Civil servant wasted $34,000 on timeshare deals
By Andre Yeo
COMPLAINTS against timeshare companies and hardsell tactics have been loud and frequent.
Yet, the widespread publicity was not enough to warn off one woman who forked out almost $34,000 in not one, but three deals with timeshare companies over a six-year period.
Despite signing three contracts, she has yet to stay a single day in any of the timeshare properties.
The companies she had bought products from are no strangers to the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case). In all, dozens of complaints have been lodged against them.
Checks made by The New Paper revealed that some of the companies had the same people holding key appointments.
Helping her marriage
Madam Alice (not her real name), 39, a civil servant, said she thought timeshare holidays could help mend her marriage, which was on the rocks in 2002.
She was sold by the idea of being given priority to book holiday resorts for her family so her children could have fun and she and her then-husband could sort out their marriage woes.
So, in 2002, she signed up with Emperor Resorts International and invested $16,000 in a timeshare contract.
She paid $8,000 upfront, using her credit card. She is paying the remaining $8,000 in monthly instalments of around $250 in cash.
She said Emperor had resorts and apartments in Australia and she thought she would be able to book them for family getaways.
But she was unable to use their facilities.
'I did not use their facilities because every time I called,' she said, 'they would say I had to call three months in advance, or that they were fully booked.'
Another timeshare company, Crown Holiday Exchange, then called her to offer what seemed like a better deal - with a cash rebate and a lower maintenance fee.
She signed up with them in 2005 because they promised an annual cash rebate of $400.
The membership price was $23,000 but they deducted Emperor's $16,000 membership price in a trade-in contract, so she had to pay Crown the $7,000 difference.
Again she paid half using her credit card and the other half in monthly instalments of $250 for 14 months, which was indicated in the contract she showed us.
And again she did not get to use any of their facilities - for the same reasons - they were fully booked, it was the peak season, or she had to call them three months in advance.
A database check with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) found that Emperor and Crown were 'live' companies. Emperor is at Burlington Square, Bencoolen Street and Crown at Tong Building in Orchard Road.
When The New Paper called them and identified ourselves, a receptionist answered the phone saying: 'Crown Emperor' and said we should call back later.
When we asked to speak to someone and whether Crown Exchange and Emperor were the same company, he replied that they were busy and again asked us to call later.
He then hung up the phone.
When The New Paper visited the office later that day, he said the customer service officer was not in and asked us to return later.
They did not return calls to comment on this story.
Crown shared the same unit number on the 18th storey of Tong Building with another timeshare company, Discovery VIII, which also had the same listed address on Acra.
Interestingly, the Acra search revealed that both Crown and Discovery VIII have the same director, Mr Jerry Tan Kim Huat.
The search also revealed that another key Discovery VIII shareholder, Liew Heap Hwa, was also the director of Emperor Resorts International.
When we called Discovery VIII on Wednesday, a receptionist said no one was available to talk to us. They did not respond to repeated calls for comments on this story.
Liquidation plan
Madam Alice said she left her timeshare contracts alone for the next three years, until a company called Axial Management called her in January offering a liquidation plan to change her timeshare assets with Crown to cash.
She said: 'That's what the sales manager told me.'
She agreed to sign up with them in January.
As she explained to The New Paper why she agreed to pay Axial $10,800 for this plan, she buried her head in her hands and shook her head.
She said: 'They said I could get $39,160 in cash after three years, in 2011.'
Her latest contract brought her total investments in timeshares to almost $34,000.
In September, Axial sent her a letter informing her they had relocated. But they did not say where. Their previous address was listed as Upper Cross Street.
Then, in October, she said another timeshare company, PlatinumBiz Financial Solution, called her to say they wanted to meet with her as Axial had closed.
But by this time, she had had enough.
Then we discovered through an Acra search that Axial was now named PlatinumBiz Enterprise.
Attempts to contact PlatinumBiz Enterprise were unsuccessful.
During the 90-minute interview, Madam Alice kept shaking her head, fretting over how much money and time she had invested in timeshares.
She now plans to contact Case and hire a lawyer to help her decide her next move.
She said: 'I should not have been so gullible.
'I feel very upset and angry with myself for having spent so much money.
She said that in 2002, she was not aware of any bad publicity involving timeshares.
'I have told my children, 'if you want to go on a holiday, just go to a travel agent, do a one-time booking, have your fun, come back, and that's it'.'
