As already mentioned in previous blogs, the latest trend seems to be Timeshare Disposal companies and here we go with a new one again, RIOCC in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
RIOCC or Real Estate Investments Ownerships Consultancy Center ,seems to be a rather new company, who has only just started cold calling timeshare consumers offering a “way out” of their timeshare.
The usual pitch about rising maintenance fees and the consumer having “grounds to put a claim” against his timeshare resort is used for the introduction call.
In order to get things started with RIOCC who seems to dispose of a large team of lawyers to handle these claims, the consumer will have to travel to Spain as only there it is possible to sign the correct paperwork.
Hotel expenses are paid by RIOCC and the consumer only has to pay the air fare for a 3 day trip.
With a bit more investigation we have found the website of RIOCC www.riocc.net which is available in English and Dutch.
The website was registered in February 2012
The address of the Real Estate Investments Ownerships Consultancy Center is on the Costa del Sol, Avenida Alcalde Clemente Diaz Ruiz Portal 3 number 2, 29640 Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain
Contact numbers +34 952 58 11 52 & +34 952 198 601
Email: info@riocc.net
On the web it states; “Under the brand RIOCC, we can introduce you to a team of over 130 legal staff, offering a multidisciplinary service to a global audience, covering all the areas of legal practices, with a high level of specialization and local knowledge.”
That’s a lot of lawyers!!
And are they working for free or is there may be a cost involved the timeshare consumer will be informed about once he lands in Malaga for the 3 day trip?
Did we not hear this all before? We did and the consumers also, as most of the consumers called by RIOCC are also approached by NIMDA 21 CLAIMS in Benalmadena, with an almost exact the same pitch and about whom we wrote an article not so long ago: http://wp.me/p1kmoi-im
Worrying thing is that NIMDA CLAIMS is connected to ITRA & EFTAG which takes us straight to the Club Class Group of Companies.( https://mindtimeshare.me/?s=club+class)
If NIMDA 21 CLAIMS is the new baby of EFTAG in BENALMADENA, and ITRA on their website announces a new office in Fuengirola to be opened soon, could we maybe suggest RIOCC is this new office?
Have you been called by RIOCC from Fuengirola and invited for a trip to Spain?
Please let us know!
Mindtimeshare 
Had a call tonight at 1915 hours 16/10 from these people female said do you want to get rid of
Your timeshare I said I don’t discuss matters like this over the phone so I gave her my email
Address and have now traced them and found them read the stories about them and we find
Another one from the dump no doubt she will phone back tomorrow can’t wait.
Hello, I am a reporter at the Olive Press newspaper in Andalucia. Please email eloise@theolivepress.es with details if your experiences with RIOCC, negative or positive.
Regards, Eloise Horsfield
Dear Mr. Plassing,
Once again thank you very much for your positive comment on our blog about RIOCC.
We are totally uncertain what motivates you to place these comments and then when we reply to you and ask for proof this has really happened to you, you fail to reply.
As explained to you in our email replies on the 21st of May 2012 and the 17th of July 2012, we are a bit skeptical about RIOCC as we actually receive numerous complaints and negative comments and these are all backed up with paperwork.
So although we are not against positive comments, we do feel there is a need to verify these comments first as they are very uncommon for this company.
So far you have not replied to us and neither have you come up with any paperwork to proof your successful relationship with RIOCC or the actual disposal of your timeshare. As a matter of fact you haven’t even mentioned where you were an owner.
Looking at the dates of the comments, the first one in May where you claim to have been recently visiting RIOCC and the 2 following ones where you claim to have been in Spain in June, well I am sorry to say but this doesn’t add up.
In May you state you were taken to a Notary office. This could be right as RIOCC indeed takes you there to sign a power of attorney. But in June this is a “lawyers office” as per your comment and you “signed away any further maintenance bills” I am sorry but you cannot just sign with a lawyer you are no longer paying the fees. If this was real, any consumer could go to a lawyer right now, and we all know this doesn’t work like that.
Please note that we cannot publish comments that have incorrect or contradictory details, and especially when it concerns a company such as RIOCC where we don’t want to confuse consumers more than what they are already.
So we appreciate your effort to place this comment, but as you have failed to provide us with simple paperwork and details of ownership etc, that would proof that your story is right, we have to reject once again your comment.
Alberto Garcia
Director at Mindtimeshare
TODAY 18/09/2012
Rod Plassing commented on RIOCC in Fuengirola, a new Timeshare disposal company..
