With some timeshare companies dragging their feet over the claims process, we explain how long you should expect to wait, and why
Timeshare claims
Timeshare companies have been ignoring protective consumer laws for over a quarter of a century, possibly gambling on the notoriously slow moving bureaucracy of the Spanish legal system to insulate them from consequences.
Whatever the reasoning, for the 16 years following the law’s creation in 1999 most timeshare companies got away with continuing to issue illegal contracts.
Then in 2015 a metaphorical snowflake touched onto a critically overloaded upper-Alpine snowpack of court claims. A Norwegian claimant called Tove Grimsbo won €40,000 in compensation from a prominent Canary Island resort, thanks to a pioneering claims company.
The ensuing avalanche of claims laid waste to the timeshare business in Europe. Now, eight years later many of the former sales powerhouses have been forced to cease trading, and are even undergoing Administration or Liquidation.
Spanish legal system
Bureaucracy in Spain is known for its Daedalean complexity. The legal system is no exception, and some timeshare companies who are vulnerable to legal actions against them use this knowledge to their advantage.
Their customer base is elderly. By challenging every claim, regardless of its concrete basis in law, the less scrupulous timeshare companies know that they increase their chances of victims eventually giving up, exasperated. Worse, still the ageing clients may even pass away if the process is dragged out long enough.
Average timescales
Currently a timeshare claim takes an average of around 18 months.
Some companies settle quickly and some fight as hard as they can to avoid justice.
The early claims (circa 2016) were actually worse in terms of timescales. Ten years ago, the customers litigating against timeshare companies were doing so as individuals. With many of these being Brits, the timeshare companies knew that their opponents would need to understand the Spanish language and legal system, as well as be able to travel back and forth to Spain over an extended period. Sometimes only to find that their hearing had been cancelled or rescheduled.
Timeshare companies knew that they could ‘outlast’ individual litigants in this way, and that was motivation to drag the process out as long as possible. However once claims companies entered the marketplace the motivations shifted.
Legal delays now only cost a timeshare company more money because claims companies never give up.
How do I know how long my claim will take?
Certain companies have sped up their claims process considerably. There are instances where they have paid out court ordered compensation within a few weeks.
There remain a couple of well known timeshare companies who have opted to fight ‘tooth and nail’, creating every possible meritless legal hurdle and delay in the hope of outlasting the commitment of the people they have cheated and their legal teams.
The good news regarding the latter is that there is a finite number of ways they are able to delay. As timeshare expert Greg Wilson, CEO of European Consumer Claims (ECC) comments regarding a certain Costa del Sol based timeshare giant currently in liquidation and trying desperately to avoid paying what they owe to former members: “They have already used all their good excuses and tactics, and now most of the bad ones too.”
The inference being that, despite the amount of time this particular company has managed to delay proceedings, their day of reckoning is unavoidable. Even they can’t delay much longer.
For anyone beginning a claim right now, it’s good news.
The companies with more integrity are increasingly paying what they owe in a timely fashion.
The ones who resisted the courts’ decisions have already used up their limited delay tactics.
They are not actually able to procrastinate much longer.
How do I start?
Firstly you need expert advice. Not everyone who had a bad timeshare experience qualifies for a compensation claim.
Get in touch with our team today for a free, no obligation appraisal of your situation.
You may be entitled to a significant amount of financial compensation. If so, we are the people to manage that claim for you.
