Anfi Del Mar, Gran Canaria

[ex Anfi (35351) C.D.N.]

I have registered as ex Anfi (35351) C.D.N. so as not to leave any ambiguity as to who is making these posts. 35351 was my employee number at Anfi and C.D.N. are my initials. There have been many other Court cases since this original ruling and is now JURISPRUDENCE in Spain.

There is a news article on a Court ruling in Spain which can be found in the “Canary News” (headed “Ground-breaking” Supreme Court ruling on Timeshare in Spain. Dated 16th March 2015), and there have been many other Court cases since this original ruling which is now JURISPRUDENCE in Spain.

There are 2 websites which have many good references and if you search their NEWS items, you will find some interesting information and guides. For those not fluent in English, I would suggest you use Google Translate. The 2 websites are, Timeshare Consumer Association and TESS, Timeshare.

Due to another posting elsewhere on another Timeshare forum titled “Owner of Anfi Company jumping sinking ship” which can be found in “eldiario.es” (headed “Santana Cazorla se refugia en Marruecos” “Santana Cazorla takes refuge in Morocco”. Dated 17th August 2016). I added a comment to that forum which read “The Captain may be jumping ship, but the same crew will continue with their waves”.

I was employed at Anfi Del Mar from Monday 28th July 2014 until Monday 7th September 2015, when I was UNFAIRLY DISMISSED.

I will be posting factual events and will be able to provide both evidence and witnesses to any Court, should Anfi Del Mar decide to seek legal recourse.

Although emails may not admissible as evidence in Spanish Courts, they are automatically timed and dated. I can type a statement at any time using the emails as contemporaneous notes.

During my time at Anfi, I was aware that an outside UK Agency had been employed by Anfi to monitor the internet for detrimental postings and comments. I am making postings on a number of websites, including the languages:
Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.


In 1997 I discovered I was the victim of an ID Fraud which had begun in 1995. In August 2015, I saw my personal details were on display for other employees and occasionally members of the public to see. Having brought this issue to a supervisor’s attention, I received the proverbial Foxtrot Oscar.


On Thursday 3rd September 2015 I sent an email to the Sales Director with a CC copy to the Human Resources (HR) Department, pointing out a breach of the Data Protection Act (LEY Organica 15/1999, de 13 de Diciembre, de Proteccion de de Datos de Caracter Person) and a breach of the Human Rights Act (LEY de La Comision Nacional de Los Derechos Humanos Denominacion de la Lay reformada DOF 26-11-2001).

On Monday 7th September 2015, I was dismissed for “upsetting” the Anfi Del Mar IT department.

A document dated 7th September 2015, signed by the HR Director and signed by myself on 22nd September 2015 and I quote;
“With the signature of the present agreement, the employee entirely accepts all what is stipulated in it, including the indemnification payment for the dismissal admitted as unfair by the Company that is above detailed. Therefore, the employee declares to have been paid all what is due to him, and with the receipt of the said indemnification because of unfair dismissal received by the employee as stated in the present document, the labour relationship between the parties is solved, having no right by any means to lay further claim. As well, he compromises to desist from any legal action put before the signature of the present agreement, as well as not to put any further claim later” Unquote.

The “no further claims” ONLY relates to my dismissal being unfair. There was or is not, any other agreement in force.

As from today, I will be posting on this and many other websites, various topics some of which are listed below. I will be going into more detail on each individual topic. Due to the amount of postings I will be making weekly, I will be unable to discuss the issues mentioned until all my postings are completed. I will then be happy to discuss any matters relating to the same.

I will be pointing out a number of Laws Anfi Del Mar breached or allowed their Employees to breach besides those posted here, including for example;

A) Abuse of Authority by the British Cold Line Sales Manager.
The current Employment Act in Spain is Real Decreto Legislativo 3/2015, de 23 de octubre, which came into force on 13th November 2015.