I was contacted by RIOCC and although sceptical decided to take up their offer, this June,
which included a 3 day stay in a very nicely appointed hotel in Fuengerola. On the second day I was picked up from the hotel and driven to their offices a short distance away and we discussed and only discussed how I could dispose of my Diamond points. There was no offer of an extra purchase or exchange involved whatsoever. We visited a Spanish Lawyer and had a contract drawn up for disposal of my points and at the end of my stay I flew home. I have subsequently been in contact with RIOCC by phone and email and everything has been most satisfactory.
I am so glad that I bit the bullet as RIOCC is completely above board and I have disposed of all future maintainance fees forever. Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
16/07/2012
ROD PLASSING commented on RIOCC in Fuengirola, a new Timeshare disposal company..
I was also very sceptical with this arrangement but went ahead, in early June, anyway. Everything happened to plan with return flight arranged and a three day stay in Fuengerola in a top hotel. Weather was super. Was taken to RIOCC office in fuengerola and then to Lawyer,s office for officially signing away any further maintanance bills. WHAT a RELIEF!!! . Today, they have rung to say that everything is going ahead smoothly along with many other timeshare owners
Rod
21/05/2012
Rod Plassing commented on RIOCC in Fuengirola, a new Timeshare disposal company..
Hi to everybody concerned about RIOCC. I bought my timeshare in 1991 and at that time the yearly maintainance was £120 and over time I had to double the points value in order to get a decent holiday is now its £1100 per year . I was contacted by RIOCC and recently visited Fuengerola and was provided accommodation for 2 nights in a well appointed hotel, had an interview to dispose of my timeshare by paying a fee to a spanish notary. This means I am free forever of future maintainance bills. Hooray! There was a no claim no fee option to legally claim back many thousands of pounds for excess yearly fees, wrong selling process, and many other unscrupulous dealings with the various timeshare companies who have successively passed ownership on over the years. I may be wrong but I think RIOCC is the real deal and will be successful in their claim. While I was in the office about twenty workers came up from a lower floor and went off to lunch which shows me that the company is not a “Two man operation” Time will tell.
I was cold called by this company as I have been by ITRA and some others. I have had numerous calls over the years from various, (too many to mention by name), xxxx companies so this came as no surprise to me that another one has materialised from the cesspit of the timeshare world. I duly scanned the web and opened your e newsletter received every month and lo and behold there was RIOCC..Very interesting reading. They had sent me the emailed form etc. which I didn’t fill in. They called back this afternoon to ask if I was interested in pursuing the class action, to which I asked if I was expected to travel to Spain to which the answer was yes etc. I then pointed out that I had been approached by ITRA with the same offer and asked if they were in any way involved with ITRA or ETOO, of course they denied any link with them. The upshot of the conversation was that I had done my research on this site and Timeshare Talk and if they expected me to go to Spain to be sold something else and not even dispose of my timeshare they must think I am some sort of simpleton. I told them where to go in no uncertain terms and hung up the phone. One of these days the message might get through that people are wise to their devious xxxxx and hopefully one day a company might materialise who will actually be above board and on the side of the timeshare consumer. I WON’T HOLD MY BREATH!!!
Maybe you know of such a company who will actually dispose of timeshare legally without trying to xxxx you. If so I would be interested to hear from you.
Keep up the good work. I look forward to receiving your news letters.
Regards
Was cold called today with all of the above will challange them if they call again. thanks for all the info
Like everyone else I got the phone call with a plausible story. Thank you for this website as it confirms to me that it is another xxxx which is associated with timeshare ownership all over the world. They are persistent devils but so, I understand, are xxxxxx.
We were contacted yesterday and again today by RIOCC, using the same arguments as above.
They are calling back tomorrow for our decision and probably to try to arrange a date for our visit. NO CHANCE NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems that almost everybody agrees it’s a xxxx.
Has anyone actually received any money yet?
It seems that several people have parted with cash, WHY I thought it was on a no win no fee basis?
What put me off was the background noise, sounded more like a travel agent’s or “Bonus Weeks Breaks” I could barely hear Vanessa speak.
She told me that the fee’s would be taken out of the interest accrued from my claim which should amount to around £6000.00, this would provide roughly £3000.00 of interest which would cover their fee’s.
