First contact

Posted on by tskeptic

Who would have thought that a walk in Surfer’s Paradise to find a place to eat lunch would lead into the murkiness of timeshare  uberpromotion?

April 1 2015 seemed a pleasant Wednesday afternoon. My wife and I were spending a few days on the Gold Coast, a strip of beaches and high rise accomodation  in southern Queensland. We were there for a conference. By Wednesday midday it had finished, so we decided to take a stroll around Surfer’s Paradise. There was a nice little open air arcade which took our fancy. Not soon after we have turned into it, a man cajoled my wife into taking a scratchy card, alluring her with the possibility of wondrous prizes . He then bounded towards me with another card. The temptation to simply tell the man to “fuck off” was only just overwhelmed by my curiosity about what may lay ahead.

As soon as he had handed me the card he was there with his 20 cent coin, more eager to scratch the boxes than ourselves, and it was no great surprise that one of the cards uncovered the potential for a magnificent prize…$2000 in cash, an iPad, or a “free” holiday. The only barrier to collecting one of these baubles was attending a 90 minute promotion later in the day. And of course the final bauble would only be revealed through another scratch box once you have sat through the promotion.

I knew it was only going to get worse, but felt a need to experience a hyped up sales promo for something that I didn’t need! More to follow!

104 thoughts on “First contact”

  1. We stupidly attended the 90 minute presentation. the hard sell. at the end of two hours we could have everything he offered for $18,880. No thankyou. Ok how about $13500? No Thankyou? Ok, I can only do a special offer of $9350. Nope. We’ll take our prize and go thanks. Prize? Free accommodation in Phuket which you need a flight booking details to enquire as to whether they have availability….why would I book a flight without knowing the availability?????????

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  3. We got sucked in, am in the process of complaining to Ultiqua, definitely not as advertised in the presentation. What do they say, “if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is”. We were not told of the cooling off period, which is too short anyway, by the time you get the welcome pack and find out what a scam the whole thing is it’s far too late. We feel that Ultiqua has grossly misrepresented the product. We were told it definitely was not timeshare but now have found that RCI and DAE are, we are not impressed at all.

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  4. We got sucked in, am in the process of complaining to Ultiqua, definitely not as advertised in the presentation. What do they say, “if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is”. We were not told of the cooling off period, which is too short anyway, by the time you get the welcome pack and find out what a scam the whole thing is it’s far too late. We feel that Ultiqua has grossly misrepresented the product. We were told it definitely was not timeshare but now have found that RCI and DAE are, we are not impressed at all.

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    1. I THINK IT IS SO FUNNY HOW MANY NEGATIVE COMPLAINTS THERE ARE ABOUT THIS, AND NONE OF THEM ARE FROM PEOPLE THAT HAVE ACTUALLY JOINED AND ARE USING THEIR MEMBERSHIP. (WHY?) BECAUSE THE SYSTEM ACTUALLY WORKS AND THEY HAVE PLENTY OF HAPPY MEMBERS, (HOW DO I KNOW?) I’VE MET HEAPS SINCE I BECAME A MEMBER!! NOT ONLY THAT IVE STAYED IN AWESOME PROPERTIES FOR CHEAPER THAN I COULD PITCH A TENT AT A CAMP SITE!!
      PEOPLE ARE STILL SCEPTIC FROM THE OL TIMESHARE DAYS,, ULTIQA IS AWESOME!! CHANGED MY LIFE AND MY FAMILY’S, LET ME ASK YOU, WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN QUALITY FAMILY TIME AND MEMORIES?? NOT MUCH AT ALL,, ULTIQA ENHANCES PEOPLES LIVES, AND CREATES MORE FAMILY TIME THROUGH AFFORDABLE HOLIDAYS WHY HATE IF YOU HAVEN’T TRIED??

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      1. Nice to hear from you Joe. Could you please turn off all caps when you next write. I would be interested to know how staying at an Ultiqa resort for 1-2 weeks changed your life and your family’s. In what way did it change your life? What was wrong with your life before? Could you envisage other strategies to get quality family time and memories apart from an Ultiqa membership?

        It’s true that I haven’t tried a Uliqa membership. I don’t make a huge financial commitment to an unknown organisation without due diligence. Ultiqa refuses you the ability to do that due diligence before signing up. For the package that is presented, you have to sign up on the day.

        Due diligence shows that you could purchase the same package on the secondary market for a fraction of the cost.

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      2. Hey Joe,
        I agree!!! we have been members for about 5 yrs now. Absolutely love it….just experienced a week in Port Douglas for $223! Nice room…slept 4…great resort. No complaints here…..

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      3. So how long have you worked for them Joe.
        I paid my money just like a lot of the other people that have written comments. The ULTIQA sales representatives and nothing but liars. As a large company you would think they would want you to be happy with what they sold you. Instead anybody that asks for a refund gets told “sorry you signed a contract, you will have to sell it privately”. I did this the first time I tried to book accommodation and every date I gave I was told “not available”. If what they said in the sales pitch was try it would be worth the money. BUT ITS ALL LIES

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  5. Yeah, gut instinct told my husband and i that it was not what it seemed. Two hours later and very hungry in Port Macquarie, we walked out very very convinced we were being scammed. Feel sorry for the above who were trapped into a contract. When they tell you they want an answer on that very same day well…we don’t have money to throw away thankyou Ultiqa .

