A pair of timeshare businessmen have been warned they face jail after they cooked up a new scam to fleece the victims of their own mis-selling.
Michael Girvin and Niel Mendoza pretended to be offering a compensation package to disgruntled timeshare owners but were actually trying to lure them into a fresh fiddle.
Owners went to meetings in Exeter in which they thought they were joining a class action but were instead offered over-priced deals to get out of their contracts.
They were subjected to a hard sell based on scare tactics in which the two men and their staff produced figures predicting ruinous costs for maintenance charges which would be a millstone around their family's necks even after their deaths.
The deals were run through the firm called Devon Based Associates, of which Mendoza was head and Girvin worked for him.
This was a reversal of the structure of the last company they worked for in Exeter where Girvin was a director and was prosecuted for breaking consumer protection laws.
Mendoza acted as sales manager at St Francis Marketing and was not prosecuted when it failed.
Both men created the new company, based at Marsh Barton, and they told the jury they were offering an honest service helping owners who wanted to relinquish timeshare agreements to do so.
The jury at Exeter Crown Court convicted them both of three offences contrary to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading regulations.
They had already been cleared of the more serious offence of fraudulent trading on the direction of the judge after legal submissions.
Girvin, aged 53, of Salterton Road, Exmouth, and Mendoza, aged 59, of Cordery Road, Exeter, will be sentenced in the New Year.
Judge Phillip Wassall warned them he is considering a jail sentence. He said: "I have listened very, very carefully to this case and consider it crosses the custody threshold for both defendants, although I will be greatly assisted by a pre sentence report."
During a two week trial the jury heard from 11 customers who had gone to meetings in the belief they were being enrolled for a class action against the timeshare industry.
Some went on to hand over almost £8,000 after being told they could also pay to get out of their timeshare obligations.
One shocked customer arrived at his meeting in Exeter only to be confronted by Mr Mendoza, who had run the presentation where he was mis-sold the original deal.
In some cases the true cost of extricating customers was around ten times less than the fees they charged.
Mendoza and Girvin told the jury the customers of Devon Based Associates knew from the outset it was a relinquishment company and there had been no deception involved in getting them to meetings.
They said they had offered the service the customer wanted at a price they agreed to and their charges were high because of their overheads.
Defence barrister Mr Nicolas Gerasimidis compared their prising to that of wine in restaurants, where customers know they can buy the same thing in Asda for £5 but are happy to pay £20.
The pair will be sentenced next year.