I must ask her which bank they use as I would love to invest my savings there. LOL
is riocc te vertrouwen ze willen zaken met mij doen?
ze willen nij thuis in amsterdam op bezoek komen voor de verkoop van mijn timeshare wat kan ik
doen? kunt umij adviseren of dit wel betrouwbaar is
Similar call from RIOCC in the lST COUPLE OF DAYS – VERY -PLAUSIBLE LADY CALLED vANESSA. aGAIN – WE NEED TO GO TO SPAIN. oUR POINTS ARE WITH cLUB lA cOSTA, AND 2WE WERE TOLD THAT THERE WAS AN INJUNCTION SIMILAR TO THAT AGAINST rci FOR clc’S MIS-SELLING. sHOULD WE JUST CANCEL EVERYTHING?
jOHN
I had a phone call today telling me all of the above. They are going to call me back tomorrow. I have filled a form out online to see if I am eligible for a refund for a refund of maintenance fees. I must admit I am unsure what to do as we do want to get rid of our timeshare but we have been duped out of money before and feel sure it’s a xxxx. Who do you trust?
Having worked for RIOCC recently i can confirm it is a complete ****
The address is correct and the boiler room/ call room is in the basement.
Stage 1 various small claims will be inflated to bait the trap
Stage 2 Do you want get rid of your timeshare
Stage 3 We can dispose of TS
Stage 4 Come to Spain
Stage 5 In office your claims add up to 15,000 euros payout within 16 weeks
Stage 6 We can get you out of your TimeShare debt/contract plus cancel contract saving fortunes in the long run for just 5,000
what a bargain
They’ve been calling me a couple of times with the same story. I mentioned that I had no interest in flying down to Malaga and the story changed. They claim that their representative can now come over to our home in Holland to talk and arrange the details.
I got called bu RIOCC on Monday & again today. Same script about needing me to fly out to Spain at the end of August.
I smell a rat.
“I went to RIOCC last week after numerous phone calls about claiming back against maintenance fees. I filled in the form and that was it. I had no intention of ever cancelling my Anfi weeks as i use them every year. They asked me if I wanted to cancel them but as I didn´t they just filled in the claim form, took copies of the maintenance bills and moved to the next client and arranged my transfer to my hotel. Easiest 2 nights in spain I ever had, lol ! “
Well, I guess if one was going to Malaga anyway and had a firm enough constitution to refuse pressure-sales tactics, then diverting for a couple of hours to visit RIOCC might be considered time well-spent. If I had no interest in selling, I wouldn’t do it merely for the pleasure of 2 free nights in an unknown hotel.
GillyB (above) makes a pretty bold statement about better alternatives. I don’t believe there are any. The vast majority of Spanish timeshare has little value because the demand is far exceeded by the supply of secondhand units that owners would like to sell. This is unlikely to ever change.
What is clear is that paying upfront for anything is utterly pointless and will result in more money down the drain.
I own an escritura unit (see my original comments dated 8th May), which means I have no choice but to pay a notary to effect a legal transfer of title and the fees will be similar to the current depressed market value of the unit of perhaps £1500 (2 weeks, 1-bed unit in an RCI Gold Crown resort).
The real bug for owners is of course the obligation to pay maintenance fees in perpetuity. When it ceases to work because owners in older-age no longer wish to use the resort or exchange – that’s when ownership becomes a real financial drain. At some resorts, owners have begged to give-up ownership (for nothing) to the management company to avoid the maintenance fee oligation – the management companies won’t accept it, of course.
I can see no way out of it – other than a gradual increase in the level of default on fees by owners – at which at a certain level of default, the resort presumably collapses. Quite how the Spanish Land Registry would sort out such a muddle, with hundreds and in some cases thousands, of overseas legal owners per resort is anyone’s guess.
I went to Fuengirola with my wife and met the RIOCC people.They told us we could claim and also ditch our points. We paid a deposit of 620 euros out of a bill for £5945. We saw a notary and received a document giving them power of attorney to dispose of the points. If this is a sc** they have gone to a great deal of trouble setting up offices etc. I’m due to pay the balance next week. Now I’m in a quandary as what to do.
I think that this is not going to lead to a successful outcome! I have evidence of folk who have ended up in lots of debt from following this line! There are better avenues to follow!
Any info about ITRA of Station Road , Edgeware Middlesex UK trying to get you to visit Costa del Sol to recoup money paid to Diamond Resorts for excessive Maintenance charges over the years. ( power of Attourney note to be signed)
GillyB please tell us what are the better avenues – we would all love to know?? Im sick of being contacted by so many people offering to help me out of this `timeshare weight around my neck’ and then finding out – it’s a scam. If you know a guaranteed safe method please tell!!
