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Escaping to sunny skies and golden sands is the dream that has helped sell timeshare and holiday clubs to thousands of families. Rachel met three couples who all signed up to holiday clubs but now believe this has made them the target for a new scam.

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On joining the club - a kind of discount holiday scheme - they were each given a cash-back certificate. These are an incentive often used to encourage people to join holiday clubs and the idea is that once you've registered your certificate, after four or five years you can claim back up to several thousand pounds.

Julie and Gareth Griffiths, from the Rhondda, paid £6,000 to join a holiday club in 2005 but were promised up to £7,500 cash-back.

Gareth said: "We were going to get these holidays and have our money back at the end of it so, that was the clincher as far as I was concerned."

Peter and Sheila Davies from Swansea paid £5,000 to join a holiday club but were promised up to £19,000 cash-back, while and John and Moy Morgan, also from Swansea, paid over £9,000 but were told to expect up to £43,000 back.

All the couples completed the paperwork correctly so were confident they'd get their cash-back. But then all three got a call that threw everything into doubt. Each couple was cold-called by a company they'd never heard of. For Peter and Sheila it was Offshore Solutions, for John and Moy, Fraser and Ward, while Julie and Gareth were contacted by Pro-Call Corporate Solutions SL. The companies had different names but all said there was a problem with the couples' cash-back paperwork.

John said: "We received a call from a company called Fraser and Ward which I assumed, at the time, was a solicitor. They told me that our cash-back certificate hadn't been registered properly and at present was completely worthless. They said that they could re-register this properly for us and get us our money back but we had to go to Tenerife to see them."

The couples were asked to pay around £250 upfront. Fearing their cash-back was at risk, they agreed. Julie and Gareth became increasingly suspicious and decided not to travel. But the other couples decided to go to Tenerife.

When they arrived they were surprised to be met by a brand new company, Leisure Marketing, and it soon became clear that their priority wasn't resolving problems with the cash-back paperwork they had, but getting them to buy a whole new holiday plan.

John said: "They picked us up just before 11 in the morning and we were there until 6.45pm. And they just hammered us... By 5.30pm we were so, I don't know, uptight, we'd been there all that time, and we signed up."

John and Moy agreed to pay almost £8,000 to buy into a new holiday plan. Peter and Sheila did the same, committing to pay almost £9,000. Both couples paid out a hefty £2,000 deposit. Sheila said: "You just couldn't get out of it. They wouldn't take no for an answer."

Back home, the Davieses and Morgans say they told the company they didn't want to proceed. But Leisure Marketing chased them by phone for the thousands of pounds they said they owed and threatened them with court action if they didn't pay.

Moy said: "I feel we've been cheated. They have no intentions of helping you and I feel very angry about it."

The couples who travelled to Tenerife have now managed to claim their £2,000 deposit back through their credit cards.

X-Ray contacted the three companies who cold-called the couples and two refused to comment. Pro-Call Corporate Solutions, who contacted Julie and Gareth, said they are just a call centre, who deal with many different companies. Leisure Marketing haven't replied to any of our questions.

Adam Mortimer, from the UK European Consumer Centre (UK ECC) said his organisation, which assists consumers who are unhappy with purchases made in other EU countries, had seen an increase in complaints about this type of approach.

He said consumers should be wary of unsolicited phone calls from companies they're unaware of, being asked for upfront payments and companies which sound like legal firms but may not have the expertise required.

Anyone considering buying something from another EU country can get pre-shopping advice from the UK ECC's sister organisation: the .

If you've already signed a contract or made the purchase, the can help try to resolve the dispute and work with their colleagues in the country concerned to mediate with the trader.