Pictured above: Stephen Boyd
New laws have been introduced to protect people from timeshare
and holiday club scams - but Shropshire solicitors are urging
people to continue to seek advice before they get involved.
On February 23 2011 a new law came into action to protect
consumers of timeshare and holiday clubs as the existing Timeshare
directive only applied to certain products and had a number of
loopholes.
These loopholes were exploited by unscrupulous companies and
individuals in the Timeshare industry; leaving consumers as the
potential victims of numerous scams.
Linder Myers Solicitors, based in High Street, Shrewsbury, is in
the process of raising a group action for all those who have been
affected by issues with their timeshare or holiday club. The firm
is assisting consumers in disputes with Club La Costa and the
Petchey Group of Companies.
Solicitor Stephen Boyd today said: "Holiday Clubs fell outside
of the protection afforded to customers by the Timeshare Act 1992
(later amended in 2003 and 2007). This means that if someone
purchased a Holiday Club, they would not have the right to a
cooling-off period that would have automatically applied if
purchasing a traditional timeshare.
"There have been similar developments in relation to products
described as "fractional ownership" or in products which are in
reality timeshares, but which relate to boats, cruise ships, or
aeroplanes.
"In 2008 a new European Timeshare directive was adopted and it
was a requirement that all European Member States should bring this
into law by February 23, 2011. The purpose of the directive was to
clearly give consumers greater protection."
Key features of the directive are that holiday clubs are covered
in the cooling off period, shorter Timeshare contracts are allowed,
all types of holiday accommodation are covered including caravans
or cruise ships, Timeshare can be resold by the consumers and the
introduction of exchange services.
"Another issue that has been addressed by the new Directive
relates to the resale industry," added Stephen. "In recent years
there have been a number of complaints received by Linder Myers
regarding individuals who have contracted with companies offering
to assist them with the resale of their Timeshare.
"Unfortunately in the past this has been another 'scam'. This
will change under the new directive to help to eradicate this issue
for consumers.
"The new regulations will be enforced by the Office of Fair
Trading and Local Authority Trading Standards Officers in the UK.
Failure to comply with the directive could allow for consumers to
bring a civil claim against the trader.
Consumers now have the time to take away any contracts to do
with Timeshares and holiday clubs before parting with any money. We
strongly advise that you take legal advice before signing
anything."