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1) CASE takes out injunction proceedings against a timeshare company 4) Consumer Tips for terminating timeshare
1) CASE takes out injunction proceedings against a timeshare company If you've read about it in the media, read our official release below. If you haven't read about it in the media, catch up on the news now! CASE TAKES ACTION AGAINST ORION’S BELT NETWORK For first time ever, CASE takes out injunction proceedings under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) is taking out injunction proceedings against Orion’s Belt Network, a timeshare company that also provides timeshare termination services, for repeatedly breaching the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA). This is the first time ever CASE is taking injunction proceedings against a company, as authorised under the CPFTA where CASE is empowered to protect consumers against unfair practices. Early this year, CASE became concerned that Orion’s Belt Network, which had been in business only since January 2005, had received similar complaints against it within a short span of time. The company would offer to terminate timeshare contracts on behalf of consumers, for a fee. Subsequently, the consumers would find out that their contracts had not been terminated or that they could have terminated their own contracts in writing. After receiving the seventh filed complaint against Orion’s Belt Network, CASE invited the company to sign a Voluntary Compliance Agreement in March this year. By signing the agreement, the company would:
Orion’s Belt Network delayed the signing of the agreement by asking for time to look into the filed complaints. However, the company pursued the complainants for payment instead of addressing the issues. CASE also continued to receive filed complaints against Orion’s Belt Network. From July 2005 to August 2006, CASE received 14 filed complaints against Orion’s Belt Network for:
On 21 September, CASE issued a final reminder to Orion’s Belt Network to sign the Voluntary Compliance Agreement. Orion’s Belt Network did not respond by the deadline of 9.00am, 25 September. CASE is taking immediate action against the company. What exactly does timeshare mean? According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), timeshare is a form of vacation property ownership. With timeshares, the use and costs of running the resort are shared among the owners.
When and where did timeshare first start? History 1700s.com (http://www.history1700s.com/) points out that the concept of timeshare originated in Europe in the 1960s.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with the concept or the product itself, consumers' grouses are about the strong arm tactics and provision of misleading information by errant timeshare companies. The latest developments in the timeshare industry are timeshare companies that also offer
These companies call up consumers with existing timeshare contracts and offer to resell or terminate the contract for the consumer, for a fee. Unfortunately, some consumers end up paying up to thousands of dollars without having their existing timeshare contracts resold or terminated. Within the past two years, CASE has seen an increase in the number of filed complaints regarding this issue. See table below.
If you're interested to find out more about timeshare and its history, check out these webpages 1. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeshare 2. History 1700s.com: http://www.history1700s.com/store/timeshare.shtml 3) Tales from the past
Timeshare resale is a fairly new phenomenon that has emerged within the past few years. The concept of timeshare resale first came into the limelight in 2003/2004 when the director of a timeshare resale company was charged in court for scamming consumers.
Mr John Tan Miah Soong aka Peter Tan was then 44 years old. He was the director of International Timeshare Resale Consultant Pte Ltd. He also traded under the business names of Orient Biz Consultancy, International Timeshare Resale Consultant and Inter Resort Network Consultant.
His modus operandi was to call consumers with existing timeshare contracts or to advertise timeshare resale services in the newspaper. Those who were interested to resell their timeshare had to pay a registration fee of $388. On top of that, he collected so-called refundable deposits of up to $10,000 on the pretext of upgrading consumers' timeshare contracts in order to facilitate sales.
However, investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department revealed that none of the fees or deposits collected was used to assist consumers to sell off their timeshare or to upgrade their timeshare contracts as promised.
So what should you do if you have an existing timeshare contract that you wish to terminate? We tell you in our Consumer Tips section below.
4) Consumer Tips for terminating timeshare
5) Say It - to us!
Had a bad experience with a retailer that you want to warn others about? Perhaps you’ve come across an email or advertisement that smacks of a scam, or would like to share some consumer tips with our readers. The Consumer magazine would like to hear from you if you have any consumer-related stories to share. Email us at sayit@case.org.sg, with the subject title as “Say It @ Case”, and include your name and CASE membership number. We will be selecting a few entries to be published in our upcoming issues without the names of the companies or any brands. Say It @ Case will be a regular feature in The Consumer, so look out for it in the upcoming issues.
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