Do you have a Wrapit wedding list? Ways to minimise your loss. (Merged Thread)

skintchick

I am doing some BBC interviews on monday for radio.

Our insurance was tier 1 with M&S and they said we are covered up to £2,500 if they go into liquidation.

If not, guests will need to claim from their cc companies.

What a nightmare.

skintchick

Email from Pepita just arrived:

You have probably heard or read recently that Wrapit is in financial difficulty. I'm sorry to tell you that this is correct. However, we are not in Administration, as has been claimed.

As you have a list open with us I am sure that this news will cause you grave concern and you will want to know that you will receive your gifts as we promised and, at the very least, that the money that your friends and relatives have so kindly given us on your behalf will not be lost. We owe you an explanation, so here it is ...

After six years of successful trading and rapid growth we ran into a problem in May when our bankers, HSBC, announced without warning that they were concerned about the potential chargeback risk if Wrapit was unable to fulfil its obligations to guests to deliver the gifts purchased. Their solution was to sequester all our credit and Visa debit card revenue into a separate account to provide them with added security. This meant that we were unable to pay suppliers and sometimes resulted in late delivery of gifts.

The solution was to raise some additional cash to satisfy the bank and put the company back on an even keel. We were due to complete on this funding next week. However, the deal fell through on Wednesday evening. Since then we have been working with our advisers, KPMG, so to secure a financial package, fast. They believe that this should be possible within about a week.

So, the chances are that your list will be fulfilled in the normal way, if, perhaps, a bit late. However, nothing is certain and we must address the situation if Wrapit does end up in more serious trouble. In this case, you need to know that most of your guests will be able to get their money back through their credit/debit card provider. They simply need to let them know that the gift they bought was not delivered in the specified time frame and they will get a refund without question. This applies to all credit cards, Amex cards and Visa debit cards. Together, these make up more than 80% of gift purchases.

I can't tell you how sorry I am that you have become embroiled in this difficult situation at a time which should be a very happy one for you. We are doing all we can to ensure that it will all turn out alright in the end and we will keep you posted with progress via regular updates on the website.

We must also urge everyone to stay calm. We are being inundated by incoming calls and emails, which are overloading our systems. A rush on Wrapit at the moment isn't going to help anyone right now. In fact, it may well be counter productive to the efforts being made by our advisors to secure everyone's future.

Please understand that we cannot respond to your emails individually at the moment. If you have to contact us please email [EMAIL="weddinglistenquiries@wrapit.co.uk"]weddinglistenquiries@wrapit.co.uk[/EMAIL]. However, I promise to keep you posted so that any news you hear about Wrapit will be from us first.

We look forward to giving you better news next week and to getting back to normal soon.

Yours
Pepita Diamand

Horace

I found these comments on the bbc website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7525221.stm

As another poster has said there is plenty of chat about Wrapit going on on Facebook.

paddingtondoo

Strange coincidence KPMG are HSBC's auditors.............

john_holgate

Re. today's email from Pepita Diamond, I challenged her on the telephone at the end of May about the company's financial well-being and she stated categorically that nothing was amiss. She even got managing director Peter Gelardi to email me.

Does anyone else find the two emails difficult to reconcile, concerning events in May?

From: Peter Gelardi
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 2:57 PM
To:
Subject: Is Wrapit secure?







I have been asked to contact you to reassure you about our financial position. I assume that you are concerned because of something that you have heard or read.

We deal with about 4,000 wedding list a year and of those, the vast majority come away very happy. However we are not perfect and so we do occasionally make mistakes. Also we rely on our suppliers to get the gifts you order. If they fail, it becomes a failure on our part. So - can I assure you of 100% perfection? No. Wedding lists are a complicated process and occasionally we mess up - just like all our competitors do! Can I assure you that you have a 95% chance of having a great experience and recommending us to your friends - yes.

With regard to the financial security of your friends' gift purchases, it may help set your mind at rest to know that, as long as your guests have bought these using and Visa or MasterCard (which accounts for about 88% of purchases) they are guaranteed a full refund by their card issuer in the event that their purchase is not delivered. So what is at risk is inconvenience (and some embarrassment) rather than money, in most cases.

With regard to the more immediate question - the short answer is that Wrapit is not in financial difficulty. We encountered some turbulence a few months ago, which may be what prompted whatever you heard or read, but we are currently profitable and have strong cash flow. I believe that this rumour originated in a chatroom somewhere as a speculation. It is astonishing how rapidly these musings transform into facts!

Yours



Peter Gelardi

where_is_my_toaster

I am utterly bewildered how a company which collects cash from website users 3 to 6 months before buying the goods, has no stock, makes a 50% margin on goods bought can go into liquidation. Credit Crunch - unlikely they should be sitting on bundles of cash. Consumer slowdown - weddings are planned at least a year in advance. Would love to know the reason HSBC decided to "seize" GBP1m of their assets.

HMiller

I'm wondering if any of the grooms duped by wrapit are lawyers? Or if Martin himself can help? Please share all your wonderful legal insight and advice!!

Im particularly interested to know... if Peter denied financial difficulties in May 08 but Pepita confirms financial difficulties in May 08 have they broken the law? Well done everyone for keeping copies of all correspondence!

Im quite keen to know if there is any possible scope for going through the legal system before wrapit go into administration and there's no money for refunds or compensation.

john_holgate

HMiller wrote: »

I'm wondering if any of the grooms duped by wrapit are lawyers? Or if Martin himself can help? Please share all your wonderful legal insight and advice!!

Im particularly interested to know... if Peter denied financial difficulties in May 08 but Pepita confirms financial difficulties in May 08 have they broken the law? Well done everyone for keeping copies of all correspondence!

Im quite keen to know if there is any possible scope for going through the legal system before wrapit go into administration and there's no money for refunds or compensation.

I'm not a lawyer, but I also am interested to know the extent to which Directors can be held personally liable where they have knowingly lied to and misled prospective customers about the company's financial status.

skintchick

I have been emailed by a guy who is a customer AND a lawyer and is going to run the legal fight for everyone - he is so far talking to 1200 people and rising! I have his email address if any other WrapIt customers on here want it - just PM me and I will give it to you.

I have asked him to tell me whether it is best to have your list closed or open (ours is open at the moment) and whether it would be better just to go through the cc firms to get money back that way.

I will let you know his reply.

I am doing two BBC interviews on Monday about this for local radio so if you are in Oxfordshire or Berkshire listen out!

mike72_2

My wife and I are based in Scotland and were married last year in July. We used Wrapit and were very impressed by them; however the current situation has us running around frantically trying to sort things out whilst trying to stay calm. We currently have a closed list (an attractive proposition when you have nowhere until now to put our gifts) and were about to place our order when we heard the news.

We do not know if:

1. We should process our order and then wait and see what happens? Does having a closed list/placed order make any difference?
2. Get in touch with all of our guests and ask them to contact their credit/debit card provider to see if they should/can claim the money back now.
3. Does it make a difference when you apply to the credit card/debit card company as to Wrapit still trading/in administration/being liquidated?

skintchick-could you please give me the e-mail address of this lawyer-seems like we all need their help!

good luck with the interviews