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

whitewing

roversforever,

If you haven't looked carefully thro the Guide that Gomer collated, see it again: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1412867

Is there anything in the section on Maestro debit cards that you did/didn't raise already with the bank? Which bits are they particularly disputing?

roversforever

Hi,

Thanks for this. I actually reproduced sections of Gomer's posting, and sent them the links to the website for chargebacks. They just don't want to know.

I will contact the Ombudsman, and I will tell the RBS that I am doing so.

One lesson from all this is not to use a Maestro card for anything at all.

whitewing

pancho_villa wrote: »

Got my letter from Tesco Credit Card this morning.
It says "in the interests of resolving this matter amicably and without making any admission of liability, the bank is prepared to offer you the sum of £125 (all i paid) as a gesture of goodwill on this occasion.
This offer is made in full and final settlement of any claim you may have against the bank or any of it's subsidiary companies arising out of this matter it is also made without any admission of liability. It is also made on a without prejudice basis and is not to be referred too in any legal proceedings that may follow.

I then have to sign the letter and send it back, and they will credit my account!!! :beer::j:money::T

roversreturn, you may also like to point out to RBS that Tesco is offering its customers a much better level of service on this matter.

I do also think you need to contact Grant Thornton to ask them what their advice is on registering as a creditor while you have a complaint outstanding with the ombudsman. But do not actually register with Grant Thornton yet until you have verified their advice with other sources, including RBS, Trading Standards, the Ombudsman etc

whitewing

roversforever wrote: »

One lesson from all this is not to use a Maestro card for anything at all.

Sounds sensible to me. You want a card service that assists you. I wish Gomer were around as I am sure he would know if you could raise this directly with Maestro. I am sure some of our Visa cardholders spoke to Visa themselves as well as/instead of their bank.

Maybe call RBS and see if they have contact details for Maestro.

EdnaCloud

whitewing wrote: »

Sounds sensible to me. You want a card service that assists you.

Well said, and it does seem that Visa offer more support than Maestro.

I wish Gomer were around as I am sure he would know if you could raise this directly with Maestro. I am sure some of our Visa cardholders spoke to Visa themselves as well as/instead of their bank.

Rovers forever, we all wish Gomer was around but in the meantime I found this which does not bode well:
http://www.maestrocard.com/uk/howtoget/index.html
which says that all management of the card is via your bank - however I would not stop there,

Maybe call RBS and see if they have contact details for Maestro.

I would do as whitewing suggests, as Virgin One IS NOT A BANK, it is an account type of RBS
QUOTE (from Virgin One web site)
The One account is a secured personal bank account with The Royal Bank of Scotland plc. 'The One account ', 'One account ', 'Make one day today' and the associated logos are trademarks of The One account Ltd. The One account, Woodland Place, Pinetrees Road, Norwich NR7 9EJ.
UNQUOTE.

So if you are not getting any joy from the One Account people try escalating to the RBS complaints department. It may well end up with the same people but they might get the message that you are not giving up.

My cynical side says it may be worthwhile pointing out to RBS that it is they that provided the banking/merchant facility to the failed scheme and that it is understood there are funds frozen by RBS and that morally and ethically they have no excuse for refusing a chargeback.

**Do not take this as impartial advice, it is my personal opinion**

To escalate it with Maestro you would need to contact Mastercard, heaven only knows how succesful that would be but their contact details are
47-53 Cannon Street
London
EC4M 5SH
United Kingdom
+(44)020 7557-5000.

I have a feeling they will refer you back to the bank but I would just persist and say you have not had a satifactory response. (I often say that the last organisation I spoke to told me to contact you - iffy but it works sometimes!)

Please do not give up, and let's hope we hear from someone else who used Maestro. And I would bin the card and the account and go elsewhwere, but that may be easier said than done..

whitewing

I'm not sure when the following article went online.

http://www.westbusiness.co.uk/News/Bristol/Families-hope-for-refunds-from-failed-Dorset-theme.aspx

I don't, however, remember reading about Clive Kenyon commenting before:

Manager of the Government's South West Consumer Direct office Clive Kenyon felt it was unlikely, given preferential creditors would be paid first, that any cash would be returned to ticket holders.
He said: "There probably isn't much hope, but you can never be absolutely certain.
"Money gets sifted away. It depends on how easily identifiable and accessible Lapland New Forest's assets are."
He added: "The theme park itself was pretty dire. We were inundated with complaints."

