Many years ago David and I went on holiday to a lovely place in Majorca called Cala Pi.
We became targeted on our second visit there to become "members" or "owners"
David was interested. He spent several evenings talking to an earnest young man called Paul and then explained that it was an opportunity to invest in a new scheme which would pay us back handsomely in years to come. He went for it , regarding it as an investment.
The next year we went again...and were targeted again. David once again invested. We were now owners of two shares.
The following year off we went again...I was getting worried...I had no idea how much money was actually involved but I saw how much pressure was being placed on my husband.
Again David went for the deal....we have now arrived at the astonishing figure of thirty thousand pounds spent becoming an "owner". He thought it was an investment. . And that in the years to come we would be reaping the rewards of this investment.
I was worried....but my husband had been a very astute business man in his professional life. I think it's worth mentioning here that he died of a brain tumour shortly afterwards.
Since his death I have had several demands for maintenance on our time share!
We had no idea that this was the nature of our investment. We did not believe it was timeshare or we would have run a mile.
I have never paid this "maintenance" and now I find that I am being sued for three years back payment in the Spanish court.
The email telling me this also states that until this payment is made I can't use their resorts! This is not a problem!
I am going to talk to my solicitor this morning..
I regard the whole thing as a massive con trick..and one aimed at the old and incredulous...
The one time share we did buy in Madeira is lovely...I pay the maintenance charge every year with no quibble.
But we did not buy time share in this dubious scheme.....and I really urge anyone who is targeted by them to resist....it costs far too much, not least in the anxiety of being taken to court in a foreign land!
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2 comments:
We had that on a holiday, and we refused to be involved. The attitude of the sales people changed to one of rudeness and insulting, when we told them we were not interested in investing in a time share.
We had been pre-warned before we went to the resort and thought wait and see. We enjoyed their hospitality and presentation, very slick and professional, but a total lack of detail - and when we found that there was ongoing maintenance charges for a life time, and having to sell it back to them, not on in a free market, that clinched it for us.
On later holidays, we expressed no interest at the outset whenever we were approached - a policy which has stood us in good stead.
As for your time shares in Spain, did you sign anything personally? Because if not, the liability isn't yours - and I can't see them being able to enforce any judgments in the UK.
I think I did sign something unfortunately because we were not being sold time share.....it was an investment we were told.....
The whole thing was a massive con trick I'm afraid....
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