Anfi pt 1

[Stephen]

Just seen this on Crimeshare http://www.crimeshare.net/88.html sorry have to split between two posts as too big for one



Thought you would all be interested in this article that was published in a major financial newspaper in Norway - finally it looks as though the real truth behind the anfi "product" is starting to emerge - im sure all the anfi owners who have already been scammed are breathing a sigh of relief!!!!

KAPITAL - Desperate Timeshare-owners in Bjørn Lyngs “Anfi Del Mar”: Help! Timeshare is crimeshare!
Loads of Norwegians bought Timeshare in Bjørn Lyng´s Anfi Del Mar in GranCanaria. “We thought that since a Norwegian is behind it, it is clean. How wrong we were…” many of them now states.
Anfi Del Mar is the perfect place for a sunny holiday. Situated in the sunny south of Gran Canaria, Anfi enjoys summer-weather all year . Always with a nice cooling breeze from the ocean. You will never be bored in Anfi Del Mar. More than 18.000 families has already become owners in this stunning holiday-resort, created by the Anfi Group on the Canaries.
This is how Bjørn Lyngs holiday-paradise is described in the colorfull tourist-brochures. In reality the holiday-dream has become a true nightmare for many Norwegian timeshare-tourists. Many of them got in contact with “Kapital”: We haven’t been given the rights we were promised when we signed the contract – they claim. – We should never have done this – says one of the regretting buyers. We paid 1.000.000,- kroner (approx. 120.000,- Euro) to live there a couple of weeks, and now we experience things like this…. – another owner says. - When we stay there, we waste 2 or 3 days on resultless talks and meetings to get what we were promised, a third owner says. – We trusted the Norwegian system, a fourth claims.
- The guards arrived with hand shells!
Common for the Norwegian buyers is, that they thought that Lyng´s resort on Gran Canaria was so much cleaner than all the other suspect resorts that popped up world wide. I was very skeptical towards the whole timeshare-thing, but the Norwegian staff there were very convincing and told us, that it was a safe investment since it was owned by a Norwegian company – says Leif Svarstad. – Among other things they used that Bjørn Lyng – the cousin of both former prime-minister John Lyng and Norwegian citizen of the century Thor Heyerdahl – stood behind. That was the guaranty that this was a serious company, Svarstad says. In stead, a lot of Norwegians now experience what they see as false marketing, lack of contract fulfillment, missing value-increase on the investment and extremely low resale-value. The unsattisfaction has been so big, that the timeshare-owners now organized them selves in different communities depending on their nationality. Swedes, Danes end Brits have had such “not-happy-clubs” as they call them, for a long time. The Norwegians recently organized themselves in “Anfi Club Norway”, whose goal it is to get the members´ wishes towards Anfi through. The Anfi-management – to say it in a nice way – didn’t approve on this. The Norwegian community has meetings on Gran Canaria every Wednesday, where they discuss common subjects – but they are not allowed to put up any posters or information about these meetings. – It is normal, that the Anfi-management sends out Spies to attend these meetings, simply to assure that we don’t use the meeting to market re-sale – says a regular visitor on these meetings.
Norwegian Anne Marie Aslaksen, who has helped many selling their Anfi-weeks for more than Anfi offers, was allowed to hold a speech in one of the Wednesday-meetings, where she offered Norwegian timeshare-owners to help them sell their weeks. The Anfi-management very much disagreed on this. The following Wednesday to members of the management showed up assisted by five armed guards. They made it very clear, that if she gave out as much as a list to the people at the meeting, she would be arrested. The guards had their hand shells ready, as several sources confirm. Aslaksen herself does not wish to comment on the episode, but confirms, that “the actual content is correct”. –People were shocked several
witnesses say.
- We should actually take Anfi to court. Leif Svarstad, critical timeshare-buyer
-A big bluff….

[Stephen]

