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A quick search of our website reveals the extraordinary number of rogue and scam companies supposedly operating in the exit and claims peripheral of the timeshare industry. It’s fair to say that these so called “experts” outweigh legitimate firms many times over. From a consumer point of view it becomes increasingly more difficult to distinguish the good from the bad, however there are some pointers that should put you on your guard and hopefully protect you from being scammed. Below we will look at some important points that need to be taken into account before both engaging and paying for services offered.

Registration and location

This is the first step in any investigation. Legitimate companies will always have gone through the process of registering the organisation with the appropriate registrars. In the case of UK based companies the registration should be visible and evidencable by an entry at Companies House. Bearing in mind that the majority of fraudulent companies are located in Spain or the islands, then again registration should appear in the Spanish equivalent of Companies House, Registradores de España. In both cases the registration number should appear on literature and websites. In the case of Spanish companies, this is called a Certificado de Identificacion Fiscal or CIF for short. This number is normally preceded by the letter B and may easily be checked, more on that later. As a point of caution, even if a number is quoted it needs to be checked. Many scam operators, especially in Spain created fake numbers.

In preference you should look to deal with a company that has a UK presence because, on the off chance that they fail to deliver the service paid for then the right to redress is much easier and stronger. This is not to say that there are no legitimate companies operating from Spain, it merely points out that taking action is easier in the UK as opposed to challenging a foreign entity.

Whilst checking and satisfying yourself that the company is registered it doesn’t stop there. Time served is all important. A company registered many years ago and still trading is potentially a better bet than one established months ago. Time served and experience is all important.

Website and email

In the high tech environment we find ourselves living in today it goes without saying that virtually all companies have an internet presence. The next step in your investigation is to search out and view the corporate website. If no such site exists, walk away. If you establish that there is a site don’t be fooled by the stylish design, website construction is getting cheaper by the day so to have an all singing and dancing site may not paint a correct picture.

Many scam companies have websites and stylish ones at that, a clue is how much content is on the site. Most scammers only create a site to add “credibility” to their scam. Scam sites have either a single page construction or a very limited number of pages. By way of example, a scam company we recently exposed, Servicios Legales has a single page website, whereas European Consumer Claims (ECC), a company that appears on our white list, has 325 pages containing a vast amount of information and advice.

A recent and really frightening development is scam companies passing themselves off as real law firms using identity theft; this is most predominant in Spain. During your investigation you find the genuine law firm website but strangely it’s all in Spanish with no opportunity to view in English, no mention anywhere of timeshare and differing contact and phone details, it’s a scam! A recent example may be found here. Please read and understand.

Much like the company search, checking the age of a website is all important for the same reasons.

Finally, the contact us page is very important. Most scammers have no contact phone number, if they are based in Spain beware of numbers that begin +34 6 or +34 7 as these are mobile phones. Another important point is that scammers rarely show an address. Most only have a contact form so you give all your information and they give none. If an address shows then this may be checked on Google maps, although this is no guarantee that they are actually there.

Turning to email, many scammers use free email providers and as such don’t have their domain name in the address. Common addresses contain @gmail.com – @consultant.com – @office.com, this also should ring alarm bells. Real companies use their domain name as part of the email, ours being @timeshareconsumerassociation.org.uk

Cold calls

Always a bad sign. Most scam companies seem to know an awful amount of detail about you so one must wonder how this can be. In virtually all cases scammers work from stolen data or offer some lame excuse that you are registered on the international database of timeshare owners, totally untrue of course as no such register exists. Apart from resorts, management companies or trust companies, no one else should have your ownership details unless, in the past, you may have shared this with permission to use your data in the future; the latter is quite legal and is in line with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Cooling off period

Within both the EU and UK the same rules apply. With timeshare related matters these are normally handled “off premise” meaning that your contract was concluded via the internet, phone or email with you not being physically present in a face to face meeting in the company’s office. This being the case, the law dictates that you have been given all the necessary information about the right to withdraw and are informed that  you have  14 days to withdraw from the contract – without any penalty and without having to give any reason:

For services – this means 14 days after the contract was concluded.

Ethical above board companies will always offer 14 days for you to consider the action.

Checks and balances

Avoiding being scammed begins with you. TCA are supporters of the Government backed Take 5 initiative which basically has some simple messages. Take time to pause and reflect before committing and above all do your research. Below we offer links to various sites to check the facts before you proceed:

Finally

Be vigilant and be on your guard! There are certainly some expert ethical companies in the market and they appear on our white list but believe us when we say they are few and far between. Whilst we ask you to carry out your own investigations we do appreciate that this may be quite daunting, this being the case we are here to help and are more than prepared to carry out the work on your behalf.

A sad story our volunteer advisors hear all the time is that research takes place after monies have been paid thus putting the cart before the horse, remember that in virtually all cases money paid is money lost.

As a timeshare owner no doubt you receive dozens of calls about exiting or claims relating to your ownership. In many cases what you are told may be true, the question is will the company you engage actually do the job?

We have produced an aide memoir to assist in asking pointed questions to arm you with answers, as we say on the form:

“Armed with answers to these questions you can carry out your own research but we doubt you will get through the list before the call abruptly finishes. If you do get all the way through, let us have the details and we will investigate for you”

You can download the form by clicking here; we suggest you keep it by the phone.

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