TIMESHARE PROBE
Consumer watchdog launches wide-ranging public inquiry into holiday club industry
Flood of complaints includes the lack of termination options for elderly or cash-strapped consumers
Tighter regulation could be on the cards for the shared vacation ownership industry, which is the target of a wide-ranging public inquiry by the National Consumer Commission. "We want to get to the root cause of issues experienced by consumers. We also hope to [tackle] gaps in current legislation," commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed said on Friday. The commission had received thousands of complaints from consumers over the past nearly two decades that were lodged against holiday clubs and other role players in their value chain, he said. An investigation by the National Consumer Commission into three major clubs led it to lodge an application with the National Consumer Tribunal in 2015 to have the sale of holiday club points as timeshare declared a fraudulent scheme. Consumers have in the past complained about being locked into lifetime contracts that clubs do not permit them to cancel even when they are too old to travel. Others say holiday accommodation is seldom available or they have ...
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