It’s all very well when you are offered a free holiday on a paradise island such as Tenerife, especially when you have fallen against hard times as Heather and her family did. The TCA were informed about the program on BBC Friday 7th October that highlighted some of the bullying tactics that the timeshare resorts still use to this day. The organisation under scrutiny in this particular episode is Club la Costa, who are members of TATOC and RDO.
Heather and her family were called and invited on a once in a lifetime opportunity (or so they thought), to holiday in Tenerife free of charge. They jumped at the chance as they had just lost their family business, and were going through a bit of a hard time. The family arrived at the resort, check in was fine, the next day they were met for breakfast. What they thought was going to be a walk around turned into nearly a full day traipsing around Club la Costa’s resorts.
The resorts were all very nice, and the family started to become interested in the deal that was being offered to them. It almost seemed too good to be true! We always advise that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. However, the sales representative was very good, and offered the family another free holiday in with the package and several other deals that made the offer irrefusable. The family jumped at the chance of the timeshare unit that was painted in such a great light, and signed on the dotted line that day.
Once back at home, Heather re-read the contract that she had signed and was disheartened to say the least, it was not all that it was made up to be. Club la Costa had even managed to get them into a finance arrangement, so that they could afford the timeshare unit, which they hadn’t thought about too much, strange in their situation. This was sold to them at a price of £18,180, which seemed like a fair price for a unit that they were able to use every year for 20 years. However, Heather started to work out the cost of the finance, which they had agreed to under pressure, and this was not so rosy, with payments of £285 to be paid every month, they would end up paying a whopping £51,300 over 15 years.
Heather’s next move was to call Club la Costa to find a way out of what she had signed, they told her that they could not release her from her contract. She also called the finance company to find out if she could exit from the finance agreement, and was again faced with a brick wall. Heather looked into many possibilities over the next 3 years, but each one just led no-where, and her and her husband were getting into more and more debt.
We are surprised that Club la Costa is involved in such pushy tactics, also that they are TATOC and RDO members, whom are keeping quiet at the moment with regards to this story. We are sure this is not the only story of its’ kind, and we at the TCA, apart from recommending that you do not enter into a same-day contract without a lot of research on the company you intend to do a deal with, we also would like to hear from others that have found themselves in this position.
If you feel as though you were bullied into purchasing something that you weren’t sure about, please get in touch with us on the telephone number or email address below.
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