Rightly or wrongly, the timeshare industry has come to gain a rather unsavoury reputation and is often associated with high pressure sales tactics and scams.
While there certainly are clean timeshare providers, unfortunately the scammers are out there.
Stories such as this one from Mail Online highlight just how big the problem of timeshare scamming is, with one gang alone making an estimated £4million a year from as many as 500 victims, the majority of whom are senior citizens.
Here at the Timeshare Consumer Association, we want to help restore your faith in the industry, providing you with expert advice and assistance in resolving your timeshare issues.
We’ve decided to highlight five of the most common timeshare scams out there and how you can avoid them before it’s too late.
1. Cold Calling
Cold calling is unfortunately something that we’re all likely to be familiar with. Apparently 175,000 complaints were registered to the Information Commissioner’s office in 2014 according to this BBC article, and while lots are legitimate (but annoying!) sales calls, a lot are likely to be scams.
Cold calling timeshare scams are actually becoming less popular nowadays as more people get wise to them, but it pays to be vigilant.
The Scam
So how does a cold call scam work? There are a number of hooks that scammers can use to get your attention.
- They may be totally upfront and admit that they’re trying to sell you a timeshare, although as we’ll discuss later on, timeshare salespeople can be very convincing, and you can easily find yourself signing up for something that you neither want nor need. While this isn’t a scam per se make sure that you don’t sign up for anything that you don’t want.
- Another one you’ve likely heard before is that you’ve won a competition and won a timeshare in an exotic location. While most of us usually slam the phone down at this point, there are vulnerable people out there who are taken in by these types of scam which can often sound very convincing. Check out this article and case study video from the BBC’s Watchdog programme for more information on this type of cold call.
- And possibly the most common cold calling scam is one for those who already own a timeshare, the resale scam. In this instance the scammers will tell you that they’ve managed to find you a buyer for your property.
As you can imagine, all of the above claims will prove to be false, although they can seem very authentic.
Inevitably, the scammers will at some point as you for some form of payment, whether it’s worded as a ‘legal fee’, ‘security payment’ or perhaps they’ll ask you for your card details to send you the money for your timeshare which they’ve apparently sold.
Once they have your money, you simply won’t hear back from the scammers and they’ll disappear off the face of the earth with it.
How To Avoid
It sounds fairly simple, but the best way to avoid these types of scam are to just put the phone down.
Alarm bells should be ringing as soon as you realise it’s a cold call and the best thing to do is just put the phone down.
The longer you stay on the phone, the more likely that they’ll win your round with their spiel and as soon as you get asked for your card details upfront, you need to realise that something is wrong.
Any legitimate company will never under any circumstances ask for payment up front like this.
If you are trying to sell on your timeshare, it should be you making contact with the reseller, not the other way round.
If you do find yourself in this position, get in touch with one of our experts who will be happy to assist you in trying to exit your timeshare agreement.
2. Timeshare Presentations
One of the more notorious aspects of the timeshare industry is the dreaded presentation.
Again, it’s quite dubious whether this can be branded a ‘scam’ as they may be selling a genuine product, but the high pressure sales tactics and the hidden costs that they don’t tell you about definitely make this a morally ambiguous sales method.
Check out some first hand accounts such as this one from Travel is Free to get a bit of an insight into a typical timeshare presentation.
The Scam
Timeshare presentations can be long, drawn out affairs lasting multiple hours and to call them a hard-sell would be an understatement.
Many timeshare sellers will offer you an incentive, perhaps a stay at a luxury hotel, or another popular one is discounted theme park tickets in Florida. However, to qualify for these deals, you have to attend the presentation.
Once you’re in the presentation you’ll be bombarded with more fantastic incentives to buy a timeshare, and it can all seem a little bit too good to be true. Guess why? That’s because it is!
Unfortunately, you very rarely get exactly what you’re offered in the presentation, and you’ll wind up getting saddled with lot of extra costs, or perhaps a property in a different resort to the one promised.
How To Avoid
Obviously if you have no interest in buying a timeshare at all and are only considering a timeshare meeting for the incentive (such as the theme park tickets) it’s as simple as just not bothering.
It simply isn’t worth the hassle, and having to endure the high pressure sales tactics, and while it may seem hard to imagine, people do go to these meetings with no intention of buying a timeshare at all, but leave having done exactly that.
On the other hand, if you are interested in purchasing a timeshare, you need to go in in the right mind-set.
Know that you’ll be pressured into putting pen to paper there and then, and that’ll you’ll be offered deals which are apparently only valid for that day.
Try and remain vigilant at all times and don’t get caught up in the sales pitch too much. Ask as many questions and possible, and whatever you do, don’t sign up for anything at the meeting itself.
Instead go away and think things over and make doubly sure you’re making the right decision for you.
If possible, do some research on the company and see if they’ve got a decent reputation.
3. Resale Scams
We touched on this in the cold calling scams, but selling your timeshare on can be extremely risky business.
Ideally you should try and sell your timeshare privately, perhaps to a friend or family member or by placing an ad on sites such as eBay or Gumtree (eBay have a guide to selling timeshare here).
While this is the best option it can be quite difficult as there are more people trying to sell timeshares than there are trying to buy them.
The Scam
Resale scammers will either promise you that they can sell your timeshare, or may even tell you that already have sold it.
They will then probably ask for an up-front deposit or admin fee, either to secure their services, or to authorize them paying you the funds for your timeshare property.
They will likely pressure you to come to a decision on this very quickly and be very eager for you to send your payment or details.
The truth is that they likely do not have any buyer lined up and will disappear with your money and make themselves very difficult to track down and contact.
As was the case in The Guardian article we shared at the top of this post, the scammers may even go further, and contact you claiming to be a organization that will help you recoup the money you’ve been scammed out of, only to take yet another fee.
How To Avoid
Always be wary if you’re being asked for an upfront fee. Any fees in a legitimate timeshare resale will be paid after the sale is complete, so upfront fees should certainly get alarm bells ringing.
Even if they don’t ask for an upfront fee, show a bit of caution if a reseller is claiming to have already found you a buyer.
We know from experience that timeshare resales are far from straightforward and just like anything else in timeshares or in real life, if it seems too good to be true it likely is.
Hopefully there should be someone at your resort who can advise you on the best steps to take in terms of reselling as they may have their own restrictions or resale programme.
Demand anything and everything to be in writing and keep hold of email correspondence as this can be very helpful, especially if you wind up needing legal assistance.
Of course if you’re at all unsure on anything, we’re more than happy to help here at the Timeshare Consumer Association.
While it may seem like we’re tarring all timeshare companies with the same brush, this is not the case!
There are many legitimate timeshare companies out there, but unfortunately it’s an industry where it pays to be extra cautious.
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