of Dec’14.

On 24th of December’14 representative of My family Escape called me and told me that we cannot book Country INN by Carlson Saket – Delhi for 25th of December’14 and can give you Hotel Tulip Inn West– Harinagar-Delhi. I had to take this option without my interest as I already planned my trip and do not want to waste my holiday.

Again on 27th of December’14, representative of My family Escape called me and told me that we cannot book Hotel Umaid Bhavan for 30th and 31st of Dec’14 and can give you only Hotel Jaipur Palace. To my more surprised they asked me to pay Rs 5000 extra for dinner and said that it is compulsory to take dinner in the hotel for 31st of Dec’14. In view of this I had to cancel my Jaipur visit.

I hereby held ‘’My family Escape’’ totally responsible for spoiling my vacation and spoiling the memorable event of 31st December’14.

I also given my complain in writing for the above episode to My Family Escape vide email dt 27.12.14 and 01.01.2015 and asked to give fair compensation for giving false commitment for selling it’s product and spoiling my compensation.
Further many times i tried availing my nights but every time they denied and finally i put this plan in dust bin

I can't believe these guys are still around, I worked for them for three months. At first I thought I was selling a pretty good products I was like this is awesome you get cheap holidays for life etc etc. Found out from a co-worker that you could never book in any of the destinations that are worth while, my managers knew this, the company knows this, yet they try and sell to whoever they can . The managers have absolutely no conscience, I would sometimes say these guys can't afford this, they didn't care because it was "in house" finance and dodgy as ****. If people refused to sign up managers were straight up bloody rude and I remember one in particular at the Sydney branch would swear at them, he was an absolute grub, typical sleaze bag who could sell ice to an eskimo. Ended up quitting a couple weeks after I found out how much of a rort this thing is and was sick of selling a lie.

Seriously I could tell so many stories from the three months I was there, these guys are absolute see you next Tuesdays.

Stay away from these guys, can't believe they haven't been approached by A Current Affair considering the non event stories they usually show. They should just send in a guy with a hidden camera to see how ruthless they are.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/no-penalties-imposed-from-acccs-war-on-telcos-20120409-1wl3z.html
ACCC declined to penalise George Tawaf, founder of Classic, if you believe the headline above. So he must be OK ?
We know how safe we are with the protection provided by our consumer watchdogs.
Still a bit curious as to how Club LaBourse was acquired by Classic.

worst case of Cust service ever they can hide behind policies where they can't sell your membership or cancel or won't help they just say advertise on gumtree or trading post prob is they don't care and if you don't pay your yearly fees they just blacklist you all this company Classic Holidays want is money for doing nothing. I will keep bad mouthing them to any body that listens when i see them at markets or shopping centers i will tell all potential cust don't do it and tell them its a time share rip off. I will make sure they lose potential cust

It is very important that anyone signing up to this recognizes that the organisation is completely comfortable blatantly lying to potential members and existing members. We signed up, and then started the long chain of information (that we asked about and were provided UNTRUTHFUL answers on at the presentation night). Wish we had recorded every word as the information we have been provided since then and the services have been beyond appalling. Whatever you do DO NOT SIGN UP - it is a waste of your time and money. We would do anything to avoid the contract, but as they refuse to accept that they lied, and as we did not record the conversations on the evening, we have been told by Classic that we are stuck.

We attended their presentation last year and have regretted it ever since, they certainly are a scam and good at it, they have standard responses for everything and they do not deliver on their promises, it needs a class action suit to be brought against them, I wish I had the time, if any one does go down that track, please count me in I have examples of their so called cheap accomodation and also equivalent cheaper better quality accomodation sourced on line for free for the same dates. Thank goodness I got out of the 7 year contract and only have a couple to go, I don't mind saying I am stupid because they are good at what they do, if they were genuine they wouldn't ignor members requests to leave their company .

Has anyone taken up the $199 free 7 nights accomodation. We are thinking of booking the Port Macquarie or Coffs Harbour offer. I says the room accomodates 6. Does this mean 6 people can stay there or does this cost extra? $199 seems to be a very cheap week's accomodation.