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  6. We have just been to one of these despite my reservations. My partner was convinced that he had actually won something. Yes, a holiday voucher was issued after we finally convinced them our answer was no for joining their exclusive club. We were going to fill in the details on the form there and then but they told us we didn’t have to decide which holiday accommodation we wanted right there and then that we could email or fax it in. They knew we were flying back to NZ that afternoon. Two days later, reading the small print terms and conditions, I found that unless the voucher was verified by being signed and dated at the presentation that it was void. Worthless. And, yes, you guessed it, that section was not completed. A touch of forgetfulness on their part?? I don’t think so, it is obviously a ploy to make people go away reasonably happy with the fact that they had won something when in fact they hadn’t. I have emailed them about their “error” to which they have not responded. That in itself speaks volumes.

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  8. As a previous emolyer for ultiqa I left due to the fact I could not lie to people. You never win the $2000 ot the tv or the theame park tickets or dining vouchers I worked for this company for over 12month and not once did I see anyone scratch off $2000 or a tv. Its always the holiday and when you do go on thete 90 min presentation have 2 to 3 hours spare cause thsts how long it takes and you will win the holiday but on that holiday you have to attend another presentation.

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    1. We unfortunately fell for this trap big time and we are so stressed out about the whole thing, we were so naïve and didn’t think anything of it, we want out, we have tried to book through ultiqa, rci dae, for a weeks stay but have always been told there is nothing available, so sick of there lies, how do I walk away from this??????

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      1. We fell for the same thing feeling stupid. Not sure how to get out of it the finance company just want there money and won’t budge. Let me know if you have any luck getting out.

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      1. If you are within the 7 day cooling off period, you can cancel the contract. Do this in writing, email, and fax so you can prove you cancelled it in the timeframe. If you are outside that timeframe it will be more difficult. If you were verbally deceived at the presentation you may have some recourse through the Department of Fair Trading. http://www.qld.gov.au/law/fair-trading/ . The Credit & Investment Ombudsman http://www.cio.org.au/ and Financial Ombudsman Australia http://fos.org.au/ may also be worthwhile approaching. Document and date everything you were told at the presentation as soon as you can. I am not a lawyer, and some legal advice may suggest other avenues. Best of luck.

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    4. My husband and i were sucked into this and signed up at the beginning of our 2 week holiday and gave a $300 deposit but gave no bank details or credit card details. We came to our senses after returning home but realised after seeing numerous emails from Ultiqa that we were in breach if the contract and must pay up immediately. Are you able to help my husband and I with info on how to get our $300 back our money or at least get out of this ??????

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  9. On a lovely day out to movie world with my family I was offered a scratch card and after scratching this and showing the lady her reply was ” oh wow we don’t see this much but you have won a holiday. After paying our $40 and organizing a date and time for our 90 min presentation which lasted 2 hours.The worker who they gave us was very unprofessional making jokes which only he thought was funny and using alot of swear words. We had decided against signing up to anything as I do recall my partner telling the guy half way through that he wasn’t going to sign anything on the day He would take it home to read through. After the worker and his supervisor finished working out figures and drawing all over there papers . We where asked again about signing up then and there as this offer was only available on the day. My partner once again told them No. OMG where they angry we where practically pushed out the door told to scratch the void if remove part on ticket and wasn’t even really told anything about it just that we had to pay $99 for it. Told my Partner that he dosnt take chances in life and BLA BLA BLA I was glad my Partner was with me as I can see how they could persuade you into sighning up then and there. We are not even going to worry about taking the holiday. What a load of hogwash. On the plus side we got to spent the day together on the Gold Coast :}

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  10. Well,I can relate to most of what you said,we went, got the 2 to 3 hour presentation,but the young girl presenter was new and very nice,the manager was a bit scary though.We said no to the joining but didn’t really get the pressure.The almost free holiday was another story,after much deliberation we eventually are supposed to be getting our 3day,2 bedroom holiday for around $300 more or less,but much to my husbands disgust we have to attend another presentation but if we don’t go the appartment will cost us at least another $350,how rude is that,will give you an update after the holiday in June . Yours Charlie.

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    1. I so wish I had read all these comments a few days earlier, against my gut feeling I’ve taken the next step and paid my $99 for the 3 day *free* holiday, and booked dates. However the conditions and fine print with perhaps an unscrupulous company are a little frightening. Has anyone actually taken the holiday, I’d like to hear from you. There must be someway of exposing this bullying behaviour. Perhaps Current Affaire PS Charlie how did the holiday go in June. Love to hear from you.

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  11. We just got back from the Gold Coast and went through the same experience over three hours. They were super nice and got real pushy in the end. Dropping the price and offering new deals as you say no. Then when it’s all over they were super pissed. Gary the old guy that was trying to sell to us completely changed after thebig final no. He was rude and no longer an nice funny old man. He started having shots at me about not having my finances sorted and that job must not pay much. Really shuttle shots at me. I felt good after saying no when I figured out how rude they were. Not scamming me. The voucher we got at the end as a prize is three days for $99 at Gold Coast and you must attend another round with the pricks. They are snakes that’s for sure. Suckered in at wet and wild. The rep was acting super surprised when I scratched three stars. Had me good. $40 deposit which Was returned on arrival. Yep there won’t be a next time.

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  12. Thanks for all the warnings. We were coerced at Currumbin wildlife sanctuary. Did not expect this kind of soliciting at a wildlife park. Theme parks yes but not wildlife sanctuary. Very disappointed.

    Hope to get deposit upon arrival and escape the presentation.