second part of the Anfi post


While timeshare has been struggling with a very bad reputation for many years, the Lyng-resort on Gran Canaria has been seen on as one of the more serious and reliable places to holiday. This is now about to change… During the sales-presentation the Anfi-salesmen promises you the world, but as soon the contract is signed everything changes, says the Ohnstad family on the web site of Anfi Club Norway. Leif Svarstad confirms this. He was invited to spend a free week in Anfi Del Mar before he bought his parts in the resort. – That was the best week we ever spent down there, he says. – They had a yacht called “Members Only”, on which we taken around the island. They said that this was for free for the members. They also gave us a free cell phone during our stay, invited us to different restaurants and gave us champagne. When it was time to go home, we were taken to the airport by a fantastic limousine. The important part was
however, that we were guarantied our money back if we changed our minds,
and that we were able to rent additional weeks in the resort or other similar resorts world wide – for approx. 150,- Euro per week. I asked the sales- department several times if this was true, and yes – they could guaranty me this. 150,- Euro a week, was the price that they as well quoted me.
When Svarstad got home, he contacted the holiday-club Interval International. The message from them was slightly different: “The price is 450,’ Euro per week” – three times the quoted price. “Members Only” they are no longer allowed to use, and they “ran out of champagne” long time ago. In January Svarstad called to book two week in Anfi for October. Not possible! Reason: Anfi Del Mar already pre-booked the resorts for most of the autumn. Potential buyers for Lyngs latest timeshare project in the Tauro Valley – a few kilometers from Anfi Del Mar – have first right on the apartments. You are simply not treated well. It is one lie after the other, says Svarstad who bought 2 weeks for close to 40.000,- Euro. Today he would get 20% of his money back – if he´s lucky. Svarstad was promised the whole amount back if he changed his mind, and the sales person him self (Jarle Meyer) also promised to help him sell it. – He has now promised me this for the last three years, Svarstad complains. Now he is planning to go to a lawyer with his case. It shouldn’t be a problem to prove that the Anfi sales team promise things that they don´t live up to. A timeshare salesman from Anfi, who were interviewed in the television programme “Sydenliv” (life in the south) a couple of years ago, confirmed to the Norwegian viewers, that the full amount would be refunded in case they changed their minds after buying timeshare. - “So you mean, that this is all a big scam?” Yes, it is, says Svarstad. Moving millions up and down “Kapital” has been visited by a family who has been through similar sales-methods. – We paid about 120.000,- Euro for six fixed weeks
– four in November and two in the school-holidays, they tell. The day after we signed the first contract, they contacted us and said that the week had “been banked” by mistake, as they called it. They therefore brought an additional contract, where we were promised to get the original promised apartment with a lovely view, as soon as available – or a similar apartment. This is now five years ago, and we still haven’t received any help. The result of all this is a lot of hassle: When we go down there in October, we first have to stay in a third-floor apartment, then two weeks on fourth and one week in a different apartment. In our November holiday we spent half the time moving up and down. On top of that, we loose a couple of days on resultless talking – trying to get the rights we were originally promised, the family tells. Because of all these problems, we now wish to get rid of the four weeks, but the problem is, that we would hardly get any money back for them. Unfortunately, this ruins our holidays. –It takes the glamour away, they say, and they totally lost count of how many different people they have been in contact with to solve their problems. Meanwhile they pay a yearly maintenance-fee of 2.500,- “Kapital” tried to get in contact with the Anfi-management. First through In House Manager Børge Gjerstad, or sales-manager as the Norwegians call him, and later through his boss Unn Tove Luckock. None of them responded on “Kapital”´s efforts before deadline. Not only timeshare-owners struggle to get through in the system… Since regretting timeshare buyers only get a small part of the amount they were promised by Anfi, so called resale-companies have occurred – selling used weeks. These companies mostly manage to get their twice the price that Anfi offers, something that off course undermines the resorts business. To achieve as many “first-had-buyers” as possible, Anfi created their own holiday-club. - Anfi Vacation Club offers advantages to a few, but disadvantages for many others, it is said on the web site of the buyers “interest-organization”. – You can only join this by buying minimum two weeks direct from Anfi.
Second hand buyers are not welcome, unless they buy them selves up in the system. The membership can give certain advantages like extra bonus-weeks and free transfer from the airport, but there are also so many roles and fees that the members get totally confused. They also introduced a point-system, which is very difficult to understand. The “fee-jungle” is totally crazy. Now you even have to pay 99,- Euro just to book your own week.
-Ought to go to court
-Most people have seen upon Anfi del Mar with Bjørn Lyng as the main stock-holder, as a serious timeshare-company, but soon you can compare Anfi to the so-called holiday clubs on Gran Canaria, which have been mentioned in the media a lot lately, says a member of Anfi Club Norway. -Help! Timeshare has become crimeshare, another member says. -We ought to take Anfi to court, says Leif Svarstad. And this is something the timeshare industry has seen a lot over the last years. Lawyer Thor-Johan Larsen is preparing a case against one of the industry’s most unserious bosses John Palmer, for around 80 persons. This he is doing together with Spanish lawyers. John Palmer has previously been sentenced to eight years in prison for cheating a lot of European – including Norwegian – tourists. The Norwegian lawyer claims property worth 150.000.000,- kroner (19.000.000,- Euro) from John Palmer. Several more cases are on the way. -The problem in Norway is, that most timeshare owners are so embarrassed that they have been scammed, that they choose not to do anything about it, Svarstad thinks. “Kapital” has not been able to get in contact with Bjørn Lyng.
- Informer

[Cotswolder]

The quoted line about the "Not-happy-clubs" being formed in various European counties is not quite correct.
These groups have been formed by HAPPY owners wishing to compliment their expeiencies of Anfi and the help other owners to enjoy the resorts and Gran canaria to the full.