The people seem to be everywhere, shopping centres, theme parks, week-end markets and even some airports.
We almost got scammed after having WON at Eumundi Markets. Attended the 90 minute presentation and actually had signed up.
We were NOT told about any cooling off period and it was only later that evening that I read the Product Disclosure Statement that I came across the cooling off statement form.
I was already having doubts about the whole scheme and promptly filled in the cooling off statement and posted it to the nominated PO Box address. I also sent extra copies by mail to the Mooloolabah office and another couple of addresses at the Gold Coast head office.
Really glad that we are out of it - not like some on here who are unfortunately stuck with it.
Seems like a fair percentage of your payment goes to the founding shareholder (only one), as well as the title to any properties they buy as part of there chain, as well as all the unused points members have accrued.
WARN ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES, WORK COLLEAGUES ETC ABOUT THIS SCHEME - THERE IS NO REAL VALUE IN THIS TO THE 'MEMBER'.
Just glad we are not paying 230 a month, every month for 8 years with nothing to really show for it.

I was also ripped of like many on here never use this service and still get charged a yearly account fee can't get out of they won't refund and why should they they have their grubby hands on my hard earned cash I just wish I had read the reviews and complaints before signing would have saved me a lot of heart ach and cash they even organize their own finance to ripp you of some more because I was 2 weeks past the cooling off period well that means I'm stuck with it never even used the free holiday. I hope I can tell enough people that this company is a ripp off

I recently won on a scratchie ticket while on holidays in Cairns. Against every fibre in our bodies, my partner and I paid the $50 and went to the presentation the next day. We had agreed no matter what we were just there to get a free holiday or travel vouchers. After 2 hours of painful hard selling, membership price reductions and offers of a free Florida Keys cruise upon signing we finally got out of there 2 hours later. Of course winning the standard weeks holiday with $199 admin fee. They forgot to mention while we were there that a condition is attending another presentation while on the holiday. This may not be a complete scam outright but it certainly would only suit a very small number of people that do a lot of travelling. Even if we did do a lot which we don't, I would never hand over money to this company just based on their deceitful practices and the fact that they give you no time to really consider what you are getting yourself in to. They pressure people to sign up then and there even if it is totally unsuitable for their lifestyle. Any excuse you give for not wanting to join they 'have 65, 000 members just like you'. Reading reviews of some people who regret being pressured into becoming a member, I really feel sorry for them. These people are good at making the club sound appealing and even after saying about 50 times before the presentation we are not signing up no matter what, my partner was still sucked in a bit by their sales tactics. The next day looking back it just seems ridiculous that you would pay $12, 000 + just to get supposedly cheaper holidays when there are so many options out there. You can get a decent holiday just using the weekly payment you would be paying to them in you finance a membership. The reason they say you must sign up here and now or not get the chance again for 5 years is because they know without pressure and their glamorous presentation clouding your better judgement, no body would ever fall for this rip off. I cannot express how glad I am we did not fall victim to these people. I threw the 'free' holiday in the bin and if I could go back I would leave the presentation before it started the second I got my $50 deposit back. When you get that uneasy feeling from a company like this you must trust your instincts and not get involved. Why someone would take out what is the equivalent to a new car loan just to be a member of this club is crazy to me. Holiday within your own budget and don't risk thousands now to (maybe) save a little in the future.

I was bailed up by these ###s at a shopping centre today.
Although I had allegedly won a "major prize", I wasn't allowed to find out what that was until I attended a special '90 minute presentation' (which my husband who wasn't with me at the time was also obligated to attend if I wanted to claim my mystery prize).
I was also told that I needed to pay a $20 deposit. It was at this point that I lost interest and realized that these bozos had wasted 15 minutes of my time.
I had my disabled son with me and the time and he was becoming increasingly restless throughout the whole spiel so I told the salesguy that I had to go. Even so, he still continued to chew my ear off.
When we finally left, my son was so agitated by these guys bailing us up that he tried to kick a car door in the parking lot. Not cool
As soon as I arrived home, I decided to scratch the stupid 'void if removed' tab off the scratchit to prove to myself that I hadn't won the cash prize (I couldn't accept any travel holidays even if I wanted to, something that I'd already explained to the salesguy).
Surprise surprise. No cash prize, just some so-called 'free' holiday with a $199 booking fee. Up yours, Classic Escapes and no, I won't be attending my 'special VIP invitation' any time soon.