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    1. Hi, we have just also come back from the Gold Coast and were given the same spiel at MOVIE WORLD by the ”nicest guy” ever. Thought it was a bit too good to be true. The same ”wow ,not many people get three stars- you have just one an amazing prize and all you have to do is attend the seminar for a $40 holding fee ”.I only had $35 which he happily took. After a 2 hour talk which I am embarrassed to say we almost fell for but due over cautious and also not wanting to take a $50 a week debt on said no.I was skeptical we would win anything but the holiday and sure enough that was what we won. I was going to actually follow it up but after reading all these reviews am glad I didn’t. It is almost funny to here you also got the ”would you like to use the toilet etc” conversation but just proves they are all running to a script. Be careful people, these guys are clever.

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  14. A salesman sought out our 4 and 6 year old children to give them scratchie tickets as we walked past at corrumbin wildlife park. Of course we were initially sucked in to believing we would win a prize and my husband signed up to attend a presentation 3 days later and paid the $20 refundable deposit.

    In the meantime we did some research and there were red flags. The saleaman had been calling us and was sweet talking us big time. He said he’d happily return our $20 but we’d lose our limited position and the prize opportunity which we weren’t allowed to reveal until the seminar or it would be void.

    However our daughter had been unwell and couldn’t enjoy the theme parks over previous days. We had one day left on our pass so we decided for her sake to spend the full day at the parks and forgo the seminar.

    We texted the salesman agreeing to forgo the prize but accept our $20 refund that he’d offered.
    Within minutes we received a scathing message accusing us of lying and now he was refusing the promised refund unless we attended the seminar. No shit given whatsoever about our young daughter.
    My text response was equally scathing, stating exactly what I thought about such disgusting and aggressive tactics.

    I then receive a phone call where I am again accused of being dishonest. Voices were raised and I asked why he felt entitled to question how we spent OUR holiday. When I stated my intention to contact corrumbin wildlife sanctuary about his conduct and the company he actually hung up on me!

    Then I received a breif apologetic message requesting my account details so our deposit could be refunded straight away.
    The next message I received was a demand that we show up in person to provide the signed invitation to receive our refund!

    Are you kidding me???

    Corrumbin were contacted and informed about this rediculous level of harassment and within 24 hours I received an apologetic phone call from a ‘manager’ who promised to send our $20 back along with a token ‘gift’…

    You guessed it – a ‘holiday’!

    I will be warning our Gold Coast bound friends to avoid this appalling company like the plague!

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  15. We just did the same thing, got caught in at Movie World, my kids thought I was winning a super prize, the give away to me was the guy that gave the cards took mine from the bottom of the pile and seemed so amazed that I got the 3 Stars. We paid out $40 and We did go along for a look out of curiosity, we happened to be staying at the chevron towers where they held the talk so it wasn’t to far out of the way, the 2.5 hour pitch was about 2 hrs too long. When it got to the nitty gritty and we asked to think about it we were told no it is a now or never deal, who is going to invest 20+K into something that they are not allowed to take home and investigate. I was told that they had been in Aussie for about 14 years but only had 11500 members, not a very good hit rate. If it’s as good as they say it probably could be a good thing, clearly it’s not as they don’t let you do research on it prior to departing with your money. I can only hope that the people that have taken it are getting something close to the promises.

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  16. They got us yesterday at Sea World. Woman was so excited for us to have scratched a “free” holiday and told me exactly where to go to find an atm to get the $40. Another “prize winner” pulled me aside in the park and said to Google them. He had just run back for his $40. He said the secret code is always option B. Oh boy. So suckered in. We went back and got our $40 back. How on earth does this fit with the branding of family fun at Sea World?

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  17. We too were conned by the smooth talking Ultiqa salesmen (One of them was Gary whose mother had bought into Ultiqa as well), actually not that smooth, but, trained & well practiced. We went from the about $20,000 down to the about $13,000 & ended up with the $8,000 to pay off on finance. We said “No” so many times & in so many different ways. “No” not interested. “No” we can’t afford it. Gary continued on his boss joined in & offered so many rebuttals to our questions. Finally we signed up – close to four hours. I went back to cancel two days later & this time was was met by their accountant, who again never really gave facts & figures, but. was able to talk me into staying with Ultiqa. This is a mistake that we are living with, but, we would love to know if anybody has a legal remedy to this Ultiqa scam?

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    1. When you figure it out, let me know, we got suckered in, and a week after the cooling off period my partner got sick, which has led him to probably never work again. I rang them and asked if there was a way out, they said sorry you are no longer in the cooling off period.

      They pressure till you say yes. I need to find around $300 a month to pay for this luxury, it makes me sick.

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  18. We got conned as well , we have tried to book holidays but have been told there is nothing or the price has been over $1000. We were not told of the cooling off period either and by the time the pack arrived it was already too late. It has left us with a very bad memory of Queensland. It was totally misrepresented and we are going to be looking into how to get out of this before too much money is spent.

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    1. If you do find a way, please let everyone know. My parents who don’t have alot of finances have also been conned with this. They are struggling to pay for this scam and at a time they did want to book, they still were required to pay over 2k for accommodation because their points didn’t cover.

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    2. Were you able to get your deposit back? We are in the same boat as you are now. We tried to book for out holiday 6 months in advance and we got told nothing is available!

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  19. We fell for this, we are usually so carefull, thankfully we took time to investigate when we got home. It is still in their cooling off period, that we were told nothing about. However found it ourselves in all the masses of print. Today we intend to deliver a letter to Varsity lakes, and get our deposits back. Thankfully we hadn’t paid the full amount. Wish us luck folks.