However, the Employment Law in Spain covering my time at Anfi was Law 56/2003 of 16 December, which was valid until 13th November 2015.

B) How Anfi Del Mar are circumventing the current Timeshare laws, namely;
Spanish Timeshare Act Ley 42/1998 which came into force on the 5th January 1999, the European Union Directive 122 of 2008 which came into force on 16th March 2012.


C) A major Holiday Company/Tour Operator are also circumventing the Spanish Timeshare Act and EU Directive when providing Anfi (and other RDO/TATOC companies) with clients for presentations.

D) Threats of violence.

E) Breaches of the Health & Safety regulations, Spain.
Number 155 ILO Convention on the Safety and Health of workers, June 22 1981, ratified by Spain on July 26 1985.
Royal Decree 486/1997 of 14 April establishes the minimum requirements for Safety and Health at the workplace.

F) A full explanation of “The Anfi Way

There will be other topics brought to this forum.

If this posting is removed, there are many other websites I am posting on and I am sure those sites will want to inform their members and Timeshare owners in general.

 

[ex Anfi (35351) C.D.N.]

As it should be and then the reality.

The following 2 Laws are not a “guide” “hint” or “suggestion”, BUT, 2 Laws that govern the sale of Timeshares in Spain.

Ley 4/2012 Artículo 7. Publicidad.
(2) En toda invitación a cualquier acto promocional o de venta en que se ofrezca a un consumidor directamente alguno de los contratos regulados en esta Ley, deberá indicarse claramente la finalidad comercial y la naturaleza de dicho acto.

Law 4/2012 Article 7. Advertising.
(2) Any invitation to any promotional event or sale that is offered to a consumer directly any of contracts governed by this law, shall clearly indicate the commercial purpose and nature of the Act.


E.U. DIRECTIVE 2008/122 Article 3. Advertising.
(2) Where a timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale or exchange contract is to be offered to a consumer in person at a promotion or sales event, the trader shall clearly indicate in the invitation the commercial purpose and the nature of the event.

In reality, this is what you are more likely to hear from the VPR (OPC, Kids on the street).

“I work for the Local Council promoting tourism”.

They DO NOT WORK FOR THE LOCAL COUNCIL/TOURISM BOARD. They are employed by the company. They are (probably, because not all OPC,s are) licensed by the local council, however, this is only the first lie (breach of the 2 Acts) you will encounter that day. More will follow on this subject.

You will then be “scratchcarded” and guess what, you win the super duper 1st prize (almost certainly a 10 euros mobile phone). Now watch the OPC/VPR do cart wheels coupled with large bursts of energy as they dance their previous night’s excessive intakes from themselves. Those of you reading this will have no doubt seen this in operation a number of times.

The VPR/OPC will then tell you “just say yes to everything the girl says in reception, you only have to stay 20/30 minutes to get the gifts”.
During my time at Anfi Del Mar, the reception staff were and probably still are, on a bonus for every client they “check through the reception”. They will half-heartedly “go through the motions”. It’s not in their own best financial interests to block a guest from taking the presentation.

The guests are then collected from the reception by a Sales Representative.

At some stage, whether this be 20 minutes or more, some guests will say they want to collect their prizes and leave. It is then the Sales Representative informs the guests they have agreed with the reception staff to take a 90 minutes presentation in order to qualify and collect their gifts. This causes a lot of anger and aggravation with some guests.

In fact, I was approached by the Sales Director from Anfi Del Mar on Thursday 9Th July 2015, and he asked me to put a report in regarding issues and incidents with guests. I submitted an email to the Sales Director that evening. The email I submitted refers to 2 incidents. The first incident I referred to was a client who had been brought in by a representative from a major tour operator/holiday company (will be explained in more detail at a later date). The second incident I referred to was a client who had been brought in by a VPR/OPC on Monday 6th July 2015. The guest on this occasion had thrown their gifts in my direction and stormed off saying (with expletives) that he was going looking for the VPR/OPC and referencing violence towards the VPR/OPC.

