[Trueintrepid]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Ohh the UK thingy has multiple variations, most of it is done by Nigerians in either UK or elsewhere.

One i got an email from a very good friend of mine that he lost his passport, phone and all cash in UK and wanted to know if i can help with some cash. Now i know that he knows that i have other friends in UK (So i can help), + the email came from his normal ID, so all was authentic, It gave a hotel address and phone number of the hotel where he was staying.

So before i pulled up my friends in UK to pool in some cash, i thought i will speak to him and called the hotel number. The guy who picked up the phone said my friend has gone to the consulate for passport and asked me to respond over email.

It was then i read the email again to respond to him and noticed it was addressed to me as "Hi Mayank" which he usually does not do, he calls me "Jha ji", so i decided to try calling his phone number and if that goes unanswered i would call his wife (Both were in Singapore). When i called him, he picks up the phone and i ask him, and he updates that its a scam and seems like his gmail account credentials were compromised.

Thank heavens you got saved! Think about all the trouble your friends would have had to go through trying to reach the money and then the aftermath, when you'd realise you'd been duped.

[ampere]

I have a basic doubt if folks can clarify,
When most folks end up in Goa (or any other place), they would have already booked a place. If not, then yes, this whole thing is applicable.
But when one travels with a family, he/she would have booked a hotel already.

Why would someone change it for a weekend? Is it the lure of the place and the package?

Am I missing something?

[Marlon]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

One i got an email from a very good friend of mine that he lost his passport, phone and all cash in UK and wanted to know if i can help with some cash.

I had a similar experience where the mail was sent to our yahoo groups id. All our friends were worried. But fortunately one guy was there in UK and her said he called up & did some check & found the whole thing to be scam. Then the mail trail was complete fun.

After couple of weeks actual guy wrote back that he was in India only and his email was hacked.

Originally Posted by ampere

I have a basic doubt if folks can clarify,
When most folks end up in Goa (or any other place), they would have already booked a place. If not, then yes, this whole thing is applicable.
But when one travels with a family, he/she would have booked a hotel already.

Why would someone change it for a weekend? Is it the lure of the place and the package?

Am I missing something?

This membership is for your future vacations.

[supercars]

I had seen this Royal Group when my parents had taken me to Goa.

I hate Goa. It was the Most Boring Vacation in my life.

These Royal guys had taken us by Omni from our hotel and left us back at our hotel. My Family had not liked their resort that much and their membership was expensive.

[idea]

Here are few more updates. Also found similar incidences abroad - same method to fool people. here is pic.

Main problem here is

1. Everybody becomes lucky winner with scratch card getting same gift - So call Free stay to members.

2. Mis - representation

3. False Promises.

Also they hit you when you least expect - on vacation mood (Goa..) :-)

[dockap]

Royal Goan Holiday Resort Pvt Ltd

Is this the same resort group mentioned in the above posts?

[ramkya1]

I get lots of mails on this "you have won a lottery" thing and the oldest "I am from Nigeria / Guatemala / Kilimanjaro" and delete them pronto. They are so persistent, best to block the address into spam, but then another id springs up. Best way, delete them and keep deleting them. Do not open ANY of them, slightest doubt, kill them.

Get lots of calls (dont know how they get even secure numbers) with the usual line, "you have been chosen etc.", credit cards, bank accounts, ISP's, charities, mobile guys and other monkeys. One question seems to stun them usually "What's freely available without spending money?", they sheepishly hang up. Another thing which put off the pests, "What's your name (insist on name), I am writing a Police complaint about your call right now" they NEVER call again. I also say, over telephone I would not give any information, if you want mail me from your system generated mail id, never give mail id on phone. Genuine ones do send mails, you can use judgement to respond. Some of the genuine guys like banks, ASC of my car, post service survey etc., go apes when I say this

As for freebies, some of them do have budgets to spend as promo on the first few customers, are genuine, you need dig for info before jumping and swallowing the lines. If at all you take the freebies, tell them there's no obligation to buy, commit anything, if they are genuine, they would not insist on commitment.

Hope this helps.

--Ramky
======

[idea]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post one-liners that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the overall quality of this forum.

Please read our rules before proceeding any further.

[mobike008]

Ofcourse, we were also approached by same folks. My scratch card was " Sorry better luck next time". Wife's card was " Your a winner" and that sales person acted so ecstatic that I felt I become a crorepati

I knew this trick and firmely insisted that we are not interested and walked away

Just lost 10 minutes of our time on the road talking to that fella

P.S: Thanks for sharing these details. It will surely help newbies to goa.

[princezahed]

Hi Guys. It is best advised to stay from from taking these so called memberships.They will charge you a bomb and then you need to pay a certain amount yearly, just to keep the option open and even after you pay all the charges, it is not guaranteed that you would be able to book a holiday at your place/resort or choice.