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  20. I am so disappointed with myself for falling for this. I dragged my kids and husband to the 90 min sales pitch just so we could get our “free, holiday only to now read at home that not only do you pretty much pay for it anyway by the time you pay the $99 booking fee and upgrade fee to bring your kids it’s no longer free. I’ve also read there is another 90 min sales pitch which you have to attend while on your holiday or you will be charged $900. Spewing I wasted 90 mins of my life but glad that’s all I wasted.
    Be warned people if it sounds to good to be true it probably usually is. Warn others.

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    1. Not much has changed since then. We went to a presentation this very morning and sat through the 2 hour spiel. My wife and I have worked in sales and marketing most of our adult lives and we had been to similar presentations before, the previous through Wyndham so we knew what to expect. I threw plenty of objections as to why we probably wouldn’t sign during the introduction so they had to throw the hard sell at us from the get go. We walked away with our $40 deposit returned and our “Free” Holiday accommodation which will cost us around $600. Hey, assuming they don’t fail to supply we’d be saving close to 50% on what we paid this year to stay in a 2.5 star dog house!

      Nothing is a waste of time if you take the positive from it.. they didn’t get your $20k!

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  21. My husband and I got ‘hit’ up by this company yesterday at SeaWorld. We are due to have our 90min seminar this morning. We paid a deposit of $40… We obviously don’t want to go ahead with the scam. Is it worth going to get our deposit back? Or cut and run?

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  22. Thanks everyone for these warnings. Got hit up today by these guys at movie world. Signed up for the presentation then did some online research. After I read these comments we went and got our deposit back and saved ourselves an hour and a half of time. Very surprised to see this sort of thing in a place like this. Wouldn’t want my name associated with this.

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  23. Glad we found this. Seemed legit (ish) given it was inside movie world even though there were a lot of red flags.
    We’ll be going along in the morning to get our $40 back then leaving. Thank you.

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  24. My partner and I were approached by a man at Movieworld with scratchies and with skepticism, we revealed one card was a winner. We were asked to attend a 90 min seminar & needed to hand over $40 Bux. We only had a $20 & the guy was happy to take that.

    I wished I had researched Ultiqa while I had the details but I gave it the benefit of doubt as I was keen to see what it was all about.

    Similar with previous reviews is that we were allocated to a nice young guy who would discuss how it worked & showed us holiday options including how the points worked.

    It was explained that a Trust is set up. I asked how does one get out of this if circumstances change and I was told your share would need to be sold off by a broker.

    We were taken into an apartment at the Chevron Renaissance to see what type of accommodation is on offer.

    Offer was only available for that day to sign up & cost was over $22k or $100 weekly. When we said no, an offer of 13k was provided extending the length of loan.

    When asked if we could take the PDS away to read and make a decision, we were rudely told that “this is not for you then” and the senior manager walked away.

    Cooling off period was not advised.

    Scratchy revealed holiday accommodation to choose from but after reading these reviews, this is going in the recycling.

    90 mins turned into over 120 mins and we’ll never get those 2 hrs back.

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  25. We were walking around at the Brisbane Ekka when we came across them at a stall they had set up in a Pavilion , I walked straight past them but my wife got caught up by a sweet lady called Raewyn who was charming might I add, she handed my wife a Scratchie card and then gave me one, guess what mine was not a winner, but my wifes card had 3 stars on hers, Raewyn said that its very rare to find a winner and it would be a big prize but dont scratch of the small panel as it would make it void, we got conned to hand over $50 , but as we needed a holiday we didnt mind, so off we went on our way, yesterday I decided to do some checking on what Ultiqa is all about and found this site and realized it was a scam, so last night we went along to Springwood to a place called Hotel Gloria just to get our $50 back for attending and once we arrived we were given our $50 at the check in counter, we asked where the toilets were and then made our getaway out the front to our getaway car lol laughing most of the way home thinking if only our kids knew what we just done

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  26. We were also approached at the Brisbane Ekka. Can any one else share if the prizes are legitimate. There is a choice of three prizes? We do want to get our $50 back but will not sit through the 90min presentation if the prize requires more meetings.

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    1. The only prize that seems to be revealed on the second scratch is the “holiday”. You have to pay your own airfare to get there and you have to sit through another sales presentation. Our ticket went in the bin.

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    2. They give you your money as you walk in, they didnt take the scratchie of us, we left straight away as soon as we got our money, with out having to do presentations

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  27. My husband and i were also accosted by a lovely young man with our winning ticket. We attended the 2.5 hr seminar. Our presenter was a lovely, shy girl in the beginning and then became very stand offish and rude when she realised she was not making good headway.
    The boss of the scam came in to talk about the money details but always skirted around how much it would cost for the points systems and became very rude and confronting towards me when asked hard questions about extra costs, availabilities and final figures.
    When the final dancing around ended and we were given the facts about points and costs we were told we had to make a decision straight away,no time to think or research the company. Lucky my untrusting nature kicked and i always like to research the company who are asking large sums of money from me. We walked out if this seminar with the holiday prize but after reading about this im not quite so sure. There were six other couples in that room with us and we know 2 couples signed up. Hopefully all goes well for them but it doesn’t sound like it will from other people who have been sucked in and have now written complaints about issues regarding this holiday system.
    A word of advice when scratching that ticket please research ultiqua before attending the seminar it may save you several hours of your precious holiday time and especially your money.