As explained in my email to the Sales Director, at least 80% of the clients have no idea what they are attending, although some of them have their suspicions of a Timeshare presentation.

During my time at Anfi Del Mar, I also witnessed a good number of incidents involving guests and other Sales Representatives in and around the reception area.

 

[ex Anfi (35351) C.D.N.]

The Anfi Way (Part 1)
I started the Anfi Del Mar Training course Monday 28th July 2014. All trainees were given a number brochures and training manuals. The 3 prominent brochures we used during our training were;
1) A manual titled “Anfi Del Mar Sales” Induction- Overview.
2) A manual titled “Training Manual (part 1)”.
3) A manual headed “Welcome to Anfi”.

When these brochures were given out, we were all told “A professional Sales Representative will always keep these training manuals and refer to them on a regular basis to remind us and re-train ourselves”. This statement was repeated on a number of occasions during the training.

From manual 1) (listed above) on page 9 quotes;
What is the Anfi Vacation Club? The answer quoted is;
“The Anfi Vacation Club Service Centre is your one-stop shop for travel services, providing everything you need to make every holiday a success. Services include reservations, exchanges, airport transfers, and groceries delivered prior to your arrival. In addition to this a series of competitively priced travel services are available such as flights, last-minute offers, car rental, stopovers, long weekends, excursions, activity breaks and much more. The Anfi Vacation Club’s services are geared towards providing an exclusive service to Anfi Vacation Club members in one easy phone call.
On page 12 of this manual it asks in a heading
“Who is RCI”
“RCI,s is Anfi,s selected partner for the External Exchange programme. It boasts an impressive range of resorts for those Anfi members who’d to like to broaden their horizons and venture to new destinations. Through the Anfi Vacation Club, you can choose to exchange a stay at your Anfi suite for a holiday at any of the over 4,000 resorts of the worldwide RCI exchange network.

From manual 2) (listed above) on page 15 quotes;
“Exchange”
“1 Bed X 4” and an arrow pointing to a box which is headed;
“ANFI VACATION CLUB”. In this same box but underneath it reads;
“3700 resorts”
“94 Countries worldwide”
“Cruises”

This box has 2 arrows pointing down to an oblong box which reads:

“Florida 5+++++ Hawaii 5+++++ Portugal+++++”

In this same oblong box but underneath the 3 locations it reads;

“Flights Insurance Car Hire”

The only other writing on this “A4 pencil pitch page” is a small box top right corner including the words “Bonus weeks 82 to 560” and underneath “Subject to availability”
Then in small writing in the bottom left hand corner it reads;
Essentials: Everything should be linked to discovery when explaining.
Keep it simple, with no confusion.
The purpose of the “A4 pencil pitch page” is to highlight the main contents which I have put in inverted commas.

From manual 3) (listed above) on page 11 section 6.3 quotes;
“Welcome to Anfi”
“Travel products and services – through relationships with selected partners, Members can benefit from the chance to purchase a wide range of travel products and service, e.g. flights, car rental, hotels, package holidays.

The 3 extracts quoted, contain 3 references to flights, one from each of the 3 manuals.

During our training, we were shown a number of pencil pitches we were to present to each and every client we took on a presentation. One of these pencil pitches was how the guests, by purchasing 1 week of ownership, and buying an “extra/bonus” week”, could have a 2 week holiday at Anfi Del Mar. If you are “super duper cart wheeled” into a “drink and walk around the island” (presentation), ask the representative for AUDITED figures showing how many extra/bonus weeks were used/taken at Anfi Del Mar the previous year. If you are “presented” with “these figures”, ask if you can keep the copy and watch their reaction. In November 2014, I was told by the then In-House Manager, only 2 extra/bonus weeks had been used/allocated in 2013.

