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Case 4. Timeshare sales snag |
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| Early this year, Cohn Langley paid f96 to a timeshare
marketing company, PrImeShare Internatronal, to help him find a buyer for hrs week-long
timeshare in Tenerife But after six months he’ d still not heard from any potential
buyers And he’ d never seen his trmeshare mentioned in PrImeShare national newspaper
adverts that he’ d spotted, or on its Internet website
Colin became suspicious, so he asked some friends to ring PrImeShare, posing as buyers, to see if they’ d be given his details They weren’t. A Which researcher posing as a buyer asked PrimeShare for a timeshare week similar to Colin’ s. She got details of dozens of timeshares - but not Colin’ s And our lawyers uncovered a clause in PrImeShare’ s contract which says that if a customer poses (or gets someone else to pose) as a buyer, he or she will forfeit their fee PrImeShare couldn’t tell Which? whether Colin’s details had been sent to any prospective purchasers as It didn’t keep records of what was sent. Nor could it tell us whether Colin’s week had been specifically advertised at all. It claimed that it gets most responses through general adverts, not those listing specific timeshares. This may well be true, but it doesn’t explain what Colin was getting for his f96. PrimeShare literature is vague on this. It says the fee covers administration on Its database and contributes to promotion and marketing We also think the ‘ forfeit’ clause is unfair, partly because it’s written in legal jargon which many people would struggle to understand. We’ve reported it to the Office of Fair Trading.
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Report made by MAG according to information
taken out from WHICH magazine. |
