Will a couple ever be free of the holiday resort timeshare they once had a part of, and its toxic legacy?
Calls from hard-sell scammers offering to “help” victims exit inflated maintenance contracts or claim spurious refunds have been
a persistent feature of the discredited and dying industry, as Judith and George Hayward know only too well.
And now the couple find themselves on the receiving end of a new blizzard of intimidating debt threats – and they told Crusader: “We’re terrified.”
Like thousands of others who believed they had found their holiday dream, the Haywards bought their agreement for a two-week timeshare in Tenerife back in 1999 from Club la Costa (CLC).
But as the charges rose so did the pressure for the Haywards to capitulate and accept CLC’s offer to exchange their holding for points. This was peddled as giving them access to other resort stays.
“But we were never able to book a holiday so we cut ties in 2010 and resolved not to be so naïve in future,” says Judith. “We returned our certificate of ownership to CLC at its request and were glad to be out of it all.”
Over the next few years they received sporadic cold calls “from so-called lawyers saying we’d been mis-sold the points and they could get our money back for a fee. But we didn’t fall for it,” adds George.
CLC (UK) plc, the company’s timeshare arm, went bust in 2022, with branding for other parts of the group taken over.
But in the past couple of months harassment of the Haywards has ramped up, with callers leaving messages accusing them of owing £20,000 in back payments.
Some cite the names of existing companies they are from, but there’s no proof that is so.
Nor are there any grounds for the claims as the couple’s timeshare contract was years ago, and any agreement is now out of time.
What is certain, however, is the way they have been hounded is illegal.
“The worst call was from a debt collector ordering us to ‘pay or else,’” says Judith.
“We have not received any formal letter, but it is very traumatising.
“They don’t say where they got our information from. They mention new owners of the business. Now we have been ordered to attend a zoom call to ‘discuss legalities’.
“We cut them off, but our home feels invaded.”
Like many timeshare victims the Haywards are older and not the best able to withstand the onslaught.
Furthermore, changing their phone number would be enormously disruptive.
Crusader will continue to support the couple and chase down any viable link to root out the rot.
Names have been changed.
