Several holiday makers have had their holidays ruined after being scammed over timeshare rentals in Durban.

The so-called scam was unveiled after holiday makers arrived at popular resorts across Durban only to be told they had no booking. An investigation by timeshare property management company, First Group, then discovered one of its employees had been selling timeshare rentals to agents with payments going into her own personal bank account. Alleged fictitious proof of payments were then sent to managers at the resorts using the official letterhead from First Group, creating an impression of a booking done via the company which is contracted to the various timeshare resorts.

The employee in question, who's identity is known to IOL, has been formally dismissed "and is no longer an employee of First Group", First Group Director Donald Lamont told IOL.

"At her disciplinary hearing, she was charged with 1) Competing with the employer and/or conflict of interest and 2) Gross Misconduct related to Theft and/or Gross Dishonesty and was found guilty on both accounts.

"In lieu of us pursuing civil/criminal charges against her for the losses we suffered by allowing the guests to occupy the property despite us not having received full payment for the bookings, she agreed to sign an Acknowledgement of Debt to reimburse the company for those losses. Should she not honour this agreement, civil and criminal action will follow," Lamont said.

The agent, Faheema Varachia, has also laid criminal charges against the employee, claiming she had paid her in full after booking timeshares with her.

"I did it in good faith and didn't think twice when she gave me her personal bank account to pay into. Only when my guests showed up and the managers at the resorts said there was no booking and no payment did I realise what happened.

"I'm devastated but have been trying to refund my customers out of my own pocket in good faith to protect my reputation while we pursue a legal case against her. I have opened a criminal and fraud charge against her and am pursuing legal action to recover my money," Varachia told IOL.

Approached for a response, the employee at first denied the allegations, claiming no knowledge of the fraud charges against her.

"What fraud charges? All the timeshares I rented out belonged to me that's why payments went into my personal account. I did nothing wrong," she said.

Pressed on her dismissal from the company, she confirmed it was true and that she had acted in conflict of interest by not disclosing her timeshare sales to the company. Probed on whether she had refunded Varachia for the payments made after failing to honour the bookings, she promised she would revert with a response - but failed to do so.

As the battle heads to court, holidaymakers affected are seething over their ruined holidays.

"We planned this for months and were looking forward to our holiday in Durban. We paid the agent for the timeshare at a popular resort in Umhlanga in full for one week. It was not cheap. But when we arrived we were told by the resort we had no booking," a family who did not want to be named, told IOL.

Their story was echoed by several others. Some questioned why they had been refunded only their payments made for the timeshare - and not all the other costs incurred such as travel to Durban and the subsequent inconvenience at not being able to find accommodation during peak season.

IOL

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