Complaint Review: Club Par Excellance

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I am writing to complain about a certain company, Club Par Excellance (web site:clubparexcellance.com) and their business practices. In brief, the company is selling vacation membership. The way they sell membership is to invite people to their site, 3550 American Drive, Mississauga, ON L4V 1B3 (Tel: 905-461-1880) and present the benefits of the membership in their company. These presentations are high-pressure presentations in that that they demand that people make the decision right on the spot. The cost of the membership is not cheap it usually costs between $6,000 and $12,900. Their first offer to us for the membership was $12,900. After lengthy negotiation we settled at $6,000 as the cost of the membership for my wife and me.

We would like to give you the background:

1.On November 25, 2007 we (my wife and I) attended a presentation at the site of Club Par Excellance. Our assigned salesperson was by the name of Russell.

2.We then attended a video presentation during which a sales representative talked about Club Par Excellance. After the presentation we moved to another room and talked with Russell about the membership opportunity.

3.Russell explained the benefits, asked questions such as how much we usually spend on vacations, what was our financial worth, did we have a mortgage and so forth. Essentially he mapped out our financial situation.

4.Then the price was presented to us. The first cut for their price was $12,900. We said that it was too much and started the negotiation. Russell and his supervisor (by this time the supervisor came around as well) said that they could lower the lifetime number of vacation days from 600 days to 200 days. We negotiated with them to increase the 200 days up to 300 days. These were the days we would have been entitled using services by certain operation of the company.

Other services provided unlimited vacation days. In addition, Russell said that they could remove the $499.00 processing fee. Based on these parameters and understanding, we accepted their proposal of $6,000 bottom line. It is important to mention that Russell, during the negotiation visually crossed out the $499.00 processing fee indicating that the company was willing to waive this fee. The manager said he would rework the numbers to reflect the price and conditions that we negotiated with them.

5.They completed the contract paperwork, which my wife and I signed.

After coming home we did more thinking and we also noticed that: (a) the number of days was 200 instead of 300 which they promised (b) they recalculated the price and added the $499.00 processing fee back on while still maintaining the bottom line of $6,000.00. Unfortunately we only focused on the bottom line and we did not notice the reintroduction of the $499.00 processing fee.

Based on these plus other factors, we started to have second thoughts about this purchase and ultimately we decided that we would like to cancel our contract. The company added an addendum to the contract indicating that we could change our minds in ten days after signing the contract.

As a result, on November 27, 2007 (two days after signing the contract) my wife and I went back to their offices with the intention of canceling the contract. We talked to Mr. Kirill Solovyev who said that we can cancel the contract but the $499.00 processing fee would not be refundable. This fact was in the contract but we failed to notice it and they did not point it out.

In addition, Mr. Solovyev also told us that he just processed our $6,000.00 Visa charge. It is worth to note here that two days later the charge showed up on our Visa account. Mr. Solovyev completed, signed and witnessed a note that $5,501.00 ($6,000.00-$499.00) would be refunded in 15 days (I have this signed paper). I also requested that they give us a break regarding the non-refundable $499.00 and suggested that they could refund half of that amount since they promised to waive that fee and their processing time and effort was minimal due to our fast action to cancel the contract.

Mr. Solovyev was adamant that this $499.00 is not going to refunded so I stopped requesting it and I just told him to deposit the $5,501.00 into our Visa account on or before December 12, 2007 when the 15-day period after November 27, 2007 would expire.

Here is the background after November 27, 2007:

1.On December 11, 2007 (one day before the 15-dat period was up) I noticed that our Visa had a DEPOSIT and a WITHDRAWAL of $3,000.00 on the same day essentially nullifying the $3,000.00 deposit.

2.On December 14, 2007, I called Mr. Solovyev and asked what was happening with our $5,501.00 refund. He said as far as he was concerned it was deposited into our Visa account and I should wait a few days before it would show up. I also asked him why Club Par Excellance refunded and withdrew $3,000.00 on December 11, 2007. He said he did not know. I got irritated, told him he should know and finally he said he would look into it and would call me back. He never called me back.

3.On December 15, 2007 I called the companys Accounting Department and left a message asking them to call me back threatening them with legal action.

4.On the following day, December 16, 2007 I got a call from Ms. Wani from Customer Service in response to my voice mail message a day earlier. She said she would look into the matter and would call me back. Shortly after this Ms. Wani called me back and said that they would deposit $3,501.00 on December 16, 2007 and the additional $2,000.00 the following day, December 17, 2007.

By the way, Ms. Wani did not know why the company deposited AND withdrew $3,000.00 (essentially nullifying the deposit transaction) the same day on December 11, 2007. This was the incorrect amount owed to us anyway ($5,501.00 was the amount owed to us after they deducted a $499.00 processing fee). Ms. Wani also did not know why they have to refund $5,501.00 in two installments.

5.On December 18, 2007 I looked up our Visa account on the Internet and noticed two transactions there: one depositing $3,000.00 and the second one depositing $501.00. So the first sum of $3,501.00 appeared on our Visa after two days from the date of the deposit.

6.I fully expected that the remaining $2,000.00 would show up on December 19, 2007 (as promised by Ms. Wani regarding the date of the refund as December 17, 2007), the same way as the $3,501.00 showed up after two days. When I looked up our Visa account I could not see our $2,000.00 refund.

