It is being reported that The National Consumer Commission (NCC) in South Africa is in the process of finalising several cases to put before the National Consumer Tribunal.
These cases are being presented by the NCC on the grounds that they believe contracts signed “in perpetuity” are in breach of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
IOL News has spoken to several people involved in the matter. One is Trevor Hattingh (a spokesperson for the NCC). Hattingh stated the following;
“The NCC has lodged two applications with the National Consumer Tribunal: “One against Club Leisure Group, and the other against Univision and its associated clubs.
I can confirm that a hearing date has been set down for Univision and associated clubs, that being the first week of November 2015. The NCC is yet to receive a date for the Club Leisure matter.”
In contrast, the Chairman of the VOASA Mr John Lee said;
“We are not in a position to comment until such time that the National Consumer Tribunal has made a decision on the merits of the NCC applications”.
He did, however, point out that they have drafted an industry code in terms of section 82 of the Consumer Protection Act and legislation specifically applicable to timeshare and share-block schemes.
“This industry code makes provision for an ombud scheme to deal with timeshare members’ complaints. The draft was submitted to the NCC in October 2014 for consideration but has not elicited any response from the NCC as yet”.
Trudie Broekmann is a Lawyer and an expert in the CPA (Consumer Protection Act) has stated that she is keeping a close eye on this. The IOL News reported that Broekmann had this to say about the timeshare/holiday club industry;
“The timeshare/holiday club industry is structured in a way which I believe is unconscionable or close to being unconscionable in the sense that the CPA uses the term, ie unethical and exploiting consumers’ inability to understand the legal nature of what they are signing up for. One can poke a lot of holes in the agreements and the quality of services rendered (or, as seems usually to be the case, not rendered) using the CPA,” she said.
“The CPA is not clear that a contract in perpetuity is necessarily in conflict with the act, but I believe such a contract is most likely unfair, unreasonable and unjust (all of which is prohibited in section 48). It would be wonderful for consumers if we had an authoritative finding to confirm this.”
Along with Trudie, the TCA will ensure that we keep a close eye on the proceedings and report the outcome of the case against the Univision and associated clubs being held in the first week of November.
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