Owners Action have been appointed as European marketing agents by International Timeshare Refund Action (ITRA) to generate and promote consumer awareness regarding a proposed Group Litigation against RCI Europe and others.
Over the past 3 years ITRA has with the support of its members and sponsors invested in seeking financial restitution on behalf of timeshare owners, past and present who maintain and believe that they have been fraudulently misrepresented by various organisations in respect of the purchase and ongoing use of their timeshare so as to render it virtually valueless and untenable.
There are a number of recurring themes shared by distressed timeshare owners: problems with obtaining a selected balanced exchange from exchange companies; year on year escalating maintenance fees (way above that of inflation); exorbitantly high interest rates charged by finance companies introduced by marketers; problems with the disposal and transfer of weeks and points.
Does this sound like you? You are not alone! Here are some comments posted on our forum by other dissatisfied timeshare owners.
Mr and Mrs G told us:
We purchased what we thought was an investment for ourselves and our family. It is a two bedroom luxury apartment in Oasis Lands, Lanzarote. At no time was it explained about the implications of perpetuity or Escritura on the contract at the time of signing the deeds at the notary in Arrecife. The contract was in Spanish and was not translated until we received the deeds 6-7 years later. We feel that as an owner we have been overcharged for maintenance fees, we were told that the apartments would be upgraded every five years but that has not happened since our last visit 3 years ago.
We were also under the impression that we could sell back the timeshare at a later date without losing most of the purchase price.
Over the years we have been approached by resale companies who said they could sell our timeshare but all that happened was they took our money and then we never heard any more from them, as we were unable to contact them. We are very worried about passing this contract over to our children with the implications and cost that would be involved for them.
Mr and Mrs W told us:
In July 2000 we joined the Beach Bay GVC explorer scheme.
Whist in Majorca in 2002 we became “full members” at a further cost. Subsequently our management company became Sunterra and then Diamond resorts. After increasing maintenance fees we transferred our 4000 points to a mid season floating week at Royal Oasis Club, Benal Beach, Costa del Sol. We have tried to sell this week through a resale company recommended by Diamond resorts. A deposit was paid but since paying this in December 2008 we have had no success in selling. For health reasons we have not been able to travel and wish to exit our ownership.
Our main complaint has been not being able to get holidays of our choice and the excessive maintenance fees.
Mr and Mrs H told us:
We joined in 1998 initially as “Explorer” members. The presentation revolved on quality holiday access/value for money, an asset. We went for our free weeks holiday in Spain in the summer and had a meeting during which we were persuaded to upgrade to “full membership”. Again it was sold as an asset likely to increase in value. Although the membership was stated to run ’till 2054, at no time was it mentioned that there was no way out. In fact the response to our question “can we leave early when we want to?” was “yes of course”. This was with CVG finance company, which has been handed through different owners and is now Diamond Resorts. Early on we could get the “inside 59 day” holidays but this became impossible. We exchanged with DRI a couple of times but the standard was generally lower and have not always been able to book what we wanted. We know we could buy the same holiday for approx half the maintenance fee without going through DRI. We no longer want to be members and it no longer meets our needs and is no longer value for money and shouldn’t be a burden on our children.
If you are in a similar position to these people, why not contact International Timeshare Refund Action today to find out how we can help?
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