Johannesburg - The National Consumer Commission says the selling of points as timeshare is a “scam” and wants certain of the practices of Flexi Holiday Club, the Club Leisure Group and other companies and clubs in its fold declared “unconscionable conduct” in terms of the Consumer Protection Act.
Late last week, the commission served papers on Flexi Holiday Club and 26 other respondents, including Pinetown businessmen Anthony Ridl and Stuart Lamont, who are directors of Club Leisure Group and several other companies that are respondents in the case.
The commission has applied to the National Consumer Tribunal to hand down various orders against the respondents for prohibited conduct.
The clubs in Club Leisure Group have more than 200 000 members, 77 000 of which are members of Flexi Holiday Club.
In a damning 258-page affidavit by one of it’s senior investigators, the commission says the respondents have managed to “swindle money out of unsuspecting, gullible, vulnerable, uneducated, young, elderly and unsophisticated consumers”.
The respondents have yet to respond.
The commission contends that consumers have been misled into believing that points are timeshare, and instead of taking ownership of timeshare they are issued with “certificates of purchase” which the commission describes as a “worthless piece of paper”.
Consumers who buy points must belong to a club, but the commisssion contends the club is a sham and exists purely to justify the collection of membership fees.
The commission’s papers state that, “the consumer is the actual funder of the Club Leisure Group, and not in any way a beneficiary either as the so-called ‘club member’, ‘trust beneficiary’ or company shareholder.
“All the consumer has is a false belief that he/she owns ‘valuable points’.
“The entry point of the funds into the entire Club Leisure Group is the sale of ‘points’ to consumers. It is these ‘points’ that the applicant has been advised by the respondents that they are timeshare, which the applicant has found is deceitful nonsense”.
Independent Media