This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 24, 2008.
By Andre Yeo
COMPLAINTS against timeshare companies and hardsell tactics have been loud and frequent.
Yet, the widespread publicity was not enough to warn off one woman who forked out almost $34,000 in not one, but three deals with timeshare companies over a six-year period.
Despite signing three contracts, she has yet to stay a single day in any of the timeshare properties.
The companies she had bought products from are no strangers to the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case). In all, dozens of complaints have been lodged against them.
Checks made by The New Paper revealed that some of the companies had the same people holding key appointments.
Helping her marriage
Madam Alice (not her real name), 39, a civil servant, said she thought timeshare holidays could help mend her marriage, which was on the rocks in 2002.
She was sold by the idea of being given priority to book holiday resorts for her family so her children could have fun and she and her then-husband could sort out their marriage woes.
So, in 2002, she signed up with Emperor Resorts International and invested $16,000 in a timeshare contract.
She paid $8,000 upfront, using her credit card. She is paying the remaining $8,000 in monthly instalments of around $250 in cash.
She said Emperor had resorts and apartments in Australia and she thought she would be able to book them for family getaways.
But she was unable to use their facilities.
'I did not use their facilities because every time I called,' she said, 'they would say I had to call three months in advance, or that they were fully booked.'
Another timeshare company, Crown Holiday Exchange, then called her to offer what seemed like a better deal - with a cash rebate and a lower maintenance fee.
She signed up with them in 2005 because they promised an annual cash rebate of $400.
The membership price was $23,000 but they deducted Emperor's $16,000 membership price in a trade-in contract, so she had to pay Crown the $7,000 difference.
Again she paid half using her credit card and the other half in monthly instalments of $250 for 14 months, which was indicated in the contract she showed us.
And again she did not get to use any of their facilities - for the same reasons - they were fully booked, it was the peak season, or she had to call them three months in advance.
A database check with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) found that Emperor and Crown were 'live' companies. Emperor is at Burlington Square, Bencoolen Street and Crown at Tong Building in Orchard Road.
When The New Paper called them and identified ourselves, a receptionist answered the phone saying: 'Crown Emperor' and said we should call back later.
When we asked to speak to someone and whether Crown Exchange and Emperor were the same company, he replied that they were busy and again asked us to call later.
He then hung up the phone.
When The New Paper visited the office later that day, he said the customer service officer was not in and asked us to return later.
They did not return calls to comment on this story.
Crown shared the same unit number on the 18th storey of Tong Building with another timeshare company, Discovery VIII, which also had the same listed address on Acra.
Interestingly, the Acra search revealed that both Crown and Discovery VIII have the same director, Mr Jerry Tan Kim Huat.
The search also revealed that another key Discovery VIII shareholder, Liew Heap Hwa, was also the director of Emperor Resorts International.
When we called Discovery VIII on Wednesday, a receptionist said no one was available to talk to us. They did not respond to repeated calls for comments on this story.
Liquidation plan
Madam Alice said she left her timeshare contracts alone for the next three years, until a company called Axial Management called her in January offering a liquidation plan to change her timeshare assets with Crown to cash.
She said: 'That's what the sales manager told me.'
She agreed to sign up with them in January.
As she explained to The New Paper why she agreed to pay Axial $10,800 for this plan, she buried her head in her hands and shook her head.
She said: 'They said I could get $39,160 in cash after three years, in 2011.'
Her latest contract brought her total investments in timeshares to almost $34,000.
In September, Axial sent her a letter informing her they had relocated. But they did not say where. Their previous address was listed as Upper Cross Street.
Then, in October, she said another timeshare company, PlatinumBiz Financial Solution, called her to say they wanted to meet with her as Axial had closed.
But by this time, she had had enough.
Then we discovered through an Acra search that Axial was now named PlatinumBiz Enterprise.
Attempts to contact PlatinumBiz Enterprise were unsuccessful.
During the 90-minute interview, Madam Alice kept shaking her head, fretting over how much money and time she had invested in timeshares.
She now plans to contact Case and hire a lawyer to help her decide her next move.
She said: 'I should not have been so gullible.
'I feel very upset and angry with myself for having spent so much money.
She said that in 2002, she was not aware of any bad publicity involving timeshares.
'I have told my children, 'if you want to go on a holiday, just go to a travel agent, do a one-time booking, have your fun, come back, and that's it'.'
This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 24, 2008.
