Maintenance fee demands usually arrive in December. But how do you escape the system?
Annual fees
As a timeshare owner you may well remember leaving the resort on the day of your initial purchase with a deep, contented, rosy glow of satisfaction and your ownership documents folder clutched proudly to your chest. Your vacations were paid for in advance for many years. You had guaranteed yourself luxury, and thanks to the exchange mechanism, the whole world was at your fingertips.
After a year or two (in some cases a lot sooner) you may have begun to notice flaws in the timeshare system: “Wait, so even though I paid tens of thousands of pounds to join, I still have to pay to use the place every year? And it is the same cost I would have had to pay if I hadn’t paid all that money to become a member?”
Add to that hard truth the fact that the resort is contractually able to raise the fees at will, charge special levies when they deem necessary and you also have to pay every single year whatever they decide to charge you, whether you want a vacation or not. The exchange systems are barely fit for purpose, and come with endless extra fees for any deviations from your regular membership use.
Complaining to the resort doesn’t help. That just lands you with an in-house rep appointment, leading to expensive upgrades that in turn still don’t work. What do you do? Keep spending, or try to find a way off the merry-go-round?
Trapped
Finding a way out is easier said than done. In time a deeper, perhaps belated understanding of your ownership documents hits home. The ‘rosy glow’ was one-sided. The other participant of the handshake you made that day had thought through all of the angles. The timeshare company knew that the more time passed, the more likely the cold reality of your situation would sink in. From a financial and convenience point of view they understood very well that you might want to revert to regular holidays.
To this end, they made the contract as bullet-proof as they could. There is no easy way to relinquish a timeshare ownership. You are legally bound to keep paying the annual costs for the duration of the contract.
An industry sponsored survey claims that 15% of owners are not satisfied with their purchase. A neutral, academic study by researchers from the University of Central Florida revealed a much higher 85% dissatisfaction rate.
Either figure is too high. And whichever figure you trust, there is one which is indisputable:
100% of those owners have to pay their fees every year.
‘Tis the season…
December is typically when maintenance demands land on timeshare owners’ literal or figurative (eg their email inboxes) doormats.
During the festive period our finances are already under pressure as we buy gifts, provide entertainment in the form of endless food and drink, and potentially travel to gather in each other’s homes and celebrate one another’s company.
The average timeshare maintenance bill is currently around £1000 a year. More if you have a larger unit or equivalent points. This is money that many people in today’s economy, who might not have the depth of saving reserves to call on, can begrudge being forced to pay so far in advance of a summer break. Indeed the ‘pre-timeshare’ choice to set your own holiday budget or even skip it altogether suddenly holds a wistful appeal.
No surprise then that this is the time of year that European Consumer Claims (ECC) receives the most calls from people wanting advice on how to exit their timeshare contract.
“These fee demands are being sent at a time which starkly focusses members on negative aspects of their timeshare,” explains Greg Wilson, CEO of ECC. “That lack of ability to decide how much to spend, and when to pay for your own vacation sits particularly uncomfortably with people during this expensive time of year.”
“People commit, when signing up for a timeshare membership, to what they believe their future holiday pattern will be. But life has a habit of throwing up unexpected changes and quite often a person’s situation a few years later can be very different to what they originally expected it to be.
“People want to take back the freedom to make their own holiday choices.”
Want to know your options?
If you are a timeshare owner who would rather not be any more, get in touch with our team. We can usually help.
If you have been mis-sold and fit certain criteria, you may even be entitled to substantial financial compensation.
