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Marriott

Start the Week: More on MacDonalds plus News from the Courts

Welcome to the Start of yet another week in the murky world of timeshare, today in Spain we are moving into the next phase of easing the lockdown restrictions, giving us a lot more freedom and with more businesses being allowed to open, yet we are still seeing many being bullied by there timeshare companies. We have reported on the antics of Anfi in Gran Canaria, charging members “cancellation” fees for weeks they cannot take due to no flights and the closure of all hotels. They are also charging hefty fees to “rebook” these weeks and the most disgusting behaviour is the “blackmail” of only being able to save the week and receive a “voucher” if they sign a new contract. This is only the tip of the iceberg, we have also been highlighting the despicable conduct of MacDonald Hotels and Resorts, here is the latest from yet another reader and the “bullying” they are receiving.

Over the past few years Inside Timeshare has been following and reporting on the case of Mrs B and her ongoing fight against MacDonalds. This has now culminated with a move by Shepherd and Wedderburn, the “legal bloodhounds” employed by MacDonalds to take Mrs B (in her 90’s) to court for supposed “maintenance arrears”.

We have received the following from yet another reader who is also being threatened with legal action for arrears of maintenance for a timeshare which is impossible to get out of. MacDonalds will only “consider” allowing a relinquishment on the payment of four years, yes, four years, maintenance fees. Plus any arrears must also be paid, but unfortunately, the time has now passed to be “included in this year’s lottery”. That date was the end of April which we highlighted in several other articles.

Our reader has now received a letter dated 24 April 2020 from Shepherd and Wedderburn headed “Macdonald Resorts Ltd Arrears of Management Charges”, it also states that this a “LETTER BEFORE ACTION”. In other words, they are going to pursue this through the courts. 

One paragraph states “In the absence of payment, or an acceptable agreement to pay we will be instructed to raise court proceedings against you. If that is required, MRL shall also seek interest and legal costs in addition (which, if payment is made now, they will waive.)”.

In the letter Shepherd and Wedderburn add to the threat with the following: they are in the process of issuing court claims in England, Wales and Scotland, having issued “over 400 against members”. They also claim so far they have won 22 of the cases that have gone to court.

A point that many of our regular followers will recall from Mrs B, they also sent her “court documents” showing the judgements of the “County Court”, just to frighten her even more.

We Just wonder how many of these people will just pay up because of these threats, feeling they don’t stand a chance against a company the size of MacDonalds!

As we have said before on our pages even the MAFIA would be disgusted with this type of “EXTORTION”!

Last Friday was a very important day in Europe, it was the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. A celebration not just of victory but also the liberation of the whole of Europe including Germany from the tyranny of the Nazi’s. But even with these celebrations going on the courts in Gran Canaria were still working and issuing sentences.

Once again Canarian Legal Alliance has come up trumps (not the US president) for their clients, they began last week with sentences against Marriott and Anfi, then the news broke on the freezing of various Anfi accounts valued at over 600.000€ by Canarian Legal Alliance with the help of the Tax Authorities.

On Friday the Courts of First Instance Number 4 & 5 of San Bartolomé de Tirajana issued two more judgements against Anfi Sales SL and Anfi Resorts SL.

The clients in each case have been awarded 27,946.52€ and 30,413.39€ respectively, on top of this they have also been awarded legal interest and their legal fees. Both client contracts were declared null and void in accordance with Spanish law.

Not a bad end to last week, no doubt there will be many more coming our way this week.

To end today’s article, it would appear that our friends in Greece are still operating, as another reader has emailed with enquiries regarding a claim being made or rather already been dealt with in the Greek Courts. Once again there is a fee to be paid before the money can be released.

Although our reader did not give many details, the name he provided did ring the old alarm bells, Stavros Mpotsari. This name came up with the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs which we highlighted back in January, the full article can be seen on the link below.

https://insidetimeshare.com/hellenic-republic-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-the-latest-eze-group-scam/

If you have any comments on this or any other article, Inside Timeshare welcomes them, if you have been contacted by any company with a story that sounds too good to be true and you would like to know if they are genuine, then please use our contact page and Inside Timeshare will get back to you.

Remember, doing your homework will stop you from being “scammed”.

Start the Week: Great News from the Courts

Welcome to the start of another week with Inside Timeshare and the start of a little relaxation of the lockdown regulations. On Saturday 2 May, the restrictions on movement were relaxed and everyone was allowed to leave their homes and have a good long walk or run, although there are still restrictions in place it is just nice to get out and about. With that good news, we now move on to the news from the courts and more sentences being issued against various timeshare resorts.

Late on Friday we received the news of yet another victory in the courts against Marriott and their affiliated companies, MCVI Management SL and MCVI Holidays SL.

The case was brought on behalf of a German client of Canarian Legal Alliance, with the case being led by Judith Diaz Pascual and was heard at the Court of First Instance No4 in Marbella, Costa del Sol. The contract was as usual declared null and void as it was in breach of the Spanish Timeshare Law 42/98.


Judith Diaz Pascual

This case is very interesting as the client was awarded the original purchase price of 59,581.20€, with the judge awarding 73,829.99€ as a penalty for the illegal taking of deposits within the statutory cooling-off period. We are used to seeing double the amount of the deposit being paid back but in this case, this is a huge amount.

The total amount the client will now receive is 133,411.19€ plus the inclusion of legal interest. It will now be interesting to see how long it will take Marriott to deposit this amount with the court to be repaid to the client. If the way Marriott has been operating in past cases with voluntarily paying into the court before enforcement action is brought, it should not be too long.

First thing this morning the following news was received about six cases heard at the High Court of Las Palmas, with all these cases being presented as appeals.

