Many Gulf expatriates have been involved in timesharing. Although the majority appear satisfied with their two-week holiday in exotic locations such as Victoria Falls, Aspen, Douglas or Perisher Blue, there are some hard luck stories which have cost victims thousands of dirhams.

The idea behind the scheme is for Joe Public to buy up the rights for a specific time period for a designated property. For example, the payment of say Dh100,000 allows the purchaser to the right to stay for the same two weeks every year for the next 25 years.

Then, there are agencies that will allow time sharers to swap property between themselves so that it can be possible to stay in different locations. One of the major problems is that some apparent timesharing schemes are not linked with a specific property. Often holiday clubs, sold as time sharing schemes, fall outside time share law and people will often find out that they have no cancellation rights, always too late to avoid losing money.

Apart from the continued harassment from financial services and hotels, the third worst culprit is the person selling timeshare schemes. Often enticed by strong sales techniques and the lure of a free trip, consumers are steamrollered into attending seminars.

Apart from taking a lawyer to the meeting, the simple advice would be not to attend any such presentation unless you are really interested in what is being offered. If the decision has been made to attend, ensure that the chequebook, credit card and any cash are left at home. These sales persons are usually a cut above the ones working in the local shopping malls and are able to sell sand to the bedouin or ice to an eskimo.

If still not warned off and still insist on continuing, ensure that you, and the salesman, know exactly what is being offered, what extras are involved and that all verbal arrangements are confirmed in writing.

Even then never rush into anything and go through any document with a fine toothcomb prior to signing. Confirm with the timeshare company that there is a cooling off period during which at any time minds can be changed and contracts cancelled. Never assume the logical in this case - the right to cancel.

Verify your legal rights preferably with somebody who knows what they are doing. It always pays to spend Dh100 now to save Dh1,000 later. It is suggested that the best advice would be from a reputable lawyer with prior experience in such matters.

Always check that there is access to your timeshare property or holiday club at the time contracted. Often holidays can only be taken at inconvenient times, the so-called cheap flights never materialise and those hidden charges continue to surface at the most unexpected times.

Another common problem rears its ugly head when it is time to sell your timeshare. Beware the old scam of being persuaded to purchase a second timeshare, financing it partly from the sale of the first one. One does not have to be a Rhodes scholar to see what could happen next - a contract to buy the second property is followed by trouble selling the first timeshare.

Of all investment opportunities offered to Gulf expatriates, this particular one will cause more problems than all the others. Remember there is no such thing as a free shwama and the selling techniques used by some of the operators would make even the guys in the souk blush. So much so, good timeshare investors may have to learn to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Tim Howe is managing director of Al Ghaith and Co, public accountants, and a financial writer.