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  28. We signed up and paid our deposit.
    It didn’t feel right so the next day I went back and said now that I’m a member I’d like to book a holiday.
    I was told the internet was down and to just wait for our membership number to arrive. But the accommodation I wanted wouldn’t be a problem.
    Hah! Took me two months of arguing before I finally got a refund on the grounds I was duped out of my cooling off period. I couldn’t book anything let alone the accommodation I was told wouldn’t be a problem.. I asked for every school holiday in NZ or Australia for the next two years and nothing came up.
    They could offer to book me accommodation $20 cheaper than what I could get it on the open market.
    No thanks.. I can google..

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    1. OMG same thing happened to us! Same excuse! We went to the place we had the presentation and they told us to contact head office and the 7 day cooling off period is over! May i ask who you dealt with please?

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      1. I shouldn’t say (i’m sure you understand) but stick to your guns about not having a fair opportunity to exercise your rights during the cooling off period.

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    2. I am so perplexed as to your woes and problems associated with Ultiqa. I am a member and have NEVER experienced such trouble. We have managed to book holidays…in the school holidays….a few weeks earlier. I had a week in Port Douglas for $223 and the room was great. This was in the last April school holidays. We have secured accommodation in Hawaii, San Francisco and the Gold Coast; every June and July school holidays for about the third of the normal price. we have probably made up our money we spent paying for this membership already. I just dont get whats going on. Im sorry to hear you have had a horrible time….

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      1. I was blatantly lied to about availability. Every time we asked nothing was available – they just wanted us to book through their ‘Getaway’.

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      3. Sharon you don’t work with Joe do you. Reason I ask is he wrote on another blog page you wrote on saying “How good ULTIQA is”
        They are liars and scammers. I know because I was conned into buying into this “Investment” scam sorry scheme.
        Everybody has been told the same lies, myself included. It’s amazing how the offer is only ever available that night. Yet when a NEW POTENTIAL victim arrives it’s available to them.
        When ever I tried to book in the first few weeks I was told the system was down as they were updating the website.
        The reason they only give you 7 days is because you can’t try to use your membership in that time frame as they make sure they take longer then that to set it up. Then when you do get to finally try it after leaving so many messages on their machine (because they are so busy) you constantly get told “sorry those dates aren’t available”.

        Here is the maths

        $17,880 paid to ULTIQA
        $825 a year “membership fees”
        30,000 points received per year
        According to their point system of $125 for 10,000 points.
        That makes it $375 worth of points

        That will only take 47yrs to get my $17,880 back. I will be 91yrs old
        Not to mention you can’t book a week with only 30,000 points. We were told by the lying sales person we would be able to get at least 2 weeks a year with those points.

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  29. Glad I just discovered these forums,
    I attended in last few days at their office. Filled out initial survey….?
    Said We only had exactly 1.5 hrs b4 having to get to another appointment, so instead the young lass took us straight to enabling us to scratch our void if removed to reveal u guessed it – holiday – she gave us a brochure for the Thailand holiday options, nothing signed or paid, and we were on our way within minutes and didn’t suffer through the 90++++ mins
    So between saying we had to go exactly 90 mins later and perhaps our survey answers / occupations turned them off us…
    Anyway I want even still to go back and get a copy of the survey that I filled out & signed, just to make sure there is nothing binding, and better still have them destroy my personal details in front of me

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  30. reading about everyones experience is like a reoccurring nightmare.
    we were duped at movie world and really believed it was genuine shock that we had scratched the three stars. I would give the guy a job on home and away for sure.
    GARY was the salestosser that was assigned to us. he was our besty through the presentation. however unprofessional and swore like a trooper. After wasting nearly 3 hrs of up until that time fantastic holiday he turned rude and nasty.
    soooo glad we didn’t sign up and soooo glad that I read this blog before booking my so called free holiday. if I had to see that Gary again I would show him my rude and nasty self.
    wow feels good to vent if I lived at hold coast I would make it my ambition to warn people before they walked through the doors.
    I just like to also mention the comment written in capitals defending ultiqa sounded very much like the sales pitch I was given. I would stake my future holidays this was written by an employee.
    ultiqa put a bad spin on my great gold coast holiday. just happy we didnt sign up and put a bad spin on our LIFE.
    really believe that movie world and other theme parks should boot these lying scammers to the curb. let them coduct their scratchy scam in dark back alleys where they belong.
    thanks for all the information fellow writers and lets spread the word so we can save other hard working ausies

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  31. We attended a similar seminar in the U.K. Signed up for a 3 year trial and enjoyed the 3 years but could not afford the full time membership at the time. Also attended the Gold Coast seminar did not feel pressured to buy ended up becoming a member have not booked anything as yet my opinion is we are getting value for money and will reap the investment in retirement only my opinion

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    1. Hi Richard,
      Unless the model has changed, you are a partial owner of the properties. You will be subject to an annual maintenance fee whether or not you use the properties. You have to pay this fee until you this property belongs to someone else. You could be sitting gaga at age 95 in a nursing home but you will still have to pay the fee until the arrangement in the prospectus ends. You cannot voluntarily decide that you no longer want to be a “member”. You are locked into the contract until you sell it (or give it away) to someone else. Not sure what happens when you die.

      In regards to the annual maintenance fee, from what I can recall, the prospectus sets no upper limit to this fee, nor ties it to the CPI.

      I hope it works out for you, but your post gives me no confidence that it will.

