Welcome to the start of another week with Inside Timeshare, we ended last week with a warning of yet another fake law firm rearing its ugly head, Servicios Legales Barcelona. As we explained, this name has been used to completely confuse any consumer who attempts an internet search, as in Spain it is a general term for “legal services”. One piece of information was the bank account details, a Royal Bank of Scotland account in the name of a private individual. What could be better proof of a scam?
We begin with some news which we came across over the weekend from the US, as we know it is the season for the annual maintenance fee bills, which many owners/members dread each year. The same question is always asked, how much have they increased?
Well, at the moment most don’t know, but one increase in the timeshare owners/members costs has been announced. RCI (Resorts Condominiums International), is increasing their “exchange” fee for next year.
Obviously, this news is from our friends in the US, so at present, we don’t know if this will also apply to European owners/members, we suspect it will.
There are also other fees involved with RCI membership and usage, so it will be interesting to see if any of these change as well.
These links below explain how RCI works and in the second link they also show the other charges that you may encounter.
https://www.go-koala.com/timeshare/resources/what-is-rci-and-how-does-it-work
There also appears to be a lot of discussion on some US forums regarding the Hilton acquisition of Diamond, once again the focus is on the sales agents and what they are telling members in order to “upgrade” them.
It now seems the discussion is gaining ground with Hilton members, unsure of how all this is going to affect them, with reports surrounding sales agents’ tactics beginning to mirror those of Diamond.
Apparently, Hilton may be launching a non-deeded trust-based product, whereas at present they are deeded. This also appears to mimic Diamond products and according to our information will be using “Event of a Lifetime” to up-sell existing members.
As Inside Timeshare receives further information we will be publishing an article on this subject, it may just give our European readers some insight as to what they may expect.
After publishing Friday’s article, late news arrived about another Marriott case, this time it was from the Court of First Instance Number 8 of Palma de Mallorca.
The presiding judge declared two contracts illegal and therefore null & void, ordering MVCI Management and MVCI Holidays to repay the German client a total of 68,262€.
In his sentence, the judge ordered the repayment of 44,870€ for the purchase and also ordered a further 23,262€ in respect of the illegally taken deposits. As we know all the courts are following the Supreme Court ruling on the repayment in double the amount of any illegally taken deposit. The court also awarded the client Legal Interest on the full amount.
The case was prepared and presented on behalf of the client by Canarian Legal Alliance, it now remains to be seen if Marriott deposits this amount with the court without the need for any enforcement proceedings.
Inside Timeshare welcomes your comments & questions regarding any of the articles published, if you also want to know about the validity of any company that has contacted you or you have found, or just want to find out if your contract may be illegal then please use our contact page.