yeah total scam, and yeah they only ever give away the holiday not the vouchers or ipad (but hey "that's the industry we're in" the guy said), but we went along on the proviso we'd get our deposit back AND some reimbursement for the petrol used to get there. We didn't buy into the deal (which has too many additional fees and add-ons and just really didn't add up in the short medium or long term), but they gave us cash money for petrol. So instead of just getting our deposit back, we got paid to go along! I recommend asking for petrol vouchers!
But don't sign up. The maths just doesn't add up.

Classic escapes is a total scam the tickets and fraud based if you ask me as the tickets have different void if removed which is why you get one of both the Hoilday is over priced for what you get and they want you to decide in the season as no one in right mind would go back SCAM people booking dot com better and only good reviews on this company are them selves

Classic Getaway is a total scam. They hand pick you in the shopping centre, (pre-qualified), to win a prize, then ask for a $50 which they give back to you, when you turn up to the meeting in which they are meant to tell you about your prize. This turns out to be a 90 minute sales spiel trying to sell you an expensive time share, about $25, 000. You can buy these in Thailand for around $5, 000. When you reject the sales pressure, the attitude changes, the friendly face is gone and they get quite narky. When you scratch your free gift, you inevitably win a $1500 prize involving a free 7 days in Nth NSW, QLD, Bali or Thailand. When you log onto their site to redeem your prize, there is no clear log on to redeem. When you find it, the code you have been given doesn't work, it does not have enough numbers. Then you have to contact them, and wait for further instructions.
Steer clear of this lot, the whole thing is a con job. Any sales organization that demands you make a decision on the night, without qualifying their credentials and the quality of their service, have much to hide. The web will tell you how big a conn this is. No one seems to be able to 'redeem' their free prize...

Hi I attended last night a seminar at Auckland Alexandar Park and met Jamie and Victor and all I can see is that they were proffessional no high pitch and respectfull to us and where we were at in travel.All you moaning Aussies are stuffed in the head all you do is moan and gripe I lived in Australia for 20 years and all of you are nothing but whingers and low grade criminals to which I have first hand experience. Classic holdays has one problem I dont think so I am told they dont actually own any real estate they leverage off empty rooms so I am told from my well exp traveller mate. so what ! thats business u clowns . Classic Holidays gave us a winning holiday too u moaning aussies and we were also asked $199 to clean the room well u ### aussies where can u fat over fed belly bloated aussies stay in a top class hotel for 199 for 2 people for a week .? Get over ya fat selves . Classic Holiday is not for us at the moment but when I am retired in 2 years we will be coming back to them . I hear they went broke not long ago and all the people that bought membership so I am told lost their money whether that is true or not I dont know . What I saw all u aussies are ### and need a wake up call you over fed fat cowes I belive they are trying to survive and work and give people a holiday Ken One last thing I observed is that a lot of the places is whre you have to pay expensive food transport etc to get too if I am right at all You aussies make me Clasic Holidays Sick puke u r all wrong totally They just a company in business not Santa Claus

We went to a presentation in Mooloolaba and, after much deliberation, decided it could work for us. We paid our deposit only because we were shown the "7 day cooling off" clause in the agreement. This allowed us to do some research and also consult with our family. We came to the conclusion that we could probably do just as well with accommodation through the usual cheap websites and so returned the next day to exercise our "7 day cooling off" clause. The staff were friendly and processed our refund on the spot. No arguments, no hard sell. We don't know if it is a "scam" or not and still believe it could be of value depending on your circumstances. We can't in all honesty say anything negative towards the staff at the Mooloolaba store and the way we were treated.

