Mirror consumer champion Andrew Penman steps in to help one couple suffering issues with their timeshare after trying to sell it on
Like many others, John and Margaret Dempsey are desperate to off-load their timeshare, so the phone call from Monster Travel was perfectly timed.
It invited the couple to its Bournemouth office to discuss how the points could be sold, and put them up for the night at a local hotel.
First came the good news – Monster Travel would pay £7,545 for their timeshare.
The bad – John would have to buy “travel credits” worth £9,980.
These, say Monster Travel, give discount deals and unlike timeshare you’re not tied to particular resorts.
John didn’t have enough money so the firm arranged finance – the loan taken out in his name was put down as “home improvements”.
After discussing the deal with relatives he had second thoughts. He also contacted his timeshare company, Diamond Resorts: “They told me Monster Travel had never sold one of their timeshares for a member.”
Monster Travel and sister company SellMyTimeshare.tv are part of Hollywood Marketing SLU of Tenerife.
Managing director Mark Rowe told me that they’d successfully sold Diamond Resorts memberships and blamed John’s change of heart on online bad reviews.
“It appears that Mr Dempsey has become alarmed by several misinformed parties, some with a vested interested in discrediting our business,” he said.
“Many timeshare resorts dislike our business model – we help people to get out of timeshare which obviously loses the resort an owner, and money, in future upgrades and maintenance fees.”
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/andrew-penman-monster-travel-good-3052843