      Please post again if you have a positive experience when you book and you get good value for money. It will be published.

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  33. I Worked for Ultiqa Lifestyles about a year and a half ago. I cannot vouch for all of the offices, but while I worked at the Chevron Renaissance office I CAN confirm a couple DID win $2,000.00. It would be illegal to advertise a winnings of $2,000.00 and not put at least a 1 in 100000 chance of winning (just like scratchies). By the way, might I add, it is greed that took you to complete the 90 minute presentation in hopes of a FREE prize! you can’t blame them for your own decision. I have no reason to stick up for this company, I no longer work there nor do I particularly care. The only reason I found this blog is because I had to look up their office number when I applied for a car loan, I saw the heading of this and thought it would be interesting to read. Which it was. I know of many happy members who have joined, and if you are keen holiday goers, or want to be, this package actually does work. Unless you’re into camping instead. If you are people who only go on holidays every few years, it is not worth it! this company is all about promoting holidays, yes the layout of $18k is shocking!! but in reality, if you spend thousands of dollars per you, you will eventually make your money back and then benefit from this. Just make sure you book in advance for peak season.

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    1. Thanks for posting Caitlin, and thanks for disclosing your connection. Interesting that you label the people that attend this presentation as “greedy” for a FREE prize. It was your employer who targeted couples at tourist attractions. Now you try to excuse the conduct of your disreputable employer by blaming the victims.

      From what I can read into your post it seems that you only worked for Ultiqa for a short time 18 months ago. I am sceptical that you know “many happy members” if you only worked there briefly.

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      1. We actually were at Surfers today when we got approached with these scratchies.
        Fyi we wouldnt have been going for our ‘free’ prize and be greedy. To us today it seemed like we had won something. Yes won – not being “greedy”. Yes the words ‘won’ were said to us. So were the words “choice of 3 prizes” not “when you scratch the void it tells you what you have been given”

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  34. Walked into wet n wild and wondered past lady who smiled at us and watched us. Walking back past as she was strategically placed at entry to pool, offered scratch card what do you know we were winners. My husband went ahead with older children and doubled back seeing me stopped. Paid deposit to attend ninety min presentation turned into 3 hours. Filled form out so Steve head in office could enter straight away so at the end our prize would be waiting. Shay the young girl trying to entertain us and three children. So sucked in they thought but bells going of when we couldn’t scratch prize till the end. By the way b was what we scratched. They offered us Thailand which we put on form never want to go. Then 3 nights gold coast without kids which we put never travel without them, and said we just spent two weeks doing absolutely everything why come back? Two prizes they new by information we wouldn’t use near the end when Steve the closer was called over to help Shay which is his queue to push figures and keep reminding you, only here and now this offer. Steve dissapeared when we said no to giving him 20,000. On the spot signing his awesome offer after several attempts at more deals and we saying no he didn’t wait to see what we scratched or fare well us. We left with no free prize, our 20 deposit payed for parking. Loss of three hours of our time. Pleased we were not victims to this scam. Cheap good legit accommodation and flight packages out there you can book your self. This Ultiqa company is a scam, dishonest, pushy and I think would be told accommodation fully booked if you tried once they take your money. Think about it, sign and pay now or you can never have this offer again, lol bullshit. Best thing would be if the theme parks etc that let them prey on people stopped allowing them on premises.

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  35. so there is no way out of this annual membership fee we’ve been locked into? I find that everytime I want to use the points for accommodation, there is nothing available or nothing in a lot of areas incl popular destinations. They should be shut down.

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  36. Nearly fell for this today. And I’ve been infuriated all day thinking and reading about poor people being bullied into thia.

    I was at BroadBeach with my wife on our one year wedding anniversary. We have also just finally saved up for a house and money has been tight. We walk past what looks like an information booth and the woman offers a discount booklet. Cool no worries, thanks.

    Then the scratchies come out. Yeah why not. Oh, I kangaroos. Ive won. ‘Didn’t think this would happen today!’ I was informed i had the choice of 2k, a holiday, or an ipad. Straight away I’m thinking if its too good to be true, it probably is. My wife is excited as 2k would help us greatly. I get suckered in seeing how happy she is. Maybe we have won?

    Here it comes. Just need to go to a resort, take photos and your invitation and the small scratchy wi be revealed. Oh sorry, cant do it today, how about another? $20 later i walk off, thinking it wasnt right. Googles and found this blog. Straight back to get my deposit back, which she was luckily very accommodating howevee commented ‘another family will receive this offer’

    I was nearly suckered into spending a whole day of my holiday being bullied instead of exploring and enjoying our trip. This is what angers me most of all. How do these people sleep at night?

    This shit should be illegal.

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  37. im so gutterd i signed up with these guys, i find it annoying when we call up about a holiday package and its always booked out! not fair cause the amount we a paying per week 😦 just want to know if anyone has been through the cancellation process after the 7 day period?

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  38. Hi we have just signed today and only now reading these comments. Can someone tell me of any positive feedback if it does exist. Have since read the cooling off period but apparently because it’s in Black print not the blue print. Has anyone got any feedback on the cooling off period? Any help would be appreciated.

