Letters: May 17, 2012

It only takes seconds
Miracles like this can happen and save people but keeping control of your speed is a must and the best drivers, even with the best cars, must know that it just takes seconds to go out of control and get killed (‘Mother, daughter escape death in horrific car crash’, Gulf News, May 13). Every other day we read about deaths due to speeding in the newspapers. Giving fines for speeding might not be enough. However, I guess for excessive speeding, the authorities must ask offenders to do community service for at least a month or two. This will surely bring changes as some people don’t even worry about fines. Whenever we drive on the highway with the top speed of 140 kilometres per hour, we find a lot of motorists driving at much higher speeds and overtaking us dangerously. I just hope no more lives are lost due to this.
From Mr Abu Amr
Sharjah
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Speed kills
Many people still don’t follow the traffic rules and face fatal accidents. I would say they are not accidents but carelessness. Speed kills.
From Mr Mohammad Shafi
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
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Same thing every day
I lived in Al Riqqa Road a couple of years ago and these crooks used to come during the evening time outside one of the restaurants and harass people — mainly tourists — passing by and make them this ridiculous offer (‘Time-share scam targets gullible customers’, Gulf News, May 13). Whenever they saw a police car they would disappear and then come back. These sales people have no knowledge of face recognition as they would approach the same people on a daily basis — including me. They eventually stopped approaching me when I yelled at them to stop. Good luck to the ones who fall for it.
From Mr A.T.
Dubai
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Not every time
You win it every time ... I never had such luck with any other draw. Do they really make a draw or just call everyone? I tried them five times and apparently I won every time. I was on a plane flying to my hometown when I got the first call saying I had won. I was disappointed at missing the opportunity. So after I came back I tried my luck again and there you have it — I won again. This made me suspicious and I never visited them. After some time I enrolled again and the same thing happened — they called me and said I had won. It sounded fishy to me so I never went to their seminar. I don’t know what this is, but I know that you aren’t supposed to win every single time.
From Mr Mohammad Umair
Sharjah
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Cheaters
I have read so many scams lately and I am wondering if these people ever called the police when they realised that this is a scam. Were these people caught by the authorities? They must be stopped. People want to earn money easily by cheating the innocent.
From Mr F.B.C.
Sharjah
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We fell for it
My husband and I also went through a similar scam two months ago. They first called us telling us that we had won a holiday trip and that we had to come to their office for an hour-long presentation (it lasted about three hours). They lured us into taking their membership to stay in their properties, which they said is a lifetime offer. Even though we told them we were not interested, they came up with offers with reduced rates. So in the end we fell for a Dh10,000 membership for 10 years, which they now said does not exist and we are not getting any response from their side. I told other people not to fall for this scheme, which may look very pleasing at first.
From A Reader
Abu Dhabi
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No such thing
The simple solution is to not get greedy as there is no such thing as a free lunch. Be smart and don’t carry your credit card. Always read the contract thoroughly and bring it back with you and check with your legal adviser.
From Mr Razeen
Ajman
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Suspicious
I also got the same offer from Vacation International and went for a 90-minute session. However, we didn’t pay any money and found the environment very suspicious. The authorities need to take very strict action against them.
From Mr Rajesh Prasad
Abu Dhabi
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Misuse
Time share is considered a well-known holiday business around the world. Sadly I feel that all the time share companies in the UAE are misusing the concept in the worst possible manner. This reminds me of a famous quote in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: “Take what you can and give nothing back”.
From Mr Fadil Khoury
Abu Dhabi
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