We recently received an enquiry from a rather distraught former timeshare owner who had been contacted by Hargreaves Holdings. Unfortunately the content of their phone call half scared this pensioner to death. Basically, the lady and her husband owned a timeshare in Spain but due to ill health they approached the resort and asked to be released from the contract. The resort concerned were most accommodating and agreed to relinquish the ownership, since then they have had no further communication, no maintenance bills, nothing. On the basis of the evidence provided to us, their trip down timeshare lane was well and truly over but not according to Hargreaves Holdings.
The scam we have reported on many times reared its ugly head yet again with the caller saying that they weren’t out and those years of back maintenance fees plus charges could be heading in their direction any time. The nice gentleman explained that for a fee of a mere £8,800 plus VAT, he and the team at Hargreaves Holdings could put the matter to bed once and for all. This obviously made us take a deeper look at these knights in shining armour coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress.
TCA investigation
Hargreaves Holdings do indeed have a website; however the domain name was only registered on 25th October 2022. According to the site, the company is based in Paphos, Cyprus. A company registration number is quoted; HE 440418 but a search of the Cypriot Companies House could find no record. A check was also made on the company name and again the register failed to find any results.
The home page of the site states “leaders in investment” and offers services surrounding the field of various investments such as real estate. Financial advice, including investment advice is regulated in Cyprus by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange commission (CYSEC), a search of their register found no authorisation.
Given that the corporate website appears to be referring to a Cypriot company that doesn’t exist, it’s rather odd that the communication received shows a Spanish registered company being Hargreaves Holdings SL, this company is based in Majorca and is registered at the equivalent of Companies House in Spain. According to records, the company has a sole Director being George Thomas McDonald; furthermore, the company was only established on 3rd March 2022. Of interest is the registered office address differs from the address quoted on the communication, further, the website quotes over 20 years experience, hard to believe when the company was only registered last year.
The business type listed states “Servicios relativos a la propiedad inmobiliaria y a la propiedad industrial” which translated means “Services related to real estate and industrial property” rather odd as the website states:
“We are a European based legal firm, with over 20 year’s experience, we have an experienced team of legal barristers, consultants and solicitors that we proudly work along side.”
When being a recipient of cold calls, often the recipient asks how their information was obtained, this normally receives a glib response such as “you are on the timeshare owners register”. As we have said on many occasions, no such register exists but according to Hargreaves Holdings, it does!
As a final point, above you will see above that there is a News tab on the site, when clicked there are only four postings all concerning timeshare, nothing at all about property or investments and all dated October 2021. Once again we see the statement “We are a European based legal firm”.
TCA Comment
Here we have an organisation that uses cold calling, applying fear and greed, in this case to senior citizens. A company that issues contracts from Spain, but appears to be based in Cyprus. A company that doesn’t actually exist in Cyprus, but does in Spain. A company whose website purports to be involved in property investment and contract disputes whilst pretending to be a legal firm. All in all, nothing either makes sense or is truthful.
TCA have sight of the contract issued by this company, the most noticeable omission is any reference to the EU Statutory 14 day cooling off period. Under EU Distance Selling Regulations, transactions that do not take place in corporate premises such as communication by phone, email or video calls have to allow for 14 days grace. Sellers must make it clear that their clients are entitled to change their mind. The client may opt for any contracted work to commence immediately, but a clear explanation that such action would remove the cooling off period must be stated and placed in writing. Unfortunately, the contract we have seen makes no reference to this and simply makes an illegal statement:
If you are approached by Hargreaves Holdings we would suggest extreme caution. Our investigations above would suggest that this is a company not to be trusted. There are far more anomalies in both the contract and website but for now we hope you get the picture.
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