No mention at all to the casual surfer that card payers have chargeback rights. But you do: see here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?t=1412867

Also, remember to seek IMPARTIAL advice (maybe from Trading Standards, but they seem to be referring consumers to Grant Thornton, which is hardly impartial) regarding the implications of sending anything back to Grant Thornton in case it affects your ability to chargeback.

whitewing

I realise that there are a lot of outstanding queries still, particularly relating to chargeback claims and registering as a creditor. I have therefore emailed Grant Thornton via their lapland.liquidation email address to see if they can clear up some of our queries.

In the meantime, to do a chargeback, please see

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?t=1412867

EdnaCloud

whitewing wrote: »

I'm not sure when the following article went online.

http://www.westbusiness.co.uk/News/Bristol/Families-hope-for-refunds-from-failed-Dorset-theme.aspx

I don't, however, remember reading about Clive Kenyon commenting before:

Manager of the Government's South West Consumer Direct office Clive Kenyon felt it was unlikely, given preferential creditors would be paid first, that any cash would be returned to ticket holders.

Thanks to whitewing for posting this. Three points. One, The spokesperson fails to mention creditors that precede preferential creditors in any claim on assets, those being the insolvency practioner/liquidator's fees. Also, amongst 'preferential' creditors there is a hierarchy; secured creditors and fixed charge creditors coming before other preferential creditors (who are generally and mostly employees). Two, The latter is, however is largely academic as anyone with any more than a cursory knowledge of this failed scam (LNF) would be able to deduce that the chances of there being any secured, fixed charge or preferential creditors is slim. (See this site for information about the liquidation process. It should be authoritative as it is a UK government site):

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/guidanceleafletspdf/guideforcreditors.pdf

There is a lot of useful information regarding the whole process there, and as we approach the creditor's meeting and probable appointment of GT as liquidator it would be sensible for us all to understand the process.

Point three is a personal opinion. Yet again trading standards, albeit under their Consumer Watch quango cloak, have failed to give the whole picture, and therefore are not impartial. As whitewing pointed out no mention is made of chargebacks. I suspect these omissions are not intentional but it indicates that one must be wary of assuming that what is said by bodies that should know better is the whole story.

Also, remember to seek IMPARTIAL advice (maybe from Trading Standards, but they seem to be referring consumers to Grant Thornton, which is hardly impartial) regarding the implications of sending anything back to Grant Thornton in case it affects your ability to chargeback.

Well said. Sadly it is difficult to know where to turn for advice now, it seems TS are trying to wash their hands of the affair (nothing has been said about legal action and emails to them have not been replied to ) and are NOT giving impartial advice. I expect there is more impartiality, if not expertise, here than elsewhere. GT *should* be impartial, but as said in previous posts their close ties with RBS does raise a question of conflict of interests.
[/quote]

In the meantime all those affected should keep posting here, don't worry if your query may have been raised previously - this is a long thread now, but do take a minute or two to read Gomer's post at:

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

This has not been updated for a little while so if you are unclear about any of it please do post - we will do our best to point you in the right direction.

JH808

Well, got letter from tesco credit card, finally... sorry, as each ticket was £25 you're not getting anything out of us!!!!!

Could easily give up and pay it off...any advise?




Jo

whitewing

pancho_villa wrote: »

Got my letter from Tesco Credit Card this morning.
It says "in the interests of resolving this matter amicably and without making any admission of liability, the bank is prepared to offer you the sum of £125 (all i paid) as a gesture of goodwill on this occasion.
This offer is made in full and final settlement of any claim you may have against the bank or any of it's subsidiary companies arising out of this matter it is also made without any admission of liability. It is also made on a without prejudice basis and is not to be referred too in any legal proceedings that may follow.

I then have to sign the letter and send it back, and they will credit my account!!! :beer::j:money::T

JH - this was a post earlier from panchovilla. It may inspire you.

If they are turning you down on the basis of £25 per ticket, then I imagine they have dealt with your claim under section 75.

You just need to look at claiming as a chargeback. See Gomer's Refund Guide.