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The Office of Fair Trade (OFT) in the UK has the following helpful advice and links:
1. The following rtf document that can be used for Complaints:
http://www.lbcma.org/uk/OFT%20Statement%20Pro%20Forma.rtf
2. The following rtf document Rights when Purchases (e.g.
using a credit card) go Wrong: http://www.lbcma.org/uk/Sec%2075%20guidance.rtf
3. Notes on claims against a credit grantor (e.g. a credit card company).
- The credit grantor is only liable if there is a valid claim
for breach of contract or misrepresentation against the supplier. The credit grantor is at liberty to request proof
of the breach, however, a consumer can get the views of their local trading standards department as to whether
they have a valid claim or not, as well as advice on how to progress a claim.
Consumers can find out where their local Trading Standards Department
is by clicking on the following link: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/
4. A link to information on overseas credit card purchases. Protection for credit card holders when they shop abroad.
 "We'll pay cash for your timeshare..."
1.) One of the more ingenious operations around is from companies
that offer to buy your unwanted timeshare-- if you will only purchase their Vacation Club instead. This
is not new, but it appears to be a growing problem for many consumers.
The usual scenario runs something like this:
- Timeshare owners
who have advertised their timeshare for sale receive an unsolicited phone call from someone saying their company
is in the area buying timeshares. They set up an appointment for you at a local hotel, telling you to bring your
warranty deed and other papers, and you join several other couples in a small conference room. (NOTE that DreamMakers
operates more like a regular timeshare business in Mexico, with sales rooms often set up on resort properties.)
- Once there,
you sit through a couple-hour session during which you are regaled with the horrors of owning timeshare: Your long
term financial liability; the problems your heirs might encounter once you kick off; how RCI is fixin' to rip you
off via their new Points system so your timeshare will be worthless if you don't ante up with several thousand
more dollars to join RCI Points; etc., etc., etc. They offer to pay fair market value for your timeshare, to save
you from maintenance fees and all the "terrible headaches" of timeshare ownership. Somewhere around this
point they mention their vacation club, with prices so low and advantages so great that it can only be discussed
individually.
- It is when they get you separated from the group that they go for the gold-- YOUR gold. Usually you are offered membership
in the vacation club for somewhere around $6,995.00. They will let you trade in your unwanted timeshare, valued
at $4,000, so the cost to you for the vacation club is only $2,995 (plus closing fees of $300 to $400). They are
allowing you into the club at a discount PLUS you get rid of that pesky timeshare, all in one fell swoop. (They will also usually tell you that your loss on your timeshare is tax
deductible: You had better check with your accountant, because the last time we checked, it was NOT deductible.)
- What do you really get when you join this kind of vacation
club? In general, you get "Certs" (certificates),
the kind of "memberships" that are often given as incentives for taking a timeshare tour or sold as an
"exit program" at the end of a presentation when the salesperson can't get you to step up to purchasing
the timeshare itself. The value of this type of membership is usually somewhere between $0 and $a couple hundred,
depending on several variables.
- In extreme cases,
consumers have been known to buy into the vacation club only to discover later that title to their timeshare was
never transferred and they still own it-- PLUS a nearly worthless vacation club. This is known as a (phony) `table
buy-back'.
It is strictly BUYER BEWARE on this. Use your common sense and investigate thoroughly before you buy
into a vacation club under such circumstances. Do NOT let anyone pressure you into an on-the-spot decision. And
remember this: You do NOT have to be polite under these circumstances. You have the right to simply get up and
walk out of the room at any time; relinquishing the right to get any gift they may have promised you in return
for attending a presentation is a lot less expensive than being pressured into buying something you don't want.
2.) Timeshare owners from Europe, especially the UK, have
been hit especially hard in the last couple of years by swindlers operating mostly out of the Canary Islands,
the Balearics and the Costa del Sol in Spain. In general, it works something like this: Ghost companies purchase
lists of timeshare owners on the blackmarket and proceed to start calling them with an offer to sell the timeshare.
They know exactly the resort, apartment and week number, etc. They tell the owner that they already have a buyer
who is willing to pay the full purchase price at any time. However, the seller is told that in order to cover fees
and costs, they request anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars, pounds sterling, euros, etc. to be transferred
to them: It all seems legitimate and the seller is given assurances that the company's attorneys will hold this
money in escrow in their account, and that the money is to cover the costs of the transaction.
Further assurances state that the money will be refunded doubled if the buyer does not complete within six months,
although the deal is close to being completed and the promised purchase price is on its way to the sellers account.
You may rest assured that you will never see your money again if you send it to these companies, nor will your
timeshare be sold. In most cases the phone numbers used during these transactions will be no good any more within
a six-month period, and the company will quietly go out of business only to start up again under another name.
Here is one example of what is almost surely a resale scam, from our files:
--"Have you heard of the following 'scam'? Before Christmas last year I received a 'cold
call' asking if I was interested in selling our timeshare. The caller informed me that the company that she represented
was acting as an European buyer for an American company and that they were especially interested in UK ownership.
She asked a few details to confirm the week owned, resort name and whether or not the maintenance was up to date.
She then asked for an email address to which she could send me a confirmed sales price and other information. The
crux of the arrangement was to be that myself and my wife would visit them in Spain for a few days to meet with
the American buyer and confirm the sale transaction. All that I had to do was confirm the dates on the reservation
form, sort our own flights and send them a refundable amount of £260 to cover accommodation costs.
"Needless to say although impressed at the offer price of £8650, I am somewhat sceptical due mainly
to the need to send money 'up front' and also because it sounds a little too good to be true!
"I attach a bmp file of the letter that I received.
"I assume that this is a scam and not the opportunity of a lifetime??"
Our response: --"You are correct: This IS a scam and not the opportunity of a lifetime.
In short: RUN as fast as you can away from anything that even sounds vaguely like this kind of proposal. This particular
scam has been running for quite a long time, with various embellishments, and has separated many good trusting
folks from a great deal of money.
"Thank God for your skepticism!"
To find more information on the variety of scams perpetrated by these conmen (and conwomen), go to http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/alerts4.htm
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