Timeshare companies are making a minor comeback in Europe. Here is how to avoid being talked into spending tens of thousands of pounds if you find yourself in a sales presentation
Dying business?
Timeshare companies had been getting away with flouting consumer laws in Spain for decades, and getting rich in the process. Following the landmark victory Norwegian claimant Torve Grimsbo won against Canary Island timeshare giant Anfi Del Mar in 2016, the court decisions became a torrent which the companies were unable to withstand.
Tens of thousands of mis-sold timeshare owners flocked to companies like European Consumer Claims to seek redress and with the legal precedents established, the courts were happy to oblige.
Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of compensation orders were issued and former money making powerhouses ceased sales operations amid liquidations and administration procedures.
Timeshare in Europe appeared to have all but fizzled out, barring sporadic ‘in house’ sales and the perennial Marriott and Hilton operations.
Back for more…
At least two ‘phoenixes’ are rumoured to be rising from the ashes (rising from something anyway). Club la Costa and Anfi are both said to be restarting new member sales, although at a tiny fraction of their former capacity. Perhaps this is the harbinger of a limited revitalisation of the industry in Europe.
Anfi is said to be working with OPCs again, the reviled street touts who are banned from operating on mainland Spain. And rather than selling full 50 year ownerships, the Anfi sales team are now allegedly flogging 10 year holiday packages. Presumably with the intention of upgrading the buyers on subsequent return holidays at the luxury complex.
Whether Anfi’s OPCs are still using the dreaded scratch cards, or they have found another strategy to convince holidaymakers to spend a few hours enduring a sales presentation we just don’t know.
Despite battling hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of compensation awards and going through liquidation proceedings Club la Costa is also said to be selling timeshare ownerships again, also at a greatly reduced scale.
CLC’s modus operandi is to give their quarry a discounted holiday in return for attending a sales presentation. Either as a straightforward offer, or under the pretense of the prospect having ‘won’ the holiday as a prize.
Survival tactics
If you find yourself at the ‘event horizon’ of a timeshare presentation, stick to the following guidelines to keep your cash in your pocket.
1). Don’t go. This might sound obvious, but if you are not even a little interested in buying a timeshare, it really is wiser not to accept any invitation to attend a sales presentation. No matter how appealing the gifts being offered in exchange. The timeshare company would not be giving away this holiday or theme park tickets if they were not confident of selling a good percentage of their prospects. They sell to people who are not interested in owning timeshares, every working day, through extremely sophisticated sales techniques.
2). Cement the time limit. Usually the presentation is promoted as lasting a certain amount of time. An hour maybe, or 90 minutes. When you meet the salesperson, let him know about an ‘appointment’ that you have around 20 minutes after that time limit. In reality a timeshare can not be sold in 90 minutes and the salesperson will be trying to keep you for longer. The ‘warm up phase will barely be over at 90 minutes. But if you meet the salesperson confirm the timeframe in a friendly way. “They said this would take around 90 minutes, is that right?” After he/she confirms, follow up with: “Perfect. We are meeting our friends at (wherever) at 12:00pm. That’s two hours away. More than enough time hey?” The salesperson will agree, thinking he/she will convince you to stay longer. You won’t stay longer (more on this below).
3) Eat/drink as long as possible. Generally the presentation will start with you being taken somewhere for a snack and/or coffee. This is to relax you so that the salesperson can ‘warm you up’ or befriend you. While you are eating it is harder to talk, making conversation more difficult. Also the time here will not be geared towards sales questions, so the longer you can dally here, the better. Eating time is easy time.
4) Keep engagement to a minimum. The salesperson will seem friendly. This is because they are trying to form bonds with you so that you will trust them. They need your trust in order to sell you a membership. Keep your answers polite, but short. Let the sales`person feel like they are working really hard to push the conversation. If they challenge you about your lack of engagement, calmly answer that you agreed to be shown the timeshare and this feels unrelated. You know you only have a fixed period of time and want to get down to business. This is poison for a salesperson who knows full well that they can´t sell you if they can´t form bonds with you.
