We started the week with another article in collaboration with Irene Parker, this was on the subject of Transfer Agents. This is a great cause for concern amongst many owners of US timeshares, including those from Europe who purchased while on holiday.
As was shown in the article it is a veritable minefield, with many “scam” operators and methods being employed. The article started with the problems of resale and transfer in Europe, highlighting again the plight of Mrs B and her battle with MacDonald Hotels and Resorts. A transfer of her Dona Lola Club ownership which MacDonalds refuse to recognise, they themselves have stated they do not recognise the process which ITRA uses to transfer ownership. Unfortunately it is Mrs B who is caught in the middle and is being harassed for maintenance due since the date of the transfer.
In the US many transfer agents as shown in the article will transfer them to a company and then the company will fold. This has two consequences, one for the owner who could end up being liable for maintenance, as the resort could claim that it was a fraudulent transfer. The other is the resorts / developer has these weeks returned to them with the resultant loss of maintenance, which could also end up with the charges being increased for the remaining members.
Other transfer agents will bundle the contracts 25 to 50 at a time and sell them back to the resort / developer, who will then be able to sell them on as new inventory at full value. As Irene has pointed out on many occasions, these practices tend to be a result of the lack of a secondary market. There will be more on the problems of timeshare in the US in forthcoming articles.
Also highlighted this week by a regular reader, was a new claims company Meredith Pritchard, registered to Stephen Fairclough and based in Chester. This company was only incorporated on 26 September 2016, so is a very new company, despite the claims made in the testimonials and elsewhere on the website.
It is known that the director was based in Portugal and has links to other companies which have been reported about in many newspapers and television programmes. It appears that being registered in the UK is a move to gain some semblance of credibility, as we know that many owners will say they would only do business with a UK company. Unfortunately this does not guarantee safety or prove legitimacy.
Another regular follower also sent in information about MacDonald Resorts and their relinquishment programme, this highlighted the policy of “Reasonable Recompense” for relinquishing.
He sent information from AGM documents showing the amounts that MacDonalds have received under “reasonable recompense”, the amounts are truly staggering. It must also be remembered that when MacDonalds moved to change fixed week owners to their points system, they in effect became the owners of these fixed weeks and are therefore liable to cover the maintenance costs for these weeks. Obviously they do not want to use their own finances to pay this, so those wanting out must cover at least 4 years worth of fees. MacDonalds say this is to protect existing owners from huge increases in their maintenance.
It has also been a very successful week for Canarian Legal Alliance, with the Court of First Instance in Tenerife declaring a contract sold by Las Vistas Marketing null and void as per the Supreme Court rulings. The client in this case will receive 36,640€ including legal interest and legal fees.
In the High Court No4 of Malaga, CLA also had a victory on behalf of their clients, this time it was against Leisure Group Ltd. The contract being declared null and void with an award of 12,390€ plus legal interest and legal fees. So the courts all over Spain are deferring to the Supreme Court rulings.
CLA also announced that as ruled by the High Court No5 of Las Palmas for a previous case, their clients have now received into their bank account the sum of 16,434€ from Anfi. Just in time for Christmas.
Again CLA revealed another Supreme Court ruling, this time against Palm Oasis / Tasolan. In this case the Norwegian clients have had their contract declared null and void as it was for floating weeks, they will now receive 8,810€ and are now timeshare free.
Yesterday morning it was also announced that a further Supreme Court win against Anfi was received, in this case the court ruled the contract null and void as per previous sentences. The British clients will now be receiving £38,850 including legal interest and legal fees.
It has also come to the attention of Inside Timeshare, many Anfi owners are being warned off taking out any legal action in respect of illegal contracts. Some of the reports being received state that they are being told there are no cases, contracts are legal, that there have been no Supreme Court rulings and if any owner does go ahead and win they will be billed 5 star rates for holidays taken in the past. It has also come to light that any external calls to guests staying at Anfi are being stopped without proof of who is calling. It is understandable that Anfi would be doing this, after all, it is costing them millions.
The advice Inside Timeshare gives is quite simple, do you believe what you are being told by a company that sold it to you in the first place, or do you get independent free legal advice. After all not everyone may have a valid claim, should you not know where you stand and what you can do about it, only then can you make a proper and informed decision.
If you would like to know more, contact Inside Timeshare and we will point you in the right direction. If you have had any contact from any company, either highlighted here or one that has contacted you out of the blue, Inside Timeshare would like to hear from you. We will do the research and report the findings here to inform others.
Have a good weekend.
The post Review of the Week appeared first on Inside Timeshare.