Been called today by Riocc same as the others. I asked for the name and address, age of company and registration number of the company as I was busy. He mumbled obviously reading a script or being advised. He asked if he could call me back when I am not busy. His ‘body language’ over the phone set off the alarm bells in my head so I investigated. My humble view and I will treat them as such: ‘definately a sc**, I wont go near them’.
Called today by RIOCC with the same details as described in comments above. Sounded very plausible so am grateful that I found this website. They are calling back tomorrow but I won’t be available. This call came very soon after one from a company called Viva Connect who ‘had a buyer’ for my timeshare but I had to pay about £1000 to secure the sale. I asked them to call back the next day as I wanted to check their credentials. They didn’t phone back. These scams are never ending.
My father in law has just paid for the trip out there. I have told him to cancel his credit card payment. Is this possible or is the payment binding with the air company?
Thank you for this site. Now I know what i have to do, when Riocc me will all again. Nothing.
Also called by them – chap by the name of Tony. Very plausible story, which started with lots of legal claims that I am entitled to compensation from my timeshare management company on a number of grounds. I didn’t write them all down but they included:
1000 Euros on the grounds that under Spanish law, timeshare companies cannot have a contract with the client that is longer than 50 years. He asked how long my contract is – it isn’t a contract I have an escritura with legal title to a proportion of the resort including a proportion of the common parts. He claimed this has to be cancelled or the management company is breaking Spanish law (I don’t believe it).
Another claim related to fee escalation of the management charge – apparently it can’t increase by more than the cost of living inflation in Spain – I don’t believe that either.
The conversation turned to RCI – was I getting the exchanges I wanted. I agreed it was getting a lot more difficult. He claimed that this is because RCI has lost a class action in the USA with RCI members regarding promised availability of units and they are hence preferring to give USA members exchanges in preference to European members.
All very strnage – only at that point did we get into the need to come to Malaga to sign paperwork which would include an interview to look at ‘exit strategy options’ for my timeshare. I declined.
He didn’t even establish that I wanted to sell.
I have just had a similar experience to John – called by a Ryan – it all sounds so plausible and so helpful but when it came to flying to Malaga that seemed a bit too much. We were going to save over 9000 pounds because we had a members only contract, maintenance should have been index-linked, we were mis-sold ‘in perpetuity’ and finally RCI had overcharged us .I began some research and found the website for TATOC and also this one – thank goodness – as I was getting really worried about agreeing to go to Spain.
We got conned already by ITRA some time back and found ourselves at a meeting which we thought was going to be a legal event – instead it was the typical timeshare sell – we were very angry about the waste of time and the con.
Unfortunately us timeshare owners can be a vulnerable lot and last year we were conned by a company selling holidays that seemed to be a ‘reward’ for having been an RCI member for so long. We were sure it was RCI calling us and only too late, after spending 500 pounds, did we find that it was nothing of the sort. This company is RSC – Resort Servie Care: They have very few resorts (we thought that we were being offered from the RCI resort list but they use Golden Travel Club resorts). No one answers the phone and we were refused a refund after protesting we had been misled – more fool us! Timeshare is a minefield for us all!
Have had the same experience as all the other replies. Did not take it up.Was contacted again to ask why I had not taken their offer up, my reply was ‘ IT SEEMS TOO EASY’
Called by them yesterday. Wife took the call. They are supposed to be ringing back. Guy was told that we had signed up for compensation from action against RCI with Club Class and also had a session with ITRA at Chester and what is about two plus years since the first time have not heard a thing about any compensation. We told them that we are in a fractional ownership for one resort and did have concerns about perpituity with an other and it seems that they can get us out of all of this. !!! ???? Yes we had to fly to Malaga and visit them in Fuengirola.
It sounded reasonable that a firm of lawyers should try to get all disgruntled time-share owners together. The calls also came from an 0844 number, not international, or withheld. No fees were mentioned! However, they persuaded me and my husband that we needed to act quickly, and gave us an appointment for May. They were going to book the flights, but my husband thought this was a scam to get our passport and bank details. They said we could book them, then email confirmation. We did this. Then I found this website! My husband doesn’t think we’d be able to cancel the credit card payment for the flight, as we are now legally bound by easyjet and ryanair. We are definitely not going to meet RIOCC! However, we are debating whether to go for the day, anyway, rather than waste the money of the flights. We might try a golf course, or something (plenty around Malaga)! I am still, however, rather concerned that they may get personal details from our flight bookings (should be protected by my passwords?).
