CPC Orders Firm to Pay Aggrieved Customers N25m

• CPC Orders Firm to Pay Aggrieved Customers N25m

The Consumer Protection Council on Sunday said it had ordered VIP Express Tourism Limited to refund over N25m to 63 aggrieved subscribers to its holiday packages due to gross violation of their rights.

The council’s order, according to a statement by its Deputy Director, Press, Mr. Abiodun Obimuyiwa, was signed by its Director-General, Mrs. Dupe Atoki.

Obimuyiwa said the order was the outcome of its investigation into the operations of the company, following allegations of abuse of consumers’ rights levelled against it.

The CPC investigation, the statement added, was informed by the consumer complaints concerning the quality of services being provided by VIP Express Tourism Limited.

The CPC said that allegations that consumers of the company’s services had been pressurised, manipulated or deceived into contracts for the provision of vacation accommodation services also necessitated the order.

VIP Express Tourism is into hospitality business through which it enlists subscriptions from members of the public, with the promise of facilitating their holiday destination desires after the completion of agreed payments.

The statement read in part, “VIP Express Tourism Limited purchases timeshares on behalf of its members but once a member signs on to any of its packages, the contract cannot be rescinded, neither can the member get a refund of money paid because ab initio, members were made to waive their cancellation rights upon signing the contract.

“The company’s business practice, which is designed in such a manner that after a 90-minute presentation, prospective clients must immediately execute a 10-page contract and endorse 17 clauses containing a non-rescission clause and a non-refund clause, without the benefit of legal counsel, financial or other advice, and in circumstances that do not afford the client time to consider the offer, is unscrupulous, obnoxious and exploitative.”

The CPC said that the company’s operational method was predatory and that its business practice in which consumers were pressurised to sign off their legal rights to rescind or get a refund of money paid was unethical and exploitative.

The council contended that contrary to what was obtainable at VIP Express Tourism, international best practices allowed for cancellation of timeshare.

“The CPC, therefore, directed the company to, within 30 days of the receipt of the order, refund the total of N25,062,223 to the aggrieved consumers,” it added.

The council also ordered the company to, within the same 30 days, review its contract agreements by removing the clauses that waived the customers’ right to rescind the contract and get a refund.