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    1. Hello Kym,
      By law, you can cancel this contract within 7 days. Not sure what you mean by black print and blue print.
      On this blog I post all feedback. The only comment which has been deleted was a negative comment about Ulitqa™. This comment was deleted at the request of the original poster. There are the occasional positive comment about Ultiqa™ in the blog responses. If they come in, they are posted.
      My strong belief is that it will be to your advantage to cancel the contract. If, after a thoughtful and prudent reflection, you decide that its worthwhile, there is a strong likelihood that the package will be available a lot cheaper on the secondary market. Personally, I would not be touching anything by Ultiqa™ with more than a couple of lengths of bargepoles.
      If there are happy Ultiqa™ owners they are always welcome to post. Those posts will be published.

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      2. Hi tskeptic

        I was wandering if anybody else used the finance company through ULTIQA called “Future Holiday Finance”.
        The reason I asked is the finance manager of this business has the same surname as the CEO of ULTIQA. This made me wander if they are connected at all.

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    2. Hi Kym
      This comment is a little late. My partner and I went to one these seminars recently and signed up. We were told the blue print is relevant to Ultiqa and your product specifically whilst the black is not.
      In regards to the cooling off, we sent in our cooling off notice just before the cooling off ended and the girl at the reception (don’t remember her name) called me the next day for my card details. I didn’t have any issues.
      I hope it worked out for you.

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  39. We got approached at Surfers today. She was very lovely and obviously knew her job well. She seemed seriously surprised that we had won. Reading on here it seems like she is surprised several times a day….
    We are happy to forgo our $20 deposit as i dont feel like driving 20mins there with the kids to pay for parking and not at least get the ‘choice of 3 prizes’ we were advised by the lady today.
    For a little bit there we seriously thought we had won something. But once the word presentation was mentioned i knew it would be for time share. Hubby seemed interested until i had him read these posts when we got home.

    Cassandra

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  40. Thank you so much for the posts – thank goodness for Google. I got the same pleasant surprise yesterday by a guy named Ardic at the Caroline Springs shopping centre – you have won. I so excitedly told my husband last night that we had a won a prize and that we would have to sit through a 90 minute promotion. The first thing my dear husband asked me was “had I googled it and checked it out” – such a sweet sensible man he is. At that point I hadn’t – now next day here I am at work seething for all those poor people now stuck in a cycle of financial harassment by unscrupulous a/?!holes. Thank you for the advance warning – I think I will forgo my $40 deposit and keep both my peace of mind and my temper in check. I have been previously caught up in a similar scam for Supa Nova Holidays and remember thinking that the only thing I was truly grateful for is that they never got a cent out of me. They won $40 this time – but in the end I won because of your comments. Thanks.

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  41. Ultiqa is SMART!
    They offer families a free holiday,money or an ipad for 90minutes of a presentation. It baffles me when people say they were bullied and conned.
    90 minutes is a long time- and shock horrow the people presenting are SALES people.
    If you went to a car yard and the salesman yacked on about a great car and you spent the money – he didnt bully you.
    He got you to purchase somthing that YOU wanted. At the time you wanted it and deep down you did as well!!
    I have recently joined Ultiqa and the sales people were lovely and I have already booked in a holiday successfully.
    I work hard and holidays are never a priority for me and my family. My membership will force me to go on a holiday every year with my loved ones. And those memories are priceless.

    This is somthing you have to use to be happy with it. If your struggling to use it CALL and ask for help!

    Too many people just feel stupid for signing up on the day as a once only offer- that they never give it a chance.

    And look the people who complain about it are usually upset because 1 they dont know how to use it or 2 they couldnt afford it. –

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    1. Sorry but you have been conned and dont expect it to be when you are free to go as they dont seem to have any spots avail when you pick your time and place, so enjoy and good luck to you, and enjoy your membership, glad you didnt get hounded by them to sign up, must of been a good day for you, I can have a holiday any time I want and can afford to do so with any dramas booking

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    2. Thank you Mof3,
      Your car salesman analogy is deeply flawed. If you go to a car yard, you are interested in looking at cars. If you go to Movieworld, SeaWorld, Currumbin you are not going there to look at a timeshare purchase. You are going there for a day of enjoyment with your partner and most likely your children. You are also most likely a tourist. The hook and the patter by the street hawkers who accost you at these venues is designed to give you the impression that it is a rare couple who scratch a winning ticket, and that there is a valuable prize to be gained by attending the presentation. The patter implies that the “prizes” were roughly equal in value, and at no point was the fact made that the “holiday” came with many attached strings. You have to pay the airfare, and you have to sit through another presentation for starters. No one who has got the $2000 or the ipad has posted here, everyone gets the “holiday”. These “prizes” are the bait to try and land the fish. At the end of our ordeal when I got to scratch the prize I said to our sleazy salesman “I guess its going to be the holiday”. A flicker of a grin came across his face.

      I once worked in a used car yard, so I know much about car salesman. Much as it pains to say this, the car dealers were less shady than the Ultiqa™ sales sharks, though neither were in a battle for the ethical high ground.

      I am a little puzzled by your last half of the post. You say that you have recently joined Ultiqa™ and have booked a holiday, and then go onto to state “This is something you have to use to be happy with”. If you have only just booked a holiday, and not yet taken it, there is a severe logical disconnect to your next assertion.

      You then say “Too many people just feel stupid for signing up on the day as a once only offer- that they never give it a chance.
      And look the people who complain about it are usually upset because 1 they dont know how to use it or 2 they couldnt afford it.”

      If you have only just joined Ultiqa™ how could you make that determination?

      Happy to post your response.

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    3. Couldn’t agree with you more! ^^
      We knew exactly what we were going to be presented with when we booked our 90min presentation back in Sept (after winning a holiday on a scratchy)
      Lovely sales people and something we will definitely benefit from for the coming yrs!

