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

vickisteel

I took my 2 young children with my Mum on saturday to this "Winter Wonderland". After seeing the Website, we were so excited to go. We didn't tell the children till the morning, and so set off full of the expectaions that the company had led us to believe were true. When we got there, alarm bells started ringing. We got the park at about 1330 (it didn't open until 1200) and already people were leaving. This added to my concern. The whole place was just a glorified Fairground. The park only opened on the 28th, yet on the 29th it looked like it had been there for at least a month. No "Shamus the Elf", didn't get any magic dust, Couldn't see an ice rink, or snow ball park, couldn't see th4 traditional Xmas market or the Traditional Food halls. Just a load of rides which i gather you had to pay for, a load of fairground food caravans, a couple of drinks huts, loads of queues for everything, and sun standard toilets which you could have been mistaken for being on a building site! My little ones were so disappointed as i was. We couldn't queue for Santa as we would have been there for a good 2 hours, and in the freezing rain with a 4 and a 5 yr old, one of whom has additional needs, well its just not fun for them. The only shelter was a pathetic plastic gazebo, which of course was packed solid with about 50 people. We booked on line, and many days were showing "SOLD OUT", yet when we got there, people were buying their tickets on the door. So of course the whole place was packed solid. It just seems that the scheme was to spend as little as possible on the place, yet make as much money as they could out of "Suckers" like us or are desperatley trying to make Christmas special for our little ones, in a credit crisis. Yes there were some animals there, but the Husky dogs looked so distressed by it all, and you couldn't get near any of the other animals. What a disappointment.
Please if you are thinking of going there, don't. You will spend a lot of money, and at the end of it will have very cold, upset and disappointed children. A bit of a con if you ask me.

cridders_2

to anyone who sayes they had a good time
my guess is you have anUNCLE VICTOR or a COUSIN HENRY(mears)
cridders wife

Tubbthumping

meggie2006 wrote: »

so I am now being accused of lying - this friend is genuine and I am more than happy to give you the original link to a thread that I started yesterday on a completely different site. This friend is 100% genuine - yes I have deleted my friends boy name from the post, as i have deleted my own and my daughter.

I have nothing to do with Lapland, I am just another parent who has treated her 2 year old to what I hoped would be a magical experience

I feel very hurt about some of the comments.

in fact just to prove that I am not lying here is the link

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=168197.0

I'm really sorry you feel the need to prove yourself. You don't. Might I suggest you remove the link as it does have a lot of imformation about you and your family on there.

I only replied to the points raised by your friend. I still stand by what I said. Your friend went on a quiet day when the national and regional press and trading standards were there.

I truely truely hope when you go you have a better experience then we did. Hopefully they will have made some improvements and the fact that so many of us have described the disappointment we felt your expectations will not be high and subsiquently not dashed.

:xmassmile

danster1984

meggie2006 wrote: »

so I am now being accused of lying - this friend is genuine and I am more than happy to give you the original link to a thread that I started yesterday on a completely different site. This friend is 100% genuine - yes I have deleted my friends boy name from the post, as i have deleted my own and my daughter.

I have nothing to do with Lapland, I am just another parent who has treated her 2 year old to what I hoped would be a magical experience

I feel very hurt about some of the comments.

in fact just to prove that I am not lying here is the link

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=168197.0

Listen, I agree that directly accusing you of lying would be a bit harsh, but I'm sorry, it simply doesn't ring true that your "friend" is the only person amongst thousands who didn't think this whole event was anything other than a massive scam run by some very dodgy individuals with a list of failed companies behind them as long as my arm. You have to admit, the huge weight of evidence is kind of against you.

By all means, do post your own experience on here once you've visited Crapland New Forest, although I'm guessing it may have shut for good by now (does anyone know if it's still open?).

matchew1974

2 things i would just like to comment

1 - ring consumer direct they were brillant and "every call" is about lapland at the moment they give some very sound advice if you are due to go or have been and feel ripped off ("breach of contract" is the legal term) - 0845 404 0506 be patient they are busy with this !!!

2 - regardless of what happens now they have had too much bad press (remember hoover free flights) its a public relations mess and I will be claiming under "section 75" for breach of contract.

This story is everywhere, BBC, ITV, Yahoo, The Mail, The Echo ......

time to have a little common sense - shut it down refund us our money and we can all go to paultons park its awesome there

danster1984

Their website is now back up! Very odd. Nice to finally get a look at it, though (http://laplandnewforest.co.uk); got to say that, if I'd been presented with this dogs breakfast of spelling mistakes, appalling grammar, and ludicrously over-inlflated claims, I hope I'd have thought twice before parting with 50p, never mind £30 (although I accept that it's very easy to be self-righteous after the fact; I do feel really sorry for those parents who forked out for this in the genuine hope of a fun day out for the kids).

This is the website's standout paragraph for me!:
"We have deliberately under-priced the park (yes, we believe you'll agree that the experience could be priced higher) as we are as tired as any and everyone with not often receiving good service and value for money and in this sad time of mismanaged economy, gloomy broadcast recession and unending price increases et al - we are especially proud to be constructing a truly magical and affordable event that will not only employ many people, but will help warm 1000's of young and grown-up visitor's hearts for Christmas and the New Year 2009."

Truly staggering front, these people have...

piptiddlepip

I'm one of the lucky ones who didn't pay out moeny to go to this. However, I note that two of the addresses to which people sent cheques are in the scummiest area of Brighton you could possibly imagine. The name "Mears" is rather well known in Brighton also. Henry Mears is the organiser behind this scam, and there is a well-known local politician of that name also, who comes from a family who used to trade from the fruit and veg market (since closed). I don't know if there is a link between the two, but I have my suspicions.

twiglet98

Feature on its awfulness on BBC2 now... what a terrible tale of incompetence and absolute rip-off. Thank goodness my kids are too old for this stuff. Google is full of reports of real disappointment as well as the horrifically extortionate prices.

Edinburghlass_2

It was on Jeremy Vine on radio 2 around 12.45, you can listen again here later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/vine/

As I said before, please don't waste time arguing or scoring points on this thread, far better to direct your arguements to the newspapers and the media using any links provided in this thread.

edited to add that while I don't think anyone expected "the real thing" ie Lapland for under £100, they did expect to get what was promised and not what they got.

annas_4

i have joined to ask this women to stop lieing we went yesterday ther is an ice rink and can clearly be seen the kids had a great day out lots to do my children loved the unlimted rides . we asked about buying tickets on the door and they said you can only buy on internet so i think you should not listen to people that have probly not even been