This was just posted on another site

[tim ferris]

This was just posted on another site so thought id pop it on here to keep the thread up to date...

STATEMENT Customers: Philip D Marini and Shaun Marten Relates to: Perceived fraud in connection with failure to provide goods/services by Mantrav International Goods/services booked and paid for:  Transfers to and from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria airport (£67.00) PLUS 14 nights accommodation (£764.40) at Club Mancha Sanctum, Avda Sargentos Provisionales 26, Playa del Ingles, 35100, Gran Canaria, Spain. Dates of holiday: 11/01/12 - 25/01/12 Bookings made/acknowledged: Booked on 06/09/11, via phone (0845 643 0112) with deposit of £207.85 being paid. Receipt sent by email (copy attached) Final balance payment made on 05/12/11, also via phone. Receipt for £623.55, plus accommodation voucher, sent via email. Booking taken by, and Accommodation Voucher authorised, by Matt Carey. Statement: My partner and I arrived at Las Palmas airport on time, to find no transfer representative. We sought out the office of Viajes Urbis Holiday Taxis, as suggested on Accommodation Voucher. The female representative was irate that this company is still using their details and reported…’we are having people arriving almost every day expecting us to take them into Playa del Ingles, but they do not have a contract with us’. We then took a taxi (at our own expense) to the address given on the Accommodation Voucher only to find that it was not Club Mancha Sanctum. We asked both the taxi driver and the receptionist at the address to verify that the address given was as on the Voucher. They both agreed, and the receptionist further confirmed that he had had several tourists turning up accommodation. He said…’this is not that holiday company’s property and there are no plans to sell or change ownership’. A photo of the building was taken for evidence. We then had to find accommodation urgently, it being late evening. We tried a couple of hotels but both were full. In the end, we found The Sandy Beach Hotel which had one room free. We took a room for one night initially (we did not know exactly the layout of the area and most of the properties were bungalow/apartment complexes none of which had a reception/booking area). That same evening, we also felt that we should report the apparent fraud to the police, so we took a taxi to the National Police Station (with the help of our hotel’s concierge). Upon arrival, we were informed that tourists having problems needed to call +34 902 102 112 and make their statement to an English-speaking operator, after 9am. They would then arrange for a hard copy statement to be provided within 48 hours. This same day, we contacted our bank to seek advice and register our concern with a view to seeking Chargeback of expenditure for accommodation and transfers. The following day we made our statement by phone and after reporting to the Nation Police Station (waiting for 2 and a half hours), we collected and signed copies of our statement (crime reference No. received) We also tried to contact Mantrav at their UK number (0845 643 0112) on each of the following dates 12th/13th and 14th, but without success. On 13th January, we emailed holidays@mantrav to briefly explain our dilemma, to receive a four worded reply the following day…’Forwarded to correct department’ (copy attached). As it was now day two, and we still had no accommodation, we tried to contact by phone or by visiting several complexes, in order to find accommodation for the remaining 13 nights. Finally, we found one complex, Los Tucanes, which could offer the last 11 nights. We booked and paid for this, and as we still had 2 x nights without accommodation, we were able to arrange for The Sandy Beach to extend our temporary stay. Upon viewing the internet, including various review websites, it became obvious that we were not alone in being apparently defrauded. It was very clear that the situation was well known to the company well before Christmas, however, they managed to take our final payment as late as 05/12/12. At no stage did we, neither have we since received, any communication from Mantrav to say that there was a problem or offer solution/apology. The Canary News (free newspaper in English), that week, also had a 5 x page article about the apparent fraud which made it clear that we were not alone in losing our money.  We also met a Swedish tourist at Los Tucanes, whose agent had booked earlier in the year with Mantrav (Club Mancha, Sanctum), and upon reading concerns as to its actual existence on the internet, managed to change his accommodation. The receptionist at Los Almendros apartments reported hearing of numerous similar stories and said that currently they were accommodating two other tourists who had exactly the same experience as ourselves. We have been unable to find out exactly what has happened to Mantrav, and even their Atol statement doesn’t appear to cover us as we only booked accommodation/transfers and not flights as well. According to their literature (copy attached) this bonding only covers combined flights and accommodation. This was an anxious time for us both and we feel that we tried to cover all possibilities to resolve the situation and to maintain an accurate record of events. We hope that you have not suffered similar – we are happy to be contacted by those who have similar experiences. Even if we do get Chargeback from out Visa Debit card, we shall still be out of pocket to the tune of 1,576.30 Euros for extra accommodation and transfers costs. X P & S