We have been contacted this week by a Silverpoint client who has been in Tenerife during the last week to ‘get their money back from their investment they made over two years ago’.
We will call the lady Mrs X, she originally laid out £12,000 over two years ago as an investment in a holiday apartment, which was meant to last for two years, then the money they invested would be recoupable. However, the original receipt that they received said that the money was a ‘down payment for an overseas landlord’. An interesting way for Silverpoint to skirt around the fact that it is illegal to take any money within 14 days of the arrangement as a deposit. Mrs X should have also been made aware at this time that she had 14 days to cancel her agreement with Silverpoint.
The couple returned to Tenerife some time later to sign an official contract, in which the investment was now showing as a tenth share in an apartment in one of the Silverpoint resorts. At this point Mrs X and her husband were cajoled into signing the contract by the pushy reps that promised a hefty return on their investment within two years. Of course, this sounded very appealing to them, and they signed without a second thought.
Mrs X is now back on the island, with the hope of receiving this return on their investment, but instead has been told by Silverpoint that they have to sign a further document in the notary to secure that the deeds are in Mrs X’s name before she is able to resell them. The TCA advised Mrs X not to sign anything in the notary, as this would tie her into the Silverpoint fold even more, with less of a chance of exit, as the ‘tenth of the apartment’ would now become real estate property.
Mrs X relayed that she did not want to sign anything in the notary as she had been advised not to. Needless to say, the compliance department at Silverpoint are very used to these objections, and found a way to persuade Mrs X to sign at the notary. Saying that there was a conflict in interest regarding the shared real estate, if it was not in Mrs X’s name, then Silverpoint could not purchase it back. Hence, Silverpoint still being the rightful owner of this tenth share would not be able to purchase something that is already theirs.
Mrs X also threatened to tell all of the other clients that were there to sign on the day their story. She wanted to let them all know that they were being ‘scammed’. However, she told the compliance department her thoughts, and was told that this would be detrimental to any sales that she may be able to make in the future, as these people may be potential purchasers of her tenth share once it was finally hers.
Silverpoint have many years in the timeshare business, and are extremely professional when it comes to dealing with objections. Mrs X felt the need to sign this document in front of the notary in the end; she felt ‘backed into a corner’.
We would encourage any other clients in this situation to get in touch with us (contact details below) before they sign at the notary. We would also love to hear from any clients that have received any money back on their ‘investment’ with Silverpoint after signing at the notary as Mrs X did. If we have any positive feedback, we will be able to contact Mrs X with this good news, as she had this money put aside for her daughter’s wedding this summer, which she has now had to fund through another loan!
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