DavidLedger
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When I was a Rep on the Emerald committee I was told that siblings are not close relatives – even identical twins. I’ve had to pay for a GC for a week for my wife’s sister; and yes, my wife’s name is on the certificate and her signature on all the documents.
When I took a member’s complaint to them about having booked a ‘Penthouse’ and being put halfway up the building, I pointed out that the dictionary definition says it has to be on the top. Their reply was that it was a luxury apartment so they called it a ‘penthouse’. Anfi regard the English language as something they can do what they want with. The Business Language of Anfi is stated as ‘English’.
We have emailed members regarding the Puerto election, and members may also be interested to read in the forum Geoff’s statement with information about what has been achieved over the last 3 years and the work ahead for the Puerto committee.
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Message and CV from Geoff Mathews (Anfi UK committee member and candidate)I understand the Club Puerto Anfi Ballot Papers for the Puerto AGM to be held on 28th November 2024 in Gran Canaria will arrive soon for Puerto Anfi Members.
I am delighted to have been nominated again for the Club Puerto Anfi Liaison committee.
The last three years have been challenging at times, but a number of projects have been completed that include a new Power Machinery and Control Room installation saving almost one third of our Electricity costs, along with new Air-conditioning thermostats in every apartment, and important maintenance and repairs works have been carried out to Puerto balconies and fascias.
New pool furniture has been purchased and installed along with electronic pool temperature displays. There has also been a substantial amount of money spent in cliff stabilisation (reinforced steel netting).
We also have new wave of confidence developing in Anfi Plaza with substantial investments in the form of the New Spar and soon a Fund Grube outlet as well as investment from new restaurateurs that is very encouraging.
However there is still a number of issues that I am the process of addressing like the Mini Golf area, the stage on the Plaza, the Maroa Island refurbishment and the deserted Pier Monreal Bar.
I would like a mandate in the form of your vote to allow me to continue working on your behalf to preserve and improve our beloved Anfi Holiday Ownership.
Your votes are vitally important as I believe the next 3 years will be fundamentally important, not only for Club Puerto Anfi, but the whole Anfi Group of companies as the two Anfi Companies presently in Administration will hopefully emerge fitter and stronger.When the new owners take control of Anfi it will be vitally important that the role of the Liaison Committee members is understood and strengthened in their evolving business model.
I will be a strong voice for all Anfi Owners of all Nationalities. But we need to send a strong message to the management so it’s vital that you use your votes.
When you get your voting papers if you are unsure who to vote for you can give me your Proxy Vote as I will be in attendance at the meeting and I will allocate your votes to the candidates that I believe will make the best Committee Members.
If you have any questions or would like any help completing your ballot paper when it arrives just let me know.
Thank you for your time and your vote.
With best wishes
Geoff MathewsJet2 were only able to rent me a car to and from the airport, which I didn’t want. They suggested I went direct to the company they use – rentalcars.com
I rang rentalcars.com to try to arrange what I wanted. They couldn’t either, so I continued directly with them to book a car for my full two weeks from ‘Ok Rent a car’ which is also called ‘OK Mobility’ https://okmobility.com/en/. They are Europe-wide and quite a large company. My rental gave no problems. Fuel was full to full. Cost for a Corsa was £87.23 for two weeks + £65.521 for Zurich Full Insurance. I also paid €40 for roadside assistance. I’ve paid more for much less. If you book direct (rather than through rentalcars.com etc.) they offer a package that includes full insurance and roadside assist for less.
The only downside is that they send you ‘special offer’ emails at least monthly. I would set a filter but I plan on using them on our next visit.
Em
At first I thought I’d ring you for a chat, but then I thought that that wouldn’t help anyone else reading the forum, so I’m commenting here.
My first reaction would be that the “International Compliance Association” would be a scam, and it probably is. It doesn’t surprise me that these ‘legal’ companies have started targeting people who used other ‘legal’ firms to sue Anfi, including JLCA. At least we know that JLCA are real lawyers. All these firms said that they could recover money from Anfi and many of their clients were awarded a sum of money. Little of this money was actually paid out by Anfi and the unpaid money has been reduced to 50 cents in the euro as part of the court administration of Anfi Sales and Anfi Resorts. I can see how many clients will be unhappy with their ‘law firms’ and may want to take action against them for agreeing to the reduction. On the other hand I can’t see a court supporting a claim against a firm for doing something asked for by a court.
On the subject of your possible ownership, do you still have your owners/membership certificate? If you do, I would send them to Anfi by recorded delivery, with a covering letter, reinforcing what you said to them in 2022. If Anfi have already accepted them then you _should_ be in the clear. Can you still log into the Anfi site Members’ Area (using the ‘Password Request’ function if necessary)? If you can’t, and the Password Request says you are unknown, then that is a clear indication unless you now have a different email address. Anfi haven’t sent out maintenance invoices recently, relying on owners using their website Members’ Area to pay. If they deny you access then you can’t be expected to pay. If your email address has changed then you would have to ring them and get it all sorted out. That would give you confirmation of your ownership status as well, although not in writing.
