The National Consumer Commission (NCC) will hold a public enquiry into ‘holiday ownership’ (otherwise known as the timeshare industry!) this week, and it will be based in central Cape Town from Tuesday. If you live in Cape Town or happen to be on holiday and you have a timeshare complaint, you may have the opportunity to share your experience, your story and could potentially make a contribution to changing the way that the timeshare industry conducts itself and operates.
The public hearings will be held at the Cape Town Lodge‚ 101 Buitengracht Street‚ from tomorrow until Thursday‚ between 10am and 5pm each day.
The Commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed has asked timeshare consumers to get involved in this public enquiry, he believes that if timeshare consumers wish to see change, they need to participate in the enquiry and share their tales of timeshare!
The National Consumer Commissioner, Ebrahim Mohamed, advises that the timeshare industry is not effectively regulated as many different aspects of the industry are controlled by several different laws, some of which he believes to be outdated. They include the following, the Consumer Protection Act, the Property Timesharing Control Act, the Share Block Schemes Control Action, the Sectional Titles Act and the National Credit Act.
The Commissioner is a law scholar and he is known to have said:
“It is my belief that the law is not static; it is ever changing and it should respond to change in society to remain relevant and effective.”
The whole enquiry process actually started last week when the enquiry panel heard some of the stories of the consumers. The horror stories that were recited told of timeshare clubs who refused to cancel timeshare contracts, the charging of ridiculous costs for maintenance fees for the facilities at the holiday clubs and the over-selling of limited accommodation. This is all in spite of a 2014 SARS direction which stated that this charges cannot be passed onto people who do not have a title deed or who do not own the property.
The National Consumer Commission is hopeful of certain results from the public enquiry. A true hope is that the end result is a single piece is legislation that can regulate the timeshare industry expertly and hopefully “create a means for consumers to participate and have a voice in the affairs of holiday club schemes”.
The public enquiry has also been encouraged and welcomed by the acting Consumer Goods and Services Ombudsman (CGSO), Magauta Mphahlele. Citing that the public hearings will be a means of addressing “systemic non-compliance with consumer protection legislation”.
Contributing to the enquiry, the Ombudsman has submitted a report to the National Consumer Commission that clearly shows the different and varied timeshare complaints that the Ombudsman office regularly receives from many timeshare consumers. Over 13 months, the Consumer Goods and Services Ombudsman office received 127 timeshare-related complaints from consumers.
Of those 127 cases‚ 71% related to contracts and cancellations‚ unfair terms‚ failure to disclose contract terms and breach of contract. And the rest of the cases are directly tied to bait marketing, false advertisement, poor service, service delays and overselling.
The valid complaints from the consumers usually consisted of the following information:
- Unable to cancel after many years – Customers who entered into their timeshare agreement many years ago‚ but can now no longer afford the yearly fee for the upkeep of the scheme, or due to medical, or other, reasons can no longer enjoy the benefits. Though they wish to cancel, they were told by their timeshare company that they cannot.
- Cancellation of the agreement – Consumers wanting to cancel the agreement that they had signed up to within the 5-day cooling off period, found they were unable to contact the timeshare company until after that time. The company then refused to cancel the contract as the customer was contacting them outside the cooling-off period.
- Pressure and misleading – Customers who felt that they were pressurised into signing the agreements by pushy salespeople, or customers who believed that they were misled during presentations, by unscrupulous salespeople.
It is good to know that the Ombudsman has resolved most of the complaints and Mphahlele said:
“At the time of reporting 110 of the cases have been concluded and in 55% of the cases the outcome was positive for the consumer either because the complaint was fully upheld‚ assistance provided to the consumer or the complaint upheld partially.”
In 16.3% of the cases, however, the complaints could not be resolved as the timeshare company in question were not willing to cooperate with the Ombudsman.
Members of the timeshare industry are however being encouraged by the Vacation Ownership Association of South Africa to actively participate and cooperate with the Ombudsman. Although it is recognised that there is still some work to do with certain members, these developments may be a light at the end of the tunnel for many worried timeshare owners in the region.
If you would like more information regarding this post, please contact Timeshare Consumer Association today.
See our recent post regarding timeshare becoming more popular.
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