European Consumer Claims and Timeshare Advice Centre: the story so far, £26m in awards since 2016

As we head into 2024, we’ve decided to set aside our usual year-by-year business review at European Consumer Claims (ECC) and the Timeshare Advice Centre (TAC).

Instead, we’re going back to the start…

…to look at the full eight-year story so far.

Timeshare compensation becomes a reality

Before 2016, timeshare claims attracted everyone from the genuinely ambitious to the outright fraudulent. There was no proven route to a successful compensation-claim, and many owners were sold services built more on hope than on outcomes.

That changed in January 2016, when Tove Grimsbo, a Norwegian consumer, won €40,000 in compensation from Canary Islands timeshare giant Anfi Del Mar.

For the first time, a major timeshare operator—backed by extensive legal resources and deep pockets—had been beaten. The delaying tactics, legal manoeuvres and appeals were overcome. The courts delivered a final ruling, and timeshare companies were shown to be liable.

Timeshare compensation was no longer a theoretical point of law.

The floodgates were open.

European Consumer Claims: the early years

With that precedent in place, the ethical path was clear for European Consumer Claims (ECC) to incorporate—which it did five months later, in June 2016.

ECC launched an office on the Costa del Sol with 50 highly trained staff to support claims against non-compliant timeshare companies, as well as relinquishments where no viable claim existed.

The first 12 months focused on onboarding new clients and preparing cases for our legal partners (M1) to take to court. Almost exactly a year later came the first win: an £11,000 victory against Club La Costa" href="https://ecc-eu.com/tag/club-la-costa/">Club La Costa.

By 2018, ECC had secured 50 more wins, totalling £1.2 million. From there, the figures moved in one direction: up.

With year-on-year growth consistently ranging from 30% to 110% over the seven years that followed, ECC expanded to larger premises in Spain, a US office in Broadway, New York, and an upmarket head office in Henley-on-Thames.

ECC today

Today, nearly 180 highly experienced ECC staff deal with timeshare issues in countries all over the world. The current success rate in timeshare-related court cases stands at 98.6%.

ECC’s services are marketed through associated brands including Timeshare Advice Centre and MyTimeshareClaim UK.

In the United States, we have also seen the formation of American Consumer Claims (ACC), marketed via corresponding US brands: Timeshare Advice Center US and MyTimeshareClaim US.

Online reviews for ECC on independent platforms such as TrustPilot and Google are consistently outstanding. The company’s work is covered favourably by internationally respected media. Clients also leave glowing, independently audited video testimonials, which are published on our website.

Our corporate video, released a year ago, has already attracted well over 11,000 views. Our radio campaigns in 2023 alone reached an estimated 48 million people.

To date, ECC has won nearly £26 million in compensation awards for over 1,370 clients. A further 2,800+ clients have been released from unwanted timeshare contracts.

ECC currently manages a claims portfolio of well over £100 million.

ECC tomorrow

So far, ECC has secured compensation awards or relinquished memberships for several thousand grateful (now ex) timeshare owners. Even so, this track record is only a fraction of the work still ahead.

“There are around 20 million timeshare users worldwide and, according to a detailed academic study undertaken by the University of Central Florida, a staggering 85% of those people are unhappy with their ownership,” explains Andrew Cooper, CEO of ECC. “That extrapolates to around 17 million owners who would rather be free of their memberships, some of whom may even qualify for a financial claim against their resort for mis-selling.”

“By any standard, ECC’s rise to prominence in this field has been meteoric. But despite our success to date, millions of people are still struggling with a mis-sold timeshare.”

“The tens of millions of pounds in compensation awards we have achieved for our clients so far are, relatively speaking, just pebbles on a beach.

“A vast ocean lies unexplored before us.”

Need help?

If you have a timeshare you’re no longer happy owning, get in touch with our team to talk through your options. In many cases, we can help you exit an unwanted contract. And in some situations, you may also be entitled to financial compensation.