Inside Timeshare has received the following statement from a reader who has had dealings with Meredith Pritchard, Stephen Fairclough and Jose Dorta, the supposed lawyer in Tenerife.
It is a full and frank account of his proceedings with this company, we have omitted his name at this time, but we have his details on file.
This account only goes to show how you the consumer can be taken in by companies and individuals who sound so convincing, giving details on genuine cases which have been highlighted in the news.
ABOUT ME: I am a registered nurse and I live and work on the Isle of Man. I purchased a timeshare in Malta in 2003, via the company Club Access2Leisure. I have always paid my maintenance fees each year and usually use the one floating week I have every other year. My fees are paid for 2017.
Back in late October, after returning from holiday in Portugal through my timeshare weeks (these are with Access2Leisure), I and my partner wanted to make a complaint to the timeshare company. This was because I’d paid two years’ fees plus upgrade fees of 988 euros to stay at the Avenida Bellavista in Albufeira. Whilst there, was disgusted with level of accommodation, and found out via reception that had we been regular holidaymakers, we could have booked the room we had for about 200 euros a week. It seemed we were getting ripped off. I prepared a letter and my partner suggested we send the complaint via the Timeshare Council, which we did. TC rang me back and were very positive, and told me did I know I could find a way to get out of my timeshare and get money back? I said no, I didn’t know about this. They advised me they would send my information to a lawyer who would be in touch.
It then took almost three weeks for further contact, which came from Stephen Fairclough, of Meredith Pritchard Claims Consultants (MPCC). In the meantime my 2017 fees were due, and I didn’t want to get into trouble before we began, so I paid my annual maintenance charges of 295 euros.
On 10th November 2016, Stephen Fairclough confirmed an appointment to see him at his offices in Regus House, Chester, on 29th November. This appointment had to be subsequently rearranged due to my mother passing away, and rearranged for 1st December 2016.
I met Mr Fairclough on 1st December. He basically told me that as I had paid a deposit and the remaining balance before the end of a 14-day cooling off period, the contract was illegal, and I could get out of it. He went through my paperwork and worked out that I could claim refund of the original price of the timeshare plus maintenance charges, plus interest, totalling £6,581, of which MPCC would keep 20% as their fee, and I would get the balance, about £5,200. However, he advised the bad news: in order to do this I needed to pay legal fees of £5,950, and he produced a typed schedule signed by a Spanish lawyer showing this figure. I said I was surprised and was hoping this could be a no win no fee basis, he said no because they would have to use international lawyers such as one actually in Malta.
Mr Fairclough said that he had no doubt I would win the claim, as the timeshare company would be asked to produce tax returns, and that they would be unable to do so because all of the money is put into holding companies, and in that case they would be only too happy to settle out of court for the full amount to avoid being taken into court for it. Stephen Fairclough said I would also be awarded my legal charges back as well, in full.
I asked Stephen if he had experience dealing with Club Access 2 Leisure, and he said he had already won about six or seven cases with them already. He also waved a document quickly under my nose showing me a client who was claiming over fifty thousand pounds. This seemed a bit odd.
I was a bit sceptical about this and said I was by nature a cautious person. Stephen produced a form of surrender and request, to transfer the ownership for my timeshare back to Access2Leisure. He also said, if I thought about it, not doing anything about it that day would mean I would in the long run lose far more than £6,000 by continuing to be tied to annual maintenance fees. I then decided to trust him, and gave him a cheque for £5,950. I was given a contract. I was advised that a power of attorney would be set up for a lawyer and the paperwork would be sent out immediately for the process to begin.
Since the appointment it dawned on me that actually, I had not seen a lawyer at all, but a director of a claims consultancy business. Why was I assuming he was? Because of the Timeshare Council I suppose.
Below is a summary of what happened after that day.
16/12/2016 Email from SF at MPCC: Lawyers received paperwork and process has begun.
04/01/2017 Request from me to SF for an update.
05/01/2017 Stephen advised lawyers not back from Christmas break yet, but would be on the 8th. This seemed odd as that was the Sunday!
13/01/2017 I phoned MPCC got through to reception and was told Stephen would phone me back. He didn’t.
19/01/2017 I sent an email to MPCC (Stephen), concerned at no progress and no info.
19/01/2017 Email back from Stephen. The lawyers are coming over from Spain to go through the case notes.
25/01/2017 I emailed a complaint to Stephen about the contradictory info he’d sent me. How comes lawyers had to come from Spain when he’d said back in mid December the paperwork had been received and the process begun? I told him a satisfactory explanation was required or else I would have him investigated (quite angry).
25/01/2017 A response from MPCC – not by Stephen but from an apparent manager of his called Rachel, this email copied me in and was sent to a Jose Dorta, a lawyer in Spain, asking him to contact me and set up a power of attorney.
27/01/2017 Email from me to Rachel, asking for Dorta’s contact details. I did have the email address of this Jose Dorta and also asked him for same.
27/01/2017 Email from Jose; he would contact me on Monday afternoon, 30th January.
