The Association of Timeshare Owners Committees (TATOC)
Everybody thinks that TATOC is the watchdog for timeshare consumers/owners, and they have seduce, some big names, not least of which is Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, because his department regularly refers disgruntled consumers/owners to TATOC.
So if they are not the consumer watchdog, what are they? The clue is in the name (The Association of Timeshare Owners Committees), in reality it is one great big boys club for the historic chairman of various owner committees throughout the industry and they make no secret of the fact that secretly they support everything that the RDO does!
They think they can get away with just about anything, including their 25th anniversary, except that the organisation was incorporated in December 2001 and even somebody with the most limited grasp of mathematics can work out that they are approaching their thirteenth birthday not their twenty fifth!
This is an industry watchdog, it is not a demure young lady who is economical with the truth when it comes to her age – if they can lie about how old they are, what else can they be un-transparent about?
TATOC claim to represent 250,000 timeshare owners and yet in reality they only represent a few hundred owner members which consists of timeshare committee members, who should represent a vast number of owners, but often do not.
TATOC boasts having “many directors” yet at Companies House there are only two registered (3 more after TCA last exposed them) and they are one Harry Taylor and one Geoffrey Neil Chapmen. That is it, no other directors listed. More un-transparency?
How many members of TATOC are also the “founder members” sitting on timeshare committees? How many members of TATOC are “owner members” sitting on timeshare committees? We do know that on at least 90 committees there is a TATOC appointee (dependent upon which industry web site you read)!
As neutrality is a priority, so as to properly adjudicate, contemplate and capture the wants and desires of the members of the various clubs that those 90 committees represent, can they be trusted to act independently?
If you visit TATOC website it is inundated with advertisements from the industry and they offer a variety of industry memberships costing from £500 right through to £6,000 (Now reduced to £3,000).
They also perform services to the industry which sponsors them, by inspecting and certifying new member resorts. Those inspection are not published!
So it is not a quantum leap to work out that most, if not their entire income comes from operators/developers and that must surely impose a heavy burden when trying to be neutral. “He that pays the piper… etc!”
Let us look at specifics.
Recently, TATOC supported one of its “Platinum” members MacDonalds Resorts Ltd (MRL), on Wednesday the 9th of July 2014, TATOC claim to have received a proposal from MRL. TATOCs Chairman, Harry Taylor now stated he endorsed the initiatives that MRL were proposing and after actually reading the proposal, TATOC commended MRL saying the proposal was “ground breaking”. TATOC even asked to join MRL in their mission to present the proposal to their clubs’ members, yet when the committee of the clubs were convened and the proposal was about to be voted upon, TATOC vanished.
This presents a most disturbing worry inasmuch that if TATOC exist to assist committees, and an emergency meeting was to be convened by one of TATOCs accredited resorts, you might have expected TATOC to be there to assist those committee members who are associated with TATOC. In the military they call that desertion!
Now, let’s look a little bit deeper, TATOC support KwikChex; from TATOCs point of view (in respect to committees and consumers) you might have expected that they would have insisted that the KwikChex model would have included collusion between committees and operators and other nefarious activities in the industry, but regrettably this is not part of the remit of KwikChex!
It is well-known that TATOC holds secret meeting with the RDO and works closely with them, and yet it purports to provide neutrality on committees?
Surely you expect TATOC to take all those who commit transgressions in the industry to task, but regularly they go to the low hanging fruit and attack newcomers to the industry rather than the timeshare establishment. Surely you would expect TATOC to rush to the aid of disenfranchised consumers and those who are litigating against being ripped off, but the silence from TATOC is deafening!
Even, the hard-won cases and judgements that have been won against TATOC members who have been found by the courts to have transgressed, you might think you would find referred to on their pages – not one appears!
Currently, the group litigation actions are being taken against, St Francis’ Marketing, GE Money, Club la Costa, RCI, MacDonalds, Silver Point (all, except St. Francis, senior members of TATOC.) In particular the RCI action has 10,000 litigants and what do we hear from TATOC? Silence!
No information, no guidance and no sign post to assist consumers.
Mr. Taylor is also a Director of one of those Platinum TATOC members Diamond Resorts.
The Worldwide Group of Companies Ltd.
