UK Ferry Tickets

Many thanks to everyone who sent me their stories of holiday club scams and how they’ve been caught out. I’m genuinely shocked at the number of people who have lost money to fraudsters.

Dozens of people told me they had lost anything from £3,000 to £18,000 to salesmen who have convinced them to sign up for access to holidays that simply don’t exist.

For legal reasons I cannot name the companies, but I also work for the Daily Telegraph and we are warning people not to be taken in by offers. The Office of Fair Trading is also launching a campaign this month to expose the conmen.

Most people who write to me – I’ve also spoken to some of them – are angry about losing the money but also embarrassed that they have fallen for such a trick.

Many readers may think ‘how on earth can people be so stupid as to sign up for something like this and pay thousands of pounds to these clubs?’

But I honestly don’t believe they are stupid. They have just been caught out at a time when they are vulnerable because they are relaxed and their guard is down – typically when they are on holiday.

It’s very easy to be sucked into thinking you are getting a great deal. I sometimes work from home and often get calls from everyone from holiday clubs to double glazing firms. I always hang up immediately because if you get talking to them you can suddenly find yourself warming to their ideas.

There’s an old saying ‘you can only con a greedy person’. I think that’s unfair, because the people I talked to didn’t strike me as greedy. More likely they were railroaded into something which seemed, momentarily, to be a good opportunity.

But it is true that you always get sucked in by the promise of something for nothing – be it a free prize, holiday or upgraded hotel.

So steer clear of these people and remember the golden rule: If something sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is!

On a lighter note, many wrote in to tell me why they loved Paris and the reasons included the food, architecture and general ambience of the city. Jean says that, unlike London, Paris’ authorities have chosen not to dwarf their finest old buildings with modern business blocks.

Most people didn’t think Parisians were any ruder than other city dwellers but Martin, a Brit living in Paris for 12 years, says yes they are, and it comes from the French themselves! “They (the non-Parisians that is) refer to their cousins from the capital as ‘parigots’ and consider them to be rude, arrogant and generally unbearable. All of which has a certain amount of truth although there are, as always, notable exceptions,” he says.

By the way, I’m not alone in thinking that most people drink more on holiday. Many of you emailed to tell me your alcohol consumption is considerably higher when you don’t have to get up for work the next day.

Guest Article by Jeremy Skidmore

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007