Running a homestay in Coorg, I can say that Club mahindra, Coorg is a very beautiful property and is almost always booked. If you try to make a booking with them as a member, then in all likelihood, you will be told that the dates/week that you wish to travel is booked.However, call back as a walk in/regular customer and they seem to have rooms available. You actually end up paying more to take a holiday with all their hidden charges than you would spend normally. These are complaints from some of our guests who ended up taking a holiday at our place, even after being members of Club Mahindra.

[Zappo]

Looks like most people are very clued in to Goa and have seen these guys in action. Ok, then let me add a perspective for you all. I was in HP in this Dec/Jan. At Shimla, on the mall I was accosted by a... guess what... a Royal Resorts representative. So they are operational everywhere.

And luck of lucks, I got the Blackberry playbook, Rolex and god knows what else (any one) and of course a Royal Resorts Holiday stay as expected. The guy was stuck to me like a leech. Just refused to budge. he tried to coax, cajole, invoke the superior powers (literally) and what not. And when still nothing worked left. Only to return back with a ruddy cheeked guy whom he called his manager who apparently wanted to speak to me and know what on the world was really compelling me to give up on my stupendous luck it seems.

Goes without saying I almost shoed the duo away as by that time it had started showing on how desperate the two were to reel us in. By the way, my closest buddy cum navigator who is still unmarried was summarily disqualified and was told he could not even accompany us for the presentation.

[onesomeone]

This one reminds me of a call I got few months back similar to some of the expereinces shared from dodgy vacation clubs. The female on the call said -
She - "You have won a prize on lucky draw and will get 4d/5n free stay in Goa"
Me - "Madam where did I win the lucky draw?"
She - "Sir when you visited Garuda mall 15-20 days back".
Me - "Madam I have not visited Garuda mall since past 4-5 months"

Next response from her - Giggle and hang the damn phone

[bharatbits]

Even i get these kind of calls many a times.

Once, when i was in Hyderabad i happened to get a call saying that i had won a lucky draw and was invited to a presentation to claim my gifts.
I was asked to come along with my wife. When i said i am not married still, the girl says "As a policy we invite only married couples but i shall give you a flexibility, you may come along with your girlfriend".
I lost my cool and said "I do not have a girlfriend either. But, i still want to claim my gifts. Can you arrange me a girl? "
She was dumbstruck and i hung the phone.

[idea]

Kicking off thread after long time. Infact posting from Goa.

Nothing has changed, these people still around and now may be more pushy. I tried to polietely deny them but they wont give up. So just avoided them.

However, watched a poor fellow with family of 2 kids getting trapped?. Same old story - Scratch card.. Wife gets lucky coupon ! free holiday blah blah. Sales guy convinces family to go to THEIR resort for further discussions/trapping. He quickly calls somebody , within a minute a tavera arrives and sales guy pack them in car and sees off.

After a minute, couple of calls by him and i can clearly see a winning smile. Probably he gets his commission just be sending potential customer to resort and there is other team to close/cut throat of customer.

I really hope, this guy dont pay up and fall prey. Sadly hardly anybody can do this in such situations unless you yourself are alert.

I am not regular at Goa but this is my third official visit to Goa this year. Things have changed. Lot of vendors have started fleecing customers/tourists and killing their own long term business.

Just had experience with bike rentals. One vendor i used this time, tried to fool me by saying there was 7-8 Litre petrol before he gave it to me on rental and i need to pay 500 extra when i tried to return bike and get my originals and security deposit. Quite few of you are aware that in goa when you rent a bike , they are almost dry to the extent that it cant even go few meters without refilling. Quite few customers also reported that even if you are even 5-10 minutes late, they try to charge you full rentals for next day under context they lost business for day now just because you came LATE. Similar circumstances are produced especially when you are getting late for your departure bus/train/flight presssed for time.

In my case i didnt relent and made it point to stand by my view/fact. Also made it point that other customers around can hear what is going on (atleast where NOT to take your bike/car from). I was with my family. But i already had it with vendor. Had heated exchange to the extent that he told me "Do whatever you can do. I am local here, and you are outsider, you cant do anything to me."

At end, he settled for Rs 100 extra instead of 500 extra. This was clear case of cheating but i didnt have time to fight for 100 more bucks. Ideally, if he was RIGHT, he would have never settled for just 100/-. He was just taking his chances. Can share details of vendors if required.

I have also heard that most of vendors prefer foreign tourist rather than indians as customer as they can easily cheat them. Foreigners are given first priority.

Request other members to share their Goa - bad experiences on this thread.
Also not saying all vendors in Goa are cheaters just sharing my bad experiences so that others can avoid getting trapped.

@Mod: Please change thread title to more generalised like "Going Goa - Watch out for these things". Word scam could be misleading


@jacksons: Just google around with their details, you will come to know if it marketing or fraud.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by idea

...Can share details of vendors if required...

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I think you should share the details of the vendor. That's what you can do as an "outsider" to a "local" guy!

Also if anybody has any recommendations for an honest vendor, please do share. This is how we can keep the community informed of who should / should NOT choose for these services!