 Poster: A snowHead
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What kind of gives it away to me is the prices mentioned on the scam site do not in any way reflect the huge prices of the luxury chalets in the real places. We are talking 50,000€ a week for one of them, and 800€ per night for the scam. I think I have seen Chalet Eden in St Anton used on a scam site before. I did report it to the genuine adveritiser who took steps to get the site closed down.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I wouldn't be too quick to blame the people named on the website. Its easy to register a domain name from any country. I highly doubt the people/directors named on the website have anything to do with this scam. All the documents/name are freely available con companies house. The website is hosted in NL, I guess the scammer is based in another county like Russia or China
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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May be an idea to contact those named people?
If it's not their site, they're going to want to address it urgently.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I've already contacted "Firefly Collection", much of the site content is copied from their site.
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Thank you very much for the heads-up on this.
We just hope that not too many people have fallen into their trap and unfortunately we have had a lot of calls regarding bookings/enquiries via Air B&B as well (which we have no affiliation with), offering very cheap rates on fictitious luxury chalets.
Kind regards,
Firefly Collection team
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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As @Hells Bells, states, the pricing is highly dubious. Out of interest do many chalets/apartments quote per night as oppose to per week? As someone already said why is mid Jan cheaper than i.e. Feb half term?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We should probably have a Sticky page of these scam sites, here and on Chalets.
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Actually @bar shaker, it's better, when people discover these things, that they start a thread like this one with the name of the offending party in the title. SnowHeads topics tend to flag highly and quite quickly in Google results for the topic title. So the process:
find an apparent bargain => worry it's too good to be true => Google company name => find loads of helpful snowHeads clarifying the situation
is maintained 
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@Swissie,
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do many chalets/apartments quote per night as oppose to per week?
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Increasingly, yes. We have started doing so in recent years. BUt Feb half term is most definitely more expensive than mid January!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Being helpful (and/or nosy) I telephoned Parkers accountants at the Hove address to suggest one of their clients may be a victim of ID theft. They are aware and dealing.
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Useful lessons from this thread are
a) scammers are capable of producing very slick websites, and
b) don't rush out to kneecap owners identified on the site as they're probably just as much a victim as yourself.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Slick but also quite stupid. Any fule knos you can't see the Matterhorn from Chamonix town.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Swissie, I quote per night on some sites (booking.com for example) and per week on others.
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| admin wrote: |
Actually @bar shaker, it's better, when people discover these things, that they start a thread like this one with the name of the offending party in the title. SnowHeads topics tend to flag highly and quite quickly in Google results for the topic title. So the process:
find an apparent bargain => worry it's too good to be true => Google company name => find loads of helpful snowHeads clarifying the situation
is maintained |
Yep, currently at no 1 on Google for premierchaletholidays.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@hawkwind, basically, yes.
Rule #1 - if it looks too good to be true it probably is.
We've been on the receiving end as a renter - which led to all sorts of bizarre conversations with the listing company who seemed to think we had some sort of liability for their screwup.
Anyway the first we knew of the problem was when we received an email saying, more or less,
Them, "We are looking forward to staying in your lovely apartment next week but are surprised you haven't asked us for the balance"...
Us, "Errr, who are you exactly?"
Etc. Basically someone had used our email address and forged a listing and was busy collecting deposits. Luckily for us, the agency were clearly the ones at fault. Their systems are more robust today.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@under a new name,
Thats crazy , when you think about it you see the way it could be done but still!
Caveat emptor as the saying goes.
Stress for you knowing your details were used in a scam , suppose that feels like being housebroken in way.
I suppose as i wasnt purchasing i wasnt paying too much attention , wasnt my £3000 but at a casual glance it looked legit.
I presume they are professionals so are baiting you to contact them via telephone/email to do the sales patter and complete the scam.
Thats where i could have fallen for it , quick look at website and company info etc , then lured into a "genuine" person to talk to and seal the deal.
