[Resolved]  Sterling Holiday Resorts — fraud promises by sterling holidays

It has been 10 months that i have enrolled in sterling holidays membership (Membership id – 1231142 w. E. F. 03.10.2016) and since then i have only realised that all the attractive benefits and facilities demonstrated at the initial moment were all fake assurance which were used to lure me into the trap. The start was through a phone call asserting me to provide free ‘2 nights stay’ in their resort, and an offer for sterling membership for which i had to meet sterling salesperson.
When i directly confronted the salesperson of sterling holidays, they explained about the sterling membership in a very lucrative way which is now emerging to me as just fake exhibition. The membership of rci was also offered along with it which was a primary reason of enrolling into the sterling membership as rci membership will allow me to avail foreign hotels too. The conditions of rci membership was also highlighted before me with extra features which are now actually missing in the final clauses. The differences in their representation and the actual conditions are far apart.
• first of all, after their full exhibition of terms and conditions, when they showed the subscription amount of each category, the lowest category (Blue) cost was mentioned as rs 3 lakh. I was made to believe that as i had received an offer from their side through phone call, i was eligible for a discount and the same category subscription cost for me would be just rs 1, 99, 000.00 (I. E. Rs 2 lakh), but for that i had to enrol into their policy that very day itself, as the offer would not be valid in any later day. Later on i discovered that the actual cost of blue category is rs 1, 99, 000.00 itself and there was no offer or discount availed by me. It was a trick played by them to force me to buy the scheme the same day itself as i would not get any time to search or enquire about them.
• as per policy, along with the onetime deposit of rs 1, 99, 000.00, an “annual subscription fee” also needs to be deposited on yearly basis. I was told that i had to pay an ‘annual subscription fee’ after completion of every 1 year. However, as soon as the membership was taken, i received calls and emails compelling me to submit the asf at the earliest, which i finally paid on 18.11.2016 (I. E. Just one month after the membership was taken).in the kit provided, the asf was rs 6559, but actually i had to pay rs 6890, i agreed to that too.
• i was informed that along with the sterling membership for 25 years, i will also get rci membership for 25 years. However as i received the membership documents, it was stated that the rci membership will last for only two (2) years and has to be renewed after every five (5) years after paying a bulk sum of money. When i informed sterling customer care about the same, i was told that this is solely related to rci so they won’t comment on this. The rci membership came with the sterling membership so isn’t it sterling’s responsibility to abide by the terms which was promised to me earlier?
• i was promised that, if i avail sterling resort and opt for food buffet services i would be eligible for 50% discount on the actual price if i am a sterling member. I have availed 2 nights in sterling’s darjeeling property (Khush alaya) in the month of december’ 2016. When i tried for breakfast and lunch there, i was really upset to know that the price listed for sterling members is mere 6-8% discount on the actual price. On further query it was told that this is the standard rate and it is effective over all sterling properties. It was assured by the hotel staffs that sterling has no policy to give 50% discount for the food services to its member or any other occupant. I felt really cheated again.
• recently i wanted to avail a hotel facility in bali (Indonesia) through my rci membership. It must be noted that i was assured that i would be getting 1 week free stay in any rci resort worldwide within 1 year which is mentioned in the final documents also.in addition, i will also be eligible to avail any rci property worldwide by exchanging my sterling points during my membership period. However to my dismay, when i wanted to book rci resort in bali, the rci representative told me that rci don’t have any property in bali or indonesia and if i book through rci i have to pay an amount (Huge amount) to avail the hotel. Sterling points were also not allowed to be converted to avail the hotel. On more enquiry about the 1 week free stay in rci resorts it was said that it is available in only rci own hotels which are present in only very few countries. For all resorts which are not rci property but have rci partnership, money has to be paid to avail them, sterling points would not work. This was really depressing for me as all the facilities which i thought to be valid for me were emerging as imitation and false.
• i called up sterling customer care to complain about all the fake assurance and what i have been actually going through for last 10 months but they just turn their deaf ear to my problems. I also called up the two representatives of sterling holidays (Mr. Tapash dey and mr. Rakesh saha) who enrolled me into the membership, but they also hung up the phone telling that they have shifted to club mahindra holidays and club country holiday after resigning sterling holidays. I found no one to listen to my problems.
• the most important point of all, when i signed up for the sterling membership, i was not provided the original forms to fill them up. However, photocopies of the original forms were provided to me for filling up which were illegible in certain portions. The terms and conditions were also illegible in few parts. The representatives assured that the terms and conditions written were the same which were explained to me. It is now coming up that all the proceedings that very day were all fraud promises and fake assurances.

I hereby demand sterling holidays authority to cancel my membership and refund my money at the earliest.

Souvik sarkar
Membership id – 1231142