Exeter company guilty of mis-leading customers
Two men from an Exeter based company have been found guilty of misleading consumers with a scheme which targeted unhappy timeshare owners.
Neil Mendoza, 60 and Michael Girvin, 53 managers of ‘Devon Based Associates Ltd’ approached unhappy customers of well known timeshare companies.
They promised, disgruntled customers the chance of a refund and compensation by joining a legal action against the companies ‘mis-selling’ the product.
However once they attended the meeting at their offices in Matford Business Estate, the timeshare owners were pressured into contracting the company to negotiate an exit from their timeshare contract.
Devon Based Associates LTD, sometimes trading as “Class Action UK” charged large sums for this ‘negotiation’ when often the timeshare companies made no charge for the service.
The company was investigated by Devon and Somerset Trading Standards who found no evidence of any legal action ongoing legal action by the company, meaning that they had mis-led consumers about their services.
It was discovered during the investigation that both men were former salesman for a timeshare company responsible for many of the original timeshare deals.
Both men were also associated with St. Frances Marketing, another company which had been already been prosecuted by Devon County Council Trading Standards.
County Councillor Roger Croad, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards said “Devon and Somerset Trading Standards Service have been supporting the legitimate trade by advising local timeshare and holiday club businesses of their obligations. However this case shows that there are still some dishonest operators in the market.
“Consumers should always use caution if they are approached with an offer that sounds too good to be true and take their time to consider, before entering any contract like this.”
Stephen Gardiner, Special Investigations manager at Devon and Somerset Trading Standards said: “This was a brazen attempt to exploit timeshare owners’ who were already feeling out of pocket and dissatisfied with their original purchase.
Owners should be very cautious about any company that contacts them out of the blue with a view to such a claim, or disposing of their holiday product.”
Citizen's Advice offer consumer advice on Timeshare and similar holiday products, and can be found by contacting Citizen’s Advice on 0845 040506 or online at http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england.htm
