As we have reported on numerous occasions, getting into a long term timeshare contract is a very easy thing to do, getting out is an entirely different matter. Very few timeshare developers publish any form of exit strategy and those that do make the process tougher than taking part in a Royal Marines combat course.
Because new timeshare sales, especially in Europe are, to put it mildly, in the doldrums, often even if the developer has an exit strategy, part of this is a penalty payment of many times the annual maintenance fee. This is because a component of the timeshare structure, if an owner exits, is that the developer becomes responsible for the annual maintenance payments, until the handed back timeshare is resold. In the case of the Sunday Times article, journalist Eugene Costello ran into exit problems when trying to assist his parents in extracting themselves from a long term contract.
The story
Mr Costello says, “Back in 2003 my parents visited friends at their timeshare resort in Madeira. The friends took my parents, at the time both aged 70, to a presentation, where they bought a 25-year timeshare for £20,000” Our first comment would be to ask what on earth the developers were thinking selling a 25 year contract to 70 year olds?
Mr Costello went on to say “Because Mum became ill, first with rheumatoid arthritis, then Alzheimer’s, they only visited three times. In 2018 my younger brother tried to negotiate a cancellation to get them out of the contract. He died before he could achieve this. When Mum died in April, Dad asked if I could help. He was tied into the time share for another five years and was being chased for four years of maintenance fees.”
Eventually Mr Costello contacted European Consumer Claims whose assistance concluded in the termination of the contract, something up and till then had proved problematic.
TCA comment
Another classic example of developers over selling, as we said above, where were the checks and balances in place to stop 70 year olds being sold a 25 year contract? TCA would be the first to admit that just because you are 70 plus you cannot afford to spend £20,000, but according to Mr Costello “Dad, had been a teacher, and Mum, a former nurse” in our opinion given this they were certainly not in the Rockefeller league. No doubt they had saved a reasonable nest egg but a £20,000 expense could have made a fair dent in this.
Taking the over sell out of the equation, when will developers learn and understand that in life circumstances change. Understanding and working with owners who simply want out would seem to be entirely logical but for all the years timeshare has been in existence, all the tweaks, all the resort expansions and new developments, one thing that never seems to be on the agenda is, for the most part, contract termination.
Not satisfied with just exposing his parents’ plight, Mr Costello, in his article, covered various other pitfalls and problems that beset the timeshare industry. A copy of the Times article may be downloaded here.
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