Lapland New Forest Scam. How to get money back...

whitewing

Gomer,

How on earth did you find that bbc report? It wasn't on any of the searches I normally do? Yesterday's 'good news' was straight at the top of my search. I'm either losing my touch or maybe it's a cover up, lol...

Is it technically possible to stop these kind of reports coming up on google etc?

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ATTENTION PLEASE! Added mid-Jan 2009: Just as a reminder, the latest Lapland New Forest Refund Guide is here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=17633351#post17633351

GomerPyle

I'm trying very hard to be diplomatic whitewing, and it's not a trait that comes easily to me.

A voluntary liquidation suits Vic Mears and Streamline/RBS down to the ground, though I'm sure Vic would have expected to walk away with pockets stuffed full of notes.

This method allows the proprietor of a company going into voluntary liquidation (persuaded to strangle itself) and his bankers, to walk away from a disastrous mess of their making, damaged, but not punished.

This is why I keep shouting GET YOUR CHARGEBACKS IN NOW !!!!!!

If the battlefront has to be swapped to the issue of chargebacks, then I'll glady support taking any card companies to the FOS on behalf of any readers - and believe me I left them and another bank severely chastened the last time I did that - and I'll copy everything to the financial papers to make sure everyone knows what's going on.

I'd gladly support and assist 5,000 claims to the FOS. I love a challenge, and as ex-bank, recently retired, with a savage line of argument I won't get brushed aside easily. There's nothing to lose, as it costs nothing but it will cost the card provider, and the principle is established that they must allow the chargeback to go through.

If RBS/Streamline refuse them - then I can get straight to the heart of the matter.

Some customers may not want to make the effort, but I'm a turbo-charged Victor Meldrew who knows how banks work. The offer's there.

whitewing

I didn't quite hear you Gomer...was that...

Get your chargeback claims in immediately.....?

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ATTENTION PLEASE! Added mid-Jan 2009: Just as a reminder, the latest Lapland New Forest Refund Guide is here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=17633351#post17633351

codger

:mad:

Dorset Trading Standards has now had a month within which to act. Not merely issue statements of intent.

The longer it fails to act, the narrower the window of opportunity open to customers swindled by Lapland New Forest Ltd.

Dorset Trading Standards will be as aware as anyone else that case after case is occurring of ticket purchasers being obstructed in pursuit of their refunds by credit and debit card companies seeking "proof" that refund requests have a credible basis.

So Dorset Trading Standards knows full well that no more credible a basis is ever going to be found than the announcement of an actual -- not intended, or possible, or maybe-perhaps-we'll-see -- prosecution of all those behind the Lapland New Forest scam.

To Dorset Trading Standards then -- which I've actually defended before on this thread -- there can today be but one message:

THERE'S BEEN ENOUGH THINKING.

IT'S TIME TO ACT NOW.

Of course, during the past four weeks that Dorset Trading Standards has been thinking, Mr Mears has also been thinking, as a result of which he has very likely consulted (at Lapland new Forest Ltd's expense) a legal beagle and as a result of which is in touch with specialist accountancy firm Grant Thornton, one of the biggest of 'em all.

I've been worried for a while now that this would happen (see #1001) but have worried, also, about self-fulfilling prophecies.

But as Grant Thornton's involvement has now been revealed by the BBC, it's safe to say that the instant it does take over is the instant that the chances of every customer seeing his or her money returned are gone.

Lapland New Forest Ltd had only one source of income, and that income finished up in a frozen merchant account held by RBS Streamline.

RBS Streamline has no legal title to all those funds, only a claim to whatever it will say it is owed for establishing and operating the LNF account (regardless of the fact that it should never have done so in the first place.)

RBS Streamline will want its share of that income "pot".

Grant Thornton's fees would make your eyes water, so what it will take out of the "pot" will be anything but trivial.

HM Customs & Revenue, as I mentioned earlier, will also dip in for the VAT.

Lapland New Forest Ltd suppliers will dip in, too, as well as anyone else associated with the company who can come up with a feasible reason as to why they are entitled to count as a primary creditor.

(Which includes any legal beagle acting for Lapland New Forest Ltd: Mr Mears is hardly going to pay for advice, is he? So legal fees will have to be paid from somewhere else -- that's right: from Lapland New Forest's corporate purse.)

That's why, after all that, the families who got ripped off by the company which Dorset Trading Standards is STILL investigating, might just as well start believing in Father Christmas after all.

Because nobody else is going to bring 'em the money they're morally, legally and in every other way entitled to have returned.

Sadly, if such does turn out to be the case, then whether or not Dorset Trading Standards finally gets around to bringing some kind of indictment against Mr Mears and his associates will actually be of academic interest only.

What will instead most certainly be indicted -- and not for the first time -- is the shabby, Godawful state of consumer protection in this country, a place where in the scale of priorities invoked in the investigation and prosecution of corporate crime, the victim always comes last, never first.

ends rant :mad:

GomerPyle

Now I'm going to visit all the news websites that have been reporting this debacle/disaster/scam and advise customers to put in their chargebacks now if they haven't done so already.

If they need my help I'll gladly offer them my assistance.

If it takes 5,000 complaints to the FOS I'll get my printing press warmed up.

whitewing

So recently found, I haven't had a chance to read it myself yet:

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/news/press_releases/national/2008/LetterofLaplandclosure

I meant this one

http://www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=390730

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ATTENTION PLEASE! Added mid-Jan 2009: Just as a reminder, the latest Lapland New Forest Refund Guide is here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=17633351#post17633351

GomerPyle

What can I say codger ? - except that your rant is entirely appropriate and accurate.

The one thing I would say is that by getting your CHARGEBACK in now (or resubmitting one that was incorrectly refused), customers will be paid in full irrespective of whether the account of Lapland New Forest Ltd has the money or not, and Streamline/RBS cannot use that as an excuse or make up an excuse that does not tally with reality.

I believe that the period during which these claims can be made is quite lengthy but I'll double check that and I'll also come back with details of how much it will cost the financial institutions for each complaint. :cool:

whitewing

codger,

I have just been reading your post. Did you say Mr Mears has appointed Grant Thornton? Are they a local firm that he knows then? Why would they want to be paid out of the ticket sales from disappointed children? How does it all work?

______________________________________________________________

ATTENTION PLEASE! Added mid-Jan 2009: Just as a reminder, the latest Lapland New Forest Refund Guide is here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=17633351#post17633351

GomerPyle

I think what he means whitewing, is that the liquidators costs and fees will be taken out of any funds made available to the creditors/public, and of course the bank will have ensured that their fees and costs are a priority, though probably not ranking ahead of HM Revenue and Customs.

The only way customers are likely to see anything is if they make a CHARGEBACK as soon as possible.

I love the way it is mentions that Mr Victor Mears is putting his company into voluntary liquidation as if he were sipping tea and nibbling cucumber sandwiches at the time. I think it more likely that he used his favoured expletive "You scumbags" as he was made an offer he couldn't refuse.

This has been a debacle of such monumental proportions it would be a pleasure to slam dunk the lot of them into the nearest trash can.

A chargeback cannot fail - it was a one product company and it crashed in spectacular fashion when it tried to provide it - the one thing it hyped into absurdity.

This was a company with no track record, run by a proprietor with a track record that would make the Munsters nervous.

It was the ultimate unfunny joke.

EdnaCloud

Thanks Codger, Gomer, Whitewing et all for reinforcing what I suggested, perhaps not strongly enough, in post 1008.

rgds
Edna