Hope these thoughts help.
David
The safest way would be to add the others while you are still around. I’m sure Anfi would charge at least as much to do it afterwards. If the Anfi contract were for property then you would need a Spanish will. As it’s for ‘holiday rights’ I don’t think it requires that, but I’m not a lawyer so you’d have to check with a Spanish one. There’s no requirement for all owners to live at the same address, but they will use the address of the one they consider as the primary owner for all correspondence. I have heard that only the ‘primary’ owners can book a week (if not fixed). I’m not sure how strongly they adhere to that. There must be a way for a secondary owner to take over
Contact Customer Services asap. Phone would be best because you can sit there with the website showing no invoice and tell them so. An email gives them a chance to fix that and then charge a late payment fee. Take a screenshot if one would show something useful.
They did two advance payment competitions. with different dates and different prizes.
David
To be fair, Anfi didn’t know that they were mis-selling. Timeshare companies objected when the law change and the Spanish government produced a scheme that allowed existing resorts to continue as they were. The courts either ignored this or decided the government scheme was illegal. As soon as this became apparent Anfi changed the rules to be legal.
I’d be inclined to do it slowly in stages. First add your sons so you’re all members. Let them use it without you a couple of times then make one of them the primary contact. Then just leave it. I don’t know that you can come off the contract yourselves without the formal change of ownership of a sale, which would raise the AVC issue. Eventually you will drop off the contract (/twig 🙂 ) naturally.
I think it may depend on where the bus is due next. We usually arrive at Emerald late – typically 10 mins after the Spar closes, and then the driver heads home from there after his last job.
David
You don’t say, but was the week originally a ‘direct week’, bought from Anfi? If so it sounds like Anfi are interpreting ‘inheritance’ as ‘sale/purchase’. Clearly not the case. If you had been added to the contract before you inherited it then any AVC membership should have remained and you should just have become the primary contact. Too late now of course unfortunately.
David
I don’t think Anfi have the concept of ‘consistency’; or ‘logical argument’ for that matter.
Anfi generally aren’t asking for new contracts for resale owners. As a resale owner they don’t have a contract with you – the contract is with the original direct purchaser. That seems to be the way Spain works. I don’t think resale contracts can be taken to court without involving the original purchaser, and as far as I know this has never been done.
As to your children, if they want to take over the contracts when you die then it’s a good thing. It means that there should be no problems with them taking it on. Bequeathing ownership can be a bit hit-and-miss and cost money, possibly even legal fees, to sort out unless you have a Spanish will as well as a UK one. If they want to own, add them to your contract. It’s simpler.
This forum is for asking questions (and posting any experience that might help another member), so ask away. Some answers someone here will know, other’s not. You won’t get an answer if you don’t ask.
I clicked the button and the screen said so, but I haven’t looked for it yet.
It’s impossible to guess what Anfi will do, but one thing must have changed since the Court Administrator became involved, and that is their attitude to the legality of the old contracts.
Anfi used to insist that the courts were wrong and that the contracts were legal. There is good reason for them to believe this as the Spanish Government allowed established resorts to be registered and allowed to continue as before. Anfi registered Beach, Puerto and Monte, but the courts did not take that into account.
The Court Administrator cannot hold that view. They must say that the old contracts were contrary to the law. In the UK I think that this would mean that they are unenforceable in any way. A Spanish lawyer has told me that that some aspects could be enforceable. If you end up not being able to book there without signing a new contract then they may be within their rights. Denying a booking because the contract is an old one used to be able to be seen as an admission that the old contracts are wrong. The Court Administration takes that away.Don’t worry about reporting faults. Somebody needs to do it :-).
One of the problems is that faults go unreported and things just get worse.The remote is unlikely to cause any TV problems as all it does is duplicate the adjustment controls on the set itself, which are often hidden. More likely the age of the set. If these two apartments were in the same block then they should have changed the set as the signal connections would be from the same source.
There’s no change that I yet know of in the way of financial issues, but I do understand that Lopesan now owns a controlling interest, if not all of, the major Anfi companies. This, we believe, can only be good news. We should know more after the next round of Anfi reps committee meetings.
Last October (’21) they were:
2021
AEC del Mar
9:30 10:00
10:30 11:00
11:30 15:30
16:00 16:30
17:00 17:20
19:30 20:00
20:30 21:00
21:30 22:20
First column = time leaving Emerald
Second = time leaving Del Mar.
Takes 10 – 20 minutes.
The shuttle times have been the same for some years now, but best to check. They have slips with them printed on in reception.You can’t use the Club facilities at del Mar if you’re staying at Emerald – the door cards don’t work, but people do get in. Similarly if you’re staying at del Mar your cards don’t work at Emerald (not that there’s much that’s card protected there. Golfers are allowed in to use the restaurant.
Emerald is very quiet, which means no problems getting a sun bed, and quiet pools.
