European Consumer Claims and M1 Legal win €16,076 Club La Costa timeshare claim in Spain

European Consumer Claims (ECC) worked alongside M1 Legal to secure a successful result for this client in their Club La Costa matter. Mr and Mrs Bradshaw approached ECC for help in August 2016 after ongoing issues with the resort group left them feeling they had reached the end of the road. From that point, ECC began legal work on the Bradshaws’ behalf against Club La Costa Paradise Trading SL. “We followed the process with ECC and it was all straightforward – they were very thorough in requesting all of the paperwork for our case,” said Mr Bradshaw.

The Bradshaws explained that in 2012 they were sold a fractional timeshare at Sierra Marina Resort, owned by Club La Costa World, for £8,000, having previously paid £19,000 to Club La Costa for other schemes. They also faced maintenance fees of around £5,000 a year. When they tried to book holidays, further difficulties arose. They were asked to pay an additional booking fee, despite the booking process being more of a hassle for them than for the resort. They also raised problems with when they could book, accommodation size and the resort location.

Even once a holiday had been arranged, the couple said a Club La Costa sales representative would visit soon after their arrival and 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 told ECC. “When we found out what they had told us was not true, we felt trapped, having discovered the fractional ownership was unsaleable as there was no resale market,” added Mrs Bradshaw.

In 2017, the matter was passed to M1 Legal, a team of international lawyers and legal representatives in Spain, who pursued the Bradshaws’ Club La Costa timeshare claim through the Spanish courts. They identified that the Club La Costa contract did not comply with Spanish law, as it did not specify an end date and it lacked the land registry information required by law.

In December 2019, shortly before the festive period, the Bradshaws received their payout. “We received €16,076 just in time for Christmas,” they said. “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.”

The couple also encouraged others in a similar position to take action. “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 said they were pleased to be taking a different kind 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 Bradshaws. We look forward to doing the same for many other clients in the future.”