Men sentenced for misleading consumers
Two men, Neil Mendoza of Exeter and Michael Girvin of Exmouth, have received suspended imprisonment sentences and community service, for their part in a scam to mislead time share owners.
Sentenced this week, Mendoza received nine months imprisonment suspended for two years, with 200 hours community service, and Girvin received 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years with 200 hours community service. Girvin also received disqualification as a company director.
The two managers of an Exeter-based company were convicted in December of misleading consumers in a case brought by the Devon and Somerset Trading Standards Service.
Timeshare owners, unhappy in the belief that they had been mis-sold their timeshare purchases, were lured into meetings with the unscrupulous salesmen on the promise of participating in legal action against the timeshare providers.
The scheme involved contacting known customers of a number of holiday product providers with a promise that a legal action was being contemplated for the original purchase.
Many of the timeshare owners felt they had been misled at the time of the original sale and were now eager to find a way out of escalating maintenance fees, and claim restitution for the original purchase.
Devon Based Associates Ltd, sometimes trading as “Class Action UK” operated from Matford Business Park in Exeter in the winter of 2011/12.
They wrote to timeshare owners claiming that they required 25,000 signatures for the launch of a class action, and requesting a meeting with them.
However once consumers were present at their offices in Matford Business Park, Exeter, many of them were persuaded to pay over the odds for the negotiation of an exit from their holiday contracts.
Most of the resort or facility management companies, with whom the consumers have contracts, were in fact quite willing to end the open ended contracts, sometimes for a fee of a few hundred pounds or even free of charge.
However customers of Devon Based Associates were charged many times that. Pressure was put on them with stories of perpetual liability for fees, cascading down to their children and grandchildren.
When Trading Standards visited the premises and searched documentation and computer records, no evidence of an ongoing legal claim was found.
It also transpired that the businessmen behind the scheme were ex-salesmen from one of the key companies also responsible for many of the original timeshare deals.
Neil Mendoza, 60, of Cordery Road Exeter, was found guilty of consent or connivance in three offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations: firstly for misleading consumers about the purpose of the presentations; secondly for misleading them about the ability and status of the company to take a class action; and thirdly for breaching professional diligence by making unfounded claims about the merits of a class action and the compensation that could be obtained.
Mr Mendoza was a Director of Devon Based Associates and had previously been employed by St Frances Marketing Ltd.
Michael Girvin, 53, of Hamilton Road, Exmouth, was found guilty of the same offences. He had been a Director of St Frances Marketing and was involved with Devon Based Associates in a consulting capacity.
As a Director of St Frances, Girvin had previously been found guilty along with other directors and managers, of Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations offences.
St Frances Marketing, an Exeter-based company, had been prosecuted by Devon County Council Trading Standards and managers and Directors found guilty of offences under the same Regulations in 2009 for a variety of mis selling offences.
County Councillor Roger Croad, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards said: “Devon and Somerset Trading Standards Service has been supporting the legitimate trade by advising local timeshare and holiday club businesses of their obligations. However this case shows that there are still some dishonest operators in the market. Consumers should always use caution if they are approached with an offer that sounds too good to be true and take their time to consider, before entering any contract like this.”
Stephen Gardiner, Special Investigations manager at Devon and Somerset Trading Standards said: “This was a brazen attempt to exploit timeshare owners’ who were already feeling out of pocket and dissatisfied with their original purchase. Owners should be very cautious about any company that contacts them out of the blue with a view to such a claim, or disposing of their holiday product. Citizen’s Advice offer consumer advice on Timeshare and similar holiday products, and can be found by contacting Citizen’s Advice on 0845 040506 or online.”