31/01/2017 Email to Jose: I believe you were contacting me yesterday?
31/01/2017 Email from Jose: I will contact you today about 6pm.
01/02/2017 Email to Jose: will you please contact me, you didn’t call back when you said you would.
01/02/2017 I phoned this Jose Dorta myself when I missed my phone ringing (it was him, damn!). When I rang his number it didn’t get answered.
02/02/2017 Finally spoke to Jose Dorta. He told me was waiting for some paperwork to come back from the Virgin Islands, some HQ of the timeshare company, and also told me the name of my lawyer in Malta. Unfortunately Mr Dorta’s accent was quite thick and I had to ask him to repeat it twice, but it sounded like Alixon or Alexson, but he said this was a lawyer in Malta. I tried to press Mr Dorta for further information, such as did he think I definitely had a case and would win it. He said he couldn’t give a guarantee. I asked him how long he thought the case might take, and he said two or three years.
09/02/2017 By now I realised that I really ought to have had the above in writing, so asked Jose Dorta to email me and put it in black and white. This request was ignored in fact up to the present time NOTHING IN WRITING ABOUT ANY OF THIS.
13/02/2017 Email from Jose Dorta, I will send you my report by Friday. (17th).
20/02/2017 Email to Jose Dorta, why haven’t I received this report you promised?
20/02/2017 Email from Jose: sorry we had a busy day in court, I will send you the report tomorrow morning (21st).
20/02/2017 Email to Jose: please send this report by EMAIL.
24/02/2017 Phone call to Jose Dorta. He replied that he needed to speak to me before sending the report (implying this was serious information) and he would call me tomorrow.
27/02/2017 also on 02/03/2017 – I tried ringing Jose Dorta but got only an answering machine. By now I was so concerned I had an APP fitted to my phone to record telephone conversations.
02/03/2017 Email to Stephen Fairclough. He replied that he was in Portugal at the moment but would ask Jose to phone me on Monday the 6th of March. He said HE was also angry as the lawyer was making him look unprofessional.
03/03/2017 a recorded phone call from Jose Dorta to me. He said he was flying out to London, and would speak to Stephen over the phone at 11.30am and then ring me at 13.00 hours UK time as he had something he had to tell me over the phone before he could send me this report. (this tale now being stretched very far in my opinion). The background noise on the phone call sounded as if Jose Dorta was speaking from an airport.
Needless to say, the time came and went, and there was no phone call.
06/03/2017 Email from me to Stephen Fairclough to say his lawyer Dorta had let me down again, I also hinted that I might be seeking legal advice about the matter now. NO REPLY.
08/03/2017 I emailed Chester Police. They replied that they thought this could be a civil not a criminal matter, speak to an English solicitor.
08/03/2017 I emailed the Timeshare Consumers Association with my story and asked for advice etc. NO REPLY FROM THEM TO THIS DAY. This is despite the fact they run an article about Meredith Pritchard which shows that Stephen Fairclough is the director and that his claims experience is at odds with the fact the company was only registered on 26th September 2016.
08/03/2017 As I nurse I rang my RCN union and was told I’d get a free 30-minute consultation over the phone with a lawyer.
13/03/2017 phone call back from a lawyer via RCN from New Law Solicitors (phone call recorded), very basic advice given about speaking to Citizens Advice, and also keep sending correspondence to MPCC and Jose Dorta. Was advised to ask for an account of how my money was being spent and if I didn’t receive an account, get the Consumer Ombudsman to ask for this account. I was told that MPCC would have to respond to this, or else issue a refund.
14/03/2017 I tried phoning Stephen Fairclough on his mobile but it just went to answering machine.
15/03/2017 emails by me sent to Stephen Fairclough and Jose Dorta requesting information and reports and also asking for an account of how my money has been spent. Threatened Stephen with a lawyer if he didn’t respond. NO REPLY!!!!
Up to date: I am now waiting for a call back from Gordon and Slater Solicitors and will see what can or cannot be done. I am wondering if a class action can be organised.
I greatly suspect that Stephen Fairclough has flown and is no longer sitting around his office in Chester. I don’t know but suspect he goes to Portugal. Internet research suggests he has been an hotelier in Portugal. I believe he must have taken a seriously large amount of money off people with this scam, which is now wound up.
This reader is just one that has been taken in, if you have also had dealings with this company or any of the individuals involved, Inside Timeshare would like to hear from you.
Inside Timeshare will be acting as coordinator in putting you all in touch, so that you may work together and possibly bring legal action as a group. It could be the only way you may get some justice.
This reader also contacted the police in Chester, but they don’t seem to know what to do. In cases such as this it would probably be better to contact Action Fraud, the online National Fraud Helpline on:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
This article only goes to show how important it is to do your due diligence and research any company thoroughly before committing.
If you need any help in finding any information about a company that you have contacted or that has contacted you, get in touch through our contact page and Inside Timeshare will help you find it. We make no charge for this service, it is provided so that you will in the end save your hard earned cash and get the right company.
Original Article:
http://insidetimeshare.com/meredith-pritchard-new-exit-claims-company/
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