Relatives will pay price for our timeshare conundrum

Relatives will pay price for our timeshare conundrum

We soon had doubts about the deal and told ILG we wanted to cancel but it said we had no cooling-off period. As a compromise it offered three-year membership for £1,620 on top of the deposit, including cashback, but it would not buy our timeshare. We are being pressured to make payment.

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You might wonder why we agreed to these arrangements but the service charge on two weeks' timeshare is £1,500 a year and keeps rising. This is in perpetuity so, unless we find a way to sell our timeshare, the cost will be passed on to relatives on our death. RM, Halifax

Timeshare owners are beginning to realise that, unless they sell, timeshare ownership forms part of their estate and the annual charges remain even after death. If selling timeshare was easy, you could do it yourself or at least an intermediary could sell it for you and take commission, rather than trying to corner you into a complicated financial arrangement that commits you to spending even more money. If you buy timeshare in the European Economic Area, you have a cooling-off period, but not when you get involved with holiday clubs or timeshare resale outfits, so you looked stuck. There was no point waiting for the cashback scheme to pay out because they are not structured to meet every claim in full.

Fortunately Tesco agreed to charge back the deposit to your credit card. ILG had 60 days in which to challenge this refund but it didn't, so your deposit is now safely refunded. ILG then contacted you, acknowledging the chargeback but warning you were still tied to its contract to pay the balance.

The company immediately capitulated and said it had no wish to pursue an unhappy client so, as an act of goodwill and without prejudice, it "could" return your documents and cancel the agreement. And indeed it has.

Email Margaret Dibben at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Margaret Dibben, Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. Letters are selected for publication and we cannot give personal replies. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice