CLC World Travel Centre Manchester Old Park Lane, Trafford Park, Stretford, Manchester M41 7HA

"**DO NOT SIGN A CONTACT WITH CLC** If I could give CLC a score of zero it would still be too high! I was sold a trial memebership with the promise of high quality, low cost holidays for my family but in reality the resorts are medium in quality and all I've been faced with is unavailability! I took the first "free" week in Spain last year and since then wherever I have tried to book the destination has been unavailable. I have 5 weeks to use before February 2021 and I've only been able to secure 1 week in Spain (AGAIN). I've ended up trading one week into interval despite the extra cost in an attempt to use a week but guess what?? I was again faced with UNAVAILABILITY! In a desperate attempt to use a week I paid an additional cost to holiday in the UK during school time as this was the only time they had available, so I've ended up holidaying without my children! So now I'm stuck with 3 more weeks I'm unable to use but still have to pay for. When I contact CLC they just say "everything is limited to availability" and keep offering me holidays in Turkey despite their accommodation dates not matching any flight details so if I took the holiday I would be without accommodation when I arrived but in their eyes they've offered a suitable alternative...... CLC are very clever in the way they sell the product and promise you the world when in reality IF you can manage to use any of your weeks the product is just in fact average. I've seeked legal advice on this and the way CLC have worded the terms and conditions of the contact means you are not covered by standard legal procedures as what you would if it was a standard time share so I am unable to seek any refund or compensation for the product I have purchased but unable to use! I warn anyone who is contacted or tempted to go to a CLC meeting to not fall into the same trap as I did. CLC is an absolute joke and that's putting it politely."

"About a week ago we received a phone call saying that we've been selected to enjoy a week in one of their wonderful resorts. I was naturally sceptic, but was told that I'm guaranteed to get my free accommodation for 1 week worth of up to £1k - all we had to do is to pay £90 refundable deposit to book our slot at the presentation. Apparently the reason behind them giving away these holidays is for people to try their accommodation and spread the word about how great they are. On the day, right at the beginning I made myself clear that we are not planning on buying / subscribing to anything, but they insisted to watch the presentation and see how we feel after that. Lots of question especially related to our holiday habits - how often, where and how much we spend a year. When we said we usually rent holiday villas when we go on holidays - both manager and the representative lady burst in laughter saying "so what are you doing here if you're not staying in resorts"? A bit rude we both found. The devil's in the detail - in this case it really is. Most people probably lost interest after the first few minutes of the presentation featuring stock imagery loaded with happy faces and nice, spacious apartments, but I was reading closely of what it presented and what the advisor was telling us. They used the phrase "...you can stay with us for up to 19 years - after 19 years you are free to leave...". Also - we were working on the assumption that we usually have 2 weeks of holidays so they split what we spend on it into a monthly spending, but then the presentation displayed the slide which says that your membership gives you 1 week at one of the resorts in a year. Also - the properties they list on their site and in all brochures are for members only - we have been shown the pictures of the apartment the free voucher entitles us to and believe me - it's not somewhere I would want to stay one night. Apparently these are very old and ones in Tenerife might not even have the air con (countries like Cuba have air con in all properties - so you can only imagine the quality of this free accommodation). An hour later, after constantly hearing "how does it sound to you?" I just replied "We are not going to buy what you are selling" - at which point the representative lady got very stroppy saying that I don't have to be so rude and that she's just doing her job etc. - at what point the manager showed up and said there's no point in us continuing - making our visit only 1 hour long. We got the holiday voucher as well as shopping vouchers, but on the way back home, my wife read the T&C from the voucher and we just decided it's not worth the energy. They list things like: "You will be asked to pay at the time of booking a room guarantee deposit of £100, which is fully refunded to the payment card used upon full confirmation of your travel details. Should you choose to travel during school holiday dates you will also be asked to pay supplements of £29 per person at the time of booking and provide confirmation of your travel details within 48 hours of the date of booking. The school holiday supplements are non-refundable unless you change your booking to a non-school holiday date... Date changes are subject to availability and an administration fee of £49." "During your stay you will be required to attend a presentation featuring the wider range of freehold and fractional CLC World developments around the world, during which you are under no obligation to purchase. Failure to attend or if you do not meet the qualifying criteria set out, will result in you being charged a maximum of £500 to subsidise accommodation costs." To us it certainly doesn't sound like relaxing holidays - bear in mind they only give you "FREE" accommodation - you still have to pay for a flight and food etc. There is more, but I hope this gives you an idea of what you're up agains when you pick up the phone and hear that "You've been chosen..." message."

"Back from a presentation today and both my husband and myself were very impressed with the whole set up. The sales people Kart and Jamie at the Manchester office were very welcoming and professional. They explained the product very well and there was no hard sales pitch. On the contrary they explained everything in detail and how the finances worked comparing it to our current spending. The cost for a very high end plush product was very appealing with regards to the price allowing world travel to 5 star resorts at an affordable price. Sadly our travel plans at this time are very different to what is being offered so we had to decline. However, we both feel we will revist the CLC World option in the future. We thought it was all a very good marketing set up and emphasise that there was no hard sale. We were rewarded with £50 M&S vouchers and a weeks free accommodation for our time. We look forward to seeing what is on offer at one of their resorts over the next 12 months"

"After arriving we were introduced to Les and Julien. Les took us through each element of the process, from the short film all the way through each process. At times it did appear a little scripted but I do understand the personnel do have a process to follow. At no time did we feel pressured into signing anything, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed and pleasant. The type of places that you get to visit with CLC are very much at higher end rather than your package holiday, but not necessary at the high end cost as it was explained, it isn't a timeshare as you aren't restricted to an individual place, but you can travel the world over at an affordable rate. It did look very appealing and all in all, it looked very good value for money and we were tempted. If you are the type of person that a holiday is an annual necessity, then I would recommend this wholeheartedly as it appears very cost effective with some stunning villas and locations, unfortunately at present we view a holiday still as a luxury, as we spend the majority of spare cash on our home, and as such decided to decline the offer, but in the future we would definitely revisit CLC World Travel."

"Yes it's true there is a hard sell but it is not true that there is no free holiday we were allowed to walk away with the free holiday we won and vouchers. I actually think the product is good if holidays are important to you and price isn't your main filter. I did the maths on my last few holidays and they were around the same price but the quality they offer is much more. Plus as I saw it yes it's a time share but you pick your week and can go to over 50 countries so it's felt much more thab a standard time share in a villa/Hotel."