Timeshare and National timeshare helpline advice please

lisa_2023

Grandparents mess not ours. 

Found out last March they hadn’t told anyone they bought a Seasons 26 keys in 2011. We tried house insurance solicitor who wasn’t interested. Tried their Wills solicitor. Phoned some more solicitors. Nobody wanted to touch it. Have stupidly allowed National timeshare helpline company to do us out of 5k. They promised they would get grandparents out of it. 10 months later final response they haven’t got them out of it. 

They haven’t been upfront and transparent. They have led us up the garden path.
Financial ombudsman advice was to use them. FOS won’t do anything to help.
5k paid on credit card by my Daugter. 

10 months of secretarial PA work done by my Daughter and myself communicating paperwork to national timeshare helpline all a waste of precious time. 

Her Nan attitude is coming across as very selfish. She’s done nothing to help herself with her mess which can be passed on in inheritance.
I’m fuming.
Any advice please 🙏 

eskbanker

I can't see much mileage in trying to get the credit card company involved, especially if the cardholder isn't the contracting party, but what do you mean by "Financial ombudsman advice was to use them"?

Timeshare threads are normally over on the travel boards, and this one, for example, mentions a firm who may be able to help: 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6650070/timeshare-contracts

MeteredOut

"Financial ombudsman advice was to use them."

I find that difficult to believe, but if you can prove it, I'd be raising a complaint against the FOS. I'm not sure their remit is ever to provide advice.

Can you also post the "promise" that the National Timeshare Helpline provided? 

But, no-one can tell family members how to spend their money in order to protect an inheritance. Do the grandparents want to get out of the timeshare?

I assume you have reviewed the contract to assess the ability to terminate?

lisa_2023

We phoned financial ombudsman and was directed to use National timeshare helpline because they are regulated. But this has backfired they have promised termination but can’t get it done. 

eskbanker

lisa_2023 said:

We phoned financial ombudsman and was directed to use National timeshare helpline because they are regulated.

Never heard of FOS giving that sort of direction to a specific company - this was presumably prior to card payment so what was the basis of talking to FOS in the first place?  Unfortunately, a company being regulated doesn't mean that everything they do is regulated, just that some activities are - they (Mercantile Claims Management Solutions Limited) are a claims management company and have FCA permissions for some, but not all, activities:

Claims management

Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a financial services or financial product claim

Seeking out, referrals and identification of claims or potential claims (personal injury claim; financial services or financial product claim; housing disrepair claim; claim for a specified benefit; criminal injury claim; employment related claim)

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0010X00004LcnV2QAJ

lisa_2023 said:

But this has backfired they have promised termination but can’t get it done. 

What do the Ts & Cs commit to?

lisa_2023

I phoned FOS for advice on misinterpretation scam timeshare. The lady advised me to use that company as it was regulated. So bad advice. Had already tried some solicitors who wasn’t interested and no experience in the field. Daughter phoned National timeshare helpline who said they had evidence for pursuing and would get it terminated. They need reporting to FOS and credit card company. It’s not even our mess it’s the Nans mess and grandad who passed away in March. 

Should Nan just ignore any letters from Seasons holidays asking for meetings to renew the soon expiring contract. Which finally ends in 2069? 

Should Nan change her Will get my Daughter taken off ?

We are overwhelmed whilst Nan goes out having meals not worrying or helping to sort their mess ? 

eskbanker

lisa_2023 said:

I phoned FOS for advice on misinterpretation scam timeshare. The lady advised me to use that company as it was regulated. So bad advice.

I'm still struggling to get to grips with FOS getting involved at all - their remit is to adjudicate disputes between consumers and financial institutions, not to offer advice in other areas, but what's done is done.

lisa_2023 said:

Daughter phoned National timeshare helpline who said they had evidence for pursuing and would get it terminated.

Did they commit in writing that they would guarantee getting the contract terminated?

lisa_2023 said:

They need reporting to FOS and credit card company.

As above, FOS simply adjudicates disputes relating to regulated activities, so if this wasn't a regulated activity then they can't help.  A credit card company can sometimes intervene if the dispute satisfies certain criteria - a section 75 claim could be viable if it can be demonstrated that a contract has been breached and that the cardholder owns the contract, or chargeback can apply but generally only within 120 days.


These comments relate specifically to the credit card and FOS aspects, but for guidance on the wider situation you'd be better posting on the travel and/or family ones.

lisa_2023

I could request if they have a recorded phonecall. 

Still either way Seasons aren’t offering a cash out offer. Think it’s due to renew for another 10-15 years very soon. 

Nebulous2

It's very hard to work out what has happened, or even what seasons 26 keys is. 

This is obviously a hugely emotional issue for you, and it would be worth trying to take some of the emotion out of it, removing some of the family dynamics and tensions, and writing out a timeline with some bullet points about what actually happened. 

I found this page which purports to be the National Timeshare Helpline. 

Seasons 26 Keys Timeshare Scam

It says they do not take any money upfront, and you only pay if successful, which doesn't match your experience of having to pay £5000. 

Did your mother or mother-in-law use a loan company to pay for their timeshare? That seems to be the basis that the National Timeshare Helpline operates on, pursuing the lender involved on the premise that it was sold as an investment. 

lisa_2023

Hi,
there website is misleading. We paid 5 k after giving them the facts, the story, the timeshare contract. They pushed us into pursuing Barclays finance aswell. They have failed to get a positive outcome on both the timeshare and the finance. 

They failed to advise correct advice. They knowingly led us to believe it was timeshare sale misinterpretation consumer breach knowingly they would not win. 

They had 5 k upfront.
finance case for misinterpretation for their benefit for their percentage. 

Do not use these firms !

lisa_2023

Has anyone been forced to inherit their grandparents timeshare ?

we did not know they had one until they told us 13 years after they had signed a Seasons holiday contract.

we took the contract and all paperwork to grandparents Will solicitor. They refused to help and then grandad died shortly afterwards.

Nan has a 26 keys timeshare due for renewal. Has my Daughter in her Will.

Her solicitor is likely her executor but refused to help. The timeshare wasn’t discussed with grandads passing in his probate.

Any advice for not accepting a UK timeshare if my Daughters Nan drops dead whilst my Daughter is named in her Will ?