The timeshare companies involved are Anfi Sales SL and Anfi Resorts SL, these appeals were launched on behalf of the clients by CLA. The reason is very simple, the Judges at the Court of First Instance did not award double the amount taken as deposits within the statutory cooling-off period.

The High Court has overruled these decisions of the First Instance Courts and has followed to the letter the rulings laid down by the Spanish Supreme Court. This is certainly a great decision for the clients.

In total the court has awarded for these six cases amounts to a staggering 374,274.72€ plus legal interest and all appeal costs.

As this was being written yet another ruling from the High Court No5 of Las Palmas has again overturned a previous ruling from the First Instance Court. At present we do not have the figures but it is known that the full purchase price, plus double the deposits taken with legal interest and appeal costs have been awarded. More on this when we get full details.

As we can see, even if the courts are not actually hearing cases at the moment, the wheels of justice still keep on turning with judges issuing sentences on cases heard before the lockdown came into place. Inside Timeshare will keep you updated on the latest news as and when it comes in.

Inside Timeshare is still receiving many emails from readers who have been contacted by Iconel Administration SL with the great news that the courts have awarded them a substantial amount of money. As usual, there will be fees to pay in order to release this money, the problem is the client never had a case in court and was totally unaware that any case had been to court.

As we have reported in many articles not just for Iconel but for all these “fake” law firms who claim they have been appointed by the courts to “trace” clients with money being held by the courts. This is a total fabrication, unless you have personally instructed a lawyer, paid the legal fees and have been informed that a trial date has been set with the possibility that you must attend, then there is no money being held by any courts.

Below are two articles on this company and the links with other dubious “fake” law firms, so if you have received a call or email with the wonderful news, do not believe it. Please use our contact page and let us know Inside Timeshare will get back to you.

https://insidetimeshare.com/end-of-the-week-and-another-fake-firm-emerges/

https://insidetimeshare.com/its-friday-and-the-end-of-another-week/

The Friday Roundup

Well, it is now the end of another week and also the start of a new month, today in Spain would normally be a fiesta day, but with the lockdown, it actually makes no difference as nothing is open anyway. During the past week, the main theme of our articles has been the actions of MacDonald Hotels and Resorts, these articles have been receiving a great response from regular readers and are also attracting new readers. One thing is common to all those responding, that is the attitude of MacDonalds towards members who no longer require the timeshare due to illness or financial reasons, just keep paying.

On Monday, Inside Timeshare reported on the successes of Canarian Legal Alliance and the embargoes being placed on timeshare resorts to ensure payment to their clients.

Out of the seven sentences issued by the courts, 6 of these were against Anfi, which has one of the worst reputations for delaying and attempting to avoid payments ordered by the courts. This has resulted in the lawyers at CLA to develop their “Enforcement of Sentence” team. This team has been working for some time in identifying all accounts and then applying to the courts to have these embargoed.

This has been proving very successful, yet Anfi and others are still attempting to avoid these payments, the one timeshare company which is doing the right thing is Marriott. They are voluntarily paying into the court’s accounts the sums ordered, thus saving themselves increased payments in the way of fines and legal interest.

It must be pointed out that Marriott did publicly acknowledge they were losing in the Spanish courts and did set aside a large amount to cover these legal costs.

Inside Timeshare then published the continuing saga of Mrs B and her fight against MacDonald Hotels and Resorts, this prompted an influx of comments from other members in the same boat. One reader even asked a very important question, if these timeshares are based in Spain and the purchase was made in Spain, how can MacDonalds take these cases for arrears to the UK County Courts and demand they be paid?

Not a simple question to answer, but in a nutshell, the county court is only looking at the contract which has been signed by the member with the clause that they will pay the annual maintenance fee. As far as they are concerned (the county court) the member is in breach of contract and there is a debt which they do enforce.

It is also a fact that most “members” in this position will end up paying before any court case is instigated, the stigma of receiving a CCJ with the loss of any credit rating is enough to force payment. We call that “calculated bullying”.

This morning we received yet another insight into MacDonalds by a regular reader Jimmy Justice and the senior management’s complicity in this disgusting practice. His email is published below as well as on the comments section of the article.

The antics of this organisation especially at this time of suffering are nothing short of deplorable. The people concerned are obviously in great distress and it is hoped that they have support in their lives.

 Whilst I have spoken about Michael Stott he is not alone in this victimisation and from all of the information provided to me, there are 2 other perpetrators of this misery.

The first is “rangers bob”.

Robert Scott is the Finance Director at MacDonald Resorts Ltd, a position he has held for 15 years. He is the driving force behind the misery that has been inflicted on the Former Fixed Week Owners now Points Owners. Not age or ill health stands in the way of his and their relentless pursuit of anyone who stands up to this organisation. He attends all of the major court cases representing this despicable organisation.

All other court appearances are covered by Melissa Wilson Smith aka Melissa Smith of Members Services (see linkedin.com/in/melissa-smith-42254b93.) “I am a key driver of Company goal attainment, an excellent multi-tasker and problem solver with the tenacity to provide the customer with the best possible service”. I suppose by her actions she will feel that she is a key driver of Company goal attainment by getting the poor unfortunates who cannot pay for one reason or another to court——–is this the best possible customer service — I think not.

Jimmy Justice

Thank you, Jimmy, for that insight and your own thoughts on those behind the misery being inflicted on many MacDonalds members. It just makes you wonder how these people can sleep at night, my guess is their “GREED”, after all without those who purchased timeshare and continue to be bullied into paying the extortionate maintenance fees they would not have a job!

Once again Inside Timeshare calls on all members of MacDonald Hotels and Resorts who are in similar positions as those highlighted to use our contact page and tell us your story. The more we publish the more chance we have of defeating this company, it is your voice, use it.

Have a good weekend and join us again next week.