Timeshare and holiday club claims

With many Brits wanting to secure a place in the sun, timeshare is for many a viable option. Timeshare offers the owner the chance to stay in a home from home, working out cheaper than a hotel, substantial savings on other holiday costs and minimum ongoing expense.

Or do they?

Unfortunately many customers of timeshare and holiday clubs have been victims of sky high maintenance fees, scaremongering tactics and clauses that mean that should they want to sell their time share, they can’t.

In addition to the problem of timeshare itself, there are unscrupulous individuals and companies that would appear to be attempting to profit from peoples desperation to escape timeshare contracts.

BBC Watchdog
BBC’s Watchdog released a special report on these issues on Thursday 22nd October 2010. After hearing of one individual’s experience of a three hour pressure-selling meeting with a company, the programme sent in their own secretly filmed plants. For three hours, the couple were subjected to “very clever, psychological, pressure sales”. Watchdog reported that as a result, they were left with the option of setting up their own form of referral agency which would cost them £14,500 and entering into an alleged illegal pyramid scheme.

The BBC Watchdog programme tried to track down the owners of the company, but were left with a trail of false addresses and no firm answers.

Legal advice
Unfortunately, due to the complexity of these cases it is difficult for one individual to raise a case against the owners of such timeshare or holiday club companies. Litigation and court costs can be high, which are often not viable for couples or individuals with a relatively small stake in their timeshare to begin with.

Group actions
Instead, the best course is to raise a ‘group action’ against the club or timeshare company. This is where individuals all sign up separately, but together there is power in numbers and a successful case can be put forward. The litigation costs are split, with individuals putting in a set amount from the outset.

Club la Costa
At the moment the firm is receiving many enquiries from consumers who are extremely concerned regarding issues arising from their ownership of holiday club points in Club la Costa. In particular concerns have been raised in connection with the manner in which these products have been sold, escalating maintenance charges and the difficulties encountered in being released from their club membership. Many of these individuals have been sold linked financial products to purchase their club membership, and they are now facing financial hardship as a result.

We are advising consumers in connection with their Club la Costa concerns, and the legal issues that arise generally from timeshare and/or holiday club ownership.

If you have any concerns relating to your Club la Costa membership or in relation to any timeshare or holiday issue then please contact Stephen Boyd, our Timeshare agreement expert.