I'll explain the entire process from Shopping centre to vacation below. I was approached at shopping centre. Despite my reservations I decided to attend the presentation. My husband and I both had to attend. We were told that the presentation would take 1.5 hours. It took 3 hours. The entire presentation was incredibly frustrating, patronising and frankly deliberatively deceptive. It infuriated us and we walked out relieved that we did not fall for their rediculous and outrageously priced 'membership' where the sales rep looked me straight in the eye and eventually answered the question of HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? $30, 000, she said and tried to tell it what a bargain it was? Was she on drugs? That was the cost just to access their clubs. We bluntly exclaimed that there was no way that we would even consider such a rediculous fee where upon we were shuffled to the final desk where we could redeem our scratch card and be offered a discount offer of membership. At this point we just wanted to get out! Within 15 minutes the price had dropped by $7, 000 and they gasped suprisingly when we said 'No way'. finally we walked out with a voucher for 4 days of accomodation in Australia and a wine voucher which required an approximate $200 upfront purchase! Of course we threw that voucher away with only one range of wine available. A year later I still had the accomodation voucher available and decided to use the accomodation voucher since it was holiday time and perhaps we dould at least be efit from this rediculous experience. We booked 4 nights away at Coffs Habour that cost $200. ( Catch no. 1). We had to use accomodation during the work week (catch no. 2) and if we used it during the school holidays there would be any additional fee of $300-400 (Catch no. 3), on top of that I was told we need to attend a 30-45 min debriefing session whilst staying at the resort. I was told there would be no pressured sales but that if we skipped the session a $100 fee would be charged to the credit card that we had used to book the accomodation. (Catch no. 4) I agreed, reluctantly but assumed that we could 'get through it' and at least enjoy the rest of the time at the resort. Well, we arrived at the resort and to be fair it was worth the $200 spent. The rooms were large and it was self catering. With reluctance we arrived at the 'debriefing' interview where we were told they would not try a pressure sell anything. They were simply going to explain their 'ownership' product and give us the option to buy-in if we wanted to. Being aware that walking out would cost us a $100 we stayed. The sales rep that we dealt with with new to the company and far more relatable and professional than the 'deal closer' that strutted around as if he was a big-cheese! the first 40 mins was mildly pleasant as we indulged the presentation. Things escalated quickly as I realised that our sales rep (or 'financial advisor') was not allowed to answer my repeated question of HOW MUCH does it cost to access the right took the various accomodation sites at a lower prices. The low accomodation fees were emphasised over and over again. For 20, 000 points ($560 approx) you could get great 4star accomodation for a week but it would cost an annual fee of $175. These were the only two amounts anyone was discussing. 1 hour and 28 mins into the ever infuriating interview I finally go the answer I had asked for 40 minutes. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST to access the right to use these facilities. Big cheese replied ' what car do you drive?'. 'What the %^*+#|

We were foolish enough idiots to become members. In short this classic holidays is utter crap. I curse them from the time I wake till I go to sleep. Pay $220 a month and its for 7 years. Called them 4 times to try and book a place. Reply was very simple.
First was we only have apartments. What happened to the zillion hotels you showed us during the presentation.
Second was we do not have any accomodation that allows pets. What happened to "we go out of our way to get accomadation for pets and yes we do have many places for them.
Third was "we are fully booked in all those hotels" and that was a booking for 6 months ahead. They were good enough to suggest I book in a hotel that was 1500km away because they had vacancy there.
Finally I was offered a room in a hotel for a rate I would have got had I approached the hotel directly.
Long story short it will cost us $17000/ to be members for 10 years. No way out because they try explaining some crap like if you buy a car bla bla If I buy a car i will have the car to sell if I don't want it. Also the 45000 member crap. Yes, thats the number of members who were coned, but how many of them are there against their will? 39000?This damn holiday share no one wants to touch, even with a 10ft pole.
Two and a half years gone and four and a half to go before we end this agony. Hope we and all management stay healthy till then. With all the curses management get I can only wish you good health.

I too have been totally dis-satisfied with the outrageous company called classicripoff.. opps i mean classic holidays.
Luckily I only signed up for a 3 yr deal. We were told this and that and not told others things. Just like everyone here says.
Each time we tried to book there were extra fees here and there. But we were told when we signed up that what we saw on the site was what we paid. TOTAL CRAP.

they say they are a 100% legitimate product. The Classic Group has been operating for over 33 years and has over 35, 000 member families in Australia and New Zealand.

and yet for the few that are disappointed with their attitude towards us, you would think they have our money, so they would let us cancel out. But NO they play hard ball and want to keep screwing you for their measly yearly service fee.
And for that they get all this bad publicity like this site. One of many if you look around the net.

