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

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  • whitewing
    whitewing Posts: 11,852 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    www.expressandstar.com has some interesting comments on the West Midlands version ie that
    Councillor Clifft said that the parish council had only been given notice just days ago of the festival.
    He added: “We don’t want to spoil anyone’s enjoyment over the Christmas period, but to inform us of this kind of event on this scale only days ago has given us no time to talk with the organisers of the event to put plans in place to lessen the impact on the village.”
    The field has a licence to run car boot sales.
    If the parish council ordered the festival be scrapped and the organisers successfully appealed, Councillor Clifft said it would have to pay out thousands of pounds to compensate for loss of earnings.
    No-one from Lapland West Midlands was available for comment today.

    ______________________________________________________________

    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
    :heartsmil When you find people who not only tolerate your quirks but celebrate them with glad cries of "Me too!" be sure to cherish them. Because these weirdos are your true family.
  • Actually the reason for the matching phone numbers between the west midland lapland and the concrete suppliers could be because both domain names are registered to to the same wolverhampton address.

    Could be interesting when you ring up... you could book tickets for lapland and get your driveway done at the same time! :rotfl:

    The phone line is physically installed at the concrete place. The post code matches. Cannot be anywhere else.
  • I don't know what to do regards going as planned or just forget the whole thing. Like lpeg, I have been advised by Consumer Direct to go along as planned on Monday, as we paid by Maestro debit card and it is our only hope of a refund.

    Originally we'd planned to spend the day there of course, but since then, decided to spend the day in Bournemouth, Christmas shopping, popping in to see rellies we haven't seen for a while, and then going into LNF on the way home 'just to see what it's like' and hoping as it'll be dark it might not be AS bad. :rolleyes:
    Travelling from the Isle of Wight makes me wonder if it's worth it though. (ferry alone is going to cost us £40)

    I really wish they'd just close it down and at least take that decision away from me.:confused:
  • Woby_Tide
    Woby_Tide Posts: 5,344 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    lpeg wrote: »
    Please also remember I have no idea how many tickets have been sold, but imagine weekends and holiday days leading up to xmas will have been very much in demand, so it could be a very different story on those days. Who knows?
    the best, just average and still disappointing given what we paid. I'm not a

    Being fairly local I had looked at the website last week before it had opened and on the booking page it actually showed as sold out for every weekend already and also most of the days in Christmas week so they probably have banked a fair bit in advance, but given most 'casual' visitors would have attended at weekends I guess it's going to be quiet during the week.


    (Maybe they'll offer some discounts if they get desperate, maybe £30 Quidco cashback per ticket?)
  • NAG_2
    NAG_2 Posts: 22 Forumite
    One of the facebook groups (LAPLAND NEW FOREST IS RUBBISH AND NOT WORTH £25 - does what it says on the tin!) is now up to 850+ users. Someone on there has started a groupcomplaint for people who have been affected - if you are one of them, you might want to join their complaint (ps - i'm not part of the complaint) - http://www.complaintcommunity.com/complaint.php?cpId=114
  • Unfortunately the current situation makes everyone, but the customer, feel nice and cosey.

    The 'company' see money rolling into their pocket, the bank like to see that and the various regulatory bodies can shrug their shoulders and tell us they can't do anything.

    The solution is to make it advantageous or necessary for one of these bodies to upset this comfortable state of equlibrium. When that happens everyone else adopts a defensive position that will leave the 'company' isolated and unsupported.

    I can't promise success, but I will deliver a hefty blow to one of these bodies to undermine the situation. If they irritate me by being evasive or deceitful, then I'll react badly and really kick up a fuss.
  • We just got back from our visit today. Like lpeg, we had no problems, but the place was empty. No queue for santa, and we were allowed to take photo's. Most of the fairground rides were free and empty. Ice rink was working (and empty).
    We were allowed to walk 3 husky's, which my 9 y-o girl loved. The husky's seemed happy and friendly with us.
    We decided to eat before we went in, and found a bar/pub resturant at the alpine ski slope about 2 miles beyond the entrance to lapland.
    We did enjoy our day, but no way was it worth £25 per person.
  • Times online have a bit saying that Alton towers are running a free day for people who have suffered a bad experience at lapland New forest. Might be worth a wee look.

    I was lucky enough to go to Lapland UK this week and it was wonderful, so glad that i chose to spend the extra and not do lapland new forest.
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5280970.ece
  • kirasia
    kirasia Posts: 58 Forumite
    lisa_cz wrote: »
    When standing it is normal for huskies to carry their tails down as I have said before most of these dogs were purchased from one of the uks top kennels, the current breed standard was written around a dog from this top uk kennel.
    The RSPCA have vetted the dogs and confirmed that they are in top condition. I to have owned and bred Siberian Huskies for 20 years.

    How do you know they're from a top uk kennel?

    The tails weren't just down, they were between their legs as if they were frightened.. not just standing?
    Destash Challenge: 0/100
    Ultimate Losers Challenge: 8/39
    Declutter Challenge: 35/500
  • GomerPyle
    GomerPyle Posts: 451 Forumite
    From the Daily Mail dtd 3rd December

    News of the staggering figures come as:
    * Trading standards officials look set to prosecute the attraction after receiving more than 2,000 complaints.
    * The RSPCA has launched a probe into reports of huskies, reindeer and donkeys being ill-treated.
    * The local council has banned the ‘grotty grotto’ from selling mulled wine as it doesn't have an alcohol licence.
    * Thousands of visitors have contacted the government website Consumer Direct in a bid to get their money back.
    * More than 2,000 campaigners have joined protest groups on social networking site Facebook, many calling for the park to close down.
    * Dozens of former staff and customers are planning a protest outside the park this Saturday demanding it be shut down.


    According to Mr H Mears 95% of visitors were delighted.

    Crikey - that means he's claiming visitor figures of 40,000 in half a week. I hope he'll still stand by those figures when the Customs and Revenue come looking over his books. They so love to quote a person's own words back at them when making tax and VAT assessments. That'll give him a projected total of nearly 300,000 - that's one heck of a tax bill.

    I'm good at figures - and try not to speak to the press Mr Mears. :rotfl:
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