Club La Costa desperate to lure back timeshare owners with 'free' accommodation week

Troubled timeshare company, CLC World in desperate bid to woo back compensation claimants into reinstating their memberships

Free week holiday

As begging letters go, this one appears very generous at first glance. A free week of holiday accommodation? No catch, no costs, no sales presentations?

It almost sounds too good to be true... until you consider who this offer was sent to. John W from Wimbledon (name changed at own request) was a CLC timeshare member for 8 years. Feeling trapped in an outdated and expensive holiday system, with ever increasing maintenance costs he began to look for a way out.

Eventually he found one.

John's CLC contract, like tens of thousands of others, contained illegal elements that allowed him to sue for compensation. He signed up with European Consumer Claims (ECC) and M1 Legal, and is on his way to receiving around £25,000 in compensation as well as escaping his CLC World membership.

John received this free holiday offer by email from CLC World shortly after M1 Legal filed his claim in court. Suspicious of the apparent 'generosity' he reported it to his representatives at ECC.

Consider reinstating?

The offer tells John that "all we ask is that after your relaxing holiday you consider reinstating your original membership"

"That's when the penny dropped," says John. "They're worried about the compensation awards. That's why they want us back, so they can try and get us to stop our claims against them.

Andrew Cooper, CEO of ECC agrees. "The compensation claims are crippling even huge companies like CLC world. They will do anything to try and convince people not to claim what they are owed.

"It's a case of too little too late. CLC and other timeshare companies knowingly broke the law continuously for over a decade. They profited illegally at the expense of consumers like John. Now they are being held to account by the courts, and they are falling over themselves trying to avoid the deserved results of their actions."

Cooper is sceptical of the email offer's promise of "no catch... no sales presentations".

"I don't believe for a moment that they are just going to leave you alone, enjoying a free holiday without at least trying to get you to drop your case, and rejoin CLC as a member," he opines. "It's not even just about the the compensation award. CLC needs people like John to commit to paying annual maintenance fees again.

Desperate

"Club La Costa companies are going through insolvency and they have stopped selling new memberships altogether. All that adds up to a massive hit to their income.

"With the average CLC member's annual fees coming in at around €1500, whether they use their membership or not, you can bet your boots that they will try more and more extreme strategies to lure back members like John.

"It is estimated that during that pandemic, CLC have raked in over £50 million in management fees without refunding one single customer. They issued promissory notes instead. So how could they genuinely offer free weeks when they owe so much in future redemption. They are relying on breakage, eg people not cashing in their promissory notes unless they are prepared pressure to rejoin the club."

Cooper advises caution before accepting anything that seems 'too good to be true' from timeshare companies, claims firms or any other businesses connected to the industry.

"There's no such thing as a free lunch. We all know that in our heart of hearts," he warns. "Its not a bad idea to seek advice on offers like this before accepting. There are several free advice centres out there for anything timeshare related. And for members currently stuck in an unwanted timeshare, you are welcome to contact one of our consultants for a free, confidential chat about your different options."