To the OP , holy moly that was close! well done and full credit for following your intuition and not hitting the send button.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@hawkwind, I wonder if they really do want you calling. I suspect that there are enough people who'll just get their credit cards out for a bargain...
We do sometimes have clients who are concerned, which is entirely reasonable, but it does require a little leading to official websites to at least prove we exist and own the property.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Are you protected by the credit card guarantees, if you used such a site?
I would never do a bank transfer for such a booking but curious as to whether a card booking would be easily refunded from the CC company.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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It'll be all carried out over email and online chat sessions. The site fires up a chat window the moment you access it. I'll bet that the conversation about dates would show a remarkable coincidence that someone has just cancelled and that there is someone else off thinking about it RIGHT NOW!!!
@bar shaker, I've started recoverey of credit card losses before now - Company who turned out to be a bit fast and loose with their stock levels, I cancelled my order and contacted the credit card company. Logged it as a potential issue and they said that if my account hadn't been credited in 30 days they'd refund the money and take it up with the vendor. In the end they company refunded in about a week so never was an issue but the CC companies are so used to this now they're on top of it.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 8-11-16 17:20; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Watch out for using credit cards to book through an agent. They wriggle out of their liabilities by claiming that that "supplier/supply" chain has been broken. i.e. if you pay a booking agent who pays the hotel then they try to side step their liability.
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Pay through your Tesco Bank current account and you should be ok.
(I'm here all week)
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| Badbobby wrote: |
| Watch out for using credit cards to book through an agent. They wriggle out of their liabilities by claiming that that "supplier/supply" chain has been broken. i.e. if you pay a booking agent who pays the hotel then they try to side step their liability. |
This information is incorrect, Credit Cards are the safest way to pay for anything costing more than £100. Ultimately if there is a problem delivering a service anywhere in the chain your CC company is liable and you can recover the money from them.
If you willingly send money by bank transfer and there is any kind of SCAM or any failure to supply good or services then your on your own. The same goes for debit cards. There is a difference between fraud where you have authorized a payment and if a payment was taken without your authorisation. Card and fraud protection policies are also unlikely to protect you against failure to supply good/services or a SCAM.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Pamski wrote: |
| There is a very expensive chalet in Les Gets, featured on Grand Designs many years ago now, and when it appeared in the FT they had used a view from the chalet, but the view they used was of Verbier. Just shows you can't believe all that is in the Press! Quite often in fact |
And in a timely manner that episode of grand designs has just started on More4
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A few seasons ago there was a scam like this advertising properties in St Anton.
Some people were caught out financially & If i recall they did catch the culprits.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| dklemm wrote: |
| Badbobby wrote: |
| Watch out for using credit cards to book through an agent. They wriggle out of their liabilities by claiming that that "supplier/supply" chain has been broken. i.e. if you pay a booking agent who pays the hotel then they try to side step their liability. |
This information is incorrect, Credit Cards are the safest way to pay for anything costing more than £100. Ultimately if there is a problem delivering a service anywhere in the chain your CC company is liable and you can recover the money from them.
If you willingly send money by bank transfer and there is any kind of SCAM or any failure to supply good or services then your on your own. The same goes for debit cards. There is a difference between fraud where you have authorized a payment and if a payment was taken without your authorisation. Card and fraud protection policies are also unlikely to protect you against failure to supply good/services or a SCAM. |
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/section-75-of-the-consumer-credit-act#payments-through-an-agent-or-third-party
No, your information is incorrect.
I've been through this and taken it to the ombudsman, thankfully for a triffling amount.
