You Pay to get in – You Pay to get out
WARNING
Almost all ‘Buy-Out’ schemes are fraudulent unless the scheme has been verified and tested therefore consumers are advised to take caution when considering these schemes.
The protocol that a company claims to ‘guarantee’ to get you out of a timeshare ownership on payment of a large fee.
The only company that can actually guarantee your relinquishment is the timeshare resort itself! That said, you can significantly benefit from a reputable broker who will assist you – for a fee and paid at the conclusion of an agreement.
The Timeshare Consumer Association will be happy to assist all consumers who have a need to get out of their timeshare contracts by this method.
At all material times, the consumer, should give just consideration to appointing any person(s) simply to assist them as not to do so, may prove extremely costly in the future.
With tens of thousands of timeshare owners urgently trying to escape their ownership, the industry has dreamt up yet another moneymaking scheme ‘buy-out’ often called ‘Timeshare Exit Programmes’. Many buyout schemes are presented as ‘Fractional Ownership’.
A great many resorts now threaten legal action against non-payers. This causes considerable distress for people who have never been ‘in trouble’ before and are really scared of the legal process and Courts.
The timeshare industry has found a new money making scheme.
Charging owners enormous sums of money to get out. This is a ‘buyout’ scheme or in traders parlance an ‘timeshare exit programme’.
Buyout schemes have been around for a number of years. Initially these buy out schemes were operated by unscrupulous operators who charged owners anything from £3,000 to £10,000 to get out of their ownership. The fraudsters failed to arrange the proposed transfer out of the owner’s name which resulted in a continuance of the consumer’s ownership. This is blatantly wrong and, thankfully, is on the decline but consumers should be wary. At all material times, it is the Timeshare Consumer Association’s advice that any and all transfers should be conducted by a solicitor who is capable of confirming a successful transfer.
As with all situations in life, things mutate and this original scam detailed above mutated into another money making opportunity by some in timeshare industry in that they could bring one timeshare ownership to an end in exchange for a further lump sum payment or by bringing a timeshare to an end if that timeshare owner acquired interest in an newly dressed timeshare.
These opportunities further mutated in that some resorts colluded with others who offered relief from the original timeshare debt in exchange for further timeshare ownership i.e. Resort A puts pressure on a consumer causing considerable distress whereas at the same time, Resort A passes to Resort B, a database of consumers who want out. With that database, Resort B offers rescues to the consumer conditionally upon them entering into a contract with Resort B. This looks very much like extortion and any and all propositions given to consumers which contain conditions should be justly considered with their appointed solicitors.
TCA advice
Look at ALL options for getting out, before agreeing to join a buy-out scheme. Remember that you must be given a 14 day cooling off period to join the club if you decide to cancel ensure that you use “Signed For” delivery otherwise they may pretend not to have received the cancellation.
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