In the past two days, the Consumer Council has received a total of 87 complaints and 380 enquiries from consumers who have signed on time-share schemes.
They are seeking the assistance and advice of the Council in view of the ruling of the Small Claims Tribunal on a time-share case on Tuesday. The adjudicator of the tribunal has ruled in favour of the plaintiffs in the case and ordered refund from the company.
The Council is calling for a meeting with the companies concerned in a bid to resolve new and pending consumer complaints. So far, two companies have responded.
Significantly, the Council will seek to improve the sales tactics of time-share companies, including the provision of a cooling-off period to allow consumers the right to terminate a time-share contract.
Last year, the Consumer Council has received a total of 171 complaints related to time-share schemes. In the first 4 months of this year, there were 65 complaints involving mainly 6 time-share companies.
Upon the mediation of the Council, some complaints have been successfully resolved through termination of the contracts and/or refund. Some were referred to the police for investigation.
Where there was sufficient ground and the companies refused to resolve the complaints, the complainants were advised to pursue their cases through the Small Claims Tribunal.
Under the present legal system, the Consumer Legal Action Fund (CLAF) cannot represent consumers in initiating litigation on their behalf.
Legal representation is also not permitted in tribunal cases - so the question of direct financial assistance by CLAF does not arise. Nonetheless, the Council has tendered advice to complainants to enable them to pursue their cases in the Small Claims Tribunal when necessary, and provided information relevant to the case to the tribunal adjudicator.
There is no legal provision for class action in Hong Kong. The usual approach in resolving a large number of similar cases is to try a test case. A successful test case will serve as a precedent for other similar cases.
As far as the time-share complaints are concerned, the nature of the cases varied from one to another and the circumstances leading to the unconscionability of the sales practices are therefore not necessarily the same. Representative proceedings will present practical difficulties and may not be as efficient as pursuing separately on a case by case basis.
Over the past years, the Council has drawn the attention of consumers to the sales tactics of time-share operators. It has publicised through its monthly magazine CHOICE, and the media, a list of points to note before committing to such schemes. A brochure on the same topic is also available for free distribution at all its advice centres.
The Consumer Council has submitted a report to the Government last year for regulatory changes to curb trade malpractices in consumer transactions.