Background "Timeshare resorts in Spain have been ignoring regulations enacted from 1999 onwards to protect consumers from unfair high pressure sales tactics," says Jack Dawson, an industry expert with European Consumer Claims (ECC). "Timeshare companies rely on an 'emotional sale' to entice people to sign up on the day and most companies, believing that business would be impossible under the new rules, chose to ignore them and carry on as before. "People who bought timeshare memberships from those resorts who ignored the rules are entitled to compensation." Claims firms "In Spain bureaucracy is rarely straightforward," explains ECC's Dawson. "Most timeshare owners from outside the country with a less than perfect understanding of Spanish law and language don't have the time or energy to devote to pursuing a claim. This has led to the rise of the timeshare claims industry. Firms offering to help claim compensation for victims have sprung up in their hundreds, maybe thousands. Timeshare owners can sometimes feel bombarded with all the offers of 'help.'"