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CLAIMS: What you were led to believe REALITY: The truth
This is NOT timeshare. ANY arrangement where you share the use of accommodation in an apartment, villa, boat or through a club or use for a short period of time (i.e a week) on a regular annual (or bi-annual) basis is a Timeshare.
Ownership will enable you to exchange anywhere in the world at any time of the year. Almost always not true, especially if you are buying into a floating week system or a points club. And buying into a low season period will not ensure you can exchange into a high season period.
The loan repayments will be around £300 a month. When the loan details arrive, some weeks later, they could be double that figure.
RCI ‘bonus weeks’ (often called “extra weeks“) are available to use on an unlimited basis, to both owners and their friends. Bonus weeks are almost impossible to get, and are certainly not available on an unlimited basis. Generally you would be lucky to get one a year.
The resort is “Gold Crown” – the highest quality rating in the RCI exchange system. Being “Gold Crown” is essential if you want a good choice of good quality accommodation. Check with RCI  – as many salespeople claim Gold Crown when this is not true.
A sleeps 4 accommodation unit could easily be exchanged for a sleep six when you need it. No! Certainly not guaranteed.
All the accommodation is “Five Star”. Almost certainly not true. Many timeshare resorts only just scrape “Three Star” standard.
You are joining an ‘exclusive’ club. Many resorts now allow package holidaymaker’s and renters, hardly exclusive! And it is possible for you to rent timeshare accommodation through the internet without making any capital payment up-front. How many members are in your club? You are competing with them to claim the best weeks.
If you don’t use or exchange, you can make a profit by renting out the week. Perhaps, if it is a peak season week, certainly not if it is a winter week – see Note 1 below
A “White” or “Blue” week can easily be exchanged for a “Red” week. Most unlikely and certainly not guaranteed.
The purchase is a good investment or “won’t lose value” creating the impression that you will, at the very least, get all your money back when you come to sell. Timeshares and holiday club memberships collapses in price the instant they are bought. Many existing owners are finding it impossible to make a sale at any price making their ownership worthless.
You have paid for a lifetime membership of the exchange company. NO. At most you will have paid for 2 years – then you have to pay every year thereafter, as well as having to pay each time you make an exchange.
The annual management fee is limited by control of the owners or is limited to the level of inflation. Almost always not true, many resorts have increased annual fees by three times the rate of inflation in recent years.
The offer is only available if you sign today. They say this to everyone, every day, to avoid you finding out that you can get exactly the same ‘benefits’ for a fraction of their price.
The annual fee is only payable if you use the accommodation. Annual fees are payable EVERY year (or every second year if the ownership is bi-annual) irrespective of whether the accommodation is used or not.
You can cancel at any time in the future – just drop us a line“. Certainly not. Once past the cooling off period and they will not accept a cancellation
They claim to be part of a much larger, well respected, organisation or have been trading for a great many years. Very unlikely to be true as most marketing companies are fly-by-nights – check with Companies House if they are a UK company.
The annual management fee is £xxx Later you find out that this figure is exclusive of VAT which has to be added and there may also be a “utilities” charge when you use the accommodation. Do you ever see a breakdown of what the monies are spent on or even know which building the monies are for?
The change over day is Thursday which fits with flights from your local airport. Only when you attempt to book do you find the change over day is a Saturday involving you in substantial additional costs.
You are getting a “special” price. Yes, “special” as in “high”. Anything over £2,000 a week is expensive.
They claim you are not entitled to a cooling off period. The purchase of Timeshare or holiday club membership is covered by the Timeshare law which requires that a purchaser is given not less than 14 day cooling off period.
We are approved by the Office of Fair Trading etc., etc. No timeshare trader has any form of approval by a recognised authority.
We are ABTA or ATOL bonded.” Check with ABTA or ATOL – very few timeshare traders are members
The trade-in value for your existing ownership is £x,xxx It is very common to give a artificially high trade-in value to create the impression that the product you are buying is more valuable than it really is. Very often your existing ownership is worthless.
There is no need to read the (voluminous) paperwork. You may be denied the opportunity to read the full conditions attached to the Purchase Agreement, such as the ‘Rules of Occupation’. There may be clauses in the Rules which are contrary to what you have been told.

TCA advice:
If you are considering preparing your own list of misrepresentations, (perhaps for a claim under the Consumer Credit Act 1974) then:

Do not copy any list of misrepresentations, because they may not apply to you. Consider a list of misrepresentations so as to understand what a misrepresentation is. Any misrepresentations you claim you have been subject to, must at all times relate to your individual case. To blatantly copy the claims of others may land you foul of the law.

Ensure when providing a list of misrepresentations you include the promise made to you and the reality you have experienced.

When misrepresentations are being heard by a court, the consumer is at an advantage in that the person who made the representations has to attend the court and in a lot of cases, the actual salesman who made the representations has moved on. In the event they do not attend trial, the timeshare companies are at a disadvantage as it is only the consumers evidence which can be heard by any Judge.

In many cases of misrepresentation, the ones listed above are also breaches of the Consumer Protection Regulations. Therefore, the consumer should report the matter to their local Trading Standards office as a criminal act.

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