There is NO WAY you will ever get any of your payment back in savings from their so called deals.
It would be far cheaper to go to a resort site itself and book there. A lot of the time you can get it just as cheap or cheaper.

So why pay thousands of dollars for them to give you a website which they say is beneficial to you..

When I had the person on the phone showing me how the site worked, and they showed me a place to stay, I looked at the website for that place and the fee was $6 a night cheaper by going directly to them.

I actually rang the place afterwards and I got it even cheaper..

So go figure...

Dont get sucked into this holiday deal. Its a rip off and you can save yourself a whole lot of stress and money by staying away.

My wife and I scratched a "winning ticket " with two others. We chose not to go as our holiday time was important. We went to another theme park and out of curiosity scratched another "winner". My wife is a copywriter . She pointed out that in the do not scratch area both the winners had a capital letter that the losers didn't . Very deceptive marketing .

We won, We won! While at Wet n Wild we scratched the tickets and of course we won. We decided to give it a go and handed over our $40 deposit which would be refunded at the presentation. We booked an early morning presentation before the Theme Parks open and went with an open mind but knew in our heart of hearts it was a scam. Glad to say we got our money back but we should have left then and there (one family did just that) but we sat through the presentation, knowing the whole time we were not going to sign up. She who knows best and is the Finance Minister of our family was not going to get sucked into their scam. We chuckled at their ploy to try to find familiarity eg We are from Adelaide and our presenter tried to tell us he was too but had no idea where our suburb was despite us telling him we live very near to where he said he came from. Of course they delved into our private lives and we explained that I had been very sick and had 15 operations in 18 months I had been off work for the whole 18 months and this was a our first holiday since recovering and that we were looking to retire to enjoy life not keep working to pay for these holidays - a true story, not just an excuse. The hard sell guy that then came over to assist in convincing us that we should do this and then told us about his sick wife who has cancer and only has 3 years left to live (so sad if this is true, but which made us wonder why the heck he was working there and not spending time with her). We looked around the room and felt so sorry for all those lovely families that were there being pushed into something they would soon regret. Finally the Finance Minister (Wife) would not budge and would not sign up so they reluctantly let us go and of course we too won the weeks holiday - we never saw anyone win the ipad. We left knowing we would not even bother to sign up for the week (we couldn't bear sitting through another presentation). We finally left and went to spend our day at Movie World where low and behold we given another scratchy tickets each and bugger me this time we BOTH WON - I think the girl handing them out stuffed that up - we both pretended to be so excited to win 2 holidays and when we told her we were leaving for home the next day she snatched the cards back and said "Well you won't have time to do this", which made us laugh out loud. Please, please, please, don't get scammed by this. Just enjoy your holiday with your family. And for those of you who say Current Affair should run a story on this scam, then by all means contact ACA and tell them.

My wife and I were handed two scratchies at the four wheel drive expo in Sydney 3 weeks ago. My ticket indicated that I had won a prize but to collect it we had to attend a no obligation presentation at Classic's local office at 460 Church Street Parramatta. We did that last Saturday. Essentially we were subjected to nearly 2 hours of high pressure selling trying to convince us how good their system was and how much we would be able to save on accommodation both within Australia and around the world. The membership was for life and would only cost $24, 440. They made the assertion a number of times that the "offer" by law and ASIC regulations could only be accepted by us there and then and we needed to pay a 10% deposit immediately to secure the opportunity. We were told there was a 7 day cooling off period if we changed our minds. Our position was that we would not part with any money until we had checked out their credentials. This infuriated them and we were then offered the same deal at half the price. Same answer from us and we were eventually offered a trial membership - with all the benefits for 3 years for around $2200. I said I needed time to think so we went outside and I did some quick googling on my iPad. found a number of complaints from consumers who have been caught. We returned and said thanks but no thanks. We "won" 7 days of accommodation at one of their resorts - you have to pay an admin fee if you use it. My concerns are numerous the numerous references to ASIC and the high pressure selling method. I'm guessing somewhere there are some timeshare apartments they control and which you may be able to luck into. It's hard to work out their business model because if you believe them there are thousands of people only paying a few hundred dollars for a weeks accommodation that would ordinarily cost thousands. Their argument is its because they introduce so much business they have been able to negotiate massive discounts with the hotels and resorts. That doesn't make much sense either - I'm sure Qantas and Flight Centre for example would introduce more travellers and that's before you consider the on-line booking portals. In any event we happily escaped with our credit cards intact.

