Cold callers Consumer Matters are offering advice for those who have been mis-sold and can help with a refund claim.
That sounds good! They have a website www.consumer-matters.com which was registered on 28/11/11.
Their contact details are a telephone number mentioned on the website: 0203 3840692 and a fax number which shows in the paperwork 0203 384698
Their Email is admin@consumer-matters.com
On the website there is loads of information and after the initial (cold) call with the timeshare consumer they also send through informative documents. In these documents they insist that their advice is free, so why not give them a call?
What is mentioned as well is that once you send the paperwork through and they feel you have reasons for a claim, they will tell you the costs involved…
What the website doesn’t tell you is where they are actually based and neither does it provide a registration number from the Companies House, details which should be on a website as per the regulations.
In the documents send to the consumers a note of caution is also added to the information:
“There are a number of businesses and ‘law firms’ passing themselves off as nongovernmental organisations that purport to govern and police other timeshare-related businesses as well as advise timeshare owners. Some of these are: TATOC, OTE, RDO, TCA, ITRA and Ramirez & Ramirez – although there are others. These are all privately funded and are NOT part of any government or official body. In the case of TATOC and the RDO (who also use a website called Mindtimeshare) these businesses are funded entirely by timeshare resorts and points providers – some of whom are currently the subject of litigation, themselves.”
Wow, that is Consumer Associations such as RDO and TATOC mentioned in one go with companies such as Ramirez and Ramirez and ITRA…that is scary! Not because of the warning itself, but the fact that they do not clearly see or make a difference between those providing help and advice for free and others who we know from this blog (and other forums) have taken a lot of money from consumers without result…well what can we say?
As stated above, this company appears to be new and we are still investigating about what they exactly do and the results of their services.
The fact that they cold call and their website lacks information which should be there as per the law has made us decide to publish this article and we kindly ask those contacted by Consumer Matters to tell us their experience!
You can place a comment or write to us: customercare@mindtimeshare.com
I was contacted in February by a company called Holiday Rentals Direct.who managed to cnvince me they would sell my timeshare holiday club membership for me .. Great the offer was nearly 4,000 pounds.. much needed now we are retired on a basic pension.. BUT.. they neded an upfront payment to insure we wouldnt change our minds.. no probs.. as this would be returned on completion of sale.. [theres the rub folks] this sale would never complete as it is doubtfull they ever had an interested buyer.. how STUPID can I be.. the woman reassured me over and over there was no problems for me to consider as they would deal with everthing.. [even the depression you have caused my dear] DOUBT IT …!!!
I now find I am in debt for the first time in my life,to my credit card .which was in credit up untill they came along and stole my cash and my selfesteem… Please Please be aware out there .. our generation were brought up to trust folks. we do! BUT to what cost ?? the money is a problem BUT they also have taken my confidence,& selfesteem, & made me feel ssoooo STUPID>>>>>> all the emails sent & recieved are saved & it is so confusing to read them back and think what they said was PURE LIES..
Eileen please do not feel stupid we have all been had at one time or another by these mongrels. Can you claim the money back by raising a dispute with your credit card as they did not deliver the goods as promised. Its worth a try. My heart goes out to you nd I know how you feel but please remember there are still some nice trustworthy people about
take care, give the credit card company a call and see what they can do for you
Best wishes
Clare
Hey Eileen,
Clare is correct, you need to complete a section 75 claim against your creditcard company. Do a google search to get information on this.
Good luck!
Join the club Eileen! I know just how you feel. I too have been scammed of an “insurance” fee to complete a so-called sale of my timeshare. I was assured by Alpine Horizans that they had a buyer but I now know there was no buyer at all and they are just thieves. I too was supposed to receive back my funds as soon as the sale was completed. The sale of course will never be completed and as a retired person I have been defrauded of funds which I really can’t afford to lose.
Regards,
Jo ( New Zealand)
Sadly, there seems to still be a lot of “mileage” left in these timeshare refund scams Guy. There must be a lot of money in it and many unwary victims for them, judging by the professional and very plausible operatives that call us with the “good news”. Thanks for the warning about these particualar people.
Thanks also to Alberto and this Blog for making us a little more savvy about the underhand tactics used by these sharks.
I have been contacted by Consumer Matters and, as always with such companies, they do require money up front. Their trick is to get your original documentation from you without mentioning money and making a point that they don’t need any money at this stage. Then they come in with the cash request after they have received your documents. This can be a little insidious as they will have your documentation they initially asked for and could use their possession as a lever to get you to hand cash over.
They refused to tell me how much it would be to sell the points and refused to accept either post sale payment or to take payment from the sale proceeds, even if they handled the sale monies.
Once again I feel I was contacted by a con-merchant company.
Will it never end?
Hey Guy,
I´m sure that they never asked you to send original documents as copies would be quite acceptable in this type of claim. Some companies provide no win no fee services(very rare on this type of claim) and take 25% – 30% of your winnings other companies charge you fees up front and then 100% of your winnings are yours. If you don´t want to pay fees up front then ask for your documents back and don´t use the company.
A claims company wouldn´t sell your points for you and therefore couldn´t give you a price. Be very careful with this as there are lots of people who will claim to have a buyer for you and will charge fees, just ask Eileen!
As already mentioned above, if you are in doubt then don´t use them.