European Consumer Claims and M1 Legal clients receive €16,000 payout from Club La Costa

The latest news from Timeshare Advice Centre and European Consumer Claims.

European Consumer Claims (ECC) and M1 Legal worked side by side in bringing this client such a successful outcome. Mr and Mrs Bradshaw came to ECC for help in August 2016. Circumstances had been building up with Club La Costa and eventually they came to the conclusion that they had taken enough. This is when ECC legally began working on the Bradshaw’s behalf, against Club La Costa Paradise Trading SL. “We followed the process with ECC and it was all straight forward - they were very thorough in requesting all of the paperwork for our case,” said Mr. Bradshaw.

It was in 2012 that the Bradshaw’s had been sold their fractional timeshare in Sierra Marina Resort, owned by Club La Costa World, for £8,000. As well as having previously paid £19,000 to Club La Costa for other schemes. The couple had to face £5,000 a year in maintenance fees on top of that. When the couple wanted to book their holidays with Club La Costa, more problems would arise. They had to pay a further amount as a booking fee – even though the booking was more of a hassle for the couple themselves than for the resort. There would be issues regarding when they could book for their visit, accommodation size and the location of the resort. Even when they finally managed to get their holiday organised; a Club La Costa sales rep would come knocking at their door shortly after their arrival, in an attempt to pressure them into further purchases. “We saw it as an investment, to enjoy quality holidays - and we were advised that we would have the option to sell our fractional ownership back to Club La Costa World after 19 years but this was not the case,” Mr. Bradshaw informed ECC. “When we found out what they had told us was not true, we felt trapped having discovered the fractional ownership was unsalable there being no resale market,” added Mrs. Bradshaw.

In 2017 the case was passed on to M1 Legal, a team of international lawyers and legal representatives in Spain, where they fought on behalf of the Bradshaw’s in court. They soon uncovered that the contract from Club La Costa did not comply with Spanish law. The contract failed to specify an end date and lacked the land registry information that is required by law.

It was then in December 2019, right before the festive period, that the Bradshaw’s received their payout. “We received €16,076 just in time for Christmas,” said the Bradshaw’s. “This was like a big cloud over us and now that it has been lifted we don’t need to worry about family being lumbered with unwanted timeshare bills. We sincerely thank ECC and M1 Legal teams for their efforts.”

Furthermore, the couple went on to urge others to do the same as they did “Go ahead,” said Mr. Bradshaw, “but be patient and don’t be put off by the bad press you see online. Often enough the bad press is published by the very people who support the timeshare industry.”

This year, the couple are pleased to be taking a different type of holiday; “We will never buy timeshare again. From now on we make our own holiday arrangements and for this year have booked a cruise to Russia.”

Andrew Cooper, the CEO of ECC commented "I am pleased that we were able to produce this outcome for the Bradshaw's. We look forward to doing the same for many other clients in the future."