Welcome to this week’s Friday’s Letter from America, it is not the article we originally planned as other events have taken over.
Firstly since Irene sent this article we have received some very sad news, Irene’s brother has sadly passed away. Inside Timeshare, along with all our readers and contributors, the staff at Canarian Legal Alliance send our deepest sympathies and condolences to Irene and all her family. Our thoughts are with you.
As we said last month, the time has come when all the new companies and some of the older ones will start to contact timeshare owners. This is usually the time it starts as the annual maintenance bills are starting to come through the post.
Inside Timeshare has been receiving many requests for information on these, most are for so called claims. It is surprising how many owners are being told that they have a claim for miss-selling, even though they purchased in places like Mexico.
Appointments at various offices around the UK are being arranged, but beware, these “claims” will result in either the purchase of another product, the offer of relinquishment and then a claim on a no win no fee basis. This will cost thousands of pounds, the claim will more than likely be under Section 75 of the Credit Consumer Act 1974. If the purchase was more than 6 years ago you cannot claim. If you have used your timeshare there is no claim, even if you have never used it you will not have a claim as it was available.
Section 75 only cover the following:
- You have not received the goods or services paid for
- The company goes into liquidation
- The goods are faulty
- The company turns out to be fraudulent
At present the only successful claims have been through the Spanish Courts, where the timeshare laws are very strong. So unless you purchased in Spain since 1999, you will not have any basis for a claim and this will have to go through court.
So beware of these companies that say you have a valid claim, check and double check the facts.
On the subject of court cases, the following were announced during the course of this week.
The Court of First Instance Number 4 in Tenerife has found against EZE Group, at present we do not know what the infractions were, no doubt those will be released soon. But the court has declared the client’s contract null and void with the return of over £52,000 plus legal interest.
In another case on Gran Canaria, the High Court has found against Puerto Calma Marketing SL and Vista Amadores SL, which are all part of Holiday Club. In this case the Norwegian clients will receive over 57,000€ plus legal interest, they also have had their contract declared null and void. (The full sentences can be read in the attached PDF)
These two case were brought on behalf of the clients by non other than the lawyers of Canarian Legal Alliance.
So now on with our shorter article from Irene.
Rather than rush through an article for our regular Friday Letter from America, I would like to reach out to all Inside Timeshare readers who have reached out to us burdened with timeshare loans, credit cards and maintenance fees as a result of medical and financial hardship.
Charles Thomas was not able to complete his trip to Orlando due to problems with Spain’s electronic VISA service. Little did I think the room we had booked for Charles at Diamond Resort’s Mystic Dunes would become part of a Hospice end of life plan for an immediate family member.
Life tends to throw us a few curve balls. My brother entered Hospice near his 86th birthday this month near Orlando. We were able to provide my other brother and his wife Charles’ room as my brother and I kept nightshift watch over our older brother at Good Shepherd Hospice.
The experience led me to think about all the timeshare member members who have contacted me under similar circumstances burdened by cancer, a diagnosis of dementia, Bell’s palsy, loss of a spouse or loss of job or divorce leading to financial hardship. I thought about how much more difficult this family crisis would be if I had a timeshare debt collector calling on top of all this. The majority of readers allege they were deceived into buying points or more points told this would alleviate timeshare expense because of maintenance fee relief programs or selling points programs that do not exist. It is my deepest desire timeshare companies will look upon the financial devastation the lack of a secondary market and the actions of unscrupulous sales agents can cause.
The industry reaction is often to behead the messengers. All of our readers who have followed us and submitted articles as a Contributor are messengers. There has been a glimmer of regulatory action and Social Media no longer keeps victims isolated and silenced. In an earlier article, I reviewed Jay Baer’s book Hug Your Haters describing how Social Media is changing the face of Customer Service. Mr. Baer is scheduled to be keynote speaker at the upcoming Interval International Shared Ownership Conference attended by developers and private equity firms. It’s not your grandma’s timeshare anymore. Timeshare is big business and, in my opinion, for some companies it is motivated by greed. Deceit is also so ingrained it is accepted and encouraged top down. No one disputes there are honest sales agents who sell the product without misrepresentations, but with rising default rates, there is another reason for developers to listen to Mr. Baer because as he warns, “Haters are not your problem….Ignoring them is.”
As always, thank you Charles Thomas for being our voice for members who have been voiceless for too long.
http://insidetimeshare.com/hug-haters-part-ii-customer-service-message/
Thank you Irene, our appreciation for sending this article through under the circumstances, we all wish you and your family well.
Now to end this week, remember to check any company that you are dealing with, if you are not sure how to do this contact Inside Timeshare and we will point you in the right direction.
Have a good weekend.
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