Timeshare holidaymakers tell how they were scammed out of thousands

SWINDLED holidaymakers have taken turns telling the National Consumer Commission’s Timeshare Inquiry how they were bullied and pressured to sign perpetual contracts‚ paying holiday clubs thousands of rands for timeshare holidays that never materialised.

Lenasia businessman Ebrahim Mayet‚ 57‚ said on the first day of the public hearings in Pretoria yesterday that he paid more than R50 000 in holiday timeshares to two holiday clubs, but all he got was a ”fancy pen” and six colourful holiday vouchers, which proved impossible to redeem.

Timeshare is explained as a joint ownership of a holiday home‚ where a subscriber gets exclusive use of the property for a specific week, depending on the points they have accumulated. Members have to pay an annual membership fee and buy points, which they can then swap for time at resorts, but Mayet said this was a scam.

He first received a call from the travel clubs and was told he had won holidays, but had to attend their presentations to redeem his prize.

Mayet said he was told they could go to any of the holiday destinations listed on the brochure.

He was then pressured to sign a contract he was never given a chance to read after he was made to believe it was a once-off opportunity.

When he tried to cancel the contract, he was told it was perpetual and his children would inherit it when he died.

“They wanted a R23 000 cancellation, fee but I told them to go to hell‚” he said.