The British Cold Line Sales Manager (BCLSM)) was our instructor who completed the training course. In order to be able to take clients on presentations, each and every individual on the training course had to complete a presentation with the BCLSM and be “signed off” off by him. If our presentation was not to his way/liking, we would not be “signed off” by him. I was “signed off” and began taking presentations on Friday 8th August 2014. During our training it was explained to us on a number of occasions it had to be the “Anfi Way”. The BCLSM quoted, his way worked and that’s why he was so successful.

With reference to “professionals revisiting their training manuals” all Sales professionals do keep a diary with their daily presentations and notes. These notes when timed and dated can be referred to as “contemporaneous notes”.

Good references re this subject;
Search:- Timeshare Talk - Anfi changes to resales June 11, 2012
Search:- Timeshare Talk Anfi Mis selling November 15, 2009
Search:- Timeshare Talk Anfi Touts October 25, 2011 (OPC works for “anyone”)
Search:- anfiscam.blogspot - Anfi turmoil update
Search:- Holiday Watchdog Anfi Beach Club Reviews – Arguineguin, Gran Canaria
Search:- Tripadvisor for “Beware of Anfi rep at Thomas Cook welcome meeting”
13th December 2011. (More to follow on this subject)
Search:- Tripadvisor for “anfi vacation club – beware!!! Please read and learn”
22nd November 2012. (“rep” in article will be discussed at a later date)
Search:- anfiukmembers, buying-a-timeshare at anfi?
Search thedibb Anfi Timeshare (?) - Advice needed 11 Sep 13
(Check the dates on the comments listed. They are mostly, a number of years before I joined AND YET, they have continued with the same tactics, including my time there.)

The Ambush.

During my time at Anfi, there was an incident I will refer to as “the ambush”. I was passing the In-House (IH) Department sales area when I was approached by the IH Sales Manager and 2 IH Sales Representatives (SR). The IH Manager appeared agitated and invited me to sit down while we had a talk. All 4 of us sat down. The IH Manager went on to say that what I was “pitching” was not correct and that I should change it because it affects the IH sales presentations. I pointed out to the IH Manager I was pitching exactly the way I was trained, The “Anfi way”. I added that if the IH Manager had an issue with this, they should take the issue up with the Cold Line (CL) Manager. All 3 of them became agitated and started “having a go at me” which was becoming louder and louder in the IH sales area. I remained quiet at this time because all 3 of them were very loud and vociferous. We were then joined by another IH SR. This IH SR’s partner was a colleague of mine on the CL. I remained calm, polite and respectful repeating to the now 4 people present that if the IH Manager had an issue with the way I was trained, then they should take the issue up with the CL Manager because he was my trainer and Manager. The IH representative who had just joined us then defended me and also said to his colleagues that they should take the issue up with the CL Manager, because “I was only doing as I was told”. I chose this moment to leave the situation and walked off. I immediately went to see the CL Sales Manager and pointed out to him what had just occurred. He replied that he would deal with the issue. I never heard any more about this issue, but I was never “ambushed” again, however, I did hear of a couple of more “ambushes” occurring. The constant friction and issues between the Cold Line and In-House departments was common knowledge within Anfi sales.

Because the Cold Line presentation is set up in such a way, the In-House representatives find it difficult to sell an upgrade to “new” owners. If the original Cold Line Sales Representative no longer works for Anfi, the In-House Representative will discredit the original sales person. I have had sufficient contact with people who purchased from myself to know this is a fact.

I completed the Anfi training and was “signed off” on Thursday 7th August 2014.
Friday 8th August 2014, I took my first cold line presentation at Anfi. There was no sale.
Monday 11th August 2014, I took my second cold line presentation and made a sale.
Tuesday 12th August 2014, I took my third cold line presentation and made a sale.
Wednesday 13th August 2014, I took my fourth cold line presentation and made a sale.
Thursday 14th August 2014, I took my fifth cold line presentation and made a sale.

