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

whitewing

Hi all,

Don't think anyone has posted this yet. It is from Staffordshire County Council on how to go about attempting to obtain a refund for Lapland west Midlands.

http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/news/laplandthink.htm

Hopefully the link will work. If not, please can someone else link it in.

______________________________________________________________

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

Strangely enough I noticed another pre-Christmas event in Brighton that went the same way as all the rest. The website's gone too.

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/3958130.Stallholders_storm_out_of_festival_fiasco/

QUOTE
Organisers of a Winter Wonderland Christmas fair wept as angry stallholders quit after just a few hours when virtually nobody turned up.
Traders, who paid hundreds of pounds for stalls, had been told that up to 10,000 people were expected at the Brighton Racecourse event.
But many of them packed up and left after fewer than 40 browsers arrived.
The stallholders were left fuming after forking out between £200 and £500 for a space at the fair, dubbed an exhibition and interactive show.
The two-day event was organised by Wonderland Exhibitions, based in Farnham, Surrey, which charged £6 entry for adults and £3 for children.
But the fair was shut down on Saturday when traders quit, and Sunday’s event was cancelled.

UNQUOTE
http://www.brightonlife.com/listings/christmas-winter-wonderland-brighton-racecourse-70496.html

QUOTE
Unfortunately another sham Xmas show! A complete rip off and waste of money as the Santas Grotto was like a garden shed with a couple of stockings pinned to the wall! A real disappointment, how hard is it to put up some lights and some tinsel etc and make it special for the kids, obviously too much trouble for Wonderland! There are some excellent exhibitors there but I fail to see the relevance for beer brewing and hedge clipper sales at whats supposed to be a childrens wonderland.
UNQUOTE

I have no knowledge of any link, but it seems that Brighton is suffering a spate of shambolic fairs and amusements that collapse leaving the participants unhappy and lighter in the wallet department.

whitewing

Hi Gomer,

Found this on gumtree:

http://brighton.gumtree.com/brighton/37/28830837.html

______________________________________________________________

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

CazandCo_2

We are still waiting for Halifax to send us the claim form, but have noticed that the funds have gone back onto the account so maybe we wont need to complete a form? Fingers crossed.

Friday just gone we were supposed to be at Lapland Newforest. What a shame we couldn’t go and enjoy it in the pouring rain! Instead we went to Santa’s Circus in Eastleigh, Southampton.

I’d like to promote them here because the performers confirmed that they are suffering from poor attendance in the wake of this Lapland fiasco. It’s made a lot of people scared of booking online or even just bothering to go to anything. So innocent, genuine set-ups are suffering and if anyone in Southampton or the surrounding area is looking for a fun couple of hours then visit Santa’s Circus.

http://www.santascircus.co.uk/

A cross between the Circus and a Pantomime filled with magic tricks, acrobatics, dancing, singing and clowning around. All presented by a lovely looking Santa Claus and his helper Clown.
My 7yr old daughter wanted to go again the next day!

It was a lot of fun.:D

Biggles266

Hi Gomer, In pursuit of refund Barclaycard recommend that I contact the liquidators dealing with Lapland New Forest Ltd before claiming under the Barclaycard Travel Policy. Do you or anyone else know who the liquidators are in order to get a refund?
.....p.s. Your investigations deserve a standing ovation!

GomerPyle

Biggles266 - we have no reason to believe that the company is in liquidation, so unless Barclaycard have evidence of this, it doesn't apply.

It is not a satisfactory reply from a responsible bank to make up reasons with which to respond to your claim.

I can remember the days when you'd almost throw a party when a bank first allowed you to write a letter on their behalf. It showed that they trusted you to write responsibly and would put their name to what you write. Now it seems you can write any old dross.

Ask them to provide evidence and their source for that information. If banks write letters like that Mr Mears could yet earn a fortune.

Lapland New Forest Ltd either misrepresented what they offered (if you went), or failed to provide the service you paid for (if it closed before you went).

You need a reply from a more senior idiot. :rotfl:

GomerPyle

I have to admit that I feel pessimistic about this whole affair.

The FSA take their responsibility to protect the repuation of the UK financial industry far more seriously than their reponsibilty to regulate and police it. We have gone through the endowment mortgage and 'precipice' bond scandals and by merely fining those responsible, it has never deterred the industry from taking actions determined solely on the 'target' and 'reward' culture, and that has led to all the ills we witness at the moment.

Trading Standards, FSA and SFO - do they do what it 'says on the can' ? - I very much doubt it.

Newly_scammed

Looks like the steam is going out of this, and the scammers are going to get away with a barrow load of loot then?

Barclaycard have yet to send out a form, despite 3 call in 2 weeks - apparently it takes 10 days via their system - not sure, but think they may be just ducking and weaving to avoid payouts - no form, LNF gone bankrupt...
It's frustratingly easy to lose money via a few mouse clicks, but sheer purgatory if there is a glitch, and the safety nets turns out to have been a cob web!

Again, good work by many, but hope it's not going to be fruitless

pancho_villa

Newly_scammed wrote: »

Looks like the steam is going out of this, and the scammers are going to get away with a barrow load of loot then?

Barclaycard have yet to send out a form, despite 3 call in 2 weeks - apparently it takes 10 days via their system - not sure, but think they may be just ducking and weaving to avoid payouts - no form, LNF gone bankrupt...
It's frustratingly easy to lose money via a few mouse clicks, but sheer purgatory if there is a glitch, and the safety nets turns out to have been a cob web!

Again, good work by many, but hope it's not going to be fruitless

So why not just write to them!! There is a template on this site for Section 75, just adjust that for your needs.
My CC was supposed to send out a form, but never did, so I have written to them including proof of what they offered, and some photos of the reality!!

GomerPyle

Well Newly scammed - if you're asking whether you can rely on overblown expensive regulatory authorities to look after your interests - then the answer is a resounding NO !!!!

I spent all my working life in a bank, and under my bank's employment rules being a member of any forum was a sackable offence. Can you guess why ?

My mother is in her eighties and trusting, with hearing and sight problems, which makes he a sitting target for the banks. I fought one bank through the Ombudsman for two years and my own bank, I have unleashed a second blast at recently, even though I had warned my mother never to be drawn into a room alone with a bank clerk.

A bank has recently been fined nearly £0.75m for adding loan repayment insurance without authority

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2008/149.shtml

To me that's theft. Banks can take that fine and absorb it without pausing for breath. If I do the same to the bank they'll do a lot more than slap my wrist and let me off with a fine. If banks reviewed their own calls, and most do, they'll know what's happening.

Staff are targeted to handle calls in a certain length of time and to add PPI to a certain proportion - the obvious result is going to be gross mis-selling.

If they don't send you a form, ask them to send you details of their complaints procedure. Put your request in writing, to include a request for details of their complaints procedure, then if they don't do that, you can go straight to the Omdudsman.

I can foresee that a proportion of people will get refunded (awkward swine like me who have the anger to walk over red hot coals to get their money back) and any remaining money will be tipped into the pocket of Mr Mears.

The moral is - don't put your faith in companies that make promises, even banks, and don't expect the authorities tasked to protect your interests to be of any use.