Sunday 29 January 2012

Highland Titles Glencoe Estates Are Quite Willing To Lie

Lets be blunt about this, Lochaber Highland Estates (CI) Limited / Highland Titles are quite willing to tell outright barefaced lies in order to make their profit, here is lie number one. Some direct quotations from their own marketing material and company representatives.

Lets just confine ourselves to one provable lie for now, there are plenty more for later!

Some quotations from Alex Flewitt from Lochaber Highland Estates (CI) Limited, Highland Titles on Australian Television
"For as little as $50 you can purchase one square foot of land in Scotland up in our Highlands up in Glencoe"
"For as little as 50 Australian dollars for one square foot of land in Glencoe in Scotland" 
 "A few years ago we acquired a considerable amount of land in Glencoe"
And from the Highland Titles website on the FAQ page under  Is This Really Legal (29/01/2012).
"You are truly purchasing a Scottish Highland Estate in Glencoe, Scotland" 
I think it fair to say that by now everyone has the distinct idea that the land for sale is in the actual real Glencoe Scotland. That would be very wrong, Lochaber Highland Estates (CI) Limited / Highland Titles at time of writing do not I think own any land at all in Glencoe, so I don't really see how they can legally be selling any land in Glencoe.

Are they selling land in Glencoe which does not belong to them then? Not that I know of, but it wouldn't entirely surprise me if they were!

What they have done is taken a bit of the land they do own and just called it Glencoe Wood! It is miles from the real Glencoe Scotland and has never been know locally as Glencoe anything. To say that the land they have for sale is in Glencoe is an outright lie designed to boost profits pure and simple.

Why would they do that?  Probably pure greed, Glencoe Scotland is well know throughout the world and makes for a much better sales pitch than say Glendour Forest (the commonly know name for this part) a place nobody outside of the immediate area anybody has ever heard of.

Lord of Glendour Forest just doesn't have much going for it nor would it persuade so many people to part with their cash.


Map showing locations of Glencoe and Highland Titles Glencoe Wood. As can be seen Glencoe Wood is nowhere near the actual Glencoe!!


As it stands at 29/01/2012, if you thought you had ever bought a piece of land from  Lochaber Highland Estates (CI) Limited or Highland Titles (the same company) in Glencoe Scotland, you did not, it was a lie. That fact alone makes this a scam.

Ask yourself this, do you really want to buy anything from liars? Would you trust anything else that Highland Titles say? Personally when I find out somebody is lying, I am very suspicious about anything else they say.

What can you do if you thought you bought a piece of land in Glencoe and have now found out you did not? First thing to do is ask for your money back. Second thing to do is inform Trading Standards in Scotland, yes you can do this even if you live abroad, and they will be delighted to hear from you. I'm not sure what they can realistically do about it, but it won't do any harm to let them know you have been cheated.

The Highland CouncilTransport, Environmental & Community Services
Trading Standards Unit
38 Harbour Road
Inverness
IV1 1UF
Tel: 01463 228700
Fax: 01463 223723
Email: trading.standards@highland.gov.uk
Website: http://www.highland.gov.uk/businessinformation/tradingstandards

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for pointing out that Higland Titles land is not in Glencoe and it is just a scam, they sure had me fooled! How can they say you can call yourself Laird Of Glencoe when their land is miles from Glencoe?

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  2. When I bought my plot I thought it was definitely in Glencoe, very very disappointed to find out it is not. It certainly was not made clear to me.

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  3. I bought a piece of land from Highland Titles and thought it was in Glencoe, utterly disgusted to find out it is not, this is nothing more than a scam, don't fall for it!!

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  4. I'm just reading about it and thought it a scam as soon as I saw it,then again I have walked over much of my country,and see that some unscrupulous people have bought and sold land only with the idea of conning those unwary they are not Scots running this scam.

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  5. I fell for it I'm afraid, I believed the land to actually be in Glencoe, I'm furious now that I have found out is not. I agree this is nothing more than a scam and I now doubt if any of the conservation work they are supposed to be doing is genuine, I no longer believe a word they say, disgraceful company, don't have anything to do with them.

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  6. I believe that you are all guilty of not reading the site clearly. My title does not say that I own anything in Glencoe. In fact, it clearly states where it is. The title is not misleading. You are all guilty of wanting something to be so, but not taking the time to do thorough research. Caveat emptor.

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    1. While I do have some small sympath with your view Anonymous, I do feel that it is a rather simplistic one.

      There is no doubt that Highland Titles did in fact at one time claim that the land they sell was actually in Glencoe, see the quotations from the post. It did state quite clearly on their website on 29/01/2012 "You are truly purchasing a Scottish Highland Estate in Glencoe, Scotland". Alex Flewitt stated quite clearly on Australian television that the land was in Glencoe.

      Because of these facts, it is easy to see how people could become confused. It might have said somewhere else on their website that the land was not in Glencoe, but they should not have been claiming or implying anywhere ever that it was, that is in my opinion dishonest and confusing.

      If you bought a tin marked "Car Polish" on the front label from a motor accessories shop, polished your car with the contents and all the paint fell off of your car, you might want to complain, right? If the manufacturer replied that it says quite clearly in the small print on the back label that the tin actually contains paint stripper, and it is entirely your own fault for not reading it, would you find that acceptable? You would appear to, others I suspect may think otherwise.

      It is entirely possible to purchase a piece of land from Highland Tiles without ever setting eyes on their website. You might have seen the TV program where the land was clearly described as being in Glencoe, gone to one of the Highland Games they were attending and bought from there. Do they make it clear before purchase in all circumstances exactly where the land is?

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