Blog post -
Need to check a timeshare related service? New website identifies the crooks
New website created to protect timeshare owners
The Timeshare Consumer Association receives a lot of communication regarding possible fraud attempts. Unfortunately the timeshare business attracts more than it's share of criminals, and they can be as convincing as the genuine firms.
With the 2020 pandemic the amount of owners seeking a way to escape the commitment of paying annual fees has increased substantially, due to frustration of having to pay their annual fees despite not being able to take the holiday.
Getting out of a timeshare contract is not an easy undertaking. Timeshare companies are not selling new memberships in anything like the volume they did in their heyday, and they rely on the annual maintenance fees to shore up their balance sheets. They fight hard to prevent owners from leaving their club.
A new industry of law firms has sprung up to help people escape their unwanted contracts but for every authentic firm, there are many (equally genuine seeming) others looking to steal money from the unwary.
Timeshare Trust
"Timeshare Trust is a newly created sister site to the Timeshare Consumer Association," says Daniel Keating, the TCA information officer. "It collates our latest information on the companies that can and can´t be trusted. New criminal companies are created every day and keeping up with these operations is a full time job.
"We decided that a constantly updated database assessing the credibility of every new company is a resource that we wanted to make available to the general public; listing the good companies as well as the fraudsters.
"Our team will keep the site as current as possible, and people will be able to check on any firm they are thinking of doing business with before contacting us, or they can even check outside of office hours when our switchboard is not manned.
Trustometer
"Most of the time the companies will be listed and easily locatable with either the search box or by navigating within the site. Each company's level of trustworthiness will be rated by an easily read 'trustometer' image, with accompanying explanatory notes.
"The Timeshare Trust site will also be a resource centre for advice and provide links to help people with their own research, like checking a company´s history on Companies House, or the physical location of its offices," continues Keating. "We will explain how people can do their own due diligence in the same way our team does."
"If the company has not yet been added to our database, the reader is always free to get in touch with us on the details below this article. They are also welcome to contact us for further clarification, or for any questions at all regarding timeshare issues.
"TCA is a free, volunteer service but the depth of our experience makes us the number one timeshare information resource in the world"
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Timeshare Consumer Association. Contact us on: T: +44 2036704588 or +44 2035193808 (ask for Daniel), E: enquiries@timeshareadvice.org (Address to Daniel).
WhatsApp (message only) +447586871055
TCA provides a central resource of consumer information on timeshare matters for the media and other organisations – We work towards encouraging responsible, honest, timeshare operators. We also publicly expose negative consumer practices and organisations which operate in a manner detrimental to timeshare buyers and owners.
An important part of our mission is to lobby UK and European Governments and regulatory bodies for improved consumer protection in the timeshare environment and collect information on frauds and mis-selling, for action by enforcement authorities.
We are staffed by former and current timeshare owners, as well as former timeshare industry staff. We know our way around the timeshare business
We are a proud member of the UK Small Charities Coalition
