This seems a bit harsh! Perhaps just discarding the tile (or putting it back in the bag) and missing a turn is the best solution.
That could be misused. If I get a tile where the only place to put it will benefit the other player(s), I could just time out and not place the tile.
The idea of repeating the timer, with one point lost each time the timer resets, has potential. Two suggestions:
1> what happens if the player just sits and sits and the timer reaches zero?
2> Each iteration is reduced by a given amount. Say, 20 second timer, 5 second decrement - that gives 20 seconds, 15 seconds, 10 seconds 5 seconds, boom! Both values would be configurable.