With the holidays coming up many will travel to the mainland to spend time with family and friends.
The Hawaii Better Business Bureau has these tips for those buying travel time share clubs.
Travel time share clubs offer consumers special resort packages to stay in various locations throughout the year.
Consumers are usually lured to the clubs by attending a seminar.
"So they promise that they’re going to receive the best deals in town there’s no one that can beat their prices when in reality they’re pretty much the same as almost going to like those do it yourself websites," says Timothy Caminos of the Hawaii Better Business Bureau.
In the last year alone, the Hawaii Better Business bureau has received more than 13,000 complaints about time share clubs.
"A lot of times the consumers are just very disappointed that the deals that they’re promised are really nothing more than they could get on Expedia or Travelocity," Caminos says.
Consumers complain they’re not given enough time to cancel if they don’t like the package they bought.
"A lot of times is what they do is they tell a consumer this costs $4,000 because you’re going to save so much money and they say you’re going to receive your password in seven days but they only give the consumer three days to cancel," Caminos says.
The Hawaii BBB says consumers have reported losing between $2,000 and $4,000.
"There have been instances where the companies that do this have allowed consumers to return the product but usually because a consumer signs a contract the consumers out," Caminos says.
Caminos suggests consumers should research the time share club on-line before buying it.
"If you can’t get a guarantee of the types of deals that you would get a contract in a written contract that you agree to than it’s probably something that you want to stay away from," he says. "If you can’t see your product before the cancellation period than that’s something of a red flag."
If you have a consumer concern, call Action line at 591-0222 Monday through Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
