Very Dissapointed

bevanddanmark · #1 (**permalink**) 19th June 2008, 08:00 AM

My husband and I were very happy with our visit to Polaris World last April 2008. We were shown around 3 of the resort living communities near Alicante. It was beautiful. We made the choice of living there. We gave 3.000 euros as a deposit. We also signed a document that stated that we had 30 days to change our minds. At that time our whole deposit would be returned to us. In April my mother died and she had let her insurance laps. That and other things came into the picture. We immediately contacted Polaris World and cancelled our deposit. They assured us that was not a problem. It is now June 18, 2008 and we still have not recieved our deposit returned. We have sent over 6 e-mails requesting an answer. All we get from them is that it is being worked on. We still would like to buy something in the Polaris group, but now we are too skeptical regarding the trust factor. Can we or anyone trust a company that promises one thing and does another? Has anyone had simular problems with getting a deposit back? If so how did you solve the problem? Thank you

cici · #2 (**permalink**) 19th June 2008, 08:13 AM

I'm sorry to hear that, you are blessing!

chris(madrid) · #3 (**permalink**) 19th June 2008, 08:38 AM

MMm - well 90 days settlement of payments (inc returns) is NOT UNCOMMON in Spain. Does it say anything on the pre-contract?. In some cases it is 180days.

Bevdeforges · #4 (**permalink**) 19th June 2008, 10:28 AM

I'd have to second what Chris said - the farther south you go in Europe, the longer it seems to take to get paid (or refunded). 180 days is pretty much the norm for some countries even though the EU is trying to get them to hurry it up a bit.

Only thing is that I wouldn't rely solely on e-mails. If you haven't heard by 90 days or so (at least a confirmation that they are working on it), try sending a formal snail mail request for information when you can expect payment. (No point in getting nasty until you hit that magic 180 days mark.)
Cheers,
Bev

chris(madrid) · #5 (**permalink**) 19th June 2008, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Only thing is that I wouldn't rely solely on e-mails. If you haven't heard by 90 days or so (at least a confirmation that they are working on it), try sending a formal snail mail request for information when you can expect payment. (No point in getting nasty until you hit that magic 180 days mark.)

AND SEND IT REGISTERRED MAIL.

bevanddanmark · #6 (**permalink**) 19th June 2008, 12:18 PM

Thanks to all who replied. I just got an e-mail from Polaris World. They said that they are working on it and sent a customer number. I will give them a call and see what happens. Thanks again for all the good advise. We are still planning our move to Spain this spring. And we are still interested in Polaris World. We're just going to be very careful with the paper work. Again thanks.

Goldberg · #7 (**permalink**) 19th June 2008, 05:59 PM

Who are your lawyer and agent?

If you are dealing directly with the developer, who is your lawyer representing you?

You are dealing with large sums of money and you need professional people to advise.

What have you in writing agreeing to these terms. You are in a different country and things work differently. IT and emails though normal in the UK, sometimes even the biggest of companies dont have very good IT systems.

Get your agent and lawyer to sort out the mess, that is what you pay them for.

If you have no lawyer, or representation then you are on your own. (and get a lawyer) if you need one I can recommend ones I use for myself, my family, and if required clients, but we prefer clients find their own lawyers.

Good luck, be in touch if you require assistance.

bevanddanmark · #8 (**permalink**) 20th June 2008, 05:47 AM

Thanks everyone. My husband said that we did send a regestered letter to Polaris World in April. So we have been contacting them both through snail mail and the net. We realise now that we have to contact a lawyer if and when we decide to buy. Thanks again for all the good advise.

Pete · #9 (**permalink**) 22nd June 2008, 10:56 AM

Hope everything works out

Rocksport1 · #10 (**permalink**) 23rd June 2008, 11:10 PM

Hi,

Probaly a bit out of date, but then again I´m allowed because I´m new to the forum.

We had, more or less the same thing happen to us. We were looking to buy a house in Torrent, Valencia. Gave the agent a deposit on Euros 1,500. Went a viewed the house a few times and was on course to buy it. My partner´s sister happened to ask if the house was built on urban land or ´rustic´ As it turns out the house was built on rustic land, and with the Valencia land grab laws there was a chance that the house could be knocked down one day to make room for a new shopping centre, railway line, motorway whatever and we decided that we couldnt take this chance so back out of the sale.

Sadly we lost the deposit, and when my partners mother tried to re-claim the money, the agent got very nasty with her, despite being threatened with media attention, no money was forthcoming so we handed the matter over to the Spanish citizen advice who are working on the case. If spanish agents are happy to rip off there own country-men, what chance have the rest of us got!!

You just got keep on them, I guess.I hope you get it sorted.