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NO sooner had we waved goodbye to those pushy timeshare salesmen than a new menace surfaced for travellers: holiday club sharks.
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Instead, customers are promised access to discounted holiday deals in return for a membership fee, typically £2,000 to £5,000.
Holiday clubs evade several laws aimed at protecting timeshare buyers. The most important is the compulsory cooling-off period when buyers can change their minds after signing up.
Not all holiday clubs are rotten, but many are, according to the Timeshare Consumers' Association. And they are difficult to track down.
A web of marketing agencies in Britain and abroad conceals companies' identities and allows them to re-emerge again and again, despite the efforts of the authorities to shut them down.
Others simply go out of business, leaving hundreds of disappointed and angry customers in their wake.
In summer 2000, Karen Grogan, 45, of Washington, Tyne & Wear, received a mailshot offering a free holiday and cruise if she attended a presentation and signed up to a fabulous-sounding scheme from Online Vacations.
Online boss William Millar was persuasive. He explained how for £3,500 Karen would get a Pin number giving access to a website where she could choose from a range of cheap holiday breaks in five-star accommodation.
Karen, a mother of two, says: 'I thought long and hard.' A week later she signed, encouraged by the fact that her sister and other friends had joined. The problems began right away. The free holiday did not materialise. Karen was eventually told that unless she was prepared to go anywhere, at any time, and at practically no notice, she would not get it.
Nor was it possible for Karen to book other breaks through the website because availability was limited. 'And it was expensive,' she says. 'There was no sign of a discount.' Online got its first burst of damaging publicity last month when Labour MP Kevan Jones stood up in the Commons and highlighted cases of other out-of-pocket customers in his North Durham constituency. By then, Durham Trading Standards office had received dozens of complaints.
Senior standards officer Sue Constable says she has a list of 100 unhappy Online customers. Most of them claim they were victims of the hard sell.
'Four out of five tried to change their minds next day and were forcefully told they couldn't,' she says.
Millar declared himself bankrupt in April and has moved to Scotland, where he sells holiday club membership through a new firm, Dream Vacations, in Aberdeen. Trading standards officers are due to visit the firm, by invitation.
We tried to contact Millar to ask him what had happened to Online customers' subscriptions, but he declined to reply. Online's first meeting of creditors took place in Glasgow last Wednesday. It is unlikely that Karen and other victims will get their money back.
The Department of Trade and Industry is trying to stamp out holiday club scams. Last summer, warning leaflets were distributed as part of a campaign organised by consumer minister Melanie Johnson. This year, UK police are taking tougher action, liaising with their Spanish counterparts.
A week ago, the DTI asked the High Court to close down holiday club firm VIP Connections of Shrewsbury. And next month, the Derby Holiday Club Action Group, - it has 67 couples who paid a total of £250,000 to join notorious holiday club operator Diamond - will be one year old.
Diamond UK was forced into liquidation in February. So far, 27 members have had refunds - not from Diamond but from their credit card companies.
Don't become one of the victims
Steer clear of holiday club sharks by avoiding:
• Any deal where you don't get the chance to change your mind.
• All holiday club salesmen outside the UK.
• Salesmen who boast that they have nothing to do with timeshare, as if this were a good thing. In fact, what they sell is far riskier.
• Free holiday offers.
• Cashback schemes with implausible promises that your capital will be returned.
• Salesmen who don't accept credit cards. This could mean they fear pursuit by card companies.
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