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Bid to land honour for timeshare claims boss beggars belief, says TONY HETHERINGTON By Tony Hetherington, Financial Mail on Sunday Updated: 17:01 EDT, 7 September 2024 e-mail View comments Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. Journalists receive press releases every day, but it is not often that one takes the breath away.
Days ago, though, one landed on my desk, headlined ‘Honours List recognition demands for Henley consumer hero’. It told of Andrew Cooper, boss of European Consumer Claims (ECC), based in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and his fight to gain justice for victims of timeshare rip-offs. Andrew Cooper, boss of European Consumer Claims Calling Cooper ‘revered’ and an ‘altruistic British hero’, the release told how ‘34 years ago, Andrew Cooper worked briefly in the timeshare business itself.
He was a salesman for a UK firm in Tenerife during a long-forgotten era when the product worked and had a stellar reputation.’ RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next TONY HETHERINGTON: Debt collectors Lowell back to haunt..
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. Share this article Share HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP How to choose the best (and cheapest) stocks and shares Isa Later, timeshare owners found themselves trapped, unable to resell and facing rising annual fees. In 2016 Cooper set up ECC which, despite its official-sounding title, is a private company which earns its profits by launching legal claims against timeshare firms.
Now ECC compares its boss to Sir Alan Bates, knighted after fighting for years to get justice for wrongly convicted sub-postmasters. It claims: ‘Industry experts and ECC’s clients alike are uniting behind a growing groundswell of demands for Andrew Cooper’s dedication and selflessness to be recognised in the New Year Honours List.’ Read More TONY HETHERINGTON: Debt collectors Lowell back to haunt reader after four years ECC spokesman Mark Jobling explained: ‘If Andrew Cooper hasn’t earned a gong, there is no justice in the world.
’ And the press release adds that he deserves a knighthood, or an MBE ‘at the bare minimum’. Such awards are awarded by the King. Those put forward are first checked by the Honours Committee, an offshoot of the Cabinet Office that includes reputable experts from outside government circles.
So, if Cooper’s campaign reaches the committee, they will need to know about what he did between 1990, when a 21-year-old salesman in Tenerife, and 2016, when he set up in Henley. And this is where I explain why my breath was taken away. For Cooper himself crops up more than once in my own files on dodgy timeshare dealers.
Some 25 years ago Cooper was marketing director at Club Class, which attracted huge numbers of complaints. He went on to be a director of Club Class Concierge and Bridge View Consultants, both part of the group of companies headed by known timeshare shark Peter Utal. They offered victims the chance to get rid of their unwanted timeshare and its big annual bills, but first they had to pay thousands of pounds to join Club Class’s holiday scheme.
I reported that timeshare owners who accepted Cooper’s invitations to meetings had been told they were supporting a victims’ group called International Timeshare Refund Action (ITRA). But instead, they faced a hard sell, scaring them into paying £7,000 or more for Club Class membership. And they still found themselves on the hook for the original timeshare fees they wanted to escape.
In 2012, the Advertising Standards Authority banned an ITRA television commercial for failing to reveal that its meetings were a sales pitch for Club Class. Later that year the then Business Secretary Vince Cable won a High Court action to forcibly close down seven companies which made up the Club Class group, including those run by Andrew Cooper. The court action came after lengthy enquiries by the Insolvency Service, whose investigator David Hill said: ‘These companies were set up with the aim of duping consumers.
’ They were a scam, he added, saying that ‘there was nothing investors could gain from paying these companies’. Liquidators Grant Thornton took control of all seven companies. It took until 2020 to unscramble their finances, with the liquidators confirming allegations of misleading selling and high-pressure sales tactics.
There was no money to meet any claims against the Club Class group, and all the companies were dissolved. I invited ECC to comment. Spokesman Mark Jobling claimed the entire press release had been written by someone he refused to name, and that it was published ‘erroneously’.
The release disappeared from the internet and was replaced by one which instead attacked the press for failing to give ECC enough favourable publicity. It said nothing about Cooper’s disreputable past. If Cooper’s current company genuinely helps timeshare victims, then I applaud it.
But giving the man a medal for switching sides would be like rewarding a burglar who retires from breaking into houses and sells burglar alarms instead. Tui's problem with the truth H.T.
writes: Tui are liars. My wife and I, with many others, were caught in a horrendous storm on the Greek island of Skiathos while on a Tui package holiday. For 48 hours, our hotel had no electricity, running water or sanitation.
No Tui rep made contact to see how we were. Tui has offered a voucher for money off a future holiday, as compensation for their lack of concern. But we have no intention of using Tui again, so we asked for this in cash.
They replied that everyone was offered vouchers, with no cash alternative. This is untrue as we know others who were with us received cash. Tony Hetherington replies: Recently, I reported how a couple booked a Tui cruise but ran into trouble with their US visa.
They called Tui and were relieved to be told they could change holidays, free of further charges. However, this turned out to be a lie, followed by more lies which Tui dismissed as a ‘customer services error’. The couple lost thousands of pounds.
Tui offered £400 as an apology. Now you are facing the same sort of disinformation from Tui. I put all this to the company, but Tui refused to comment.
Instead, it contacted you directly and paid you and your wife £200 cash. If it had done this before you would never have contacted me and I would not be writing about Tui again. There is a lesson there, if Tui cares to learn it.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected].
uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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