Like most commercial operations, the timeshare compensation business can be measured in metrics. Henley firm and Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce member European Consumer Claims (ECC) is no exception, and since its inception in 2016, every part of the business has been on an impressive upward trajectory. Year on year total award volume growth and skyrocketing case success rates have been covered in previous articles, but this month the team decided to focus on the increasing individual award amounts.
Twelve months ago, in March 2022 the average individual award volume was £14,773. March 2023 has seen that figure balloon by an eye-watering 33%, all the way up to £19,613. Some awards are lower, their main goal being relinquishment of the contract, while some are much higher.
“This 33% increase in average award value can only been interpreted as a message from the Spanish judiciary,” says Andrew Cooper, the CEO of ECC. “There is no longer judicial reluctance to appropriately penalise timeshare resorts who took a cavalier attitude towards the law in order to enrich themselves at the expense of their customers.”
Chingford couple Dennis and Margarita (names changed) won a staggering £70,450 in a victory against OnaGrup. This was March’s biggest individual award and great news for the clients who signed up with ECC before COVID. Lockdowns delayed their case through the courts, but ECC’s legal partners stayed the course. “We always enjoy the moment when we call the clients to tell them the good news about their victory,” says Cooper. “Some people are so overcome that they are unable to speak.”
The second and third largest awards for May were families from Manchester and Kettering who won £45,949 and £43,737 from CLC World and Restotel Group España respectively.
“These are life changing amounts of money,” comments Andrew Cooper. “Although for many of our clients the money is secondary to being free from the expensive burden of their memberships.”
While ECC deals with a great many timeshare operators, there are several key players which have been operating illegally at an industrial capacity for decades. Those resorts have user bases in the tens of thousands and mis-sold members are coming forward in large numbers to claim their compensation.
This month in order of award volume totals, the top three resorts are:
- CLC World: 14 victories and an award total of £248,436
- Onagrup: 3 victories, adding up to £138,951
- Anfi: 4 victories valued at £70,450
March was yet another £ half million plus month (£568,786) and 29 successful awards. The remaining 7 awards and £110,949 was divided between various other smaller resorts.
Ever since mis-sold customers began suing errant timeshare resorts, the latter have stalled. They have hidden behind legal delaying tactics and created webs of interconnected companies to obscure transparency and avoid their financial obligations towards creditors.
In many ways the battle for consumer rights has been one of attrition. Legal precedents have to be won to ease the path for future cases, and financial connections have to be established between responsible entities in order to secure payments for award recipients. One such victory was won this month by ECC’s associate firm of lawyers M1 Legal.
A Club La Costa company called (Club La Costa (UK) PLC Sucursal in España) has been declared linked financially with a company called Reymonte by the Malaga Court of Appeal. The judge ruled that the (M1 provided) Informative Document was sufficient proof as “both companies collaborate closely and profit at the expense of the consumer.”
This process is known as “lifting the veil” and is great news for victims of CLC Monterey Resort.
Reymonte were ordered to pay £16,940 to the claimant on this occasion. More importantly the door is now firmly open for future, similar claims against not just this CLC company and Reymonte, but also other property owner companies in similar relationships with timeshare resorts.