Since 1998,
Operating in Birmingham.
We have heard stories about people enticed by a free holiday if they agreed to attend a ‘short’ presentation. Some consumers tell us they were in a financial difficulties, on limited incomes or were retired and were still accepted for a timeshare loans over lengthy periods of time. Scant financial details were taken before they were approved for a loan.
In May of 2023, in the High Court in London, the financial institutions were defeated in their challenge to the Financial Ombudsman Service’s (the “FOS”) decision that fractional timeshare products were mis-sold to consumers.
The defeat at Judicial Review should have ended a long-fought legal battle for timeshare consumers. However, the banks and the FOS appear to be frustrating the process whilst further attempting to deny timeshare owners access to justice.
Now, seven months after the Judicial Review, the vast majority of timeshare consumers are still awaiting settlement of their claims. The banks are still raising spurious arguments and rejecting allegations that fall squarely within the parameters of the Judicial Review ruling.
The FOS is still accepting rejected claims and is refusing to take the banks to task and enforce the Judicial Review finding against them, thus increasing consumer detriment.
In the meantime, hundreds more consumers are becoming aware of the Judicial Review findings and are seeking compensation from the UK Banks. In the first instance, claims submitted to the banks are rejected, necessitating the claim being referred to the FOS. The Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) has a rule under which claims previously adjudicated upon are to be learned from. The banks should refrain from submitting future claims or rejections to them. This does not apply to banks that consistently reject complaints which fall within the remit of the Judicial Review.
The FOS was established in 2000 and given statutory powers in 2001, by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, to help settle disputes between consumers and UK-based businesses providing financial services, such as banks, building societies, insurance companies, investment firms, financial advisers and finance companies following the collapse and disbanding of the Financial Services Authority.
The FOS’ sole purpose was to represent UK consumers' interests against the mis-selling of financial products by the Finance and Insurance sector based in the UK. It is widely reported by those using the service that it often produces biased, unfair decisions and is not fit for purpose.
Our experiences in timeshare complaints over the last 9 years would underpin such criticism of their service.
The following pages of this website look at the banks and companies involved in bringing and defending timeshare claims, and highlight the continuing struggle to bring about access to justice for the consumer.
Claims management companies have assisted millions of consumers to access justice and to receive the compensation they are entitled to. The Financial Ombudsman Service is now seeking to restrict the consumers access to justice by intending to charge a fee for any claim submitted to them by a claims management company (or a solicitor) on behalf of a consumer. Some issues submitted to the Financial Ombudsman Service are legally complex and coupled with the Financial Ombudsman Service’s unwillingness or ability to adjudicate upon claims within a reasonable time frame and we have grave concerns about this proposal.
Is this a mechanism to drive claims management companies and solicitors from this market, thus depriving consumers of support to champion their claims?
This website seeks to expose the injustices of a system of quasi-law that allows the UK’s largest regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and their arbiter, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), that fails to deliver an effective, fair and accessible Alternative Dispute Resolution to UK consumers who it is intended to protect against the inequities and misdemeanours of the financial and insurance institutions. PPI, PENSIONS and NOW TIMESHARE.
We are here to expose the behaviour of some UK Banks' mis-selling of financial products in the Timeshare industry over twenty years. It is purported that over 500,000 UK citizens were sold timeshares, from its height in the early eighties to the present day. It is generally accepted by the wider public that timeshares are aggressively marketed and mis-sold by the timeshare resorts.
