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Timeshare Consumers Association

1. It usually  starts with a "cold call" by someone claiming to be able to sell your week - or even claiming to have already sold your week.   The amount you will receive, they say, is usually five or ten times more  than the true market value of your week (although you may  not know this!)

2. Or it may be an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine inviting timeshare owners to register their weeks for sale.

3. They may claim to be resellers or real estate agents. They may claim that they are registered in the  UK.   In truth, they are  fraudsters.

4. To give themselves credibility they may say that they are a registered company and invite you to check with the Spanish Companies House.  Or they may invite you to talk to their lawyers. Or they claim membership of a "trade"  organisation - which is no guide to safe dealing with a resale broker. The telephone numbers they give you to check will be mobile numbers, answered by one of their colleagues in the sales office!

5. They may also send, by fax or post, a “contract” which appears to have the name and  a signature of a “buyer”.  This contract is a fabrication .  But even good solicitors have been taken in by them.

6. Then they will say that they need you to pay them money – amounts ranging from £300 to £3,000.  The reasons for this payment are all totally fictitious – advance legal fees; a Spanish legal requirement; a “security bond”; registration of the deeds etc. etc.  None are true.

• OR, they may invite you to visit them,  in  the UK,  Tenerife or Spain,  to collect the money from the buyer. You go to their offices expecting to return with ££££££   in your pocket – but actually  return ££££££   the poorer,  perhaps with membership of some bogus holiday club and a piece of paper promising enormous sums to be paid to you in 3 or 5 years time.   A "Cash Back"  promise that  is  certainly worthless.
• OR, they may tell you that, as a victim of an earlier fraud, you will get back the money you paid (and even some of the money that the fraudsters had promised from the sale of your timeshare). All you have to do is pay  £££££.  The caller may well be the same person who defrauded you the first time.
• OR, they may claim to be a bank holding the purchasers money on your behalf. All you have to do is send the "bank" some money. Again, the caller is probably from the same gang as previously.
• OR, they may claim that you need to "upgrade" your ownership to achieve a sale. Pay £1,000 to the fraudsters for the upgrade and - nothing!   (an Asian version of the the scam)
• OR they may persuade you to  "trade in"  your timeshare for membership of a holiday club. Not only are holiday clubs bad news  but you find that your timeshare is NOT transferred out of your name leaving you with the annual fees to pay on two membership. This is the well known "buy/sell" scam.

They may pretend to be calling from the UK or the US - even giving a relevant telephone number - but are mostly calling from Spain or the Canaries using a call transfer or an international mobile number. But some ARE calling from the UK and they are just as dangerous as those calling from Spain etc.

These companies are acting fraudulently.     They are VERY convincing and VERY persistent,
 

If you have already paid money  then please read   HERE

The Law etc.

Any business which sells you a product or service by telephone must comply with the Distance Selling Regulations. (DSRs) or their equivalent in other European states,  which, in essence, say    “Where a contract is concluded over the phone the consumer has seven working days from that date to cancel the contract -  information about the cancellation right has to be confirmed in writing or another durable form otherwise the consumer then has up to a further 3 months to cancel. If the service starts immediately the trader must inform the consumer before the contract is concluded either in writing or another durable medium that he/she cannot cancel the contract once performance has started”

So any company  that gets you to agree – usually by you giving them your credit card number – to let  them sell your timeshare,  must provide you with a 7 day cooling off period and must confirm the cooling off period in a written form.

If you write to cancel (recorded delivery) within the 7 days - and have NOT signed and retunred any written agrement provided by the company - then you should demand a full refund of the money taken within 10 days or else you will get your card company to claw back the payment for you. If they fail to return the money then get your card company to trigger the claw back scheme - see here

If you paid by credit card, and have a written statement that the payment will be refunded after, say, 12 months then your credit card company should provide a refund under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. see here

TCA advice:

1. NEVER send any money to any company on the promise of selling your timeshare - whatever reason they might give you for paying.  and certainly do not give them your credit/debit card number.
2. NEVER send an ownership certificate, or even a copy of one.
3. Check the true market value by talking to any of our recommended resellers - then you will know if  the price quoted by the fraudster is reasonable or not.

If you have already  given your credit card number.

1. Do NOT sign any written agreement that you are sent.
2. Write to the reseller  (Recorded Delivery)   confirming that you contracted on a date (of the ‘phone call) for them to sell your week at a given price in a given time period (both as per ‘phone call) and that you  paid by credit card and you now   look forward to receiving the payment of the proceeds of sale within the time period.
3. Totally ignore any further correspondence or ‘phone calls from the fraudster.
4. When the time period has expired write to the reseller  demanding payment of the promised amount in not more than 10 days from the date of your letter.
5. If they fail to pay, make a claim on your credit card company under S75 of the Consumer Credit Act on the basis that you have been defrauded out of  £xxx  (some resellers conveniently forget to tell you that there was VAT on top of the payment!)  OR  issue  a claim in the County Court - if the fraudster is based in England or Wales -  for all your money back on the grounds of breach of contract. See Details of how to make a claim.

If you paid by means other than a credit card

Then you have no chance of recovering any money.

Finally

Please report the matter to the Office of Fair Trdaing. Details are here.
 

Anyone who “cold calls” with an offer to sell your timeshare is a fraudster – do NOT do business with them.

 
 

September  2005