A recent story reported by NBC 4 News America has revealed yet another timeshare scam. Saltha Gipson and her husband bought timeshare points several years ago; having enjoyed several vacations using these points, travelling to Virginia, Florida, New Jersey and Nevada, they enjoyed their holidays but thought that they would never be able to use all of their points.
Up until now, this is quite a normal story, points can be great, but a lot of the time people purchase these points thinking that they will use them up, or get something back for them in years to come, such as a buyer that will buy up the remaining points they have. However, a company presented itself out of the blue to Mrs Gipson. They called her one afternoon and claimed to be a timeshare rental company.
The deal was that they would charge Mrs Gipson $950 to put her points up for rent, and they claimed that this money would be returned to her after the first rental, which was likely within months as they were so popular to rent. This of course was not the way things turned out. The Florida company took the $950 from Mrs Gipson whom in return signed a contract that stated that she would not receive a refund after 10 days of signing.
When months passed and Gipson did not hear anything from the Florida company, she called them, to be told many excuses. She called several more times to be given the same excuses over and over, and still no rental. She then took it upon herself to call NBC Channel 4 whom reported on the company. Funnily enough the very next day, the company in question called Mrs Gipson to offer her half of her original outlay back.
This is just another warning to read the small print in any contract before signing. Do not pay money up front for a product if you are unsure of results, or have no written promises of what you should expect in return. Please let us know here at the TCA if you have been at the receiving end of any similar scams.
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