News | Sunday, 09 August 2009

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MTA to take legal action against timeshare firm

Matthew Vella
Th e Malta Tourism Authority will be taking legal action against a timeshare company that allegedly breached the terms of its conditions of sale to a British couple.
The MTA informed Gordon Lamont, of Dingwall, that it would be convening him as a witness in the legal action it initiated against Access2Leisure.
Lamont had purchased a three-year contract with the holiday club in 2007, which he later upgraded to a long-term contract after being impressed with the service on his return to Malta in 2008.
But on his second holiday in October 2008, Lamont said he was given a sub-standard room in a Sliema hotel, and despite his complaints, was not given alternative accommodation. Instead he was offered accommodation inside the holiday club’s showroom, on condition that he vacated the room from 10am right up to 4pm every day.
In the meantime, Lamont accepted to book his next holiday for 2009 at a St Julian’s hotel, where he was asked to pay a further €5,000 for a ‘premier membership’.
“I decided at this point that all was not what it was supposed to be with this club, and told them that I would talk to my wife about our holiday next year and left the offices,” Lamont said.
“When we got back to the UK the next day I cancelled my cheque to Access2Leisure,” he added.
After several complaints to the MTA and the Consumer Division, Lamont was informed that Access2Leisure had allegedly committed an offence while processing his contract, by taking a deposit on the first day when no payment should have been made before a 10-day ‘cooling off’ period.
“We are very disappointed with Access2Leisure. We would have been happy to go back to Malta every year if only they gave us what they promised.
“They lied to us to get us to join their club, treated us like idiots when they changed the membership to include the premier membership and deny us access to resorts that were on our portfolio,” Lamont said.

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