This enterprise owns “The Worldwide Timeshare Hypermarket Ltd.” a timeshare resale company and both enterprises are controlled by Mr Philip Watson, who also owns Worldwide Timeshare Exchange Ltd
Worldwide Timeshare Exchange is a timeshare exchange company. Simply deposit any week and exchange it for any other available week on the Worldwide Timeshare Exchange system… a bit like “son of RCI”!
Philip Watson puffs himself up and calls himself “The Timeshare Lord”. A grand title that he has given himself. In reality he is a merely business man looking to ensure that his companies make a profit from their involvement in the industry and the products that are sold to the consumer.
On his websites, he is an avid promoter of TATOC, of which he is a Platinum member and he unambiguously states:-
“TATOC was formed in 1989 and over the years has grown to become the largest timeshare association in Europe. TATOC now has over 90 resort members and represents over 350, 000 timeshare families in Europe. The TATOC timeshare association works with owner committees, resorts, timeshare owners and reputable timeshare companies”.
What is not openly evident is that Philip Watson is an active Director of the RDO (remember that from earlier?)
Further Philip Watson is a close friend of Chris Emmins of KwikChex and that business even shares the offices as Philip Watson’s Companies, so it is not unsurprising that it was appointed by the RDO and TATOC!
Further research shows that Philip Watson has a business “facebook” page account and one of his many friends is the convicted fraudster Bob Trotta (“The Timeshare King” as the industry claimed), which states that “Readers should not have cause to believe that Mr Watson enterprises are anything but legal, solvent and legitimate.”
So, let us reflect, Philip Watson owns a timeshare resale company, owns a timeshare exchange company, is a director of the industry body, is a director of the timeshare council, is a platinum member of TATOC, has his own website promoting himself as “the Timeshare Lord” and shares an office with the Timeshare Take Force’s appointed contractor KwikChex. All recommend by TATOC and the RDO and vice versa.
We chose Philip Watson purely to demonstrate how the industry operates and demonstrates how the main players support the other, for their own reasons.
Now here’s a real gem – Lakeview
Harry Taylor (yes, he of TATOC fame) is the Chairman of the committee that administers the club on behalf of the owner/members yet that club has missing audited accounts, which is in breach of its own constitution. That said Harry’s committee have pushed through an amendments to its constitution which revokes the right of the members to be provided with Audited accounts no)
Against this back drop Harry Taylor routinely instructs solicitorso n behalf of the Club to commence legal actions against its own members in the full knowledge that Lakeview is lacking.
When consumers talk to the TCA, we tried to truthfully explain the reality of the breaches in the contractual obligation, and on each occasion Harry Taylor settles the action.
Knowing what the problem is and not having a defence to his actions, you have to ask yourself, why does he continually persist tormenting his clients this way? Equally why does he demand in settlement of the action, the deeds to the timeshare which he and his committee has no voice in?
Again worrisome, when you consider the fact that the club were not even a party to the timeshare sale contract!
We could go on, we could probably write a book on TATOC alone but let us conclude with the thought that there is a need for an organisation to assist the many members of committees; there is a need for independent, logical and consistent updates for unincorporated associations. There is a need to confer and keep abreast of the industry needs and wants, whilst at the same time protecting the consumer/owners.
If (which must surely be the desire of all parties) the industry seeks to sort out the problems with which it is beset and all parties can enjoy the benefits of timeshare ownership, then this war has to stop. The spinning has to cease, the entire industry has to come clean, progress and come together.
That will never happen in the current climate of litigation, discord and delusions. Remember, the industry serves the owner/consumers, not vice versa.
Good service will reaps rewards whilst bad service heaps up litigation, worry, upset, discord, anger and personal impeachments. Surely change is needed?
This report is not intended to infer any wrongdoing, or illegal activity, or even illegal business activities. The report merely demonstrates that the industry may be viewed as not operating with the ethical standards that might be expected by your average consumer, further it is authored to show some of the idiosyncrasy and incest of the main players who are recommended by the government bodies, Citizen Advice Bureaux and other consumer groups who seek advice from the industry.
ustry and especially those whose aim it is to help consumers get out of their timeshare contracts. Admittedly, there are some that wholeheartedly deserve criticism, however this does not give these self-appointed hierarchy of timeshare the right to condemn everybody that is not associated with their clique; to do that you have to come to the table with clean hands… and theirs are decidedly mucky!
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk