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

shaun1013_2

floth wrote: »

Images and videos currently displayed on this website and our other advertising campaigns are for illustrative purposes only. We are certain the live show will far exceed these representations.

I recently attended "Santa's amazing snow-covered Lapland village, near Bournemouth", with my girlfriend having been assured my the lovely receptionist on the phone that this wasn't just an experience for children, although I expected the opposite. Never the less we went along on a drizzly sunday expecting to have a nice day, I ordered tickets online (a confusing process on this occasion) at the bargain price of £60 for the two of us, it was my treat because im nice like that ; )

What we encountered when we arrived was the most tacky, embarrasingly cheap array of circus equipment, hotdog vans etc accompanied by fluorescent hi-vis jacket wearing security staff freezing their collective nuts off. Despite this, I thought, no..give it a chance, were here now it might get better, besides weve come all the way from Weymouth and it looked really good on the website!

So on we optimistically plodded through the muddy, rubbish strewn track overhearing the damning comments of parents who had quite frankly been fleeced by someone who obviously has no problem ripping people off in this, the season of good will.

I would've been so dissapointed if i had taken children there, they could've had a better time in a pub playpark. We stayed for an hour and then got fed up and made our way out on the pottholed road almost wrecking my car. whoever put this together should be ashamed of themselves and my advice to anyone thinking of going is to save up an extra couple of hundred quid and go somewhere with real snow.

good luck :eek:

I absolutely agree .. The whole thing was rubbish and a get rich quick scheme . I sincerely hope that this shameless farce gets closed and those responsible are prevented from profiting . I took my girlfriend and her two little girls and it seems I simply paid £100 to park and then try and keep two very disappointed children happy. I had a bad feeling when I arrived at 13.10 hrs and people were streaming away already. The elves all looked as though they didnt want to be there probably because everyone was complaining at them and I very much doubt that they were likely to be the big winners from this scam. The whole thing is a bit of a deception and last time I looked that was a criminal offence !:mad:

Eatonwillie

My grandchildren (Ten of us in total) are due for a visit to this "Attraction", next weekend and are now very dubious about traveling two and a half hours to this abysmal con. My wife paid for this by cheque as it all looked a bit dubious in the original literature. Trying to book tickets was a nightmare and my wife was very concerned about giving them credit card details over the internet, so we decided to deliver the cheque to the address on the leaflet. It was at 11A Coombe Road, Brighton; only a half hour drive from where we live. (The full address is on the Echo news section on mumsnet?) We were greeted by a stunned looking young lady who seemed very uncomfortable with the fact that we had turned up at her home to pay for the tickets. She seemed bewildered that we had actually got their address and delivered the cheque by hand. We were concerned at her reaction, but relieved when our tickets arrived about ten days after.
My wife is convinced that she was the "Receptionist" she spoke to when booking the tickets. They were so well organized that they sent us another set of tickets in the post, which we returned to them.
I must say that to me it all looked very dodgy from the start, a fantastic looking venue, organized from a private house in Brighton, with a receptionist who would have preferred us not to have darkened her doorstep. She said that they weren't expecting house callers. We thought there would be many people visiting them to make payment. As we paid by cheque, it's very doubtful if my wife will ever see her money returned.
The big question is whether this "Attraction" is still in business, and should we decide to waste valuable money on fuel by visiting it, is it likely to have been shut down by Trading Standards when we get there.
Anyone fancy getting up a few busloads of disgruntled visitors to pop round to Coombe Road? :mad:

tinkerbelle

I also had problems paying on the website&it rejected my debit card even though i know i entered the right number, i then decided to wait &see what the reviews were, iam glad that i did.

I have noticed the tickets starting to pop up on ebay!

barrymung

Can I suggest that those affected also contact the likes of Sky News and BBC National news?

This is a big enough news story that it warrants national coverage and it can only help spur trading standards etc into action with the hope of getting people's money back?

nkendrick

Would the Distance Selling Regs apply to tickets ordered online as the 'service' has not yet been provided?

mels4307

i went on friday with my 3 children 13,7 & 5 they loved it. We arrived around 4ish when it was starting to get dark. the tunnel of lights as we went in looked great we have some good pictures. but then there was no rain, no queing, friendly elves on site but not in car park, toy wasn't bad, dogs werent chained up, couple of activity huts were kids decorated ginger bread and sent santa a letter. dont know what all the fuss is about, if got ticket would go my pictures not like what was on news think bad weather was big part in this mayhem. Had friends that still went today, they said all the rides were now included, apart from ice skating which was £5 for hour. when i went there was a alternative cheaper caterer. would go if have already paid and c 4 ur self

barrymung

Eatonwillie wrote: »

I must say that to me it all looked very dodgy from the start, a fantastic looking venue, organized from a private house in Brighton

I pointed this and other facts out towards the top of this thread before most people booked tickets in the hope it'd save people from getting ripped off.

Sadly I failed

I was very suspicious but obviously couldn't have directly accused the organisers of being unethical as I'd have been sued, along with this forum.

I now wish I'd spoken more loudly and for that I apologise. Sorry peeps!

buzzyrabbit

We have tickets for 3rd dec. Does anybody know if we can get a refund without using the tickets, or do we have to turn up and take photos etc.

BFG_9000

mels4307 wrote: »

i went on friday with my 3 children 13,7 & 5 they loved it. We arrived around 4ish when it was starting to get dark. the tunnel of lights as we went in looked great we have some good pictures. but then there was no rain, no queing, friendly elves on site but not in car park, toy wasn't bad, dogs werent chained up, couple of activity huts were kids decorated ginger bread and sent santa a letter. dont know what all the fuss is about, if got ticket would go my pictures not like what was on news think bad weather was big part in this mayhem. Had friends that still went today, they said all the rides were now included, apart from ice skating which was £5 for hour. when i went there was a alternative cheaper caterer. would go if have already paid and c 4 ur self

Anyone else think this was 'written' by the organiser?


TTFN

BFG

kirasia

BFG_9000 wrote: »

Anyone else think this was 'written' by the organiser?


TTFN

BFG

agreed.. one post??