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  43. If you are having problems with Ultiqa, contact the Commerce Comission and voice your complaints,I am.
    The contact phone number in New Zealand ph:0800943600

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  44. My partner and I got approached with the scratchie incentive at movie world.
    Of course I lost and she had the opportunitity to win a holiday after getting the 3 correct symbols, then we were ushered to a desk to complete details and to book ourselves for this 90 min session. Also had to pay the $40 deposit.
    After reading this, we were like stuff this crap, went back to the lady and said oh we dont have enough time to attend the session….
    She gave us our money back, said oh but u miss out on a great holiday ..basically just ignored us …the happy go lucky lady from before was gone…we got brick walled…and then we left!
    A hazard well avoided!!!

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  45. Just happened to me and my partner, glad I researched them first, I have just scratched my void if removed box and surprise! It’s B in the box, I will go get my $40 tomorrow, hand them the void if removed card and let them know, they can stick it up their arse, and before I go home, I will go back to sea world, and tell them and that Irish import, they can stick it up their arse as well, hopefully, I can stick a scammer poster on his fucking back😡

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  46. We too got sucked into a so called 90 minute seminar.
    I don’t like to call people scumbags but that’s exactly who you deal with when talking with their sales staff.
    3 hours of utter sales crap to get us to sign up…..we said no and were given our useless free holiday. No validation on the holiday which voids it and also no mention of an additional sales pitch when or if we went. Lowest of low people trying to take money from hardworking people……oh, and if I ever come across the tattooed scummy weak handshaking salesman named Brad from Ultiqa I’ll (edited to remove a part of comment the blogger is uncomfortable with..TSkeptic) STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE, THEY PRAY ON YOU EMOTIONS TO TAKE YOUR MONEY !!!!

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    1. Just a little update, I went to get my $40, on the way there, I explained to the taxi driver our situation, without finishing my story, he informed us it was a timeshare scam(which we already knew),and that the ultiqa resort, has changed its name several times,he waited for free for us, because he wanted to know the outcome, I waltzed in there all smiles, up to the reception, before I could say anything, she chirped There’s your presentor! Behind you, I turned around, signed the check off list snatched my $40 dollars and stormed off, and left her standing there bitter faced! Tomorrow, I will go to SeaWorld, and let them know by alowing this filth to operate in their park, their SeaWorld name is like mud. 💩

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  47. We sat frew this on 11/02/2017 the girl trying to sell us had no idea about money and tryed telling me im wasting mine going on holiday with out ultiqa.I told the irish guy il never sign anything for $2 before I read it let alone $20k he say sign today 10k I say your not listning he say 10 k and a 2-for 1-cruise voucherworth up to 30k..what a load of shit!I said im staying at chevron hotel so let me take paperwork and il return it in morning with disision..nope today or nothing.so nothing it is! Im not stupid enuff to sign a contract like this with out legal advice. But the pitch atleast had me thinking about it.wife pritty that the “free” tailand trip isnt worth the paper its printed on…but we are the lucky ones we only loat 2hours out of our trip others will be paying for there whole life once locked in.good luck to anyone reading ..DONT GET TRAPPED!

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  48. OMG reading these posts takes me back to Oct 2015 while on holiday in the GC for the 1st time with my partner and our 2 kids. Went to Wet n Wild and was also coaxed over by this very nice gentlemen who offered both my partner and I a scratchy and of course got 3 stars. Gave $20 deposit and booked in for the seminar. All up took about 3 hours (my poor kids sat through it all too). I had already made up my mind I was going to say no as it was a lot of money $100 pw, I just didnt want to be the one to tell them (yes Im soft) so I asked if my partner and I could go outside to discuss. Once we were away from them I said to my partner “can you go back in there and tell them no. We just found out we are having a baby and we just bought a new truck…we cant afford it” he agreed and went back inside. I lingered outside for a bit to give him time to deliver the bad news…went back in 10mins later and thought we were good to go. But no….so damn pushy they offered us the $8000 package (after congratulating us on the new baby). I explained to them this sounds good for people who holiday a lot. We are not those people. We are both 35 and this is our first trip ever overseas (from NZ). There response oh but…..blah blah blah…..sucked us right in. Was required to put down a deposit of $1000..umm i dont have $1000. Its our 2nd to last day of our 10 day holiday…obviously I cant just give you $1000. So what can you give us…dumb ass me gave $500 deposit. Still kicking myself for the whole thing!

    We were not told about the cooling off period either. Why did I not think to research it once we had left…I wouldve stumbled across this blog and cancelled straight away.

    I have been paying these mongrels for over a year and a half now. $206 plus maintenance of $18 per month and havent used there services once. Have tried but nothing is ever available. I could be putting this money elsewhere! So want out…what would happen if I just stopped paying? Would I be allowed back in Australia cos despite being scammed, we really enjoyed our holiday in the GC and plan to do it again in the future. Any advice how we can get out of it would be much appreciated. Btw sorry for the rant and the long speil but this has been bugging me since day 1

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  49. I would just stop paying, and seek legal advise, I wouldn’t think it would stand up in any court, in Australia, they pressured you into it, didn’t fully disclose everything, and they are preying on people who can’t afford it. Just because you signed a contract, that doesn’t always mean you’re bound, don’t keep paying, thinking there’s no way out.

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  50. This prick tried this on us today at Sea World – thanks for finding this – luckily we only lost $20 – very smooth with the winning card – I tried to get his cell number

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