7.At this point, still on December 19, 2007, I called Ms. Wani, who did not return my call. Then I called Mr. Solovyev and I managed to talk to him. I asked why he did not call back as promised earlier but he did not answer that question. Then I asked as to what was happening with my $2,000.00 refund (the remainder of the $5,501.00) and he said he did not know. I have to add here that earlier he asked me to talk to him as a customer interface if I had any questions.

After getting frustrated with him I asked what is it that he can do to move things forward and why did he ask me earlier to talk to him if he does not know what is going on. Then he said he would look into the matter and asked me to call him in half and hour. I called him back in half an hour and Mr. Solovyev told me that he called the accountant (who was off-site) and was told that by the end of the week (about December 22, 2007) I would have my $2,000.00 on our Visa account. I asked him whether he asked other questions from the accountant and he said no, he just asked the question I asked him.

Comment: I could not understand since I was frustrated with the lack of response re: my $5501.00 refund and Mr. Solovyev did not seem to ask the relevant questions to ease the situation such as why the refund is in piecemeal, why they could not keep the 15-day deadline as promised and so forth a highly ineffective customer support (or lack thereof).

8.At this point I started to become rather concerned and called the company again asking for the Accounting Department. I talked there to a certain Mr. Lawrence Greenberg. I explained to him the situation and he assured me that my money would be refunded although he did not say when and I did not ask. However, he must have noticed that I was upset since I repeatedly asked him why my $2,000.00 was not refunded and why we have the delay way after the 15-day interval.

9.December 20, 2007: I called Ms. Wani who I managed to talk to. My wife and I got very assertive with her on the speakerphone telling that they better refund the money right away. Ms. Wani said the person was on vacation and he/she would return to the office on the 27th. She also offered that I could drive to Mississauga and pick up a cheque or they could mail it to us. I rejected both: The drive to Missisauga for me is a 100-mile trip one-way and I did not want them to mail the cheque since it could get lost in the holiday rush. I told Ms. Wani that Mr. Greenberg or someone with authorithy better call us. If not, we told her, that we send a report to the Ministry of Consumer Services, the better Business Bureau, post it on the website Ripoff Report and ultimately we will start a legal action. Ms. Wani promised that someone would call us for sure before 5:00 PM on the following day, December 21, 2007.

10.December 21, 2007: George called us and said that the request to cut a cheque was sent and they will mail the cheque. He however, did not give me any specific date as to when the cheque will (was) mailed.

11.December 22, 2007: I called and talked to Mr. Greenberg (owner). He told me that the cheque has been mailed and if I do not get it by the 24th (Monday) I should call him. I told Mr. Greenberg that the mail can get lost in the Christmas rush and he told me that he would not be in before the 27th, so if I do not get it by then, call him on the 27th.

12.December 27: I have not received the cheque. I called but only the receptionist was in. She said Mr. Breenberg will be in on December 28, 2007.

13.December 28, 2007: Today I still have not received the cheque. Stay tuned.

The bottom line:

1.The company used high-pressure tactics and promised the waiver of the $499.00 one-time processing fee. At the end they put it back and we did not notice it, mainly because of the high-pressure situation and our focus on the bottom line. They failed to compromise on it and refund part of the $499.00 as a goodwill gesture due to the fact that their processing effort was minimal and their promise to waive this amount.

2.Our main complaints: this company is using high-pressure techniques to sell and then using delaying tactics in refunding the money in case of cancellation. This practice is totally unacceptable. By law they have to refund the agreed upon money (in this case $5,501.00) in 15 days. They committed to this and they are required to do so by the consumer protection law. They have not done so, they had to be repeatedly called and we still do not have our $2,000.00 more than two weeks after the 15-day period has expired.

When we call the people and talk to them they tell me that they either do not know what is happening or why or simply nobody is avaliable to talk to us. If I leave a message they do not return my phone call. The company, Club Par Excellance, makes it absolutely difficult for a person to get his/her refund back, which, by the way, legally is NOT theirs. We have the feeling that the company is banking on people not following closely their credit card situations and this way the company may end up keeping part of the money, which is legally NOT theirs.

Alternatively, perhaps, they hope that their unresponsive business practices will discourage people from collecting the money or part of it that is legally owed by the company to the clients.

Our main questions we need answers to:


Why Club Par Excellance does not comply with the law of returning money resulting from a legally cancelled contract in 15-days, which they themselves committed to.

About their high pressure and deceptive practices (e.g., negotiated waiver of $499.00 processing fee and then including it in the contract as well as a negotiated and written 300 days in the membership and then writing in 200 days in the contract).

We believe this company is counting on the new members not catching the breaches in the written agreement so that they can make money on the processing fee ($499.00 income for the company) even if the contract is cancelled by the client.

In addition, the company practices are totally unacceptable in terms of customer interaction. The front line people talking to clients are either ill informed, or they are not interested to satisfy the client, or they deliberately do not communicate with the client possibly hoping that the situation would go away by itself. This company should not be in business, due to more than one reason, they are ripping people off. Do not do any business with this company.

Today is December 28, 2007, one month and one day after Club Par Excellance promised that they refund our $5,501.00 in 15 days. So far Club Par Excellance refunded $3,501.00 (afterr so much prodding) and they still owe us $2,000.00 which they are not communicating with us about.

The next step for us is to send this case and our complaint to the BBB, the Ministry of Consumer protection and possibly start a legal action against Club Par Excellance.

Kuassa
Newcastle, Ontario
Canada