There is a mini Spar shop that stocks essentials, but it’s not large. Emerald is up the valley from the sea, with the ‘up’ being important. Down the hill just beyond the gatehouse is a larger Spar and the Tauro Grill. Unless you’re really fit you don’t want to be buying heavy items like water at the bigger Spar if you don’t have a car. The Spar is the local shop for the Turquoise, Topaz and Opal apartments. The first two are privately owned with people living there; Opal can be rented with points from Anfi. All three are on Anfi land.
The Tauro development is a bit cut off. The coast road passes between the main development and the beach with no easy crossing. Talk of a land train has so far come to nothing. Once at the main road there is the Tauro Restaurant and Grill om the Anfi side and the Guantanamo restaurant on the other (worth a visit). There is a collection of illegal housing between the road an the beach which includes the Pio Pio bar and a small restaurant. Bob Gorman sometimes plays there.
There are bus stops at the main road too but I’ve never used them. Being on the coast road the busses will go to lots of places.
David
When we were there last October it was fully open. We were at Emerald and so it was our closest shopping area and we went a few times. There is a main walkway over two floors with shops on either side. This runs parallel to the street but at one end there is an entrance from a wide open street corner; at the other end the upstairs opens up into a plaza with cafes and restaurants and a supermarket (Hyperdino I think). The plaza does have lifts down to street level but there’s not much at street level at that end. The whole is incorporated above a 2 (3?) level car park which sometimes seems to be free. Not all of the restaurants around the plaza were open but they probably are now. Well worth a visit. We did most of out food shopping there – we were there for two weeks.
The Spar across the street is also new but had mainly unoccupied shops in the same building. We didn’t try the Spar because it was ‘park for the Spar’ or ‘park for lots of shops’.
DavidYou have to ask either Customer Services, or, if you are a member of AVC you can ask them. We have points and so always have to book, for ourselves or to rent out, from AVC. They then do a Guest Certificate if needed. If you are not AVC members then it has to be Customer Services.
They want full name and address of the lead person staying. If they are also Anfi members themselves then their membership number as well will make it easier for them and they may do it quicker. I have been asked for their passport number in the past, but didn’t need it for a rental last September.
David
We know of no reason why not. It gives you a fully legal contract with the same facilities as before, albeit with a couple of things to do to keep it so. These are needed to get round the legal restrictions added in 1998.
It’s over month now since we did the trip and things will have changed. Indeed one of the things that have to be done can now be partially done before leaving home, but had been announced but not implemented before we left.
One thing I would suggest is that you have multiple copies and even an enlarged version of documents that show a QR code. I don’t think anyone actually scanned the codes, they were just looked at to make sure you had one. No-one other than Anfi reception even looked at our ‘proof of jab’ form. However, when filling in the return form I had to scan the codes on that form and the QR codes were not recognised. The print quality was not good enough. Luckily I had my (Android) phone, my iPad and a small laptop with me so I could fill the form in on the laptop and scan the code by displaying it on my phone. Hopefully you’ll be able to get past that point before you leave home. I had to do it at Anfi because the return form was too new.
David
This would be a difficult one. Unlike a house rental there is no charge for staying in a timeshare you own. The maintenance fee is payable whether you go or not and is not a usage fee. I’m not sure what loss you would insure against.
Persistence is the only way. Sometimes they are quick, sometimes not. It can depend on who gets to handle your case. After a cancellation I recently re-rented a week before the start. The GC only took a couple of days. If it gets desperate contact Maria Hidalgo – hidalgo@anfi.es but please don’t use her for ‘normal’ situations.
Peter
Could you get them to give the exact wording of the rule. You’re only wanting to use 100% of the points you accrue over a two year period, not 125%. A 125% rule could prevent you from borrowing from next year’s points to make an external booking.
It sounds like either a rule badly quoted to you or one being mis-applied.
David
Peter
I’m one of those who has had trouble in the past with this. I did some tests when you reported it and didn’t have any problems this time. I’ve just brought another computer into the mix and still don’t have the problem.
I see it working properly on
Safari and Firefox on Mac OSX
Brave and Firefox on Ubuntu Linux
and now, after digging out my old HP NetBook
Edge, Firefox and Chrome on Windows 10.Do you use any browser and operating system combination other than one of those above?
David
Before 1998 in-perpetuity contracts were fully legal, so there is no in-perpetuity illegality and no real need to sign up for the ‘renew after 50 years at no cost’ clause. So you are in a clearer and no worse position than the post-1998 contract owner. However, by the time 50 years is up Anfi may have procedures in place to terminate contracts that have not been extended. If that happens, convincing them that you didn’t need to may be a hassle. Who knows? Anyone with a fully legal contract doesn’t lose anything by signing a new contract as far as I can see. The only argument I’ve heard for not signing is that you can no-longer sue them. A pre-1998 contract owner can’t anyway.
The other legality issue is with Floating (and Points) contracts without an apartment/week specified in the contract. I don’t know if this situation came in in 1998 or whether it’s a general timeless Spanish law concept. I’ve not heard of this being an issue for these early contracts though.
