CLC/Club La Costa fractional ownership - mis sold getting money back

g94 · 26 January 2020 at 11:52PM

Hi all,

Its been a while since I saw one of these posted on this forum, a family member had the usual pressure selling from CLC in Tenerife in 2014. They signed up for the Royale apartment with "fractional ownership". The next holiday another family member went along with the original family members in 2016 and upgraded to the signature series with fractional ownership.

The parents took out a loan which they have since paid off, but including maintenance fees have had 3 "holidays" for around £25k so far, and have another 13 years of maintenance fees to go. The family members want to cancel and are looking for compensation having being mis-sold, they ended up being put on a bi-annual points system and never get a holiday when they want - it's close to December so cold and miserable.

The only way I can see is them forfeiting the points which is not an issue, but to me it looks like they will lose the £22k or so that the loan total was. The deposit was paid by card but the majority was through a finance/loan so I don't think Section 75 would apply here.

I've seen lots of posts about scam companies, companies that pop up and disappear within a year or so. Is there a special type of solicitor I can look for locally or any advice anyone here can provide?

Thanks

TELLIT01 · 27 January 2020 at 9:52AM

The fact that only part of the cost has been paid by credit card wouldn't in itself stop a claim for mis-selling being made to the credit card company.

It is notoriously difficult to get out of these systems, and don't think that they can simply forfeit the unit and hand it back. CLC can still demand the annual maintenance fees.
What may weaken their claim is the fact that after owning the place for 2 years they upgraded. There was adequate time after the original purchase to discover that the unit had been 'mis-sold'.
They certainly won't get anywhere by complaining about only being able to get accommodation in December. Tenerife is one of the top winter sun destinations for people from the UK, and is far from cold and miserable at that time of year.
They need to sit down and detail in precisely what way they believe they were mis-sold and then potentially speak to a solicitor in the UK.

Alan_Bowen · 27 January 2020 at 11:24AM

I agree that claiming a mis-sale is going to be very hard considering 2 years after the first purchase they spent even more money to upgrade. The time to get out on that basis may have gone, although I guarantee there will be companies out there that will approach them with all sorts of dodgy schemes promising the world, so long as they pay money upfront.

There are a number of CLC properties in Tenerife, the Monterey seems to hold its value, at least judging by the prices being asked on websites such as Worldwide Timeshare Hypermarket, although it is equally impossible to know how long the properties have been on the market and how realistic the asking prices are. Many take the view that the true value is somewhere between 10 and 20% of what you have paid for it and looking for an honest agent to sell maybe the best way out. An honest agent will not demand huge sums of money upfront, so if that is the outcome tell them to walk, no run, away.

TELLIT01 · 27 January 2020 at 3:41PM

To the OP. You could try contacting Aberfoyle Holidays who are a long established timeshare resale company. I spoke to them some years ago about possible resale of my UK based timeshare and they were brutally honest about the situation. At that time there was either no upfront fee or it was a small amount. Nothing to be lost by speaking to them.
I'll stress that I have no link with this company other than having spoken to them.

g94 · 21 February 2020 at 11:23AM

Thanks for the replies everyone.
Whilst my parents and I were looking into this my mum got a call from a 3rd party company who passed my parent's details to a company called C & J Ltd. The guy was very keen to come to meet my parents and after sitting with him for a few hours (and some good advice) the dreaded close came. He wanted a total of £22,660 with over £5000 just to instruct them to begin work. The first stage would be to terminate the contract, then after that it would be going for compensation. All of the £22k would need to be paid within 2 months or so and the person who came was very pushy and said that if we didn't hand over the money now we couldn't contact him in the future for help.

My main question from this is, do legitimate timeshare termination companies work in a similar way? Has anyone independent (no new members to the site) had any good experiences with any specific companies? I want to seek out a solicitor, what type of solicitor do I need to contact (paralegal, property law etc)?

TELLIT01 · 21 February 2020 at 11:59AM

There is nothing legitimate with a company which puts pressure on people to pay an up-front fee to recover monies potentially already owing to them. Your parents should avoid such companies like the plague. Do not hand over any money, or credit card details to anybody.

g94 · 24 February 2020 at 12:46PM

TELLIT01 said:

There is nothing legitimate with a company which puts pressure on people to pay an up-front fee to recover monies potentially already owing to them. Your parents should avoid such companies like the plague. Do not hand over any money, or credit card details to anybody.

Thankfully I had read quite a lot online along the same lines as this, so we didn't hand any money over. For next steps, what sort of solicitor do I need to try to find and contact for legitimate services?

Paula_Bettridge · 28 April 2020 at 10:34AM

Is there anyone out there who has successfully severed their contract with CLC (Club la Costa)? I'm looking for a legitimate UK based legal operation that has already won cases and doesn't require an upfront fee.

cubanted · 20 June 2020 at 8:39AM

we are looking to do the same, timeshare termination team want to help us no win no fee, 2k after 6 weeks when paperwork sorted.....any one had any dealings?

knightstyle · 20 June 2020 at 11:12AM

So no win-no fee and they want £2k after 6 weeks? Tell them to take the £2k out of the successful claim!

Alan_Bowen · 20 June 2020 at 12:45PM

Where is the 'no fee' in that offer? Run to the hills, the name they use on their website and the company they claim is behind it do not appear at all at Companies House.

CLC/Club La Costa fractional ownership - mis sold getting money back

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