We at TCA have been contacted by a lady who wanted to share with us her harrowing tale of a shocking experience she has been through since purchasing her timeshare. This heart- wrenching account of events is terrible and seems to be hopeless.
The customer was invited to a promotional stay at Beverley Hills Heights in Tenerife. To be honest, she went with no real intention of buying anything. She and her husband were financially comfortable, not well off, but looking forward to their upcoming retirement. Their mortgage was clear, and her husband was suffering with Parkinson’s disease, her plan was to spend their retirement looking after him and having some quality time together.
She explains that they attended the presentation and was subject to eight hours of intense pressure sales. He husband was exhausted and didn’t really understand what was happening, he found the whole episode quite stressful. She freely admits that she was quite gullible and got suckered into the sales person’s pitch. She was persuaded to spend £25,000 on 6 separate weeks over various properties. Let’s just note at this point that she didn’t have £25,000 to spend on this holiday investment. She paid a £1000 deposit upfront with a card and planned to get a load when she returned to the UK. She was shown a portfolio of other clients who were ‘making money’ from their investment and told that she would make a very healthy profit for her retirement. They were told where to sign, and with no legal or financial representatives there for advice, she signed the document. She states that there was so much to take in and listen to that important information either wasn’t shared or because she was so tired wasn’t taken in. She didn’t know about the maintenance fees, or about the rental agreement for all the weeks they didn’t use.
Her and her husband were put on a points system, but what she didn’t realise is that any points they didn’t use, she would have to pay to keep them when they were due to expire or they would lose them.
When she returned to the UK she got a loan with a £410 per month payment (the consumer was 63years old which is why the loan amount was so high)
A year later they were invited back to review their investment and were told that the market had collapsed and the only way out of it to try and get a return on their money they would need to upgrade the properties as the ones they already had were now pretty much worthless, the upgrade meant higher occupancies in them and this, they were told, would increase the value. During this time when she had been sucker punched with this information the sales person talked her into buying into Club Paradiso for £16,950, he guaranteed her that they would be able to sell this and other other weeks for the other apartments, no problems! He made it sound so simple and she was terrified that this was the only way she could make their money back.
She went back to the UK and got another loan!!
She didn’t know about the cooling off period and was convinced this was the only way out for her and her husband.
This means that their total re-payment on their loan is £811 per MONTH!!
Sadly, her husband had to retire due to his deterioration, she was stuck and saw no way out. She spoke to the CAB who advised her to speak to a financial advisor. The FA advised her to re-mortgage her house. She now realises that re-mortgaging was a huge mistake and is currently in a mass of debt that she wasn’t before and will live out the rest of her days looking after her sick husband and with a cloud of immense debt sat above her shoulders.
She was contacted by Silverpoint who advised that they had taken over Resort Properties and she has tried to ask them for their help in her dire situation, selling or renting, but to no avail with no contact.
What terrible times we live in where a salesperson can knowingly take advantage of an older couple, of whom one of them is seriously ill.
We at TCA strongly advise you always, always read the small print and never be afraid to ask questions.
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