On Friday 15th August 2014, having not made a sale, I was standing alone on the outside area of the cold line sales office when I was approached by British Cold Line Sales Manager. He said to me “where are you going to work after you have been sacked from here?”. He then walked off laughing. I was quite surprised and shocked at these comments.

From that day onwards, he continued to harass and upset me to the point where I became very concerned regarding my own personal health. I will refer to this in more detail and specifically post about the 2 following dates. Wednesday 15th April 2015 and Friday 17th April 2015 when I had to seek medical assistance and Cardiac tests at the local Clinic/Hospital in Arguineguin.

 

[ex Anfi (35351) C.D.N.]

The Anfi Way (Part 2 of 7)

The following 2 Laws cover Timeshare in Spain TODAY; (including the dates I worked there) 1) Real Decreto-ley 8/2012, de 16 de Marzo. 2) EU Directive 122 (16/3/2012)

These 2 laws are not an ‘either/or’ option. They BOTH MUST be complied with. You will clearly see the following words in the EU Directive 122;

“Member States should not be allowed to maintain or introduce in their national legislation provisions diverging from those laid down in this Directive”.

I have included the Articles and Chapters which include the “No monies to be taken”, because I appreciate Lawyers may miss this if it is mentioned only the one time. Count how many times the 2 LAWS refer to “No monies to be taken” (in Parts 2 to 7. Parts 3/4/5/6 and 7 will follow)


EU Directive 122 (16/3/2012)

Consumers: Determined Commission action ensures timeshare protection in all EU countries
Brussels, 31 May 2012 – Today, the European Commission closed an infringement case against Spain on the Timeshare Directive (Directive 2008/122/EC) after the country notified the Commission of a new law (Decreto-ley) transposing the rules. (Real Decreto-ley 8/2012, de 16 de marzo)

The Directive also ensures that consumers may withdraw from a contract within a "cooling-off" period of 14 calendar days and that traders can never ask them for any form of advance payment or deposit during that period. Before the conclusion of the contract, the trader is required to explicitly draw the consumer’s attention to the existence of the right of withdrawal, the length of the withdrawal period and the ban on advance payments during the withdrawal period.

Protection by the Directive now also covers new products and contracts which had been developed so as to avoid the application of the previous Timeshare Directive.


***********************The Anfi Way.********************

The Anfi Cold Sales lines sold a ‘Trial Membership’ (a part Time Membership). The part time membership consisted of either a 2 week, 3 week, 4 week up to a maximum of 5 weeks, all of which were to be used at Anfi Del Mar. Did Anfi circumvent the 2 laws by ‘PROVISIONALLY’ booking all the weeks purchased, into an 11 month time slot from the date of the purchase (thus, not breaching the 2 laws). The purchasers would hear the word PROVISIONALLY numerous times from the management and verifications department. The purchasers were also given the use of ‘RCI Extra Weeks’ after the 11 month period if they didn’t UPGRADE to a full membership during their first holiday at Anfi. The ‘Trial Membership’ was presented as a 2 and a half year ‘package’. It was then up to the In-House sales department to upgrade these clients. I have always wondered, if an INDEPENDENT AUDIT was completed on how many of these part time membership weeks were actually used outside the 11 month period? A deposit or ‘cash out’ was always taken on the day of purchase of these ‘Trial Memberships’.
*******************************************************************************************************

On 17 March 2012, Spain published Real Decreto-Ley 8/2012 transposing the Timeshare Directive. It entered into force the following day and was validated by the Spanish Parliament on 29 March 2012.Through its recent transposition, Spain avoided the risk of financial sanctions which the Commission could have requested under the Lisbon Treaty (Article 260 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU) when taking a Member State to court for failing to transpose an EU directive.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),
Whereas:
(1) Since the adoption of Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 1994 on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of the right to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis
(3), timeshare has evolved and new holiday products similar to it have appeared on the market. These new holiday products and certain transactions related to timeshare, such as resale contracts and exchange contracts, are not covered by Directive 94/47/EC. In addition, experience with the application of Directive 94/47/EC has shown that some subjects already covered need to be updated or clarified, in order to prevent the development of products aiming at circumventing this Directive.