If riocc can take ownership of your weeks or points (Is this what the charge is for) then well done and fair play to them (and you for getting out). what i was curious about is what happens to the weeks afterwards, not that matters if you are not the owner anymore?
We visited RIOCC for a day 3 weeks ago. we registered a claim and decided to cancel our week in Spain. There was an upfront fee to pay for the notary (I used a credit card so I can always claim it back if I have to!). I have a letter confirming transfer of ownership and power of attorney to RIOCC. I have received notification from the resort (only after calling them to check) that I am not the owner anymore. As for the claim, who knows….
Thank you for your message about Riocc.
That sounds very good and very quickly?
How much did you pay for this?
Where do you, or did you own your timeshare?
Had you checked with the resort before if you could relinquish the timeshare directly through them?
Many thanks for letting us know.
Kind regards
Customer Care
Mr. O’Callaghan,
Do you realise that any creditcard payments can not claimed back after 3 weeks?
Any timeshare resort will NOT agree with a cancellation in any form, and hence they will NOT send you any notification…… and how can you call the resort to check?
This sound a bit strange to me…I am sorry to say, you lost your money (how much?
Contacted by RIOCC today by phone and now have an email giving me a case number and a qualification form. Story seems very similar to the others pitches received over the years, very polite and quite plausible. Lots of promises with apparently no commitment on my part other that a trip to Malaga. Only justification for trip to Malaga being one of identification. I’m such a sceptic; a result of too many promises to sort all my timeshaer issues that I don’t trust any of what was said. Am I right to distrust RIOCC?
Regards
Dave
We were called by riocc a few weeks ago about the same thing, ie compensation and cancelling my points. we were assured there would be no money upfront to handle the claim, etc etc. we were staying at our resort the next week anyway so went along without having to give any personal details to them (i´ve learnt that mistake before!). We filled in the claim form and they took copies of the paperwork for m.fee bills and deeds. They showed me how much i´d pay for my points over the next 10 yrs and offered to have them cancelled with a Spanish notary. We didin´t take them up on this as we are happy with what we have. total time 3 hours, no money upfront as didnt cancel anything. i´ll have to see if we receive any money from the claim (only time will tell!). Dan
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comment.
So you didn’t go and pay for a notary at all?
No admin fees?
That’s strange as we heard from others that they had to pay to start this procedure and we are talking several thousands of euros.
Maybe they have changed their strategy? Time will tell, please keep us updated!
Where do you own by the way?
Kind regards
Customer Care
Hello we are from Holland and that happened to us aswell, we found out that the whole office is a scam, we even want to go to Dutch TV to set up a hidden camera meeting…..the manager is Dutch and called Ronald but we met him 3 years earlier as a Michiel de Wit…same person curly hairdo. Even the pictures of houses in the window are a scam. We did not take the deal either and believe me, even if you paid thousands of Pounds you will not get anything back. So time will tell…..be carefull!!!!!!
Contacted by RIOCC today. Story seems similar to the other comments. If it is dodgy does anyone know how they will get their money given that they claim not to want anything up front? Will there be a hard sell when you are in Malaga?
Those questions apart what does Alberto García propose that we do now?
I too was called yesterday by RIOCC saying they could claim compensation for me on various aspects of my Timeshare ownership eg the way maintenance fees have increased.
I submitted the application form they sent me and based on very little information I provided
they got back to me today and spoke of thousands of pounds of compensation, nothing to be paid upfront the only thing I have to do is fly to the Costa del Sol and sign in front of a notiary certain forms everything paid for through the compensation.
Any comment on this matter, my main concern is where is all this compensation money coming from if in deed there is any money for compensation at all.
Regards.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your message.
Flying to Spain to arrange something that isn’t going to cost you a penny upfront…don’t even think it might be true.
Signing a document at a notary can be done in your own country if that really was the only thing they needed.
Kind regards
Customer Care
Hello
We have also been contacted several times telling us that we are qualified to make the claim and inviting us to Spain . As we understand for the above information to Jim we should not accept their services and should not travel to Spain as they required. Is this right?
Kind regards
G…..
I was called today and given the same spiel as Jim1123, but I was invited to the Costa Del Sol at which destination?……… none other than Fuengirola! I asked them to email me the data which they did. This definitely smells like Club Class roots to me!
I was called yesterday and today…. I have the same question as elaine….
was called this afternoon by riocc….so another rip off or scam i presume?
elaine wood