The Insolvency Service finds 'non existent' benefits to members.

 A company whose directors allowed customers to be duped into signing up for membership of a holiday club by making misleading promises about the benefits available has been wound up by the High Court following an investigation by Companies Investigation Branch of the Insolvency Service.

TAG World Services Limited ('TAG') used a number of dubious marketing associates to offer membership of a holiday club usually costing around £2000 plus annual renewal fees whereas the investigation established that the benefits of membership were either non-existent or insignificant when compared with High Street travel agencies or internet deals.

In his judgment on making the winding up order against TAG Deputy Judge Englehart considered that:

"... in several respects what the public was told about the nature of the club and what it had to offer was seriously misleading. It was what was said at the presentations which induced people to pay a large sum for a facility that is club membership, which in reality was worth very little."

The judge also made other findings against TAG as follows:

The directors of the company had misled HM Revenue and Customs to believe that its main operations were conducted through a Swiss registered company in order to obtain the benefit of a VAT refund when, in fact, its operations were almost exclusively UK based.

Their methods breached Consumer Protection laws covering distance selling in that no cancellation clause or cooling off period was included in the contract until very late in the day.

The level and variety of complaints overall was large and TAG's approach to dealing with dissatisfied customers left a lot to be desired.

The offer of a "free holiday" to attendees at the club's hotel presentations was never in fact free and the evidence showed that people who actually sought to take the holiday were let down.

A winding up petition presented against an associated company was dismissed.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent.

The Service also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession; deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures; assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees; provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds; and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

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