Yes i agree with the complaint! A complete waste of time and scam...
We were told that we had won the 7 nights free holiday! It is differently not free due to the booking and administration fees of $200 for 2 people and a family of 5 which we are (I will add our children were with us when given the scratchy and at no point were we told about the admin or extra fees for a family of 5) is an extra $75 per night on top of the $200 admin fee! One does ask what free holiday and why did I waste an hour and a half of my time going to the presentation! Beware all!
This one was at the Sunshine Plaza Maroochydore, Qld

We also got scammed! Biggest financial mistake we have ever made! While holidaying in the Gold Coast we were approached at a holiday park with the tickets won and basically got sucked in to attend the seminar, then at the seminar was told we would get great benefit out of this membership in our Margaret River region in WA, that's the main area we holiday and why we decided to signed up, they told us we wouldnt pay anymore than $620 for a weeks accommodation anywhere in Australia, but on arriving home we quickly discovered they don't have accommodation in the Margaret River region, you can book on world online but pay double the price. We have tried booking through them a number of times but always get the same response, nothing available when we need it and way to expensive when they offer other dates.Why would you pay a holiday club to book you expensive accommodation on the dates that don't suit! They don't give a toss about their clients. We have sent them numerous emails explaining we were mislead and we wont be using the membership, they just write back saying to bad so sad, you signed up so pay up! THEY DONT CARE ABOUT THEIR MEMBERS!

We got snared by this at a Home exhibition at Auckland and ended up paying the $ 40 dollar fee to make sure you attend their presentation. I almost immediately regretted it and was prepared to forego the money but we ended up staying there listening to all the selling speeches but I was not going to sign up to anything and knew we would not win the Ipad. Nothing they said convnced me of the product or allayed my suspicions about their clever selloing methods through devious incentivisation. The guys we spoke to were not too pushy though but when I said coudl we think about it and join the next day I was told that would cost 25000 NZD and they coudl not invite me again for another 5 years. So much focus on getting you to sign up there and then which smells extremely fishy. Luckily my partner had read some comments so they were always going to have a hard job. They did not tell us that seasonal rates and costs would apply, in fact quite the opposite and stressed how good it was to have friendly phone support. No surprise that we won the holiday too. We wont be taking it up and I will be throwing out all the stuff they gave us . They recorded the discussion for training purposes and the boss seemed very keen to make sure we had signed a form to make sure we had received the product description statement. The guy missed that I had not signed it as I wanted to read over it first . There just seems to be something very suspicious about the whole enterprise and I am very happy we wised up in time .

We fell in their trap too, but luckily we asked to refund in our cooling off period, as a whole idea, they are stealing our money legally then force us to say thank you for that, and to me it is worse than someone breaking through your door and stealing your money.

We fell into their trap and signed up and have been regretting it ever since. It is interesting how in all the comments made by classic they talk about how they have been in business for 35 years and have 45000 members. When we signed up nearly 4 years ago they had 45000 members and that does not seem to change.

They are also quick to point out in a complaint that the member signed this document or that document which seem to indicate that they are well rehersed in receiving complaints. I sent a two line email asking if a person can cancel their membership and I got a 2 page email in reply outlining chapter and verse of what had been signed and what my commitments are.

The fact is we did sign the documents, but after the 2 hour session I am not sure what we signed which is essentially our fault. However, their comment that they are a reputable company is a definite tui ad - yea right!

