Welcome to the start of another week with Inside Timeshare, today we address a question which is the subject of many enquiries received over the past few months. Many timeshare owners are receiving cold calls from various “claims” and supposed “legal” companies giving them false information regarding making claims for “compensation”. In this article, we explain the facts on claims and cancellation of contracts.
Many owners are signing up with companies who promise to get them “compensation” for a mis-sold timeshare, but first, they must have their contract relinquished or cancelled, once this is done then the “company” will put forward a claim. The facts are that once a contract has been terminated then no case can ever be taken to court, the contract must be live and all maintenance must be paid up to date.
The whole reason for this “pitch” is very simple, they are not in the business of pursuing claims through the courts, they are in the “exit” business as this is quick and easy money. It is also very unlikely that they will even do the “exit” for the owner. In the vast majority of the cases that Inside Timeshare has been asked about, the owner has been told that they should stop paying their maintenance and if they receive any demands then to send it to the company to deal with it.
What has then happened as in the case of RSB Legal and ABC Lawyers along with many others is that the relinquishment has never been done, in many cases, the owner has received a letter from the company stating that they are now “out” of their contract. The next thing is the owner is now receiving demands from a debt collecting agency for the arrears.
When the owner tries to contact the company they are either given false information or the company is no longer in operation, usually closed down and reopened under another name. The owner has now lost a substantial amount of money for a service that was a “scam” and is now in debt for a timeshare they believed had been cancelled.
There are some cases where the owner may be able to get money back after cancellation, but only if they have a finance agreement such as Barclays Partner Finance which was brokered by the timeshare company. Even this requires a case to be taken to court and that must be in the UK.
There is one provision for this and it is Sections 140A & 140B of The Credit Consumer Act 1974, but it is by no means a cut and dried process. There are also time limits to this, just as with Section 75 claims against credit card providers, there is a 6-year limitation on cases being brought.
So if you are told that you have a case but you need to first have your contract cancelled, then you are never going to get any money back for the mis-sold timeshare no matter how “nice” the caller is. NO RUNNING CONTRACT, NO CASE IS ACCEPTED BY ANY COURT!
Join us again tomorrow for our Tuesday Slot with another round of “Nightmare on Timeshare Street” stories from Wyndham Carriage Hills and Carriage Ridge owners.
The post Start the Week appeared first on Inside Timeshare.