Can you still claim compensation from timeshare companies in administration?

As former timeshare powerhouses close down, they would like you to believe it is not worth claiming compensation from them over illegal contracts.  What is the real story?

A decimated business

Timeshare is an outdated, expensive and inflexible way to holiday

The biggest names in the industry over the last few decades have been falling by the wayside, one by one.  Anfi, Diamond Resorts Europe, CLC World, Silverpoint and Azure are variously ceasing sales, going into administration, filing for insolvency, bankruptcy and liquidation.  Those companies who are left are seeing huge reductions in sales of new memberships.

A significant factor in the downfall of the timeshare holiday business, is the vast amounts of punitive compensation awarded against them for illegal contracts.

Compensation

Many European timeshare companies have been writing illegal contracts for decades in order to maximise profits at their customers’ expense.  Since 2016, courts in Spain and even elsewhere have been punishing the resorts to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds.

So what happens when the company goes bust, or shuts down their operations?  Is it game over for those people who are owed compensation over illegal sales methods?

Not according to European Consumer Claims CEO, Andrew Cooper.

“It depends upon where you own of course,” he explains.  “If your membership is at a small, private resort and they have no assets, then there is a possibility that the bankruptcy is genuinely because they are out of money.  But always take advice before dismissing the idea of claiming against them.  They may be holding out on you, while actually having enough assets to pay their creditors (including you).

Wealthy companies

“When we are talking about the really big companies, it is obvious to everyone that they are capable of paying the compensation they owe,” states Cooper. ” It beggars belief that companies such as Anfi or CLC would dare to plead poverty.  It is insulting to the intelligence of their victims.

“Not only have they taken hundreds of millions of pounds over the years via illegal contracts, they also rake in tens of millions a year in fees, and own swathes of luxury real estate.