So don't say that I am wrong and encourage people to use their credit cards and think that it covers them for everything. The same goes for using a credit card on paypal, albeit paypal has its own refund procedure.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'm happy to be corrected. I yes you are correct about agents and paypal (I was aware of paypal)
I would still aways recommend using credit card all travel purchases, you don't get any less protection than using Debit Card and Bank Transfers. Obviously everyone need to make their own mind up considering it often costs more for credit card transactions and if you don't pay them off interest is charged.
| Badbobby wrote: |
| dklemm wrote: |
| Badbobby wrote: |
| Watch out for using credit cards to book through an agent. They wriggle out of their liabilities by claiming that that "supplier/supply" chain has been broken. i.e. if you pay a booking agent who pays the hotel then they try to side step their liability. |
This information is incorrect, Credit Cards are the safest way to pay for anything costing more than £100. Ultimately if there is a problem delivering a service anywhere in the chain your CC company is liable and you can recover the money from them.
If you willingly send money by bank transfer and there is any kind of SCAM or any failure to supply good or services then your on your own. The same goes for debit cards. There is a difference between fraud where you have authorized a payment and if a payment was taken without your authorisation. Card and fraud protection policies are also unlikely to protect you against failure to supply good/services or a SCAM. |
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/section-75-of-the-consumer-credit-act#payments-through-an-agent-or-third-party
No, your information is incorrect.
I've been through this and taken it to the ombudsman, thankfully for a triffling amount.
So don't say that I am wrong and encourage people to use their credit cards and think that it covers them for everything. The same goes for using a credit card on paypal, albeit paypal has its own refund procedure. |
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If it's too good to be true it normally is! A few months ago when we were looking for a large chalet in St Anton there were tons of super cheap places on Airbnb that upon further investigation were completely baloney. I honestly thought that Airbnb vetted its listings a little more closely so it was a bit of a surprise. Ended up booking through a recommendation on here. Only two months to go now
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You know it makes sense.
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@Ouster, Hmmm, it's been a while since we went through the process but thinking about it AirBnB really just checks that you exist. Although they appear to have their own pretty good guarantees.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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AirBnB employs less than 2500 people in 21 countries, they handle upwards of 2,000,000 listings globally. There is almost no checking done by the company itself into the voracity of each listing, instead they rely on customer feedback and reputation, which is OK assuming you're not the first one to go. Common one *apparently* is the owner will offer to discount the rate outside of the AirBnB billing system, which means you have no come back through the company and can't disparage them online.
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Poster: A snowHead
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How haven't they been shut down yet?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ill lose sleep now worrying that people have lost money on a dream holiday to a scammer
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if a ski holiday maker you have never met, losing money on a dream holiday would cause you to lose sleep, @hawkwind, you can't ever get much sleep at all! How about DT becoming the most powerful man in the world?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@pam w,
Crazy times we live in, historic.
Its so very tempting to get personal toward what DT actually is and what he stands for.
But we have to rise above that.
This is not a vote for an individual but a vote for change, that has to be finally listened to and acted upon.
Another plus is that lots of poor Americans won't lose their lives in a war with Syria /Russia. Now we would all have lost sleep with war.
Interesting times but the sooner I get back deep into the mountains and back to my reality the better!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thought I'd got the wrong thread here.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Hells Bells, ha ha 
I'm switching off everything, if they liked brexit they will love trump 😀
Its all we will hear and see!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Am I the only one who keeps reading DT as DG? Him leading the free world would be an Doomsday scenario!
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Well I phoned the chalet people and they seemed very nice. I told them I was worried about the possibility of a scam and they were very reassuring. They have done me a great cash deal for a chalet, fullly catered over new year in Corcheval with heli skiing , heli transfers and Michelin catering for 12 for £8000, gave me a hand writtten receipt and the number of the on site butler who will meet us at Geneva to escort us to the helicopters, they have also thrown in a flight over the Matterhorn for free as well!! We can see it from the chalet, so that is fun.
You are a cynical lot, sometimes you have to trust people.
Oh I asked about the registered office thing , and because they are new they have to use Mr Ali Babas address , seems legit.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Oh and a husky ride.
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And two free snowbunnies i assume?
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