5) Don’t ask questions. This is really important. Let the sales person talk, but don´t ask them anything. Asking questions makes them believe you are interested in what they are selling. This would make it much harder to leave at the end of the 90 minutes (or other agreed time limit). Whenever the sales person shows you something or explains something that they want you to be interested in, nod, smile politely, even make a short encouraging comment or noise. But never ask questions.
6) Don’t give answers they want. A timeshare sales tactic is to ask you ‘leading’ or ‘closing’ questions. Like: “Where would you use this first? Here at our resort? Or would you exchange to somewhere else?” Choosing either answer helps them, so be awkward and say “Neither. It’s not for us.” It might feel like you are being contrary, but better a little awkwardness now, rather than trying to talk yourself out of yourself out of a deeper hole later. Stand your ground with the subsequent challenge of “why not?” You don’t need to explain. “It just isn’t. Can we leave it at that please? I’m happy to look. But I was clear at the beginning that we would not be buying anything today. Your rep told me that was ok. Is that not the case?”
7) Leave. At ten minutes or so after the agreed time, stand up and say you have to leave now. Do not wait for a gap in the conversation. Do not wait for a polite opportunity. Stand, up, and tell the salesperson “Ok this has been great and I hate to cut you off, but we really do have to leave.” Don’t let any of the following implorations for you to ‘stay and see the next bit’ affect you. You are not being cruel. It would be more cruel to continue and let them think they have a chance of a sale.
Once you have said this, start walking slowly towards the exit, so that in order to keep the conversation going the salesperson has to keep up.
8) Let the TO know you are a non-starter. As you are on your way out, hopefully you have convinced the salesperson that it would be a waste of time to continue trying to sell you. However they might try a final throw of the dice by bringing their manager in to try to convince you to stay. That person’s industry title is a ‘T.O.’ or Takeover and they are a senior member of the sales team whose job it is to close sales and tackle difficult clients.
If the salesperson brings their TO over, make it clear that you are completely unsold. “XXX has done a great job. But this just isn’t for us.” Again, if asked “why not?” do not give any openings. “We’ve got our reasons” should be all you give by way of explanation. Don’t give more details, or you could get drawn into a pointless back-and-forth argument.
9) One last hurdle. You are being taken to be signed out and given your gifts. But don’t let your guard down yet. There may very well be an “Exit Team” waiting to try and sell you a ‘drop product’ (cheap version of what you have been looking at. Possibly a one week holiday at the same resort) while you are waiting for your gift to be processed. If you bought that drop product you would be setting yourself up for further, just-as-determined, sales attempts on your return.
Until you have left the resort, gift in hand, do not engage positively with any friendly person who introduces themselves to you. If asked, “what did you think of the place?” repeat your mantra “it wasn’t for us” or “not our cup of tea really”. “Again, if challenged as to why not, give no further explanation than “we’ve got our reasons.”
Hopefully after navigating this final obstacle you will soon out of danger and able to take advantage of the gifts.
Already bought?
“As you can see from the above steps, it really is better to avoid these sales situations altogether unless you are actually considering a purchase,” advises Greg Wilson, CEO of European Consumer Claims (ECC). “Otherwise that ‘free’ holiday could potentially end up costing you tens of thousands of pounds.”
If this article came too late and you are currently an unhappy timeshare owner, do not despair. There is usually a way out.
Most resorts have a Cooling Off period which allows you to cancel -without explanation- within a certain timeframe from when you sign the contract (in Europe this is 14 days). If you are inside this timeframe and are in any doubt, send an email to cancel. Back this up with a phone call to be extra safe.
If you are outside the Cooling Off period, then you may need expert help to free yourself from the contract.
No matter how long you have owned your timeshare or what your situation is, contact our team for a free, no-obligation consultation.
In certain circumstances you may even be eligible for financial compensation if you have been mis-sold or otherwise treated unfairly.
