As they do every year, Better Business Bureau (BBB) have released their top ten fraud list from 2019 and it comes as no surprise that travel, vacation and timeshare have a place on that list. BBB direct their services to consumers in the USA, Canada and Mexico with the goal to put trust into the marketplace. Their website tracks scams and allows you to view which areas the scams are operating in.
The list for the riskiest scams in Canada 2019 runs as follows;
- Travel/Vacation/Timeshare
- Advance Fee Loan
- Romance
- Crypto currency
- Employment
- Online Purchase
- Home Improvement
- Tech Support
- Fake Invoice
- Credit Card
The holiday industry is known not to be perfect and timeshare certainly has a crummy reputation that it earned all by itself. This is due to the pressure selling tactics of timeshare sales people, leading to many consumers becoming owners and handing over huge amounts of money before they realise what’s happened.
Tips from the BBB to avoid falling into a travel, vacation or timeshare scam is to be wary of unrealistic deals, do your research and to pay with a credit card.
Above all, always be careful when booking online, if it seems too good to be true then it just might be!
Last year, the average victim of these scams lost $5,000. Before buying into timeshare, anywhere in the World, it is advised to do your own background checks on the group or resort.
Some of the most commonly known groups and resorts with bad reputations from Americas side of the globe include; Diamond Resorts, Bluegreen Vacations, Vistana, Marriot, Westgate and Orange Lake.
In Europe, in Spain particularly, there have recently been many consumers who owned timeshare with Diamond Resorts that have now managed to exit from their tricky agreements and obtained successful claims. Timeshare scams are still very prominent in Europe, with many resorts going bust as a result of their suspicious actions such as Silverpoint Vacations. Other resorts may still be going but have numerous claims in court against them such as Club la Costa and Anfi Sales.
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