They are masters in hard sell manipulation and to be avoided at all cost

Classic Holidays are a mob of the slickest, sickest, slimy pack of bottom feeding ### sucking predators to ever engage in business. Whenever someone complains, they ignore the facts and simply cut and paste their well used "holier than thou" spiel.

may all who work for this fraud company pay the price. KARMA

may their employees and the directors pay with all the problems this earth could give them. Cheating dogs.Karma will strike

Totally agree, may be legal but classic are a bunch of immoral ###, we lost our $400 non refundable deposit and they ignored us for over a month and a dozen phone calls for our free accomodation "prize" and basically refused to give it to us.
I hate classic escapes and all their employees

I understand Classic Holidays have a bad reputation and are franchises? Our experience is twofold:
Expeirience 1 - Gold Coast Dodginess"
First family holiday in 6 yrs, from country WA to Gold Coast - at a theme park, we are given the spiel ('winning' ticket, $40 deposit, went to 2 hr presentation, very expensive timeshare options with very expensive interest rates for finance 18%). After explaining that we were not in a position to commit, as hubby had a new job, we were pretty quickly ushered out... Big mistake. We told them we might be interested down the track. That was too bad, they could only give each family such an amazing offer once! They had all our details, however were never, ever contacted again - not sure why! We took the prize card of a week's holiday with the $199 cleaning/admin fee & walked away (sadly no i-pad for us). 6mths later when planning for another holiday, we remembered the card. Activated the card and saw our options. The options for the 'prize' were limited: Thailand (Pattaya is not very savoury) and Gold Coast didn't interest us again (those prices were more than $199 for 7 nights). Decided to look at Bali, we'd never been: Chose a place in Seminyak and started emailing back and forth with people in Bali, not Australia. They were helpful and we thought, "what the heck, give it a go". We were aware of all the conditions of another 1 hour presentation, and thought we could cope with that for a bit of a cheap deal on accom.
Experience 2 - Geniune Bali friendliness
Well, what a difference. We were contacted by phone the week before by Michael in Bali. We had booked the Cattleya Condotel by Marbella in Seminyak and paid a $100 upgrade ($299 total) for a 1 BR pool suite. Michael offered to pick us up from airport, but we had booked elsewhere for a night: He STILL offered to pick us up, drop at OTHER hotel, then come back for us the next day! Whoa, huge service offer there. We declined, our flights were too late at night. When we arrived at Cattleya all was well, we were phoned by Michael and the lovely Sakthu and they offered any help they could with our stay. All good. When we were picked up by Michael for our 1 hour presentation a few days later, he explained the franchise bit and without bagging the Gold Coast operations, he showed a lot of honesty regarding their product. The price. Was less than HALF the price of in AUSTRALIA! What?! Yes! Also, they offered an interest free payment option, and were very helpful with informing us of all the 'hidden' costs & conditions in the contract. We were very tempted and decided to make our decision upon returning to Australia. That was fine, no probs at all for Michael. He had nothing to lose, anything he could gain for his business was a bonus for him, so he was very helpful and friendly for the remainder of our trip. We also had the use of their driver for the remainder of the day, and Sakthu helped us in so many other ways (with our mobile phone troubles, other tour ideas, and more transport). Just good business really, the extra customer service and follow up is what sealed the deal for Classic Holidays Bali (along with the price, obviously), not Classic Holidays Gold Coast. Some other Aussie guests in the hotel also were there for the same thing and did not purchase, however what did they lose? Nothing. They had a lovely holiday for $200 at a greatl place in Seminyak. Seriously, just take a chance, people, you have nothing to lose. Anyone can say no at anytime. We are very happy and would recommend to anyone. Where can you go for $200 a week? (By the way, that also included breakfast). Thanks Classic Holidays BALI. Gold Coast, could you learn anything here?

LOL, my wife and I had the same experience. They are scammers and very sly. They keep on saying they are legit but they are not. Every site I have visited flagging them as scammers, they leave comments justifying their claims. I personally will send Current Affair a mail with links to various sites complaining about the way they conduct their business. People need to be warned. I myself left the so called prize as I just wanted to get out of there as they were employing bully tactics to get me to sign. They are friendly at first, then turn nasty when you say no and try to insinuate that you wasted their time and gave them miss leading information... I laughed at this tactic and left with my wife without the prize. After seeing similar stories and worse on the web, I consider myself lucky just walking out and writing off the "prize" and 2 hours of wasted time as school fees.