Timeshare Tricksters Still Rampant Today

They use some of the oldest tricks in the book, but timeshare scam operators continue to ensnare thousands of British holidaymakers each year.

While there appears to be a greater awareness that timeshare scams still exist, scammers are devising increasingly ingenious timeshare scams to combat this growing awareness.

People were misguided in thinking that timeshares were good investments. Most people only get back 20% of the price paid, when they sell their timeshare, says the report.

Common scams include enticements such as 'free' holiday offers using scratch cards, a disregard of current cooling-off rules, and 'cheap' loans that turn out to be expensive on return to the UK. All timeshare scams.

"Buying a timeshare is a crap shoot, with companies using unethical selling techniques to tie people into deals on the spur of the moment.

But, even when a timeshare company is legitimate, there are high management fees, and problems selling make buying a timeshare for some people a stressful and expensive process.

The Timeshare Directive offers a degree of cross-border protection to consumers.

If you sign a timeshare contract in the EU or European Economic Area (including the Canaries, pus Cyprus and Malta, " it must conform to a number of rules such as a minimum 10-day cooling-off period.

However, the directive has only limited powers, primarily because the legal definition of a timeshare is currently very narrow.

Legally it only covers contracts of more than three years and a minimum period of a week.

This means that companies have started selling timeshare schemes of under 35 months -with the option to extend for more years - and 'time' on narrow boats and cruises, said the report.

Share schemes and property bonds are also not covered by existing legislation, and neither are boats or cruises.

One attraction of timeshare investing is that the cost of future holidays is paid upfront with a lump sum. However, there are often high additional charges.
The most common way for people get stung is with high maintenance fees, which are paid to a management company that runs the resort. The timeshare owners or tenants have little or no control over fee hikes.