(3) In order to enhance legal certainty and fully achieve the benefits of the internal market for consumers and businesses, the relevant laws of the Member States need to be approximated further. Therefore, certain aspects of the marketing, sale and resale of timeshares and long-term holiday products as well as the exchange of rights deriving from timeshare contracts should be fully harmonised. Member States should not be allowed to maintain or introduce in their national legislation provisions diverging from those laid down in this Directive. Where no such harmonised provisions exist, Member States should remain free to maintain or introduce national legislation in conformity with Community law. Thus, Member States should, for instance, be able to maintain or introduce provisions on the effects of exercising the right of withdrawal in legal relationships falling outside the scope of this Directive or provisions according to which no commitment may be entered into between a consumer and a trader of a timeshare or long-term holiday product, nor any payment made between those persons, as long as the consumer has not signed a credit agreement to finance the purchase of those services.
(4) This Directive should be without prejudice to the application by Member States, in accordance with Community law, of the provisions of this Directive to areas not within its scope. Member States could therefore maintain or introduce national legislation corresponding to the provisions of this Directive or certain of its provisions in relation to transactions that fall outside the scope of this Directive.




Real Decreto-ley 8/2012, de 16 de Marzo.

Title I. standards General.

Chapter i. Scope of application

EXHIBITION OF MOTIVES

II

It Directive 2008 / 122 / CE of 14 of January of the 2009 relative to the protection of them consumers with regard to certain aspects of them exploitations by shift of goods of use tourist, of acquisition of products rentals of long duration, of resale and Exchange, repeals the directive of 1994. The new directive is based on the appearanceof new holiday products that precisely defines, fill in gaps, extends the harmonization of the internal legal systems of States, reinforces the information consumer, regulates more precisely the deadlines for exercising the right of withdrawal, insists and extends the prohibition of payment of advances during the term of office of such law, requires a calendar of payments for those contracts of long duration and determines the ineffectiveness of certain loans of financing for the case of withdrawal. Should highlight is that them circumstances of extraordinary and urgent need, that under the article 86.1 of the Constitution enabled to the Government to adopt measures through real decree-law, come certain by the need of give compliance to them obligations derived of our membership to the Union European. It should be noted that the deadline for incorporation of Directive 2008/122/EC was on February 23, 2011 and since the European Commission already it has initiated appropriate actions to punish Spain with a significant fine. The adoption of this Royal Decree-Law responds accordingly, in avoiding the negative economic consequences for Spain which would be derived from the imposition of a fine by the European Union, at the time that is ahead of the entry into force of a rule which, on the one hand, improves the protection of consumers and, on the other hand, serves to boost an important sector of the Spanish economy.

IV
Chapter II transposes the rules of the directive on advertising and pre-contractual information with particular reference to the right of withdrawal, as well as banning consumer pay advances during the period of exercise of such right. In terms of facilitating the pre-contractual information, the European standard is looking for total harmonisation require the use of certain standardized forms that are incorporated by the corresponding annexes to this standard.

Are also transposition of the directive them rules on prohibition of advances or payments to charge of the consumer during the term of exercise of the right to desist,as well as the inefficiency of them contracts accessories, even them loans, in case of withdrawal, and the need of organize a plan stepped of payments for them contracts of products rentals of long duration.

TITLE I
General rules

CHAPTER I
Scope of application

Article 1. Scope of application.

1). the contracts of marketing, sale, resale of rights of use by shift of goods of use tourist and of products rentals of long duration, as well as to them contracts of Exchange, is govern by it willing in this real decree-law when is held between a businessman and a consumer.

2). is understands by entrepreneur all person physical or legal that act with purposes related with its activity economic, business, trade or profession and any person that act in name or by features of an entrepreneur.
(Includes Thomas Cook Representatives)